The results of pollen, spore, algal and charcoal particle analyses from an 18 m core sample, dating from ca. 730 000-0 a before present (B.P.), from Lake George are described along with an account of a five year study of modern pollen-rain from the same site. Also, pollen analyses of two isolated samples, dating about 4-7 Ma B.P., in a separate core from the same location are reported for comparison. The sedimentary sequence is dated by means of magnetostratigraphy and radiocarbon. The microfossil record from Lake George provides the longest relatively continuous Quaternary continental sequence yet available from Australia and may document one of the world's longest combined record of vegetation, bush-fires, lake levels and climates together with the record of accompanying plant migrations, redistributions and extinctions. It is so far the only chronologically secure Late Cainozoic palynological database available in Australia that spans the entire Brunhes Chron. The altitudinal shifts of vegetation belts inferred from the palynological sequence suggest significant past changes in terrestrial temperatures of the order of glacial-interglacial cycles. It is revealed that the upper treeline was depressed by 1200-1500 m and 300-600 m, respectively, during the glacial maxima and the cool-temperate intervals, and reverted during the interglacials. Assuming an average lapse rate of 0.7 $^\circ$ C per 100 m, the drop in mean temperature for the warmest month (January) with respect to the present during the glacial maxima and the cool-temperate periods respectively may have been about 8-10 $^\circ$ C and 2-4 $^\circ$ C. A series of about eight glacial-interglacial cycles (phases I-XIX) are recognized during the Brunhes Chron at Lake George broadly corresponding to stages 1-19 of the deep sea $^{18}$ O palaeotemperature record. A correlation between the palaeotemperature sequence and the former lake levels at Lake George is presented for the relatively more continuous section, ca. 350 000-0 a B.P., with a view to resolve past precipitation changes. It is inferred that periods of considerably lower precipitation than at present prevailed during the glacial maxima. Conversely, periods of higher precipitation than at present occurred for some considerable lengths of time during the interglacials. In general terms, the precipitation levels increased during both interglacials and interstadials with respect to glacial maxima. The plant microfossil evidence indicates that Eucalyptus- dominated, dry sclerophyll (low, open) forests, now growing in the lake catchment, and probably elsewhere in southeastern Australia are the result of a comparatively recent development. It is shown that the relatively 'fire-sensitive' Casuarina-dominated forests, combined with several equally or more 'fire-sensitive' rainforest taxa, dominated the vegetation for at least half a million years during all but the last two interglacials. The relatively 'fire-tolerant', Eucalyptus-dominated forests started to expand onwards from the last interglacial, some 130 000 years ago, in conjunction with large increases in the amount of charcoal in the sediment. Since then, not only did the amount of charcoal remain at a generally high level but the overall dominance of open, eucalypt forest is maintained throughout during the warmer periods except for a cool-temperate interstadial interval (zone D) during the last glacial. The 'fire-sensitive' Casuarina (under 23 $\mu$ m type) as well as all the rainforest taxa declined at the end of the last glacial and finally disappeared from the lake catchment during the Holocene, culminating in the total extinction of Casuarina type under 23 $\mu$ m during the last few hundred years. Some of the changes in flora during the Brunhes Chron were undoubtedly the result of long-term climatic change but most appear to have been precipitated through increased fire-frequencies only during the last 130 000 years (with the maximum impact occurring during the last 10 000 years), probably on account of the bush-firing activities of early man in Australia. This presupposes the presence of the Aboriginal people some 90 000 years earlier than the oldest available archaeological evidence for human occupation of the Australian continent, a proposition that remains to be tested by future archaeological investigations. In biogeographical terms, the studies reveal that a number of Gondwanic taxa, commonly seen during the late Tertiary in southeastern Australia, survived well into the Pleistocene and finally disappeared during the late Brunhes from Lake George.


Acute pancreatitis is a common critical and acute gastrointestinal disease worldwide, with an increasing percentage of morbidity. However, the gene expression pattern in peripheral blood has not been fully analyzed. In addition, the mechanism of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced acute pancreatitis has not been investigated. Here, after bioinformatic analysis with machine-learning methods of the expression data of peripheral blood cells and validation in local patients, two functional gene modules in peripheral blood cells of acute pancreatitis were identified, and S100A6, S100A9, and S100A12 were validated as predictors of severe pancreatitis. Additionally, through a combination analysis of bulk sequencing and single-cell sequencing data of COVID-19 patients, a pivotal subtype of neutrophils with strong activation of the interferon-related pathway was identified as a pivotal peripheral blood cell subtype for COVID-19-induced acute pancreatitis. These results could facilitate the prognostic prediction of acute pancreatitis and research on COVID-19-induced acute pancreatitis.


During biomanufacturing cell lines development, the generation and screening for single‐cell derived subclones using methods that enable assurance of clonal derivation can be resource‐ and time‐intensive. High‐throughput miniaturization, automation, and analytic strategies are often employed to reduce such bottlenecks. The Beacon platform from Berkeley Lights offers a strategy to eliminate these limitations through culturing, manipulating, and characterizing cells on custom nanofluidic chips via software‐controlled operations. However, explicit demonstration of this technology to provide high assurance of a single cell progenitor has not been reported. Here, a methodology that utilizes the Beacon instrument to ensure high levels of clonality is described. It is demonstrated that the Beacon platform can efficiently generate production cell lines with a superior clonality data package, detailed tracking, and minimal resources. A stringent in‐process quality control strategy is established to enable rapid verification of clonal origin, and the workflow is validated using representative Chinese hamster ovary‐derived cell lines stably expressing either green or red fluorescence protein. Under these conditions, a >99% assurance of clonal origin is achieved, which is comparable to existing imaging‐coupled fluorescence‐activated cell sorting seeding methods.


Abstract The presence of a penicillin allergy label in a patient's medical chart is associated with negative clinical and economic outcomes. Given that less than 10% of reported reactions are truly immunoglobulin E-mediated, removal of unverified penicillin allergy labels is a public health priority and an area of ongoing implementation research. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, with almost 9 million veterans currently enrolled. However, studies analyzing the impact of the penicillin allergy label in this population are limited to single facilities and largely focus on short-term outcomes of allergy documentation correction, usage of β-lactams, and avoidance of antibiotic-related side effects. Broader, national VHA studies focusing on health outcomes and costs are lacking. As with non-VHA facilities, penicillin allergy evaluations are limited owing to the absence of formal allergy/immunology services at most VHA facilities. Pharmacy-driven screening and referral for clinic-based penicillin skin testing is a promising and frequently discussed modality in the literature, but its scalability within the VHA is not yet proven. Broader, evidence-based strategies that can be adapted to the available resources of individual VHA facilities, including those without on-site access to allergy providers, are needed.


The supply chain of the sheep industry is faced with the problem of marketing the meat of disposal animals that do not have the appropriate organoleptic characteristics required by the consumer market of meat in natura , being one of the alternatives to its use the manufacture of fermented sausages. The present work aims to evaluate the influence of different proportions of swine meat and fat on sheep meat fermented sausages coming from disposal animals. To this end, it were used four different proportions of ovine:swine meat (100:0; 66:33; 33:66 and 0:100%); and three different levels of addition of pork fat (5; 10 and 15%). Salamis with 66% sheep meat and 15% pork fat stood out, having the best averages in the sensory evaluation on several issues evaluated in this study.


Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) makes our heart and blood vessels dysfunctional and often leads to death or physical paralysis. Therefore, early and automatic detection of CVD can save many human lives. Multiple investigations have been carried out to achieve this objective, but there is still room for improvement in performance and reliability. This study is yet another step in this direction. In this study, two reliable machine learning techniques, multi-layer perceptron (MLP), and K-nearest neighbour (K-NN) have been employed for CVD detection using publicly available University of California Irvine repository data. The performances of the models are optimally increased by removing outliers and attributes having null values. Experimental-based results demonstrate that a higher accuracy in detection of 82.47% and an area-under-the-curve value of 86.41% are obtained using the MLP model, unlike the K-NN model. Therefore, the proposed MLP model was recommended for automatic CVD detection. The proposed methodology can also be employed in detecting other diseases. In addition, the performance of the proposed model can be assessed via other standard data sets.


In this paper, we present the results of comparing the angular distribution of Abell clusters with Galactic HI measurements. For most subsamples of clusters considered, their positions on the sky appear to be anti-correlated with respect to the distribution of HI column densities. The statistical signiicance of these observed anti-correlations is a function of both richness and distance class, with the more distant and/or richest systems having the highest signiicance (' 3). The lower richness, nearby clusters appear to be randomly distributed compared to the observed Galactic HI column density.


Uncertainty is a challenge in modelling ecological systems and has been a source of misunderstandings between modelers and non-modelers. The "Chance and Necessity" (CaN) modelling approach has been proposed to address this issue, in the case of trophic network modelling. CaN modelling focuses exploring food-web trajectories that can satisfy fundamental physical and biological laws, while being compatible with observations and domain knowledge. This type of approach can facilitate discussion among actors as it promotes sharing of information and does not presuppose any knowledge of modelling practices. It is therefore suitable for participatory modelling, i.e. a modelling approach in which different actors can confront their knowledge and understanding of the marine system and of the associated uncertainties. One important ingredient to achieve participatory modelling is the availability of a modelling platform that is efficient, fast and transparent, so that all actors can understand and follow the modelling steps and choices, and can rapidly visualize and discuss the results. But, until now, there existed no software to easily perform CaN modelling. Here, we present RCaN and RCaNconstructor. Combined, these provide the first tool to build CaN models in an intuitive way that is 1) suitable within participatory frameworks, 2) transparent, 4) computationally efficient, 5) fully documented through the provision of meta-information and 6) supportive of exploratory analyses through predefined graphical functions.


In online social networks (OSNs), users are allowed to create and share content about themselves and others. When multiple entities start distributing content, information can reach unintended individuals and inference can reveal more information about the user. Existing applications do not focus on detecting privacy violations before they occur in the system. This thesis proposes an agent-based representation of a social network, where the agents manage users' privacy requirements and create privacy agreements with agents. The privacy context, such as the relations among users, various content types in the system, and so on are represented with a formal language. By reasoning with this formal language, an agent checks the current state of the system to resolve privacy violations before they occur. We argue that commonsense reasoning could be useful to solve some of privacy examples reported in the literature. We will develop new methods to automatically identify private information using commonsense reasoning, which has never been applied to privacy context. Moreover, agents may have conflicting privacy requirements. We will study how to use agreement technologies in privacy settings for agents to resolve conflicts automatically.


The current type of construction preferred for new high energy efficient buildings in Germany, featuring highly insulated building components and an almost completely airtight building shell, raises several new challenges with regard to design, construction and use of these buildings. Cooling, in particular, is an issue that gains importance also in the residential sector, in connection with rising temperatures induced by the climate change. Increased night ventilation is a cost-effective option to influence the indoor climate such that comfortable conditions are durably ensured, keeping technical expenditure within reasonable bounds. Though the functional principle of night ventilation is well known and its applications are manifold, it is not widely considered by building planners. One of the reasons for lacking attention might be that the potentials of night ventilation with regard to building cooling cannot be sufficiently estimated. The present study investigates the impact of night ventilation on the cooling demand of typical new residential buildings in Germany. The potentials of night ventilation are examined for two exemplary cases, namely for a single-family home and a multi-family building. Thermal building simulation is used to perform numerical assessments and to discuss functionality and effects of natural ventilation. The study analyses several influences on the indoor thermal comfort including the impact of different types of construction, various designs, thermal insulation standards, ventilation strategies and the use of solar shading devices in combination with or without night ventilation. The simulation results show that the problem of excess summer temperatures occurring under current climatic conditions in typical, new residential buildings in Germany can be controlled by appropriately adapting the building design and by using solar shading devices. Especially night ventilation can be a very efficient and effective measure to minimize the risk of overheating, irrespective of the type of construction, the use of solar shading systems, the standard of thermal insulation or the building design, thus making the use of an active cooling system superfluous. Even for a worst-case scenario, night ventilation can guarantee comfortable indoor temperatures to a large extent.


The purpose of this study is to analyze realignment expectations in the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System (EMS), in particular with reference to the five year period (1987-1992) during which no realignments were done.The period chosen for this study provides us an interesting sample in this respect, because, in mid-1990, the EMS faced a historical asymmetric shock of German Monetary Unification (GMU).Dramatic changes in the fundamentals of the anchor country of the system can help us to detect channels through which macroeconomic developments affect the pressure to realign and, therefore, expectations of such realignments. By using a model that breaks the interest rate differential in two components, the expected rate of depreciation within the allowed fluctuation band and the expected rate of depreciation of the central parity rate, we get a measure for the credibility of the exchange rate.We estimate the expected rate of depreciation of the exchange rate within the band, subtract the results from the interest rate differential and obtain values for the expected rate of devaluation.Finally, the estimated values for the expected rate of devaluation are regressed on selected macroeconomic variables in order to find out to which extent the expected rate of devaluation depends on economic fundamentals.The model was built by including the commonly most important factors for exchange rate determination. We observed increased exchange rate credibility in the form of decreasing devaluation expectations over the period 1987-1992.The explanation for this increase in the stability of the EMS is that German interest rates and inflation, were moving upwards and hence, approaching the corresponding variables of the other EMS countries. It was the convergence of these variables that eased the pressure on the nominal exchange rates.Therefore, signs of the 1992 crisis could not be seen in advance in expectations. Our results emphasize the role of the relative cyclical positions of the pegging countries vis-a-vis the anchor country of the system.Thus, expectations of possible realignments as a means of adjustment became actual first after it could be seen that there was a discrepancy between the cyclical needs of the economies in the other EMS countries and the high interest rates imposed on the ERM by Germany.These discrepancies became visible first in the traditional weak-currency countries that faced the most difficult domestic economic situation.This is mirrored by the fact that for these countries the government deficit, relative to Germany, clearly affected devaluation expectations.The divergence of the business cycles added to this effect.The level of foreign exchange reserves of the central bank was observed by the markets, which indicates the praneness of these currencies to get under a speculative attack.In the hard-currency countries, by contrast, devaluation expectations could not be seen even in the very eve of the crisis.For these countries, we obtained the inverse result that a growing government domestic deficit as compared to Germany tends to strengthen the currency of the home country.Markets also seem to observe the inflation rate differential.For the crisis, however, this factor could not play a crucial role because the inflation rates of the hard-currency countries were practically at the German inflation rate level.All in all, the results of this study suggest that the crisis was due to the reversal in the German business cycle in a situation where the anchor country conducted a strict monetary policy to fight domestic inflation pressures. Keywords: Exchange Rate Mechanism, target zone, devaluation expectations, exchange rates, German Monetary Unification


This study experimentally investigated the influence of different norms regarding the acceptability of sexual coercion and overperception of sexual intentions in casual interactions with women, as well as an interaction of these factors on self-reported likelihood to engage in sexual assault by male college students. Results of a logistic regression showed a significant interaction of men's perceptions of sexual intentions of women and exposure to norms regarding the acceptability of sexual coercion. Even after very brief exposures to rape-conducive norms, men who tended to perceive women as having more sexual intentions had significantly larger odds of rating themselves as likely to use coercion to obtain engagement in sexual activities compared with those who perceived lower sexual intentions in women or were exposed to antirape norms. This pattern of results suggests that interventions targeting peer pressure and adjustment of social norms might be particularly beneficial for those men who tend to overestimate how much interest in sexual interactions a woman might have.


In this paper we investigate an approach to provide approximate, anytime algorithms for DCOPs that can provide quality guarantees. At this aim, we propose the divide-and-coordinate (DaC) approach. Such approach amounts to solving a DCOP by iterating (1) a divide stage in which agents divide the DCOP into a set of simpler local subproblems and solve them; and (2) a coordinate stage in which agents exchange local information that brings them closer to an agreement. Next, we formulate a novel algorithm, the Divide and Coordinate Subgradient Algorithm (DaCSA), a computational realization of DaC based on Lagrangian decompositions and the dual subgradient method. By relying on the DaC approach, DaCSA provides bounded approximate solutions. We empirically evaluate DaCSA showing that it is competitive with other state-of-the-art DCOP approximate algorithms and can eventually outper-form them while providing useful quality guarantees.


The Judicial Yuan, a model of supreme judicial organization peculiar to China's recent history, was one of the outcomes of several decades of evolution from the legal reform in the late Qing dynasty to the passage of Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1947. Its predecessor, the Dali Yuan established in 1906 by the Qing government, not only had the supreme judicial power and the power of abstract interpretation, but also enjoyed the power of interior administration independently from the outset. The Judicial Yuan, established in 1928, inherited the judicial administrative power of Dali Yuan and further expanded it. The Judicial Yuan also inherited Dali Yuan's power to unify the interpretation of law and regulations, and expanded the power of abstract normal control ( Normenkontrolle ) to constitutional interpretation. The Council of the Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan had developed the paradigm of constitutional court and shared similarities with the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. It is safe to conclude that even before the promulgation of the Constitution of the ROC, the Judicial Yuan was fairly well-developed in institutional terms. The key characters of the ROC Judicial Yuan include the special arrangement of judicial administration, a centralized judicial review by the Council of the Grand Justices and a diverse judicial trial mode.


The generation and management of medical waste in health facilities pose some risks to public health and the environment. A descriptive survey on the characterization and management of clinical waste was conducted in seven selected hospitals in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria to identify the sources and quantity of clinical waste generated in the selected hospitals per day as well as describe the methods used in the management of the wastes. Structured questionnaire, personal on-site observations and in-depth interview of all Unit Heads in the seven health facilities were used to gather data. One hundred and seventy four (174) copies of questionnaire were distributed to all the Heads of Department and Head Orderlies in the seven hospitals. Seven major categories of waste were identified and a daily average of 113.42 kg of solid clinical waste was generated in the seven facilities. Generally, open dumping, open burning and burying were most commonly adopted methods of waste management. Plastic bins with lid were popularly used for waste collection. There were physical, chemical and biological hazards associated with these wastes. The health workers displayed ignorance of existence of any policy on clinical waste management, neither was there waste management teams in the hospitals. Training and retraining programs were rarely organized for the hospital staff. There is an urgent need to establish and enforce appropriate policies and legislations on clinical waste management in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Keywords: Hospitals, clinical waste, public health, Nigeria International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences , 6(1): 92-100, 2010


Background: To assess the properties of regular yoga training on oxidative stress and antioxidant components, including total glutathione (GSH) and its redox systems (GSH-peroxidase and reductase), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase in healthy university students. Study design and methods: Current study involved total 25 of healthy participants who were divided into two groups as control and regularly yoga group. All subjects undertook the regularly control or yoga program for 90 minutes, once every week, for 12 weeks under the care of yoga and health professional instructor. Before the start and end of each program, the serum level of oxidative stress and antioxidant components were estimated. Results: The serum MDA level considerably decreased in yoga training group and significantly increased TAC levels, total GSH contents and SOD activities the serum level (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) as compared with the changes value of control care program. Conclusions: From the results, present study supports the utility of yogic exercises as a remedy to control or check oxidative stress in the healthy volunteers.


Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) are autoimmune diseases with some overlapping clinical manifestations. SLE is characterized by systemic in�ammation with vasculitis and multiple organ damage, whereas SSc manifests as low-grade in�ammation with vasculopathy and tissue �brosis. Recent studies have revealed that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play essential roles in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. This study investigated the expression of TLR genes in SLE and SSc to determine their roles in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Methods: Patients with SLE (n = 15) and SSc (n = 9) were recruited from a hospital in Taiwan from 2016 to 2017. RNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells of the patients for next-generation sequencing (NGS). Then, We identi�ed differentially expressed genes and associated pathways to explore the association of TLRs with SLE and SSc pathogenesis. Several housekeeping genes, including ACTB, GAPDH, PGK1, PPIB, SDHA, and TBP, were used to normalize the expression levels of the TLR genes. Results: GAPDH, PGK1, PPIB and SDHA are signi�cantly different (p < 0.05) in patients of SLE and SSc. The expression levels of TLR1 (p = 0.018) and TLR3 (p = 0.031) were signi�cantly upregulated in the patients with SSc compared with those with SLE, normalized by GAPDH. Conclusions: TLR1 and TLR3 can serve as biomarkers to distinguish the gene expression between SLE and SSc, normalized with housekeeping genes such as ACTB, GADPH and TBP.


Chronic prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is an inflammatory immune disease characterized by intraprostatic leukocyte infiltration and pelvic or perineal pain. Macrophages play vital roles in the pathogenesis of CP/CPPS. However, the mechanisms controlling the activation and chemotaxis of macrophages in CP/CPPS remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the roles of the CXCL10/CXCR3 pathway in the activation and chemotaxis of macrophages in CP/CPPS patients. The serums of CP/CPPS patients and healthy volunteers were collected and measured. Results showed that CXCL10 expression was significantly elevated and correlated with the severity of CP/CPPS patients. The experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) model was generated, and adeno-associated virus and CXCR3 inhibitors were used to treat EAP mice. Immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and Western blotting were used to analyze the functional phenotype and regulation mechanism of macrophages. Results showed that CXCL10 deficiency ameliorates EAP severity by inhibiting infiltration of macrophages to prostate. Moreover, CXCL10 could induce macrophage migrations and secretions of proinflammatory mediators via CXCR3, which consequently activated the downstream Erk1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways. We also showed that prostatic stromal cell is a potential source of CXCL10. Our results indicated CXCL10 as an important mediator involved in inflammatory infiltration and pain symptoms of prostatitis by promoting the migration of macrophages and secretion of inflammatory mediators via CXCR3-mediated ERK and p38 MAPK activation.


Power switch transistors are very effective in cutting the leakage currents of digital circuits in a deep-freeze mode, by de-supplying unused blocks. Among existing power switch transistors, Super Cut-off CMOS (SCCMOS) is the most suited to a low supply voltage environment since it uses a low threshold voltage transistor. This power switch type achieves good leakage reduction results, provided that an optimal voltage is applied on its gate in order to maximize the leakage gain. This optimal voltage value, depending on the operating conditions (process, voltage, temperature), cannot be determined at the design level. A polarization circuit, that automatically finds the optimal bias voltage whatever the environment conditions, was therefore designed and fabricated. This circuit, made in Bulk 65 nm technology, achieves more than two decades leakage current reduction at the power switch level, for a power dissipation overhead of 45 nW at ambient temperature. A very simple scheme is also presented to alleviate the voltage stress applied on the dielectric in case of an ageing of the latter, increasing its time-to-breakdown by several orders of magnitude.


Many governments aim to reduce the dependence on coal-fired generation to decrease carbon emissions. At the same time power markets with competition between independently operating power firms have been created which leave the actual decisions concerning electricity production to these firms. This paper analyzes the interaction between climate policies and policies to foster power markets. Using hourly plant-level data on the Dutch power market over 2006-2014, we find that the dispatch of fossil-fuel power plants is strongly influenced by relative fuel prices, despite the existence of several climate policy measures. Coal-fired power plants have become more important in the Dutch market since 2006, not only in share of total production, but also as provider of flexibility. Examining the short-term dispatch decisions and the past volatility in relative fuel prices, the maximum CO2 price which was needed to provide incentives for power producers to dispatch a gas-fired plant instead of a coal-fired plant was 43 euro/ton. We conclude that internalizing the external (CO2) costs by raising the CO2 price is a more appropriate measure than a forced closure of coal-fired power plants to align the principles of a market-based power industry and the wish to implement effective climate-policy measures at relatively low costs.


In order to provide better shock absorption, athletic shoe companies have increased the heel thickness creating a positive heel Inclination. The heel inclination for most athletics shoes is about 4 degrees. It i s hypothesized that the protection gained from increasing the heel thickness may cause a decrease In performance. The purpose of this study was to find the optimum heel inclination that w l l l maximize jump height. More specifically, this study attempted to determine the effect of negative and posltlve.hee1 Inclination on the height an individual can Jump. Eight female and five male Division I track and field athletes volunteered to perform standing vertical Jumps from a platform designed to allow for the possibility of a continuous range of negative and positive degrees of heel inclinations. The subjects performed three vertical jumps using the Sargent Vertical Jump Test protocol under five conditions: 4, 0. -2. -3. -4 degrees of inclination. Before testing, the subjects performed their usual warm up and during testing were given as many practice jumps as desired. At the apex of their Jumps, the subjects marked an over hanging chalked board with their finger. Any obviously poor test result was discarded and the test was repeated. The differential over their maximum standing reach was then recorded. The testing was conducted during one session; however, two series of Jumps were used to collect the data. The objective of the f l r s t series of Jumps was to find the angle of Inclination at which maximum height can be attained. After the optimum angle of inclination was determined, a second series of Jumps were performed In order to further compare the optimum angle with the +4 degree inclination (If a difference existed). The results show a statistically significant difference In jump height at the different angles F(4.36) = 15.89, p < .OO I). The data also show an upward trend In Jump height as the heels were lowered from 4 to -4 degree of inclination. On average, the subjects increased their Jump height by 6% when using a -4 degree heel inclination over the 4 degree inclination. In conclusion, we have found convincing evidence that negative heel inclination will Increase standing vertical Jump height with the optimum angle being about -4 degrees. A followup study will involve running vertical jumps.


Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006

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It is estimated that about one hundred human proteins can be geranylgeranylated by the enzyme geranylgeranyltransferase I (GGTase I). Some of these GGTase I substrates are believed to mediate oncogenesis, invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, inhibition of GGTase I with GGTIs result in G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, but the GGTase I substrates critical in GGTI antitumor activity are not known. In this abstract we provide evidence for the involvement of the geranylgeranylated small GTPase RalB. We have made RalA-F and RalB-F mutants that are exclusively farnesylated and showed that, like their wild type geranylgeranylated RalA-GG and RalB-GG, they localize to membranous cellular components. Treatment with FTIs, but not with GGTIs, mislocalized to the cytoplasm RalA-F and RalB-F but not RalA-GG and RalB-GG. Similarly, treatment with GGTIs, but not with FTIs, mislocalized the geranylgeranylated but not the farnesylated forms of the Ral proteins. Importantly, RalB-F but not RalA-F, rescued cells from GGTI induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. These data strongly implicate inhibition of RalB geranylgeranylation in the mechanism by which GGTIs inhibit proliferation and induce programmed cell death.


It's impossible to conceive the human being without the Law of Obligations. This branch ofCivil Law allows persons to satisfy their needs,reason why it's important to study it carefully. In this article, the author presents us an introductory study of what obligations are, as well as their diverse classification. Without a doubt, this is a mandatory reading for all lawyers and Law students.


This paper is the report of a study that examined discourse patterns of nurses and mothers at some Child Welfare Clinics (CWCs) in Southwestern Nigeria. It describes and analyzes significant elements of recorded discourse chunks in breastfeeding, ORS/ORT and General cleanliness; as well as discourse strategies employed by interactants of both classifications (nurses and mothers) involved in the socio-linguistic activity, exemplifying how language is used to exercise and buttress relationships in the clinics. The study reveals that communication is primary to effective health care; while both parties were willing to cooperate in order to achieve their main goal. The implication of all these is pointed out while it notes that communication whether in English, the mother tongue or the "father tongue", is crucial and in this case, effective, educative and entertaining. The study concludes that in order to cope with short-staffing, literacy and education constraints, resorting to indigenous Yoruba discourse patterns and discourse modalities is a viable option in the pursuit of the goals of the Primary Health Care (PHC).


The purpose of this study is to propose an optimal design method of the spar-buoy with ring-fin motion stabilizer for shallow sea and its mooring system, in order to avoid the occurrence of snap load. The mechanism of occurrence of snap load is investigated by model tests, and design parameters for avoiding the occurrence of snap load are investigated. From the observation of model's motion, it has been realized that the snap load is caused by the tension of mooring line to stop the buoy's horizontal motion, which relaxes the mooring line. Moreover, it has been confirmed that the horizontal motion is caused by the horizontal forces acting on the center pipe and float of the buoy, which relates to the acceleration component of wave excitation forces.
 In this paper, the effects of changing of design of the buoy (: diameter of center pipe and float, size of stabilizer, density of the buoy, length of mooring line) on avoiding or reducing snap load are investigated by using a numerical simulation (OrcaFlexver.11.0b), and the wear amounts are also estimated by using an empirical method (Takeuchi et al., 2019). From the results, it is confirmed that changing the buoy's motion mode by shortening mooring line is effective to avoiding the occurrence of snap load, and to reduce the wear amount of the mooring line.


In the present paper, the Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) with the nearest-neighbor (NN) repulsions is studied from the view point of possible bosonic analogs of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state in the vicinity of the Mott insulator (MI). First, by means of the Gutzwiller approximation, we obtain the phase diagram of the BHM in a magnetic field. Then, we introduce an effective Hamiltonian describing excess particles on a MI and calculate the vortex density, momentum distribution and the energy gap. These calculations indicate that the vortex solid forms for small NN repulsions, but a homogeneous featureless 'Bose-metal' takes the place of it as the NN repulsion increases. We consider particular filling factors at which the bosonic FQH state is expected to form. Chern-Simons (CS) gauge theory to the excess particle is introduced, and a modified Gutzwiller wave function, which describes bosons with attached flux quanta, is introduced. The energy of the excess particles in the bosonic FQH state is calculated using that wave function, and it is compared with the energy of the vortex solid and Bose-metal. We found that the energy of the bosonic FQH state is lower than that of the Bose-metal and comparable with the vortex solid. Finally, we clarify the condition that the composite fermion appears by using CS theory on the lattice that we previously proposed for studying the electron FQH effect.


The theory of substitution sequences and their higher-dimensional analogues is intimately connected with symbolic dynamics. By systematically studying the factors (in the sense of dynamical systems theory) of a substitution dynamical system, one can reach a better understanding of spectral and topological properties. We illustrate this point of view by means of some characteristic examples, including a rather universal substitution in one dimension as well as the squiral and the table tilings of the plane


Abstract: Error Gravity (Hereafter EG) is the study of errors which tries to compare the seriousness of errors in terms of their frequency or their percentage of occurrence.In other words, it shows the fact that errors are not to be considered/ treated equally. Rather there seems to be an order in which some errors are considered as more grave than others, thus, they will come first and others will follow in a sequential order. The present paper intends to discuss about three major points: 1. Investigating different types of semantic errors produced by Odia students while writing in English. 2. Enquiring into the frequency of the above types of errors. 3. Finding out which type of semantic error is more serious than the otherby employing a statistical method on the basis of their frequency. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the concept of "Error Gravity" followed by a pertinent review of literature related to EG. The paper also presentsa neat statistical analysis of different types of semantic errors committed by the Intermediate Odia students which leads to determine the gravity of each error types. Finally the paper throws light on the hierarchy of these semantic errors. Key Words: Error Gravity, Semantic Errors, Error Hierarchy


Phytochemical investigation and chromatographic separation of extracts from one new actinobacteria strain Amycolatopsis taiwanensis that was isolated from soil of Yilan township, in the north of Taiwan, led to the isolation of nine new compounds, amycolataiwanensins A–I (1–9, resp.), and one new natural product, namely amycolataiwanensin J (10). The structures of the new compounds were unambiguously elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic-data analysis (1D- and 2D-NMR, MS, and UV) and comparison with literature data. The effect of some isolates on the inhibition of NO production in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 murine macrophages was evaluated. Of the isolates, 3, 5, 7 and 8 exhibited potent anti-NO production activity, with IC50 values of 17.52, 12.31, 17.81 and 13.32 μM, respectively, compared to that of quercetin, an iNOS inhibitor with an IC50 value of 35.94 μM. This is the first report on indole metabolite from the genus Amycolatopsis.


Healthy controls and patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis (CAH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), coeliac disease (GSE), Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) were examined for serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), secretory IgA (sIgA) and subclasses IgA1 and IgA2 concentrations separately. Elevated secretory IgA levels are found in CAH and PBC. IgA2 level as well as the proportional part of IgA2 out of the serum total IgA are significantly increased in GSE and in CD, while in UC IgA1 levels are significantly decreased as compared to controls. Serial determinations of IgA subclasses may provide a differential diagnostic tool in inflammatory bowel diseases and the findings support the view that increased sIgA levels in CAH and PBC probably have a different origin.


The inclusion of child combatants in a growing number of peace agreements in Africa reflects both the extent of the pernicious use of children in armed conflict and the result of pressure from advocacy groups to ensure that states uphold their responsibility under Article 39 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child to promote thephysical andpsychological recovery fromviolence, includingarmedconflict. The form that this inclusion most commonly takes is as a sub-group within Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programmes. I will argue in this article that such an approach serves to conflate the varied experiences of young people actively involved in armed conflict as well as failing to address the economic, political and social participation needs of all young people. The marginalisation of youth was a key factor in the causes and modality of the civil war in Sierra Leone. The neglect of youth is short-sighted and counterproductive in peace building; a peace agreement's endurance depends on whether the next generation accepts or rejects it, how they are socialised during the peace process, and their perceptions of what that peace has achieved. This article examines some of the different contexts and identities as well as the commonalities of young people's involvement in armed conflict in Sierra Leone that need to be considered in post-war reconciliation and reconstruction. As with the general population, youth make different choices about their modes of engagement with society, including whether they engage at all. Even in the most extreme cases of conflict some choose to go into hiding or exile, while others, under a variety of pressures, join roaming militias. In the post-war period different needs apply to those who were forcibly recruited and those who volunteered; those who fought with the support of, and in defence of, their communities, and those who were part of forces that terrorised civilians; those who are demobilised to their home communities and those in refugee camps; and there are differences between the needs of girls and boys. Part 1 traces the deepening political and economic marginalisation of young people in Sierra Leone during the 1970s and 1980s. Part 2 examines the varying


The article presents the most important results of a follow-up study of 60 patients with solvent induced encephalopathy, carried out 3-5 years after diagnosis. Factors concerning health, work and social life were registered. These encephalopathies seem to remain stable after cessation of exposure to solvents. The majority of the patients did not fully understand the diagnosis. Only a minority of the patients followed recommendations concerning further work and exposure to solvents. The disease has major consequences for the social well-being of the patients, and they do not seem to receive adequate support from the social welfare authorities.


The field of social sciences has become increasingly important in eHealth. Patients currently engage more proactively with health services. This means that eHealth is linked to many different areas of Social Sciences. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the state-of-the-art research on eHealth from the perspective of social sciences. To this end, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Web of Science database. The main findings show the evolution of publications, the most influential countries, the most relevant journals and papers, and the importance of the different areas of knowledge. Although there are some studies on eHealth within social sciences, most of them focus on very specific aspects and do not develop a holistic analysis. Thus, this paper contributes to academia by analyzing the state-of-the-art of research, as well as identifying the most relevant trends and proposing future lines of research such as the potential of eHealth as a professional training instrument, development of predictive models in eHealth, analysis of the eHealth technology acceptance model (TAM), efficient integration of eHealth within public systems, efficient budget management, or improvement in the quality of service for patients.


BACKGROUND
Few demographical data about primary progressive aphasia (PPA) are available, and most knowledge regarding PPA is based on tertiary centers' results.

OBJECTIVE
Our aims were to describe demographical characteristics of the PPA population in a large sample of PPA patients from the network of French Alzheimer plan memory centers (Sample 1), and to describe the stratification of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in two different samples of PPA patients (Samples 2 and 3).

METHODS
All registered PPA patients in the French Alzheimer's disease (AD) databank (Sample 1: n = 2,035) and a subsample (Sample 2: n = 65) derived from a multicentric prospective cohort with CSF biomarker analysis were analyzed. A multicentric retrospective cohort from language expert tertiary centers (Sample 3: n = 97) with CSF biomarker analysis was added. Sample 3 was added to replicate the CSF results of the Sample 2 and to evaluate repartition of AD pathology in the three variant of PPA according to the latest classification.

RESULTS
Non-Fluent/Agrammatic, Logopenic, and Unclassifiable PPA patients (NF/A-Logo-Unclass PPA) were older and more frequent than Semantic PPA patients (2.2 versus 0.8/100,000 inhabitants; p < 0.00001). Male predominance occurred after the age of 80 (p < 0.00001). A higher level of education was observed in the PPA population compared to a typical amnesic AD group. No demographical significant difference between PPA due to AD and not due to AD was observed. The Logopenic variant was most frequent with 85% of AD CSF biomarker profiles (35% in NF/A PPA; 20% in Semantic PPA).

CONCLUSION
PPA occurs also in an elderly population, especially in male patients over 80. CSF biomarkers are useful to stratify PPA. The epidemiology of PPA should be further investigated to confirm gender and cognitive reserve role in PPA to better understand the factors and mechanisms leading to this language-predominant deficit during neurodegenerative diseases.


Does providing a free text messaging (SMS) reporting tool, which facilitates communication between farmers and the state-level Project Implementation Unit (PIU) overseeing the Fadama III Project, improve the quality of service of the program? This note highlights initial outcomes from a pre-pilot exercise conducted in 2013 with two program objectives: 1) to explore whether working with local Community-Based Organizations (CBO) to train farmers to use and to promote the tool was an effective means to get and maintain user adoption; and 2) to examine whether the ICT-generated information and system helped the PIU better manage the project. Two main conclusions can be drawn from this pre-pilot. Firstly, it was found that CBO engagement led to significantly larger uptake and use of the system. Secondly, the State PIU only minimally used the reports that were being sent by farmers, despite institutional excitement about the system and a strong mandate from management to use the reports. The findings presented here are based on the deployment of MyVoice, a prototype SMS tool, in six communities in the Federal Capitol Territory of Nigeria. The tool was rolled out over a two-week period through training sessions in the community. The tool was then left operational for an additional four weeks for the communities and government to utilize it. The data informing this note was from all six weeks. Despite the fact that the prototype had significant technical and usability limitations, which were well-understood by the implementing team, its deployment allowed the team to test and learn about the social adoption and use of the tool, as well as to refine the program, training and final software for a more formal pilot and launch. This responsive and adaptive approach helped the team build a more locally relevant and useful system.


In this paper, a new non-stationary regular-shaped geometry-based stochastic model (RS-GBSM) is proposed for vehicular visible light communications (VVLC) channels. The proposed model utilizes a combined two-ring model and a confocal ellipse model, in which the received optical power is constructed as a sum of single-bounced (SB) and double-bounced (DB) components, in addition to the line-of-sight (LoS) component. Using the proposed RS-GBSM, the channel impulse response is generated and utilized to investigate VVLC channel characteristics, such as channel gain and root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread. The received optical power is computed considering the distance between the optical transmitter (Tx) and the optical receiver (Rx). Moreover, the impact of the Rx height on the received power is considered for the LoS scenario. The results show that the LoS power highly depends on the distance, Rx height, and the optical source pattern. For the SB components, it is confirmed that the channel gain in dB and the RMS delay spread follow Gaussian distributions. Finally, the results indicate that the detected optical power from the DB components is low enough to be overlooked.


Information systems gathering big amounts of resources growing with time containing distinct modalities (text, audio, video, images, GIS) and aggregating content in various ways (modular e-learning modules, Web systems presenting cultural artefacts) require tools supporting content description. The subject of the description may be the topic and the characteristics of the content expressed by sets of attributes. To describe such resources one can just use some of existing indexing languages like thesauri, classification systems, domain and upper ontologies, terminologies or dictionaries. When appropriate language does not exist, it is necessary to build a new system, which will have to serve both experts who describe resources and non-experts who search through them. The solution presented in this paper used to resource description, allows experts to freely select words and expressions, which are organized in hierarchies of various nature, including that of domain and application character. This is based on the wordnet structure, which introduces a clear order for each of these groups due to its lexical nature. The paper presents two systems where such approach was applied: the E-archaeology.org e-learning content repository in which domain knowledge was integrated to describe content topics and the Hatch system gathering multimodal information about the archaeological site targeted at a wide audience, where application conceptualization was applied to describe the content by a set of attributes.


This study investigates and interrogates the impact of various marketing strategies on the sales of major multinational pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan; include Abbott, GSK and Aventis, while applying the censored regression. Besides interrogating the possible impacts of various marketing strategies which include the Promotional Gifts, Sponsored Trips, Differentiated Strategy, Un Differentiated Strategy, Product Development and Establishing the Brand, on the sales of outlined pharmaceutical MNCs, Objectively this study also focuses on the applications of Scaled OLS model (censored regression) in comparisons with the ordinary least square model. The findings reveal that, all of the outlined strategies do matter to the sales of stated MNCs but promotional gifts and sponsored trips they really work much than the rest of strategies considered, in long run only for Abbott Pakistan, while the differentiated and un-differentiated strategies for GSK and product development and establishing the brands for Aventis are revealed as the best most options for maximizing sales. Whereas, it is also found that the scaled OLS (censored regression) is the better and robust model in investigating the manifested proposition than the MLR.


HARPS and it Kepler results indicate that half of solar-type stars host planets with periods P<100 d and masses M < 30 M_E. These super Earth systems are compact and dynamically cold. Here we investigate the stability of the super Earth system around the K-dwarf HD40307. It could host up to six planets, with one in the habitable zone. We analyse the system's stability using numerical simulations from initial conditions within the observational uncertainties. The most stable solution deviates 3.1 sigma from the published value, with planets e and f not in resonance and planets b and c apsidally aligned. We study the habitability of the outer planet through the yearly-averaged insolation and black-body temperature at the pole. Both undergo large variations because of its high eccentricity and are much more intense than on Earth. The insolation variations are precession dominated with periods of 40 kyr and 102 kyr for precession and obliquity if the rotation period is 3 d. A rotation period of about 1.5 d could cause extreme obliquity variations because of capture in a Cassini state. For faster rotation rates the periods converge to 10 kyr and 20 kyr. The large uncertainty in the precession period does not change the overall outcome.


AIM
We studied the effect of colchicine combined with radiation on the survival of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) HA22T/VGH cells.

METHODS
Twenty-four hours after treatment with 0-8 ng/mL colchicine, HA22T/VGH cells were irradiated at various doses (0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gy). Colony assay was performed to assess the surviving cell fraction. Survival curves were fitted by using a linear-quadratic model to estimate the sensitizer enhancement ratio (SER). Flow cytometry was used for cell cycle analysis.

RESULTS
Colchicine at lower concentrations (1 and 2 ng/mL) had obvious synergy with radiation to inhibit HCC cell growth, whereas higher concentrations (4 and 8 ng/mL) had only additive effect to radiation. Pretreatment with 1 and 2 ng/mL colchicine for 24-h enhanced cell killing by radiation with SERs of 1.21 and 1.53, respectively. G(2)/M arrest was only observed with higher colchicine doses (8 and 16 ng/mL) after 24-h treatment; this effect was neither seen with lower doses (1, 2, and 4 ng/mL) nor with any dose after only 1 h of treatment.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that colchicine has potential as an adjunct to radiotherapy for HCC treatment. Lower doses of colchicine possess radiosensitizing effects via some mechanism other than G(2)/M arrest. Further study is necessary to elucidate the mechanism.


We previously demonstrated that Bordetella pertussis induced macrophage apoptosis and that adenylate cyclase-hemolysin expression is required for this phenomenon. In order to determine a role for other B. pertussis factors, such as pertussis toxin or the adhesins, pertactin and filamentous hemagglutinin, we compared mutants deficient in adhesin expression or purified proteins for their ability to induce cell death. We showed that only purified adenylate cyclase-hemolysin, but neither adhesins, nor pertussis toxin, killed macrophages through apoptosis. We also demonstrated that all activities of adenylate cyclase-hemolysin were required. Moreover, our results indicate that B. pertussis does not have to invade cells to be lethal.


The brain is not directly accessible for intravenously administered macro- and most small molecular drugs because of the presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). In this respect the BBB functions as a physical and metabolic barrier which is presented by the endothelial cells in brain capillaries. In order to overcome the BBB, therapeutic compounds have been targeted to internalizing receptors at the BBB. In this review we summarize the different approaches that have been described in current literature, including the possible difficulties for clinical application. Particularly, we focus on the possible impact of brain diseases on receptor-mediated transport to the BBB/brain and how this may affect various targeting strategies. Moreover, it is our opinion that a differential drug targeting/delivery approach should be applied to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases that are related to the BBB alone, and for CNS diseases that are related to both the brain and the BBB.


This study presents a new design for mechanical coupling of two different motors which enables to share the load between the two motors with a proposed ratio without using flexible connector and with no expected oscillations. This enhances the buoyant cruising speed compared with the best common twin-armature motor without increasing the weight and volume of the drive system. However, this design requires a complicated control system because of the different characteristics of the motors. A controller is recommended and its stability is verified. To convert the control system into two simple controls, slow and fast dynamics are segregated. In this way, a non-linear multi-input/multi-output system with disturbance is splitted into two single-input/output sub-systems; therefore controller can be designed easier. The simulation results for two different conventional and fuzzy controllers are presented. The experimental results on the prototype system confirm the simulation results.


ABSTRACT Expression of the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) genes is transcriptionally activated by the cognate oncoprotein Tax which enhances the binding of the cyclin AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) to the Tax responsive element (TxRE) located in its long terminal repeat (LTR). TxRE is highly homologous to the cyclic AMP-responsive element (CRE) except for the GC-rich sequence flanking the CRE. We cloned the cDNA for a cellular factor, TAXREB803, of which the DNA-binding domain bound to TxRE and the binding was dependent on the 3′ GC-rich sequence in TxRE. TAXREB803 is an SR-related protein composed of 2,752 amino acids including numerous arginine/serine (RS) motifs. TAXREB803 enhanced both the Tax dependent transcription and the CREB binding to TxRE in cooperation with Tax. The interaction of TAXREB803 and Tax was detected by coimmunoprecipitation assays as well as by indirect immunofluorescence assays. Significantly, Tax transactivation for the HTLV-1 LTR decreased dramatically when the expression level of the endogenous TAXREB803 was suppressed by the small interfering RNA. These results suggest that TAXREB803 functions as a transcriptional coactivator for Tax and plays a critical role in the expression of HTLV-1 genes.


This paper reports preliminary yet encouraging findings on the use of causal discovery methods to understand the interaction between atmospheric planetary- and synoptic-scale disturbances in the Northern Hemisphere. Specifically, constraint-based structure learning of probabilistic graphical models is applied to the spherical harmonics decomposition of the daily 500-hPa geopotential height field in boreal winter for the period 1948–2015. Active causal pathways among different spherical harmonics components are identified and documented in the form of a temporal probabilistic graphical model. Since, by definition, the structure learning algorithm used here only robustly identifies linear causal effects, we report only causal pathways between two groups of disturbances with sufficiently large differences in temporal and/or spatial scales, that is, planetary-scale (mainly zonal wavenumbers 1–3) and synoptic-scale disturbances (mainly zonal wavenumbers 6–8). Daily reconstruction of geopotential heights using only interacting scales suggest that the modulation of synoptic-scale disturbances by planetary-scale disturbances is best characterized by the flow of information from a zonal wavenumber-1 disturbance to a synoptic-scale circumglobal wave train whose amplitude peaks at the North Pacific and North Atlantic storm-track region. The feedback of synoptic-scale to planetary-scale disturbances manifests itself as a zonal wavenumber-2 structure driven by synoptic-eddy momentum fluxes. This wavenumber-2 structure locally enhances the East Asian trough and western Europe ridge of the wavenumber-1 planetary-scale disturbance that actively modulates the activity of synoptic-scale disturbances. The winter-mean amplitude of the actively interacting disturbances are characterized by pronounced fluctuations across interannual to decadal time scales.


This paper describes an investigation of human interaction with process variability (i.e. variability not introduced by the humans themselves) in a manual manufacturing process. The process studied is grinding-polishing of high-value metal components, to evaluate the extent of the variability and how the operators applied their skills to overcome it. The research methods include analysis of documentation, observation and video recording and interviews. The results indicate that humans are able to adapt to variability in the parts and tools in order to deliver the product within specification. This suggests unconscious and automated behaviour meaning that the procedures executed are embedded in the minds of the operators. Vision and tactile senses were mainly used to check work progress and control critical features (Key Characteristics). Based on the findings of this and other case study, a framework will be developed to categorise variability in manual manufacturing processes to support the design of an automated solution.


Modes of transmission of leprosy have been debated for a very long time, but long-term contact is needed for the disease to be transmitted. Children have high risk of contracting leprosy if their parents, especially mothers, are positive and untreated, increasing the risk up to 14 times. 6.6% of children with leprosy are diagnosed with Grade 2 Disability (G2D) at the point of diagnosis. This is a case report showing how early detection, family screening and education effectively prevent disability in children living with leprosy-positive parents. A woman who gave birth to her fourth child was diagnosed with leprosy in Alverno Leprosy Hospital early 2018. The doctor immediately conducted leprosy screening and found that her husband and her three older children were positive. WHO-recommended drug therapy was then started till completion. No delayed growth nor deformities were found in all of the children. The mother passed away late 2018 due to leprosy reaction. The youngest child remained negative but constant monitoring should be done due to possible transmission risk. In conclusion, early detection, family screening and education are crucial in order to prevent the spread of leprosy as well as preventing the development of complications such as deformities and amputations.


In the current study it was observed that the offset yield point of Mg-9%Al-1%Zn alloy was strongly influenced by the connectivity of Mg17Al12. It was suggested that an increase in the fraction of Mg17Al12 from 8% to 11% could lead to the formation of a Mg17Al12 network which resulted in a higher offset yield point. In addition, it was observed that elongation to failure of the Mg-9%Al-1%Zn alloy strongly depended on the fraction of Mg17Al12. Moreover, the apparent toughness showed a strong inverse relation to the secondary dendrite arm spacing. This approach might be extended to forecast the behavior in other magnesium alloys forming a network of the Mg-Al phase.


A locally gauge-invariant theory of the spin response of a thin film of $^{3}\mathrm{He}\text{\ensuremath{-}}B$ film is given that describes fluctuation effects arising from the coupled dynamics of the superconducting order parameter (the collective mode) and in-gap Majorana surface states. In contrast to a mean-field calculation of the spin response, which predicts a nonzero imaginary longitudinal spin susceptibility at frequencies inside the bulk gap due to absorption from the Majorana states, our gauge-invariant theory shows that this response is strongly suppressed above the collective mode frequency and vanishes if dipole-dipole interactions are neglected. In the presence of dipole-dipole interactions, in sufficiently thin films, and at ultralow temperatures, the Majorana states lead to a distinctive magnetic-field- and temperature-dependent damping of the collective mode, a feature that may be observable in longitudinal NMR experiments.


Glycosylation reactions using N-benzyl-2,3-trans-oxazolidinones as the glycosyl donors were shown to be highly alpha-selective. Advantages of the donor include facile preparation in gram-scale preparation and simple deprotection procedures. Subsequently, a one-pot oligosaccharide synthesis involving 1,2-cis glycosidic linkages was demonstrated using the novel glycosyl donors.


Abstract Background In previous studies, our lab has characterized a number of highly mutated antibodies against structural epitopes of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope protein. These antibodies were first isolated from long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs). We have previous mapped 6F5 to a novel structural epitope that encompasses areas in both heptad repeats of GP41, mapping to amino acids of 557, 654 and 657 of reference sequence HXB2. In these studies, three other antibodies that were <90% homologous to 6F5 also resolved amino acid 657. On sequence analysis, 6F5 and its relatives had the same gene usage and general structure. These similarities and the similar epitope mapping implied these were once distantly related to a single B-cell lineage. As fusion of the viral membrane to the target cell depends on these heptad repeat regions associating and forming a six-helix postfusion bundle, antibodies that can interfere in this may be highly useful. Methods See results. Results Because 6F5 maps to 557 and 654/657 which are widely separated on the primary sequence, we explored if there was differential binding to the postfusion six-helix-bundle form. Two peptides (N36 and C34) each containing one of the heptad repeats can form the post-fusion six-helix-bundle in vitro. On sandwich ELISA testing, 6F11 and 7B6 did not bind any form. Interestingly, 4E4 specifically captured both peptides alone, but not the six-helix-bundle and 6F5 only bound the six-helix-bundle but not the other peptide. A small number of samples were obtained to assess the prevalence of these responses in LTNPs. Antibodies that compete 6F11 are much more prevalent in LTNPs than normal progressors (75% vs. 20%). Functionally, we found that despite being mapped to a similar portion of Gp41 (657), only 6F5 is shown to have significant ADCC activity, however relative 6F11 does not. Conclusion If targeting these epitopes correlates with the LTNP state, then these sites may be highly significant as targets of therapeutics or in vaccine strategies. Further studies on a larger cohort of LTNPs are ongoing. Additionally, deep sequencing of antibody sequences are being done to explore the development of structural epitope targeting by this family of antibodies. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


Background. The SVI (Standardized Vegetation Index) provides a relative comparison of the condition of the vegetation in different classifications for monitoring droughts. Objective. In this research, the SVI was used through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) at the national level and in three study points for a coastal, Amazonian, and Andean region for October 31, 2020, and two decades. Methodology. For the construction of the SVI, the data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Version 6 were used; of the Terra sensor (MOD13Q1) with a temporal resolution of 16 days, a spatial resolution of 250 meters, and as a level 3 product. Results. The SVI was represented in five classifications: with green color ≥ 0 (No Drought), yellow color -0.10 to -0.94 (Slight drought), light orange color -0.95 to -1.44 (Moderate drought), dark orange color -1.45 to -1.94 (Severe drought), and red color ≤ -1.95 (Extreme drought). Implications. The change in historical SVI values was evidenced due to causes such as El Niño costero (coastal) and deforestation of Tropical Forests; for the Sechura Desert in Piura and La Pampa in Madre de Dios, respectively. Subsequently, in the Andes of Peru, in Ollachea, Puno, it was determined that the SVI value, more extreme negative, represented an extreme drought never registered for this area. Conclusion. The SVI and GEE provided tools for drought management with high spatial and temporal resolution.


This work proposes to reduce visibility data volume using a baseline-dependent lossy compression technique that preserves smearing at the edges of the field-of-view. We exploit the relation of the rank of a matrix and the fact that a low-rank approximation can describe the raw visibility data as a sum of basic components where each basic component corresponds to a specific Fourier component of the sky distribution. As such, the entire visibility data is represented as a collection of data matrices from baselines, instead of a single tensor. The proposed methods are formulated as follows: provided a large dataset of the entire visibility data; the first algorithm, named $simple~SVD$ projects the data into a regular sampling space of rank$-r$ data matrices. In this space, the data for all the baselines has the same rank, which makes the compression factor equal across all baselines. The second algorithm, named $BDSVD$ projects the data into an irregular sampling space of rank$-r_{pq}$ data matrices. The subscript $pq$ indicates that the rank of the data matrix varies across baselines $pq$, which makes the compression factor baseline-dependent. MeerKAT and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network are used as reference telescopes to evaluate and compare the performance of the proposed methods against traditional methods, such as traditional averaging and baseline-dependent averaging (BDA). For the same spatial resolution threshold, both $simple~SVD$ and $BDSVD$ show effective compression by two-orders of magnitude higher than traditional averaging and BDA. At the same space-saving rate, there is no decrease in spatial resolution and there is a reduction in the noise variance in the data which improves the S/N to over $1.5$ dB at the edges of the field-of-view.


Although blended learning in higher education is well researched, the emphasis on blended learning in teacher education is relatively limited. Blended teacher education is an emerging approach within the State higher education sector in Sri Lanka. This article presents a review of empirical studies from recent global literature on blended learning in teacher education in the higher education sector. The review addresses three research questions: a) the nature of the research publications, b) themes and sub-themes addressed in the studies and c) future directions for the design of blended learning and research. With a systematic protocol of selection and a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 empirical research articles were selected as the sample for this state-of-the-art review. Twenty-four countries were represented in the sample. The majority of the articles were on pre-service teacher education and the research design commonly used was quantitative. A thematic analysis of the research articles identified six broad themes. The discussion on each theme and its sub-themes provides lessons from global research on blended learning and the transfer of knowledge. Future research, if focused more on interventionist designs, would help develop successful student-centered practices in blended learning for teacher education within higher education.


Introduction: Propionic acidemia (PA) is an inborn error of organic acid metabolism inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. The neonatal-onset disease may present with feeding difficulties and vomiting; seizures, coma, and death may occur if untreated. In addition, catabolic processes such as infections and surgical procedures could cause metabolic decompensation, so patients with organic acidemia should be followed closely. Case Presentation: Here, a patient diagnosed with PA and Apert syndrome in the neonatal period and the complications caused by the coexistence of the two entities are mentioned. The difficulties precipitated by the coexistence of Apert syndrome and PA make this case unique. She has had prolonged hospitalizations due to metabolic decompensations after cranioplasty and inguinal hernia repair, both triggered by nosocomial respiratory infections, complicating both the surgical treatment of Apert syndrome and the management of PA. Conclusion: Coexistence of these two serious disorders mandates a more prudent clinical management as Apert syndrome patients undergo several surgical procedures, rendering them susceptible to catabolic decompensations.


The flow field around a vertical axis wind turbine is much complicated because the blades pass in non-uniform flow field by the blade wake and the variation with the azimuth angle of the blade's angle of attack during rotation. To explore the relationship between the SB-VAWT and the attack angle of the wind turbine blades during rotating, and to clear the speed distribution and variation in quadratic element flow field, wind velocity in flow field around the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with three blades is measured using laser Doppler velocimetry(LDV) technology, and velocity distribution relationship of flow field around wind turbine in different tip speed ratios are obtained in the wind tunnel test. Based on the established mathematical model of the blade movement at attack angle changes of the SB-VAWT in different values of azimuths, the velocity distribution relationship of flow field around wind turbine in the different tip speed ratios wis analyzed utilizing the movement analysis software.The following conclusions can be obtained:The turbulence is generated in the region of the blade leading edge, and the relative wind speed around the blade is larger; There is a wide low wind velocity field will appear from the wind turbine internal region to downstream area, along with increase of tip speed ratio, there is an expanding tendency of low wind velocity region.


This paper demonstrates our method for 3D interactive visualization and navigation of large scale complex geologically related with the programmable visualization environment OpenGL. An interactive visualization system developed by the authors is presented for importing, filtering and visualizing of complex geologically related data. The approach for the visualization of complex mining engineering environment is described in detail. Aspects like presentations of data with spatial dependence, navigation in the terrain and geological frame of reference and in time, interaction techniques are presented. The system supports real 3D landscape representations. Real data derived from an iron mine of China demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. A case study with the results and benefits achieved by using real 3D representations and navigations of the system is given.


Gravitation
General relativity predicts that light emitted from a massive body is redshifted by its gravitational field. This gravitational redshift effect has previously been verified using white dwarfs and terrestrial experiments. Measuring it for the Sun is complicated by the motions of plasma on the surface, which Doppler-shift spectral lines by amounts similar to that of the predicted signal. Gonzalez Hernandez et al. analyzed a high-resolution spectrum of sunlight reflected off the Moon, thereby averaging over the solar disc, calibrated using a laser frequency comb. After compensating for plasma motions, they measured a gravitational redshift that is consistent with general relativity, within the uncertainty of 1 to 2%.

Astron. Astrophys. 643 , A146 (2020).


Accumulation of soil organic matter and associated changes in soil chemistry are important drivers and indicators of ecosystem recovery at post‐mining sites. To understand the temporal changes in the ecosystem properties of these sites, researchers typically use a chronosequence approach and at one time they compare similar sites of various ages. Although useful, this approach has an important limitation, which is site variability. In this study, we amended the chronosequence approach by repeated measurements of sites after extended periods. We used post‐mining sites near Sokolov where the soil C stock and soil chemistry variables had been measured in 1999, 11 years before the current study. In 2010, we used the same methods to repeat these measurements at the same sites, allowing us to assess real‐time changes in the investigated variables in individual plots. All sites had been reclaimed by planting of alder in the graded overburden without topsoil application; the overburden consisted of alkaline clay shales. Sites were 4–45 years old in 1999 and 15–56 years old in 2010. Soil pH gradually deceased with site age; this decrease was more pronounced in the upper soil layer. Changes in pH between 1999 and 2010 were negatively correlated with the initial pH; as a consequence, pH decreased in alkaline sites and increased in acidic sites. Soil carbon (C) increased with site age but the rate of increase declined with site age. The average increases in C stock were similar as determined by the chronosequence and real‐time approaches. Changes in soil nitrogen content were similar to changes in soil C content. Phosphorus content did not differ significantly among sites but tended to be less at older than at younger sites.


Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of greater trochanteric bursitis and gluteus medius tendinopathy using ultrasound in patients with greater trochanteric pain and assess the value of the pain on resisted hip abduction and pain on resisted hip internal rotation in predicting the presence of gluteus medius tendinopathy. Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of 75 patients with greater trochanteric pain. The physical examination records were identified as pain on resisted hip abduction and hip internal rotation. After observing physical examination records, presence of greater trochanteric bursitis or gluteus medius tendinopathy were assessed in documented ultrasound findings. Results: Of the 75 patients with greater trochanteric pain, trochanteric bursitis was found in 41.4% of patients, gluteus medius tendinopathy was found in 20% of patients. A significant difference was found in both presence of pain on resisted hip abduction and internal rotation between patients with gluteus medius tendinopathy and patients with other abnormalities in favor of gluteus medius tendinopathy. Conclusion: In order to determine the etiology of greater trochanteric pain, physical examination and ultrasound imaging is important, especially examination of pain on resisted hip abduction and hip internal rotation is essential to detect gluteus medius tendinopathy.


We investigated the regional distribution of blood flow (Q) within the costal and crural portions of the diaphragm in a total of eight anesthetized supine mongrel dogs. Q was measured with 15-microns microspheres, radiolabeled with three different isotopes, injected into the left ventricle during spontaneous breathing (SB), inspiratory resistive loading (IR), and mechanical ventilation after paralysis (P). At necropsy, the costal and crural portions of each hemidiaphragm were arbitrarily subdivided along a sagittal plane into five to seven and three sections, respectively. During P, there was a dorsoventral Q gradient within the costal part of the diaphragm. During SB there was a fourfold increase in the gradient of Q. Furthermore, during IR, in which mouth pressures of -16 +/- 4 cmH2O were generated, there was a further increase in the gradient of Q. During both SB and IR, Q to the most ventral portion of the costal diaphragm was 26 +/- 6% less than the peak value. In two dogs, studied prone and supine, there was no difference in the Q gradients between the two postures. Over the dorsal 80% of the costal diaphragm there was also a dorsoventral gradient of muscle thickness, such that the most dorsal part was 54 +/- 2% (n = 5) that of the ventral portion. In contrast, there was no consistent gradient of Q or muscle thickness within the crural diaphragm. Our results demonstrate a topographical gravity-independent distribution of Q in the costal, but not the crural, diaphragm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Efficiency in job shop scheduling plays an important role where a large number of jobs and machines are needed to be scheduled. As the number of jobs and machines increase, the job shop scheduling problems approach nondeterministic polynomial (NP) hard difficulty. It is one of the hardest combinatorial optimization problems for which it is extremely difficult to find optimal solutions. In the last two decades, many heuristic methods have been devised that produce solutions which are near optimal. Here, we present one such heuristic technique called Tabu search algorithm that can be applied to solve Job shop scheduling (JSS) problems. The purpose of this study is to generate different schedules with corresponding completion time using the Tabu search algorithm. The code for tabu search algorithm was done in python language. With the help of Gantt chart, it has found the percentage of machine utilization and idleness for all machines. At last, future directions have been provided for further improvement.


The continuous decrease of the supply voltage to 1 V and below in CMOS makes the design of laser drivers a challenging task. Hence, a detailed comparison of three basic driver architectures, namely, common source (CS), CS with source degeneration, and source follower (SF) is presented using transistor models including short channel effects. Based on this comparison, two power-optimized driver topologies are implemented in a 90-nm silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology. The SF driver features a bandwidth of 18 GHz on a 50-/spl Omega/ load. The required chip area is only 140 /spl mu/m/spl times/140 /spl mu/m, which is very beneficial for high-density short-distance optical interconnects. This allows a data rate of 12.5 Gb/s at a bit error ratio of less than 10/sup -12/ to be achieved even with a 10-Gb/s oxide confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The power consumption is 27 mW. The drivers were optimized for maximal eye opening by applying a fast and accurate VCSEL model.


To address four issues observed from the latest Personal Response System (PRS) review by Kay and LeSage (2009), this paper investigates, through a systematic research, how the derived benefits and challenges of PRS affect the satisfaction and continuance intention of college students in Taiwan. The empirical study samples representative college students enrolled in three universities from each of the Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern geographical regions in Taiwan. The results based on 406 valid returned questionnaires and partial least square analysis confirm that classroom environment and learning benefits have positive effects, whereas technology- and student-based challenges have negative effects on student satisfaction, thus influencing their intention to continue using PRS. In contrast, assessment benefits and teacher-based challenges do not have significant influences on student satisfaction. The present research contributes to literature by empirically testing PRS benefits and challenges derived from previous works, validating only the aspects that influence student satisfaction and, consequently, their behavioral intention to continue using PRS. The implications and suggestions derived from this rigorous research are highly relevant in practice. The findings enable a set of general design strategies for successful PRS implementations, providing the empirical basis for conducting future in-depth PRS research.


Summary

Cinnamon essential oil was used in gelatin coatings to maintain the quality of refrigerated rainbow trout fillets over a period of 20 days. Fish fillets were coated with a solution of 4% gelatin incorporated with cinnamon essential oil and then stored in refrigerator (4 ± 1 °C). Coating's preservative effect was assessed periodically (every 5 days) by microbial analyses (aerobic plate count and psychrotrophic count), chemical determinations (total volatile basic nitrogen, thiobarbituric acid, free fatty acid) and sensory characteristics. When gelatin coating with cinnamon applied to the preservation of trout fillets, a reduction in the growth of total bacteria was observe after 15 days of storage. Fish fillets with gelatin coating containing 1%, 1.5% and 2% v/v cinnamon oil produced significantly lower (P < 0.05) total volatile basic nitrogen then gelatin-coated fillets and control until 15 days of storage period (35, 22.86, 30.33, 57.76 and 53.26 mg per 100 g of fillet, respectively). The obtained results indicate that gelatin in the form of coating enriched with cinnamon oil is suitable for the preservation of rainbow trout fresh fillets and to efficiently maintain the quality attributes to an acceptable level during storage.


Transformation of cortexolone to cortisol and prednisolone by the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans protoplasts as a research tool was studied. The immobilized protoplasts of the fungus hydroxylated cortexolone at 11β -position had significantly higher activity than the free protoplasts. Sucrose as an osmotic stabilizer was found to be best at 0.6 M level. Relatively higher cortexolone bioconversion was obtained on using 3 ml of protoplasts (1.2iN107 protoplasts/ml) entrapped in 3% calcium alginate gel after 18 h incubation. The addition of some supplements was also investigated. The highest bioconversion efficiency was recorded with sodium citrate (1 g/L) and sodium benzoate (1 g/L). Similarly, the bioconversion process was fairly enhanced in the presence of Tween 20, 60 and the tested vitamins supplements. The entrapped protoplasts proved to be able to maintain the bioconversion process for repeated 13 cycles over 252 h. Sodium citrate and sodium benzoate, folic acid, riboflavin, menadione, vitamin B12 and ascorbic acid relatively were able to increase bioconversion efficiency. Key words : Cortexolone, 11£β-hydroxylation, immobilization, Cunninghamella elegans, protoplasts.


The global emergence of multidrugresistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB threatens to derail the efforts of TB control programmes worldwide. From 2000 to 2010, 161 pulmonary MDR-TB cases (including six XDR-TB cases) were reported in Singapore, and of these, 80% occurred among the foreign-born, with an increasing trend seen after 2004. Among new pulmonary TB cases, the highest incidence of MDR-TB occurred among patients from Myanmar (8%), followed by Vietnam (4.4%) and China (2.3%), while among those previously treated, the highest incidence was found in patients from Vietnam (50%), followed by Indonesia (33%) and Bangladesh (33%). Although the proportion of Singapore-born pulmonary TB cases with MDR-TB has remained comparatively low (0.2% and 1.3% in new and previously treated cases, respectively), there is no room for complacency. Top priority must be accorded toward the proper treatment of drug-susceptible TB cases under strict programme conditions so as to prevent the development of MDR-TB in the first place.


The presences of heavy metals at concentrations that exceed their permissible limits are toxic to humans, animals and aquatic life. This study was aimed at determining the tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to concentrations of selected metals (Zn, Cu, Cr, Fe and Ni) and sodium chloride. To achieve this aim, the effects of metal concentration, pH, temperature and initial inoculum size on viable counts of the isolate in presence of the respective metals were investigated. The results revealed that in presence of Zn, Cu, Cr, Fe and Ni, no growth of the isolate was observed at concentrations above 100 mg/L while in the presence of the sodium chloride, remarkable growth was observed at the different concentrations investigated. At the different incubation temperatures studies, the highest counts of 5.8×10 cfu/mL and 5.5×10 cfu/mL were observed in the presence of sodium chloride and iron, respectively at 35C. In the case of pH, highest counts of 1.7×10 cfu/mL, 1.6×10 cfu/mL, 1.5×10 cfu/mL, 1.3×10 cfu/mL and1.2×10 cfu/mL were observed at pH 6 in the presence of Cu, sodium choride, Zn, Cr, and Fe respectively. In the presence of Fe, highest microbial count of 1.2×10 cfu/mL was observed at pH 8. The study was able to reveal the effect of the test metals on growth of the test bacterial isolate.


Purpose . To assess the incidence and severity of adverse events; to explore clinical factors associated with grade 3–4 non-hematologic toxicity; to assess the immediate efficacy and progression-free survival during treatment with the FOLFIRI regimen in combination with aflibercept in Russia. Materials and Methods . A retrospective multicenter study has been conducted with data collected from 20 clinics in 15 regions of Russia. There was no statistical hypothesis. Progression-free survival was the main efficacy criterion. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPPS Statistics v. 20 software. Results . FOLFIRI and Aflibercept combination was administered to 264 patients. The mean number of treatment cycles was 6 (1 to 29). The toxicity of aflibercept was addressed by dose reduction and dosing delay in 10.1 % and 11.4 % of patients, respectively, and dose reductions and dosing delays in any of FOLIFRI components were reported in 20.1 % of participants. The objective response rate was 20.3 %. The median progression-free survival in patients receiving second-line treatment was 6 months (95 % CI: 5.3–6.6 months). Seventy-two percent of patients experienced any grade of adverse events most of which were limited to grade 1–2 (62.1 %). Non-hematologic toxicity was reported in 64 % of patients (grade 3–4 in 17.9 %). Hematologic events were detected in only 17.9 % of patients. Multifactorial analysis has shown that drug therapy for concomitant diseases (OR 1.98, 95 % CI: 1.04–3.78, p = 0.037) and the number of chemotherapy lines prior to aflibercept (ОR 1.5, 95 % CI: 1.06–2.11, p = 0.02) were independent predictors of grade 3–4 non-hematologic toxicity. Conclusions . Objective response rate, progression-free survival, and frequency of toxicity-related aflibercept discontinuations in the Russian study with patients receiving aflibercept in combination with FOLFIRI regimen as a second-line treatment has shown the results that were comparable with VELOUR study. Comorbidities requiring drug treatment and the number of prior chemotherapy lines appear to be risk factors for grade 3–4 nonhematological toxicity events.


Psychological concerns for the timing of medical procedures on children result from the longstanding realization that events and behavioral patterns of childhood have wide-ranging effects on the later behavior of the adult. A review of the literature regarding the effects of surgery on psychological development is presented. Particular reference is made to the impact of genitourinary surgery with specific emphasis on the repair of hypospadias, a congenital anomaly affecting 1:250 to 1:400 live male births. Studies of adults who underwent hypospadias repair as children suggest that they are psychologically different from their peers who did not have this surgery. Specifically, as adults they frequently have sexual difficulty despite erectile competence and they generally occupy less responsible, less competitive, and less independent professions than similarly intelligent cohorts. These findings imply that the experience of hypospadias or its surgical repair may in some way affect psychological development. By examining these experiences in light of emotional and cognitive development and the emergence of body image and sexual identity, predictions for psychologically optimal timing of surgery are made. Importance of the role of the family in the psychological outcome and a discussion of surgical considerations are also provided.


Insulin resistance (IR) is identified as an impaired biologic response to insulin stimulation of target tissues, primarily liver, muscle and adipose tissue. Insulin resistance impairs glucose disposal, resulting in a compensatory increase in beta-cell insulin production and hyperinsulinemia. There was a positive correlation between insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) values and acne vulgaris. Nesfatin-1 is a novel peptide hormone that suppresses appetite through its actions in the central nervous system. It has anorexigenic effects and it has a major regulatory role in food intake, energy homeostasis, water intake and body temperature. The current study aimed to assess and measure the serum level of nesfatin-1 and IR in acne vulgaris patients and compare their levels in healthy controls. Fifty patients suffering from acne vulgaris, in addition to thirty apparently healthy individuals of matched age, sex and BMI as a control group. Serum insulin,FBS and nesfatin levels were estimated using commercially available ELISA kits. Our findings suggest that, nesfatin-1 is associated with the susceptibility of development of acne vulgaris and HOMA-IR has a role in the disease pathogenesis and its severity.


Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become the standard endoscopic treatment for early gastric cancer without lymph node metastasis. At present, undifferentiated type intramucosal cancers without ulcer findings <20 mm in size are often chosen as endoscopic treatment lesions for expanded indication. The purpose of this study was to examine the outcome of ESD treatment in undifferentiated carcinomas. Method: Forty-six patients who had undergone ESD from July 2002 until July 2010, where the final pathological diagnosis was undifferentiated carcinoma, were assessed for the en-bloc resection ratio, the accuracy rate of depth or extent of diagnosis and survival. Results: In endoscopic ultrasonography studies, the accuracy rate of mucosal lesions was 86%. The rate of en-bloc resection was 91% (42/46) and 5 cases had a positive margin. Four cases had a positive margin in cases of piecemeal resection. Five cases underwent additional surgery, and residual cancer was found in 1 case. There were 2 cases of perforation, 2 of delayed hemorrhage, and no cases of delayed perforation. One case died of multiple liver metastases and 1 died of hepatocellular carcinoma. After a maximum of 8 years, an average of 3.8 years of observation, including 7 cases who had undergone additional surgery, recurrence occurred in only 1 case of liver metastasis. Conclusion: In this study the lesions of undifferentiated adenocarcinoma, which were limited to the mucosa, <20 mm in diameter and had been completely resected, showed no recurrence and were indicated for endoscopic treatment.