Abdominal wall sarcoma is part of a heterogeneous group of rare malignant neoplastic conditions with differentiated morphological patterns and originating from mesenchymal tissues. Soft tissue sarcomas are more prevalent in the lower and upper limbs and retroperitoneum but rarely occurring on the abdominal wall. This case corresponds to a 46-year-old patient, without associated comorbidities, complaining of painless swelling in the right flank with onset occurring 2 months previously. The computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a solid tumor on the abdominal wall of the flank measuring 10 x 12 cm, and the biopsy of the mass identified: highgrade myxoid sarcoma. The patient underwent surgical resection of most of the lateral abdominal wall with closure of the defect using polypropylene mesh, evolving satisfactorily in the postoperative period, and remains under follow-up for three years without local recurrence or metastases. Correspondence to: Professor Roriz-Silva R, MSc, MD, Professor of general and Digestive Surgery, Federal University of Rondonia, Division of General Surgery, Hospital de Base, Porto Velho City, Brazil, Tel/Fax: 55 (69) 32165446, E-mail: email@example.com


Abstract : We present a new supervised method for estimating term-based retrieval models and apply it to weight expansion terms from relevance feedback. While previous work on supervised feedback [Cao et al., 2008] demonstrated significantly improved retrieval accuracy over standard unsupervised approaches [Lavrenko and Croft, 2001, Zhai and Laerty, 2001], feedback terms were assumed to be independent in order to reduce training time. In contrast, we adapt the AdaRank learning algorithm [Xu and Li, 2007] to simultaneously estimate parameterization of all feedback terms. While not evaluated here, the method can be more generally applied for joint estimation of both query and feedback terms. To apply our method to a large web collection, we also investigate use of sampling to reduce feature extraction time while maintaining robust learning.


Our previous study identified peaks in the 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR) spectra of skim milk, denoting the interaction of different phosphate species such as inorganic and casein-associated phosphate during the separation of colloidal and serum phases of skim milk by microfiltration (MF) and diafiltration (DF). In the current study, we investigated the same samples generated by the aforementioned separation using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis. The results confirmed that the technique was not only capable of differentiating between the mineral equilibrium of the casein phosphate nanocluster (CPN) and milk serum, but also complemented the application of 31P NMR. An ATR-FTIR broad band in the region of 1,055 to 1,036 cm-1 and a specific band at 1,076 cm-1 were identified as sensitive to the repartitioning of different phosphate species in milk in accordance with the 31P NMR signals representing casein-associated phosphate and inorganic phosphate in the serum. A third ATR-FTIR signal at 1,034 cm-1 in milk, representing precipitated inorganic calcium phosphate, had not previously been detected by 31P NMR. Thus, the results indicate that a combination of ATR-FTIR and 31P NMR spectroscopies may be optimally used to follow mineral and protein phase changes in milk during membrane processing.


G-actin freed from exogenous ATP was added to the pieces of isolated acrosomal actin bundles from horseshoe crab sperm to form filaments as reported earlier (Tilney, L.G., Bonder, E.M., & DeRosier, D.J. (1981) J. Cell Biol. 90, 485-494). The growth of a filament was far more rapid at one end (the preferred end) than the other end. These ends were shown to correspond to the barbed and pointed ends, respectively, by decoration of the filaments with myosin subfragment 1. Cytochalasin B inhibited the monomer addition at the preferred end. This technique is useful in determining the ends to which actin filament end-binding proteins from nonmuscle cells bind, which are considered to regulate the actin polymerization in the cells.


Michel Henry radicalises phenomenology by putting forward the idea of a double manifestation: the "Truth of Life" and "truth of the world." For Henry, the world turns out to be empty of Life. To find its essence, the self must dive completely inward, away from the exterior movements of intentionality. Hence, Life, or God, for Henry, lies in non‑intentional, immanent self-experience, which is felt and yet remains invisible, in an absolutist sense, as an a priori condition of all conscious experience. In Christian theology, the doctrine of the Trinity illuminates the distinction between the immanent Trinity (God's self‑relation) and the economic workings of the Trinity (God‑world relation). However, the mystery of God's inmost being and the economy of salvation are here understood as inseparable. In light of this, the paper aims to: 1) elucidate the significance of Henry's engagement with the phenomenological tradition and his proposal of a phenomenology of Life which advocates an immanent auto‑affection, radically separate from the ek‑static nature of intentionality, and 2) confront the division between Life and world in Henry's Christian phenomenology and its discordancy with the doctrine of the Trinity, as the latter attests to the harmonious unity that subsists between inner life and the world.


Astragali Radix is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine with a long history, which has the functions of tonifying Qi and promoting urination and granulation. Astragalosides are the main effective components of Astragali Radix, and more than 40 triterpenoid saponins have been obtained from Astragalus membranaceus and its related plants, mainly including astragalosides Ⅰ-Ⅷ, isoastragalosides Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅳ, acetylastragalosides, and soyasaponins. Astragalosides have a wide range of biological activities, such as immunomodulation, antioxidation, and neuroprotection. Nervous system diseases seriously affect people's quality of life, threaten human physical and mental health, and impose a burden on families and society. As natural drugs, astragalosides have good preventive and therapeutic effects on central nervous system diseases. This paper reviews the main pharmacological effects and mechanisms of astragalosides in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and cerebral ischemic stroke and proposes the research prospects and potential problems, aiming to provide reference for the clinical application and basic research of astragalosides.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common form of diabetic eye disease. Retinopathy can affect all diabetic patients and becomes particularly dangerous, increasing the risk of blindness, if it is left untreated. The success rate of its curability solemnly depends on diagnosis at an early stage. The development of automated computer aided disease diagnosis tools could help in faster detection of symptoms with a wider reach and reasonable cost. This paper proposes a method for the automated segmentation of retinal lesions and optic disk in fundus images using a deep fully convolutional neural network for semantic segmentation. This trainable segmentation pipeline consists of an encoder network, a corresponding decoder network followed by pixel-wise classification to segment microaneurysms, hemorrhages, hard exudates, soft exudates, optic disk from background. The network was trained using Binary cross entropy criterion with Sigmoid as the last layer, while during an additional SoftMax layer was used for boosting response of single class. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using sensitivity, positive prediction value (PPV) and accuracy as the metrices. Further, the position of the Optic disk is localised using the segmented output map.


We report a case of a generalized seizure in an adult female rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta) undergoing a urodynamic evaluation while she was anesthetized with continuous-infusion ketamine. The seizure presented with generalized tonic-clonic activity during bladder infusion with saline. The tonic-clonic phase was self-limited and was followed by focal facial twitching, which was interrupted by bolus administration of intravenous diazepam. The ictal event was documented as pressure oscillations during cystometrogram recordings and a period of external urethral sphincter muscle activation, which was detectable by electromyography. An acute decrease in urethral pressure was demonstrated at the end of the generalized seizures. Ketamine anesthesia combined with relatively rapid infusion of saline into the bladder may have contributed to the onset of seizures. In addition, this case highlights the value of having a fast-acting benzodiazepine agent available to stop continuous or residual seizure activity during diagnostic or experimental procedures in anesthetized nonhuman primates.


Idiopathic, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) is most often associated with various clinical disorders, including connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (cHP). Emerging evidence also suggests that "idiopathic" NSIP may be the lung manifestation of undifferentiated CTD (UCTD). However, whether or not NSIP outcome is influenced by the underlying cause remains uncertain. This retrospective study included 127 biopsy-proven NSIP patients (65 women, mean±sd age 55±12 years). Survivals were estimated using a Kaplan–Meier curve and compared using the log-rank test. Multivariate analyses were based on a Cox model. 15 (11.8%) patients had cHP, 29 (22.8%) had CTD, 32 (25.2%) satisfied the Kinder criteria for UCTD and 51 (40.1%) had idiopathic NSIP. At the end of follow-up (mean±sd 64±54 months), a difference in survival was observed between aetiological groups (p=0.002). Survival was better for UCTD than for idiopathic NSIP (p=0.020) and similar to that observed for CTD. cHP survival tended to be poorer than that of idiopathic NSIP (p=0.087) and was an independent predictor of mortality (hazard ratio 2.17, 95% CI 1.05–4.47; p=0.035). NSIP outcome is influenced by its cause. cHP exhibits the highest mortality. UCTD does not differ from CTD supporting the concept of autoimmune NSIP, with a prognosis that is better than that of idiopathic NSIP. NSIP patients should be investigated for the presence of an underlying cause, which significantly impacts survival http://ow.ly/F1lO2


BACKGROUND
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reflect priorities established by regulators. Recently, pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) have begun to attract interest. Unlike RCTs, PCTs aim to better inform post-regulatory decision making by using head-to-head comparisons of alternative treatments, diverse patient populations, and outcomes meaningful to patients, prescribers, and payers.

OBJECTIVES
To describe how U.S. insurers and public payers perceive the value of PCTs for assessment of new prescription drugs.

STUDY DESIGN
Criterion-based sample of U.S. insurers and public payers.

METHODS
We gathered qualitative evidence from intensive interviews with formulary decision makers at 15 payers, representing 10 major types of U.S. payers. Prior literature and exploratory interviews informed our question selection.

RESULTS
Payers viewed PCTs favorably despite wariness of drug company-sponsored trials. Payers would accept results from PCTs as part of payers' synthesis of multiple sources of evidence. Payers were enthusiastic about 2 PCT features-a diverse population (compared with the more homogeneous populations typical of RCTs) and an active comparator drug (not placebo). Payers did not anticipate that PCTs would displace their own analyses of internal data. Pharmaceutical companies' financial interest in obtaining trial results that favor their own drugs reduces PCTs' perceived value and dampens their appeal to payers; nonetheless, payers would seek PCT results and review them carefully, as they do other evidence.

CONCLUSIONS
Recommendations to trial designers based on payers' views include tailoring different types of PCTs to different disease conditions, building in head-to-head comparisons in phase IIIb PCTs, and designing phase IV PCTs to include broader populations.


Throughout the fifty years of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish's writing life, home is a predominant theme in his poetry. In the authors' reading of his work, the environment is closely linked to the notion of home and that is central to the field of ecocriticism that highlights the significance of environment to the study of literature. The discussion in this paper focuses on how Darwish represents ecology of home through the waves of his employment of environment in his homeland in his poetic production. His poems, which he writes from within his country and more keenly so when he is exiled from it, could be used to illustrate how an ecopostcolonial perspective might contribute to an understanding of the poet's depiction of home through environment. To do this, the authors combined two theories -ecocriticism and postcolonial theory . by linking the marginality of environment in postcolonial theorizing with the centrism of environment in ecocriticism. The blending of the two theories illuminates how the ecological elements in his poems formulate the poet's conception of home in the crisis-ridden modern world. As it has been shown, the poems of Darwish are populated with a continuous and unique development in the interaction between environment and home from the early poems to the poems of exile and the poems written upon returning home. In addition, Darwish definitely contributes to the facets of Palestinian environment and stirs up a sense of changing ecological notion of home in the Palestinian context. Thus Darwish's use of nature becomes the basis of his agenda as a literary activist and shows how his identity is inseparable from the physical environment.


A ping pong robot with 5 degree of freedoms is designed in this paper. It consists of a PC, a high speed stereovision system with two smart cameras, AC servo motors and step motors. The hitting task of the ping pong robot is divided into three stages: the measurement and prediction stage, the planning stage and the execution stage. In the planning stage, we propose series of methods to plan the paddle trajectory, paddle posture, hitting speed according to the hitting information. Experiments of the robot versus a person are well conducted. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the designed ping pong robot and the proposed methods.


The course of 54 patients (35 boys and 19 girls) with end stage renal disease resulting Jkom obstructive uropathy was reviewed The mean age at the initial sign of obstructive uropathy was 3.5years. Twentytwo patients (41%) manifested evidence of ?bstructive uropathy during the first year of life. The mean age at the time of onset of ESRD (dialysis) was 12.2 years and was similar in boys and girls. The mean time interval between the first sign of obstructive uropathy and the initiation of dialysis was nine years. Fourteen patients operated upon at less than one year oJ'age developed ESRD one to 20 years (mean ten years) following their initial surgery. Progression to ESRD occurred despite appropriate surgical management, including corrective as well as diversionary urologic procedures. However, because the patients were selectively referred for care of ESRD, no assessment of the incidence of ESRD caused by obstructive uropathy was possible. The data indicate that prolonged follow-up periods are necessary to assess the ultimate outcome of renal function in young patients with obstructive uropathy. Despite early intervention and intact renal function for many years during childhood, progression to ESRD may occur.


Abstract An inventory of the bryophyte flora of Mt. Everett and vicinity, southwestern Massachusetts, a 795 m mountain with an unusual dwarf Pinus rigida (pitch pine) summit forest, produced records for 109 mosses and 45 liverworts (153 species and one variety). The summit pine vegetation contained some bryophytes known to occur in lowland pitch pine forest elsewhere in the northeastern United States, but no species unique to this vegetation type. Some species more characteristic of higher elevation mountains with red spruce-balsam fir forest in the northeastern United States were present in the summit and subsummit areas of Mt. Everett, especially the latter. These azonal northern bryophytes may be descendents of populations of species that were more abundant in the past. Species richness on the mountain increased from summit to lowland, and the subsummit area contained more species than the summit forest area. Substantial differences exist between the bryofloras of Mt. Everett and Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts, 70 km to the north, reflecting edaphic and climatic dissimilarities between the two areas. Bryum flaccidum, Plagiomnium medium, Pseudotaxiphyllum distichaceum, and Sphagnum quinquefarium, on the basis of collections from Mt. Everett and vicinity, are added to the flora of Massachusetts.


The United Sates municipal bond market is very large, with $150 billion to $300 billion issued annually. The total municipal debt outstanding equals about 18 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Most local governments selling municipal bonds are small and sell infrequently. Two random sample surveys of municipal bond issues undertaken in the winter of 1996 showed the median population of governments issuing municipal bonds to be about 20,000 people (Simonsen and Kittredge 1996). (1) However, there has been very little research that focuses on small issuers. In this article we examine the determinants of municipal bond interest rates. Specifically, we explore two research questions: first, does management capacity influence municipal bond interest rates? As we will explain, the literature suggests that small communities typically have a smaller financial-management staff that is less sophisticated, frequently comprised of generalists, and often working part time. We proxy financial-management capacity using government population size and test whether this has an effect on interest rates. Second, does the method of sale affect municipal bond interest rates? We examine whether issuers experience an interest rate difference between bonds sold competitively versus those sold through negotiation (these are the two predominant ways in which municipal bonds are sold). We use data on bond sales in Oregon from 1994 to 1997 to answer these research questions. First, we look at the literature on management capacity and sale type. Second, we describe our methodology. Next, we report our research findings about the above two research questions. Finally, we discuss our research results and conclusions. Literature Review--Management Capacity and Population The management capacity of a local government revolves around managers' ability to know "whether they are doing the `right' thing programmatically, whether they are doing it `well', and whether they are doing `enough' or Bill Simonsen is an associate professor at the University of Connecticut in the Institute of Public Affairs and Department of Political Science. He is also the director of the MPA program. Email: email@example.com. `too much' of it." (Honadle and Howitt 1986, 2). Specifically, Honadle (1981) offers the following framework for capacity building: * Anticipate change * Make informed decisions about policy * Develop programs to implement policy * Attract and absorb resources * Manage resources * Evaluate performance to guide future actions. Financial management falls squarely in the "manage resources" category. According to Honadle (1981, 17) even if a community has the capacity to attract and retain resources, it must manage them effectively: "[W]ithout effective management of personnel, finances, time, information, and the other resources assigned to an organization, such resources will be dwindled away, and personnel will become demoralized by the lack of organization and direction." The research on financial-management capacity can be categorized into two broad categories, fiscal capacity and internal-management capacity. The research on fiscal capacity looks at the ability of governments to raise revenues and meet their expenditure needs. The book America's Ailing Cities (Ladd and Yinger 1989) is the most sophisticated look to date at the fiscal health of cities. Ladd and Yinger look at the influence of a range of outside factors on the fiscal health of 86 major U.S. cities to develop a standardized measure of fiscal health; they find it has worsened and call for federal and state policies to provide assistance to the neediest of cities. Other work in this area focuses on how to measure local government fiscal capacity (Berne and Schramm 1986; Clark 1994). Honadle and Lloyd-Jones (1998) apply fiscal-capacity tools to Swift County, Minnesota--specifically, three tools that test county financial condition. …


Objectives: To investigate the association between body mass index and mortality in a large, ICU population and determine if the relationship is observed among a subgroup of patients ordered early enteral nutrition. Design: Retrospective cohort study within a national clinical mixed ICU database of patients admitted between January 1, 2008, and June 30, 2015. Setting: Initial ICU admissions among patients monitored by tele-ICU programs and recorded in the Philips eICU Research Institute database. Patients: A total of 1,042,710 adult patient stays with ICU length of stay more than 24 hours, of which 74,771 were ordered enteral nutrition within the first 48 hours. Intervention: None. Measurements and Main Results: Patient stays from 409 ICUs were included. The average age, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV score, and hospital mortality were 63.6 years, 56.7, and 9.0%, respectively. Hospital mortality among body mass index categories was estimated by multivariable modified Poisson regression models. Compared with the body mass index category 25.0–29.9 kg/m2, hospital mortality was higher among underweight (body mass index, < 18.5; relative risk, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.32–1.39), normal weight (body mass index, 18.5–24.9; relative risk, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.09–1.12), and the extremely obese (body mass index, ≥ 50.0; relative risk, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05–1.15). However, the risk was not statistically different from patients with body mass index 30.0–49.9 kg/m2. Among patients ordered early enteral nutrition, the risk of mortality in the body mass index category 25.0–29.9 kg/m2 was not statistically different from those in the normal weight or extremely obese groups. Conclusions: A survival advantage for overweight and obese patients was observed in this large cohort of critically ill patients. However, among those ordered early enteral nutrition, the survival disadvantage for body mass index categories less than 25.0 kg/m2 was minimal or unobservable when compared with higher body mass index categories.


The study aims to develop a new method suitable for analysing en-route diversion behaviour. A corresponding probit model is used to analyse and quantify the impact of various variable message sign (VMS) messages and other factors involved in traffic diversion based on real-time detected traffic data in Shanghai, China. Traffic data from loop detectors, used since 2003, and vehicle license plate readers, used since 2008, are used to analyse the impact of VMS messages on the drivers' en-route diversion behaviour and develop an aggregated en-route diversion behaviour model. The results indicate that drivers are more sensitive to travel time information than traffic congestion information. Therefore drivers will benefit if they will be able to choose the right route if information suggesting alternate routes is provided and neighbouring VMSes are coordinated. Moreover, time factors, off-ramp conditions and visibility of downstream congestion significantly influence en-route diversion behaviour, which can elucidate the significant difference between the result from en-route diversion behaviour model based on stated preference survey and the real traffic system.


Although chip-multiprocessors have become the industry standard, developing parallel applications that target them remains a daunting task. Non-determinism, inherent in threaded applications, causes significant challenges for parallel programmers by hindering their ability to create parallel applications with repeatable results. As a consequence, parallel applications are significantly harder to debug, test, and maintain than sequential programs.
 This paper introduces Kendo: a new software-only system that provides deterministic multithreading of parallel applications. Kendo enforces a deterministic interleaving of lock acquisitions and specially declared non-protected reads through a novel dynamically load-balanced deterministic scheduling algorithm. The algorithm tracks the progress of each thread using performance counters to construct a deterministic logical time that is used to compute an interleaving of shared data accesses that is both deterministic and provides good load balancing. Kendo can run on today's commodity hardware while incurring only a modest performance cost. Experimental results on the SPLASH-2 applications yield a geometric mean overhead of only 16% when running on 4 processors. This low overhead makes it possible to benefit from Kendo even after an application is deployed. Programmers can start using Kendo today to program parallel applications that are easier to develop, debug, and test.


This is a descriptive and quantitative study which describes the socio-demographic, economical and clinical profile of elderly people registered at a family health unit in Fortaleza in the state of Ceara. Data were collected from May to June 2011, by household survey, with the application of a form with 52 elderly people. The results revealed a predominantly female population (69.2%), with low levels of schooling (88.5%), retired (69.2%) and with low monthly income (96.2%). Regarding the health situation, the cardiovascular disease presented higher prevalence among women (p=0.005). There was a prevalence of hypertension (48.1%) and diabetes (15.4%). A significant proportion of the elderly people admitted not to have adhered to drug therapy (33.3%). It is considered that the data that characterize the elderly assisted in primary care are essential to devise strategies of health education to meet their needs. Descriptors: Aged; Health Centers; Demographic Data; Socioeconomic Factors.


The authors present an alternative approach to inverse planning optimization and apply it to volumetric modulated are therapy (VMAT) in one rotation with a prior knowledge about the type of leaf motions. The optimization is based on the projection theorem in inner product spaces. MLC motion is directly considered in the optimization, thus avoiding leaf segmentation characteristic of IMRT optimization. In this work they realize the method for concave irregular targets encompassing an organ at risk leading to a repetitive MLC motion pattern. Applying the projection theorem leads to a noniterative optimization method and reduces to solving few systems of linear equations with small numbers of dimensions. The solution of the inverse problem is unique, and false minima are naturally excluded. They divided the full rotation into about 50 short arc segments and for each segment decomposed dose into separate contributions related to stages of MLC motion. This results generally in an inverse problem with just four free parameters per arc segment. Practically three degrees of freedom will be used for the purpose of a constant angular speed of the gantry. Therefore the total number of degrees of freedom for a 3D problem is about 3 x 50 x number of collimator leaf pairs for irradiating the whole target volume in one rotation. Two 2D and one 3D concave target volumes are applied for a slice by slice optimization. A 6 MV photon beam model is used, including realistic scattering and attenuation, and a maximal leaf velocity of 3 cm/s is regarded. The resulting dose distributions cover the PTVs very well and have maxima at about 108% of dose in the PTVs. The OAR is spared very strong in all cases. As a result of optimization, the MLC apertures are repetitively opening and closing and can be interpreted in an intuitive way. Applying the projection method for this knowledge-based VMAT delivery scheme for concave target volumes is an alternative technique for dose optimization. There are several properties, such as uniqueness of MLC motions and their continuous dependence on geometry and prescribed dose, that make this approach interesting to inverse planning. This method is still in an investigational stage, but promising results are presented. In future work it will be extended directly (without conceptual changes) in several directions to be more clinically applicable.


The objective of this study is to determine the differences in flow fields between the 30 deg in-line and staggered arrangements of teardrop-shaped dimples, and to explain why the surface-averaged Nusselt number with the 30 deg in-line arrangement was 28.7% higher than that with the 30 deg staggered arrangement in our previous study. Measurements of the instantaneous velocity fields over the dimpled cutback surfaces in the two arrangements were performed at five spanwise cross sections using two-dimensional three-component particle tracking velocimetry (2D3C-PTV). Recirculation flows were observed only inside the dimples in the in-line arrangement, and the region above the recirculation flows exhibited a higher Reynolds shear stress. In this region, turbulent mixing between the high-speed cooling-flow and the low-speed recirculation-flow can be promoted. Streamlines of the time-averaged velocities showed that approximately half the fluid flowing out of a teardrop-shaped dimple in the in-line arrangement hardly flowed into the ones downstream. The remainder of the fluid mostly flowed into the dimple immediately downstream, and the inflow of the fluid into further downstream dimples decreased gradually. From the PTV results, we can deduce that the fluid motions in the in-line arrangement leads to a larger temperature-difference between the dimple wall and the fluid because the inflow of fluid heated inside upstream dimples into the downstream ones is less than in the staggered arrangement. Consequently, the Nusselt number in the in-line arrangement was higher.


ABSTRACT Aromatic cyclic endione has been predicted qualitatively as anticancer agent. 2-Benzylidenecylclohexane- 1,3-dione is the simplest aromatic cyclic endione compound. Physicochemistry properties of 2-benzylidene-cylclohexane-1,3-dione have been explored. The properties were explored by semiempirical quantum-chemical calculations using the computational chemistry approach. Vibrations spectrum of 2-benzylidene-cylclohexane-1,3-dione has been used to determine the best semiempirical method. The AM1 semiempirical method was found to be the most appropriate method to describe the structure of 2-benzylidene-cylclohexane-1,3-dione and explore the physicochemistry properties. Keywords : anticancer, physicochemistry, semiempirical quantum-chemical calculation, 2- benzylidene-cylclohexane-1,3-dione.


Homo sapiens as 1 species out of millions consume 40% of the primary products of the earth. The domestication of plants and animals produced significant change in how we survived as a species. It ultimately led to civilization, cities, the division of labor, and population growth. Presently we face a paradox between controlling the development of tropical areas even though it was through such means that progress was made in the 1st place. The tropical regions are full of life. It is estimated that 95% of all species live in tropical areas. By 2000 over 66% of the human population will live in the tropics. The forests are already being destroyed and such projections of population growth will only increase their rate of loss. The loss of tropical forests has severe impacts and consequences. Because of their rich species diversity they must be seen as a rich storehouse of natural resources that must be protected. The potential for medicine and food from the tropical forests has just been tapped and what we know already should force us to stop destroying them. An example is the alkaloid compound DMDP which was found in the leaves of a Panamanian moth's larval food plant. DMDP is a fructose analog that is currently the subject of 5 active areas of research, 4 of which involve human diseases: obesity, diabetes, cancer, and AIDS. This is just 1 single find out of millions of potential beneficial species. The forces of destruction that harm tropical forests are slash and burn agriculture, timber extraction, fuel wood extraction, and pasture creation for beef production. The greatest threat to forests, however, is poverty. Land management and internal migration laws in many countries make it desirable for landless people to start small farms. As population grows, so does the need for this type of land. If any progress is to be made in stopping deforestation, progress toward social justice and equality of opportunity must precede it.


The identification of appropriate models to optimize the performance of layers will help boost poultry production. This study aimed at evaluating the production characteristics of Isa Brown layers in cages and to estimate the age of optimal production using two different regression models. A total of two hundred and forty hens on cage were utilized in the study. There were three replicates of sixteen cells each containing five birds. The parameters measured were weekly body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), water intake (WI), number of birds that died (mortality, MTLY), cumulative egg number (CEN) per week, hen-day egg production (HDEP), hen–housed egg production (HHEP) and egg weight (EW). Data were collected from 25 to 70 weeks of age. The effect of age (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 weeks) on weekly BW, FI, WI, MTLY, CEN, HDEP, HHEP and EW was determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Where there were significant differences in the means of the seven production parameters based on age, they were separated using Duncan's Multiple Range Test procedure. Linear and quadratic functions were fitted to predict the performance parameters from age. With the exception of MTLY (P > 0.05) which was not affected by age, other parameters increased significantly (P < 0.05) with age. The quadratic model appeared to be better in forecasting performance parameters [coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of: 0.863 versus 0.761 (BW), 0.797 versus 0.793 (FI), 0.745 versus 0.531 (WI), 0.853 versus 0.414 (CEN), 0.843 versus 0.380 (HDEP), 0.870 versus 0.483 (HHEP) and 0.876 versus 0.838 (EW)]. This prediction model revealed that BW, FI, CEN, HDEP, HHEP and EW would attain optimal limits at ages 64.93, 66.67, 53.49, 53.30, 54.23 and 81.28 weeks of laying, respectively. The implication is that at appropriate ages based on the quadratic models, the production characteristics of Isa Brown layers can be targeted for maximal production.


Desho grass is a perennial drought tolerant feed to contribute a lot for dry season feed demand of Ethiopian livestock. A field experiment was conducted at Chano Substation, Southern Ethiopia, to determine dry matter yield of desho grass using factorial combination of five fertilizer rates (0:0, 11.5:43.5, 15:59.5, 20:64 and 25:91.5 kg /ha P:N) and four spacing (plant: row) (25:50, 50:75, 75:100 and 100:125 cm) in RCBD with three replications. Plant height, tiller number and dry matter yield were computed with Least Significant Difference. With increase in P: N rate from 0:0-25:91.5 kg/ha; plant height increased from 61 to 93 cm and tiller number shown an increment from 214.2 to 308.6. The respective increase in tiller number with plant and row spacing from narrower (25; 50cm) to wider (100:125 cm) was 248.5 to 346. Dry matter yield increased from 9.27 to 25.54 ton/ha for the fertilizer rate from control to 20:64 kg/ha. Dry matter yield increased for wider spacing from 25;50 cm to 75;100 cm having the yield of 14 to 26.61 ton/ha. The present experiment suggests that at low lands of Southern Ethiopia the optimum dry matter yield could be obtained at phosphorus and nitrogen rate of 20;64 kg/ ha with 75;100 cm plant and row spacing of Desho grass.


The work presented in this article concerns the development of a method for the determination of selenium-79 in fission product (FP) solutions resulting from nuclear fuel reprocessing. 79Se (T1/2
= 106 y) was measured using electrothermal vaporisation coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ETV-ICP/MS) after a single chemical separation step to extract Se from the high activity solution (1010 Bq l−1). The results showed that the ion exchange method produced a solution sufficiently decontaminated with respect to major β/γ emitters and had a significant selenium recovery yield (85%). ETV parameters, for example furnace program, quantity of palladium nitrate used as chemical modifier, and gas flow rates, were optimised. The association of ETV and chemical separation eliminated all the interferences normally associated with the determination of 79Se. The concentration of 79Se measured in the fission products solution was 0.43 mg l−1.


Owing to their ecological importance, freshwaters provide important services which leads to a strong societal demand concerning the preservation of their quality. They are the receptors of many contaminants emitted by human activities and more specifically by wastewater treatment plants effluents. Water resources of the Meuse watershed are used on both sides of the French-Belgian border which involves a coherent and joint management. In that framework, the DIADeM project suggests developing and spreading out a cross-border multidisciplinary approach to improve the diagnosis and the chemical and biological (biomarkers) monitoring of freshwaters using the Meuse river as a case study. In the past, results from chemical surface water monitoring of the Meuse has revealed the occurrence of numerous substances and more particularly pharmaceuticals. Overall, the project suggests coupling chemical and biomarkers analysis on caged organisms (a crustacean, a mollusk, a moss and a fish species) with predictive mathematical population level models. In order to calibrate and validate these models, a lotic mesocosm experiment was set up. Five substances were chosen: diclofenac, carbamazepine, naproxen, paracetamol and irbesartan. An environmental realistic mixture M of the five substances was tested along with MX10 and MX100. The study was carried out in twelve 20 m long lotic channels. The mesocosms were set up with artificial sediments, macrophytes, periphyton, benthic and pelagic invertebrates, decomposers and one fish species (Gasterosteus aculeatus), zebra mussels, Fontinalis antipyretica and Gammarus fossarum were also caged in the mesocosms. After 3 months of stabilization, treatment lasted 5 months. Periphyton biomass, macrophyte biovolume, zebra mussel biomarkers and growth, G. fossarum survival, reproduction and growth, F. antipyretica biomarkers and growth, zooplankton and invertebrate abundance and diversity, and fish individual physiological responses along with population dynamics were the main measured biological endpoints. The concentrations of each substance in water was monitored monthly along with some physico-chemical parameters. The overall experimental design will be presented along with the results related to the monitoring of substance concentrations in water, physico-chemical parameters, macrophyte biovolume, invertebrate community response, fish larvae densities. A brief discussion of the direct and/or indirect effects will then be performed.


Functional constipation is a common condition in childhood with significant impact on patients' quality of life and on health care resources. Functional constipation is characterized by decreased bowel movements and/or hard stools, which cause significant distress for children and their caregivers. While the term "functional" may imply the absence of organic causes with a focus on behavioral aspects, 40% of children continue to have symptoms beyond conventional management with one in four children continuing to experience constipation into adulthood. The refractory and chronic nature of constipation highlights the importance of considering a range of pathophysiological mechanisms, including the potential role of the gut microbiome. In this review, we provide an overview of preclinical and clinical studies that focus on the potential mechanisms through which the gut microbiome might contribute to the clinical presentation of functional constipation in pediatrics.


Previous research studies had suggested that low serum calcidiol could lead to the onset of chronic inflammatory conditions (CIC). This study used the dataset of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2006 to investigate whether serum calcidiol can predict CIC. The linear correlation between serum calcidiol and body mass index (BMI) was explored for therapeutic purposes. A point prevalence of serum calcidiol deficiency was 84.0% in each CIC group. People of African origin were eleven times more likely to suffer from vitamin-D deficiency (crude ORc=10.57[7.98-13.99]). Linear regression elicited strong negative correlation between calcidiol and C-reactive protein (CRP) after adjustment (R2=0.33; r=-0.57; p<0.001). Logistic regression showed non-significant association between calcidiol and CIC after adjustment ORa=1.16[0.93-1.44], 1.03[0.81-1.31] and 0.76[0.55-1.05] for asthma, arthritis and malignancy, respectively. Linear regression study showed a strong linear negative correlation between calcidiol and (BMI) after adjustment R2=0.27; r=-0.52; p<0.001. Although serum calcidiol is not an ideal predictor of CIC; however, we cannot completely rule out an association due to the complexity related to the presence of confounding, intermediate, and regulatory factors. Additional findings may suggest the potential for tailoring vitamin-D supplementation to individual's weight.

 Key words: Calcidiol, NHANES 2005-2006, chronic inflammatory conditions, C-reactive protein, body max index.


To investigate the physiological and behavioral comfort of drivers traversing urban underpass tunnels with various spatial structure conditions, a driving simulator experiment was conducted using 3DMAX and SCANeRTM studio software. Three parameters, including the slope, slope length, and height of a tunnel, were selected as research objects to explore the optimal combination of structural parameters in urban underpass tunnels. The heart rate (HR), interbeat (RR) interval, speed, and lane centerline offset value were collected for 30 drivers. Then, a measurement model of the relationship among HR, RR interval, speed, lane centerline offset value, and structural parameters was established by using partial correlation analyses and the stepwise regression method. On this basis, a structural constraint model based on the drivers' physiological and behavioral comfort thresholds was also constructed. The results show that the driver's HR, RR interval, speed, and lane centerline offsets are significantly related to the tunnel height, slope, and slope length. More importantly, this paper not only analyzed the effects of various structural parameters on drivers' physiology and behavior but also proposed an optimized combination of structural parameters based on drivers' physiological and behavioral comfort. It can reasonably improve tunnel design in China, ensure tunnel traffic safety, and seek the maximum comfort of the driver in the driving process.


The hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is a subcategory of idiopathic eosinophilia which is characterized by marked unexplained eosinophilia and evidence of tissue eosinophilia which leads to eosinophil-mediated organ damage. Cardiac and thromboembolic complications of HES are the common causes of mortality and morbidity. Here, we report a 54-year-old woman with HES who presented with simultaneously occurring cardiac thrombi, pulmonary embolism, and cerebrovascular thromboembolism.


Congenital midline nasal masses are rare entities and therefore easily misdiagnosed or missed altogether. This article reviews the three most common congenital midline nasal masses: dermoids, gliomas, and encephaloceles. Discussion entails embryology, diagnosis, radiologic workup, surgical therapy, and complications.


The book is divided into four sections. The first corn prises five papers which focus upon the relationship between anxiety and cognition. For example, that by Boggiano et al reveals a link between extrinsic rnotiv ation and variables such as helplessnessand large per formance decrements following negative feedback. In addition, Rost & Schermer provide a useful new model of test anxiety which will surely generate considerable research and may be generalised to other forms of anxiety. In the second section linking test anxiety to specific behaviour, Kalechstein et a! reveal that procrastination is a distinct construct from test anxiety, although it is associated with tension, worry and irrelevant thinking. Unfortunately though they do not ask whyso many of us choose to perform in such a way. Those with a morbid fear of statistics may find comfort in the chapter by Benson & Bandalos who show that statistical text anxiety can be differentiated from general test anxiety. Numbers do hold a unique horror. Although the final two methodological and cross cultural sections comprise more than half the book, only one paper —¿ that by Rost & Schermer—¿ is likely to interest Journal readers. This examines strategies used to cope with anxiety, and finds four exceptionally clear cut factors which may well have more general appli cations in anxiety research. The remainder may be invaluable to those who measure test anxiety worldwide, but are of little general interest. This is not a book for the complete novice, nor for someone who simply wants a brief overview of this important field. However, it is an invaluable source of information and ideas for the specialist or anyone with a general interest in the anxiety construct. The papers have been well-edited and generally seem to be methodologi callysound, although thelack ofa subjectorauthorindex is a constant irritant.


The widespread adoption of reference-based automatic evaluation metrics such as ROUGE has promoted the development of document summarization. In this paper, we consider a new protocol for designing reference-based metrics that require the endorsement of source document(s). Following protocol, we propose an anchored ROUGE metric fixing each summary particle on source document, which bases the computation on more solid ground. Empirical results on benchmark datasets validate that source document helps to induce a higher correlation with human judgments for ROUGE metric. Being self-explanatory and easy-to-implement, the protocol can naturally foster various effective designs of reference-based metrics besides the anchored ROUGE introduced here.


This paper deals with the income situation of households in the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in the years 2005-2008.The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic have recently experienced phases of economic growth and periods of economic crisis; this fact affects the standard of living and household behaviour and affects the formation of the life-style. Accession of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic to the EU in opened up the new opportunities not only in the formation of incomes but also in changes of consumer habits of the population in both states. The basis for these changes was given before 1989, since when it has been possible to monitor realization of reforms. In this process, a new structure of income and expenditures was gradually formed. Assessment of the standard of living of the population and its development is affected by several indicators. The key indicators that allow assessment of the standard of living and its development are the money income, consumption and expenditure for food, housing, culture, education and health care. Data on the household incomes and the household expenditures for the stated needs point at the standard of living of the population as well as various social groups. The reciprocal comparison of the differences in expenditures for basic living needs of the household is important, too.


Whilst forest policy promotes cultivation and regeneration of beech dominated forest ecosystems, beech itself is a highly drought sensitive tree species likely to suffer from the climatic conditions prognosticated for the current century. Taking advantage of model ecosystems with cool-moist and warm-dry local climate, the latter assumed to be representative for future climatic conditions, the effects of climate and silvicultural treatment (different thinning regimes) on water status, nitrogen balance and growth parameters of adult beech trees and beech regeneration in the understorey were assessed. In addition, validation experiments with beech seedlings were carried out under controlled conditions, mainly in order to assess the effect of drought on the competitive abilities of beech. As measures of water availability xylem flow, shoot water potential, stomatal conductance as well as delta (13)C and delta (18)O in different tissues (leaves, phloem, wood) were analysed. For the assessment of nitrogen balance we determined the uptake of inorganic nitrogen by the roots as well as total N content and soluble N compounds in different tissues of adult and young trees. Retrospective and current analysis of delta (13)C, growth and meteorological parameters revealed that beech growing under warm-dry climatic conditions were impaired in growth and water balance during periods with low rain-fall. Thinning affected water, N balance and growth mostly of young beech, but in a different way under different local climatic conditions. Under cool, moist conditions, representative for the current climatic and edaphic conditions in beech forests of Central Europe, thinning improves nutrient and water status consistent to published literature and long-term experience of forest practitioners. However, beech regeneration was impaired as a result of thinning at higher temperatures and under reduced water availability, as expected in future climate.


The role of the second messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) in mediating muscarinic suppression of M-current, a type of a voltage-gated K+ current that is suppressed by acetylcholine (ACh), was examined in freshly isolated smooth muscle cells from toad stomach. Currents were recorded using a single electrode voltage clamp employing conventional microelectrodes. Extracellular application of 1,2-dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol (DiC8), a synthetic DAG that is a potent activator of protein kinase C (PKC), reversibly suppressed M-current. Current relaxations, representing the voltage-dependent closure of K+ channels underlying M-current, were also decreased by DiC8, although suppression was not always as complete as it was with ACh. In contrast, another DAG analogue, 1,2-dioctanoyl-3-thioglycerol, which has a structure closely related to DiC8 but does not activate PKC, failed to inhibit M-current. Furthermore, M-current induced by the beta-agonist isoproterenol, by a mechanism apparently mediated by adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (S. M. Sims, L. H. Clapp, J. V. Walsh, Jr., and J. J. Singer. Pflugers Arch. 417: 291, 1990), was also suppressed by DiC8. Both ACh and DiC8 were found to suppress endogenous and isoproterenol-induced M-current without altering the time course of M-current deactivation, suggesting that these agents act by decreasing the number of channels available to be opened. These results provide evidence that muscarinic regulation of M-current is mediated by DAG.


Hemodynamic conditions play a critical role in embryonic cardiovascular development, and altered blood flow leads to congenital heart defects (CHD). Chicken embryos are commonly used as models of cardiac development, with abnormal blood flow achieved through left artery ligation (LAL) surgery intervention to restrict the blood flow. The heart is the first functioning organ in the developing embryo and a detailed understanding of the physiological mechanisms involved in its formation provides insights into CHD. Therefore, it is important to measure the pressure during the development of an embryo. This study is aimed to develop measure the pressure during normal and LAL condition in chicken embryo by using an WPI-900A micro pressure system. This approach is based on servo-null method where a microelectrode is introduced into the vitelline artery to directly measure the vessel pressure of the chicken embryo during development (HH18-HH32). We also described the initial calibration of the microelectrode as well as pressure measurement at different time points. In addition, we measure pressure after hemodynamic alteration via LAL surgery. We have successfully measured the vitelline artery pressure after 5 days of post incubated (HH26) chicken embryo. Our study provides a precise measurement of clinical relevant cardiac function. These measurements highlight the importance of hemodynamic alteration during the cardiovascular developments.


Background Since the discovery of LE cell by Haargraves, reactivity against self has been considered the cause of autoimmune diseases. However, recent immunology tells that autoreactive clones are not forbidden and autoantibodies are seen rather ubiquitously. Objectives Thus, apart from Mackey's autoimmune disease theory, we have studied the cause of SLE from a different angle, i.e., a view of systems biology, and shown that systemic autoimmunity necessarily takes place when host's immune system is over-stimulated by repeated exposure to antigen to levels that surpass system's self-organized criticality (1,2). Here we characterize the essential component, aiCD4 Tcell, that induces both varieties of autoantibodies and immunopathology, and also clarify the molecular mechanism of antigen cross-presentation responsible for inducing the tissue immunopathology identical to human SLE. Methods Mice not prone to autoimmune diseases, Balb/c or B57BL/6, were repeatedly immunized without adjuvant more than x8 with OVA, KLH or SEB. Activated CD4 T cells generated were sub-fractionated using cell sorter or were transferred into naïve mice. Antigen cross-presentation was studied in dendritic cell (DC) under confocal laser microscopy and in vivo in transgenic mice. Results After repeated immunization x12 with antigen, all mice developed varieties of autoantibodies including anti-dsDNA antibody (Ab) and typical immunopathology of SLE. Autoantibody inducing CD4 T cell (aiCD4 T cell) that has passed through de novo TCR revision i.e., V(D)J recombination, was newly generated in mice, where TCRalpha but not TCRbeta was revised. Autoantibodies and immunopathology were completely transferrable into naïve recipients via CD4 and CD8 T cells, respectively. For tissue immunopathology including lupus nephritis, (1) help by aiCD4 T cell and (2) antigen cross-presentation were required. The aiCD4 T cell belonged to CD45RBlo CD122lo subpopulation. In DC, antigen was transfered from endosome to cytoplasm and then cross-presented to CD8 T cells mediated by Sec61. Conclusions Systemic autoimmunity necessarily takes place when host's immune system is overstimulated by repeated exposure to antigen to levels that surpass system's self-organized criticality. Generation of aiCD4 T cell and antigen cross-presentation are essential for causing systemic autoimmunity, i.e., SLE. References Tsumiyama K, Miyazaki Y, Shiozawa S. Self-organized criticality theory of autoimmunity. PLoS ONE 4(12):e8382, 2009. Hiozawa S. Cause of systemic lupus erythematosus: a novel self-organized criticality theory of autoimmunity. Exp Rev Clin Immunol 7:715-717, 2011. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Systems of differential equations with quadratic right-hand sides with delay are considered in the paper. Compact matrix notation form is proposed for the systems of such type. Stability investigations are performed by Lyapunov's second method with functions of quadratic form. Stability conditions of quadratic systems with delay, uniformly by argument deviation, and with delay depending on the system's parameters are derived. A guaranteed radius of the ball of asymptotic stability region for zero solution is obtained.


The recycling of batteries is an important issue in a sustainable society where materials recycling of complex products is a necessity.
Without an efficient recycling there will be an unnecessary loss of both materials and energy due to inefficient or non-existent recycling.
This project concerns the recycling of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) batteries and aims to outline the potentials and possibilities inherent in this waste stream.

The main valuable metals in the batteries are nickel, cobalt and lanthanoids.
The active cathode material is a triprecipitate of mainly nickel
with zinc and cobalt in hydroxide form with yttrium and magnesium added,
pasted onto a nickel metal foam-mesh support. The active anode material is a hydrogen
absorbing alloy containing approximately 54% nickel and 31% lanthanoids
and smaller amounts of manganese, cobalt, aluminium and yttrium.

The recovery of these metals should be performed using a method which minimizes the use of energy and chemicals.
The work presented in this thesis is a characterization of the batteries and a dissolution study of
individual electrode materials as a first step in a hydrometallurgical recycling process.

A nickel removal and purification process has also been investigated,
the so called Mond process, by which nickel reacts with carbon monoxide and
forms nickel tetracarbonyl. The nickel tetracarbonyl both forms and is highly volatile at a low temperature, unlike other relevant carbonyl compounds.
This means that the volatilized nickel can easily be separated from the rest of the material
and thereby purified. This gives both pure nickel and an interesting residue to work with.

The positive electrode active material, nickel hydroxide, can be dissolved without dissolving the electrode backing material (nickel metal). A rapid dissolution of the active material on the positive electrode can be achieved at low temperature and relatively low acid concentration (pH 0.5-1.5), while leaving the major part of the nickel metal undissolved. This is possible with all the acids tested, nitric, sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. Therefore the most suitable acid depends on the choice of process following the dissolution.


The proliferation of portable devices, their growing integration into human lives and the surrounding environment, and the necessity to keep them powered have led to the increasing interest in radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and its use in wireless mobile devices charging. The appealing features of flexible and wearable electronics, such as light weight, ease and low cost of fabrication, and the growing attention given to them, have made them a strong candidate for designing circuits like rectennas (rectifying antennas) to scavenge the ambient RF energy emitted by a large number of radio transmitters around us. The obvious advantage of harvesting this type of energy is that it is free and green. This chapter focuses on the design of wearable, and in a more general term, textile-based rectennas. It starts by discussing the electrical characterization of textiles and the methods used to estimate their relative permittivity and loss tangent. It then reviews the most recent wearable antenna designs and their applications, and examines the design and analysis of rectifying circuits used in RF energy scavenging, with focus on their sensitivity and conversion efficiency. The latest rectenna designs are also surveyed.


Mixture experiments involve combining ingredients or components of a mixture and the response is a function of the proportions of ingredients which is independent of the total amount of a mixture. The purpose of the mixture experiments is to find the optimum blending at which responses such as the flavor and acceptability are maximized. We assume the quadratic or special cubic canonical polynomial model over the experimental region for a mixture since the current mixture is assumed to be located in the neighborhood of the optimal mixture. The cost of the mixture is proportional to the cost of the ingredients of the mixture and is the linear function of the proportions of the ingredients. In this paper, we propose mixture response surface methods to develop a mixture such that the cost is down more than ten percent as well as mean responses are as good as those from the current mixture. The proposed methods are illustrated with the well known the flare experimental data described by McLean and Anderson(1966).


Objective: To determine the range and prevalence of pathological conditions and demonstration of significant anatomical structures in the maxillary sinuses using the cone beam computerized tomographic (CBCT) scan. Methodology: Case series of 60 CBCT scans of the maxillae. Results: Forty (67%) of the scans were of female patients while the rest (20, 33%) were of males. Remarkably, the majority of the scans were requested for those patients who sought dental implant fabrication. Overall, 35 (58%) scans demonstrated pathological features while 8 (13%) demonstrated significant anatomical structures. Pathological features included mucosal thickening in 26 (43%), polypoid lesions in 9 (15%), total antral opacification in 1 (2%) and foreign body in 1 (2%). The commonest anatomic feature was dental root protrusion into the maxillary sinuses in 8 (13%). Conclusion: The CBCT imaging is an important tool for investigating the maxillary sinuses for pathology and the demonstration of the associated anatomic relations.


Modern pathomorphology tumour diagnostics involve comprehensive cytology cell examination and, importantly, tissue biopsy examination using the most up-to-date assessment techniques. To correctly classify a tumour process, it is essential not only to define its histological typology and identify its biological character but, at the same time, using immunohistochemistry and diagnostic molecular pathology, to evaluate prognostic and predictive indicators. As regards the prognostic indicators, it is mainly grading and staging as part of the TNM system, the sentinel lymph node assessment, if it is assessed, and other nodes extracted in this context. Histological specimens of invasive carcinomas and skin melanomas are assessed with respect to the depth of the invasion. Endocrine oestrogen and progesterone receptors are assessed in endocrine-dependent breast carcinomas. Predictive pathology uses biomarkers; biomarkers confirm the presence of target molecules following their reaction with the administered small molecule-like drugs, usually protein kinases or antibodies. HER2 gene amplification is estimated using the FISH method and predicts effectiveness of breast cancer therapies. In patients with a colon carcinoma, HER1 oncogene is identified immunohistochemically and the presence of a mutated K-ras is subsequently tested using the RT-PCR technique. CD 117 (c-kit) expression is determined in gastrointestinal stromal tumour and CD 20, 33 and 52 in malignant lymphomas and leukaemias. The most difficult task for a pathologist is defining the primary focus of the tumour in cases where only a fraction of a metastasis is available for examination. Nevertheless, at present, it is feasible to track the tumour differentiation down and, using an antibody battery, particularly against specific cytokeratines and vimentine and including organ-specific markers, to identify the primary source or at least to establish an assumption about the most likely organ affected by the tumour process.


Faisalabad is known for its various industries such as textile, ghee, paper and tanneries etc. There is scarcity of water so irrigation in Faisalabad is mostly done by recycle waste water from these industries. This review focuses on effects of different industrial effluents on various vegetables grown in the Faisalabad city. Waste water from different industries such as textile and paper industries etc. is discharged into streams and land with or without any secondary or tertiary treatment. This results in severe effect on the surface and underground water and also affects the quality of crops. Under different amounts of effluents there are improved seedling and root lengths of various vegetables and on the other side at high concentration of numerous effluents there is a decreased germination and reduced growth. Untreated textile effluent decreased biomass of root and shoot but treated textile effluent resulted in a prominent growth, increase sugar and protein percentage. Waste water from textile, ghee and various industries contains heavy metals that accumulate in vegetables and has negative impacts on vegetables grown. Heavy metals such as Ni, Cr, Zn, Cd, Cu, As and Pb results in inhibition of root growth, reduced yield due to less uptake of water and nutrients and reduced plant growth and seed germination.


Paraplagusia japonica (Cynoglossidae, Soleoidei) is characterized by a bilaterally asymmetrical and a series of fringes on the lips on the ocular side. Here we report for the first time the mitogenome of this tongue sole, which is 16,694 bp in length, and the gene order has been reorganized. The tRNA-Gln gene translocated from the light strand (L-strand) to the heavy strand (H-strand), accompanied by tRNA-Ile gene shuffling. In addition, the putative control region translocated downstream to the place between the ND1 and the tRNA-Gln genes, leaving a 26-bp trace fragment in the original position. Nevertheless, the rest gene order is identical to that of the typical fish. In addition, it is the first report of the rare ATT as an initiation codon for ND3, and the ATP6 ( − 26) and ND5 (+26) are unusually shorter or longer than those in other flatfish. These data will provide useful information for better understanding the molecular mechanisms of gene reorganization in fish mitogenome.


email@example.com Abstract. The radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is a great potential artificial intelligence technology and can effectively realize the fault diagnosis for small sample and nonlinear problem. But the parameters of RBFNN model seriously affects the generalization ability and diagnosis accuracy on the great extent. So an improved differential evolution algorithm based on dynamic adaptive adjustment strategy is proposed to optimize the parameters of RBFNN model for obtaining the optimal RBFNN(DASDERBFNN) method. Then the proposed DASDERBFNN method is used to construct a new fault diagnosis (DSDRBFNFD) method. The experiment results show that the proposed DSDRBFNFD method can obtain the higher accuracy of fault diagnosis and is effective fault diagnosis for the engine.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

About 500,000 new cancer patients will develop brain metastases in 2012. The primary treatment modality for ∼250,000 of these patients is partial or whole brain irradiation. While effective for controlling metastatic brain tumors, there are significant late effects (> 6 months) following radiotherapy which include a progressive, irreversible cognitive impairment. Although the exact mechanism(s) behind this radiation-induced brain injury are unknown, preclinical studies suggest that radiation alters neuronal plasticity. Indeed irradiating the rodent brain decreases long term potentiation, alters N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor expression and ablates neurogenesis. In this study, we used microarray analysis to show that Homer1a, a transcriptionally-regulated early response gene, was transiently upregulated in the hippocampus and downregulated in the cortex at 48 hours after fractionated (total dose of 40 Gy delivered as 2 Gy/fraction, 2X/week) whole brain irradiation (fWBI) in young adult male Fischer 344 X Brown Norway rats. Two months after fWBI Homer1a gene expression was downregulated in both the hippocampus and cortex. Homer1a binds the consensus sequence on the C-terminus of the group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR); thereby, disrupting the cross-linking of constitutively expressed forms of Homer1 and activating mGluR in the absence of glutamate. Radiation did not alter phosphorylation of mGluR1, total GluR2 or phosphorylation of GluR2/3 in the hippocampus or cortex at 2 months after fWBI. However, the radiation-induced changes in Homer1a expression appeared to produce a significant downregulation in mGluR1 in the hippocampus, and a significant upregulation in the cortex. Memory/learning paradigms suggest that trafficking of 2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazol-4-yl)propanoic acid (AMPA) receptors containing mGluR1 from intracellular compartments to the plasma membrane is an "early" event during neural plasticity; thus decreased mGluR1 may result in alterations in hippocampal neural plasticity following fWBI. These data suggest a novel mechanism for the development of radiation-induced cognitive impairment. (Supported by CA122318)

Citation Format: Elizabeth Moore, Mitra Kooshki, Lance Miller, Mike Robbins. Fractionated whole brain irradiation modulates Homer1a expression in a brain region specific manner. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 78. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-78


The relationship between the susceptibility to convulsions, the content of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and the activity of pyridoxal kinase (EC 220.127.116.11) and glutamate decarboxylase (EC 126.96.36.199) in brain, was studied in the developing mouse. Seizures were induced by pyridoxal phosphate-gamma-glutamyl hydrazone (PLPGH), a drug previously reported to reduce the levels of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and as a consequence to inhibit the activity of glutamate decarboxylase in brain of adult mice. It was found that the seizure pattern, as well as the time of appearance of convulsions, differed between 2- and 5-day old mice and 10-day old or older mice, indicating a progressive increase in seizure susceptibility during development. In brain, pyridoxal kinase activity and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate levels were decreased by the administration of PLPGH at all ages studied, whereas glutamate decarboxylase activity was inhibited less than 25% in 2- and 5-day old mice, and about 50% thereafter. Parallelly, the activation of glutamate decarboxylase by pyridoxal 5'-phosphate added in vitro to control homogenates was less in 2- and 5-day old mice than in older animals. It is concluded that the increase in the susceptibility to seizures induced by PLPGH during development is probably related to the increase observed in the sensitivity of glutamate decarboxylase in vivo to a decrease of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate levels. The correlation between pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, glutamate decarboxylase, and seizure susceptibility seems to be established at about 10 days of age.


Recent research reported in this paper shows that lubrication of pivot bearings of electric watthour meters is essential for maximum bearing life. The performance of these bearings represents the most important mechanical factor in sustained meter accuracy. The comparatively high rate of wear in a new bearing is found to decrease rapidly with use, finally becoming extremely small. With a well lubricated bearing, the effect of the increased friction resulting from wear on the calibration of the meter is shown to be negligible. A jewel screw of new design, having a large oil reservoir to provide for proper lubrication over a long period of time, also is described.


Aim. To identify the factors of the increasing the availability and effectiveness of pre-hospital thrombolytic therapy of patients with ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (STEACS). Material and methods. STEACS patients (n=70) were included in the study and stratified into two groups. Patients of the 1st group (n=30) received emergency medical assistance from the feldsher teams and patients of the 2nd group (n=40) from the doctor teams. Expert estimation approach was used for the real practice assessment. Results. The hospital-matched diagnose rate was 97.5% in the doctor teams in comparison with 76.7% in feldsher teams (p0.05). The deviation from the standard operating procedure of the medical care for myocardial infarction patients was observed more often in the doctor teams in comparison with this in the feldsher teams. Time for the decision about pre-hospital thrombolysis start, the rate of unreasonable use or unreasonable refusal of thrombolysis did not differ significantly in feldsher and doctor teams. Conclusion. To increase the effectiveness of pre-hospital thrombolysis therapy it is necessary to follow strictly the standard of the medical care for patients with acute coronary syndrome. One of the main approaches to improve the availability of up to date medical care technologies in STEACS treatment is implementation of pre-hospital thrombolysis in practice of feldsher teams.


The pleuropulmonary manifestation of systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) are pleuritis, acute lupus pneumonitis, chronic interstitial lung disease with fibrosis, alveolar hemorrhage, respiratory muscle and diaphragmatic dysfunction, atelectasis, bronchiolitis obliterans, pulmonary vascular disease with pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary embolism. This article reviews these specific pleuropulmonary consequences of SLE while focusing on clinical, pathologic, and therapeutic considerations.


In this article, we describe a technique using NiSi and Pt thin film metal thermometers to provide accurate temperature information on a nanosecond time scale during pulsed laser processing of materials. A surface layer of interest is deposited onto the thermometer layer, and temperatures are determined from temperature dependent changes in the metal film's resistance. Details concerning the design and fabrication of the device structure and experimental considerations in making nanosecond resolved resistance measurements are discussed. Simple analytical estimates are presented to extract quantities such as incident laser energy stored in the sample. Finally, transient temperature data in the thermometer film, in combination with heat flow calculations, allow temperature determination as a function of time and depth into the sample and, additionally, can provide information about material properties of the surface layer.


Mutation of the DNAJC12 gene is typically associated with non-progressive Parkinsonism, but is also detectable in breast carcinoma where its contribution and mechanisms are unexplored. In breast carcinoma, ESR1 was positively correlated with DNAJC12 and ERBB4, and DNAJC12 was positively correlated with ERBB4. We used the GEO2R tool to compare differential gene expression of MCF-7 cells, following ESR1 knockdown (GEO database, E-GEOD-27473 array), and found decreased expression of DNAJC12 and ERBB4 in ESR1-silenced MCF-7 cells. The number of identical genes having correlativity with ESR1, DNAJC12, or ERBB4 was 12,165 (66.41%). These results suggest that ESR1 can promote the expression of DNAJC12 and ERBB4, and DNAJC12 can enhance the expression of ERBB4 in MCF-7 cells, implying that there may be a regulatory network among these three genes.


Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam), a member of the bindweed family (Convolvulaceae Juss.), is well known for its food, medicinal, and industrial values. It is estimated that more than 7000 sweet potato cultivars have been bred to date. Jewel sweet potato (I. batatas Lam cv. Jewel) is one of the most popular cultivars of sweet potato grown today because of its high nutritional value, delicious taste, and is suitable for all processing methods. However, little is known about the micropropagation of jewel sweet potato. The purpose of this paper was to study the effect of three important factors, including culture medium, plant growth regulators (PGRs), and artificial light sources, on the induction, proliferation, and growth of in vitro I. batatas 'Jewel' shoots obtained from the axillary bud and shoot tip explants. The different Murashige and Skoog (MS) salt levels (33%, 50%, 100%, and 150%) were used to study the influence of mineral treatment. To assess the influence of PGRs, we used 0.5 mg/L indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) combined with various cytokinins, including 0.5–2.0 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 0.5–2.0 mg/L kinetin (Kn), and 0.1–1.0 mg/L thidiazuron (TDZ). On the other hand, the in vitro shoots were cultivated in a light room with different lighting conditions. Three lighting treatments (differences in the ratio between the red (R) and blue (B) spectra) were used. Research results have shown that the medium containing 50% MS salt concentration supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP or 0.5 mg/L Kn combined with 0.5 mg/L IAA was the most suitable for induction, proliferation, and growth of in vitro jewel sweet potato shoots. On the other hand, stem pieces bearing the axillary buds' explants were determined to be suitable for the shoot induction. Using artificial light with different blue/red ratios also had a significant effect on the growth of explants and stimulates shoot or root formation.


Root canal treatment is often regarded as a simple technical exercise that results in a nice white line on the final radiograph. In fact nothing could be further from the truth, as may be seen from the case illustrated in Figure 1. It is hoped that the first two papers in this series have established that the rationale for modern root canal treatment is the removal of infection from the entire root canal system. This, of course, presumes correct diagnosis and treatment planning, and an essential knowledge of canal morphology. Endodontic preparation is a chemo-mechanical process and both the chemical and the mechanical components play an equal part. The term 'cleaning and shaping' may be associated with canal preparation from previous endodontic teaching. In the 21st century this has been subtly but essentially changed to 'shaping and cleaning'. Instruments are used to rapidly shape the canal to permit the ingress of chemical agents to the entire root canal system.


The advantages of satellites in multicast and broadcast service provision has attracted a lot of interest within the satellite community and motivated a re-examination of the role of mobile satellite systems with regard to terrestrial networks. This paper reports on the approach taken by the IST project SATIN towards the definition of a suitable architecture for the delivery of multicast/broadcast (MC/BC) services, making use of SUMTS packet mode.


Background: The viral infection is the most common trigger of bronchial asthma. The role of antiviral therapy in prevention of virus-induced bronchial asthma exacerbations in chil-dren is still unknown. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ultralow doses of antibodies to interferon-γ (ULD AB IFN-γ) - IFN-inducer («Anaferon») in treatment of patients with virus-induced phenotypes of bronchial asthma. Methods: A comparative, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of ULD AB IFN-γ (anaferon for children) efficacy in prevention of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) and bronchial asthma exacerbations in a 100 children of 1-5 years with virus-induced phenotype of mild and moderate bronchial asthma. 52 patients of the treatment group obtained ULD AB IFN-γ (anaferon) for children in preventive regimen (1 pill 1 time per day for 3 months) and 48 patients of the comparison group took placebo in the same way. Results: During 3-months follow-up period the mean number of acute respiratory viral infections in treatment group was 0,6±0,14 and duration was 4,4±0,4 days; in comparison group children suffered from 1,32±0,18 ARVI episodes with mean duration 8,9±0,9 days. The percent of children with exacerbation of bronchial asthma induced by ARVI was 11,5% and 27% of chil-dren in treatment and comparison groups respectively. Side effects were not registered during the trial. Conclusions: The preventive administration of ULD AB IFN-γ (anaferon) affords to decrease the number of virus-induced bronchial asthma exacerbations, episodes and duration of acute respiratory viral infection. This fact considerably improve the quality of patients9 life and decrease economic costs for exacerbation treatment.


Two methods are used for evaluation of summarization systems: an evaluation of generated summaries against an "ideal" summary and evaluation of how well summaries help a person perform in a task such as informa. tion retrieval. We carried out two large experiments to study the two evaluation methods. Our results show that different parameters of an experiment can (h-amatically affect how well a system scores. For example, summary length was found to affect both types of evaluations. For the "ideal" summary based evaluation, accuracy decreases as summary length increases, while for task based evaluations summary length and accuracy on an information retrieval task appear to correlate randomly. In this paper, we show how this parameter and others can affect evaluation results and describe how parameters can be controlled to produce a sound evaluation.


Abstract Forty-two participants in two nursing homes who were ≥65 years of age were randomised to receive a jelly containing 10 billion heat-killed Lactobacillus paracasei MCC1849 cells (LP group) or a placebo jelly without lactobacilli (placebo group) for 6 weeks. Three weeks after beginning jelly intake, all subjects received an influenza vaccination (A/H1N1, A/H2N3 and B). Blood samples were collected before and after the treatment period. There were no significant differences in immune parameters, including in antibody responses against the vaccination, between the groups. In the subgroup of the oldest old, defined as ≥85 years of age (n = 27), the antibody responses to the A/H1N1 and B antigens, which were impaired in the placebo group, were improved in the LP group. No significant effects of non-viable L. paracasei MCC1849 were observed in the elderly. A possible beneficial effect in the oldest old should be explored in further large-scale studies.


Esophageal variceal bleeding is a major complication of portal hypertension and the leading cause of death in patients with liver cirrhosis. The major risk factors for esophageal variceal bleeding are variceal size, the presence of red color signs, and the severity of the liver disease. Recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal variceal bleeding have improved the prognosis for patients with variceal bleeding. But the mortality rate is still 15%–30%. There have been several reports of seasonal variations on the incidence of esophageal variceal bleeding. Although seasonal differences are still controversial, many reports suggest that esophageal variceal bleeding occurs more often in winter. In France, deaths from esophageal variceal bleeding occurred with a clear annual periodicity, peaking in the winter (December and January), and hospitalizations due to esophageal variceal bleeding were more frequent in winter–spring with similar seasonal patterns. A study in Taiwan revealed a significant seasonal variation in the incidence of esophageal variceal bleeding, which most often occurred in February. A Korean study showed that the incidence of esophageal variceal bleeding was high in the spring (March and April) and low in the summer (July and August). In this issue of Clinical Endoscopy, Siddiqui et al. showed that most hospitalization because of esophageal variceal bleeding occurred in December (99.3/day) and the least occurred in June (90.8/day) and that mortality was the highest in January (11.5%) and the lowest in June (9.8%). This study analyzed extensive data on seasonal incidence and mortality in 348,958 patients with esophageal variceal bleeding throughout the United States. Although this study was retrospective and based on the ICD codes, it appears to be a good example of the trend in seasonal differences. The reason for the high incidence rate of esophageal variceal bleeding in the winter is unclear. However, some relevant factors such as physiological and neurohormonal effects of portal hemodynamics due to temperature changes and alcohol consumption have been suggested as causes. Peripheral vasoconstriction caused by cold temperatures in winter shifts the systemic blood flow to the visceral circulation, thereby increasing the portal blood flow and exacerbating the increase in portal pressure. Vasopressin reduces splanchnic blood flow and, therefore, reduces portal pressure. Sudden cold exposure in winter inhibits vasopressin secretion in the posterior pituitary gland, and decreased vasopressin in the blood increases esophageal variceal bleeding. In addition, hemodynamic seasonal changes in the portal vein can be influenced by meals, alcohol drinking, medications, and climatic factors such as day length, humidity, and barometric pressure. Further research should be conducted to analyze the causal factors. In Siddiqui's study, the mortality from esophageal variceal bleeding was high in January. However, there are some limitaReceived: February 7, 2020 Accepted: February 25, 2020 Correspondence: Jeong Ill Suh Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University Gyeongju Hospital, Dongguk University School of Medicine, 87 Dongdae-ro, Gyeongju 38067, Korea Tel: +82-54-770-8207, Fax: +82-54-779-8378, E-mail: email@example.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3040-8766


This article outlines the context and history of the development of the Court Education for Young Witnesses service for children who give evidence in the criminal court in New Zealand. A pilot programme in three courts was funded and implemented by the New Zealand Department for Courts in 2000 along with a two-year evaluation contracted by the then Department of Courts to the authors at the Institute of Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology. This article mostly focuses on the results of the evaluation, which informed revision of the training and materials for national implementation in 2004. Overall, the evaluation of the Court Education for Young Witnesses Pilot was positive. All stakeholders interviewed, including children, defence and prosecution lawyers, were positive about the initiative. Recommendations for improving the programme included reviewing the role of the victim advisers regarding education for defence witnesses; extending the training provided; improving quality assurance mechanisms; and clarifying who should be responsible for debriefing child witnesses. Some of these recommendations have been acted on, in particular regarding the training given to victim advisers.


Trust research is traditionally found in marketing, economics, psychology, sociology and organisational behaviour literatures. Complexity theory provides an alternative lens through which to conceptualise trust. Three complexity theories (adaptation, self-organisation and self-organised criticality) are integrated with marketing and psychological theory to provide an understanding of trust as an emergent phenomenon and to guide the design of an intelligent agent simulation which will be tested subsequently within the CRM data of a major financial institution. Both fuzzy logic and evolutionary strategies are employed within a multi-agent simulation of interactions between Wealth Management Advisors (WMAs) and their clients. In the simulation, fuzzy logic represents the agents' behavioural rules, which are derived from complexity, marketing and psychology theories. The results obtained using the RePast based simulation show the advantages of evolutionary learning in optimising WMA-customer relationships and how this learning in turn affects WMA strategies as they seek to reduce client churn.


For surgical therapy of benign thyroid diseases several different procedures are available. The specific use of these techniques depends on the particular morphologic and functional findings. Tissue that is benign is left in place as far as possible - pathologically changed tissue has to be removed. Practicable operation techniques are: excision or enucleation of solitary thyroid nodule, upper or lower pole resection, subtotal resection, near total resection and hemithyroidectomy.


Recently Ensemble Kalman Filtering (EnKF) has gained increasing attention for history matching and continuous reservoir model updating using data from permanent downhole sensors. It is a sequential Monte-Carlo approach that works with an ensemble of reservoir models. Specifically, the method utilizes cross-covariances between measurements and model parameters estimated from the ensemble. For practical field applications, the ensemble size needs to be kept small for computational efficiency. However, this leads to poor approximations of the cross-covariance matrix, resulting in loss of geologic realism. Specifically, the updated parameter field tends to become scattered with a loss of connectivities of extreme values such as high permeability channels and low permeability barriers, which are of special significance during reservoir characterization. We propose a novel approach to overcome this limitation of the EnKF through a 'covariance localization' method that utilizes sensitivities that quantify the influence of model parameters on the observed data. These sensitivities are used in the EnKF to modify the cross-covariance matrix in order to reduce unwanted influences of distant observation points on model parameter updates. In particular, streamline-based analytic sensitivities are easy to compute, require very little extra computational effort and can be obtained using either a finite difference or streamline-based flow simulator. We show that the effect of the covariance localization is to increase the effective ensemble size. But key to the success of the sensitivity-based covariance-localization is its close link to the underlying physics of flow compared to a simple distance-dependent covariance function as used in the past. This flow-relevant conditioning leads to an efficient and robust approach for history matching and continuous reservoir model updating, avoiding much of the problems in traditional EnKF associated with instabilities, parameter overshoots and loss of geologic continuity. We illustrate the power and utility of our approach using both synthetic and field applications.


In this presidential address, I invite you to reflect on how the method of comparison has changed over time and to explore why it is increasingly used as a tool for setting policy agendas. There are two angles that inform this invitation. I suggest that we first investigate how the method of comparison has developed as a policy tool in our own field and then, looking outward, how it is used by others in policy studies. At the heart of this endeavor lies a genuine interest in understanding policy change in an era of global interconnectedness. Reflecting on comparison as a method is not a trivial endeavor. Many scholars in comparative and international education, especially those outside the United States, wonder why we continue to call ourselves "comparativists." Judging from the large number of single-country studies published in this journal, comparison does not seem to be the preferred method of inquiry in our field. Others go even further by asking why we do not get rid of "international" as well, given that so few of us deal with actual exchanges between individuals or institutions of two or more nations. Once we remove these two terms, we are simply education researchers with a keen interest in understanding education beyond our own borders. Would such a description really miss the point? After all, we are known to many as the ones who conduct educational research outside our own country, write about other peoples' educational systems, and give advice to governments and organizations other than our own. What would be wrong with acknowledging that we are just like the educational researcher or policy analyst next door with a notable exception that we systematically adopt a transnational perspective or, as Stephen Carney puts it, apply a "globalization optique" in our work? Even less trivial is a reflection on comparison as a policy tool. I argue in this address that scholars in our field successfully shifted from a normative preoccupation with policy borrowing and lending to a more analytical approach. The former is typified by Sadler's centennial question, "How far can we learn anything of practical value from the study of foreign systems of


Infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, leads to profound remodeling of cellular membranes, promoting viral replication and virion assembly. A full understanding of this drastic remodeling and the process of virion morphogenesis remains lacking. In this study, we applied room temperature transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography to visualize the SARS-CoV-2 replication factory in Vero cells, and present our results in comparison with published cryo-EM studies. We obtained cryo-EM-like clarity of the ultrastructure by employing high-pressure freezing, freeze substitution (HPF-FS) and embedding, allowing room temperature visualization of double-membrane vesicles (DMVs) in a near-native state. In addition, our data illustrate the consecutive stages of virion morphogenesis and reveal that SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleoprotein assembly and membrane curvature occur simultaneously. Finally, we show the tethering of virions to the plasma membrane in 3D, and that accumulations of virus particles lacking spike protein in large vesicles are most likely not a result of defective virion assembly at their membrane. In conclusion, this study puts forward a room-temperature EM technique providing near-native ultrastructural information about SARS-CoV-2 replication, adding to our understanding of the interaction of this pandemic virus with its host cell.


To create the final spatial information and analysis, flood hazard maps and land development priority maps and information, data for the flood events to 2009 in north of Iran were incorporated with using Geo-spatial Information System data of physiographic divisions, geologic divisions, land cover classification, elevation, drainage network, administrative districts and population density and environmental parameters modeling. Special analysis also attention was paid to population density for the construction of the land development priority map and using satellite image analysis to determine land use changes and analysis of geo-spatial information, because highly dense populated areas represent the highly important urban and industrial areas. While geo-information technology offers an opportunity to support flood management adequate geo-spatial information is a prerequisite for sustainable development, but many parts of the world lack adequate information on environmental resources. Such information providing, which serves as an important tool for decision-making in land use planning, can help provide effective information to natural disaster management. This paper develops a framework for flood control and begins with some general comments on the importance of land use planning and outlines some current environmental issues and then presenting environmental models to use in disaster management plan by using GIS and remote sensing results. Flood control is a complex problem that requires cooperation of many scientists in different fields. The article also discusses the role that geo-information and environmental planning and GIS and remote sensing technology play in disaster management control to reduce negative impacts of flood and present proper alternatives for developing of Gorganrood in the north of Iran. Advanced high-resolution sensor technology has provided immense scope to the decision makers for analysis of flood and damages details using GIS and remote sensing.


Diabetes mellitus, a highly prevalent metabolic and vascular disease, affects 155 million people worldwide. Tight blood glucose control can significantly reduce the incidence of diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, but does not appear to significantly reduce its macrovascular complications. Several randomized clinical trials indicate that tight blood pressure control can reduce the risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications in patients with diabetes and hypertension. Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors has proven effective both in lowering blood pressure and in independently slowing the progression of nephropathy. If instituted early, ACE inhibitor therapy potentially may prevent progression to end-stage renal disease in normotensive patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes. Additionally, ACE inhibitors may reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this patient population. Angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor blockers (ARBs), which attenuate the deleterious effects of the RAS via blockade of the Ang II subtype 1 receptor, may also be beneficial. Clinical trials are under way to evaluate this possibility.


We fabricated a nickel silicide nanowire (NiSi NW) device with a low thermal budget and characterized it by measuring the S-parameters in the radio-frequency (RF) regime. A single silicon nanowire (Si NW) was assembled on a substrate with a two-port coplanar waveguide structure using the dielectrophoresis method. Then, the Si NW on the device was perfectly transformed into a NiSi NW. The NiSi NW device was characterized by performing measurements in the DC and RF regimes. The transformation into the NiSi NW resulted in reducing about three-order more the resistance than before the transformation. Hence, the transmission of the NiSi NW device was 25 dB higher than that of the Si NW device up to gigahertz. We also discussed extracting the intrinsic properties of the NiSi NW by using de-embedding, circuit modeling, and simulation.