INTRODUCTION
Between 1991 and 2006, the Latin American Dialysis and Renal Transplantation Registry collected data from 20 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Uruguay). Access to RRT was universal in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Uruguay, all countries belonging to the medium-high or high income group.

METHODS
Data about patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT) were supplied by national affiliates or the Registry's Coordination Committee. Transplant data were gathered and shared with the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Transplantation.

RESULTS
RRT prevalence increased from 162 patients per million population (pmp) in 1991 to 478 pmp in 2005 and 473 pmp in 2006 (59.2% hemodialysis, 20.4% peritoneal dialysis and 20.4% with a functioning kidney allograft). Countries with the highest prevalence were Puerto Rico (1,148.9 pmp), Uruguay (924.5 pmp) and Chile (907.6 pmp). Latin America's (LA) incidence increased from 27.8 pmp in 1992 to 188 pmp in 2006. The LA Kidney transplant rate increased from 3.7 pmp in 1987 to 15,4 pmp in 2006, and 166 combined transplants - kidney and another organ, mainly pancreas - were performed. In the medium-high income group 2006, (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela) the prevalence rate was 534.8 pmp vs. 289.5 pmp in the middle-low income group. The transplant rate was 18.4 pmp in the medium-high income group vs. 7 pmp in the middle-low group (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
RRT incidence and prevalence continue to grow steadily. Access to RRT is universal only in some countries included in the medium-high or high income group. It is imperative to accomplish the goal of making RRT available to all who need it.


AlGaN/GaN-based high electron mobility transistor heterostructures with different GaN cap layer thicknesses were grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and molecular beam epitaxy. The influence of the different growth methods on the structure of the GaN caps was examined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Due to the high surface sensitivity of these methods, several effects, such as residual Al incorporation into the GaN cap during growth, etching of the GaN cap during cool-down, and preferential etching of Ga out of the AlGaN barrier could be evaluated. It is demonstrated that these effects play a major role for MOVPE-grown structures.


For the last few years, the application of Siamese network in athletes' three-dimensional motion tracking has greatly improved the efficiency of sports training. However, the accuracy of the Siamese network tracking algorithm is limited to a large extent. To solve the above problems, based on the channel attention mechanism, the key feature information perception module is innovatively proposed to promote the discriminant ability of the network model and make the network focus on the convolution feature changes of the target. On this basis, an online adaptive mask strategy is proposed, which adapts the subsequent frames according to the output state of the cross-correlation layer learned online to highlight the foreground object. Compared with other algorithms in annotated data set and MOT17 data set, this algorithm has more stable initial tracking performance, significantly improved accuracy compared with the benchmark, and high robustness tracking effect in complex scenes.


The present study compared ways of storytelling in Western and Asian literature. Content analysis was performed on Amazon.com and New York Times best-selling fictions and memoirs (N = 102) by Western and Asian authors. Although authors of the two cultural groups described similar numbers of event episodes per chapter, Western authors depicted the episodes in greater detail than Asian authors in both fictions and memoirs. Asian authors, on the other hand, described more frequently repeated events than Western authors in fictions. These findings highlight the important role of literature in reflecting as well as perpetuating cultural ways of storytelling.


Summary
Freshly prepared tobacco mesophyll protoplasts behave as if they contain two classes, one of which is resistant to infection but the other is susceptible and can readily be doubly infected with brome mosaic virus (BMV) and cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV). BMV dominates in all double infections and although both types of virus particles are produced, only those of BMV are infectious. The defective CCMV particles contain normal amounts of RNA but only RNA 3 could be detected in them. No CCMV RNA 2 could be detected in doubly infected protoplasts, showing that there was only partial replication of the genome of CCMV. The proteins encoded by CCMV RNA 3 were produced in mixed infections. It is possible that BMV may exploit the gene products of CCMV while suppressing synthesis of infectious CCMV particles. There was no evidence that BMV RNA was encapsidated in CCMV coat protein.


In the era of highly viable and global operating environment, it is the conscientiousness of the organization to focus all its activities to meet the never-ending demands of the knowledge able customers. Hence, proper approaches from all the departments of the organization are required to achieve the objectives. One of the functions that attain a well-known place in the organizations these days is the supply chain management and a vital sub-function of this includes the supplier selection, which helps in achieving a low cost high Fuel Efficiency, on-time delivery of the products. The present work basically concentrates on this vital area of supplier selection which is a multi-criterion problem including both the qualitative and quantitative factors .The problem is dealt with the help of a case-study, where in many alternatives of selecting a supplier is done with TOPSIS method, which is more reliable while going for a supplier selection.


SUMMARY The pharmacological treatment of depression is often hampered by side-effects and unsatisfactory response to treatment. Vortioxetine is one of the newest antidepressants on the market, purportedly with a different mechanism of action compared with other antidepressants. This month's Cochrane Corner review examines the evidence available for the use of vortioxetine as a first-line treatment for depression in adults. This commentary puts the Cochrane review's findings into their clinical context and revises them in view of earlier and later studies. DECLARATION OF INTEREST None.


The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the duties that directors owe to their companies in the light of the Companies Act 2006. The CA 2006 has introduced many reforms and consolidated of much of the existing legislation affecting companies, through simplifying the provisions of the director's duties. The codification of director's duties was one of the most controversial aspects of the reform programme culminating the CA 2006. Some argues that codification would reduce the flexibilities of the common law. However, it is true that 2006 Act has certainly made the duties more accessible. The increased awareness of the statutory duties would lead to increased direct enforcement of director's duties. It has been pondered whether the statutory clarification of directors duties might herald an increase in derivative actions against directors in based on claim in relation to s172. At the same time it is also true that an increased transparency may also lead to increased compliance and consequently to less litigation.This research is entitled critically examine the seven general duties of directors under CA 2006. A critical analysis will be carried from the selected literatures which focus on the extensive analysis of director's duties under section 171-177 of the CA 2006. This research will argue that in codifying director's duties the Company's Act 20006 creates a legal presumption that directors owe their duties to shareholders and other parties interested in takeover activities for which the company is involved. In the conclusion it is suggested that in the study of directors duties an integrated approach, which looks at the accountability spectrum as well as the substantive content of the duties, facilitates a realistic appraisal of the impact of directors duties in U.K. This paper will provide some useful source of impartial information for academics, lawyer's directors and those advising directors to gain an understanding of director's duties under English law.


There are numerous activities by which human beings harm, destroy, pollute or endanger the environment. Most of these activities are the result of man's conscious omission or failure to abide by the rules, technical guidelines and standards in managing many dangerous sources of energy and raw materials or in handling hazardous appliances and technologies properly. Such misconduct generates a variety of risks, involving incidents of various kinds and scales of magnitude that may affect a specific location and everything within the hazard-affected zone. Such activities, conducted either by individuals, groups and even entire states are illegal and punishable as criminal offences and misdemeanours (delicts). Considering that these activities are related to the unlawful conduct in the field of management, preservation, development and protection of man's immediate living and working environment either on the local or on the global scale, all these diverse types of harmful acts may be called environmental offences (ecological delicts). There are several kinds of environmental delicts, whose classification depends on the scope and intensity of the harmful effect on the environment, the specific type of activity at issue, the perpetrator's personality, the general normative framework prescribing specific conduct in the legislative and other regulatory acts, as well as on the kind of penalties prescribed for these specific criminal offences and misdemeanours. In this paper, the author analyses the theoretical and practical aspects of environmental offences as envisaged in the legal solutions of the new Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia.


Background: Ageing is a physiological process that starts from birth, continues throughout life, and ends with death. Poor nutrition is not a natural concomitant of ageing; older adults are at risk for malnutrition due to physiological, psychological, social, dietary, and environmental risk factors.

Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of elderly living in rural India and to study the factors related to nutritional status.

Materials and Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Butramatti village, which comes under Primary Health Centre, Vantamuri. Predesigned and pretested questionnaire and nutritional status were assessed using Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) scale, an instrument designed by Nestle Nutrition Institute specifically for elderly people.

Results: Out of the total 190 participants, 85 (44.70%) were having BMI less than 19, 28 (14.70%) were having BMI 19 to less than 21, 11 (5.80%) were having BMI 21 to less than 23, and 66 (34.70%) were having BMI 23 or greater. And out of 190 participants, 31 (43.7%) males and 52 (43.3%) females were at risk of malnutrition. Eighteen (25.4%) males and 25 (21%) females were suffering from malnutrition and only 22 (31%) males and 42 (35.3%) females were well nourished. However, the association of gender and nutritional status of elderly was not found to be statistically significant (p = 0.735).

Conclusion: The results suggest that MNA is a useful tool in the identification of elderly at risk of malnutrition. Prevalence of elderly individuals who were malnourished and were at risk of malnutrition was high in our study.


Objective

The protein encoded by collagen type I alpha 1 chain(COL1A1)is a component of the extracellular matrix, and critical for tumor microenvironments. However, it remains unclear that the expression level, prognostic prediction, and immunological value of COL1A1 in multiple cancers.
Methods

4 profiles and 6 hub genes were found by bioinformatics analysis. We further analyzed one of the hub genes, the COL1A1. And, we comprehensively analyzed gene expression and genetic alteration patterns among 33 types of malignancies from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA). Besides, we explored the correlation of COL1A1 with cancer prognosis, immune infiltrates, tumor mutational burden (TMB)/ microsatellite instability status (MSI), pathway and drug sensitivity analysis of co-expressed genes.
Results

COL1A1 was highly expressed and associated with poor prognosis in the majority of cancer. On the other hand, COL1A1 expression was closely related to high TMB in THYM, LAML, ACC, KICH, PRAD, and LGG. High MSI was observed in TGCT, MESO, PRAD, COAD, SARC, and CESC. In addition, COL1A1 was positively correlated with the abundance of CAFs, macrophages, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. However, it was negatively correlated with CD8 + T cells mainly in CESC, HNSC-HPV+, and SKCM.
Conclusion

COL1A1 can serve as a prognostic and immunological biomarker in multiple cancers.


This Final Evaluation Report covers the second phase of support by UNDP and Asdi. There are two main purposes of the Final Evaluation. Firstly 'to assess overall achievements of the programme, specifically to access relevance and potential effectiveness of the programme and to assess the impact and effect generated from the programme and what lessons can be drawn on operational, organisational and policy levels', and secondly to analyse future needs for support to the FRP and to make recommendations in this regard


Lapatinib is licensed for use in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of patients with progressive advanced breast cancer whose tumors overexpress the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/erbB2/HER2-neu), following therapy with an anthracycline, a taxane and trastuzumab. Lapatinib targets both the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1/erbB1) and HER2, and represents one of the most promising of a number of pharmacological attempts to bypass resistance mechanisms to trastuzumab. Further studies are being conducted to examine the potential role of lapatinib in the management of breast cancer in both the early and advanced setting. This article evaluates the pharmacology, tolerability and clinical efficacy of lapatinib. The future roles of lapatinib in the treatment of breast cancer are also discussed.


Teaching Turkish as a foreign language in Turkey has gained even greater domain as the twentieth Century has followed a trend increasingly common due to the location where our country. The work we do in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, attantion was drawn to the Turkish perception of the time on outsiders. Writing skills of the foreign students study outline.


This study tested whether repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) alter the objective structure or the objective function of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in human subjects recruited from an optometry clinic. Case subjects (n = 25) with a history of repeated TBIs (4.12 ± 2.76 TBIs over 0–41 years) and healthy pair-matched control subjects (n = 30) were prospectively recruited. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was quantified with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, and scanning laser polarimetry measured RNFL phase retardation. Measurements of the photopic negative response were made using full-field flash electroretinography. There was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.42) in global RNFL thickness between the case cohort (96.6 ± 9.4 microns) and the control cohort (94.9 ± 7.0 microns). There was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.80) in global RNFL phase retardation between the case cohort (57.9 ± 5.7 nm) and the control cohort (58.2 ± 4.6 nm). There were no statistically significant differences in the peak time (p = 0.95) of the PhNR or in the amplitude (p = 0.11) of the PhNR between the case cohort (69.9 ± 6.9 ms and 24.1 ± 5.1 μV, respectively) and the control cohort (70.1 ± 8.9 ms and 27.8 ± 9.1 μV, respectively). However, PhNR amplitude was more variable (p < 0.025) in the control cohort than in the case cohort. Within the case cohort, there was a strong positive (r = 0.53), but not statistically significant (p = 0.02), association between time since last TBI and PhNR amplitude. There was also a modest positive (r = 0.45), but not statistically significant (p = 0.04), association between time since first TBI and PhNR amplitude. Our results suggest that there were no statistically significant differences in the objective structure or in the objective function of RGCs between the case cohort and the control cohort. Future large, longitudinal studies will be necessary to confirm our negative results and to more fully investigate the potential interaction between PhNR amplitude and time since first or last TBI.


Laparoscopic antireflux surgery is the gold standard procedure for treatment of patients with reflux esophagitis. The purpose of this study is to report personal experience by a rare case from our practice with many concomitant diseases in laparoscopic antireflux surgery, analyzing the clinical and functional outcomes of this procedure and review of the literature. We report a woman with a long standing anamnesis for hiatal hernia, with impossibility for laparoscopic approach because of multi pleconcomitant diseases as Schoerman syndrome – deforming spondylarthrosis, progressing astenoadynamy, attaining to impossibility to move, chronic kidney insufficiency, heart insufficiency, chronic anemia. The laparoscopic approach was found as flexible and adaptive enough to the different anatomical variations. Smooth early and late postoperative period, under protection of substitutional therapy. Scripta Scientifica Medica 2007; 39(2):165-168


We give a general review of recent developments in the theory of vortices in superfluids and superconductors, discussing why the dynamics of vortices is important, and why some key results are still controversial. We discuss work that we have done on the dynamics of quantized vortices in a superfluid. Despite the fact that this problem has been recognized as important for forty years, there is still a lot of controversy about the forces on and masses of quantized vortices. We think that one can get unambiguous answers by considering a broken symmetry state that consists of one vortex in an infinite ideal system. We argue for a Magnus force that is proportional to the superfluid density, and we find that the effective mass density of a vortex in a neutral superfluid is divergent at low frequencies. We have generalized some of the results for a neutral superfluid to a charged system.


This paper presents a novel method that allows the delegation of signature power to one or more entities that jointly play the role of a proxy signer. This work is different from other related proxy signature schemes in that in addition to providing confidentiality protection to the proxy key, the method provides non-repudiation services to all the parties involved. In particular, it protects against repudiation of signature delegation by the original signer, repudiation of proxy signature generation by the proxy signer, and repudiation of receipt of the proxy signature by the signature recipient. This feature is attractive for signature delegation in agent-based paradigm in which proxy signers are mobile agents that are executed in remote untrustworthy hosts.


We consider a multilayer network design model arising from a real‐life telecommunication application where traffic routing decisions imply the installation of expensive nodal equipment. Customer requests come in the form of bandwidth reservations for a given origin destination pair. Bandwidth demands are expressed as multiples of nominal granularities. Each request must be single‐path routed. Grooming several requests on the same wavelength and multiplexing wavelengths in the same optical stream allow a more efficient use of network capacity. However, each addition or withdrawal of a request from a wavelength requires optical to electrical conversion and the use of cross‐connect equipment with expensive ports of high densities. The objective is to minimize the number of required ports of the cross‐connect equipment. We deal with backbone optical networks, therefore with networks with a moderate number of nodes (14 to 20) but thousands of requests. Further difficulties arise from the symmetries in wavelength assignment and traffic loading. Traditional multicommodity network flow approaches are not suited for this problem. Instead, four alternative models relying on Dantzig–Wolfe and/or Benders' decomposition are introduced and compared. The formulations are strengthened using symmetry breaking restrictions, variable domain reduction, zero‐one discretization of integer variables, and cutting planes. The resulting dual bounds are compared to the values of primal solutions obtained through hierarchical optimization and rounding procedures. For realistic size instances, our best approaches provide solutions with optimality gap of approximately 5% on average in around 2 h of computing time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 67(4), 277–298 2016


Quantitative sampling for the genus Eurydice (Isopoda: Cirolanidae) was conducted on 25 sand beach sites along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Five species were recorded intertidally: Eurydice affinis, E. pulchra, E. naylori sp. nov., E. lusitaniensis sp. nov. and E. spinigera. Physical data collected were used to construct an index of exposure to rank each site. The distribution of intertidal Eurydice sp. is described in relation to exposure to wave action and to tidal level. Peak abundance of E. affinis, E. pulchra and naylori occurred most frequently between mean high water neap (MHWN) and mean tide level (MTL). Whilst E. affinis occurred over a wide range of exposure, E. naylori exhibited a marked preference for exposed sites and E. pulchra was only recorded from sheltered and semi-exposed sites. Surf plankton collections revealed the presence of E. lusitaniensis, but as only two specimens were collected, its ecology remains unknown. The zoogeographical distribution of the genus on North Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts is briefly reviewed.


Fiber Raman amplification using the transmission line is a promising technology to increase the repeater distance as well as the capacity of the communication systems. Because of the growing importance of fiber Raman amplification, it is desired to predict the magnitude and shape of the Raman gain spectrum from the doping level and refractive index profiles of different fiber designs. This thesis develops a method to predict the Raman gain coefficients and spectra for a pure silica core fiber and two different types of GeO2-doped silica fibers given their index profiles. An essential feature of the model is the inclusion of the variation in Raman gain coefficient over the mode field due to the variation in the Ge concentration across the fiber core. The calculated Raman gain coefficients were compared with measurements of the peak Raman gain on a stepindex GeO2-doped fiber and with published measurements from various sources. Agreement between the calculated and measured peak gain for the stepindex fiber was excellent. There was qualitative agreement with published measurements but there were significant differences between the calculated and published gain coefficients, which are not understood. Part of the work sought a way of predicting Raman gain coefficients from a standard gain curve given only the fiber type and the effective area. This approach appears promising for moderately-doped fibers with the proper choice of effective area.


PURPOSE
To evaluate in vitro the gingival microleakage of Class II direct and indirect composite restorations with cervical margins 0.5 mm apical to the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ).

METHODS
Mesial-occusal (MO) preparations of similar size were made in 10 homologous pairs of caries-free extracted human third molars. One specimen for each pair was prepared for a direct composite restoration and the other for an indirect composite restoration. Direct preparations were restored per manufacturer's instructions. Indirect preparations were impressed, and composite restorations were fabricated and cemented with a dual-cure cement. A total-etch technique was used for all restorations. Restorations were finished, polished, stored for 1 week in distilled water at 37 degrees C, thermocycled (5 degrees-55 degrees C x 1000), sealed with fingernail polish (leaving a 1.5 mm open periphery adjacent to the gingival margin), and placed in 0.5% basic fuchsin dye for 24 hours. Teeth were sectioned longitudinally (mesio-distally) within the restoration in two cuts and the four resulting surfaces (two inner cut surfaces, two outer cut surfaces) were evaluated for dye penetration with a x10 stereoscope using a scale of 0 (no penetration) to 4 (dye penetration involving more than half the axial wall).

RESULTS
All 20 specimens had at least one score of three (dye penetration involving less than half of the axial wall) or four. Statistical analysis (Wilcoxon paired-sample test) disclosed a significant decrease in the indirect composite microleakage scores for the two outer cuts (P = 0.006, P = 0.002). No significant differences in microleakage scores were found between materials for the inner cut surfaces of the specimens. Overall, the results of die penetration showed no statistical difference between Class II direct and indirect composite restorations for microleakage.


The objective of this work is to enhance the understanding of the influence of wake induced non-uniform, steady inlet flow conditions on the profile losses of highly-loaded turbines. For different Reynolds numbers wake and profile pressure distribution measurements were carried out on a linear subsonic turbine cascade as well as measurements with a single sensor hot-film probe. The non-uniform inlet flow were simulated with two different cascades of cylindrical bars.The measurements with various circumferential positions of the incoming wakes relative to the turbine cascade show at low Reynolds numbers a decrease of the losses compared to uniform inlet conditions, because no separation of the suction side boundary layer occurs. With increasing Reynolds numbers the non-uniform inlet flow conditions cause an increase in the losses compared to uniform inlet conditions, due to the forward shift of transition. Generally, the smallest influence of the non-uniform incoming flow can be observed when the wakes enter the cascade inlet plane between the pressure-side of the profiles and the middle of the blade passage. Incoming wakes have the highest influence when they enter the blade passage near to the suction side of the profiles.Copyright © 1993 by ASME


NK cells have been shown to be important antitumor or antiviral effector cells in the liver. In the present study we have examined the factors that regulate the initial recruitment and subsequent fate of hepatic NK and T cells in mice treated with IL-12 or IL-2. Daily administration of IL-12 caused a rapid initial increase in NK cells followed by a subsequent decrease that coincided with an accumulation of T cells. The recruitment of hepatic NK cells by IL-12, but not the subsequent T cell infiltrate, was abrogated in IFN-gamma(-/-) mice. In contrast, daily administration of IL-2 caused a sustained increase in liver-associated NK cells that was not diminished in IFN-gamma(-/-) mice. The IL-12-induced recruitment in both hepatic NK and T cells was abrogated by in vivo treatment with anti-VCAM-1 mAbs, while treatment with anti-ICAM-1 Abs decreased only the recruitment of T cells in the IL-12-treated mice. The rapid loss of newly recruited hepatic NK cells in IL-12-treated mice did not occur in SCID mice or in B.MRL-Fas(lpr) (Fas-) and B6Smn.C3H-Fasl(gld) (FasL-) mutant mice, suggesting that T cells can actively eliminate hepatic NK cells through a Fas-dependent mechanism. These findings also imply that during the endogenous innate immune response to infectious agents or tumors or in the host response induced by cytokine therapies, the biologic effects of NK cells may be limited by T cell-mediated effects.


Hyperuricemia has been described as associated with the risk of development metabolic syndrome; however the relationship between the uric acid level and particular parameters of metabolic syndrome remained unclear. We performed a cross-sectional study on a cohort of 833 dyslipidemic patients and correlated their levels of uric acid with parameters of insulin resistance, lipid metabolism, C-reactive protein, anthropometric parameters. We also defined patients with hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype and compered their uric acid levels with those without this phenotype. We found that levels of uric acid are associated with parameters of metabolic syndrome. Specifically, dyslipidemia characteristic for metabolic syndrome (low HDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides) correlates better with uric acid levels than parameters of insulin resistance. Also waist circumference correlates better with uric acid levels than body mass index. Patients with hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype had higher levels of uric acid when compared with patients without this phenotype. Serum uric acid levels are even in low levels linearly correlated with parameters of metabolic syndrome (better with typical lipid characteristics than with parameters of insulin resistance) and could be associated with higher cardiovascular risk.


Interleukin (IL)-4 exhibits antitumor activity in rodent experimental gliomas, which is likely mediated by the actions of IL-4 on a variety of immune cells present in and around the tumor masses. Here, we show that IL-4, which activates Stat6 in normal human astrocytes and in a variety of other cells, induces an aberrant activation of Stat3 in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells but not in normal human astrocytes. Previously, we have shown that autocrine IL-6 signaling induces a persistent activation of Stat3. Now, we show that Stat3 is further activated by IL-4 stimulation of GBM cells. Expression of IL-13Ralpha2, a decoy receptor for IL-13 that partly blocks IL-4-mediated activation of Stat6 in GBM cells, up-regulates the activation of Stat3 as shown by a small interfering RNA-mediated inhibition of IL-13Ralpha2 expression. In addition, transient expression of the IL-13Ralpha2 transgene in 293T cells increases the IL-4-mediated activation of Stat3 and subsequent expression of Stat3-targeted gene. Coimmunoprecipitation results reveal that IL-13Ralpha2-mediated activation of Stat3 does not require a direct physical interaction between Stat3 and IL-13Ralpha2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay employing anti-Stat3 antibody confirms the in vivo binding of activated Stat3 to the promoters of genes that encode antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Mcl-1. IL-4 significantly up-regulates of the steady-state levels of Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Mcl-1 in GBM cells. These results indicate that IL-4/IL-13 receptor-mediated Stat3 signaling may contribute to the pathogenesis of GBM cells by modulating the expression of the Bcl-2 family of antiapoptotic proteins.


Here we report on how metastable supramolecular gels can be formed through seeded self-assembly of multicomponent gelators. Hydrazone-based gelators decorated with non-ionic and anionic groups are formed in situ from hydrazide and aldehyde building blocks, and lead through multiple self-sorting processes to the formation of heterogeneous gels approaching thermodynamic equilibrium. Interestingly, the addition of seeds composing of oligomers of gelators bypasses the self-sorting processes and accelerates the self-assembly along a kinetically favored pathway, resulting in homogeneous gels of which the network morphologies and gel stiffness are markedly different from the thermodynamically more stable gel products. Importantly, over time, these metastable homogeneous gel networks are capable of converting into the thermodynamically more stable state. This seeding-driven formation of out-of-equilibrium supramolecular structures is expected to serve as a simple approach towards functional materials with pathway-dependent properties.


Oral route is the most preferred route for administration of various drugs because it is regarded as safest, most convenient and economical route. Fast dissolving tablets (FDT) are solid dosage forms which dissolve rapidly in saliva without chewing and additional water. The FDT serves as an alternative dosage form for patients who experience dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing) or for where compliance is a known issue and therefore an easier dosage form to take ensures that medication is taken. Common among all age groups, dysphagia is observed in about 35% of the general population, as well as up to 60%of the elderly institutionalized population and 18-22% of all patients in long-term care facilities.


Several subsets of stromal cells are found among secondary lymphoid organs where they play a key role in the initiation and maintenance of immune response. In particular, fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC) of the paracortex secrete extracellular matrix (ECM) components that constitute a dense network of conduits allowing antigens carried within the subcapsular afferent lymph to reach the lumen of the medullary high endothelial venules. FRC produce also several chemokines that recruit T, B, and dendritic cells from blood and favour their reciprocal interactions. In addition, follicular dendritic cells (FDC) are located exclusively into germinal centers and allow normal B-cell selection through a complex set of survival signals, including BCR-mediated signal, chemokines and adhesion molecules. FRC and FDC networks are phenotypically and probably functionally altered during development of follicular lymphomas and diffuse large B cell lymphomas, the two most frequent Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas. FRC and FDC are supposed to be of mesenchymal origin even if no conclusive work has been conducted to date in human. We have obtained 15 tonsil-derived stromal cell lines, that displayed all the morphologic, phenotypic, and functional characteristics of FRC, including synthesis of inflammatory (CXCL10, CXCL9, CCL5) and lymph-node specific (CCL19, CCL21) chemokines, and secretion of ECM organized in a reticular meshwork after long-term culture in the presence of TNF-α and lymphotoxin-α1β2 (LT). These cells induced tonsil leukocyte migration and adhesion in vitro. Tonsil-derived stromal cells expressed LTβR, TNFR, and CD40 but were negative for FDC specific markers, such as CD21 or CXCL13, even following in vitro stimulation by TNF-α, LT, and trimeric CD40L. Interestingly, such TNF and LT-dependent FRC differentiation could also be induced in adult bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). In addition, MSC-like cells able to differentiate along osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic lineages at the clonal level were found in normal tonsils. These data shed new lights on our current understanding of lymph node stromal cell origin and strongly suggest that MSC are the precursors of FRC in secondary lymphoid organs, and perhaps in bone marrow in case of FL involvement where ectopic lymph node-like stromal cells are detected in close association with tumor cells. In conclusion, MSC and their progeny trigger differential immune effects, depending on cytokine context, localization and cell contact with immune cells. These properties are probably modified during lymphomas where the contact between malignant B cells and stromal cells is crucial for tumor development.


The influence of backfill on the dynamic response of rigid axisymmetric foundations is described as reaction of an independent layer. It leads to the solution of the kinematic interaction problem by means of the complex stiffness matrix of a supporting medium given by a specific increase in relation to the case of non-embedded foundations. The increases of stiffnesses are obtained in the closed-form from steady-state solutions to the equation of motion of an isotropic homogeneous medium under appropriate displacement boundary and radiation conditions. The approximate modelling is compared with results of the rigorous boundary integral equation approach.


Several interrelated instances of unethical conduct in mental health professionals, occurring at a psychiatric hospital, serve to highlight the importance of the traditional ethical canons in our field. The impact of ethical breaches upon psychotherapy are exemplified and discussed; suggestions for appropriate administrative measures in dealing with such incidents are outlined.


The longevity of total hip arthroplasty (THA) continues to improve with advancements in design and bearing materials. However, the incidence of dislocation and impingement-related failures continue to rise, with the inability of the surgeon to achieve optimal component orientation cited as a cause. Computer-assistance has been shown to increase the accuracy of component orientation and robotic-assistance has been developed to translate this advantage into precise surgical execution. We sought to validate a haptically-guided robotic arm system in performing THA with the aim of comparing the accuracy of robotic-assisted acetabular cup placement to manual placement. We implanted 12 acetabular components in 6 cadaveric pelvises comparing robotic-assistance on one side with manual implantation on the other. We measured planned and actual center of rotation (COR), cup position, leg-length equalization and offset for each THA using computed tomography and the robotic platform. The root-mean-square (RMS) error for the robotic-assisted system was within 3° for cup placement and within 1mm for leg-length equalization and offset when compared to computed tomography. The robotic-assisted system was significantly more accurate than manual implantation in reproducing the COR and cup orientation, as determined by a preoperative plan. The RMS error for manual implantation compared to robotic-assistance was 5 times higher for cup inclination and 3.4 times higher for cup anteversion (p < 0.01). Robotic-assistance is more accurate than manual implantation in achieving optimal cup orientation. It has the ability to eliminate human error from THA and should be considered in light of THA failures due to component malposition.


Background: Of the few studies that have investigated quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes after transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM), the majority have reported only short-term follow-up data. This study assessed long-term clinical and instrumental outcomes (QoL, sexual, urinary and sphincter function) after TEM for extraperitoneal rectal cancer. Methods: Preoperative and postoperative anorectal function was assessed in consecutive patients with benign rectal lesions or early rectal cancer, based on clinical scores and anorectal manometry. Results: Between January 2000 and July 2005, 93 patients undergoing TEM completed the 60-month study protocol. The mean Wexner continence score increased from baseline at 3 months, began to decline within 12 months, and had returned to the preoperative value at 60 months. Urgency was reported by 65·0, 30·0 and 5 per cent of patients at 3, 12 and 60 months respectively (P < 0·050). A significant improvement was noted in various clinical and QoL scores at 12 and 60 months. Postoperative manometry values at 3 months were significantly lower than at baseline (P < 0·050), but had returned to preoperative values at 12 months. Tumour size of 4 cm or above was the only factor that significantly (P = 0·008) affected the rectal sensitivity threshold, the urge to defaecate threshold and the maximum tolerated volume at 3 months after TEM. Conclusion: TEM had no long-term effect on anorectal function or QoL. Lower anal resting pressure at early follow-up was not associated with defaecation problems in patients who were continent before surgery.


We report harmonic generation from a bicrystal Josephson junction fabricated in the middle of a 50 coplanar waveguide (CPW). Microwave radiation was injected at one end of the CPW transmission line, and the fundamental and third-harmonic powers were measured. A decrease of the fundamental transmitted power related to thermal breakdown was observed. The third-harmonic output power from the junctions was a complicated function of the input power, showing many non-third order-effects.


ABSTRACT Among all the paper ephemera surviving from eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain, the humble Methodist ticket has attracted little attention from scholars and collectors. Issued quarterly to members as a testimonial to religious conduct, many still exist, reflecting the sheer quantity produced by 1850, and the significance of keeping practices, where Methodist habits were distinctive. This article explores first the origin and spread of tickets primarily within British Methodism, but also noting its trans-oceanic contexts. Apparently inconsequential objects, they shaped experience and knowledge, illuminating eighteenth-century religious life, female participation, and plebeian agency. Discussion then turns to patterns of saving and memorialization that from the 1740s preserved Methodists' tickets. Such practices extended the lifecycle of the individual ticket and created the accidents of its survival, giving it new uses as an institutional resource. In recovering the dead, it acquired nostalgic value, but other capacities were lost and forgotten. The ticket's origins, uses, and preservation intersect with major historical and historiographical currents to complicate established narratives of print, urban association, and commerce, and to present alternative understandings of collecting.


Abstract Purpose: To develop the pediatric Automatic Phonological Analysis Tools (APAT) and to estimate inter and intrajudge reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity. Method: The APAT were constructed using Excel spreadsheets with formulas. The tools were presented to an expert panel for content validation. The corpus used in the Portuguese standardized test Teste Fonético-Fonológico – ALPE produced by 24 children with phonological delay or phonological disorder was recorded, transcribed, and then inserted into the APAT. Reliability and validity of APAT were analyzed. Results: The APAT present strong inter- and intrajudge reliability (>97%). The content validity was also analyzed (ICC = 0.71), and concurrent validity revealed strong correlations between computerized and manual (traditional) methods. Conclusions: The development of these tools contributes to fill existing gaps in clinical practice and research, since previously there were no valid and reliable tools/instruments for automatic phonological analysis, which allowed the analysis of different corpora.


This study was conducted to provide normal reference features for canine and feline anal sacs using ultrasound, low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiograph contrast as diagnostic imaging tools. A total of ten clinically normal beagle dogs and eight clinically normally cats were included. General radiography with contrast, ultrasonography and low-field MRI scans were performed. The visualization of anal sacs, which are located at distinct sites in dogs and cats, is possible with a contrast study on radiography. Most surfaces of the anal sacs tissue, occasionally appearing as a hyperechoic thin line, were surrounded by the hypoechoic external sphincter muscle on ultrasonography. The normal anal sac contents of dogs and cats had variable echogenicity. Signals of anal sac contents on low-field MRI varied in cats and dogs, and contrast medium using T1-weighted images enhanced the anal sac walls more obviously than that on ultrasonography. In conclusion, this study provides the normal features of anal sacs from dogs and cats on diagnostic imaging. Further studies including anal sac evaluation are expected to investigate disease conditions.


Laser shock peening (LSP) is a surface treatment process for airfoils that is achieved by the induction of compressive stress. While LSP is a mature and reliable surface treatment process, slight anomalies during the process, or variations in material ductility and geometries, may cause unintended formation of small subsurface cracks in the resultant LSP processed material. In this study, we developed a 3D FEM model to simulate the formation and predict the sizes of cracks generated by inappropriate LSP processing in airfoil specimens in order to avoid producing such subsurface cracks. The Johnson-Cook plastic material model along with the consideration of effects of high strain rate was used to describe the plasticity of Ti alloys. The constants in this plastic model have been optimized with experimental data. The FEM model also includes both damage initiation and evolution criteria to simulate cracks generated by LSP process in the specimens. The simulated crack sizes and locations in the specimens have been validated by the experimental results.


The aim of this study was to disseminate knowledge regarding the perceptions of Spanish consumers of chicken breast and their related lifestyles and to classify different consumer groups according to their food-related lifestyles. Nearly all Spanish consumers consume chicken breast once or twice per week. The preference for white or yellow chicken appears to be divided evenly, although the preferred is white chicken. Chicken breast is perceived as a product of convenience. Seventy percent of consumers buy chicken breast because it is easy to cook whereas only 27% prefer to buy the entire chicken. Four groups of consumers based on their lifestyles and their perceptions of chicken breast were identified: "Urban single", "Traditional", "Innovative precariat" and "Gourmet". These types of consumers are consistent with types other studies have identified in terms of the lifestyles associated with other foods. Defining groups of consumers with differentiated perceptions of chicken breast is useful in managing marketing strategies to satisfy the various consumption needs associated with chicken breast.


This study analyzes walking interaction to enhance the immersion and minimize virtual reality (VR) sickness of users by conducting experiments. In this study, the walking interaction is composed of three steps using input devices with a simple structure that can be easily used by anyone. The first step consists of a gamepad control method, which is the most popular but has low presence. The second step consists of a hand-based walking control interface, which is mainly used for interaction in VR applications. The last step consists of a march-in-place detection simulator that interacts with the legs—the key body parts for walking. Four experiments were conducted to determine the degree of direct expression of intention by users in the course of walking interactions that can improve immersion, presence, and prevent VR sickness in VR applications. With regard to the experiments in this study, survey experiments were conducted for general users using the Wilcoxon test, a presence questionnaire, and simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ). In addition, the technical performance of the VR scenes used in the experiment was analyzed. The experimental results showed that higher immersion was achieved when interactions that felt closer to real walking were provided in VR. Furthermore, it was found that even control methods with a simple structure could be used for walking interactions with minimal VR sickness. Finally, a satisfactory presence was found in VR if the user was able interact using his or her own legs.


The writers pay increased attention to the philosophical and historiographical
interpretation of events and phenomena, the moral and human essence of historical
persons, which absorbs their upbringing, social roles, and innate mental dominants.
The article establishes that the main types of plot creation of historical novels are
chronicled, events in which unfold in a temporal sequence, and concentric ("single
action"), where events develop in a causal relationship. The conceptual storyline of the
novel by M. Morozenko "Ivan Sirko, the Great Sorcerer" is the confrontation of the young
main character and the pompous instigator of the youthful detachment Taras Chornoplit.
The situation, which is repeated in chivalrous novels, is elegantly modeled. The character of the opponents is checked for stability: the enraged Taras Chornoplit threw Ivan Polovets, who is smaller, on the grass, but the last one did not lose his head and fought back. The fight between them will be one of the plot engines. In the real moments of the greatest tension of the conflict, Sirko's legendary supernatural abilities are woven, because he learned from the characters to see the innermost as well. The confrontation continued.
The struggle between good and evil is organically woven into the outline of the plot
of the story "Ivan Sirko, the Glorious Koshovoy": the military fame of the fellow
countryman strangled Chornoplit, and he slandered him. Further plot situations are saturated with fantasy: confusing feet, Chornoplit approached the Sich gates, but it was as if someone had moved them. In the morning he woke up far from the gates and was
suddenly captured by the Tatars.
The culmination of the clash was Sirko's response to treason against his native land. If
Taras carries unworthy fame from here and disgraces his native Merefyanka, then death
will be the punishment. The second time Sirko pushed Chornoplit as if he were something nasty and ugly.
According to the results of the study, it was found that episodes of the confrontation
between Sirko and Chornoplit constitute an event chain of verification of the moral qualities of the characters. It shows that for the writer, the preservation and development of the best achievements of the past, the proactive search for connections with folklore science fiction is especially relevant and important.
Different orders have compositional components of the novels of dilogy: descriptions, landscapes, portraits, monologues, dialogues, polylogues. They are enriched by the reproduction of the human perception of the world seen and experienced by the characters in stories, the connections between them and events, the fixation of individual communicative situations.
Magical landscapes are consonant with the moods of the citizen of Merefyanka; their souls turn to ancient sources. The majestic landscape of Khortytsia personifies the Cossack defense and glory. Khortytsia represents in the story not only a landscape type, but also a component of historical memory in the process of creating a nation. Emotionally respectful attitude to the cradle of the Cossacks forms a personal consciousness.
Sirko's verbal and artistic portraits describe a temperamental personality at different age. In postmodern narratives, M. Morozenko, instead of full reproductions of the personality of the main character, draws attention only to the leading features in various
life situations.
The novelism of the stories allowed the writer to achieve the desired laconicism in affirming historical memory, human good and justice, the need to talk with the young reader about the most important thing – friendship and child cruelty, truth and injustice,
love and hatred, about the attitude to parents and the active character of the little hero,
about Cossack feats.
Keywords: opening, culmination, event chain, retrospection.


Child trafficking is one of the most egregious violations of children's rights and well-being. In 2014, the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice formed a task force to focus on the issue. After completing two comprehensive reviews and consultations with experts in the field, the task force identified the need for a coherent framework, which conceptualized the primary prevention of child trafficking, which includes children vulnerable to being trafficked and becoming traffickers. This article describes the process undertaken to develop the primary prevention framework, an innovative, aspirational plan for communities to be absent of trafficking. It describes the framework in detail, including the theories that underlie it and the principles that guide it. The framework's flexibility is evident in its application to such worldwide challenges as racism, inequities, and a pandemic. Although the full consequences of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children are not yet known, this article describes certain trends, which have been identified and discusses critical lessons for applying a dynamic framework, as global disruptors will continue. The article ends with examples of how the framework could be implemented by all stakeholders in the community, to address the primary prevention of child trafficking in both the physical and the virtual world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


The conversion of ethanol into high-valuable chemicals and H2 by photocatalytic process provides a sustainable approach to produce carbon-chain-prolonged chemicals and hydrogen energy. In this article, Ni-MOF-74 was added to fabricate the hierarchical CdS/NiS-N composites with an elevated specific surface area during the hydrothermal synthesis of CdS microsphere, and the Ni-MOF-74 facilitate the self-assemble growth of CdS and provide a source of Ni for the formation of NiS. The as-prepared photocatalyst was subjected to photocatalytic ethanol conversion, and the hierarchical composite material CdS/NiS-N (100) formed by adding 100mg of Ni-MOF-74 exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity and stability in an ethanol aqueous solution with a water content of 10%. Under visible light irradiation, the conversion rate of ethanol reached 15.2% at the photocatalytic reaction of 5h. The selectivity of 2,3-butanediol(2,3-BDO) was 25%, and the selectivity of acetaldehyde(AA) was 63%. Through various characterizations, it has been proven that a large specific surface area and the coupling interface between CdS and NiS are key factors in improving photocatalytic performance. This work provides an effective strategy for constructing photocatalysts with coupled cocatalysts/semiconductors and large specific surface areas.


In recent years due to advancements in digital imaging machine learning techniques are used in medical image analysis for the prognosis and diagnosis of various abnormalities in the human body. Various Machine learning algorithms, convolution and deep neural networks are used for classification, detection and prediction of various brain tumors. The proposed approach is a different comparative classification analysis approach which is based on three different classification namely KNN classifier,Logistic regression & neural network as classifier. It is based on a deep learning feature extraction technique using VGG19. This VGG 19-layer image recognition model trained on Imgenet. Generally, MRI data sequences are analyzed in terms of different modalities and every modality contains rich tissue information. So, feature exaction from MRI sequences is very important task for brain tumor classification. Our approach demonstrated fair classification on BRATS Benchmarks 2018 data set with different modalities and sizes of images,results are without any human annotations. Based on selected classifiers all the classifiers gives accuracy above 90%. It is good compared to other state of art methods.


A fully off-shell action for N=2, d=6 Poincare supergravity in harmonic superspace is proposed. It consists of the off-shell actions for a scalar multiplet and for a self-dual tensor multiplet in conformal supergravity background. A new mechanism for describing self-dual tensor fields off shell, in which conformal supergravity plays an active role, is found.


This paper develops an innovative approach for calculating household nutrition indicators in a Computable General Equilibrium framework, using the flow of primary agri-food commodities through the global economy from farm to fork. It has been incorporated as a nutrition module in MAGNET. The method of tracing nutrients through the food system allows for making agriculture, the food supply chain and the economy as a whole nutrition-sensitive in scenario analyses. The validation of the nutrition outcomes in the base year with global data on nutrient consumption from the FAO reveals important differences which stem from differences in data and assumptions. Various solutions are identified to improve the calculations in the future. In the short run, correction factors are applied in the calculation of indicators in the nutrition module to capture and adjust the methodology for the remaining differences.


We thank Gabriel and colleagues for their appreciation of our investigation of redlining and lending bias as important contributors to breast cancer mortality (1). In their letter, Gabriel and colleagues raised questions regarding the role of redlining and lending bias on specific factors preceding diagnosis and following diagnosis that may identify targets for intervention, thereby reducing disparities. In our study, we examined the association between redlining, lending bias, and breast cancer mortality (1). We were unable to explore how these place-based measures of structural racism impact access to primary care and screening programs. As noted by the authors, stage IV diagnoses were more common among women who resided in redlined neighborhoods, likely reflecting reduced access to care in these areas. A recent study in Massachusetts reported that historic redlining was associated with late stage at diagnosis for multiple cancer sites (2). Additional research would benefit from investigation into how neighborhood deprivation affects screening and diagnostic delay. Gabriel and colleagues inquired whether components of care were associated with worse outcomes in our cohort. We have investigated previously the impact of guideline-concordant care on racial disparities in breast cancermortality (3).We found that non-Hispanic Black (NHB) women were more likely to receive guideline-concordant care compared with non-Hispanic White (NHW) women, and that failure to receive guideline-concordant care was associated with increased breast cancer mortality. Yet, NHB women had a 2-fold increase in breast cancer mortality compared with their NHW counterparts. To our knowledge, neighborhood deprivation indices have not been examined in relation to the receipt of guideline-concordant care, treatment delays, or quality of care, which are important to identify actionable targets. Although our study also supports the need for larger systemic changes (4). Gabriel and colleagues noted the association between redlining and breast cancer mortality was less pronounced among NHB women compared with NHW women (HR, 1.13 vs. 1.39), suggesting that redlining has a stronger association with breast cancer mortality than race. Table 3 provides both the common referent and race-stratified estimates. The former highlights that NHW women experienced similarly poor outcomes if they live in redlined neighborhoods. However, NHB women in nonredlined neighborhoods did not confer the same benefit. NHB women had more than a 2-fold increase in breast cancer mortality, regardless of the location of residence, which likely reflects the historic context of these systemic inequities. Our findings underscore the need to fully characterize residential history to understand the role of structural racism on breast cancer mortality (4).


Based on hardware measurement of 45nm RFCMOS and 130nm SiGe BiCMOS wafers, we present the first experimental investigation of the accuracy of various de-embedding techniques for high-frequency (up to 110GHz) on-wafer s-parameter characterization. The results clearly show that 4-port COMPLETE de-embedding offers accurate results only if the non-ideality of resistor standards is properly taken into account by using a newly developed technique. The industry-standard open-short (OS) de-embedding causes error at frequencies above 30GHz, and the pad-open-short technique significantly improves de-embedding accuracy over OS and, therefore, becomes an attractive approach since it only requires one more test structure than OS. The effects of gate electrostatic-discharge protection diodes on de-embedding accuracy for RFCMOS FETs are also presented and a technique is proposed that minimizes the associated errors.


An understanding of contemporary relations of power, and of the Western intellectual's role within them, requires an examination of the intersection of a theory of representation and the political economy of global capitalism. A theory of representation points, on the one hand, to the domain of ideology, meaning, and subjectivity, and, on the other hand, to the domain of politics, the state, and the law.


Purpose of review Antibiotic stress can evoke considerable genotypic and phenotypic changes in Gram-positive bacteria. Here, we review recent studies describing altered virulence expression in response to cell wall-acting antibiotics and discuss mechanisms that coordinate regulation of the antibiotic response. Recent findings Pleiotropic effects induced by antibiotic exposure include alterations to bacterial metabolism, cell wall structure and antibiotic resistance. In addition, subinhibitory concentrations of cell wall-active (CWA) antibiotics have increasingly been shown to induce the production of exotoxins and biofilm formation that may influence virulence. Remarkably, phenotypes associated with comparable antibiotic stresses can vary considerably, emphasizing the need to better understand the response to CWA antibiotics. Recent studies support both direct antibiotic recognition and recognition of antibiotic-induced stress to the bacterial cell wall. Specifically, bacterial two-component systems, penicillin-binding protein and serine/threonine kinase-associated kinases and conserved oxidative-stress sensors each contribute to modulating the antibiotic stress response. Summary Bacterial sensory systems and global regulators coordinate signaling in response to CWA antibiotics. Regulation of the antibiotic response is complex and involves integration of signals from multiple response pathways. A better definition of the antibiotic stress response among Gram-positive pathogens may yield novel therapeutic targets to counter antibiotic resistance and virulence factor expression.


Background/Aims: Acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients is common, and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is a preferred mode of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in hemodynamically unstable patients. Prediction of clinical outcomes in patients on CRRT is challenging. We utilized several approaches to predict RRT-free survival (RRTFS) in critically ill patients with AKI requiring CRRT. Methods: We used the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-III) database to identify patients ≥18 years old with AKI on CRRT, after excluding patients who had ESRD on chronic dialysis, and kidney transplantation. We defined RRTFS as patients who were discharged alive and did not require RRT ≥7 days prior to hospital discharge. We utilized all available biomedical data up to CRRT initiation. We evaluated 7 approaches, including logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and MLP with long short-term memory (MLP + LSTM). We evaluated model performance by using area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves. Results: Out of 684 patients with AKI on CRRT, 205 (30%) patients had RRTFS. The median age of patients was 63 years and their median Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II was 67 (interquartile range 52–84). The MLP + LSTM showed the highest AUROC (95% CI) of 0.70 (0.67–0.73), followed by MLP 0.59 (0.54–0.64), LR 0.57 (0.52–0.62), SVM 0.51 (0.46–0.56), AdaBoost 0.51 (0.46–0.55), RF 0.44 (0.39–0.48), and XGBoost 0.43 (CI 0.38–0.47). Conclusions: A MLP + LSTM model outperformed other approaches for predicting RRTFS. Performance could be further improved by incorporating other data types.


OBJECTIVES
Celiac disease (CD) remains undiagnosed for a long time in many adult and pediatric patients. We assessed the knowledge about CD among healthcare professionals (HCPs) and CD patients in Central Europe (CE).

METHODS
HCPs and CD patients from five CE countries were asked to complete the web-based questionnaire about CD. The questions were divided into subsections on epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnostics, treatment, and follow-up. Achieved scores of different specialists managing patients with CD were compared and regional differences in patients' knowledge were analyzed.

RESULTS
Questionnaire was completed by 1381 HCPs and 2262 CD patients or their caregivers from Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia. Mean score achieved by HCPs was 50.9%, and by CD patients 56.4%. Pediatric gastroenterologists scored the highest (69.4%; p < 0.001). There were significant differences in knowledge of patients from different CE regions with German participants scoring the highest (58.3%). Members of CD societies scored higher compared to non-members (mean score 58.0% vs 53.2%; p < 0.001) and patients diagnosed less than 5 years ago scored higher compared to those diagnosed more than 10 years ago (mean score 57.3% vs 54.6%; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
The knowledge about CD among HCPs and CD patients is not satisfactory. Further awareness-raising and learning activities are needed to improve HCPs' knowledge and to minimize the number of unrecognized patients and unnecessary diagnostic delays. Patients should be better informed about their disease to reach higher compliance with the gluten-free diet.


The main purpose of our study is to develop bivoltine breeds for our tropical climatic conditions by using silkworm breeds with known genetic backgrounds (KA, NB18 and PM) in various hybrid combinations and incorporating them over generations, followed by backcrossing and adequate selection of different generations with the objective of profitability and productivity. The isolated Bivoltin lines (R1 and R2) were reared with their parental races at different times of the year to evaluate their stability in the expression of commercial traits. For the present breeding program, the purebred Bivoltine Kalimpong A (KA), which spin white oval cocoons, New Bivoltine18 (NB18) white cocoons with rotating dumbbells and Multivoltine Pure Mysore (PM), the yellow pointed cocoons of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori L., Selected. One way and three way crosses were made using the above three breeds. The first single cross comprised KA females and PM males. The second unique cross comprised NB18 females and PM males. Selection was performed at the egg, larva, pupal, and cocoon stages over the course to determine the desired traits. The offspring of F from the respective crosses were backcrossed with their respective bivoltine males to improve commercial traits. Heterosis in the F1 generations of crosses, including NB18 and PM, was determined by the mean score of the parents (MPV) and the best score of the parents (BPV). A significant test for heterosis was performed using a standard ANOVA table. Based on the results of our study, it was concluded that the mean performance of characters viz. single cocoon weight, single shell weight and shell ration revealed the appearance of higher heterosis for productivity traits, and it could be due to the fact that the influence of the super dominant or incomplete genes on the expression of cocoon yield by weight.


Self-calibration in approximately 10 000 conversions is demonstrated in a 16-bit, 1-MS/s algorithmic analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Continuous digital background calibration is enabled by introduction of a "split ADC" architecture, in which the die area of a single ADC design is split into two independent converters, each converting the same input signal. The two independent outputs are averaged to produce the ADC output code. The difference of the two outputs provides information for the background calibration process. Since both ADCs convert the same input, when correctly calibrated their outputs should be equal and the difference should be zero. Any nonzero difference provides information to an error estimation process which adjust calibration parameters in each ADC. For the specific realization of an algorithmic ADC described in this paper, a multiple residue mode amplifier is used to ensure different decision trajectories and provide valid calibration information. The analog sub-system of the ADC is implemented in 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS, consumes 105 mW, and has a die size of 1.2 mm /spl times/ 1.4 mm.


Infection control for hospital pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) often takes the form of a package of interventions, including the use of patient isolation and decolonization treatment. Such interventions, though widely used, have generated controversy because of their significant resource implications and the lack of robust evidence with regard to their effectiveness at reducing transmission. The aim of this study was to estimate the effectiveness of isolation and decolonization measures in reducing MRSA transmission in hospital general wards. Prospectively collected MRSA surveillance data from 10 general wards at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospitals, London, United Kingdom, in 2006–2007 were used, comprising 14,035 patient episodes. Data were analyzed with a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to model transmission dynamics. The combined effect of isolation and decolonization was estimated to reduce transmission by 64% (95% confidence interval: 37, 79). Undetected MRSA-positive patients were estimated to be the source of 75% (95% confidence interval: 67, 86) of total transmission events. Isolation measures combined with decolonization treatment were strongly associated with a reduction in MRSA transmission in hospital general wards. These findings provide support for active methods of MRSA control, but further research is needed to determine the relative importance of isolation and decolonization in preventing transmission.


Many important questions in developmental biology increasingly interface with related questions in other biological disciplines such as evolutionary biology and ecology. In this article, we review and summarize recent progress in the development of horned beetles and beetle horns as study systems amenable to the integration of a wide range of approaches, from gene function analysis in the laboratory to population ecological and behavioral studies in the field. Specifically, we focus on three key questions at the current interface of developmental biology, evolutionary biology and ecology: (1) the developmental mechanisms underlying the origin and diversification of novel, complex traits, (2) the relationship between phenotypic diversification and the diversification of genes and transcriptomes, and (3) the role of behavior as a leader or follower in developmental evolution. For each question we discuss how work on horned beetles is contributing to our current understanding of key issues, as well as highlight challenges and opportunities for future studies. WIREs Dev Biol 2013, 2:405–418. doi: 10.1002/wdev.81


In pure carbonate systems, the combined effect of variations in depositional facies and diagenetic alterations plays a key role in controlling variations in sonic velocities and thus in acoustic impedance. As seismic facies are delineated by acoustic impedance contrasts, depositional facies and geometries may be rather poorly defined for various carbonates environments (e.g., shallow-water platform carbonates). Accurate three-dimensional imaging of seismic facies and geometries is critical to construct a realistic, seismically constrained reservoir model. Conventional two- and three-dimensional (2-D and 3-D, respectively) seismic mapping is not an ideal predictive method when attempting to characterize carbonate reservoirs mainly because of the complexity and heterogeneity of carbonate systems. Three-dimensional image-processing techniques of stacked and migrated data incorporate all three dimensions, which when combined help to identify and highlight events of significance in the data. The result is an attribute cube or volume that can be analyzed and interpreted more objectively by the interpreter than the conventional horizon-based interpretation. We have applied various 3-D image-processing techniques to produce filtered seismic reflectivity data and volume attributes to better visualize and delineate seismic facies, geometries, and the structure of heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs. Structure-oriented filtering was applied to improve signal-to-noise ratios and suppress random noise to obtain a better reflection definition. Combined volume dip and azimuth was calculated from the seismic cubes to detect subtle stratigraphic features, such as low-angle progradation units and shoal-type mounded seismic facies in the Permian Khuff and Upper Cretaceous Natih E reservoirs in Oman. Semblance volumes were used to highlight reflection terminations and distinguish between stratigraphic and structural features. In the Malampaya field (Philippines), neural network classification mapping was applied to the 3-D attribute-generated volumes to extract different seismic facies and properties, which can be related to potential good reservoir zones. Three-dimensional visualization tools were used to image both horizons and faults of a complex inverted structure of a deep Upper Cretaceous restricted marine-lacustrine carbonate reservoir in the Yacoraite Formation, northwest Argentina. Seismic facies and geometries interpreted from the attribute analyses, combined with interpretation of the original seismic and core-log data, allowed us to construct robust structural and depositional models of carbonate environments that were used as input for static reservoir models.


An approach for an all-embracing ECG signal analysis is introduced. Self organizing maps are applied to spatial high resolution multilead ECG (body surface ECG) recorded during the acute phase of myocardial infarction to detect characteristic changes. The algorithm deals with the measurement of similarity between different pathological signal types. In opposition to other techniques, the whole ECG-signal coded as a feature vector is used as input for the self organizing map. The results show that this approach is suitable for handling unsharp class transitions common to several problems from the medical domain.


This article proposes a decision-making model that assesses the different aspects associated to Social Venture Capital (SVC) investment decisions. SVC companies buy shares of investee companies, valued according to financial and social aspects. The proposed model includes three main factors: the previous experience with the company (the past); its financial information and intangible assets (the present); and the proposed project, considering financial and social criteria (the future). The model has 26 criteria and 160 indicators, prioritized by means of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP simplifies a complex problem using a hierarchical analysis methodology, which enables subjective judgements among different criteria. The model has been tested in a given SVC company. Its development is explained in this article.


Magnetoresistance was investigated in Fe/FeSi/Fe sandwiches with metallic bcc- and semiconductor like FeSi spacers prepared by an ultrahigh-vacuum magnetron sputtering system, enhanced with inductively coupled RF plasma. In the easy axis direction, MR curves at 298 K have a dip around the zero magnetic field for both Fe/FeSi/Fe sandwiches with semiconductor like FeSi and bcc metallic FeSi spacers. On the other hand, MR curves at 10 K exhibit a dip and no anomaly around the zero magnetic field for the Fe/bcc metallic FeSi/Fe and Fe/semiconductor like FeSi/Fe sandwiches, respectively. When the contribution of biquadratic coupling to interlayer exchange coupling is considered, these MR behaviors are well explained. These results support the interlayer exchange coupling model attributed to the biquadratic exchange coupling which outweighs the colinear term at a low temperature in Fe/FeSi multilayers.


This article reports on aspects of an investigation into learners' approaches to vocabulary learning that was carried out as part of an experimental project integrating CALL into an ESL (English as a Second Language)/computer training course. Data from two of the learners is presented, and contrasting 'deep' and 'surface' approaches are identified. The link between approach and learning outcome is demonstrated. The importance of qualitative analysis of learning processes, and the possible contribution of CALL to this kind of analysis, is discussed.


Sociotype is a concept that allows a more comprehensive understanding about biosociology of undiagnosed rare diseases (URD). Sociotype is related to a genotype and a phenotype and it is an expression of the individual life world in society. In this paper, semiotic and hermeneutic analysis of papers published and selected about URD is developed. Te perspective followed in this research is aligned with the works of Barbieri and Peirce. Papers with the most social content have been selected and those with a more biomedical content have been rejected. Te semiotics analysis has been divided in genotypic, phenotypic and sociotypic, and related to the hermeneutical perspective. It has been possible to understand the basis of semiotics elements of URD. Te general conclusion is that URD is a particular sociotype with a determined set of social characteristics. Tis paper opens research on the biosemiotic and hermeneutic perspective about URD.


For amine gas detection, we incorporated two well-known isomers, 2-chloro-3,5-dinitro-benzotrifluoride and 4-chloro-3,5-dinitro-benzotrifluoride, in polyurethanes. Nanoweb and thin film were prepared by electrospinning and lamination, respectively, in order to compare their sensing behaviors. Moreover, we studied photophysical property using UV-Vis spectrometer and observed surface area through scanning electron microscope to compare between the Nanoweb and thin film. We found out that nanowebs exhibited high sensitivity specifically to primary amine gas.


Abstract : With the increased threat posed by terrorism and the growth of rogue states' the importance of achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East is greater than ever. However, the peace begun in Madrid in 1991 and marked by the historic 1993 Oslo Accord between Israel and the PLO has floundered. This thesis provides a means for understanding the failure of the current peace process by analyzing why Israel and the PLO agreed to the terms of Oslo. While Israel was motivated by the opportunity to solve its security and political dilemmas on acceptable terms, the PLO was motivated primarily by concerns of organizational survival. The Oslo process departs from other successful settlements in two ways. First, Oslo focused on short-term arrangements, without consensus on the nature of the final outcome. An examination of successful settlements shows that the parties agreed to the outlines of a final settlement prior to commencing formal negotiations. Second, the vast imbalance of power between the two parties has made Oslo a hegemonic peace, which itself perpetuates instability in both the weaker and stronger states. Only parties enjoying a relative balance of power have concluded successful peace settlements in the Middle East. Given these structural anomalies, I conclude that the Oslo peace process will not achieve a lasting,peace between Israel and the Palestinians.


Imaging utilization in emergency departments (EDs) has increased significantly. More than half of the 1.2 million patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) presenting to US EDs receive head CT. While evidence-based guidelines can help emergency clinicians decide whether to obtain head CT in these patients, adoption of these guidelines has been highly variable. Promulgation of imaging efficiency guidelines by the National Quality Forum has intensified the need for performance reporting, but measuring adherence to these imaging guidelines currently requires labor-intensive and potentially inaccurate manual chart review. We implemented clinical decision support (CDS) based on published evidence to guide emergency clinicians towards appropriate head CT use in patients with MTBI and automated data capture needed for unambiguous guideline adherence metrics. Implementation of the CDS was associated with a 56% relative increase in documented adherence to evidence-based guidelines for imaging in ED patients with MTBI.


Few studies have been conducted on strategies to promote the implementation of complex interventions in nursing homes (NHs). This article presents a pilot study intended to assess the strategies that would enable the optimal implementation of a complex intervention approach in NHs based on the meanings of screams of older people living with Alzheimer's disease. An action research approach was used with 19 formal and family caregivers from five NHs. Focus groups and individual interviews were held to assess different implementation strategies. A number of challenges were identified, as were strategies to overcome them. These latter included interactive training, intervention design, and external support. This study shows the feasibility of implementing a complex intervention to optimize older people's well-being. The article shares strategies that may promote the implementation of these types of interventions in NHs.


This study analyzes the low short-range predictability of the 3 May 2020 derecho using a 40-member convection-allowing Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) ensemble. Elevated storms formed in south-central Kansas late at night and evolved into a progressive mesoscale convective system (MCS) during the morning while moving across southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, and affected western and middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky in the afternoon. The convective initiation (CI) in south-central Kansas, the organization of a dominant bow echo MCS and the MCS maintenance over Tennessee were identified as the three main predictability issues. These issues were explored using three MPAS ensemble members, observations and the Rapid Refresh analyses. The MPAS members were classified as successful or unsuccessful with regard to each predictability issue. CI in south-central Kansas was sensitive to the temperature and dewpoint profiles in low levels, which were associated with greater elevated thermodynamic instability and lower level of free convection in the successful member. The subsequent organization of a dominant bowing MCS was well predicted by the member that had more widespread convection in the early stages and no detrimental interaction with other simulated convective systems. Lastly, the inability of MPAS ensemble members to predict the MCS maintenance over western and middle Tennessee was linked to a dry bias in low levels and much lower thermodynamic instability ahead of the MCS compared to observations. This case demonstrates the challenges in operational forecasting of warm-season derecho-producing progressive MCSs, particularly when ensemble numerical weather prediction guidance solutions differ considerably.


Introduction: An increasing number of individuals with dementia drive. Many argue that those with mild dementia are safe to do so. This study explored the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of hospital-based doctors towards drivers with dementia. Methods: 20 doctors in a regional hospital in NSW were surveyed using a 20-item questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data collected. Results: Half were unaware of the Austroads national guidelines; 60% incorrectly believed that they were legally obliged to report all unsafe drivers in NSW. Most felt that drivers with dementia delay driving retirement for a wide range of reasons. All participants expressed a desire for changes to current clinical practices. Conclusion: Drivers with dementia require guidance from their treating physicians. This study found that there is room for improvement in the attitudes, knowledge and practices of hospital-based doctors who treated drivers with dementia. Options for improved road safety and avenues for future research are discussed.


Premaritally pregnant Caucasian and Mexican-American adolescents (N = 299) aged 13 to 19 years who received pregnancy counseling, pregnancy termination, or prenatal services at a county clinic were reinterviewed six months after delivery or abortion to assess postdecision satisfaction. More than 80% making each decision (i.e., abortion, single-motherhood, marriage) said they would make the same decision again. There were no significant effects of decision alternative, ethnicity/religion, or age on satisfaction. Among aborters, four factors--positive preprocedure abortion opinion, more liberal attitudes towards abortion for others, consistent contraceptive use following abortion, and their mothers' higher educational attainment--accounted for about 20% of the variance in satisfaction. Among single mothers positive preprocedure attitude towards single motherhood and lack of attempts to attend school in the six months after delivery were associated in bivariate analyses with decision satisfaction. Implications of these findings for adolescent pregnancy counseling are discussed.


The effects of a 12-week treatment with acebutolol on serum lipids have been studied in 18 patients. Acebutolol was given as a 400-, 600-, or 800-mg single daily dose in the morning. Standing and supine blood pressure diminished significantly, whereas the major indexes of lipid metabolism such as total serum cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and plasma lipoproteins were not significantly affected. The treatment was well tolerated.


Motivated principally by the low-rank matrix completion problem, we present an extension of the Frank-Wolfe method that is designed to induce near-optimal solutions on low-dimensional faces of the feasible region. This is accomplished by a new approach to generating ``in-face" directions at each iteration, as well as through new choice rules for selecting between in-face and ``regular" Frank-Wolfe steps. Our framework for generating in-face directions generalizes the notion of away-steps introduced by Wolfe. In particular, the in-face directions always keep the next iterate within the minimal face containing the current iterate. We present computational guarantees for the new method that trade off efficiency in computing near-optimal solutions with upper bounds on the dimension of minimal faces of iterates. We apply the new method to the matrix completion problem, where low-dimensional faces correspond to low-rank matrices. We present computational results that demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodological approach at producing nearly-optimal solutions of very low rank. On both artificial and real datasets, we demonstrate significant speed-ups in computing very low-rank nearly-optimal solutions as compared to either the Frank-Wolfe method or its traditional away-step variant.


Atypical fibroxanthomas (AFX) are rare cutaneous tumors, which typically present as a solitary ulcerated papule or nodule on sun-damaged skin. Despite malignant-appearing features on histology, AFX typically pursue a benign clinical course. In rare instances, AFX can form collision tumors with other lesions. However, to the best of our knowledge, AFX in collision with a nevus has never been previously reported. In this study, we describe such a lesion for its novelty and challenge in diagnosis, as this case was originally considered to be melanoma arising in a nevus. On histologic examination, there were 2 distinct populations of cells; one composed of markedly atypical and pleomorphic epithelioid and oval to spindled cells, consistent with AFX, and the other, a bland-appearing intradermal nevus with congenital features. The AFX population stained positive with smooth muscle actin, CD10, and CD68 and was negative for S100, SOX10, Melan-A, desmin, pancytokeratin, CK5/6, and p63. Deep to this was a second population of small, bland-appearing melanocytes in a broad, band-like distribution. This unusual collision tumor between AFX and an intradermal nevus highlights the important role immunohistochemistry plays in avoiding the misdiagnosis and potential overtreatment of benign or low-grade lesions, and in identifying potential mimickers.


The off‐design characteristics of an improved recompression supercritical carbon dioxide cycle integrated with a two‐stage intercooled main compressor are investigated with a focus on the concentrated solar power application. An off‐design model is established for each crucial component of the cycle system of 100‐megawatt scale. Four cycle control schemes with different main compressor configurations or/and cycle maximum pressure modes are evaluated and compared. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the parameters related to the cycle thermal input and ambient condition to predict the off‐design characteristics due to the plant dispatch and ambient condition change in a solar power plant. The off‐design results regarding the cycle thermodynamic performance and operational issue prevention are presented. The effect of the design‐point value of the main compressor inlet temperature on the off‐design characteristics is evaluated with the comparison among the results at three design points. The results reveal that the compressor surge may occur to the main compressor with basic configuration as the main compressor inlet temperature decreases to a certain value beneath the corresponding design point. By contrast, the surge risk can be prevented with the modified main compressor configuration by activating the recirculation system and the cycle can thus operate normally in the entire off‐design range of main compressor inlet temperature. The off‐design change in thermal input has overall limited effects on the cycle system control. No operational compressor issues occur for the main compressor with either basic or modified configuration as the thermal input deviates from the design points and varies in the studied ranges. The cycle maximum pressure mode has slight effects on the cycle thermodynamic performance as the thermal input deviates from the design point. The flexible cycle maximum pressure mode has slightly lower sensitivity to the thermal input variation in net output power due to the counteraction of mass flowrate variation. The selection of the design‐point value of the main compressor inlet temperature has significant effects on the off‐design characteristics of the cycle. A low design‐point value of the main compressor inlet temperature leads to less demanding control action for operational issue prevention whereas a high design‐point main compressor inlet temperature results in overall more stable thermodynamic performance under off‐design conditions. Among other schemes, the fixed maximum pressure mode with the modified main compressor configuration is found to be the most satisfactory one due to the consequent superior efficiency, steady net output power, and free of hazardous operating issues despite the relatively demanding task of compressor surge prevention. The developed control scheme can be further improved by implementing parametric optimization during the off‐design operation.


We have investigated intergrain magnetic interactions in three types of Co-based alloys of interest for longitudinal magnetic recording: CoPtCr, CoPtCrTa, and CoPtCrB. The goal is to quantify how intergranular exchange interactions in CoPtCr alloys are modified by doping said alloys with additives such as Ta and B. These 20-nm-thick alloys were grown under identical deposition conditions on AlMg/NiP substrates and a comprehensive study of their microstructural and magnetic properties was conducted to evaluate the degree of intergranular exchange coupling and the manner how the coupling depends on the corresponding microstructural properties. We find that the ternary alloy exhibits the strongest intergrain coupling. In the case of the quaternary alloys, the degree of exchange interactions is virtually the same. Consequently, any significant difference pertaining recording performance in these quaternary alloys must be dominated by the inherent differences in grain microstructure and the spatial distributio...


This paper presents a reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric (REWOD) energy harvester integrated with rectifier, boost converter, and charge amplifier that is, without bias voltage, capable of powering wearable sensors for monitoring human health in real-time. REWOD has been demonstrated to effectively generate electrical current at a low frequency range (< 3 Hz), which is the frequency range for various human activities such as walking, running, etc. However, the current generated from the REWOD without external bias source is insufficient to power such motion sensors. In this work, to eventually implement a fully self-powered motion sensor, we demonstrate a novel bias-free REWOD AC generation and then rectify, boost, and amplify the signal using commercial components. The unconditioned REWOD output of 95–240 mV AC is generated using a 50 μL droplet of 0.5M NaCl electrolyte and 2.5 mm of electrode displacement from an oscillation frequency range of 1–3 Hz. A seven-stage rectifier using Schottky diodes having a forward voltage drop of 135–240 mV and a forward current of 1 mA converts the generated AC signal to DC voltage. ∼3 V DC is measured at the boost converter output, proving the system could function as a self-powered motion sensor. Additionally, a linear relationship of output DC voltage with respect to frequency and displacement demonstrates the potential of this REWOD energy harvester to function as a self-powered wearable motion sensor.


In this paper, we report on the fluorescence enhancement of Eu coordination complexes in dilute solutions through electrostatic complex micelle formation with an oppositely charged block polyelectrolyte. The coordination complexes alone are oligomeric structures which have many ends where partially coordinated europium is exposed to water. In the presence of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, the local concentration of the coordination complexes is greatly enhanced, so that they transform into polymeric structures and form electrostatically induced micelles with the block polyelectrolytes. This effectively decreases the number of europium–water coordination bonds, which leads to the enhancement of fluorescence emission. This is the first report that utilizes the concentration responsiveness of the smart coordination polymers to promote the function of the colloids made from them.


The purpose of the present study was to compare in canine experiments hemodynamic and angiographic effects on mesenteric circulation. I. v. administration of strophanthin is leading to an increase of arterial pressure and a decrease of mesenteric blood flow. Most consistent angiographic changes are attenuation and local vasoconstriction of peripheral vessels. The relationship between digitalis administration and mesenteric underperfusion leading to non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia is discussed.


Introduction: Light skin tone has been desired by many Asian women thus the search of effective depigmenting agent has been conducted by many researchers. Tranexamic acid, an anti-fibrinolytic drug, is now gaining popularity as a new depigmenting agent. However, studies on tranexamic acid have shown mixed result of its comparison to hydroquinone. Galactomyces ferment filtrate, niacinamide and alpha arbutin have been known of their depigmenting effect. Combined materials with different targeting mechanisms are used to enhance the effectiveness of the lighting agent
Objective: To compare the skin lightening effect of combination of tranexamic acid 3%, galactomyces ferment filtrate 2%, niacinamide 4%, and alpha arbutin 2% to hydroquinone 4%.

Methods: In this study, each of 30 participants applied a combination of tranexamic acid 3%, galactomyces ferment filtrate 2%, niacinamide 4%, and alpha arbutin 2% and hydroquinone 4% to the left forearm using a special patron. Subject then evaluated each week for four weeks. Clinical effects were evaluated using a chromameter including L* for skin brightness and a* for skin erythema. All measurements were taken three times, and the mean value was used. To assess the comparison of skin brightness score and pigmentation intensity between the two serum groups, the Independent T-test was used. As for assessing the change in scores based on measurement time in each serum group, Pearson's Correlation was used. The test results are significant if the value of p


The structure of liquid Ge as a function of temperature and density was investigated using molecular dynamics and interatomic forces derived from the pseudopotential theory. The authors present results for the pair correlation function, the static structure factor and the bond-angle distribution function as a function of temperature and density. Our results are in good agreement with diffraction experiments. The density derivative of the structure factor deviates from the prediction of the uniform-fluid model due to the density dependence of the interatomic potential. The bond-angle distribution shows that the local order in liquid Ge is different from that of both the semiconducting and the metallic crystalline phases. With progressive undercooling the structure of the liquid does not tend towards the structure of amorphous Ge, because solidification is associated with a metal-semiconductor transition resulting in state-dependent interatomic potentials.