RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES
The authors investigated the feasibility of using a low-field open-magnet magnetic resonance (MR) scanner to acquire functional flexion-extension images for range of motion (ROM) measurements on the lumbar spine.

METHODS
Seventeen healthy subjects with no symptoms of back pain (age range, 22-59 years) were scanned in a low-field open-magnet MR scanner in the flexed, neutral, and extended positions. Each image was downloaded to a computer workstation for subsequent flexion-extension, lordosis, and ROM measurement.

RESULTS
Data from two subjects were not analyzed because their images did not show all the lumbar vertebrae. For the remaining 15, there was a large variation in the magnitude of the ROM values (range, 9 degrees-70 degrees; mean 36.4 degrees, SD 16.5 degrees). However, there was a significant correlation between age and ROM (r = -0.63; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The low-field open-magnet MR scanner provides a method for noninvasive imaging of the lumbar spine, allowing the subject freedom of movement in the horizontal plane. This enables functional flexion-extension images of the lumbar spine to be acquired.


In low bit-rate coders, the near-sample and far-sample redundancies of the speech signal are usually removed by a cascade of a short-term and a long-term linear predictor. These two predictors are usually found in a sequential and therefore suboptimal approach. In this paper we propose an analysis model that jointly finds the two predictors by adding a regularization term in the minimization process to impose sparsity constraints on a high order predictor. The result is a linear predictor that can be easily factorized into the short-term and long-term predictors. This estimation method is then incorporated into an Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction scheme and shows to have a better performance than traditional cascade methods and other joint optimization methods, offering lower distortion and higher perceptual speech quality.


Object detection of overhead transmission lines is a solution for promoting inspection efficiency for power companies. However, aerial images contain many complex backgrounds and small objects, and traditional algorithms are incompetent in the identification of details of power transmission lines accurately. To address this problem, this paper develops an object detection method based on optimized You Only Look Once v5-small (YOLOv5s). This method is designed to be engineering-friendly, with the objective of maximal detection accuracy and computation simplicity. Firstly, to improve the detecting accuracy of small objects, a larger scale detection layer and jump connections are added to the network. Secondly, a self-attention mechanism is adopted to merge the feature relationships between spatial and channel dimensions, which could suppress the interference of complex backgrounds and boost the salience of objects. In addition, a small object enhanced Complete Intersection over Union (CIoU) is put forward as the loss function of the bounding box regression. This loss function could increase the derived loss for small objects automatically, thereby improving the detection of small objects. Furthermore, based on the scaling factors of batch-normalization layers, a pruning method is adopted to reduce the parameters and achieve a lightweight method. Finally, case studies are fulfilled by comparing the proposed method with classic YOLOv5s, which demonstrate that the detection accuracy is increased by 4%, the model size is reduced by 58%, and the detection speed is raised by 3.3%.


In the present study, the anti-diabetic effect of ordinary and hyperimmune bovine colostrum were evaluated in diabetic mice induced by alloxan. The results indicated that blood glucose levels were significantly decreased after administration of colostrum for 30 d, and the glucose tolerance was strengthened in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the hyperimmune colostrum was more efficient than ordinary colostrum in decreasing the blood glucose level and improving glucose tolerance in diabetic mice (P<0.05). Furthermore, total levels of serum cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) were significantly decreased, and serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) was significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner compared with the control; the hyperimmune colostrum was also more efficient than ordinary colostrum in reducing the serum levels of TC and TG, and increasing the serum levels of HDL-c in diabetic mice (P<0.05). These results suggest that bovine colostrum could modify the diabetic phenotype of mice induced by alloxan.


Developmental venous anomalies (DVA) are large veins usually arranged in a cluster around a collector vein draining directly into the superficial and deep venous systems. Since the introduction of magnetic resonance imaging DVA have been disclosed more frequently. Many studies suggested and then confirmed the association between cavernous angioma and developmental venous anomaly, described for the first time by Roberson in 1974. The aim of our study was a retrospective assessment of the case series at our institution, namely to determine the frequency of the association between developmental venous anomaly and cavernous and analyse the relation between the two lesions.


Introduction
 Pegaspargase (PEG) is a critical component of therapy for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL); however, complete asparaginase treatment may be hampered by the development of hypersensitivity reactions. Inadequate exposure to asparaginase has been shown to result in inferior outcomes (Gupta 2020). Although Erwinia asparaginase can be utilized as a replacement in patients with PEG allergy, recent shortages of Erwinia leave some patients who develop allergy to PEG without an alternative. Premedication with antihistamines and corticosteroids, as well as decreasing the pegaspargase infusion rate have been proposed as approaches to reduce hypersensitivity reactions (Cooper 2019, Bade 2019, Stock 2019). We evaluated the episodes of hypersensitivity reactions to PEG during three time periods with differing premedication and infusion practices at a single institution.
 Methods
 We utilized pharmacy records to conduct a retrospective chart review on PEG administration at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta from June 2017 to May 2020. Abstraction captured data on clinical hypersensitivity reactions to PEG over 3 time periods. PEG 2500 units/m2 was delivered as an intravenous infusion according to the schedules used in Children's Oncology Group ALL protocols. In the first time period (P1, June 22, 2017 to June 21, 2018) PEG was infused over 1 hour without premedication. In the second period (P2, June 22, 2018 to May 19, 2019) PEG was infused over 1 hour following premedication with ranitidine and diphenhydramine. In the final period (P3, May 20, 2019 to May 19, 2020) PEG was infused over 2 hours with normal saline piggyback intravenous fluids following premedication with ranitidine (or famotidine), diphenhydramine and hydrocortisone. Asparaginase activity was measured 7-10 days after PEG doses in consolidation and subsequent phases in P1 and P2, and also after induction in P3. Silent inactivation was defined as asparaginase activity <0.1 IU/ml. A likelihood ratio test was used to compare the probability of a hypersensitivity reaction per dose of PEG between periods.
 Results
 The cohort included 277 recipients of at least one dose of PEG during the review period. Some patients received PEG across multiple periods. During P1, 121 patients received 298 PEG doses. Of these, fifteen patients (12.4%) had hypersensitivity reactions; 1 patient (0.8%) had silent inactivation. During P2, 94 patients received 235 PEG doses. Seventeen (18.1%) of these patients had hypersensitivity reactions, with no cases of silent inactivation cases. During P3, 125 patients received 332 PEG doses. Sixteen (12.8%) had hypersensitivity reactions and one (0.8%) had silent inactivation (Figure 1). The majority of reactions occurred with each patient's second (56%) or 3rd (38%) PEG dose. The probability of reaction per dose across all periods was 0.054 (95% CI: 0.039, 0.069). The reaction probability for the three phases are estimated to be 0.050, 0.068, and 0.048 for P1, P2, and P3 respectively (Figure 2). There was no statistically significant difference in the probability of PEG hypersensitivity reactions between the three different time periods (p = 0.56).
 Conclusions
 Premedication with antihistamines and corticosteroids or prolongation of infusion time did not affect the incidence of hypersensitivity reactions to PEG over a three-year period at our institution. The rate of silent inactivation was extremely low, and did not increase after premedication was instituted. These results contrast with prior single institution reports regarding reductions in hypersensitivity reactions and indicate that larger, multi-center trials are needed to determine the efficacy of premedication or prolongation of infusion time on reducing hypersensitivity reactions to PEG during pediatric ALL therapy.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


The best known outer bound on the capacity region of the two-user Gaussian interference channel is given as the intersection of regions of genie-aided outer bounds, in which a genie provides extra side information to the receivers. In this paper, we present a new outer bound that does not resort to a genie-aided channel but make use of auxiliary random variables. In order to obtain such bound, we introduce a conditional version of the worst additive noise lemma. The new bound is shown to be tighter than genie-aided bounds for certain range of parameters.


This study proposed a comprehensive economic-based indicator, the World Bank's Adjusted Net Savings (ANS) rate for measuring sustainable development path in Malaysia. Introduced in the early 1990s, ANS consists of augmented calculation of national savings, which accounts for human capital investment, natural resources depletion and environmental degradation. The first objective of this study was to calculate the ANS rate in Malaysia and compare with data from the World Development Indicator (WDI) report. By including the education expenditures made by both public and private sectors, along with the inclusion of sulphur dioxide emission as the extension for pollution damage, Malaysia's sustainability path appeared to be overestimated in contrary to the World Bank's report. The subsequent objectives were to estimate and analyse the possible determinants of ANS rate in Malaysia, during the period from 1970 until 2014. The intention to seek possible determinants of ANS emerged from past literature on economic growth. Per capita income, foreign investment inflows, money supply, minerals exports, manufactured goods exports and labour productivity were selected as the explanatory variables for ANS, per capita ANS and its components (education expenditures, natural resources depletion and environmental damages). Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) time-series model based from the bounds-test analysis, results revealed that exports of manufactured goods and natural resources were the most significant determinants in influencing the sustainability models of ANS in both short-run and long-run. The overall findings implied that future government policies must be embodied with concerns towards intergenerational well-being, reinvestment of natural capital stocks and also the environmental protection. The outcome of this study further recommended the projection of ANS rate for Malaysia at state-levels, especially for resource-abundance areas in order to monitor their sustainable development progress. In addition, an extensive hybrid ANS sustainability model may also be developed. The indicator may be used to provide a clearer perspective to the government, policymakers, and society members as it quantifies whether a plan is not balanced while in the approach to sustainable development.


Introduction:  Carcinoids of the duodenum are rare and have an indolent course. Most of these patients have been conventionally subjected to extensive surgery based on the site of the tumor. In this report, we have explored the safety and feasibility of endoscopic banding for such tumors. This to our best knowledge is only the second such report in English medical literature.  Case report:  In a 50-year-old woman with history of abdominal pain and vomiting, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a 0.5 cm umbilicated nodular lesion along the medial wall of the first part of duodenum. Biopsy of the lesion confirmed it to be a carcinoid, and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) showed the carcinoid was confined to the submucosa. Endoscopic banding with resection of the lesion was done. Patient tolerated the procedure well and is asymptomatic on follow-up.  Conclusion:  Small duodenal carcinoids confined to the submucosa can be safely and effectively managed by endoscopic banding and preoperative. Larger studies in patients with duodenal carcinoids tumors are needed to confirm these promising results.


Abstract Objective: To identify human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccine–related attitudes among college-aged women and the relationship between HPV vaccine uptake and subsequent sexual behaviors. Methods: PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Google Scholar searches were performed from 2006, the date after the first HPV vaccine became available, to present. Results: Of the 13 studies identified, most were cross-sectional. College-aged women saw HPV infection as serious and had positive attitudes toward the HPV vaccine. Barriers (ie, cost, lack of insurance coverage) existed that prevented women from obtaining the vaccine and many women did not see themselves at risk for HPV. The vaccine uptake rate, although increasing, has been slow. Conclusion: College-aged women in the United States may need unbiased information about HPV and HPV vaccine. Studies that focus on risk perception and the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, vaccine uptake, and sexual behaviors are needed to inform interventions and public health programs.


This paper attempts to extend the range of countries covered by the IMF`s multilateral real exchange rate indexes based on relative unit labor costs (REER-ULCs) in manufacturing. A data set was assembled that permits calculation of REER-ULCs for 23 newly industrialized, developing, and transition countries in addition to the 21 industrial countries covered by the current system. Although the results are mostly quite encouraging, they should be considered preliminary because of uncertainty about the reliability and comparability of the underlying data. Also, unit labor costs are not available on as timely a basis as consumer price indexes (CPIs), especially for nonindustrial countries. Thus, the ULC-based indicators should supplement rather than replace the current CPI-based system.


Every year there are reports of food poisoning involving food sold at the Ramadan bazaar and one of the causes of food poisoning is Bacillus cereus. This study aimed to determine the contamination level of B. cereus and the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolates in food sold at Ramadan bazaar in Kuching, Sarawak. A total of 155 samples from five food categories were collected from six Ramadan bazaars in three locations around Kuching. Overall, 32 (21%) food samples were found positive for B. cereus. Cooked rice showed the least satisfactory levels of B. cereus among the food categories and nasi lemak was the type of food that highly contaminated with B. cereus. Antibiotic susceptibility assessment showed that B. cereus isolates were highly resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic, penicillin and cefotaxime in this study. The findings of this study showed that B. cereus has the potential to cause food poisoning to Ramadan bazaar consumers due to the high mean count in some types of food. Therefore, this study can be used as basic data for B. cereus control measures in food sold at the Ramadan bazaar.


X-ray crystallography has been used to determine the structure of arsenite-inhibited aldehyde dehydrogenase from Desulfovibrio gigas, a member of the xanthine oxidase family of mononuclear molybdenum enzymes. The structure shows an AsO3 moiety bound to the molybdenum atom of the active site through one of the oxygen atoms. A reduced sample of arsenite-inhibited aldehyde dehydrogenase has a Mo(V) signal that shows anisotropic hyperfine and quadrupole coupling to one arsenic atom. This signal has a strong resemblance with a previously reported signal for arsenite-inhibited xanthine oxidase.


Nigeria is the most multilingual nation in Africa with about 400 to 500 indigenous languages, which have various status - developed, developing, and underdeveloped (Emenanjo 1993:3, Aziza 1998:257). Language has been identified as a conduit for transmission of culture, idea, thought, etc. from one generation to another. The work recognizes that 54 years after independence that English (the ex- colonial masters' language) is still the language of education, governance, commerce, judiciary, etc. in Nigeria and as such has hindered equal participation of the entire citizenry in governance, access to information and full involvement in government policies and programs. The paper is a critical appraisal of the role of language in national development. Granted is the fact that knowledge and use of English provides access to trading in the global market and access to the world of science and technology; the work recognizes the place of the indigenous languages and therefore solicits that deliberate efforts should put for the empowerment of the indigenous languages to meet up with the technological drive of the 21 st century and beyond.  The work is a call on government, stakeholders, and individuals to put effort towards forestalling exclusion of a representative population, language endangerment and possible extinction of the indigenous languages; this can be achieved through vigorous and regular language preservation and maintenance programmes. A lost language is a lost identity and that amount to a lost race and generation. Keywords: Language, Indigenous language. National Development


This article tests for horizontal tax competition in the value-added tax (VAT) for a sample of Brazilian states in the period 1985-2001. The states have considerable autonomy over the VAT and often use it as an industrial policy tool. The empirical findings, based on the estimation of a tax reaction function in an error-correction setup, confirm that the states react strongly to changes in their neighbors' VAT code, especially those that belong to the same geoeconomic region. Also, there is a Stackelberg leader among the states, with the remaining jurisdictions responding strongly to its policy moves. There is no co-occupancy of tax bases among different levels of government and hence limited scope for vertical externalities in tax setting. But the fact that the federal government shares with the states part of the revenue of its more elastic taxes, such as the income tax, appears to affect the opportunity cost of horizontal tax competition.


OBJECTIVES
To explore the relationships between the peripheral blood levels of CD61, CD63, PAC-1 and the incidence of acute rejection and tubular necrosis after renal transplantation, and recovery of the graft function.

METHODS
The peripheral blood levels of CD61, CD63, and PAC-1 of 86 patients with uremia in different stages before and after transplantations were analyzed by flow cytometry. The patients were divided into three groups: (1) twenty-nine patients with normal grafts function, (2) hirty with acute rejection and (3) twenty-seven with acute tubular necrosis. The patients with acute rejection were randomly divided into treatment group with anticoagulants and cntrol group.

RESULTS
The peripheral blood levels of CD61, CD63 and PAC-1 significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the patients with acute rejection, in comparison with those with normal grafts function and those with acute tubular necrosis. The peripheral blood levels of CD61, CD63 and PAC-1 in patients with acute rejection in anticoagulants therapy was lower, recovery time of the grafts function was shorter, one-year survival rates of patients and grafts were higher, as compared with those of controls.

CONCLUSIONS
The patients with acute rejection have significantly high peripheral blood levels of CD61, CD63 and PAC-1 before transplantation, however, these values in patients with acute tubular necrosis are not high, this suggesting that acute rejection might relate to platelet activation, while acute tubular necrosis might not relate to it. After anticoagulants therapy in patients with acute rejection, the grafts function might recover faster and their one-year survival rates and grafts might be higher in those with CD61, CD63 and PAC-1 decreasing remarkably.


Full-custom design is considered superior to standard-cell design when a high-performance circuit is requested. The structured routing of critical wires is considered to be the most important contributor to this performance gap. However, this is only true for bitsliced designs, such as ripple-carry adders, but not for designs with inter-bitslice interconnections spanning several bitslices, such as tree adders and reduction-tree multipliers. It is found that standard-cell design techniques scale better with the data width than full-custom bitsliced layouts for designs dominated by inter-bitslice interconnections.


Despite the significant advancement in bone tissue engineering, it is still challenging to find a desired scaffold with suitable mechanical and biological properties, efficient bone formation in the defect area, and antibacterial resistivity. In this study, the zeolite (ZSM-5) scaffold was developed using the space holder method, and a novel vancomycin-loaded alginate coating was developed on it to promote their characteristics. Our results demonstrated the importance of alginate coating on the microstructure, mechanical, and cellular properties of the ZSM-5 scaffold. For instance, a three-fold increase in the compressive strength of coated scaffolds was observed compared to the uncoated ZSM-5. After the incorporation of vancomycin into the alginate coating, the scaffold revealed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The inhibition zone increased to 35 mm. Resets also demonstrated 74 ± 2.5% porosity, 4.3 ± 0.07 MPa strength in compressive conditions, acceptable cellular properties (72.3 ± 0.2 (%control) cell viability) after 7 days, good cell attachment, and calcium deposition. Overall, the results revealed that this scaffold could be a great candidate for bone tissue engineering.


Abstract Advanced jet training still relies on old concepts and solutions that are no longer efficient when considering the current and forthcoming changes in air combat. The cost of those old solutions to develop and maintain combat pilot skills are important, adding even more constraints to the training limitations. The requirement of having a trainer aircraft able to perform also light combat aircraft operational mission is adding unnecessary complexity and cost without any real operational advantages to air combat mission training. Thanks to emerging technologies, the JANUS project will study the feasibility of a brand-new concept of agile manoeuvrable training aircraft and an integrated training system, able to provide a live, virtual and constructive environment. The JANUS concept is based on a lightweight, low-cost, high energy aircraft associated to a ground based Integrated Training System providing simulated and emulated signals, simulated and real opponents, combined with real-time feedback on pilot's physiological characteristics: traditionally embedded sensors are replaced with emulated signals, simulated opponents are proposed to the pilot, enabling out of sight engagement. JANUS is also providing new cost effective and more realistic solutions for "Red air aircraft" missions, organised in so-called "Aggressor Squadrons".


The H.264 video coding standard, also known as MPEG AVC, represents the state of the art in video compression. This article provides an overview of the H.264 standard. To help the reader understand the similarities and differences between it and MPEG-2 (and other hybrid video coding standards), the author describes the H.264 features and compare them to functionally similar MPEG-2 features


Programs focusing on improving working practices during the pandemic, including competency development programs in higher education and government institutions, have been marked by a sense of urgency and creativity. This study explored the planned implementation of corporate university learning methods to help Indonesian government employees improve their foreign language skills. The research began with examining the training environment prior to the pandemic and how the pandemic altered the learning models. We wanted to know how the ASN Corporate University learning model influenced motivation to learn foreign languages. Secondly, we wanted to explore which learning experiences could help Indonesian State Civil Apparatus employees improve their foreign language skills. According to our review of the literature, systems likely will not return to their pre-pandemic state. As a result, future methods will need to include both substance-based and project-based approaches. The corporate university learning model best exemplifies the application of techniques focused on employees. As a result, the study only looked at a small portion of the competency development offered by the corporate university model: job-related competency development. Data were collected through an online survey of 126 State Civil Apparatus employees who worked for the Indonesian National Institute of Public Administration. Learning methods examined included giving a presentation in a foreign language, participating in international events, and fostering international cooperation. Across all methods, intrinsic motivation was found to be more prevalent than extrinsic motivation. Of all the methods tested, respondents were the most eager to participate in international events. These results should be considered in the design of future workplace foreign language learning.
Keywords: corporate university, competency, development, motivation


This paper discusses coding of road information in a lateral reference system using magnetic markers designed for Automated Highway Systems ( AHS). The coding is utilized to communicate road information such as up- coming road geometry or lane merges/diverges from the roadway infrastructure to AHS vehicles. The work presented here is based on experiences with the preparation of the I-15 test track near San Diego, CA, for the National AHS Consortium demonstration in 1997. Information about road features was encoded into the magnets used as a lateral reference system for automatic steering control by exploiting binary polarity coding.


BACKGROUND
Net costs of smoking in a lifetime perspective and, hence, the economic interests in antismoking policies have been questioned. It has been proposed that the health-related costs of smoking are balanced by smaller expenditure due to shorter life expectancy.

METHOD
A dynamic (life cycle) method taking differences in life expectancy into account. Main outcome measures were direct and indirect lifetime health costs for ever-smokers and never-smokers, and cost ratios (ever-smokers to never-smokers). The estimations were based on annual disease rates of use of the healthcare services, smoking relative risks, smoking prevalences, and costs.

RESULTS
Annual direct and indirect costs of ever-smokers were higher than for never-smokers in all age groups of both genders. The direct and indirect cost ratios were highest at age 45 for women, and at age 35 and 40 for men, respectively. Taking life expectancy differences into account, direct and indirect lifetime health costs for men aged 35, discounted by 5% per year were 66% and 83% higher in ever-smokers than in never-smokers. Corresponding results for women were 74% and 79%, respectively. The results are insensitive to a broad range of relative risk-estimates and discount rates including no discounting. Excess costs of ever-smokers disappear if the inclusion of smoking-related diseases is narrowed to that of previous studies.

CONCLUSION
Smoking imposes costs to society even when taking life expectancy into consideration--both in direct and indirect costs.


The tissue uptake and distribution of 3H-dexamethasone were studied in anesthetized cats subjected to acute myocardial ischemia. 1 h after injection of 3H-dexamethasone, liver, kidney, intestine, pancreas and heart exhibited tissue/plasma ratios between 2 and 7. Adrenal, spleen and lung tissue exhibited T/P ratios from 1 to 2, while ratios less than 1 were found in abdominal aorta, skeletal muscle and omentum. Although uptake of dexamethasone was decreased in the ischemic myocardium as compared with the non-ischemic myocardium, the ischemic region took up 78% of that taken up by normal myocardium. Pancreatic tissue accumulated significantly greater quantities of 3H-dexamethasone in cats subjected to myocardial ischemia than in sham-operated controls. 3H-dexamethasone did not undergo significant metabolism by the heart in the first 2 h following coronary occlusion or after an equivalent sham operation. These data are consistent with a rapid uptake mechanism of glucocorticoid by myocardial tissue. The data also indicate that the large amounts of exogenously administered glucocorticoid remain essentially intact in the heart during the first 2 h of the ischemic process.


Objective. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Diverse functions of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and NK cell subsets are investigated thoroughly in cancer immunotherapy. ILC and recently described NK cell subsets in NSCLC patients' blood samples and tumor draining lymph nodes were investigated.
Methods. The study included chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy-naive NSCLC patients with clinical stage T1-4N0-2M0 who underwent video-assisted mediastinal lymphadenectomy and 14 healthy controls. Mononuclear cells were isolated from peripheral blood of both groups and mediastinal lymph nodes of NSCLC patients. NK cells and ILC subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry.
Results. Total NK cells are shown to be increased in peripheral blood of NSCLC patients compared to lymph nodes while the ratio of CD56dimCD16- exhausted NK cells is higher in lymph nodes than in blood samples of NSCLC patients. Compared to control group, peripheral blood ILC1 cells were lower in NSCLC patients, however ILC2 and ILC3 cells were significantly increased. However, mediastinal lymph nodes of NSCLC patients had decreased ratio of ILC2 and increased ratio of ILC3 cells than in peripheral blood of patients. NSCLC patients had significantly increased ratio of NKp44-ILC3 cells and decreased ratio of NKp44+ILC3 in lymph nodes.
Conclusion. Decreased ratio of ILC1 cells is an important indicator of impaired anti-tumoral response. Increased in the ratio of NKp44-ILC3 cells in NSCLC patients may potentially contribute to tumor progression. These findings highlight the distinct roles of ILCs, which play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.


Impaired angiogenesis is a hallmark of metabolically dysfunctional adipose tissue in obesity. However, the underlying mechanisms restricting angiogenesis within this context remain ill-defined. Here, we demonstrate that induced endothelial-specific depletion of the transcription factor Forkhead Box O1 (FoxO1) in male mice led to increased vascular density in adipose tissue. Upon high-fat diet feeding, endothelial cell FoxO1-deficient mice exhibited even greater vascular remodeling in the visceral adipose depot, which was paralleled with a healthier adipose tissue expansion, higher glucose tolerance and lower fasting glycemia concomitant with enhanced lactate levels. Mechanistically, FoxO1 depletion increased endothelial proliferative and glycolytic capacities by upregulating the expression of glycolytic markers, which may account for the improvements at the tissue level ultimately impacting whole-body glucose metabolism. Altogether, these findings reveal the pivotal role of FoxO1 in controlling endothelial metabolic and angiogenic adaptations in response to high-fat diet and a contribution of the endothelium to whole-body energy homeostasis.


Repeated computations on the same molecular system, but with different geometries, are often performed in quantum chemistry, for instance, in ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations or geometry optimizations. While many efficient strategies exist to provide a good guess for the self-consistent field procedure, which is usually the main computational task to be performed, little is known on how to efficiently exploit in this direction the abundance of information generated during the many computations. In this article, we present a strategy to provide an accurate initial guess for the density matrix, expanded in a set of localized basis functions, within the self-consistent field iterations for parametrized Hartree-Fock problems where the nuclear coordinates are changed along a few user-specified collective variables, such as the molecule's normal modes.
Our approach is based on an offline-stage where the Hartree-Fock eigenvalue problem is solved for some particular parameter values and an online-stage where the initial guess is computed very efficiently for any new parameter value.
The method allows non-linear approximations of density matrices, which belong to a non-linear manifold that is isomorphic to the Grassmann manifold.
The so-called Grassmann exponential and logarithm map the manifold onto the tangent space and thus provides the correct geometrical setting accounting for the manifold structure when working with subspaces rather than functions itself.
Numerical tests on different amino acids show promising initial results.


The intense angiogenesis characteristic of early corpus luteum development is dependent upon vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as inhibitors of VEGF administered at the peri-ovulatory period suppress endothelial cell proliferation and progesterone secretion. We now report that administration of VEGF Trap, a soluble decoy receptor-based inhibitor, at the mid- or the late luteal phase in the marmoset results in a rapid decline in plasma progesterone. Since vascularisation of the corpus luteum is largely complete by the mid-luteal phase, it suggested that this functional luteolysis involved mechanisms other than inhibition of angiogenesis. A second experiment investigated the role of VEGF in maintaining the integrity of the luteal vasculature and hormone-producing cells. VEGF Trap was administered to marmosets in the mid-luteal phase and ovaries were obtained 1, 2, 4 or 8 days later for localisation of activated caspase-3 staining in the corpus luteum and compared with those obtained 2, 4 and 8 days after administration of control protein. The number of cells with activated caspase-3 staining was significantly increased after administration of VEGF Trap. Dual staining of activated caspase-3 with the endothelial cell marker CD31 showed that at 1 day post-treatment, more than 90% caspase-3-stained cells were vascular endothelium, prior to detection of an increasing incidence in death of hormone-producing cells on days 2 and 4. Staining with CD31 showed that the endothelial cell area was decreased after treatment. By 8 days after treatment, corpora lutea had regressed to varying degrees, while all control corpora lutea remained healthy. These results show that VEGF inhibition in the mid- or the late luteal phase induces functional luteolysis in the marmoset that is associated with premature and selective death of endothelial cells.


Effects of the pressure profile and the current density profile inside the top of the pedestal and that of the plasma shape on the expansion of the structure of the unstable edge MHD mode are investigated numerically. The structure of the edge MHD mode is expanded by spreading the envelope of the edge ballooning mode structure due to the increase of the pressure gradient inside the top of the pedestal, and by decreasing the toroidal mode number of the most unstable mode due to the increase of the current density inside the top of the pedestal. In strongly shaped plasmas, the pressure gradient inside the top of the pedestal can approach to the ballooning mode stability boundary and the current density increases enough to reduce the toroidal mode number of the most unstable mode. These increases of the pressure gradient and the current density destabilize the edge MHD mode and expand the structure of this mode.


In recent years, the development of high power laser systems led to focussed intensities of more than 10(22) W/cm(2) at high pulse energies. Furthermore, both, the advanced high power lasers and the development of sophisticated laser particle acceleration mechanisms facilitate the generation of high energetic particle beams at high fluxes. The challenge of imaging detector systems is to acquire the properties of the high flux beam spatially and spectrally resolved. The limitations of most detector systems are saturation effects. These conventional detectors are based on scintillators, semiconductors, or radiation sensitive films. We present a nuclear activation-based imaging spectroscopy method, which is called NAIS, for the characterization of laser accelerated proton beams. The offline detector system is a combination of stacked metal foils and imaging plates (IP). After the irradiation of the stacked foils they become activated by nuclear reactions, emitting gamma decay radiation. In the next step, an autoradiography of the activated foils using IPs and an analysis routine lead to a spectrally and spatially resolved beam profile. In addition, we present an absolute calibration method for IPs.


Although information regarding the consequences of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth is disseminated, the recipients of that information are most often adults. To present this information directly to never-pregnant adolescents, an annual conference, outside of the authority structure of the school was developed in Bangor, Maine. The three primary outcome goals of the conference are to identify community resources, identify resources for school-based follow-up programs, and to encourage teens to serve as resources to their peers. The conference is coordinated by four volunteer professionals, with an advisory panel of teens and adults assisting in planning the agenda and in identifying topics, facilitators, teen parents, and community professionals for panel discussions and film presentations. Community agencies and parents are solicited to underwrite costs. A small registration fee helps offset costs without prohibiting attendance. The organizers handle hall rental and advertising. The conference is held during school hours to maximize attendance. Evaluations of the conferences have shown that attendance increased from 180 the first year to 600 in subsequent years. Information about contraception, learning to say "no" to sexual involvement, and communicating with parents is consistently cited as most useful. Both films and teen panel discussions are rated highly. The focus of the conference has expanded from teenage pregnancy and sexuality to general adolescent development. (BL) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


The purpose of this study is to develop a life planning program for retired elderly people. This program is not a preparation program for elderly people prior to their retirement but a readjustment and re-planning their life after retirement. This program help retired elderly people to solve the life problem and set up a affirmative ones future image. Also this program pay regard to social, home backgrounds of this generation. The program consists of four session curriculums session 1 is entitled to &Make my future by oneself&, session 2 is &Enjoy healthy life as much as one can&, session 3 is &Have a heart for family& and session 4 is &Set up a mature old age&. A fled study has been conducted with ten retired elderly people who want to participated in the program voluntarily. 4 sessions each of which consists of 2 hours were performed at Korean Association of Retired Persons. Field test for program evaluation is designed to three steps: pre-test, post-test and one month follow-up test to measure the effectiveness of the program. According to evaluation results, the program shows a significantly positive effect on the improvement of elderly people's understanding about elderly life. At the one month follow-up assessment, the effect of program is still remained strongly even though there is a Partial slight increase or reduction which is not statistically significant. Most of the program participants have expressed high level of satisfaction with the program. For further study, we need various contents which are suited to larger group with diverse socio0-demographic backgrounds. At the same time, the program has diverse instruction methods which are pertinent to levels of participants. Also, the program needs to continuous adjustment to the next generation with their social, home backgrounds.


In efforts to inform public health decision makers, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 (GBD2010) Study aims to estimate the burden of disease using available parameters. This study was conducted to collect and analyze available prevalence data to be used for estimating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden of disease. In this systematic review, antibody to HCV (anti‐HCV) seroprevalence data from 232 articles were pooled to estimate age‐specific seroprevalence curves in 1990 and 2005, and to produce age‐standardized prevalence estimates for each of 21 GBD regions using a model‐based meta‐analysis. This review finds that globally the prevalence and number of people with anti‐HCV has increased from 2.3% (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 2.1%‐2.5%) to 2.8% (95% UI: 2.6%‐3.1%) and >122 million to >185 million between 1990 and 2005. Central and East Asia and North Africa/Middle East are estimated to have high prevalence (>3.5%); South and Southeast Asia, sub‐Saharan Africa, Andean, Central, and Southern Latin America, Caribbean, Oceania, Australasia, and Central, Eastern, and Western Europe have moderate prevalence (1.5%‐3.5%); whereas Asia Pacific, Tropical Latin America, and North America have low prevalence (<1.5%). Conclusion: The high prevalence of global HCV infection necessitates renewed efforts in primary prevention, including vaccine development, as well as new approaches to secondary and tertiary prevention to reduce the burden of chronic liver disease and to improve survival for those who already have evidence of liver disease. (HEPATOLOGY 2013)


Due to several negative issues, market available drugs have been gradually losing their importance in the treatment of cancer. With a view to discover suitable drugs capable of diagnosing as well as inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, we have aspired to develop a group of theranostic metal complexes which will be (i) target specific, (ii) cytoselective, thus rendering the normal cell unaffected, (iii) water-soluble, (iv) cancer cell permeable, and (v) luminescent, being beneficial for healing the cancer eternally. Therefore, to reach our goal, we have prepared novel Ru(II)- and Ir(III)-based bimetallic and hetero bimetallic scaffolds using click-derived pyridinyltriazolylmethylquinoxaline ligands followed by metal coordination. Most of the compounds have displayed significant cytoselectivity against colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) and epithiloid cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells with respect to normal human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293) compared to cisplatin [cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)] along with excellent binding efficacy with DNA as well as serum albumin. Complex [(η6-p-cymene)(η5-Cp*)RuIIIrIIICl2(K2-N,N-L)](PF6)2 [RuIrL] exhibited the best cytoselectivity against all the human cancer cells and was identified as the most significant cancer theranostic agent in terms of potency, selectivity, and fluorescence quantum yield. Investigation of the localization of complex [Ir2L] and [RuIrL] in the more aggressive colorectal adenocarcinoma cell HT-29 indicates that mitochondria are the key cellular target for destroying cancer cells. Mitochondrial dysfunction and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in HT-29 cell were found to be involved in the apoptotic cell death pathway induced by the test complexes [Ir2L] and [RuIrL]. These results validate the concept that these types of complexes will be reasonably able to exert great potential for tumor diagnosis as well as therapy in the near future.


BACKGROUND
General anesthesia utilizing inhalational agents without intravenous (IV) access for minor procedures is controversial. Eliminating IV access increases efficiency and patient satisfaction; however, the ability to introduce rapid acting medications into the circulation during an unanticipated emergency becomes challenging. The objective of this study was to examine complication risk following pediatric ophthalmologic examinations under anesthesia (EUA) without IV placement.

METHODS
A retrospective review of consecutive pediatric patients who underwent EUA for retinoblastoma management was performed from 2004 to 2014. The total number of anesthetics and elective IV placement were identified. Patient characteristics, length of the procedure, laryngeal mask airway (LMA) placement, and complications were also recorded. A survey of specialized ophthalmology institutions was performed in order to ascertain the state of standard practices.

RESULTS
Over 10 years, 5216 anesthetics were identified. The mean age and weight of the patients were 2.7±2.0 years and 14.4±6.6 kg, respectively. In all, 298 elective IVs were placed (6%) and 4918 cases (94%) were performed without IV access. A total of 1687 (32%) anesthetics were administered with a laryngeal mask airway (LMA), of which 1389 (82%) did not have IV access. There were no deaths and no unplanned admissions. There were 8/5216 complications (0.153%) which all resolved safely.

CONCLUSIONS
The current study shows that it is safe to perform EUA and procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma in pediatric patients without securing IV access. All emergency post-complication IV placements were successful and no long-term sequelae were seen.


This paper proposes the Audit, Control and Monitoring Design Patterns (ACMDP) for building Autonomous and Robust Systems (ARS) such as Mobile Robot Systems (MRS). These patterns are also applicable to other Mission Critical and Complex Systems (MCCS). This paper presents a proposal which will help ARS project managers and engineers design, build and estimate the probability that an ARS will succeed or fail. Furthermore, this proposal offers the possibility to ARS problems with the help of audit, monitoring and controlling components, adjust the project management pathways, and define the problem sources as well as their possible solutions, in order to deliver an ARS or an MRS.


In this paper we propose a complete method for financial diagnosis based on Self Organizing Feature Maps (SOFM), a neural network model which, on the basis of the information contained in a multidimensional space--in our case, financial ratios--generates a space of lesser dimensions. In this way, similar input patterns are represented close to one another on a map. The methodology has been complemented and compared with multivariate statistical models such as Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), as well as with neutral models such as the Multilayer Perception (MLP). As the principal advantage which distinguishes the proposed methodology from other statistical techniques that have been developed to analyze accounting information, mention should be made of its robustness in not demanding that the input variables follow any distribution function, thus providing a complete analysis which goes beyond that of the traditional models based on Z score, without renouncing simplicity for the final decision maker.


The worldwide distributed house mouse, Mus musculus, is subdivided into at least three lineages, Mus musculus musculus, Mus musculus domesticus, and Mus musculus castaneus. The subspecies occur parapatrically in a region considered to be the cradle of the species in Southern Asia ('central region'), as well as in the rest of the world ('peripheral region'). The morphological evolution of this species in a phylogeographical context is studied using a landmark-based approach on mandible morphology of different populations of the three lineages. The morphological variation increases from central to peripheral regions at the population and subspecific levels, confirming a centrifugal sub-speciation within this species. Furthermore, the outgroup comparison with sister species suggests that M. musculus musculus and populations of all subspecies inhabiting the Iranian plateau have retained a more ancestral mandible morphology, suggesting that this region may represent one of the relevant places of the origin of the species. Mus musculus castaneus, both from central and peripheral regions, is morphologically the most variable and divergent subspecies. Finally, the results obtained in the present study suggest that the independent evolution to commensalism in the three lineages is not accompanied by a convergence detectable on jaw morphology. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105, 635–647.


BACKGROUND
Cancer during pregnancy is rare, occurring one in every 1,000 pregnancies. Cancer itself rarely harms the baby and some cancer treatments are safe during pregnancy. However, treatment dilemmas often occur.

METHODS
Descriptive study was conducted at B. P. Koirala memorial cancer hospital. Case records of women with cancer and pregnancy from January 2001 to February 2012 were analyzed regarding their clinical details, treatment, follow-up and feto-maternal outcome.

RESULTS
Nineteen women, of 17 to 40 years had cancer with pregnancy. Observed cancers with pregnancy were: leukemia (4), head and neck (3), ovary (3), cervix (2), rectum (2), breast (1), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (1), osteosarcoma (1), spinal cord (1) and vulva (1). Seven women (36%) presented in the second trimester and six women (32%) presented in the first and third trimester each. Seven (36%) women opted for termination of pregnancy for definitive treatment, five (26%) deferred treatment until delivery. Among the seven (36%) that accepted definitive treatment along with pregnancy, fetal demise occurred in three and delivery of healthy baby occurred in four. Nine babies born to mothers with cancer during pregnancy till date have normal growth and development. Total 10 (52%) of the mothers are in remission, six (32%) have died from disease.

CONCLUSIONS
Cancers during pregnancy, more common in younger women, posed treatment challenges. Definitive cancer treatment could have greater fetal risk during the first trimester but could be offered with more acceptable risk in the second and third trimesters.


In this paper a class of languages which are formal enough for mathematical reasoning is introduced. First-order formal languages containing natural numbers and numerals belong to that class. Its languages are called mathematically agreeable (shortly MA). Languages containing a given MA language L, and being sublanguages of L augmended by a monadic predicate are constructed. A mathematical theory of truth (shortly MTT) is formulated for some of these languages. MTT makes them MA languages which posses their own truth predicates. MTT is shown to conform well with the eight norms presented for theories of truth in 'What Theories of Truth Should be Like (but Cannot be)', by Hannes Leitgeb. MTT is free from infinite regress, providing a proper framework to study the regress problem. Main tools used in proofs are Zermelo-Fraenkel (ZF) set theory and classical logic.


A novel approach to topological analysis of molecular packings and intermolecular bonding patterns is described and tested on the crystal structures of 1463 sulfonamide derivatives taken from the Cambridge Structural Database, as well as three newly synthesized ones. We have revealed strong correlations between the local and overall topological motifs of hydrogen and halogen specific intermolecular bonds; as a rule, a particular local connection type of the molecules provides only one most preferred pattern of intermolecular bonds and vice versa. Molecular packings are found to be almost independent of the existence or absence of specific bonds and in more than 1/3 of cases they obey Kitaigorodskii's model of close packing. The peculiar shapes of the sulfonamide molecules in some cases give rise to a special 'butterfly' packing that is topologically less dense than close packings. The correlations found can be used to predict the main peculiarities of molecular crystals with a prospective expert system.


Nonstationary oscillations are ubiquitous in music and speech, ranging from the fast transients in the attack of musical instruments and consonants to amplitude and frequency modulations in expressive variations present in vibrato and prosodic contours. Modeling nonstationary oscillations with sinusoids remains one of the most challenging problems in signal processing because the fit also depends on the nature of the underlying sinusoidal model. For example, frequency modulated sinusoids are more appropriate to model vibrato than fast transitions. In this paper, we propose to model nonstationary oscillations with adaptive sinusoids from the extended adaptive quasi-harmonic model (eaQHM). We generated synthetic nonstationary sinusoids with different amplitude and frequency modulations and compared the modeling performance of adaptive sinusoids estimated with eaQHM, exponentially damped sinusoids estimated with ESPRIT, and log-linear-amplitude quadratic-phase sinusoids estimated with frequency reassignment. The adaptive sinusoids from eaQHM outperformed frequency reassignment for all nonstationary sinusoids tested and presented performance comparable to exponentially damped sinusoids.


Review on the Use of Oriental Herbal Medicine for Female Idiopathic Precocious Puberty College Objectives: This review aims to report the efficacy of Oriental herbal medicine for Female Idiopathic Precocious Puberty Methods: We searched clinical study about precocious puberty from Pubmed, OASIS, Korea Traditional Knowledge Portal and National Assembly Library up to July 2017. Results: Four case reports have been identified. Six cases in total were found. And in the four cases where estradiol (E2) levels were above the normal levels in pre-treatment, the figures dropped to the normal levels in post-treatment. In the three cases with breast development and breast pain in pre-treatment, symptoms improved after the treatment. And, the sustained growth of height was reported in the four cases with the treatment duration of 30 days or more. Conclusions: It has been identified that oriental medicine assisted improvements of hormone levels and breast pain and growth of height on patients with precocious puberty, yet more case reports and well-designed studies would be necessary to guide better oriental herbal medicine treatment of precocious puberty.


This paper investigates an economic methodology for project evaluation, which explicitly incorporates evaluation costs and the option value of flexibility in decisions. The traditional cost-benefit analysis is fundamentally based upon a now-or-never principle, and fails to evaluate the option values derived by reserving decisions to wait for more concrete information. In this paper, the real option model is formulated to determine the optimal evaluation and implementation timing of the project. The optimal solutions of the model can be obtained by solving the integral equation models. The solution algorithm and numerical examples are also presented.


This study describes the development of a new questionnaire to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with type 1 diabetes (the ViDa1 questionnaire) and provides information on its psychometric properties. For its development, open interviews with patients took place and topics relevant to patients' HRQoL were identified and items were generated. Qualitative analysis of items, expert review, and refinement of the questionnaire followed. A pilot study (N = 150) was conducted to explore the underlying structure of the 40-item ViDa1 questionnaire. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed and six of the items that did not load on any of the factors were eliminated. The results supported a four-dimensional structure for ViDa1, the dimensions being Interference of diabetes in everyday life, Self-care, Well-being, and Worry about the disease. Subsequently, the PCA was repeated in a larger sample (N = 578) with the reduced 34-item version of the questionnaire, and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed (N = 428). Overall fit indices obtained presented adequate values which supported the four-factor model initially proposed [(χ(df=554)2= 2601.93) (p < 0.001); Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.060 (CI = 0.056 −0.064)]. As regards reliability, the four dimensions of the ViDa1 demonstrated good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alphas ranging between 0.71 and 0.86. Evidence of convergent-discriminant validity in the form of high correlations with another specific HRQoL questionnaire for diabetes and low correlations with other constructs such as self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression were presented. The ViDa1 also discriminated between different aspects of clinical interest such as type of insulin treatment, presence of chronic complications, and glycemic control, temporal stability, and sensitivity to change after an intervention. In conclusion, the ViDa1 questionnaire presents adequate psychometric properties and may represent a good alternative for the evaluation of HRQoL in type 1 diabetes.


The theatre often seems to be an industry that contradicts our ideas about management. Managing creativity, especially of artists, can be a delicate balancing act. The best theatre is not created by a management formula. However, that's not to say that a theatre company like the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has nothing to learn from sound management practice. The world's leading classical theatre company is currently in the middle of a 'once in a generation' process of renewal - re-emphasising the link between actor and audience and between staff and theatre performance - marrying creativity with enterprise. The RSC feels the dichotomy ofmanagement and creativity acutely. A theatre company with global recognition and responsibilities, the RSC is many things to many people. With bases in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, and regular touring commitments in the UK, the US, Europe and Asia, the RSC is a local theatre to theatre-goers in the West Midlands and the capital, but it also draws huge numbers of visitors to Shakespeare's hometown and acts as an ambassador for UK plc when performing overseas. National Significance As a charity (and therefore non-profit) with a 1925 Royal Charter, the RSC has a mandate to conserve and advance the UK's dramatic heritage at home and abroad. With a turnover of more than L32 million, the RSC has become one of the largest performing arts companies in the world. One of four British arts organisations of 'national significance' (the other three being the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Opera House and English National Opera), the RSC receives over L13 million annually in public subsidy from the Arts Council of England. However, over Go% of the RSC's income is self-generated through ticket sales. The Company employs over Goo staff across a number of sites, and contracts over 70 actors annually. The Company's reach is enormous, with 8o% of the British public able to see an RSC production within a 45-minute drive in any given year. Since 1769, when David Garrick staged the first Shakespeare Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, the idea of a Shakespearian theatre company based on Stratford has become part ofthe UK's cultural heritage. But although heritage is important to the RSC, remaining fresh and relevant to our audiences is crucial. That is why earlier this year the Company embarked on a programme of change, which it believes will guarantee its longterm future. Putting the emphasis on performance and not buildings; developing more variety in actors' contracts; creating freer, more agile structures; the RSC believes it is putting in place the artistic and management systems which will allow it to flourish. The Company has recently undergone an important restructuring in order to strengthen, modernise and streamline its corporate governance. Designed to make the Company more efficient and more able to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the RSC's community and its stakeholders, the RSC's Governing Body now encompasses a Board of Governors, and an additional 38 Governors. Partnerships for the Future The RSC's Artistic Director, Adrian Noble, is also the Company's Chief Executive, although the dayto-day management of the Company is my responsibility. My role is to make sure that the artistic teams in the organisation have the support they need to create extraordinary theatre on stage, bringing a range of new skills and experience to the Company. One of my other roles is to help the RSC to grow its commercial activities and develop a wider range of enterprise and partnerships in new markets and with new technology. On the artistic side, Adrian Noble is responsible for the artistic vision ofthe RSC. One ofthe world's foremost classical theatre directors, he has been associated with the RSC for over twenty years, and continues to direct productions for the Company. He is supported by four Associate Directors: Michael Attenborough, Michael Boyd, Gregory Doran and Steven Pimlott; who aid him in the shaping of the Company's artistic policy and programming as well as directing individual productions themselves. …


The survival probability of a quantum system with a finite ground energy is known to decay subexponentially at large times. Here we show that, under the same assumption, the average value of any quantum observable, whenever well-defined, cannot converge exponentially to an extremal value of the spectrum of the observable. Large-time deviations from the exponential decay are therefore a general feature of quantum systems. As a simple application of these results, we show that, when considering an open quantum system whose dynamics is generated by a Hamiltonian with a finite ground energy, a large-time exponential decay of populations is forbidden, whereas coherences may still decay exponentially.


This paper presents a system analysis on Tianjin's current carbon emission based on survey. By introducing the equation of IPCC guidelines (2006), the total carbon emissions and details in three sectors (primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry) were analyzed. Meanwhile, Tianjin's energy structure was evaluated. Results show that the amount of carbon emissions had been increasing from 2000 to 2009 with the rapidly growth of GDP and Tianjin's energy structure was unreasonable. To reduce the carbon emissions, Tianjin need optimize its energy structure and industry structure.


Demographic change and health is an important theme all over the world. It is one of the grand societal challenges of the European Union: we have an fast ageing population, people live longer but with more chronic diseases, and the cost of health and social care increase. Solutions are to be found in a combination of prevention, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Active and healthy ageing gives a fruitful approach to solve the challenges of demographic change and health. In the Netherlands, healthy ageing not only focusses about older people with diseases: we have a life cycle approach, from growing up healthy to growing old. The focus is on functioning and health and participation. We use a new definition of health as the ability to adapt and selfmanage in the face of social, physical and emotional challenges. Nurses play an important role in this approach. In the international ELLAN project, a European Core Competence Framework is developed for health and care professionals working with older people. In this framework, assessment performance indicators are specified for each CanMed role. In October 2018 a new book is published, in which from the background of healthy ageing and demographic change, these competences are described. The roles of (geriatric) nursing in this Healthy Ageing approach include: Strengthen selfmanagement and resilience of patients; contribute to prevention and health literacy of citizens; focus on functioning and the ability to adapt and selfmanage and; use interdisciplinary innovative methods in health improvement like health technology.

Introduction:

The old age of an individual has always been interesting and attractive. That work can be understood as a presentation of the concept of "healthy ageing" but mainly focused on the individual.

The concept of an ageing population is a relatively new problem from the historical point of view. It can be observed that in 1950 no country had more than 11 percent of its population aged 65 and over. Looking at the year 2000, the highest was 18 percent. However, the problem will rise dramatically by 2050 when it could reach 38 percent.  Projections indicate that in 2050 there will be a larger number of older people aged 60 or over than adolescents aged 10–24.

To address this problem, different solar PV modules cooling systems are investigated, developed, and employed. These systems are cooling the PV modules by different methods and techniques. Unfortunately, there is no universal approach to assess the effectiveness of applied cooling techniques. In this paper, a method and criterion for the PV modules' cooling system effectivity assessment are proposed.

Methods:

Four independent researchers used combinations of keywords such as healthy ageing and World Health Organization, and found 637 521 articles. After adding specific keywords including long-term integrated care, human resources, research, ageism, economic issues, investment, implementation and age-friendly city the search was limited to studies. The search was also limited to studies of humans and articles written in English. After a careful review of their abstracts, the articles were identified as papers focusing on the researched topic. With this restriction, the search provided the articles and after reading the complete texts, 46 of the most relevant articles were included in this review.

Conclusions:

The global population is ageing rapidly. These changes highlight the need to adapt person-centred integrated care focusing on the needs of older people and their preferences and guaranteeing access to multiple age-friendly services closely engaged with families and communities. Public health policies should address the diversity of health and functional states experienced by older people and maximize the number of people who achieve positive trajectories of ageing. Integration initiatives need actions at macro-levels (legislation, funding), at meso-levels (age-friendly environment) and at micro-clinical levels. However, few countries have managed to sustainably deliver integrated care for older people and evidence for the effectiveness of integrated care approaches remains inconsistent.


Omiderm, a synthetic temporary skin substitute, was used for the treatment of skin defects in a newborn who suffered from epidermolysis bullosa. Omiderm served as a biological barrier, and its transparency allowed close observation of the wound healing process and early detection of local infections when they occurred.


INTRODUCTION
Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) created for haemodialysis can be complicated by aneurysm formation.

CLINICAL PICTURE
Ligation of the fistula is often required to prevent aneurysmal rupture and the life-threatening haemorrhage that ensues. Other methods of treatment involve using foreign bodies like mesh and grafts.

TREATMENT
We describe a new method in the treatment of this condition--plication. It involves plicating the excess free wall of the aneurysm with sutures and does not require resection or anastomosis.

OUTCOME
Early results show that this method shrinks the aneurysm size and reduces the risk of haemorrhage.

CONCLUSION
The AVF can continue to be used and the patient is spared the agony of having to go through the entire cycle of creating a new vascular access site.


Abstract Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) holds promise as a new type of sustainable cement-based material, but the mechanisms underpinning its engineering performance are still poorly understood. Here, a metal intrusion-enhanced imaging approach was employed to quantitatively analyze and link the pore structure development of LC3 to its hydration process, i.e. solid-phase development, and mechanical performance. We found that the early age microstructural development in LC3 is inhomogeneous, with the perimeter of limestone particles displaying higher porosity relative to that surrounding calcined clay and clinker. At later ages, the formation of carboaluminates and calcium-aluminate-silicate-hydrates homogenized the overall microstructure of LC3, thereby delivering improved mechanical performance. Overall, our analysis suggested a more efficient particle packing in LC3 mixes, which decreases the volume/connectivity of micro-pores and can account for LC3's notable flexural strength. These findings can assist the development of improved LC3 binder formulations alongside other ternary binders with possibly higher limestone additions.


Language models and conversational systems are growing increasingly advanced, creating outputs that may be mistaken for humans. Consumers may thus be misled by advertising, media reports, or vagueness regarding the role of automation in the production of language. We propose a taxonomy of language automation, based on the SAE levels of driving automation, to establish a shared set of terms for describing automated language. It is our hope that the proposed taxonomy can increase transparency in this rapidly advancing field.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the treatment patterns of patients with a diagnosis related to chronic pain (DRCP) initiating pharmacological treatment indicated for neuropathic pain (NeuP: tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and anticonvulsants).

DESIGN
Retrospective study on administrative registers.

SETTING
General population in Western Sweden (one sixth of the country).

SUBJECTS
All patients with a DRCP (N = 840,000) in years 2004-2009.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Treatment sequence, continuation, switching, and comedication.

RESULTS
In total, 22,997 patients with a first NeuP in 2007 or 2008 were identified, out of which 2% also had epilepsy and 39% had a mood disorder. The remaining 13,749 patients were assumed to be treated for neuropathic pain, out of which 16% had a neuropathy diagnosis, 18% had a mixed pain diagnosis, and the remaining 66% had another DRCP. The most common first prescription was amitriptyline (40%) followed by pregabalin (22%) and gabapentin (19%). More than half had discontinued treatment after 3 months, and 60-70% at 6 months. Seven percent received another NeuP drug within 6 months of the discontinuation of their first NeuP treatment, 11% had another analgesic and 22% had a prescription indicating psychiatric comorbidity (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or benzodiazepine).

CONCLUSIONS
Treatment initiation of currently available drugs indicated for neuropathic pain less frequently lead to long-term treatment in clinical practice compared with clinical trial, and few try more than one drug. We suggest our findings to be indications of a need for better routines in diagnosing patients to ascertain optimal treatment and follow-up.


BACKGROUND
Clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRC) accounts for 65-70% of renal carcinomas with peak occurrence at the 6th and 7th age decade, predominantly in males. At the time of diagnosis, especially pulmonary metastases can be found in one-third of patients. There have also been described as late metastases for several decades after nephrectomy. In our case report, clinical course indicated primary lung tumour. Histological differential diagnosis included malignant pleural mesothelioma, lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma with clear cell differentiation or primary clear cell adenocarcinoma of the lung. However, using immunohistochemistry, all these possible diagnoses were excluded.

CASE REPORT
We present a case of 62-year old man with 3 months history of progressive dyspnea accompanied with a cough and recurrent pleural effusions. PET/CT scan revealed metastatic tumour spread with right-sided pleural thickening, multiple pulmonary tumour foci, mediastinal, cervical, abdominal para-aortic and pelvic lymph node involvement and skeletal metastasis. The patient died one day after administration of palliative chemotherapy. The autopsy showed the majority of changes in the right hemithorax, was caused by a diffuse yellowish, extremely tough tumour infiltrating parietal and visceral pleura with adhesions and obliteration of truncus pulmonalis. In left lung and both renal cortices we could see scant nodules, mimicking primary lung tumour metastasis. In close proximity to the left renal hilum we found unusual homogeneous white round to oval tissue of 80 × 86 × 72mm in diameter, with identical histological pattern. Extensive immunohistochemical profile (positivity of CK18, PAX8, vimentin, androgen receptor, napsin A; negativity of mesothelial markers, TTF-1, CK7, CK20, CDX-2, CD10, PSA, CK34B12 and PAS-D) was compatible with metastatic ccRC.

CONCLUSION
We present an extremely rare case of morphologically verified metastatic ccRC without evidence of primary lesion in the kidneys. There is speculated the possibility of spontaneous regression of primary tumour. In our case, however, we cannot exclude the possibility of generalized primary tumour of ectopic kidney. This hypothesis is based on the finding of isolated tumour mass adjacent to left renal hilum.


The soil microbiome consists of a vast variety of microorganisms which contribute to essential ecosystem services including nutrient recycling, protecting soil structure, and pathogen suppression. Recalcitrant organic compounds present in soils contaminated with fuel oil can lead to a decrease in functional redundancy within soil microbiomes. Ecopiling is a passive bioremediation technique involving biostimulation of indigenous hydrocarbon degraders, bioaugmentation through inoculation with known petroleum-degrading consortia, and phytoremediation. The current study investigates the assemblage of soil microbial communities and pollutant-degrading potential in soil undergoing the Ecopiling process, through the amplicon marker gene and metagenomics analysis of the contaminated soil. The analysis of key community members including bacteria, fungi, and nematodes revealed a surprisingly diverse microbial community composition within the contaminated soil. The soil bacterial community was found to be dominated by Alphaproteobacteria (60–70%) with the most abundant genera such as Lysobacter, Dietzia, Pseudomonas, and Extensimonas. The fungal community consisted mainly of Ascomycota (50–70% relative abundance). Soil sequencing data allowed the identification of key enzymes involved in the biodegradation of hydrocarbons, providing a novel window into the function of individual bacterial groups in the Ecopile. Although the genus Lysobacter was identified as the most abundant bacterial genus (11–46%) in all of the contaminated soil samples, the metagenomic data were unable to confirm a role for this group in petrochemical degradation. Conversely, genera with relatively low abundance such as Dietzia (0.4–9.0%), Pusillimonas (0.7–2.3%), and Bradyrhizobium (0.8–1.8%) did possess genes involved in aliphatic or aromatic compound degradation.


Seafood processing firms in Bangladesh are increasingly channeling their investment in modern technologies but their production processes still remain manual or semiautomated because of an oversupply of unskilled and cheap labour. This research applies the Cobb-Douglas production function to measure the input-output relationship and the returns to scale of shrimp processing firms in the south-west region of Bangladesh. Approximately 80% of these companies have decreasing returns to scale whereas only a small proportion (20%) of them enjoys increasing returns to scale. The study shows that labour input is highly correlated with output in 60% of the firms and their marginal productivity is higher than the wage rate. Only 20% have the opportunity to invest in capital intensive techniques for efficient allocation of resources and the remaining 20% exceed the optimal level of allocating resources in both labour and capital inputs. Estimated values of the marginal productivity of inputs indicate that none are efficient in allocating resources. This paper explores the opportunities for choosing the best techniques for achieving allocative efficiency in the sustainable production process of the seafood industry.


The Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) produces the well-known and remarkably complex anti-cancer dimeric alkaloids vinblastine and vincristine that are derived from the coupling of vindoline and catharanthine monomers. This study describes the novel application of a carborundum abrasion (CA) technique for large-scale isolation of leaf epidermis-enriched proteins in order to purify to apparent homogeneity 16-hydroxytabersonine-16-O-methyltransferase (16OMT), which catalyses the second of six steps in the conversion of tabersonine into vindoline, and to clone the gene. Functional expression and biochemical characterization of recombinant 16OMT demonstrated its very narrow substrate specificity and high affinity for 16-hydroxytabersonine. In addition to allowing the cloning of this gene, the CA technique clearly showed that 16OMT is predominantly expressed in Catharanthus leaf epidermis. The results provide compelling evidence that most of the pathway for vindoline biosynthesis, including the O-methylation of 16-hydroxytabersonine, occurs exclusively in the leaf epidermis, with subsequent steps occurring in other leaf cell types.


Wearable and stretchable sensors are important components to strictly monitor the behavior and health of humans and attract extensive attention. However, traditional sensors are designed with pure horseshoes or chiral metamaterials, which restrict the biological tissue engineer applications due to their narrow regulation ranges of the elastic modulus and the poorly adjustable Poisson's ratio. Inspired by the biological spiral microstructure, a dual-phase metamaterial (chiral-horseshoes) is designed and fabricated in this work, which possesses wide and programmable mechanical properties by tailoring the geometrical parameters. Experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies are conducted, which reveal that the designed microstructures can reproduce mechanical properties of most natural animals such as frogs, snakes, and rabbits skin. Furthermore, a flexible strain sensor with the gauge factor reaching 2 under 35% strain is fabricated, which indicates that the dual-phase metamaterials have a stable monitoring ability and can be potentially applied in the electronic skin. Finally, the flexible strain sensor is attached on the human skin, and it can successfully monitor the physiological behavior signals under various actions. In addition, the dual-phase metamaterial could combine with artificial intelligence algorithms to fabricate a flexible stretchable display. The dual-phase metamaterial with negative Poisson's ratio could decrease the lateral shrinkage and image distortion during the stretching process. This study offers a strategy for designing the flexible strain sensors with programmable, tunable mechanical properties, and the fabricated soft and high-precision wearable strain sensor can accurately monitor the skin signals under different human motions and potentially be applied for flexible display.


B7 Background: The combinations of cetuximab with irinotecan-based or oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of mCRC (metastatic colorectal cancer) have been proven to be promisingly efficient; however, the response rate is variable and markers predictive of response are urgently required. K-ras mutation status and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been suggested to be candidate markers for predicting survival of these patients.
 Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 78 mCRC patients receiving cetuximab plus the FOLFIRI or FOLFOX-4 chemotherapy with regard to the correlation between response rate and progression-free survival rate (PFS) as well as K-ras mutation status/EGFR mRNA expression using direct sequencing and membrane-array, respectively.
 Results: Of 78 mCRC patients, K-ras mutations were identified in 30 (38.5%) cases, and EGFR mRNA overexpression were observed in 65 patients (83.3%). Twenty-nine of 65 (44.6%) patients with EGFR mRNA overexpression responded to cetuximab, while only two patients (2/13, 15.4%) without EGFR mRNA overexpression of responded to cetuximab ( P = 0.049, diagnostic accuracy of EGFR mRNA = 51.3%). Moreover, only patients with tumors that expressed wild-type K-ras responded to cetuximab_an objective response was recorded in 31 of 48 (64.6%) patients with wild-type K-ras tumor status but in none of the 30 patients with K-ras mutations ( P K-ras mutation status = 78.2%). K-ras mutation status seems to be a better predictive marker than EGFR mRNA expression for mCRC patients receiving cetuximab therapy. Additionally, patients with wild-type K-ras tumor status had a significantly longer median PFS than patients with K-ras mutations (48 weeks v.s 26 weeks; P = 0.023).
 Conclusions: K-ras mutation status may be used to identify the subgroup of mCRC patients treated with cetuximab plus FOLFIRI or FOLFOX-4 in first-line therapy who are most likely to respond.


Excessive weight gain has been reported to occur in captive cynomolgus macaques with little to no change in diet. Overweight body condition can result in development of hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes and should be avoided. The purpose of this survey was to assess the prevalence of overweight cynomolgus macaques in North American research facilities, including breeding colonies and short-term and long-term facilities, and to describe current methods used to assess body condition. The survey consisted of 51 questions covering animal population demographics, body weight and body condition scoring, feeding, and behavior. Voluntary participants included veterinarians and animal care managers. Respondents from 13 facilities completed the survey, and information was collected on 17,500 cynomolgus macaques. The majority of surveyed facilities housed juvenile and young adult macaques. The reported prevalence of overweight (greater than 10% of ideal body weight) animals ranged between 0% and 20% and reportedly was more frequent in animals younger than 10 y. Most facilities had weight reduction strategies in place. Despite these programs, a significant proportion of animals were reported as being overweight. The results of this survey demonstrate that most North American facilities housing cynomolgus macaques recognize the importance of tracking body condition regularly. However, implementing effective weight reduction programs may be difficult in captive housing environments. Because of the potential for adverse health effects, facilities should have a means of regularly tracking body weight as well as an action plan for managing overweight animals.


The aim of the present study was to explore the interchannel relationships of resting-state brain activity in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one of the most common mental disorders that develop in children. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals were recorded using a 148-channel whole-head magnetometer in 13 patients with ADHD (range: 8–12 years) and 14 control subjects (range: 8–13 years). Three complementary measures (coherence, phase-locking value, and Euclidean distance) were calculated in the conventional MEG frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. Our results showed that the interactions among MEG channels are higher for ADHD patients than for control subjects in all frequency bands. Statistically significant differences were observed for short-distance values within right-anterior and central regions, especially at delta, beta, and gamma-frequency bands (p < 0.05; Mann-Whitney U test with false discovery rate correction). These frequency bands also showed statistically significant differences in long-distance interactions, mainly among anterior and central regions, as well as among anterior, central, and other areas. These differences might reflect alterations during brain development in children with ADHD. Our results support the role of frontal abnormalities in ADHD pathophysiology, which may reflect a delay in cortical maturation in the frontal cortex.


Abstract. Satellite remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has attracted attention as a method for improving the estimation accuracy of the photosynthetic production of terrestrial vegetation in recent years. The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) has the ability to observe both SIF and the concentrations of CO2 and CH4 and thus is expected to contribute to understanding of the global carbon budget. Evaluating artifact signals (e.g., zero-level offset caused by non-linearity in the analogue circuit in the case of GOSAT) is effective for inferring the instrument status and important for retrieving SIF from satellite measurements. Here we investigate the criteria for identifying vegetation-free areas to evaluate the zero-level offset and the offset correction method, while comparing the derived SIF with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) SIF at multiple spatial scales (footprint to global). The criteria were determined as a small variation in the radiance within the GOSAT instantaneous field of view for cloudy ocean scenes and a higher albedo in the 2.0 μm band than in the 1.6 μm band for bare soil scenes, which were slightly different from the previously used criteria. The GOSAT SIF that was most consistent with the OCO-2 SIF was obtained when the zero-level offset was evaluated from bare soil over the globe, with a bias of about 0.1 mW m−2 nm−1 sr−1. Our results agree with the previous comparisons and support the consistency among the present satellite SIF data, which is important for the utilization of those data. An analysis of the temporal variation of the zero-level offset over a period of 9 years suggests that the radiometric sensitivity of the GOSAT spectrometer changed after switching the optics path selector in January 2015.


This study examines the predictive ability of entrepreneurial behavior towards entrepreneurial intention star hotel employee in Bali. Assessing self efficacy in predicting entrepreneurial intention. Review the predictions of self-determination on entrepreneurial intention. Assessing self identity in predicting entrepreneurial intention. The Entrepreneurial behavior referred to from Kirkley (2016) research, consists of dimensions of self efficacy, self-determination, self identity. For entrepreneurial intention refer to Dinis et al. (2013) research. Entrepreneurial behavior in decision making is related to the assessment process and thinking by identifying and integrating knowledge, autonomy, competence and desire in order to achieve the entrepreneurial intention goals. This research was conducted on star hotel employees in Bali with 156 respondents. The questionnaires returned were 156 with a response rate of 100%. Each research instrument uses a 5 Likert scale measurement. The initial evaluation is carried out by estimating the evaluation of the outer model, namely the validity and reliability of each reflective construct. Next is the evaluation of inner models for testing research models using the WarpPLS 4.0 program. The significance of the parameters is determined by resampling bootstrapping and using 500 sub-samples of equal size to that of the original sample. The results and discussion of hypothesis testing show that the self-efficacy of star hotels employees in Bali is able to predict entrepreneurial intention significantly. Self determination can predict entrepreneurial intention of star hotels employees in Bali significantly. Self-identity of star hotel employees in Bali was able to predict entrepreneurial intention insignificantly.


Linear microphonic cables are used as the sensor for many Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems (PIDS). These cables transform vibrational energy into electrical energy which is then analysed to detect an intrusion attempt. Usually the cables are attached to a fence to sense the vibrations generated by cutting through or climbing over the fence fabric. This paper will not refer to the application where microphonic cables are buried in the ground. It is important that the response from microphonic cables is uniform. Manufacturers of cables often stress the linearity of response of their cables (in terms of variation along the cable's length.) Any areas of above-average sensitivity will lead to a propensity to false alarms. Conversely, any stretches which have below-average sensitivity will be more susceptible to being defeated. Although cable manufacturers say that their products are linear along their length, some anomalous, unexpected results are found once the cable is attached to a welded-mesh fence and the response is tested. If physical impacts are made repeatedly, in exactly the same place, using a "standard" impact device, then the electrical response generated seems to vary at that point by only around 5%. This implies that the standard impact device is reasonably repeatable. However, if the response is tested along a zone then the variation is much greater. This variation has always been seen, to some degree, when microphonic cables, of all types, are attached to fences. The variation is the subject of the paper. The variation seems to be relatively random, with only a little correlation in the response between adjacent fence bays. Although it seems unlikely that an attacker would be able to take advantage of the variation, it seems that it will still lead to difficulties in obtaining optimum performance from the system. If the variation could be eliminated then presumably some false alarms caused by the bays that are oversensitive could be eliminated, and some of the missed detections in the bays, that are under-sensitive could be captured.


The author explored the influence of family dynamics on the structure of the family office in an earlier paper; this article drills below the surface of family dynamics to offer a deeper examination of the link between generational socio-economic perspectives and attitudes toward family wealth. The author initially reviews the nature of family dynamics, subsequently explores the specific, wealth related perspectives of living generations, and ultimately makes the critical connection between such perspectives and wealth management decisions involving goal-based asset allocation.


The first objective towards the effective use of microblogging services such as Twitter for situational awareness during the emerging disasters is discovery of the disaster-related postings. Given the wide range of possible disasters, using a pre-selected set of disaster-related keywords for the discovery is suboptimal. An alternative that we focus on in this work is to train a classifier using a small set of labeled postings that are becoming available as a disaster is emerging. Our hypothesis is that utilizing large quantities of historical microblogs could improve the quality of classification, as compared to training a classifier only on the labeled data. We propose to use unlabeled microblogs to cluster words into a limited number of clusters and use the word clusters as features for classification. To evaluate the proposed semi-supervised approach, we used Twitter data from 6 different disasters. Our results indicate that when the number of labeled tweets is 100 or less, the proposed approach is superior to the standard classification based on the bag or words feature representation. Our results also reveal that the choice of the unlabeled corpus, the choice of word clustering algorithm, and the choice of hyperparameters can have a significant impact on the classification accuracy.


bAs the World Summit on Sustainable Development approaches, it is timely to assess our actions on behalf of a more ecologically viable world and the barriers that remain to our realization of this goal. Globalization and sustainable development have emerged as key discourses to evaluate our social and environmental prospects. On the critical issue of limiting trade and economic growth, we find that globalization and sustainable development are not the polar opposites they are frequently depicted to be. Rather, both discourses share a common emphasis on development and efficiency as tools of sustainability. The convergence of the two discourses has placed both in opposition to the arguments of ecological justice. In the evaluation of our performance since UNCED, a pressing task is to bring the insights of ecological justice to bear on efforts to address our interrelated environmental and social conflicts.


Brief Summary of Response

The Society commends the government initiatives to tackle violence against women and girls by raising public awareness, increasing coverage of issues in schools, conducting awareness training staff in a wide variety of public settings, aiming to increase the feelings of safety in women and girls and improving criminal justice and other agencies' responses to gendered violence.

However, members of the Society have some concerns that lack of critical awareness might mean that issues are oversimplified and individuals who do not fit mainstream views of 'normal' relationships or 'deserving victim' could be disadvantaged. Focussing on women's safety in public places and self defence training could reinforce victim blaming attitudes, fail to reduce fear or increase safety and fail to address the needs of those experiencing abuse within their families.

Interventions for offenders are available but the limits of these should be acknowledged; they need to be developed to address issues of heterogeneity and should not be seen as stand-alone measures. There is a need for integration of provision including information, support and safety planning for victims; and monitoring, supervision and restriction, in addition to interventions, for individual offenders. Individualised responses should be balanced with broader initiatives for a holistic response to violence against women and girls, and appropriate funding should be guaranteed.


The aim of the study was to evaluate left ventricle diastolic abnormalities in acute myocardial infarction patients treated with primary PCI, coexistence of the left ventricle (LV) diastolic and systolic abnormalities in acute myocardial infarction patients treated with primary PCI and changes of the left ventricle filling pattern 3 months after primary PCI. This prospective study consisted of 99 patients aged between 30 and 70 years with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty. It was established that primary PCI effectiveness had influence on diastolic dysfunction severity within 24 hours after PCI (E1). After analysis of the average values of TnI max, CPK max and CK-MB max it was proved that levels of cardiac biomarkers were significantly higher in restrictive filling pattern patients. Changes of the diastolic function within 3 months after primary PCI were observed. Conclusions: nearly 70% of patients with first STEMI infarction present LV diastolic dysfunction within first day after PCI; myocardial infarction caused by occlusion of the proximal part of the right coronary artery more often causes LV prolonged relaxation filling pattern; LV filling profile after primary PCI depends on the myocardial necrosis size; LV filling profile assessed one week and 3 months after primary PCI correlates to the CRP levels; severity of diastolic dysfunction within first 24 hours after PCI is related to the effectiveness of mechanical reperfusion on primary PCI; left ventricle ejection fraction on first day after PCI has important influence on LV filling pattern evaluated 3 months after primary PCI.


We examined curricular effectiveness in high schools that offered parallel paths in which students were free to study mathematics using 1 of 2 content organizational structures, an integrated approach or a (traditional) subject-specific approach. The study involved 3,258 high school students, enrolled in either Course 2 or Geometry, in 11 schools in 5 geographically dispersed states. We constructed 3-level hierarchical linear models of scores on 3 end-of-year outcome measures: a test of common objectives, an assessment of problem solving and reasoning, and a standardized achievement test. Students in the integrated curriculum scored significantly higher than those in the subject-specific curriculum on the standardized achievement test. Significant student-level predictors included prior achievement, gender, and ethnicity. At the teacher level, in addition to Curriculum Type, the Opportunity to Learn and Classroom Learning Environment factors demonstrated significant power in predicting student scores, whereas Implementation Fidelity, Teacher Experience, and Professional Development were not significant predictors.