This book investigates whether the European Commission (EC) has the mandate to legislate on direct taxation in sovereign states and ultimately questions whether the EC's enforcement action in recent tax ruling cases, in the area of State aid, respects the rule of law.

Liza Lovdahl Gormsen explores whether the EC's recent rulings in relation to Member States' advanced pricing arrangements reflect a genuine problem of illegal State aid or whether the EC is attempting to use State aid rules to harmonise national tax systems. The author examines this issue through relevant case law, comparing the EC's actions with OECD guidance and US practices, assessing what is legitimate in terms of the EC's actions and competences. Through the lens of State aid and tax rulings, the author addresses the wider constitutional question of how to reconcile national interests with the move towards European harmonisation; does the answer lie in more integration, or less?

This book will be of great interest to academics researching the relationship between the EC and Member States in regards to taxation, State aid and authority over direct taxation. Practising lawyers working in the field of State aid and tax will also find this to be a useful resource as it clearly outlines relevant case law and interprets the resulting decisions.


Rock climbers are likely to exhibit preference heterogeneity dictating the way with which such sport is practiced. This has a reflection on the population's structure of recreational values of rock-climbing destinations, their attributes, and to land management policies. We test this hypothesis on a panel of destination choices by a sample of members of the Italian Alpine Club. Using a latent-class, random utility approach we find evidence in support of the hypothesis that there are at least four classes in the sample, thereby revealing a considerable richness in the structure of preference, which would otherwise be unobservable with more conventional approaches. (JEL Q26, C25)


This occasional paper provides the views of 17 'thought leaders' in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. Their insight and opinions were sought to inform a larger research project focused on the student entitlement reforms that were introduced into the national VET system from 2012. A particular emphasis has been on the implications of the reforms and the challenges faced in its implementation in the context of achieving a balance between national consistency and jurisdictional flexibility. The interviewees considered key elements of the national training system, namely: standards for VET products (training packages and materials); standards for VET providers; and a flexible training market. The interviewees commented on the consistency and flexibility sought in each of these key elements, highlighting where tensions exist, particularly in student training entitlements. Key messages The views of experts highlight differing observations and opinions, yet also some unifying themes. Both consistency and flexibility are required in the national training system, with both balanced effectively to achieve meaningful outcomes at the national and jurisdictional levels. The distinct requirements and approaches of each of the jurisdictions have resulted in eight distinct training entitlement schemes being established. This has contributed to perceptions of fragmentation rather than these various approaches being received as 'flexibility' in the national VET system. Balancing local and national skills priorities is difficult and a perennial source of tension within the national training system. The entitlement system may not currently address whether and how a student could undertake courses in which there is a national but no local skill shortage. The eligibility criteria for the student training entitlement could have a greater level of consistency across the various training entitlement schemes. This would assist in meeting equity goals and provide increased functionality in the national training system. Prices, subsidies and fees have always been different across jurisdictions and even within jurisdictions, for good local reasons. Under any entitlement system, however, the subsidy level combined with the student fee needs to provide sufficient resources to allow for measurable quality in training. High-quality training experiences and outcomes is paramount to all aspects of entitlement schemes. National standards for registered training organisations (RTOs) and training products must be applied and continuously improved to be fit for purpose in a more marketised training environment. Adequate information for consumers about quality in VET and what to look for when choosing a suitable course or provider remains an important requirement in the national VET system.


This article explores infrastructures of subaltern resistance in Pakistan through a focus on spatial and performative modes and across a number of historical and contemporary examples. I start with the figure of the puppet, tracing it historically as an example of how culturally specific modes of dissent have evolved from a colonial to a postcolonial context, and further into a neoliberal space. I then analyse the practice of 'wall chalking', which could be considered a local form of graffiti that also embodies debates over religious and ethnic identity through the contested status of script in the country. In narrating these examples, my aim is to show how a specific form of resistance has developed in the country through the displacement of the dissenting subject. Here I conceptualise resistance as a Foucauldian counter-conduct that transforms space through a creative and embodied use of tactics. It is a form of subaltern resistance that emerges in relation to non-humans and everyday rituals and has developed in subtler (and more resistant) forms, through ways of enacting that thrive within and through the vulnerability of the subject.


Morphological traits are of great importance to dairy goat production given their effect on phenotypes of economic interest. However, their underlying genomic architecture has not yet been extensively characterized. Herein, we aimed to identify genomic regions associated with body, udder, and leg conformation traits recorded in 825 Murciano-Granadina goats. We genotyped this resource population using the GoatSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA) and performed genome-wide association analyses using the GEMMA software. We found 2 genome-wide significant associations between markers rs268273468 [Capra hircus (CHI) 16:69617700] and rs268249346 (CHI 28:18321523) and medial suspensory ligament. In contrast, we did not detect any genome-wide significant associations for body and leg traits. Moreover, we found 12, 19, and 7 chromosome-wide significant associations for udder, body, and leg traits, respectively. Comparison of our data with previous studies revealed a low level of positional concordance between regions associated with morphological traits. In addition to technical factors, this lack of concordance could be due to a substantial level of genetic heterogeneity among breeds or to the strong polygenic background of morphological traits, which makes it difficult to detect genetic factors that have small phenotypic effects.


Abstract Process whey protein was prepared by heat treatment of whey protein isolate under salt-free conditions. Addition of sodium chloride, trisodium cit-rate, potassium chloride, or calcium chloride to a process whey protein solution increased the viscosity and resulted in gelation at 25°C. In contrast, the viscosity of whey protein isolate solutions was not changed. The properties of whey protein isolate and process whey protein gels prepared by heating at 80°C for 60 min with 25 different salts were measured and compared. Although process whey protein produced gels with the addition of any of the salts examined, whey protein isolate solution did not gel with some salts. The tendency of both protein solutions to gel apparently depended on the lyotropic nature of the cation. Inorganic salts produced firmer gels than did organic salts. The gel strength and water-holding capacity of both proteins decreased as salt concentration increased. When the transparent gels prepared from process whey protein were heated again, the gel firmness increased, adhesiveness decreased, and transparency and cohesiveness slightly decreased, depending on the temperature and duration of the second heating.


Immigration is a frequently debated topic in American politics and media, yet little work examined children's understanding of this issue. In order to explore how children's understanding of immigration may differ based on their immigration experience, 261 elementary school-aged children (M = 9 years; SD = 1 year, 1 month) answered open-ended questions regarding why people move to the United States and why it should be legal or not. The sample consisted of 196 immigrants (first and second generation Latino/a immigrants) and 65 nonimmigrants (non-Latino/a children living in America for at least three generations). Children also rated possible explanations for societal antiimmigration attitudes. As predicted, Latino/a immigrant children explained immigration as a means of attaining concrete benefits for immigrants, such as improved education or jobs. They also referenced reuniting with family members in the U.S. Nonimmigrant children focused more on immigrants seeking American freedoms, reflecting the school-based curriculum explaining early European immigration to the U.S. Results reflect how differing experiences with immigration (direct or indirect) may influence perceptions towards immigration.


The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theunderstanding and discussion of how the costs andbenefits of natural resource development are sharedacross society. This paper presents how IFC, as both aninvestor and a development organization, determineswhether benefits and costs are shared reasonably, and how this assessment influences IFC's decision to invest ina particular natural resource project. the goal of the paper is to promotea broad, constructive dialogue across stakeholders—governments, investors, civil society, and others—around benefit sharing. The paper draws on IFC's experience and presents anoverarching framework for multi-stakeholder benefitsharing, providing analysis and guidance for a range ofcomplex topics. The paper is intended to provide entrypoints for stakeholders of varying levels of familiarity with the issues to benefit-sharing assessment. The paper is not a definitive manual for all the issues coveredfor which more detailed, high-quality and excellentreferences and literature exists. This paper is organized along these broad areas of impact that IFC considers in the benefit sharing assessment:fiscal, economic, environmental, and social. The approaches IFC uses to evaluate benefit sharing arepresented in each area, along with some lessons learned. This is complemented by a discussion of key issues thatare topical in the field. Each chapter opens with a list of questions that can be used as a guide to assess the potential benefits and costs of an investment. As a result, there is a spectrum of what can be considered reasonable overall. However, there may be particular features of a benefit-sharing arrangement that stand out and can signal a risk to its legitimacy. Our aspiration is that this paper will complement as well as stimulate work by others that can enhance the collective knowledge and encourage dialogue.


a This article is a tutorial overview of a sample of central issues in visual cognition, focusing on the recognition of shapes and 4h iice representation of objects and spatiai' relations in perception and imagery. Brief reviews of the state of the art are presented, followed by more extensive presentations of contemporary theories, findings, and open issues. I discuss various theories of shape recognition, such as template, feature, Fourier, structural descrtption, Marr-Nishihara, and massively parallel models, and issues such as the reference frames, primitives, top-down processing, and computational architectures used in spa1 tial cognition. This is followed by a discussion of mental imagery, including conceptua/ issues in imagery research, theories of imagery, imagery and perception, image trans$or.mations, computational complexities of image processing, neuropsychological issues, and possible functions of imagery. Connections between theories of recognition and of imagery, and the relevance of the papers contained in this issue to the topics discussed, are emphasized through-


The humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy factor (also called PTH-related protein or PTHrp) has been shown to produce effects similar to PTH in the kidney, bone, and cardiovascular system. Binding of PTHrp and PTH has been characterized in renal and osseous tissues, but not in vascular tissue. We have attempted to characterize the interaction of both human PTHrp and rat PTH to renal microvessels as a model of vascular smooth muscle and in a renal tubule preparation from the same rabbit kidneys. Previous studies have shown the microvessel and tubule preparations to be distinct based upon morphological examination, differential enzyme markers, calcitonin and vasopressin-sensitive adenylate cyclase distribution, and different characteristics of guanine nucleotide and of oxidized PTH activation of the adenylate cyclases associated with the preparations. Human PTHrp and rat PTH were iodinated by standard techniques and purified by HPLC. Both ligands bound to microvessels and tubules in a saturable, specific manner, Maximal specific binding of either ligand was 65-75% in microvessels and 80-90% in renal tubules. The time courses of binding of both ligands were identical with steady state achieved within 20 min in the smooth muscle of microvessels and 15 min in the tubules at 22 C. In equilibrium competition binding experiments, bound 125I-PTHrp was displaced by both PTHrp and PTH in microvessels and tubules. Rat PTH displayed slightly higher affinity in microvessels and tubules than PTHrp. Identical results were obtained with 125I-PTH as ligand. Specificity of binding of PTHrp and PTH to both microvessels and tubules was excellent, with competition observed between the radioactive ligand and bovine and rat PTH, PTHrp, and the antagonists, [Nle8,18, Tyr34]bovine PTH and [Nle8,18, Tyr34]bovine PTH but not with several other peptides of unrelated structure. The only major difference in binding between microvessels and tubules was a smaller number of binding sites in microvessels compared to tubules. These results indicate that vascular tissue contains receptor sites for PTH and PTHrp as identified by radioligand binding techniques. These receptors are similar in characteristics to the receptors of renal tubular tissue. Both PTH and PTHrp appear to interact with the receptors of rabbit kidney microvessels and tubules.


1. The pharmacokinetics of trimethoprim (TMP) following intra-aortic administration were investigated in rainbow trout. 2. The disposition kinetics for TMP were best described by a three-compartment open model. The disappearance of TMP from fish blood was characterized by rapid and pronounced distribution phases and a slow terminal elimination phase. 3. In contrast with pharmacokinetic data of TMP in mammals, the present study documented a long terminal elimination t1/2(36.1 h), large Vdss(5980 ml/kg) and small Clb(2.4 ml/min/kg) for TMP in rainbow trout, thus illustrating the slow biotransformation and elimination capacity, particularly the strong 'holding' capacity (storage) for the drug in trout. 4. The pharmacokinetic profiles in the present study indicated no dose dependency of TMP following three different bolus doses (5, 10 and 50 mg/kg). Hence, the first-order kinetic assumption was verified. 5. Urinary excretion of TMP was a minor elimination route in trout (14.4% dose).


A 10 week old preterm infant was noted to have a vesiculo-pustular eruption on the face and scalp with an erythematous base. Initially the lesions were thought to be secondary to herpes simplex virus infection. However, skin biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (EPF). This idiopathic skin disorder is rarely seen in neonates. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of EPF in a preterm infant.


By drawing on recent approaches to music listening, spatial and postcolonial theories, this paper examines the significance of various instances of intertextuality in Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's The Ship. It argues that intertextuality in the novel enables the characters to sustain a sense of community and national solidarity immune to closure and disintegration in exile. This paper shows that the intertexts in the novel are resources of power, strength and agency necessary to fend off alienation and loss, and the intertextual fabric functions as a transformational space from denial into presence, from helplessness into determination. The paper concludes that (inter)textuality in the novel reflects a creative mode of resistance in Palestinian culture.


The climate change scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict a significant increase in temperatures over the next decades. Architecture and building occupants have to respond to this change, but little information is currently available in how far the predicted changes are likely to affect comfort and energy performance in buildings. This study therefore investigates the climate change sensitivity of the following parameters: adaptive thermal comfort according to Ashrae Standard 55 and EN 15251, energy consumption, heating and cooling loads, and length of heating and cooling periods. The study is based on parametric simulations of typical office room configurations in the context of Athens, Greece. They refer to different building design priorities and account for different occupant behaviour by using an ideal and worst case scenario. To evaluate the impact of the climate change, simulations are compared based on a common standard weather data set for Athens, and a generated climate change data set for the IPCC A2 scenario. The results show a significant impact of the climate change on all investigated parameters. They also indicate that in this context the optimisation of comfort and energy performance is likely to be related to finding the best possible balance between building (design) and occupant behaviour and other contextual influences, rather than a straightforward optimisation of separated single parameters.


BACE1 which is a beta secretase enzyme initiates the Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis by amyloid β (Aβ) peptide production. Thus it can serve as a potential therapeutic target for AD treatment. Earlier experimental studies showed that bacopasides, which are key component of Bacopamonniera (Brahmi), are effective against treatment for AD. In our study, we used the molecular modeling approach to study the inhibitory action of Bacopasides on BACE1 activity. For the study, we selected the nine bacopasides and performed the molecular docking studies to study its interaction with the BACE1 key active site residues, which is essential for inhibiting the activity of BACE1. The compounds were selected on the basis of its interaction with the active site residues for the further study of their ADMET properties which are used to evaluate its drug like behavior. Our findings show that bacopasides C, B, N2 and A can serve as potential inhibitors.


Human factors and ergonomics in healthcare is an important discipline that considers both the physical and mental characteristics of healthcare workers, as well as the complex interactions within which organisations exist.


Free and forced oscillations are compared for infinite and bounded atmospheres. Both continuous and two layer bounded atmospheres are considered. It is found that bounded atmospheres reproduce the frce oscillations of the infinite atmosphere with accuracy that depends on top height-they, however, also introduce spurious free oscillations. In studying forced oscillations, the spurious oscillations of bounded atmospheres appear as spurious resonances. In general, bounded atmospheres do not properly respond to oscillations that propagate vertically.


This study designed to investigate the effects of cherry extraction, almond oil, and their combination on physiological and some biochemical parameters in oxonic acid-induced hyperuricemic rats. Hyperuricemia was induced experimentally by intraperitoneal injection of rats with oxonic acid (OA) (250mg/kg/bw) daily for two weeks. The animals were randomly divided into six groups each included six rats: normal control, Hyperuricemic (HU), HU+ Allopurinolas a positive control (AP)(5mg/kg/bw), HU+ Cherry extract (500mg/kg/bw), HU+ Almond oil (3ml/kg/bw), and HU+ co-treatment of (Cherry extract+ Almond oil). The treatments were administrated orally by intragastric tube (gavage) 1 h after OA injection daily throughout the study.At the end of the experiment, the rats were fasted overnight, anesthetized then blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis and detection of oxidative stress.Results indicated that injection with OA induced hyperuricemia after two weeks in rats by increasing the level of serum uric acid significantly (P≤0.0001),and a significantelevation in the levels of BUN, SCr, XO, and LPO were observed, whereas the level of serum SOD decreased.Moreover, treatment with HU rats with AP, cherry extract and almond oil alone and in their combination group, all significantly decreased SUA, SCr, BUN (except for the almond oil group in which Scr and BUN decreased non-significantly)and reversing the results of oxidative stress. Finally, the results showed that the effects of combined treatment (cherry extract + almond oil) was near the actions of allopurinol.


This research is performed by the purpose of assess the satisfaction of athletes that suffered from sports insurance in Hormozgan province. This study is descriptive- survey and its statistical population considered all the suffered athletes that have sport insurance from the medical and sports federation. The statistical populations were 47 individuals that to collecting the primary data used to questionnaire that constructed by researcher and have 24 questions. Measurement scale is in type of five option Likert scale, and validity of the questionnaire was under the supervision of relevant experts (specialists), and Chronbach's alpha formula was used to reliability test that was approved by 87% amount, and secondary data obtained from the library research and Internet research. Statistical analysis performed using the SPSS and Excel software. Results of research showed that athletes had undesirable satisfaction of insurance costs, diversity of services, access to health care, administrative processes and acceptance of insurance with physician, and had desirable satisfaction of receive compensation time and insurance issuing agent behavior, and had moderate satisfaction of federation employee behavior .


Objectives: We detected embolic particles liberated from plaque during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as high‐intensity transient signals (HITS) with a Doppler guidewire and studied their impact on coronary flow dynamics and the myocardium in patients with stable angina pectoris. Background: These embolic particles during PCI may cause myocardial injury. However, this was difficult to confirm because it was impossible to detect embolic particles. Methods: We performed balloon angioplasty followed by stenting in 31 patients while monitoring coronary flow velocity. After PCI, we measured average peak velocity at baseline and after infusion of adenosine 5′‐triphosphate to calculate coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) and coronary resistance index (CRI). In patients with PCI to the left coronary artery (n = 21), we calculated relative CFVR as the ratio of CFVR in the target vessel to that in the reference vessel. We measured cardiac troponin T (cTnT) the day after PCI. Results: HITS were detected in 27 (87%) of 31 patients and the majority were observed after stenting. The total number of HITS was correlated with CRI (r = 0.36, P = 0.049) or relative CFVR (r = 0.65, P = 0.0036) but not with CFVR (r = 0.048, P = 0.82). Thirteen patients showed elevated cTnT (range, 0.05–0.31 ng/ml) and the total number of HITS was greater in those with elevated cTnT than in those without elevated cTnT (24 ± 9 vs. 10 ± 7, P = 0.0007). Conclusions: Embolic particles are frequently observed during PCI to stable plaque and the majority are liberated after stenting. There appears to be a quantitative relationship between amounts of HITS and coronary microvessel dysfunction and minor myocardial injury. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This article discusses creating a sustainably protective engineered and human management system in perpetuity for sites with long-lived radiological and chemical hazards. This is essential at this time because the federal government is evaluating its property as assets and attempting to reduce its holdings, while seeking to assure that health and ecosystems are not put at risk. To assist those who have a stake in the remediation, management, and stewardship of these and analogous privately owned sites, this article discusses current end-state planning by reviewing the federal government's accelerated efforts to reduce its footprint and how those efforts relate to sustainability. The article also provides a list of questions organized around six elements of risk management and primary, secondary, and tertiary disease and injury prevention. Throughout the article, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is used as an example of an organization that seeks to reduce its footprint, manage its budget, and be a steward of the sites that it is responsible for. However, the approach and questions are appropriate for land controlled by the Department of Defense (DOD), the General Services Administration (GSA), and other public and private owners of sites with residual contamination. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


An experience with the operative treatment of 1620 patients has shown that incidence of postoperative complications can be reduced by using active aspiration of the gastric stump content, early intestinal feeding, autohemotransfusions for the substitution of the intraoperative blood loss.


The velocity selection of the V-type three-level-atom mazer with atomic coherence is studied. It is shown that the atomic coherence can strongly affect transmission probability, and in turn, the velocity selection of atoms through the micromaser cavity. When the incident atoms are initially prepared in the lower state of the two upper ones (i.e., no injected atomic coherence), velocity selectivity is at a maximum. This shows that atomic coherence does not have a favourable effect on velocity selectivity in this scheme. The effects of other parameters are also studied.


Time series data are prevalent in electronic health records, mostly in the form of physiological parameters such as vital signs and lab tests. The patterns of these values may be significant indicators of patients' clinical states and there might be patterns that are unknown to clinicians but are highly predictive of some outcomes. Many of these values are also missing which makes it difficult to apply existing methods like decision trees. We propose a recurrent neural network model that reduces overfitting to noisy observations by limiting interactions between features. We analyze its performance on mortality, ICD-9 and AKI prediction from observational values on the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) dataset. Our models result in an improvement of 1.1% [p<0.01] in AU-ROC for mortality prediction under the MetaVision subset and 1.0% and 2.2% [p<0.01] respectively for mortality and AKI under the full MIMIC-III dataset compared to existing state-of-the-art interpolation, embedding and decay-based recurrent models.


Abstract The gains from crowdsourcing can be high, but so can the risks. Contests may become a nightmare for the sponsoring organization if the innovators do not behave as planned. When contest managers act in undesirable ways from a participant's perspective, community members might bash, shame or ridicule a company. To prevent "firestorms" – negative, often highly emotional posts in social media that are eagerly taken over by traditional media – project sponsors need to ensure fairness throughout the contest. The value of the price and the procedures for selecting winners must be fair and transparent – and companies need to stick to predefined rules. Organizations that succeed in keeping their community motivated might not only benefit from new ideas, but also from additional positive effects. Devoting time, skills and personal engagement to developing new ideas for a company favors intense relationships, and participants often become passionate brand followers. By communicating openly about their approach of open innovation, companies can also foster their innovative image.


Ectopic lipid accumulation in the liver is an almost universal feature of human and rodent models of generalized lipodystrophy and is also a common feature of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Here we explore the progression of fatty liver disease using a mouse model of lipodystrophy created by a fat-specific knockout of the insulin receptor (F-IRKO) or both IR and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (F-IR/IGFRKO). These mice develop severe lipodystrophy, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and fatty liver disease within the first weeks of life. By 12 weeks of age, liver demonstrated increased reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, histological evidence of balloon degeneration, and elevated serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels. In these lipodystrophic mice, stored liver lipids can be used for energy production, as indicated by a marked decrease in liver weight with fasting and increased liver fibroblast growth factor 21 expression and intact ketogenesis. By 52 weeks of age, liver accounted for 25% of body weight and showed continued balloon degeneration in addition to inflammation, fibrosis, and highly dysplastic liver nodules. Progression of liver disease was associated with improvement in blood glucose levels, with evidence of altered expression of gluconeogenic and glycolytic enzymes. However, these mice were able to mobilize stored glycogen in response to glucagon. Feeding F-IRKO and F-IR/IGFRKO mice a high-fat diet for 12 weeks accelerated the liver injury and normalization of blood glucose levels. Thus, severe fatty liver disease develops early in lipodystrophic mice and progresses to advanced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with highly dysplastic liver nodules. The liver injury is propagated by lipotoxicity and is associated with improved blood glucose levels.


Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is muscular pain which ranges from mild discomfort to severe debilitating pain, caused by eccentric exercise. It generally sets in 12 - 24 hours after the causative activity and subsides within approximately seven days. The aim of this study was to determine whether proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitated (PNF) stretching immediately after eccentric exercise was more beneficial than PNF stretching 24 hours after eccentric exercise on the muscle pain experienced in DOMS. This study was a prospective, randomised clinical trial. Thirty healthy sedentary male participants were randomly selected to participate in the study by advertising in local newspapers and pamphlet distribution in Durban and its surrounding areas. The patients' ages ranged from 20 to 32 years of age. Subjective and objective readings were taken at the beginning and end of each visit, over the three-day study period. This was done with the numerical pain rating scale and the algometer force gauge, respectively. Baseline measurements were taken before any exercise or stretching at the initial visit. All participants then were asked to do squats until fatigue to induce delayed onset muscle soreness. III The participants were divided randomly into two groups, Group A and Group B. The former group underwent PNF stretching immediately after exercise and the latter group underwent PNF stretching twenty four hours after exercise. Both groups were asked to return for two subsequent days following the initial visit and they again underwent PNF stretching at each visit. Comparison was made between the individual patients' pain perception over time, as well as between each group. Descriptive analysis was done using frequency tables (reporting counts and percentages) for categorical variables and summary statistics (reporting mean, standard deviation and range), for quantitative variables. Baseline and demographic characteristics were compared between the two treatment groups using independent t-tests for quantitative variables and Pearson's chisquare tests for categorical variables. The treatment effect was assessed using repeated measures ANOVA testing. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no difference in the improvement of pain experienced between the two groups. However, Group B (PNF stretching 24 hours after exercise) appeared to improve at a greater rate than Group A (PNF stretching immediately after exercise). A larger study needs to be conducted in order to provide statistically relevant results.


This study was designed to investigate the effect of crude oil pollution on the morphology, growth and heavy metal content of maize ( Zea mays L.) by analyzing selected physicochemical parameters and heavy metals in soil samples and plant parts using standard field experimental methods. Results from this study show that all the growth parameters of Zea mays planted in the polluted soil were adversely affected by crude oil pollution. The highest mean height for treatments 50 ml, 100 ml and 150 ml were 33.54 cm, 31.34 cm and 27.44 cm respectively while that of the control was 87.58 cm. The pH of the soil increased as the volume of the crude oil increased. Chlorophyll content of the Zea mays leaves reduced with increase in the volume of crude petroleum. Of the plant parts examined, root had the highest content of chromium (Cr) with 0.22 ppm (150 ml), nickel (Ni) with 0.46 ppm (150 ml), lead with 0.06 ppm (150 ml) and cadmium (Cd) with 0.02 ppm (150 ml) while the highest copper (Cu) value of 0.28 ppm (150 ml) was recorded in the leaves (150 ml). Heavy metals concentration significantly increased (P < 0.05) with the increase in volume of crude oil pollution. This study has shown that crude oil  polluted soil brings about reduction in the growth, yield and leaf chlorophyll of maize plant. Coupled with increasing heavy metal concentration, this could lead to scarcity and safety concerns in maize consumption in areas impacted by crude oil pollution. Keywords: Crude oil, Pollution, Maize, Effects, Yield, Growth


Considering tensile-strained p-type Si/Si1-yGey quantum wells grown on a relaxed Si1-xGex ( 0 0 1) virtual substrate ( y < x), the hole subband structure and the effective masses of the first bound hole state in the quantum wells are calculated by using the 6 x 6 k center dot p method. Designs for tensile-strained p-type quantum well infrared photodetectors ( QWIPs) based on the bound-to-quasi-bound transitions are discussed, which are expected to retain the ability of coupling normally incident infrared radiation without any grating couplers, have lower dark current than n-type QWIPs and also have a larger absorption coefficient and better transport characteristics than normal unstrained or compressive-strained p-type QWIPs.


Description of the impugned case One case deals with in indirect RPM clause: the producer of telecommunication equipment provided his dealers with rebates under the condition that they would…


In the last decade, mobile learning has taken an exponential rise in both the scholarly and practitioner community in the United Kingdom (UK). This rise has stemmed from the development of new mobile technologies with unique affordances that offers opportunities to extend pedagogical boundaries. This short paper provides experts perceptions on the mobile learning movement across the UK. The paper beings with a look back in recent history from the first mLearn conference in Birmingham in 2002, then the second part of the paper offers a brief look into the future of mobile learning.


: A high-extension core material based upon magnesia has been developed. This material may be used in the construction of all ceramic jacket crowns with the same body and enamel porcelains used for porcelain fused to metal crowns. Jacket crowns may be constructed using a modified platinum foil technique with greater accuracy and higher strength. The main advantage is a stronger jacket crown with exceptional esthetics without the need for special equipment or long processes.


The study of biological factors affecting the process of enzymatic saccharification of cellulose-containing substrates to di- and monosaccharides is an urgent task of modern biotechnology. One of the areas of these studies is associated with the search for enzyme preparations that are most effective in carrying out the deep destruction of cellulose. Another thing — with the study of the influence of physicochemical properties and structure of cellulose on the course of bioconversion. For the first time, the biodegradation processes of fibers of genetic varieties of cotton plants were studied. It was found that the effect of enzymes on the fibers of each variety of cotton was different. The substrate specificity of cellulases was determined with respect to the fibers of genetically different cotton lines. It was experimentally established that fibers of closely related lines undergo destruction at the same rate.


Connective tissue diseases (CTD) is one of the frequent causes of the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Patients with PAH, associated with CTD have a poorer prognosis than other forms. We analyzed effect on survival PAH-therapy, including bosentan, sildenafil, iloprost and combined therapy. A prospective analysis of 42 patients with PAH-CTD (mean age 48(14) yrs., 35 SSc, 5 SLE and 2 MCTD) were performed. 23 patients were observed when PAH-specified therapy was not available in Russia. 70 CTD-patients without PAH were control group. Survival analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. PAH-specific therapy was prescribed after PAH verification by RHC. Monotherapy received 25 patients (12 bosentan, 13 sildenafil) and 17 combined therapy. Pulmonary fibrosis and left heart diseases were excluded. Overall survival from first symptoms estimates was 100%, 97% and 87% at 1, 3 and 5 years in group receiving PAH-specific therapy, and was significantly better than those in a historical cohort of SSc pts 87%, 30% and 4% respectively. Survival in control group (98%, 81% and 78% respectively) was same with CTD-PAH pts. 7 pts (17%) died after a mean follow up 72(33) months. Conclusion: Overall survival rate was higher than in historical cohort, but 17% pts died. Our study underlines the importance of early start of treatment and importance of hemodynamic evaluation.


In Federalist No. 45, James Madison stated that "[t]he powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."(1) He further observed that "[t]he powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."(2) Madison was so concerned about the potential superiority of the states over the federal government that he unsuccessfully proposed that the Federal Constitution authorized Congress to veto any state law.(3) If James Madison were alive today, he certainly would be surprised about the dominance of any state over the federal government. Obviously, exactly the reverse has occurred. To be sure, there has been a classic argument about the intent of the founding fathers that the United States of America be a republic, as distinguished from a democracy.(4) However, such academic discussions pale by comparison to the practical reality that, as we close the twentieth century, the United States is practically a unitary government composed of states which enact laws that are clearly subservient to the federal will. The most significant clause in the United States Constitution is found in Article VI, Clause 2, which states: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.(5) It is significant, I believe, that the directive to observe the supremacy of the United States is placed at the feet of judges in every state. The role, if any, of the federal judiciary appears to be literally nonexistent. The emerging role of the importance of treaties in view of the contemporary activities of the United Nations in regard to Iraq and the United States, who are claimed to be delinquent in their U.N. dues, should be the subject of another legal essay at least, but is not the subject of this Article.(6) A number of examples of the superiority of the federal government to that of the individual states readily come to mind from contemporary society. Recently, President Clinton announced on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, that he was authorizing the Justice Department to draft new regulations to extend the law's application to every academic program in every school receiving any federal funds.(7) It is estimated by some students of the law that the federal government sends approximately $96 billion a year in education funds to schools, various training programs, and other local entities.(8) On the other side of the taxation coin is the recent announcement from Washington that legislation is pending that would temporarily prohibit any new state or local tax on Internet commerce.(9) The Internet Tax Freedom Act would impose a moratorium on allegedly discriminatory taxation while a commission studies and develops methods of taxation for electronic commerce.(10) However, the focus of this Article is to examine the current plan to punish drunk driving more severely. The United States Senate has recently adopted legislation that would set a uniform blood alcohol content.(11) Under this proposed legislation, any state that fails to comply with the federal law would lose millions of dollars per year of its federal highway funds.(12) Undoubtedly, there are serious and very noble reasons for desiring to crack down on drunken drivers.(13) It can be said to be a universal concern which may transcend state boundaries. …


It is widely reported in the literature that it is not possible to test nonmarket good preference restrictions against revealed preference. While it is clearly impossible to affirm any particular preference restriction as being "true," it is possible to show that a preference restriction is not feasible. A revealed preference feasibility test for weak complementarity is presented here. With weak complementarity defined by the observable property of nonessentiality and the unobservable property of no-existencevalue, the latter is the actual preference restriction. It is shown that no-existencevalue is feasible if and only if an observable revealed preference condition of "singlepreference" is satisfied. This strong revealed preference condition is nontrivial when there are two or more market goods in addition to the weak complement. With simple Samuelsonian revealed preference we can falsify single-preference and thereby reject weak complementarity. Stone-Geary numeric examples are included to demonstrate these and other results.


The efficacy of nisin (25-75 ppm) and effect of storage time on quality attributes of micro-filtered coconut water during refrigerated storage (4°C) for 8 days was investigated in terms of total viable counts, colour, turbidity and overall sensory acceptance. All treatments significantly retarded the bacterial growth in coconut water during storage when compared to the control sample (p < 0.05). The samples treated with 50 and 75 ppm nisin had significantly lower aerobic microbial counts than the control (p < 0.05) without affecting colour, turbidity and sensory acceptability. The treated samples also had the significantly higher scores in overall acceptance than the control sample after 7 days of storage.50 ppm Nisin was suggested to be applied in micro-filtered coconut water without effects on colour, turbidity, and sensory acceptability by a reduction in changes of the microbial growth during the refrigerated storage.


ABSTRACT Feng, J.-B.; Ren, C.-H.; Luo, P.; Yan, Y.; Jiang, X., and Hu, C.-Q., 2018. The response of bacterial community structure to ecological environment changes in Daya Bay between winter and spring. In: Wang, D. and Guido-Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Select Proceedings from the 3rd International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2017). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 84, pp. 19–29. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The distribution patterns of the bacterial biomass and its diversity were investigated in Daya Bay in winter and spring 2008. Based on the acridine orange direct count, the mean bacterial biomass (0.31±0.20 μg L−1) in spring was 1.5 times more than that (0.21±0.07 μg L−1) in winter. Spatially it showed the trend that the mean bacterial biomass at station surface and bottom layers in the south of the bay was higher than in the north of the bay. The results based on PCR-DGGE and DNA sequence analysis showed that the Proteobacteria group dominated in bacterial communities of Daya Bay and other groups included the Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. The mean bacterial apparent species richness (No. of DGGE bands) was distinctly higher in winter (18) than in spring (12). It was concluded that phytoplankton controlled bacterioplankton biomass by utilizing dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in winter and spring. The observed seasonal variations of bacterioplankton community composition in Daya Bay was mainly associated with the high-in-winter-and-low-in-spring availability of nutrients like DIN and SiO32−-Si.


This case study focuses on innovative regional policies fighting early school leaving (ESL) in two French regions, Aquitaine and Rhone-Alpes. After a short presentation of the French policy context on the topic of ESL, we present the two regional programs studied and draw a first line of general conclusions and findings on their implementation. In a second part, we assess these programs in terms of capabilities for voice, education and work. The general aim of the regional programs will thereby be confronted to the beneficiaries and teachers' point of views. Finally we will address the question of the non take-up of institutional devices such as the studied programs as a key question to a capability approach of public action.


Human body models (HBMs) are virtual human surrogates used to predict kinematic and injury responses during motor vehicle crashes. In recent years, active musculature has been incorporated into HBMs for enhanced biofidelity in simulated emergency scenarios, in particular low-severity crashes and pre-crash situations, where occupant responses are influenced by muscle tension. Development and validation of HBMs that simulate neuromuscular control requires information on muscle activation patterns and contraction levels for different loading levels and directions. This information can be acquired by measuring muscle activity in volunteers with electromyography in replicated pre-crash events. This thesis investigates occupant responses in various pre-crash type braking scenarios and multidirectional perturbations. Muscle activity was measured in volunteers in the following scenarios; maximum voluntary braking, autonomous braking with standard seatbelt, autonomous braking with reversible pre-tensioner activated 200 ms before braking, and seated perturbation in multiple directions without restraint. Muscle activity and forward displacement during autonomous braking was influenced by type of restraint system and role (passenger vs. driver). Pretensioning the seatbelt caused decreased forward displacement as well as increased startle like muscle activity in some volunteers. Active HBMs that model the startle reflex can elucidate its effect on injury risk in the crash phase. The difference in posture between drivers and passengers resulted in decreased upper extremity and increased lower back muscle activity for passengers and more forward displacement. Active HBMs validated against the data presented here can be used to further assess the difference between the two occupant roles and to aid the optimisation of safety systems for each group. The spatial tuning patterns generated from multidirectional perturbation showed variable activation amplitudes and preferred directions for the neck muscles. Implementing muscle and direction specific activation schemes in active HBMs might result in better prediction of the head and neck responses. The research outcomes provide data sets for active HBM validation in pre-crash braking events and the development and validation of omnidirectional models. Further studies that identify occupant muscle responses are needed. Measuring muscle activity during a precrash steering manoeuvre or during a realistic visual threat to identify the muscle responses following a startle reflex would support the advancement of future omnidirectional models and startle reflex control methods.


Non-genomic aldosterone effects are characterized by their rapid onset, their specificity for mineralocorticoids and their insensitivity both to the mineralocorticoid type 1 receptor antagonist spironolactone and to the inhibitors of transcription and translation, cycloheximide and actinomycin D. The aim of the present study was to further characterize the second messenger system involved in the non-genomic pathway of aldosterone with particular emphasis on protein phosphorylation. The rapid increase of free intracellular calcium by aldosterone in VSMC is sensitive to genistein, so that tyrosine kinase activity appears likely to be involved in the signaling pathway. Here, the effect of 100 nmol/l aldosterone (10 min.) on tyrosine protein-phosphorylation was determined in VSMC. Our findings show that aldosterone (100 nmol/l) in combination with shear stress as additional stimulus induces a rapid (within 10 min.) small but consistent increase in tyrosine-phosphorylation compared with aldosterone or shear stress alone. Immunoprecipitation of the MAPK-isoforms ERK 1 and ERK 2 showed an increased phosphorylation after 3 and 5 min.


Abstract In this paper I argue that hope is best understood as a compound psychological state. When we take hope according to the details of this account, we are in a good position to understand why it is a political virtue of persons. I also argue that securing the institutional bases of hope is a virtue of state institutions, particularly in states in transition from severe injustice. And, finally, when the bases are secure, a person who fails to hope for the political future is in that regard prima facie blameworthy.


This essay aims to estimate the cost of hospitalisation in 2003 for Region Skane for diseases fully attributable to alcohol. An included review of cost-of-illness studies of societal costs of alcohol misuse reaches the conclusions that comparability between studies has increased in recent years as a result, among others, of the establishing of international guidelines. Despite this, some problems remain, mainly concerning cost components, indirect methodology and discounting. The cost to Region Skane totals 78.4 millions. The male proportion is around 70% both for costs and patient cases while women's treatment on average is more expensive. The costs are evenly divided between somatic and psychiatric care and for diagnoses are the highest costs found for "mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol abuse". When measuring costs per capita for municipalities, it could be concluded that small urban areas are necessary but not sufficient for having low per capita costs.


The Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus De Winton, 1898), formerly considered a subspecies of the European brown hare (L. europaeus Pallas, 1778), is an endemic species recently revalidated by genetic analyses. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses to assess morphological discrimination between L. corsicanus and L. europaeus. A clear morphological discrimination in body and skull measurements between Italian hares and European hares was evident. Our results are consistent with the morphological observations in the historical specimens and with mtDNA data. Furthermore, no morphological hybrid was found even in areas where viable populations of the two species coexist in sympatry. Despite the original distribution of the Italian hare, it is impossible to determine a clear boundary between the two species because of human introduction of L. europaeus for hunting. Populations of L. corsicanus have been recorded from central Italy to Sicily, with a fragmented distribution and sometimes in sympatry and syntopy with populations of L. europaeus. However, in Sicily the Italian hare is continuously distributed, locally abundant and no stable European hare populations have been found. Although the conservation of the Italian hare needs to be understood better, urgent conservation and management strategies are required to avoid the threat of extinction for local populations.


This paper discusses information overload with particular reference to the developing countries. Information overload depicts a situation in which the speed of information generation far exceeds the rate of information usage as is the case especially in the developed countries and it is caused by the advancement in Information Communication Technology (ICT). It also depicts a limited access to available information which is the case especially in the developing countries. This later aspect of information overload is caused by limited funds to subscribe to the internet resources by individuals and Internet servers by commercial Internet providers. It is also caused by lack of trained technical experts to man the systems and by irregular electricity supply. In the libraries, limited access to available information is caused by misshelving of books, misfiling of catalogue cards, delays in processing acquired materials, inappropriate signing of subject headings at the processing stage, unfriendly attitude of some library staff towards users, and lack of skills of the users to locate materials in the library. Information overload results in information anxiety, frustration, time and energy wasted, stress, and tension for the users. This problem can be minimized as the number of Internet providers increases and the cost of subscription to the Internet is reduced. Regular electricity supply and more trained technical experts to man the systems will also minimize the problem. Library staff can assist in minimizing the problem through the provision of efficient information retrieval systems and guides, processing of materials as soon as they are acquired, being more friendly and ready to assist users, and by embarking on users' education to enhance their access to available information in the library. Keywords: information overload, information communication technology, information storage and retrieval system, library, user education, inaccessibility of information


This study utilized normal and defective epithelial cell cultures and epidermal skin samples to examine intraand intercellular calcium signaling. The main interests of this thesis were HaileyHailey disease (HHD), Darier disease (DD), neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) and transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). HHD and DD diseases are rare autosomal dominant skin disorders characterized by dissociation of epidermal keratinocytes (acantholysis) at the suprabasal layer of the epidermis. HHD and DD diseases are caused by mutations in the genes encoding the calcium pumps in the Golgi apparatus (hSPCA1) and endoplasmic reticulum (SERCA2b), respectively. Due to these mutations calcium uptake into the Golgi apparatus or ER is diminished, which is believed to cause abnormal cell junction protein processing and dissociation of keratinocytes. This study utilized electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and demonstrated for the first time that lesional areas of HHD and DD and non-lesional areas of DD epidermis display abnormally low calcium content in the basal cell layer. Furthermore, ATP mediated calcium signaling was impaired in cultured HHD and DD keratinocytes and epidermal ATP receptor localization was disrupted. In conclusion, these results suggest that the low calcium content in the basal cell layer is the reason for suprabasal ruptures in HHD but not necessarily in DD lesions, and that abnormal ATP receptor localization contributes to the calcium signaling defects. NF1 deficient keratinocytes display abnormally low resting cytosolic calcium levels and it has been suggested that the calcium concentration in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum is decreased. This study demonstrated that NF1 keratinocytes rely mostly on ATP mediated calcium signaling while normal keratinocytes rely mostly on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC). Studies with TCC cells have demonstrated that gap junctions participate in intercellular calcium wave propagation. This thesis demonstrated that the ATP mediated pathway was also operational in calcium wave propagation in normal uroepithelial and TCC cell cultures. Furthermore, impaired calcium wave propagation in the TCC cell culture could be improved through PKC α/βI –isoenzyme inhibition with Go6976. Go6976 treatment increased connexin 26 clustering at plasma membrane but did not alter expression level of the protein. This thesis contains a wide repertoire of calcium detection techniques including a new cuttingedge technology for elemental calcium detection of epidermal samples. These techniques can be used for molecular specific analysis of calcium signaling in epithelial cells.


To the Editor. —I wish to take issue with the conclusions of Dr Zadnick and colleagues 1 that the slightly greater incidence of myopia and long eyes among the school-age children of myopes is evidence for a strong genetic determination of myopia. I would like to suggest how environmental influences might produce such results, to correct a technical error, and to point out a misleading interpretation. Consider that there are two mechanisms for clearing blurred images: accommodation, which rapidly adjusts the optical power of the lens, and emmetropization, which slowly adjusts the length of the eye during growth (shown clearly by animals compensating for myopia or hyperopia imposed by spectacle lenses 2 ). Because the two mechanisms act in parallel, the better accommodation is, the more in focus images would be, and the less the eye would need to elongate and become myopic to clear the images. Conversely, poor accommodation might


Positional control is fundamental to most manufacturing processes as well as a wide range of other applications. Many types of positional devices have been proposed and used, ranging from robotic arms to Stewart platforms. This paper discusses a new family of six degrees of freedom positional control devices which generally combine simple designs, high stiffness and strength, and a wider range of motion. Stiffness is particularly advantageous in very small (submicron) positional devices as thermal motion is a significant source of positional uncertainty. The stiffness and thermally induced positional uncertainty of three designs - a robotic arm, a Stewart platform, and one member of the new family - are analyzed and compared. The Stewart platform provides the greatest stiffness for a given structural mass but has the most restrictive range of motion. The robotic arm is least stiff. The new proposal combines greater stiffness than the robotic arm with a significantly greater range of motion than the Stewart platform.


A new open-framework germanium oxide Ge10O21(OH)·N4C6H21 has been hydrothermally synthesized at 180 °C for 6 days by using the tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) molecule as a structure-directing agent. This compound was characterized by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction and FTIR. It crystallizes in the noncentric monoclinic system Cm (a = 14.0495(2) A, b = 12.8058(3) A, c = 9.2637(2) A, β = 128.406(1)°, Z = 4). Its three-dimensional framework is built up from GeO4 and GeO3(OH) tetrahedra connected by vertexes to GeO5 trigonal bipyramids and GeO6 octahedra. A pseudo-cubic building unit ("4-3" subunit) consists of four GeO4 tetrahedra, two GeO5 trigonal bipyramids, and one GeO6 octahedron (Ge7). In the "4-3" block, the GeO5 trigonal bipyramids share a common edge. This Ge7 entity is linked to three tetrahedral units GeO3X (X = O, OH), and this forms an original decameric building unit Ge10O21(OH) which is new in the germanates crystal chemistry. It results in a relatively dense open framework composed ...


This review covers allylic and benzylic carbanions in which a heteroatom and the double bond may be part of a conjugated system. Propargylic and allenic systems are also included. The cation is an alkaline or alkaline-earth element; transition metals are excluded. The chapter by Gilman and Morton in 1954 was restricted to lithium derivatives. Reviews covering part of the subject include those on organometallic compounds, on reagents for nucleophilic acylation, on olefin synthesis with P(O)-activated reagents, on the formation and reactions of carbanions derived from allylic sulfoxides, dithianes, nitrosoamines, thioethers and ethers, selenium compounds, on base-catalyzed isomerization, and on rearrangements of carbanions.

Allylic and benzylic carbanions adjacent to the following heteroatoms have been described: boron, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, selenium, bromine, tellurium.

The basicity and structures of these anions are considered first. This discussion is followed by sections on methods of generation of carbanions, reactions occurring during preparation, decomposition, and rearrangements of carbanions, reactions with electrophiles, regioselectivity and stereochemical aspects of the reactions, transformations of the reaction products, and some applications of these carbanions in synthesis.

Keywords:

allylic carbanions;
benzylic carbanions;
heteroatoms;
generation methods;
heterosubstituted carbanions;
decomposition;
electrophiles;
regioselectivity;
stereochemistry;
transformations;
applications;
experimental procedures;
halides;
amides;
amines;
boranes;
ethers;
esters;
ketals;
phosphorus compounds;
selenium compounds;
sulfur compounds;
tellurides;
silanes;
carbamates;
nitrogen compounds


Deep seismic-reflection data collected by COCORP along a 145-km-long line in westernmost Nevada and easternmost California as part of the 40°N latitude transect of the western Cordillera reveal the geometry of three crustal-scale features associated with the Walker Lane and the transition from the Basin and Range extensional province to the Sierra Nevada crustal block. The Walker Lane, a zone of late Cenozoic strike-slip and normal faults crossed in the central third of the line, is underlain by a zone of moderately west-dipping reflections that terminate at a discontinuous mid-crustal zone of subhorizontal reflections extending across most of the line at depths ranging from 14 to 23 km. We interpret the mid-crustal reflections as an active detachment accommodating strike-slip and extensional displacements. It may coincide with the base of the Sierran batholith, a shear zone, and/or the transition from brittle to ductile crustal deformation. The dipping reflections are inferred to be from a moderately dipping (45°) fault that soles in this mid-crustal detachment and accommodates the strike-slip and normal displacement of the northern Walker Lane. Discontinuous reflections at 9.5–10.2 s two-way travel time (28–30 km) on the eastern half of the line are interpreted as the Moho, similar to the Moho imaged by COCORP lines farther east in Nevada. Moho reflections are imaged at 11.0–11.5 s (33–35 km) in the western third of the line, and project westward toward similar reflections as deep as 12–13 s (37–41 km) beneath the eastern Sierra Nevada, and so the crust appears to thin gradually from the Sierra Nevada into the Basin and Range. The lower crust east of the Walker Lane is relatively highly reflective, characteristic of COCORP data from other Nevada lines, but the lower crust west of the Walker Lane is less reflective, similar to COCORP data from the northern Sierra Nevada. The change in reflectivity of the lower crust also appears to occur gradually, with no sharp offsets or boundaries. On the basis of the COCORP data, therefore, the transition between the Basin and Range and Sierra Nevada appears to be a wide (∼100 km) zone of crustal thinning possibly accompanied by a change in deformation fabric that may correspond to changes in lower crustal rheology or degree of deformation. This transition zone is dominated by a moderately dipping fault underlying the Walker Lane and accommodating strike-slip and normal displacement down to a mid-crustal detachment level.


Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis and small vascular involvement in the skin, lungs, heart and gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The esophagus is the most frequently involved GI tract disorder. Although the small intestinal involvement such as malabsorption and pseudo-obstruction is less common, it has been related to morbidity and mortality of SSc patients. We previously reported a close correlation between the esophageal diameter and the small intestinal clearance (SIC) (EULAR 2011). We also suggested that anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) are an important factor of esophageal dilatation in SSc patients (EULAR 2010). However, changes of small intestinal involvement during long-term follow-up have not yet been defined. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate a correlation between the small intestinal involvement and clinical features in SSc patients during ten years follow-up. Methods Fifty-five patients with a definite diagnosis of SSc [52 female and 3male with mean age of 59.4 years (range 29–77 years)] were included in the study. Thirteen (23.6%) patients were classified as diffuse SSc and 42 (76.4%) as limited SSc. The SIC grade was classified according to barium meal reach at 30 min after intake; grade 1 (>2/3 of the whole small intestine), grade 2 (1/3∼2/3), grade 3 (<1/3), grade 4 (the duodenum). The SIC change was classified as follows; grade 1 and 2 or grade non-increase during follow-up was classified as "non-progressive", grade 3 and 4 or grade increase as "progressive". All SSc patients were evaluated the items as used for 2013 ACR/EULAR criteria. Results The mean durations of follow-up period were 9.5±0.6 years. The number of SSc patients in each SIC grade at the initial evaluation and the end of follow-up were as follows; grade 1: initial vs end; 23 vs 24, grade 2: 20 vs 9, grade 3: 10 vs 16, grade 4: 2 vs 6. The SIC change "progressive" was 40.0% of SSc patients. Positive correlation between the esophageal diameters and the SIC grade was observed in SSc patients at the initial evaluation (r=0.61 p<0.01) and the end of follow-up (r=0.71 p<0.01). The esophageal diameters at the initial evaluation were significantly wider in SIC "progressive" group than in "non-progressive" group (non-progressive vs progressive; 21.8±6.5 vs 30.9±8.6 mm, p<0.0001). The frequencies of SSc patients with ACA-positive and sclerodactyly were higher but with puffy fingers were lower in SIC "progressive" group than in "non-progressive" group (non-progressive vs progressive; 24.2 vs 59.1%, p=0.009; 33.3 vs 63.6%, p=0.03; 72.7 vs 45.5%, p=0.03). The prevalence of pitting scar and Interstitial lung disease were tended to be higher in SIC "progressive" compared to SIC "non-progressive" group (non-progressive vs progressive; 15.6 vs 36.4%, p=0.07; 21.1 vs 45.5%, p=0.06). Conclusions The present study demonstrated that the progression of small intestinal involvement was associated with esophageal dilatation at the initial evaluation during long-term follow-up of SSc patients. Our findings also suggested that ACA and skin thickening of the fingers were important factors of small intestinal involvement in SSc patients. The SIC may be a useful tool for the assessment of GI tract involvement in SSc patients during long-term follow-up. Disclosure of Interest None declared


When will the optimal mix of a constant income tax with a constant consumption tax involve a positive income tax? The assumptions of the model in which this question is asked include (1) identical individuals with coincident lifetimes who work in every period; (2) initial endowments of physical capital; (3) fixed government expenditures; and (4) government borrowing (or lending) that goes to zero when the world ends. In a model like this, we can ignore the transition problem. If we allow the constant tax on income from capital and the constant tax on wage income to be at different rates, we can ask a further question. When will the optimal mix of all three taxes (including the consumption tax) involve a positive tax on either income from capital or wage income?


In this paper, firm-level data from manufacturing sector in five African countries is obtained to estimate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on firm's technical efficiency. Unbalanced panel data over period of 1991-2003 shows that the existence of FDI has a significant impact on domestic firms' technical efficiency. The results remain robust after controlling for country and year fixed effect. Other determinants of technical efficiency are investigated as well and the results show that firm size and export behavior increases efficiency while firm age lowers efficiency.


With the introduction of incentive regulation in many network industries, different approaches how to remunerate invested capital have been used. Under incentive regulation, many regula-tors remunerate the regulated asset base with a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) based on a pre-defined gearing, not considering individual capital structure at all. From a reg-ulator's point of view, the aim is clear: Provide incentives to the firms to optimize their capital structure, i.e. finding the right balance between equity financing and debt. Taggert (1981) shows that rate-of-return regulation creates an incentive for regulated firms to alter their capi-tal structures in order to influence consumer prices. Spiegel and Spulber (1994) find that the firm chooses its equity and debt in order to affect the outcome of the regulatory process. As a hybrid model between WACC and individual capital structure, the German Regulator sets incentives for a certain capital structure by limiting the return on equity that can be incorpo-rated into network tariffs with a cap. However it has not been analyzed neither in theoretical nor in practical research which incentives are really created by this cap. To analyze the impact of different capital structure regulation mechanisms on the optimal capital structure, a static trade-off-theory model of capital structure is presented and the char-acteristics of several different approaches to capital structure regulation and their characteris-tics are analyzed. The results indicate that the overall effect of capital structure regulation is very important: In an ex-ante regulation setting, the consideration of individual capital struc-tures leads to higher equity ratios than the use of a benchmark-WACC. In this context, caps are an effective mean to set incentives for a predefined equity ratio. In an ex-post regulation where bankruptcy is merely a threat, it may be optimal to rely on extreme strategies solely financing with equity or debt.


Dynamic Hash Tables (DHTs) are distributed systems that maintain key-value pairs and provide efficient lookup services. Traditional DHTs usually rely on a random ID distribution of the keys to achieve such efficiency. Uniformly random hash functions are typically used to create uniformly random ID distributions from nonrandom key distributions. However, there are many cases where such random hash functions cannot be applied. For example, those systems that provide range queries over the keys cannot apply random hash functions on the keys, otherwise, the range query is very difficult to support. In this paper, we present a new lookup system called DChord, which does not depend on the randomness assumption to achieve its performance. To show the performance of the proposed system, we provide mathematical analysis and extensive simulation results in a highly non-random USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) metadata identifier space. To be specific, we show that DChord has high regularity in terms of in-degree and out-degree distributions. Thus, the system is robust against random node failures. We also show that query processing load is well balanced among nodes and the lookup speed is deterministic in such a way that the number of nodes to visit for a query is at most log2(N).


We evaluate the validity of the fundamental assumption behind application-specific programmable processors: that applications differ from each other in key parameters which are exploitable, such as the available instruction-level parallelism (ILP), demand on various hardware resources, and the desired mix of function units. Following the tradition of the CAD community, we develop an accurate chip area estimate and a set of aggressive hardware optimization algorithms. We follow the tradition of the architecture community by using comprehensive real-life benchmarks and production quality tools. This combination enables us to build a unique framework for system-level synthesis and to gain valuable insights about design and use of application-specific programmable processors for modern applications. We explore the application-specific programmable processor (ASSP) design space to understand the relationship between performance and area. The architecture model we used is the Hewlett Packard PA-RISC with single level caches. The system, including all memory and bus latencies, is simulated and no other specialized ALU or memory structures are being used. The experimental results reveal a number of important characteristics of the ASSP design space. For example, we found that in most cases a single programmable architecture performs similarly to a set of architectures that are tuned to individual application. A notable exception is highly cost sensitive designs, which we observe need a small number of specialized architectures that require smaller areas. Also, it is clear that there is enough parallelism in the typical media and communication applications to justify use of high number of function units. We found that the framework introduced in this paper can be very valuable in making early design decisions such as area and architectural configuration tradeoff, cache and issue width tradeoff under area constraint, and the number of branch units and issue width.


Paper deals with the time correlation between lightning strokes and protection relay pickups. On a line fault, the relay pickup is the first action registered by the protection relay. For this, the pickup time is taken for correlation with lightning data available from the lightning locating system (LLS). The conducted studies have shown the time differences between a lightning stroke and a relay pickup to be up to 28 ms in 85% of the observed cases.


Abstract A forecast method capable of estimating date of last frost and number of frosts per season in northeastern Australia some months in advance is described. Forecast "skill" is achieved using either Southern Oscillation index (SOI) patterns (phases) during the previous austral autumn or a linear discriminant approach and the SOI. When applying these systems, it is possible to provide significantly different probability distributions of day of last frost and number of frosts, depending on the SOI patterns observed during the previous season. An analysis of the time series of frost frequency and date of last frost suggests an apparent warming trend in the data, resulting in a trend toward earlier dates of last frost and fewer numbers of frosts at many of the locations analyzed. The beneficial implications of the proposed frost forecasting system for enterprises such as winter agriculture in the region are believed to be significant.


Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory arthritis. Known risk factors, along with inflammation and autoimmunity, contribute to the development of coronary artery disease in RA patients. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a strong risk factor for coronary artery disease. The present study aimed to compare EAT thickness in RA patients with a healthy control group.
Methods: The study included 31 RA patients (female: 25, male: 6; mean age: 52.74 ± 11.30) and 33 healthy individuals (female: 29, male: 4; mean age: 48.55 ± 9.27) as the control group. Patients with cardiovascular disease and other comorbid diseases were not included. The EAT thickness of patient and control groups was measured using transthoracic echocardiography. Demographic, clinical and laboratory findings of all the subjects were recorded. The EAT thickness, demographic, clinical and laboratory findings of RA patients were compared with those of control group.
Results: The epicardial fat thickness was significantly higher in the patient group than the control group (0.68 ± 0.16 cm; 0.40 ± 0.11 cm, respectively, p 0.05). There was no correlation between epicardial fat thickness and age, gender, body mass index, glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in the patient group (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The present study showed a significant increase in the EAT thickness in RA patients compared to healthy control subjects, which is an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis.


Rehearsing/Samuel Beckett is part of a series of curatorial investigations utilising archives, research materials, and re-presented art works. The aim is to reconsider the use of historic materials through innovative curatorial processes and by initiating live projects inspired by these materials. The source material was the personal archive of theatre director, David Gothard which also includes material on Michael Clark, Tarkovsky, Miro/La Claca, Kantor, Kureishi.

The background to Gothard's archive is that Beckett had been asked by the San Quentin Drama Workshop to direct rehearsals for a world tour starting in Ireland. He agreed to direct but refused to leave Paris for Dublin, instead starting a correspondence with Gothard that led to rehearsals taking place at the Riverside Studios, London. The archive consists of correspondence from Beckett, previously unseen photographs by the late Chris Harris, cuttings, videos, photocopied annotations etc.

My intention was to install this material at Chelsea space as a meditation on the nature of rehearsal. The archive would act as starting point and backdrop for a series of performances, concerts, actions to occur within the exhibition itself. I invited Jess Weisner to assist research, cataloguing, and presentation of the archive.

John Tilbury 'performed' a lecture on 'Music and Beckett; David Toop created a new composition for laptops, flute and vibraphone; David Ryan and John Edwards performed improvised music; Pablo Bronstein choreographed a dance performance for the Tate Triennale; Shaun Macdowell created a painting during the private view; Gaby Agis and Florence Peake devised a new performance; Harry Burton and Harold Pinter allowed inaugural screenings of their unfinished film 'The Art of Rehearsal', Adrian Shaw improvised a performance based on Beckett's Ping.

A pamphlet was published (ISBN 870540 99 9). The show toured to Coventry School of Art and Design in 2006 and Donegal in 2007.


In this paper, an array antenna with linear and circular polarization characteristics is proposed for 28 GHz band 5G mobile handset applications. A 2×2 slot array antenna is designed for circular polarization in ±z directions; 1×8 and 8×1 dipole array antennas with linear polarizations are designed for 3D beam coverage by fan-beam steering. The proposed antenna is a stacked structure, and all radiating elements are printed on the middle layer of the stacked structure. The −10 dB reflection coefficient bandwidth and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of the proposed antenna fully covers the 28 GHz target band (27.5~28.35 GHz). The simulated peak gain of the proposed dipole array antenna is 11.71 dBi, and the half-power beamwidth in the elevation plane is 195° without beam steering. With the maximum beam steering on the azimuthal plane, the simulated peak gain of the proposed dipole array antenna is 10.52 dBi. Moreover, the simulated peak gains of the proposed 2×2 slot array antenna are 9.1 dBi in +z direction with left-hand circular polarization and 9.19 dBi in −z direction with right-hand circular polarization.


After a brief review of the ionization of excited hydrogen atoms by a linearly polarized field, we discuss experimental results for the polarization dependence of this process. Experiments at ω/2π = 9.904 GHz used two different ranges of principal quantum number n 0 between 29 and 98. At low scaled frequencies, Ω 0 0.1, ionization data for certain narrow ranges of n 0 exhibit striking sensitivity to fields with elliptical polarization not too far from circular polarization. Classical calculations reproduce this behavior and show it to be the result of 2ω driving terms that appear when the Hamilto- nian is transformed to a frame rotating at ω. It shows how higher-dimensional dynamics can influence the ionization and be used to control it when the polarization departs from linear or circular polarization. At higher scaled frequencies, 0.6 < Ω0 1.4, near the onset of ionization circularly and ellip- tically polarized data show surprising similarities with linearly polarized data in a parameter regime where the ionization dynamics is dominated by the influence of the pendulumlike resonance zone centered at scaled frequency noω 1. The stabilizing influence of this zone can be understood clas- sically, but nonclassical stability associated with quantal separatrix states at its edge is a semiclassical effect.


Biochemical monitoring of liver function is essential because Anti Tubercular Therapy (ATT) induced hepatotoxicity can cause permanent injury to liver and death. This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in department of Biochemistry of Chittagong Medical College during the period of July 2009- Jun 2010 to determine the association of Anti-TB treatment to alter the liver function in patients of intensive phase of tuberculosis taking Four Fixed Dose Combination of Isoniazid, Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol. A total of 100 subjects were enrolled in this study. They were divided into two groups. Group A (case) was diagnosed case of tuberculosis and had taken anti TB drugs (four Fixed dose combination) at least for fifteen days and group B (control) was consisting of normal subjects. Serum ALT, AST, Bilirubin and prothrombin time were measured. It was found, that out of 70 subjects 20% had increased level of serum ALT, 17.1% had increased level of serum AST, 20% had increased level of serum bilirubin and only 2.9% had increased level of prothrombin time in case group. Finally, determination of liver functions in patients receiving Anti TB therapy (in intensive phase) should be done irrespective of presence or absence of established risk factors, to minimize not only the incidence but also the morbidity and mortality.
JCMCTA 2012 ; 23 (2): 27-29


Abstract Objective To determine the subsequent pattern of emergency admissions in older people with a history of frequent emergency admissions. Design Analysis of routine admissions data from NHS hospitals using hospital episode statistics (HES) in England. Subjects Individual patients aged  65,  75, and  85 who had at least two emergency admissions in 1997-8. Main outcome measures Emergency admissions and bed use in this "high risk" cohort of patients were counted for the next five years and compared with the general population of the same age. No account was taken of mortality as the analysis was designed to estimate the future use of beds in this high risk cohort. Results Over four to five years, admission rates and bed use in the high risk cohorts fell to the mean rate for older people. Although patients  65 with two or more such admissions were responsible for 38% of admissions in the index year, they were responsible for fewer than 10% of admissions in the following year and just over 3% five years later. Conclusion Patients with multiple emergency admissions are often identified as a high risk group for subsequent admission and substantial claims are made for interventions designed to avoid emergency admission in such patients. Simply monitoring admission rates cannot assess interventions designed to reduce admission among frail older people as rates fall without any intervention. Comparison with a matched control group is necessary. Wider benefits than reduced admissions should be considered when introducing intensive case management of older people.


This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of exogenous osmoprotectant application in increasing the stability of aroma quality and grain yield of Pare Wangi on different soil types. A two factors greenhouse experiment was designed according to Split Plot design with three replications. The first factor was soil types of specific and target location. The second factor was application of exogenous osmoprotectants, i.e. without osmoprotectant, 10 mM proline, 20 mM proline, 10 mM sorbitol, 20 mM sorbitol, 10 mM sucrose and 20 mM sucrose. Observed data included soil physical and chemical properties, rice vegetative and reproductive growth and physiological characters, and rice aroma quality. Collected data were subjected to analysis of variance, followed by an Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) post hoc and a simple correlation tests. Results indicated that grain yield per pot was higher on soil from target location than on soil from specific location, but concentration of proline and 2AP, and the aroma scores were in the opposite direction. Besides more effective in increasing grain yield, the osmoprotectants proline and sucrose, each at 10 mM, were also better in maintaining rice aroma quality compared tosorbitol osmoprotectants, and aroma score showed a significantly positive correlation with 2AP concentration.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been one of the largest health concerns of the 21st century due to the serious complications associated with the disease. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the pathogenesis of DM and develop novel strategies to reduce the burden of diabetic complications. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase, has been reported to not only deacetylate histones to modulate chromatin function but also deacetylate numerous transcription factors to regulate the expression of target genes, both positively and negatively. SIRT1 also plays a crucial role in regulating histone and DNA methylation through the recruitment of other nuclear enzymes to the chromatin. Furthermore, SIRT1 has been verified as a direct target of many microRNAs (miRNAs). Recently, numerous studies have explored the key roles of SIRT1 and other related epigenetic mechanisms in diabetic complications. Thus, this review aims to present a summary of the rapidly growing field of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, as well as the epigenetic influence of SIRT1 on the development and progression of diabetic complications, including cardiomyopathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy.


PurposeThe consequences of extreme climatic events that threaten food security have created the urgent need to properly adopt climate-smart adaptation techniques to improve productivity. The study examined the sustainability responses to climate-smart adaptation and the implication it has for explaining the food security situations among farm households in the Central Region of Ghana.Design/methodology/approachWe estimated Heckit treatment effect model to analyse cross-sectional data collected from randomly selected farmers in the Central Region.FindingsAnalysis of farm sustainability index suggests that farmers' agricultural practices in response to climate change are lowly or moderately sustainable. We further found that while majority of the farm households are severely food insecure or food insecure with hunger, only about one-third are food insecure without hunger and the remaining few being food secure. The sustainability of farm practices is being impacted by the farmers' choice of climate smart adaptation measures at the farm level. Consequently, the farm households' food security situation is found to be improved when sustainable farming practices are employed in the face of managing climate change effects.Practical implicationsConclusions drawn from the study findings give rooms for policy implications that suggest responsibilities for policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders to promote CSA practices in food crop production in Ghana. These policy implications will contribute to improve crop productivity, increase incomes and thus enhance food security among farm families. Awareness campaign about benefits of CSA practices and technologies need to be strengthened among farmers in Ghana by government and NGOs that matter in promoting farm resilience to climate change. Given the important impacts of sustainable farm practices on household food security situation, policies that seek to build the adaptive capacity of farmers to climate vulnerability impacts should take into consideration the sustainability dimensions of the adaptation and mitigation measures to be advocated for use at farm levels.Originality/valueOur paper contributes to literature knowledge on climate-smart adaptation practices effect on food security as evidenced in some recent literature. The paper makes a unique contribution by highlighting the food security implication of the sustainability impact of CSA practices, thereby exploring sustainability as an impact pathway between climate smart adaptations practices and food security in a developing country like Ghana. We approached our study aiming at making new contribution by introducing in the study implementation a quasi-experimental research design which future studies on impacts of climate smart adaptation practices can replicate.


The purpose of this thesis was to study and compare similarities and differences between the Swedish and British journalism on the topic of terrorism. News articles from the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet and the British newspaper The Guardian were analyzed. Methods of critical discourse analysis were used to accomplish this. Additionally, theories of orientalism, national identity and the concept of Us and Them have also been used. In the results the articles showed reinforcements of the national identities and a presence of Us and Them through orientalism. Islam and Muslims were often mentioned in association with extremism and terrorism, which creates a negative representation. In another result on the other hand showed that The Guardian represents Islam and Muslims in a more positive way than Svenska Dagbladet.


This paper studies the provision of local public goods and the effect of the political system on its allocation. Recognizing that most public goods are de facto local, we propose a model of allocation of local public good under political competition. We derive predictions regarding the relationship between public good provision and population in localities that differ depending on the regime: majoritarian and proportional representation systems. Using the satellite nightlight data as a proxy for local public good provision, we show that the predicted patterns are observed. Our finding raises interesting questions regarding the measurement of inequality in public good allocation. EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY. PLEASE DO NOT POST OR DISTRIBUTE. JEL Classification Numbers:


This concise, clinically informative manual, developed by an advisory committee of six health and social service providers affiliated with the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians Network, outlines general recommendations for adapting medical practices to the unique needs of homeless persons. Targeted to the audience of health care professionals, trainees, and ancillary personnel who may have little clinical experience working with the homeless, this compact guide offers basic, common-sense approaches to providing medical care to a highly vulnerable and medically underserved population. In less than 50 pages, the authors attempt to outline the fundamental issues affecting a homeless person's life (e.g., unstable housing, limited access to nutritious food and water, lack of insurance, chronic stress) as well as to offer practical recommendations that specifically pertain to the provision of health care. The basic message is this: a patient's state of homelessness should impel the provider to modify his or her clinical approach to diagnosis, evaluation, physical examination, the ordering of relevant diagnostic tests, development of a feasible treatment plan, and the implementation of follow-up strategies. The authors then elucidate, briefly and succinctly, recommendations for how this can be achieved on a clinical level. Some of the most valuable guidance offered concerns medication and follow-up. Keeping medication regimens to once-daily dosing when possible, dispensing small amounts on site (i.e., avoiding written prescriptions, which likely will go unfilled), discussing storage and safekeeping measures, and avoiding potential agents of abuse (e.g., inhalants, controlled substances for pain, clonidine) are all strategies aimed at increasing adherence for those living on the streets or in shelters. For those of us who provide care to the homeless on a routine basis, the issue of follow-up is also of paramount importance. This short guide suggests using case management, peer support, frequent appointments, incentives, and transportation assistance to enhance treatment retention. Woven throughout the text is an emphasis on multidisciplinary strategies because the multiple and complex needs of the homeless patient almost always greatly exceed the capacity of a single health care provider. The strength of this manual is its hands-on, concrete approach to the clinical care of those who endure the effects of homelessness. On the positive side, it is extremely brief and user friendly. In fact, acknowledging the time limitations of most health care providers, the authors have summarized at the very beginning of


Complement activation (CA) has been reported to play a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To investigate whether CA may contribute to amyloidogenesis in general, the CA potential of different amyloid fibril proteins was tested. CA induced by A beta preparations containing soluble protein, protofilaments and some fibrils or only fibrils in a solid phase system (ELISA) was modest with a slow kinetics compared to the positive delta IgG control. Soluble A beta induced no detectable CA in a liquid phase system (complement consumption assay) while fibrillar A beta caused CA at 200 mg/ml and higher concentrations. Soluble beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2M) purified from peritoneal dialysates was found to be as potent a complement activator as A beta in both solid and liquid phase systems while beta 2M purified from urine exhibited lower activity, a difference which may be explained by differences observed in SDS-resistant oligomers and isoforms. Soluble Amyloid A-protein caused no significant CA. A beta and beta 2M activated complement via the classical pathway. The modifying influence by amyloid-associated molecules on A beta-induced CA was also investigated, but neither serum amyloid P component nor heparan sulfate did significantly alter the A beta-induced CA. The results indicate that not only fibrillar A beta but also oligomers of, in particular, beta 2M from patients with dialysis-associated amyloidosis are capable of inducing CA at supra-physiological concentrations.


Sertoli cells in vivo are highly polarized and interact with the inner (tubular) and outer (interstitial) fluids. To simulate this condition in vitro we developed a two-compartment culture system in which confluent Sertoli cell monolayers were grown on permeable supports (Millipore filters) separating the inner and outer fluid compartments. Monolayer permeability to (3H)-inulin decreased by 90% after 5 to 7 days of culture, presumably due to formation of tight junctions. This process was influenced by cell plating density. The cells were highly polarized morphologically, resembling their appearance in vivo, and secreted transferrin bidirectionally into both fluid compartments. The amount of transferrin secreted was 166% to 250% of that secreted by the same number of Sertoli cells cultured in plastic dishes. Testosterone (5 X 10(-8) M) doubled and testosterone + FSH (0.1 microgram/ml) increased transferrin secretion 3.6-fold. These results demonstrate that under suitable culture conditions the Sertoli cells remain both morphologically and functionally polarized, reflecting a more physiologic state.