BACKGROUND
Cytologic results from bronchoscopic BAL in cats with naturally occurring respiratory disease have not been reported, and the clinical utility of multisegment lavage has not been evaluated.

HYPOTHESIS
BAL cytology from 2 separate lung segments in cats will have similar cell counts, cytologic interpretation, or both.

ANIMALS
Eighty-seven cases in 85 cats (2 examined twice) with naturally occurring lower respiratory disease.

METHODS
A combined prospective/retrospective evaluation of all cats with multisegment BAL was performed. BAL fluid was evaluated for total nucleated cell counts, differential cell counts, and cytologic characteristics at each lavage site. BAL fluid was categorized as eosinophilic, neutrophilic, lymphocytic, hypercellular, or mixed. Radiographs were assessed for diffuse or focal disease.

RESULTS
Clinical diagnoses included inflammatory airway disease (n = 63), pneumonia (n = 15), neoplasia (n = 6), and undetermined (n = 3). Total nucleated cell counts varied between sites regardless of radiographic evidence of focal or diffuse radiographic disease. In 28/87 cases (32%), cell counts differed between lavage sites by 2.2-40 fold. BAL yielded similar cytologic interpretation of inflammation in 45/87 (52%) cases. In 8/14 cases that had BAL performed at the site of a focal radiographic infiltrate, as well as at a site of diffuse infiltrates, the same inflammatory interpretation was made at each site.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Total and differential cell counts in BAL fluid often differ between lung segments in cats with lower respiratory disease, and caution is warranted when using a single BAL cytology to define the inflammatory response in cats with spontaneously occurring lower respiratory tract disease.


Global competition for natural resources is intense and the supply of those resources is increasingly more constrained by climate variability and change. Governments and international development agencies have the dual responsibility to meet the socio-economic needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people while preserving and enhancing their natural capital. These responsibilities often are at odds with each other and different stakeholder groups have prioritised one over the other. This paper suggests that the landscape approach provides a solution for stakeholders to achieve climate change mitigation, adaptation, and poverty reduction goals, though not without some trade-offs.


Ferroelectric materials like barium-strontium-titanate (BST) have become attractive for microwave tunable circuit applications. This letter presents an investigation of BST-varactor tunable dual-mode filter using variable characteristic impedance or ZC transmission line. The interdigital BST varactors are fabricated and modeled, which are then deployed to realize a bandpass filter with tunable bandwidth capability. The use of tunable impedance line provides additional flexibilities in the design of microwave tunable circuits. A tunable bandpass filter of this type with a center frequency of 1.8 GHz and a bandwidth tuning ratio of 1.15:1 is demonstrated experimentally.


With the help of modern information communication technology, mobile banking as a new type of financial services carrier can provide efficient and effective financial services for clients. Compare with Internet banking, mobile banking is more secure and user friendly. The implementation of wireless communication technologies may result in more complicated information security problems. Based on the principles of information security, this paper presented issues of information security of mobile banking and discussed the security protection measures such as: encryption technology, identity authentication, digital signature, WPKI technology.


A survey in the agribusiness of dairy goat smallholder had been conducted in Kaligesing district of Purworejo region at 13 rd September up to 7 th November 2001. The survey studied the factors effecting the milk yield, in how the factors influence economically. Forty eight respondents (dairy goat smallholders) were used in this study and interview method was applied for collecting data. The variables were observed; lactation goat, man power, garage, and concentrate ration. Cobb-Douglass method was applied for analyzing the data. To know the economic efficiency of the agribusiness was approached by the ratio between the Marginal Product Value an input cost. From the data analysis it could be in formatted that the numbers of lactating goat and the numbers of lactating goat and the numbers of concentrate were significant influence on the milk yield, white the man power and the forage were not significant influence. For the numbers of lactating goat and concentrate, economically the efficiency was not yet reached, so the use of the factors were ought to be increased up to an appoint limited. On the other hand the man power and forage was not efficient, so the use of the factors need to be descreased. (Animal Production 4(1): 27-31 (2002) Key word : Production factors, economics efficiency, dairy goat PE


This paper studies the cooperative global robust output regulation problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems with switching network by a distributed output feedback control law. We first convert the problem via the internal model approach to a global robust stabilization problem of an augmented system by a distributed switched output feedback control law. Then, using average dwell time method, we present a set of solvability conditions for the latter problem, thus leading to the solution of the original problem. Our approach is illustrated by a family of Lorenz systems subject to a harmonic exosystem.


Summary The long-known phenomenon of individual antigenic specificity of myeloma proteins, which suggested unique abnormalities, is now readily explainable on the basis of the homogeneity of these proteins. Isolated antibodies of similar homogeneity have been obtained which show the same individual specificity. All currently available criteria, including a large number of genetic markers, indicate the extreme similarity of myeloma proteins to individual normal γ-globulins and individual antibodies. Evidence is accumulating that they may actually represent antibodies for which in most instances the antigen is unknown. The major protein defect thus far found for the malignant plasma cell involves asynchronous polypeptide chain synthesis. Decreased heavy chain synthesis is frequently observed, leading to an excess of uncombined light chains which is manifest as Bence Jones proteinuria. Light chain synthesis is only rarely affected.


Drosophila melanogaster individuals trisomic for an entire chromosome arm can survive to late stages of pupal development. We have examined the levels of five enzymes whose structural genes are located on the left arm of chromosome 2 both in trisomy 2L and in diploid strains. In trisomies, three distally mapping loci showed compensated levels of expression close to that observed in the diploid strains. Analysis of electrophoretic variants of a compensated locus revealed that all three alleles are active in trisomies. The two proximally located loci displayed dose-dependent levels of expression. Therefore, at the level of the individual gene, autosomal compensation appears to be an all-or-none phenomenon. Furthermore, the compensatory response may be regionally distributed along the chromosome arm. The presence of both autosomal and sex-linked dosage compensation prompts us to speculate that there phenomenon are similar homeostatic mechanisms that modulate gene expression both in euploid and aneuploid genomes.


This paper presents first-principles calculations for ultrasmall ZnO one-dimensional nanostructures. The calculations were done on ZnO nanowires and single-walled nanotubes with n atoms per periodic unit, where one periodic unit is made up of two ZnO layers. The calculations show that, for small n, a single-walled nanotube has lower energy than a nanowire. A crossover point near n = 38 is predicted. Vibrations and vibrational entropy of competing structures is discussed.


Objective To compare the efficacy of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) versus usual care for prehospital patients with severe respiratory distress. Methods We conducted a parallel group, individual patient, non-blinded randomised controlled trial in Western Australia between March 2016 and December 2018. Eligible patients were aged ≥40 years with acute severe respiratory distress of non-traumatic origin and unresponsive to initial treatments by emergency medical service (EMS) paramedics. Patients were randomised (1:1) to usual care or usual care plus CPAP. The primary outcomes were change in dyspnoea score and change in RR at ED arrival, and hospital length of stay. Results 708 patients were randomly assigned (opaque sealed envelope) to usual care (n=346) or CPAP (n=362). Compared with usual care, patients randomised to CPAP had a greater reduction in dyspnoea scores (usual care −1.0, IQR −3.0 to 0.0 vs CPAP −3.5, IQR −5.2 to −2.0), median difference −2.0 (95% CI −2.5 to −1.6); and RR (usual care −4.0, IQR −9.0 to 0.0 min-1 vs CPAP −8.0, IQR −14.0 to −4.0 min-1), median difference −4.0 (95% CI −5.0 to −4.0) min-1. There was no difference in hospital length of stay (usual care 4.2, IQR 2.1 to 7.8 days vs CPAP 4.8, IQR 2.5 to 7.9 days) for the n=624 cases admitted to hospital, median difference 0.36 (95% CI −0.17 to 0.90). Conclusions The use of prehospital CPAP by EMS paramedics reduced dyspnoea and tachypnoea in patients with acute respiratory distress but did not impact hospital length of stay. Trial registration number ACTRN12615001180505.


Carbonaceous aerosols are present in many workplace and environmental settings. Some of these aerosols are known or suspect human carcinogens and have been linked to other adverse health effects. Exposure to diesel exhaust is of particular concern because it has been classified as a probable human carcinogen and use of diesel-powered equipment is widespread in industry. Because previously used methods for monitoring exposures to particulate diesel exhaust lack adequate sensitivity and selectivity, a new method was needed. A carbon analysis technique called the thermal-optical method was evaluated for this purpose. In thermal-optical analysis, carbon in a filter sample is speciated as organic and elemental (OC and EC, respectively). When the thermal-optical method was initially evaluated, only one instrument was available, so interlaboratory variability could not be examined. More recently, additional instruments were constructed and an interlaboratory comparison was completed. Eleven laboratories participated in the study, including four in Europe that employ an alternative thermal technique based on coulometric detection of CO2. Good agreement (RSDs less than or equal to 15%) between the total carbon results reported by all laboratories was obtained. Reasonable within-method agreement was seen for EC results, but the EC content found by the two methods was differed significantly. Disagreement between th OC-EC results found by the two methods was expected because organic and elemental carbon are operationally defined. With all filter samples, results obtained with the coulometric method were positively biased relative to thermal-optical results. In addition, the alternative method gave a positive bias in the analysis of two OC standard solutions. About 52% and 70% of the carbon found in two aqueous solutions containing OC only (sucrose and EDTA, respectively) was quantified as elemental,while EC contents of about 1% and 0.1% (respectively) were found by the thermal-optical method. The positive bias in the analysis of the OC standards is attributed largely to inadequate removal of OC during the first part of the analysis; lack of correlation for pyrolytically formed carbon (char) also is a factor. Results obtained with a different thermal program having a higher maximum temperature were in better agreement with the thermal-optical method.


Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1. Introduction Martin S. Alexander and Helen Graham 2. The formation of the French Popular Front, 1934-6 Joel Colton 3. The origins and nature of the Spanish Popular Front Santos Julia 4. The French Radicals, Spain and the emergence of appeasement H. Haywood Hunt 5. The Spanish army and the Popular Front Michael Alpert 6. Soldiers and socialists: the French officers corps and leftist government, 1935-7 Martin S. Alexander 7. The Spanish Church and the Popular Front: the experience of Salamanca province Mary Vincent 8. 'La main tendue': the French Communist Party and the Catholic Church, 1935-7 James Steel 9. Trotsky and left-wing critics of the Popular Front Tom Kemp 10. The development of marxist theory in Spain and the Frente Popular Paul Haywood 11. The other Popular Front: French anarchism and the Front Revolutionnaire David Berry 12. The French Popular Front and the politics of Jacques Doriot Alan Forrest 13. The Blum government, the Conseil National Economique and economic policy Adrian Rossiter 14. Social and economic policies of the Spanish left in theory and in practice Jose Manuel Macarro Vera 15. Women, men and the 1936 strikes in France Sian Reynolds 16. From clientelism to communism: the Marseille working class and the Popular Front David A. L. Levy 17. A reinterpretation of the Spanish Popular Front: the case of Asturias Adrian Shubert 18. Le temps des loisirs: popular tourism and mass leisure in the vision of the Front Populaire Julian Jackson 19. The educational and cultural policy of the Popular Front government in Spain, 1936-9 Christopher Cobb 20. French intellectual groups and the Popular Front: traditional and innovative uses of the media Martin Stanton Index.


In studying a large material such as is available at the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, one is struck by the fact that intrathoracic tuberculosis does not always manifest itself in the same manner. There come to mind a number of questions regarding the pathology and genesis of these different types of tuberculosis. It is the aim of this paper to present answers to some of these questions. This work is based on Roentgen-ray examinations of over 600 patients, with all forms of tuberculosis, and clinical and laboratory observation of over 2,500 such cases. BRONCHIAL GLAND TUBERCULOSIS IN CHILDREN Chronologically, the earliest tuberculosis encountered is the bronchial gland tuberculosis of children. There are constantly in our institution over 100 children under the age of 14 who present practically every type of pulmonary tuberculosis occurring in these ages. The classical work of Ghon 1 on the primary tuberculosis of children has been of great


With the rapid increase of micro-video creators and viewers, how to make personalized recommendations from a large number of candidates to viewers begins to attract more and more attention. However, existing micro-video recommendation models rely on expensive multi-modal information and learn an overall interest embedding that cannot reflect the user's multiple interests in micro-videos. Recently, contrastive learning provides a new opportunity for refining the existing recommendation techniques. Therefore, in this paper, we propose to extract contrastive multi-interests and devise a micro-video recommendation model CMI. Specifically, CMI learns multiple interest embeddings for each user from his/her historical interaction sequence, in which the implicit orthogonal micro-video categories are used to decouple multiple user interests. Moreover, it establishes the contrastive multi-interest loss to improve the robustness of interest embeddings and the performance of recommendations. The results of experiments on two micro-video datasets demonstrate that CMI achieves state-of-the-art performance over existing baselines.


Transportation Economies of scale are the essential properties of hub networks. One critical property of the hub network design problem is to quantify cost savings which stem from economies of scale, the costs of operating hub facilities and opportunity costs associated with delays stemming from consolidation of traffic flows. Due to the NP-complete property of the hub location problem, however, most previous researchers have focused on the development of heuristic algorithms for approximate solutions. The purpose of this paper is to develop a hub network design model considering transportation economies of scale from the consolidation of traffic flows. The model is designed to consider the uniqueness of hub networks and to determine several cost components. The heuristic algorithms for the developed model are suggested and the results of the model are compared with recently published studies using real data. Results of the analysis show that the proposed model reflects transportation economies of scale due to consolidation of flows. This study can form not only the theoretical basis of an effective and rational hub network design but contribute to the assessment of existing and planned logistics systems.


Synthesis, structure and chemical properties of nucleoside dialdehyde derivatives are described. The introduction of aldehyde groups into oligonucleotides is discussed. The methods of affinity modification of proteins with periodate-oxidised nucleic acid derivatives are considered. The bibliography includes 48 references.


Pore-size gradients are often used in the design of membrane filters to increase filter lifetime and ensure fuller use of the initial membrane pore volume. In this work, we impose pore-size gradients in the setting of a membrane filter with an internal network of interconnected tube-like pores. We model the flow and foulant transport through the filter using the Hagen-Poiseuille framework coupled with advection equations via conservation of fluid and particle flux, with adsorption as the sole fouling mechanism. We study the influence of pore-size gradient on performance measures such as total filtrate throughput and accumulated contaminant concentration at the membrane downstream pore outlets. Within the limitations of our modeling assumptions we find that there is an optimal pore-radius gradient that maximizes filter efficiency independent of maximum pore length (an input parameter that influences the structure of the pore network), and that filters with longer characteristic pore length perform better.


This chapter describes our approach to handle security in a complex Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE). The modules of such an environment all need to be concerned about security. An object-oriented model of a DVE allows us to capture security in an aspect-oriented fashion as a crosscutting concern among the multiple modules. As DVEs become more complex in content, distribution, and capabilities, the security requirement emerges as a key issue in their design and implementation. In order to control the software complexity, our strategy is to model and analyze the impact of security concerns on the functional model of DVEs via an aspect-oriented technique. This approach is appropriate to be applied at both the system design and modeling stages and provides guidance during the implementation stage. This chapter illustrates an aspect-oriented approach to the impact analysis of security concerns upon the functionalities of DVEs. A design-level security model for DVEs is provided to show how to weave security concerns into the models of DVE designs seamlessly.


Aim: To study the MUC5AC and the blood group related antigen expression in ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) according to the distribution of Lewis and secretor phenotypes in OCP patients compared to normal subjects. Methods: Immunostaining was performed on conjunctival biopsy specimens from 22 consecutive patients suffering from OCP, using monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) directed against the peptidic core MUC5AC mucin (anti-M1/MUC5AC Mabs) and against the saccharide moieties (anti-blood group related antigens). These latter included anti-Lea, anti-Leb, anti-sialyl Lea, and H type 2 Mabs, which immunoreact with Lewis positive and non-secretor (Lea), Lewis positive and secretor (Leb), Lewis positive (sialyl Lea), and secretor (H type 2) phenotypes respectively. Serological tests were also performed to confirm the phenotype of each patient. The immunohistopathological patterns and the distribution of Lewis and secretor phenotypes were compared with the results of a previous study in normal individuals. Results: (1) In OCP patients compared to the normal population, anti-M1 immunoreactivity of goblet cells was unchanged, whereas anti-Lea, anti-Leb, and anti-sialyl Lea immunoreactivities of epithelial and/or goblet cells were markedly decreased. (2) 41% of OCP patients had a non-secretor phenotype, which is statistically significantly more than the estimated incidence of the same phenotype in the French population (20%) (p≈0.04). Conclusions: Mucins in OCP patients showed a decreased expression of blood group related antigens whereas the MUC5AC peptidic core detected by anti-M1 Mab remained unchanged. These results also seem to indicate that OCP may be associated with a non-secretor phenotype.


Background and Objectives Cheating is a common phenomenon that can undermine the credibility of university tests and certificates. Cheating is a more sensitive issue among medical students. The present study was conducted to investigate the performance and attitude of undergraduate students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences in Iran towards cheating, as well asthe factors that influence cheating. Methods The present descriptive analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 on 524 female and male undergraduate students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants. The data were collected using a valid and reliable 64-item questionnaire on performance and attitude towards cheating with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.88. The obtained data were then analyzed using descriptive tests and the χ test. P < 0.05 was set as the level of statistical significance. Results Demographically, women made up 58% of the study population. In terms of ethnicity, 68.5% of the population wereFars, 24.6% Turkmen, and the rest were other ethnicities. A total of 70.6% of students had negative attitudes towards cheating. In terms of performance, 57.1% of students admitted to cheating. Significant relationships were observed between the attitude and performance of students (P = 0.001). The relationship between gender and occupational status, and attitude and performance was also found to be statistically significant (P < 0.050). Male and employed students had more positive attitudes towards cheating and actually did it more frequently than their female counterparts. Conclusions The majority of nursing students were against cheating in terms of attitude and performance. Nevertheless, to better understand this behavior and develop coping strategies, further studies should be conducted on the phenomenon of cheating in other academic activities among medical students.


OBJECTIVE
Previous preliminary clinical trials have confirmed that edoxaban can be efficacious for venous thromboembolism (VTE). This meta-analysis was considered to evaluate edoxaban's short-term efficacy and safety for venous thromboembolism after arthroplasty.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A comprehensive search was performed in these databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and EMBASE on March 2022. All eligible trials should be randomized controlled trials (RCTs) when evaluating short-term efficacy and safety outcomes of edoxaban for VTE after total hip or knee arthroplasty.

RESULTS
Nine RCTs with 4274 patients were involved in this meta-analysis. Edoxaban in the VTE group prevented the incidence of VTE and indicated valuable clinical efficacy. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the edoxaban group was decreased than that in other groups. Edoxaban increased the incidence of all bleeding events. However, in the edoxaban group and other groups, there was no statistical difference between major bleeding events and clinically relevant non-major or minor bleeding events. Edoxaban subgroups included edoxaban 15 mg, edoxaban 30 mg and edoxaban 60 mg prevented the incidence of VTE. Edoxaban 30 mg and 60 mg group increased the risk of all bleeding events. Edoxaban 30 mg can increase the incidence of major bleeding events. There was no difference in clinically relevant non-major or minor bleeding events. Edoxaban 30 mg can decrease the incidence of AEs.

CONCLUSIONS
Edoxaban was an efficacious and safe option to prevent and treat VTE in patients undergoing arthroplasty. However, we need further trials to explore edoxaban's long-term efficacy and safety.


Artificial bilayer membranes provide a platform for bioelectronic devices based on their structural, sensing, and transport functions. In this letter, we report on the impedance response of an engineered membrane with a lower leaflet of octadecanethiol on gold and an outer leaflet of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine with the monomeric channel protein gramicidin. This hybrid bilayer exhibits an electrical response analogous to a solid-state diode: the admittance is very low (<10(-)(7) Omega(-)(1) cm(-)(2)) over a wide potential range but increases exponentially at negative potentials.


There are so many points of resemblance between Northern and Eastern America and the corresponding areas of Asia that one would naturally expect to find that the Glacial history of the two evidence is abundant and unmistakable, that in post-Tertiary times Glacial ice extended along the Atlantic coast southward from Labrador and the Hudson-Bay region as far as New York City in lat. 40°, and in the Mississippi Valley to Carbondale in Southern Illinois, about lat. 38°. North of an irregular line connecting these points the whole country was, at a very recent period, covered with Glacial ice as deep as that which mantles Greenland at the present time. In all, about 4,000,000 square miles were brought under the direct influence of Glacial ice in America. Being familiar with nearly the whole of this North American field, and somewhat so with the glaciated portions of Europe, I set out, a little more than a year ago, in company with my son, Mr. Frederick B. Wright, to examine those portions of the Asiatic Continent which most nearly correspond in general superficial conditions to the glaciated portions of America. Sailing from San Francisco in February 1900, we spent six weeks in Japan, and satisfied ourselves that lofty as the mountains are, there have never been extensive glaciers among those on Nippon, the largest of the islands. From the verbal reports made to us by Prof. Jimbo, of the University of Tokyo, it seems equally clear that the more northern island of Yesso


This study investigated the impact of union history and marital transitions on wealth inequality between older Black and White women (N = 7,026). Cohort data from the Health and Retirement Study show large and increasing Black – White differences in wealth. Marital and relationship histories are associated with the wealth accumulation process among older women. Women who married and stay married accumulated levels of wealth that exceeded those of other women with disrupted family lives. The marriage – wealth nexus is sensitive to a woman's position in the wealth distribution. Quantile regression results revealed that racial differences in total wealth holdings between Black and White women exist throughout the wealth distribution, whereas the relationship between current union history and wealth differentials is significant at the lower tail and middle of the distribution. Decomposition analyses highlighted the nontrivial role of racial disparities in marital histories in accounting for the racial wealth gap. As members of the baby boom generation enter their retirement years, it will be more important than ever to monitor the wealth accumulation process among older single and racial/ethnic minority women.


Abductive explanation has been formalized in AI as the process of searching for a set of assumptions that can prove a given observation. A basic problem which naturally arises is that there may be many different possible sets available. Thus, some preferential ordering on the explanations is necessary to precisely determine which one is best. Unfortunately, any model with sufficient representational power is in general NP-hard.
Causal trees and scAND/ scOR graphs are among the most commonly used for representing causal knowledge. Consequently, finding a best explanation has been treated as some heuristic search through the graph. However, this approach exhibits an expected exponential run-time growth rate.
In this thesis, we present a new approach to modeling abductive reasoning which admits an extremely efficient implementation. We treat the problem in terms of constrained optimization instead of graph traversal. Our approach models knowledge using linear constraints and finds a best explanation by optimizing some measure within these constraints. Although finding the best explanation remains NP-hard, our approach allows us to utilize the highly efficient tools developed in operations research. Such tools as the Simplex method and Karmarkar's projective scaling algorithm form the foundations for the practical realization of our approach. Experimental results strongly indicate that our linear constraint satisfaction approach is quite promising. Studies comparing our approach against heuristic search techniques has shown our approach to be superior in both time and space, and actually exhibiting an expected polynomial run-time growth rate.
Our goal is to show that our framework is both flexible and representationally powerful. We can model both cost-based abduction and Bayesian networks. Furthermore, it is possible for us to handle difficult problems such as alternative explanations, continuous random variables, consistency, partial covering and cyclicity which are commonly encountered in abductive (diagnostic) domains.


The adsorption property the operating life, the operating exchange capacity and regeneration of D412 macroporous phosphonomethylamina chelating resin for removing Ca2+,Mg2+ and Fe2+ from high pH brine of alkali production by ionic membrane were investigated The resin showed good physical-chemical and kinetic property, high exchange capacity, excellent durability.


The transcriptional rates of four different genes in shoots of barley grown under different light regimes were quantified by monitoring nuclear RNA transcripts using gene-specific hybridization probes. Isolated nuclei were pulse-labelled with [alpha-32P]UTP and the relative rates of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein (LHCP) mRNA, NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase mRNA, B1 hordein mRNA, and 26-S rRNA synthesis were measured. Irradiation of dark-grown plants with a red light pulse increased the rate of LHCP mRNA synthesis tenfold within 3 h, and the rate of rRNA synthesis more than twofold within 9 h. The relative rate of synthesis of the oxidoreductase mRNA decreased following a red light pulse reaching a minimum after 3-6 h. As a direct proof of phytochrome involvement in the light-induced stimulation of LHCP and the repression of the oxidoreductase transcripts for both responses, red/far-red reversibility could be demonstrated. We conclude that phytochrome is able both to increase the transcription of certain nuclear genes and decrease the transcription of others.


A novel, efficient, and environmentally compatible method for CF3-substituted benzene production is reported. It sources a bio-based feedstock, employs tBuOK as catalyst, and is solvent-free. This regioselective approach provides various trifluoromethyl benzenes in good to excellent yields, without extra oxidant or special care. CO2 and water are the only byproducts of this process, and reaction conditions can scale up to gram quantities. The transformation involves an unprecedented tBuOK-catalyzed domino process, and features Michael addition / 6π-electrocyclic ring opening / [1,5]-H shift / carba-6π-electrocyclic ring closure / decarboxylative aromatization reactions.


Clonal transformation of well differentiated follicular or papillary carcinomas has been suggested as a mechanism by which anaplastic carcinomas of the thyroid might arise. Of 126 cases of anaplastic (giant cell) carcinomas, 17 (13.5%) contained histologically well differentiated tumour foci within or adjacent to the high grade malignant anaplastic tumour. Cytophotometric DNA analysis after Feulgen staining was performed on 11 cases in order to evaluate ploidy of the anaplastic and the well differentiated tumour cells. The majority of these co-existent carcinomas (9/11) were papillary. All 11 anaplastic carcinomas demonstrated an aneuploid DNA pattern which correlated with a poor clinical outcome (7 of 11 died of disease in less than 6 months). In contrast six co-existent papillary and one co-existent follicular tumours were diploid. These data show that the co-existence of anaplastic and well differentiated carcinoma occurs only rarely and when it occurs only one third of the well differentiated tumours contain aneuploid tumour cells. This suggests that in the majority of cases of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma the malignant cells arise de novo rather than through clonal transformation of well differentiated carcinomas.


BACKGROUND
The randomised Stenting Coronary Arteries in Non-stress/benestent Disease (SCANDSTENT) trial reported considerably less angiographic restenosis after implantation of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) vs bare metal stents (BMS) in patients with complex coronary lesions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome after a majority of the SCANDSTENT patients had stopped the dual antiplatelet therapy.

METHODS AND RESULTS
The SCANDSTENT trial randomly assigned 322 patients with symptomatic complex coronary artery disease (occlusions, bifurcations, ostial or angulated lesions) to receive SES or BMS. At 15 months after stent implantation, when 80% of the patients had stopped taking clopidogrel, six patients in the SES group and 10 in the BMS group had died or suffered a myocardial infarction (non significant [NS]). Compared with BMS, SES reduced the rate of target vessel revascularisation (TVR) from 33.1% to 5.6% (P<0.001) and the frequency of major adverse cardiac events from 35.7% to 8.6% (p<0.001). Definite stent thrombosis was observed in five patients in the BMS group, and two cases of probable and possible stent thrombosis were observed in the SES group (NS). One case of possible SES thrombosis occurred more than one year after stent implantation.

CONCLUSIONS
Compared with BMS, SES markedly reduced the frequency of TVR and MACE within 15 months in SCANDSTENT patients with complex coronary artery lesions without development of delayed restenosis.


Intelligent multimedia provides a basis as briefed here for designing active databases with agents, multimedia and intelligent business objects. The field of automated learning and discovery has obvious financial and organizational memory applications. Financial companies have begun to analyze their customers' behavior in order to maximize the effectiveness of marketing efforts. There are basic applications to data discovery techniques with intelligence multimedia databases. Management process controls at times calls on warehoused data and relies on organizational memory to reach decision. The computing techniques, the Morph Gentzen deductive system and its models are applied towards an active multimedia database warehousing, model discovery, and customizing interface design. Intelligent visual computing paradigms are applied to define the multimedia computing paradigm and active databases. The Multimedia paradigms can be applied to customize KM database views for financial and organizational memory applications.


The singular value decomposition method is proposed for the coding of the subband images generated via a two-dimensional (2-D) quadrature mirror filter analysis bank. This approach permits easy determination of the optimal bit allocation and by decomposing an image into singular vectors, a 2-D coding problem is transformed into a 1-D coding problem, for which a stable linear prediction algorithm exists. In addition, the determination of the SVD of subimages is much simpler than that of the original one, due to their considerably smaller sizes. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance characteristics of the proposed approach.


This paper finds evidence of return predictability across economically linked firms. We test the hypothesis that in the presence of investors subject to attention constraints, stock prices do not promptly incorporate news about economically related firms, generating return predictability across assets. We use a dataset of firms' principal customers to identify a set of economically related firms, and show that stock prices do not incorporate news involving related firms, generating predictable subsequent price moves. A long/short equity strategy based on this effect yields monthly alphas of over 150 basis points.The paper "Economic Links and Predictable Returns" can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2758776.


BACKGROUND
Non-pharmacological interventions, including cognition-based intervention and physical exercise, are available for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but their efficacy remains uncertain.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate efficacy of cognition-based intervention and physical exercise on cognitive domains in patients with MCI.

METHODS
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane library, and BIOSIS previews to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that involved cognition-based intervention and physical exercise for persons who were diagnosed with MCI. The pooled weight mean difference or standard mean difference (SMD) were calculated using a random-effect model.

RESULTS
We found significant effects of cognition-based intervention on global cognitive function (SMD 0.37 [0.07, 0.68] p = 0.02). Besides, cognition-based intervention produced significant effects on executive function reported with TMT-B (SMD 0.8 [0.09, 1.5] p = 0.03) and delayed memory (SMD 0.31 [0.01, 0.61] p = 0.05). A beneficial improvement in global cognitive function was also seen in the exercise group compared to the control group (SMD 0.25 [0.08, 0.41] p = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS
Both of cognition-based intervention and physical exercise had the potential to improve global cognitive function. Weak evidence of improvements was also observed for the domains of executive function and delayed memory following cognition-based intervention. Nevertheless, future standard RCTs are still needed to identify the clinical value of our results.


In this article, by using the daily precipitation data measured at 58 meteorological stations, spatial and temporal variability of daily precipitation including zero rainfall values (called "precipitation") and without zero rainfall values (called "rain") and four precipitation extrema (P0, P20, P50, and P100 representing the daily precipitation with the magnitude smaller than 0.1 mm, bigger than 20 mm, 50 mm, and 100 mm per day, respectively) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) during 1958–2007 were analyzed, and the effects of urbanization were further investigated. Results indicate that (i) differing from the downward trends in 1958–1985, daily precipitation and rain in 1986–2007 show slowly downward trends in the mid YRD but show upward trends in the northern and southern YRD. (ii) Spatial and temporal variability of the rain is more complex than daily precipitation. Both of them become smaller but show more obvious fluctuations in 1986–2007. (iii) Urbanizations cause not only the urban rainfall island problem but also more obvious fluctuations of rain intensity in the mid YRD, reflecting more uncertainty of daily precipitation variability. (iv) Urbanizations have little effects on the variability of P0 and P100 but cause notable increases of P20 and P50. (v) The spatial variability of daily precipitation and precipitation extrema in 1958–1985 clearly shows a breakpoint at 30°20′N latitude, but the breakpoint disappears afterward because of the effects of urbanization. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This dissertation proposes a new data gathering method—ASRAD (Advanced Selective Replication—based Adaptive Data Delivery Scheme). ASRAD achieves a good network performance by replicating messages selectively to nodes that has the higher probability of meeting the sink. ASRAD consists of two key components for data transmission and queue management, respectively.


In the territory of the Czech Republic there are more than 50% of agricultural soils exposed to water erosion; it is a very urgent problem both at present and for the future. It must be solved now when there is still something to be protected. It is rather complicated to describe the soil properties in terms of soil susceptibility to water erosion because it is a complex relation in which many factors participate. For the complex evaluation of all main factors participating in erosion origination it is possible to apply the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). It consists of six factors interacting with each other and participating in the origination of soil erosion. One of these factors is the soil erodibility factor ( K-factor), the revision of which for soil conditions of the CR is the subject of this study. In total ca. 5000 soil pits from the whole territory of the country were processed and evaluated in detail. The main results of this study are K-factor values (means and variances) for the soil types, subtypes and varieties (represented in the database) according to the Taxonomic Classification System of Soils of the Czech Republic.


• Sports Drinks, Milk Prevent Postexercise Hypoglycemia In exploring new strategies to help active patients who have type 1 diabetes to avoid late-onset postexercise hypoglycemia, researchers from The Pennsylvania State University found that certain sports drinks, as well as whole milk, were effective. The study, published in the May issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, is believed to be the first to test the effectiveness of sports drinks for this purpose. The study involved 7 adult subjects (6 men, 1 woman) who each took part in five experimental sessions. They had been on multiple daily injection therapy for more than a year before the study and did not participate in regular endurance exercise training. Exercise testing was done before the trial to determine the calories that would be expended during the exercise protocol. Subjects conformed to their usual injection and diet programs.


The notion of uniform rectifiability of sets (in a Euclidean space), which emerged only recently, can be viewed in several different ways. It can be viewed as a quantitative and scale-invariant substitute for the classical notion of rectifiability; as the answer (sometimes only conjecturally) to certain geometric questions in complex and harmonic analysis; as a condition which ensures the parametrizability of a given set, with estimates, but with some holes and self-intersections allowed; and as an achievable baseline for information about the structure of a set. This book is about understanding uniform rectifiability of a given set in terms of the approximate behaviour of the set at most locations and scales. In addition to being a general reference on uniform rectifiability, the book also poses many open problems, some of which are quite basic.


Variable Bitrate (VBR) video encoding can significantly improve the quality-of-experience (QoE) of viewing users due to its capability to provide much higher quality-to-bits ratio compared to Constant Bitrate (CBR) video encoding. However, the streaming of VBR-encoded videos suffers from large variance of video chunk size, which may directly result in frequent rebuffering if not properly handled. In this paper, we propose a novel neural-enhanced adaptive streaming framework for VBR-encoded videos called PreSR, which performs selective prefetching of video chunks to achieve a higher QoE for viewers. The design of PreSR is motivated by an important observation obtained from our measurement, namely, the video quality improvement and bandwidth savings brought by neural enhancement are more pronounced for low-resolution video chunks with complex scenes. By taking the above fact and the time required for neural enhancement into account, we formulate the problem into an optimization problem. Given that the problem is NP-hard, we design the PreSR framework, which is based on the model predictive control theory and also considers key features of VBR-encoded videos. PreSR parallelizes the download of video chunks and model inference processes to fully utilize the available compute resources. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments with real traces, and the results show that PreSR outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms with an improvement up to 11.25% in terms of the average QoE.


NASA's EPOXI mission used the Deep Impact spacecraft to observe the disk-integrated Earth as an analog to terrestial exoplanets' appearance. The mission took five 24 hr observations in 2008–2009 at various phase angles (57.°7–86.°4) and ranges (0.11–0.34 au), of which three equatorial (E1, E4, E5) and two polar (P1, North and P2, South). The visible data taken by the HRIV instrument ranges from 0.3 to 1.0 μm, taken trough seven spectral filters that have spectral widths of about 100 nm, and which are centered about 100 nm apart, from 350 to 950 nm. The disk-integrated, 24 hr averaged signal is used in a phase angle analysis. A Lambertian-reflecting, spherical planet model is used to estimate geometric albedo for every observation and wavelength. The geometric albedos range from 0.143 (E1, 950 nm) to 0.353 (P2, 350 nm) and show wavelength dependence. The equatorial observations have similar values, while the polar observations have higher values due to the ice in view. Therefore, equatorial observations can be predicted for other phase angles, but (Earth-like) polar views (with ice) would be underestimated.


Background:
 Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a potentially curative procedure for a variety of hematologic malignancies. However, relapse disease and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remain to be the main obstacle for a successful HCT. Thus, adequate immune suppression to minimize the risk of high-grade GVHD while not over suppression of donor immunity to allow graft versus tumor effect is crucial.
 Matched unrelated donor transplant has a higher rate of GVHD as compared to matched sibling donor transplant due to minor histocompatibility mismatch. Rabbit antithymocyte globulin (ATG), a polyclonal antibody produced by immunizing rabbits with human thymocytes, has been utilized as prophylaxis against GVHD.
 ATG dosing by weight has been the standard. Recent pharmacokinetic (PK) studies revealed that ATG levels and clearance vary significantly among patients receiving weight-based dosing of ATG. Recipient lymphocyte count before receiving ATG has been described as a modulator of both ATG PK and clinical outcomes after ATG-conditioned HCT.
 The Parachute-Study utilizing an individualized ATG dosing approach has shown more rapid immune reconstitution without affecting the incidence of acute GVHD and graft failure. In this study, we are comparing the outcomes of individualized dosing of ATG versus weight-based dosing.
 Method:
 This is a single institutional study carried out at the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. It was started as a case-control cohort study in July 2018 when individualized dosing of ATG was initiated, and continues as a historically controlled non-randomized prospective clinical study investigating individualized versus weight-based dosing of ATG.
 Subjects over 18 years of age who are undergoing matched unrelated donor (MUD) stem cell transplant, with myeloablative or reduced-intensity conditioning, peripheral blood or bone marrow stem cell source, for myeloid or lymphoid malignancies were included in the study. We excluded subjects with HLA mismatch or sibling donors.
 Individualized dosing was based on the previously validated PK model with cumulative doses varying between 2 to 10 mg/kg, based on weight, recipient lymphocyte counts before the first dose of ATG, and stem cell source, starting day -9; while the standard weight-based dosing of ATG is 4 mg/kg divided into 3 days pre-transplant.
 The study endpoints are to evaluate the difference between treatment groups on (1) GVHD and its severity; (2) relapse-free survival (RFS) and (3) overall survival (OS).
 Univariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the probabilities of GVHD in both treatment arms. Multivariable analysis was done to adjust for all covariates between study arms using adjusted logistic. OS and RFS were computed using the Kaplan-Meier curves.
 Results:
 The study included 38 subjects undergoing MUD HCT for myeloid or lymphoid malignancies. Subjects included are in 2 cohorts, 19 subjects in the intervention arm using individualized targeted ATG (tATG group), and 19 subjects in the matched control arm using weight-based dosing ATG (ATG group).
 In a univariate unadjusted logistic regression analysis, the risk of developing GVHD is numerically higher in the ATG group than in the tATG group (OR=1.339, p=0.70). However, the proportion of acute GVHD is significantly higher in the tATG group than the ATG group (73.68% vs 31.58%, p=0.022). Also, the proportion of higher grade acute GVHD is significantly higher in the tATG group than the ATG group (31.58% vs 0%, p=0.020).
 RFS is longer in the tATG group than the ATG group, tending statistical significance (p=0.063). However, there is no difference in OS between study arms (p=0.645). [Figures 1 and 2]
 In a multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, adjusting for age at HCT, diagnosis, disease status at HCT, prior lines of therapy, and stem cell source, no confounder was found to be significantly associated with GVHD.
 Conclusion:
 Individualized targeted dosing of ATG (tATG), based on weight, recipient lymphocyte counts and stem cell source, increases the risk of acute GVHD when compared to standard fixed-dosing method, however, it improves RFS, implying possibly better immune reconstitution providing improved graft versus leukemia effect.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Journaling techniques play an important role in addressing the reliability issue of filesystems caused by the volatile DRAM-based buffer cache. However, journaling techniques introduce a large number of extra storage writes, which greatly degrades the performance of the filesystem [10]. Emerging Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technologies bring a new perspective of solving the write amplification issue caused by journaling. By adopting NVM as the buffer cache, the committed data can be maintained in NVM before being written back to the storage, thus eliminating the journaling overhead. However, simply replacing DRAM with NVM as the buffer cache suffers from the limited lifetime and relative slow writes of NVM. In this paper, we present a hybrid buffer cache architecture by combing NVM with DRAM to reduce the journaling overhead and overcome the constraints of NVM. In order to better utilize this novel architecture, we first propose a Journaling-Aware Page Management (JAPM) policy. JAPM puts infrequently updated data in NVM to reduce the journaling overhead and frequently updated data in DRAM to improve the write performance and lifetime of the hybrid buffer cache. In addition, data in one transaction may be dispersed in NVM and DRAM simultaneously and different committing policies are required for different storing media, NVM or DRAM. In order to guarantee the atomicity of the transactional execution in the hybrid cache architecture, a Partial In-Place Commit (PIPC) journaling scheme is proposed to coordinate the different committing patterns. We implement the proposed techniques on Linux 3.14.52 and measure the performance with representative I/O-intensive benchmarks. The experimental results show that our scheme effectively improves the I/O performance compared with the ext4 filesystem and prolongs the lifetime of the hybrid buffer cache compared with the Union of Buffer cache and Journaling (UBJ) scheme [10].


No orthologs are present in the genomes of the archaea encoding genes for the first two steps in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids leading to 3-dehydroquinate (DHQ). The absence of these genes prompted me to examine the nature of the reactions involved in the archaeal pathway leading to DHQ in Methanocaldococcus jannaschii. Here I report that 6-deoxy-5-ketofructose 1-phosphate and l-aspartate semialdehyde are precursors to DHQ. The sugar, which is derived from glucose 6-P, supplies a "hydroxyacetone" fragment, which, via a transaldolase reaction, undergoes an aldol condensation with the l-aspartate semialdehyde to form 2-amino-3,7-dideoxy-D-threo-hept-6-ulosonic acid. Despite the fact that both hydroxyacetone and hydroxyacetone-P were measured in the cell extracts and confirmed to arise from glucose 6-P, neither compound was found to serve as a precursor to DHQ. This amino sugar then undergoes a NAD dependent oxidative deamination to produce 3,7-dideoxy-d-threo-hept-2,6-diulosonic acid which cyclizes to 3-dehydroquinate. The protein product of the M. jannaschii MJ0400 gene catalyzes the transaldolase reaction and the protein product of the MJ1249 gene catalyzes the oxidative deamination and the cyclization reactions. The DHQ is readily converted into dehydroshikimate and shikimate in M. jannaschii cell extracts, consistent with the remaining steps and genes in the pathway being the same as in the established shikimate pathway.


An article contains the overview of blockchain technology, major principals of its programming. Blockchain is the data structure consisted of blocks where every next block is strictly connected with previous one by including its hashcode as property. Every blockchain is also implements the decentralized storage of data. Several critical aspects are analyzed: optimal solutions for transaction validation and algorithms of consensus between nodes in blockchain decentralized network. The validation may be organized by storing the transactions data in the separate nodes and by including the "bookkeeper" class designed to review the transactions and validate it. Alternative approach is to make the transaction"self-validating", so it is always consists entire data required for validation. There are several ways for reaching the consensus across network about which version of blockchain is consider as correct one. Simple rule of "longest and late prevails" is suitable for small, non-scalable projects, while rule of "50%+1" needs to be implemented for larger ones. Non of those solves the problem of wasting of resources, so this aspect remains a subject for further research and testing.


Based on data from surveys, this paper offers a contrastive description of presentational sentences in Catalan dialects. Drawing on functional grammar and cognitive linguistics, we attempt to show the basic characteristics of presentational as opposed to locative sentences, considering that the so-called definiteness effect is not valid for Catalan. We note that there are three verbs which may appear in presentational contexts: haver-hi, esser-hi (or ser-hi) and estar(-hi), and that their distribution is not always alike in all Catalan dialects. In fact, distribution depends to a great extent on the degree of definiteness of the NP. With the definiteness hierarchy as our basis for analysis, we have determined which verbs appear in the most prototypical presentational contexts, and which in more peripheral ones. In addition, we have found that distributional boundaries for the verbs examined are not always clear cut.


One of the serious kind of disease in the medical field is considered to be the brain tumor. So it must to have the fast and accurate detection. Different algorithms are provided for the tumour detection and segmentation. The important approach in the brain tumor segmentation is to identify the various stages includes benign, malignant and the normal. For the process of classifying voxels, a classifier called Self Organising Map(SOM) is used. Self- Organizing Map (SOM) which includes the unsupervised learning algorithm and Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) with high diversity data like tumour appearance and its contour deformation. On comparing with the other approaches, instead of using Multimodal MRI images for clustering of voxels SOM has been used. A feature vector has been constructed in which the features for the constructing vector have been gained from the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients. This has been constructed mainly for identifying tissue types which includes White Matter (WM), Grey Matter (GM), Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) and sometimes pathological tissues. The accuracies and the performance are provided in terms of training performance and the classification accuracies. The results which has been simulated, shows the better accuracies of classifier and segmentation on comparing with the previous method.


List of contributors. Social Integration and Help Seeking. Binding and non-binding integration: the relational costs and rewards of social ties on mental health (M. Berbrier, A. Schulte). Understanding depression care in the HMO outpatient setting: what predicts key events on the pathway to care? (D. Shye et al.). Social relationships and psychiatric help-seeking (A.C. Kouzis et al.). Treatment and Recovery Processes. A review of empirical studies of interventions for families of persons with mental illness (D.E. Biegel et al.). The contingent rationality of housing preferences homeless mentally ill persons' housing choices before and after housing experience (R.K. Schutt, S.M. Goldfinger). Race, role responsibility and relationship: understanding the experience of caring for the severely mentally ill (M.S. Thompson et al.). Methods. Strategies for evaluating public sector managed care using administrative data (N.M. Thakur et al.).


Cement is the most used construction material. The performance of cement hydrate depends on the constituent phases, viz. alite, belite, aluminate, and ferrites present in the cement clinker, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Traditionally, clinker phases are analyzed from optical images relying on a domain expert and simple image processing techniques. However, the non-uniformity of the images, variations in the geometry and size of the phases, and variabilities in the experimental approaches and imaging methods make it challenging to obtain the phases. Here, we present a machine learning (ML) approach to detect clinker microstructure phases automatically. To this extent, we create the first annotated dataset of cement clinker by segmenting alite and belite particles. Further, we use supervised ML methods to train models for identifying alite and belite regions. Specifically, we finetune the image detection and segmentation model Detectron-2 on the cement microstructure to develop a model for detecting the cement phases, namely, Cementron. We demonstrate that Cementron, trained only on literature data, works remarkably well on new images obtained from our experiments, demonstrating its generalizability. We make Cementron available for public use.


Since the spatial distribution of surface materials is usually regular and locally continuous, it is reasonable to utilize the spectral and spatial information for the hyperspectral image classification. In this paper, a spectral–spatial Gabor surface feature (GSF) fusion approach has been proposed for hyperspectral image classification. First, Gabor magnitude pictures (GMPs) are extracted by applying a set of predefined 2-D Gabor filters to hyperspectral images. Second, the GSF has been extended to the spectral–spatial domains to comply with the 3-D structure of hyperspectral imagery, called 3-DGSF, which utilizes the first-order derivative of GMPs. Meanwhile, a classic superpixel segmentation method, called simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC), is adopted to divide the original hyperspectral image into disjoint superpixels. Third, principal component analysis is adopted to reduce the dimensionality of each extracted 3-DGSF feature cube. Next, a support vector machine classifier is applied on each reduced 3-DGSF features, and the majority voting strategy is used to obtain the classification results. Finally, the superpixel map obtained by SLIC is used to regularize the classification map, and thus, the proposed approach is named as S3-DGSF. Extensive experiments on three real hyperspectral data sets have demonstrated the higher performance of the proposed S3-DGSF approach over several state-of-the-art methods in the literature.


A level set method for shape optimization of the Stokes fluid flow is presented. Since the level set method is implemented in an Euler framework, the computational cost is moderate. The velocity field on boundaries is obtained by shape sensitivity analysis using the material derivative concept and adjoint variable technique. A Benchmark examples is provided to illustrate the efficiency and feasible of this method.


During recent years, multidisciplinary studies in epidemiology and molecular biology have contributed to our understanding of the etiology of colorectal cancer; more importantly they have enabled us to approach its prevention. An impressive body of epidemiological data suggests an inverse relationship between colorectal cancer risk and consumption of diets rich in omega (ω)‐3 fatty acids (n‐3 PUFAs) or the regular use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin. The development of strategies for the chemoprevention of colorectal cancer have been facilitated by the use of relevant animal models mimicking the neoplastic processes that occur in humans, including similarities in histopathology and molecular and genetic lesions during both the early and promotion/progression stages of carcinogenesis. Studies with the azoxymethane‐F344 rat model indicate that diets rich in n‐3 PUFAs, NSAIDs, selective cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitors, and curcumin can reduce the incidence of colon cancer. Advances in the knowledge of the mechanisms by which chemopreventive agents act offer opportunities to use combinations of specific chemopreventive agents, having clinically beneficial aggregate activity with minimal toxicity. This approach is extremely important when a promising chemopreventive agent demonstrates apparent efficacy but may produce toxic effects at high doses. Our studies show that a combination of very low doses of piroxicam (NSAID) and difluoromethylornithine, a specific inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, or very low doses of COX‐2 and HMG‐CoA reductase inhibitors are more effective in inhibiting colon carcinogenesis than administration of these compounds as single agents even at higher levels. The natural history of colorectal cancer, from dysplastic aberrant crypts to adenomas and adenocarcinomas, offers multiple opportunities for assessment and intervention. Of further importance is to identify whether the molecular targets that are critical in the growth and survival of the malignant colorectal cell are modulated by n‐3 PUFAs, NSAIDs, or COX‐2 and iNOS inhibitors. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 44:26–35, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A wide spectrum of Peritrichous bacteria undergo considerable physiological changes when they are inoculated onto nutrition-rich surfaces and exhibit a rapid and collective migration denoted as swarming. Thereby, the length of such swarmer cells and their number of flagella increases substantially. In this article, we investigated the properties of individual E. coli-type swarmer cells confined between two parallel walls via mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations, combining molecular dynamics simulations of the swarmer cell with the multiparticle particle collision dynamics approach for the embedding fluid. E. coli-type swarmer cells are three-times longer than their planktonic counter parts, but their flagella density is comparable. By varying the wall separation, we analyze the confinement effect on the flagella arrangement, on the distribution of cells in the gap between the walls, and on the cell dynamics. We find only a weak dependence of confinement on the bundle structure and dynamics. The distribution of cells in the gap changes from a geometry-dominated behavior for very narrow to fluid-dominated behavior for wider gaps, where cells are preferentially located in the gap center for narrower gaps and stay preferentially next to one of the walls for wider gaps. Dynamically, the cells exhibit a wide spectrum of migration behaviors, depending on their flagella bundle arrangement, and ranges from straight swimming to wall rolling.


Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus is a global health issue, leading to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma that accounts for more than six hundred thousand deaths annually. Recent work has focused on the role of Natural killer (NK) cells in liver fibrosis in other contexts. In CHB, NK cells have been shown to play an anti-viral as well as an immunoregulatory role. Here we investigate the role of NK cells in the context of CHB-driven liver fibrosis, using primary hepatic stellate cells (HSC) isolated from healthy human liver margins. Our results demonstrate that NK cells from CHB patients have a highly variable and limited potential to kill hepatic stellate cells, which is increased in patients with progressive liver fibrosis, is further enhanced by interferon-alpha pre-activation in vitro and is abrogated by antiviral therapy with nucleos(t)ide inhibitors. We have explored the role of the death ligand TRAIL expressed on NK cells in inducing apoptosis of stellate cells that express high levels of the death-inducing receptor TRAIL-R2. We observed that blockade of TRAIL on the NK cells was only able to reduce killing of HSC in selected cases but not in the whole cohort, suggesting other levels of regulation. Moreover TRAIL ligand (SuperKillerTRAIL) treatment of primary HSC did not induce a degree of apoptosis commensurate with their high expression of the death-inducing receptor TRAIL-R2. We therefore probed the expression of the inhibitory receptors TRAIL-R3 and R4. We found expression of these receptors on primary human HSC both ex vivo and after in vitro culture. The level of expression of TRAIL-R4 showed a remarkably strong correlation with the susceptibility of primary HSC to undergo apoptosis.

Furthermore, blockade of these inhibitory receptors rendered primary HSC more susceptible to apoptosis by SuperKillerTRAIL and by TRAIL-expressing NK cells. Our results are the first to demonstrate a functional role for TRAIL- R3 and -R4 in regulating susceptibility to apoptosis in primary cells. These novel findings will help us to define potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for liver fibrosis.


Abstract Obesity is one of the most important health problems nowadays. In addition to the direct physical consequences, it is also a risk factor in the development of psychological (Eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety, etc.) and social problems. Among there, body dissatisfaction is key for development and maintenance of such problems. Objective: to deepen the effectiveness of the body exposure treatment, both in its pure form and guided modality in subjective, psychological and attentional levels in people with body dissatisfaction and obesity. Methods: Evaluations were carried out in a total of 16 women with obesity and body dissatisfaction at the beginning and end of 6 treatment sessions of pure exposure in front of the mirror. The changes experienced at the subjective level (questionnaires and subjective discomfort during the sessions) and psychophysiological (eye-tracking and heart rate) were analyzed. Results: Pure exposure treatment reduces negative thoughts and emotions towards the body itself, as well as the experienced discomfort towards the most conflictive parts. Selective attention to those parts of the body classified as uglier by the participants (especially the rear view of the body) show a decrease in physiological reactivity. Conclusions: Pure exposure treatment seems to be effective in reducing subjective and psychological symptoms associated with body dissatisfaction in people with obesity, this technique could be considered a good choice for the treatment of body dissatisfaction. This step is essential to guarantee the long-term therapeutic success of any other treatment (nutritional or/and physical activity) in the future.


The Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K) is enabling the collection of high-frequency mobile sensor data for the development and validation of novel multisensory biomarkers and sensor-triggered interventions.


Gastric stump cancer (GSC) is the malignant tumor that develops in the gastric remnant after partial gastrectomy was performed both for benign and malignant lesions. This paper presents the results of the case studies from the scientific literature, which focused on GSC, and has been published in the last 10 years. The search was performed with the help of the specific tools offered by the international databases. The subject was approached because of the constant rising incidence of GSC in the past few years, now reaching values between 1% and 7%. The outcome report is consistent and similar to the period that ended approximately 25 years ago, when general surgeons dedicated a significant part of their activity to treating gastric ulcer. Statistics revealed that the main risk factors are the following: the type of reconstruction after distal gastrectomy (Billroth I or Billroth II), the presence of duodenogastric reflux, the time between gastric resections, and the moment of diagnosis of gastric stump cancer, the initial pathology for which partial gastrectomy was performed, gender, age, helicobacter pylori infection, Epstein Barr virus infection and the presence of vagotomy. All the authors have significantly contributed to the article and have been involved in the writing of the manuscript in draft and any revision stages, and have read and approved the final version.


Short-term load forecasting is essential to the electricity pricing and stable power system operations. The conventional weekday 24-hour load forecasting algorithms consider the temperature model to forecast maximum load and minimum load. But 24-hour load pattern forecasting models do not consider temperature effects, because hourly temperature forecasts were not present until the latest date. Recently, 3 hour temperature forecast is announced, therefore hourly temperature forecasts can be produced by mathematical techniques such as various interpolation methods. In this paper, a new 24-hour load pattern forecasting method is proposed by using similar day search considering the hourly temperature. The proposed method searches similar day input data based on the anomalous weather features such as continuous temperature drop or rise, which can enhance 24-hour load pattern forecasting performance, because it uses the past days having similar hourly temperature features as input data. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, it was applied to the case study. The case study results show high accuracy of 24-hour load pattern forecasting.


In India historic forts have been attracting the attention of Indian and Western scholars in recent times. National and international heritage institutions like ICOFORT-ICOMOS (International Scientific Committee on Fortifications and Military Heritage – International Council on Monuments and Sites), ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and State Archaeology Departments are focusing on the study of these forts, aiming for their conservation.
This paper presents a history and analysis of Vijaydurg Fort, one of the Maratha Sea forts of the Konkan region of Maharashtra, built along the coastline of Arabian Sea from 1657 to 1740 C.E. Vijaydurg Fort was an important naval station during the Maratha rule in order to administer the southern part of the Konkan coastline.
This paper provides a brief review of the literature on Vijaydurg Fort, and an historical overview of it, and then focuses on a graphic record of the place that comprises maps from both the Maratha and British periods as well as drawings and paintings. The paper seeks to establish what this unique and significant graphic record contributes to an understanding of Vijaydurg Fort. Why was it located where it was, what factors affected its design and its evolution, and why did it maintain its importance over time despite change in the ruling dynasties?
The paper shows that Vijaydurg Fort was strategically placed, given the cultural and maritime context, and that the design of the fort has evolved as per the requirements of each ruler and the activities carried out in and around it. Today the fort is accessed only from land, but the design and shape, including the proximity of gates and bastions to the inner built forms, convey its former maritime purpose. The fort was certainly placed at a strategic location using the natural features and it has evolved and undergone physical changes with the changing dynasties. The amendments mostly dealt with expansion and strengthening with smart defence mechanism aimed at safeguarding the trade and maritime activity of the region.


The texture of paper is a very important matter when it is printed upon. And the texture of paper rgreatly influences the quality of printing.The reproducibility of printing is influenced by the microscopic roughness of paper. It is possible to determine it rather accurately by using a Bekk's smoothness tester, a roughness tester of stylus type, or a printing quality tester.Gloss, density, and receptivity of ink are influenced by the texture of microscopic roughness which is the thickness of ink. In addition, the roughness can be determined indirectly by air or oil permeability, and directly by the blue ink wiping test or by using a pneumatic roughness tester (Denso-Aspero-Meter).The vehicle absorption rate of the paper does not always influence the gloss of the printing. The microscopic roughness determines the gloss of printing if it is in mono-color, however, if the pape ris printed in multi-color pH does determine the gloss of printing.And crystalization, mottling and chalking have no relation to velosity of the vehicle absorption when paper is printed actually in the pressroom, otherwise they might have a relation when paper is printed experimentally in the laboratory.


Hierarchical 3D nanocomposite electrodes with tube brush-like morphology are synthesized by electrochemically depositing polypyrrole (PPY) on carbon nanopetal (CNP) coated carbon fibers (CFs). Initially CNPs are synthesized on CF substrate by chemical vapour deposition. The CNPs synthesized on CF (CNPCF) are further used as an electrically conducting large surface area bearing template for the electropolymerization of PPY in order to fabricate CNPCF-PPY nanocomposite electrodes for supercapacitors (SCs). The CF in CNPCF-PPY nanocomposite functions as (i) a mechanical support for the CNPs, (ii) a current collector for the SC cell and also (iii) to prevent the agglomeration of CNPs within the CNPCF-PPY nanocomposite. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy are used to examine the surface morphology of CNPCF-PPY nanocomposites. The chemical structure of the nanocomposites is analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to understand the chemical bonding states of the hierarchical CNPCF-PPY nanocomposites. The electrochemical properties of symmetric type CNPCF-PPY SC cells are examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements. The hierarchical CNPCF-PPY SC exhibits a maximum gravimetric capacitance of 280.4 F g(-1) and an area specific capacitance of 210.3 mF cm(-2) at a current density of 0.42 mA cm(-2). The CNPCF-PPY SC cell exhibits good cycling stability of more than 5000 cycles. The present study proclaims the development of a novel lightweight SC with high-performance.


Continuous-wave tunable laser operation all-solid-state Cr4+:Mg2SiO4 (Cr:forsterite) and Cr4+:Ca2GeO4 (Cunyite) has been demonstrated. A master oscillator power amplifier semiconductor diode laser was utilized to pump both Cnforsterite and Cunyite. Diode-pumped Cnforsterite was tunable over the 1236-1300-nm spectral range, generating a maximum output of 10 mW at 1260 nm for 640 mW of pump power absorbed by the crystal. Diode-pumped Cunyite was also demonstrated. A maximum output power of 20mW was measure at 1420 nm and the observed tuning range was 1390–1473. A fiber laser was also used to pump Cunyite. A maximum output power of 240 mW was measure from the Cunyite laser for 2.6 W absorbed pump power.


The salting-out effect produced by the addition of potassium phosphate, K3PO4 to aqueous solutions of water-miscible ionic liquids, viz. 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methyl sulfate, or 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (alkyl = butyl, octyl or decyl) is investigated. The effects are analyzed using both the corresponding temperature–composition pseudo-binary and composition ternary phase diagrams. Different regions of liquid-liquid and solid-liquid phase demixing are mapped. The phase behavior is interpreted taking into account the complex and competing nature of the interactions between the ionic liquid, the inorganic salt and water. In the case of solutions containing 1-octyl- or 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, the smaller magnitude of the salting-out effects is explained in terms of the possibility of self-aggregation of the ionic liquid.


The cochlear dead regions are common exist in the case of moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss. Patients with dead regions have demonstrated poor understanding of speech in noise and report less satisfaction with hearing aids than patients with no dead regions. Dead regions are assumed to occur if a hearing-impaired listener can be shown to be using off-place listening. A correctly diagnosed dead regions facilitates accurate and informed aural rehabilitation.


It is prerequisite for the pre‐operative management of patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) to avoid the factors that increase pulmonary vascular resistance, because such patients easily fall into the state of persistent fetal circulation (PFC). In this paper, a new protocol is proposed for the perinatal management of CDH patients to prevent the PFC which is facilitated by the enlargement of hernia and the deviation of mediastinum caused by spontaneous breathing just after birth. We also describe the usefulness of this protocol based on our experience in which we successfully treated a patient with CDH with severe hypoplastic lungs that were diagnosed antenatally by ultrasonographic examination. In treating the CDH patient with severe hypoplastic lungs, it is effective for the respiratory control and the prevention of PFC to administer morphine and pancuronium to the neonate through the umbilical vein before the resection of the umbilical cord. In the case of Cesarean section, in addition to the direct administration of morphine to the patient, administration of morphine to the patient's mother just before the delivery is more effective to prevent PFC, which can be easily induced by the initial resuscitation at birth.


ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a virulent pathogen and a major causative agent of superficial and invasive skin and soft tissue infections (SSSTIs). Antibiotic resistance in S. aureus, among other bacterial pathogens, has rapidly increased, and this is placing an enormous burden on the health care sector and has serious implications for infected individuals, especially immunocompromised patients. Alternative treatments thus need to be explored to continue to successfully treat infections caused by S. aureus, including antibiotic-resistant strains of S. aureus. In this study, an antimicrobial nanofiber wound dressing was generated by electrospinning nisin (Nisaplin) into poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(d,l-lactide) (50:50) blend nanofibers. Active nisin diffused from the nanofiber wound dressings for at least 4 days in vitro, as shown by consecutive transfers onto plates seeded with strains of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The nisin-containing nanofiber wound dressings significantly reduced S. aureus Xen 36 bioluminescence in vivo and viable cell numbers in a murine excisional skin infection model. The bacterial burden of wounds treated with nisin-containing nanofiber wound dressings was 4.3 × 102 CFU/wound, whereas wounds treated with control nanofiber wound dressings had 2.2 × 107 CFU/wound on the last day of the trial (day 7). Furthermore, the wound dressings stimulated wound closure of excisional wounds, and no adverse effects were observed by histological analysis. Nisin-containing nanofiber wound dressings have the potential to treat S. aureus skin infections and to potentially accelerate wound healing of excisional wounds.


This investigation synthesizes the theories of energy transport and gravitational compaction of sediment to develop a deterministic model capable of generating pore-fluid pressure, porosity, and temperature distributions throughout the accumulation of basin sediment. Abnormal pore-fluid pressures develop with increasing rates of sediment accumulation and decreasing hydraulic diffusivity. Sediment temperature distributions depart from typical linear profiles characteristic of steady-state conduction and have increasing rates of sediment accumulation and decreasing hydraulic diffusivity. A comparison of model output with data from the Gulf of Mexico geosyncline demonstrates that gross fluid pressure, porosity, and temperature distributions are explained by the model. Lateral movement of pore fluid to faults in combination with lithically induced hydraulic and thermal parameter variations explain cases of departure from the general patterns. Sediment in the Gulf of Mexico geosyncline may have been subjected to abnormal pressure since Cretaceous time; sediment presently in the near offshore may now be at its maximum pore-fluid pressure and minimum temperature at any given depth.


GRADUATE VOICES: THE NEXUS BETWEEN LEARNING AND WORK The aim of this study is to inform curriculum change in the mathematical sciences at university level. This study examines the transition to professional work after gaining a degree in the mathematical sciences. Communication is used as the basis for the analysis of the transition because of the importance of language choices in work situations. These experiences form part of the capabilities that become part of a person's potential to work as a professional. I found a subtle form of power and, of the opposite, lack of power due to communication skills. It is not as obvious as in, say, politics but it is just as critical to graduates and to the mathematical sciences. There were 18 participants in the study who were graduates within five years of graduation with majors in the mathematical sciences. In-depth interviews were analysed using phenomenography and examples of text from the workplace were analysed using discourse analysis. Descriptions of the process of gaining employment and the use of mathematical discourse have been reported in the thesis using narrative style with extensive quotes from the participants. The research shows that graduates had three qualitatively different conceptions of mathematical discourse when communicating with a non-mathematical audience: jargon, concepts/thinking and strength. All participants modified their use of technical terms when communicating with nonmathematicians. Those who held the jargon conception tried to simplify the language in order to explain the mathematics to their audience. Those who held the concepts/thinking conception believed that the way of thinking or the ideas were too difficult to communicate and instead their intention with mathematical discourse was to inspire or sell their ability to work with the mathematics. The strength conception considers the ethical responsibility to communicate the consequences of mathematical decisions. Not one of the participants believed that they had been taught communication skills as part of their degree. Participants gained a 'mathematical identity' from their studies and acquiring a degree gave them confidence and a range of problem-solving skills. Recommendations are made about changes in university curriculum to ensure that graduates are empowered to make a high-quality transition to the workplace and be in a position to use their mathematical skills. Mathematical skills are necessary but not sufficient for a successful transition to the workplace. Without the ability to communicate, graduates are unable to release the strength of their knowledge. TABLE OF CONTENTS


Software Defined internet eXchange Points (SDXs) are a promising solution to the long-standing limitations and problems of interdomain routing. While proposed SDX architectures have improved the scalability of the control plane, these solutions have ignored the underlying fabric upon which they should be deployed. This work makes the case for a new fabric architecture that proposes stronger control and data plane separation.


The calibration of an electronic compass using angular-rate information from low-cost micro-electromechanical systems gyroscopes is presented. The calibration procedure requires turning the compass through a full circle and only a single reference heading measurement. The method used for the calibration should preserve the high accuracy of existing methods, while simplifying the calibration procedure. The deviation of the new method from the standard calibration method should be less than 1°. We have shown that the proposed method fulfills this requirement.


A diagnosis was developed in the context social and environmental of the city Campo Limpo Paulista and region, for the creation of an incubator destined for the development of social entrepreneurs and technical support to the businessmen of the small sized company. Was based on empirical research carried out in accordance with grounded theory. The present survey there was consulted residents of the region, tourists and made an inventory of the infrastructure of native resources, cultural, historical, economic and social of the city. The results of the inquiry provided subsidies to the projection of the local sustainable development, centered in the creation of a social incubator, of installment of technical services to the entrepreneurs of the region.


Objective: The general objective of this study is to characterize the migrant population present in Dakar, and to test the existence in Senegal of the Healthy Migrant Hypothesis and the Convergence Hypothesis. Methods: This study was carried out in 2015 on a population sample of 1000 individuals living in Dakar, constructed using the quota method. Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, migratory status and self-rated health of individuals were collected during face-to-face interviews. Statistical analyses used were Chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions. Results: Show that internal migrants 40% of the study population. The migrant population is older than the Dakar population, and predominantly urban. Migration status, in terms of place of birth, is not associated to self-rated health. But residing in Dakar for at least 10 years significantly increases the risk of declaring oneself to be in poor health. Conclusion: The analysis showed that the geographical origin of individuals was not a determining variable in the analysis of the links between migration and health. But the duration of residence in Dakar offers better results. The Healthy Migrant Hypothesis does not apply to internal Senegalese migration. On the other hand, the health of migrants declines after 10 years of residence in Dakar, which follows the same logic as the convergence hypothesis.


The first and second isotopic difference methods of neutron diffraction have been applied to solutions of 2 molal NiCl2 in H2O and 1.8 molal NiCl2 in D2O. The results were used to obtain the radial pair distribution functions gClH(r) and gClO(r). Analysis of these functions shows that Cl- is coordinated to 6.4(3) water molecules at near-neighbour Cl-H(1), Cl-O and Cl-H(2) distances of 2.28(3) AA, 3.1(1) AA and 3.7(1) AA respectively. The data transcend those obtained in previous studies, which were carried out only at the level of the first difference, and so provide a sharper test of theoretical results obtained from computer simulation or integral equations.


—To provide fully immersive mobile experiences, next-generation touristic services will rely on the high bandwidth and low latency provided by the 5G networks and the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) paradigm. Recommendation algorithms, being integral part of travel planning systems, devise personalized tour itineraries for a user considering the popularity of the Points of Interest (POIs) of a city as well as the tourist preferences and constraints. However, in the context of next-generation touristic services, recommendation algorithms should also consider the applications (e.g., augmented reality) the tourist will consume in the POIs and the quality in which such applications will be delivered by the MEC infrastructure. In this paper, we address the joint problem of recommending personalized tour itineraries for tourists and efficiently allocating MEC resources for advanced touristic applications. We formulate an optimization problem that maximizes the itinerary score of individual tourists, while optimizing the resource allocation at the network edge. We then propose an exact algorithm that quickly solves the problem optimally considering instances of realistic size. Finally, we evaluate our algorithm using a real dataset extracted from Flickr. Results demonstrate gains up to 100% in the resource allocation and user experience in comparison with a state-of-the-art solution.


The human and canine renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-systems (RAAS) play a central role in the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure (CHF), justifying the use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors inhibitors (ACEi) in this indication. Seminal studies in canine CHF had suggested that the pharmacological action of benazepril was relatively independent of doses > 0.25 mg/kg P.O, thereby providing a rationale for the European label dose of 0.25 mg/kg P.O q24h in dogs with cardiovascular diseases. However, most of these earlier studies on benazepril pharmacodynamics relied on measures of ACE activity – a sub-optimal endpoint to characterize the effect of benazepril on the RAAS. Nonlinear mixed-effects (NLME) modeling is an established framework for characterizing the effect of therapeutics on complex biological systems, such as the RAAS cascade. Importantly for therapeutic schedule optimization, one can use such a model to predict the outcomes of various hypothetical dosing schedules via simulation. The objectives of this study were (i) to expand on previous NLME modeling efforts of the dose-exposure-response relationship of benazepril on biomarkers of the RAAS which are relevant to CHF pathophysiology and disease prognosis {angiotensins I, II, III, IV, (1-7)} by using a quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) modeling approach; and (ii) to develop a software implementation of the model capable of simulating clinical trials in benazepril in dogs bedside dose optimization. This study expands on previous modeling efforts to characterize the changes in RAAS pharmacodynamics in response to benazepril administration and showcase how QSP modeling can be used for efficient dose optimization of ACEis at the bedside. Our results suggest that 0.5 mg/kg PO q12h of benazepril produced the most robust reduction in AngII and upregulation of RAAS alternative pathway biomarkers. This model will eventually be expanded to include relevant clinical endpoints, which will be evaluated in an upcoming prospective trial in canine patients with CHF. Author Summary Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a disease of the heart, common to both dogs and humans, where the heart is not healthy enough to pump blood around the body efficiently. Because the blood isn't moving around the body as efficiently, it tends to get congested in various areas of the body and increases strain on the heart. Benazepril is a drug for CHF used in both dogs and humans to reduce congestion and improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Although benazepril is effective, there's evidence that suggests the dosing could be improved if the therapeutic was further studied. In this experiment, we tested benazepril at several safe dosages in well-cared for and healthy dogs to collect data on the relationship between dose size, dosing frequency, and effect on the cardiovascular system. Using this data, we built computer models of benazepril to simulate many clinical trials. By studying these simulations, we were able to make several predictions about the optimal dosing schedule of benazepril in dogs. We've also built a web-app version of the computer model for veterinary researchers to use, modify, and study. This work also provides a platform and roadmap for optimizing benazepril dosages in human CHF.


ASCT has been reported as a feasible, safe and effective treatment in HIV associated lymphoma patients (pts) receiving Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). Nevertheless comparative studies with HIV− lymphoma population have not yet been performed. We present a retrospective matched analysis comparing clinical outcomes in both HIV+ and HIV− auto-transplanted HL pts.

Patients and Methods: 6 HIV+ HL pts who underwent ASCT since June 2000 were included. Twelve transplanted HIV− HL auto-transplanted pts were selected as controls. Both groups (HIV+ vs HIV−) were comparable for the most relevant clinical features (Mann-Whitney or chi-square tests p value > 0.05): median age (40 vs 36), Ann Arbor advanced stage (50% vs 25%), status at ASCT (CR>1 or PR, 83% vs 75%), all 18 pts received 2 lines of chemotherapy before ASCT. BEAM was used as conditioning regimen in all 18 pts. In the HIV+ group HAART was maintained during mobilization and ASCT, except during the conditioning in 1 Pt, in which it was needed to be resumed due to an increase in viral load. The median number of infused CD34+ cells/kg was 3,65×106 in HIV+ pts and 4,75×106 CD34+ in HIV− pts (p: NS). G-CSF was used in all HIV+ pt until engraftment starting at a median of 5 days (d) after ASCT.

Results: All 18 pts engrafted, at a median of 13,5 (9–29) d after ASCT in HIV+ pts and 14 (11–18) d in HIV- pts. The incidence of acute infectious and toxic events was not different in both groups. All pts developed neutropenic fever. Documented infections were (HIV+ vs HIV−): Gram+ bacteraemia (2 vs 3), Gram− bacteraemia (1 vs 0), CMV antigenemia (2 vs 1). Pneumonia was documented in one pt from each group. One HIV+ pt showed grade II liver toxicity and grade II renal toxicity occurred in 1 HIV− pt. All events were succesfully resolved. In 4 out of 6 HIV+ pts, HAART was withdrawn due to gastrointestinal toxicity. The median follow-up time was 36,5 mo in HIV+ pts and 37,5 mo in HIV− pts. Two pts relapsed in each group. Within the HIV+ group 1 pt died, due to disease progression. Within the HIV− group 3 pts died, 2 of disease progression and 1 due to post-ASCT secondary acute leukaemia. The OS at 36 mo was 83% for HIV+ pts and 80% for HIV− pts (p=NS). EFS at 36 mo was 55% in HIV+ pts and 70% in HIV− pt (p=NS).

Conclusions: Our results show that clinical outcomes are comparable in HIV+ and HIV− HL pts undergoing ASCT. Engraftment, complication events and survival were not different. ASCT may be applied with guarantees in HIV associated HL on HAART pts in a similar way that in the HIV− setting.


Summary
It is shown that the lowermost deposits at Helton Tarn and at the former lake near Witherslack Hall, Westmorland, date from Late-glacial times and that zones I, II and III correspond roughly to layers of laminated clay, clay mud, and clay, respectively. There is little evidence for solifluction in zone III. Pollen analysis reveals a Late-glacial flora comparable with floras of similar date which have already been described. A minor oscillation, in which herb pollen becomes predominant over tree and shrub pollen, occurs at both sites during zone II. At Helton Tarn some of the pollen types characteristic of the Late-glacial period occur sporadically until Boreal and Atlantic time; at both sites pollen of those weed and ruderal types which are plentiful in the early deposits constantly recurs throughout Post-glacial time.

Stratigraphical and pollen analytical evidence suggests that at the maximum of the early Post-glacial marine transgression, the sea overflowed a rock bar that is now at about + 5 m. O.D. into the Helton Tarn basin and laid down a layer of clay during the earliest part of Atlantic time.

In contrast to the findings of Walker (1955a), at the sites investigated, Finns appears to have been relatively successful in Boreal time and Tilia pollen, although not appearing until early Atlantic time, is present in quantity throughout most of post-Boreal time. The relatively high proportion of Tilia pollen suggests that the lime was growing as far north as southern Westmorland in post-Boreal time.

At the opening of the Sub-boreal period, at the first decline of Ulmus pollen, the presence of small amounts of Plantago lanceolata pollen is taken to indicate the first agricultural activity in the region.


We investigate experimentally the up- and downstream flow around an insulating cylinder in a conducting fluid subjected to an aligned magnetic field for low values of the magnetic Reynolds number Rm. For high values of the Alfvén number α = B0/U0(ρμ0)½ the upstream flow is characterized by magnetic and kinematic wakes. In this configuration we have measured, for the first time, the local values of the induced magnetic field. The results were analysed in a confined situation and show that the Oseen number k = ½Rm(1-α2) is the main parameter that characterizes the perturbation. In the downstream flow the two fields of perturbations (magnetic and kinetic) are characterized by von Kármán eddies. Our experiments were focused on the evolution of these eddies and show in particular that the critical Reynolds number increases strongly with the intensity of the magnetic field.