Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations to have arisen, becoming the cradle of scientific enquiry and social development over 3 millennia; undoubtedly its knowledge of medicine has been vastly underestimated. Few artefacts survive which describe the medical organization, but from the extent of the diseases afflicting that ancient populus there would have been much to study. Evidence from papyri, tomb bas reliefs and the writings of historians of antiquity tell of an intense interest in the sciences, humanities and medicine born of an educated society which had overcome the superstitions of its nomadic ancestors.


One of the long-standing problems in carbon-ion therapy is the monitoring of the treatment, i.e. of the delivered dose to a given tissue volume within the patient. Over the last 8 years, in-beam positron emission tomography (PET) has been used at the experimental carbon ion treatment facility at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) Darmstadt and has become a valuable quality assurance tool. In order to determine and evaluate the correct delivery of the patient dose, a simulation of the positron emitter distribution has been compared to the measurement. One particular effect is the blurring as well as the reduction of the measured activity distribution via washout. The objective of this study is the investigation of tissue dependent effective half-lives from patient data. We find no significant dependence of the effective half-life on the Hounsfield unit but on the local dose. The biological half-life within the high dose region is longer than in the low dose region. Furthermore, the influence of the overall treatment time on the kinetics of the positron emitter is reported. There are indications for a metabolic response of the tissue on the irradiation. Taking into account the biological half-life in the simulation leads to an improvement of the quality of the PET-images in some cases.


The Lisbon Treaty brought about a reform of the 'identity clause' now contained in Article 4(2) Treaty on European Union (TEU). Among other things, it introduced a specific reference to the local and regional dimension of Member States' national identities. This article assesses what this new provision implies and how it was used by courts during the first decade following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. This allows conducting a general reflection on the role and standing of regions within the EU under that Treaty. This article claims that, on the one hand, the specific mention of the local and regional dimension was already inherent to Member States' national identity and that, therefore, it has not resulted in any dramatic change in the standing of sub-national entities, as is also visible in the case law to date. On the other hand, it underlines the EU's ambivalent attitude towards sub-national entities, and national institutional structures generally, and calls for the implementation of pragmatic solutions to improve the functioning of the EU's multilevel governance structure.
Constitutional identity, European Union, sub-national entities, regions, regional blindness


OBJECTIVES An ontology is being developed to model quantitative research datasets stored in social science data repositories, to support researchers to discover and reuse datasets. An increasing number of universities are embarking on research data management, including encouraging faculty members to develop data management plans, and building institutional data repositories to support the preservation and reuse of research data from their faculty members and research staff. Different disciplines generate different types of research data (e.g., quantitative, qualitative textual data, audio, video, and images). It is challenging to reuse quantitative social science datasets. Users need to make substantial intellectual effort to understand the meaning of the variables and values in the datasets: Different researchers may name variables referring to the same or similar concepts differently. Alternatively, variables with the same name may refer to different concepts. Relationships between variables may not be readily apparent. Users may need to read accompanying documentation closely to understand them. The unit of measure or scale for numeric values may not be stored with the dataset. The semantics of categorical values may not be obvious to the user. Thus, there is a need for studying the issues of knowledge organization and representation of quantitative social science research data to support data reuse. The knowledge organization scheme needs to represent the structure and semantics of datasets and data values accurately. METHODS We have collected a sample of datasets and associated survey questionnaires from two well-known social science data repositories (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research & UK Data Archive), and analysed their content and structure to harvest requirements for accurately and comprehensively representing datasets. MAIN RESULTS Based on the requirements, we developed a framework for modelling datasets, represented as an upper-level ontology. A diagram summarizing the framework is in the attachment. This section describes the framework. Firstly, we propose to divide a dataset into two perspectives: physical description and conceptual description . Physically, adopting the terminology of relational database theory (Date, 2000), a dataset is made up of one or more relation values (i.e. data tables), each with two parts – a heading and a body: The heading is a set of {attribute-name (i.e. column-name):type-name (i.e. datatype)} pairs, such as {"Gender":"Integer"}. The type-name component is to represent the fact that each attribute is associated with a simple datatype (e.g., integer, character string, and date), meaning that the values in the attribute are members of a datatype. The body is a set of tuples (i.e. rows or records) that conform to the heading. Each tuple contains exactly one value for each attribute. Tuples are distinguished by having unique values in the primary key header (i.e. unique identifier), such as {"ID", 001}. A relation value is stored in a tabular file format physically (e.g., spss, csv, and sas). But this physical file is not what we refer to as physical description. A physical file is what can be downloaded and that can be in different file formats. The physical description of a dataset refers to a higher-level representation of the physical file – the heading and the body of a relation value, regardless of the order of attributes and tuples, or the medium of storage. In this study, when we look at a dataset from its physical perspective, we refer to its physical description rather than its physical file format. Conceptually, a dataset is a collection of variable-value pairs related to a set of objects of study (often referred to in social science research as subjects, participants and respondents). The objects of study can be at different levels of granularity (e.g., individual persons, a group of people, an individual organization, or a group of organizations). The variable-value pairs represent concepts in a particular domain. We call it the conceptual description – the representation of the variable-value pairs as domain concepts for recording the characteristics of the study objects. The separation of dataset representation into the conceptual and physical perspective is to support dataset reuse. The conceptual description represents information in a way that relates to users' information need. We assume that users searching and browsing in a data repository would be overwhelmed if presented immediately with the tabular datasets. They are more interested in finding information about the objects of study (represented in the dataset), and the variables in the dataset that are related to social science research concepts. The physical description is needed for statistical analysis and data mining. Thus, we propose that in the data repository, users should firstly be shown the dataset's conceptual description ; the physical description is provided only if users request. To link the conceptual description to the physical description, we defined a rdf:Property hasPhysicalRepresentation , as shown in the attached framework. To represent the semantics of datasets, the conceptual description need to be linked to an ontology. Both variables and variable values need to be mapped to concepts in the ontology (e.g. Gender:male|female). Concepts of social science variables and their value are collected from the sampled questionnaire, and are organized into an ontology with two classes – Class:Concept_Variable and Class:Concept_VariableValue . Both of them have subclasses and: Class:Concept_Variable  have subclasses such as Class:Sex . Class:Concept_VariableValue has subclasses such as Class:Male and Class:Female . There are relationships between these subclasses, as shown in the attached framework. We defined a rdf:Property hasConceptValue to link subclasses of Class:Concept_Variable and those of Class:Concept_VariableValue. For a particular dataset, its variables are instances of the ontology Class:Concept_Variable, and its variable values are instances of the Class:Concept_VariableValue. In this way, the semantics of a dataset is assigned by linking its conceptual description to the ontology. CONCLUSIONS This paper will present the knowledge organization framework and issues encountered in organizing and representing datasets using the framework. The ontology is described in the OWL2 language, and stored in the graph database system Neo4j. An visualization interface is being developed to support users in browsing the ontology and dataset metadata – to understand the structure and semantic content of the datasets. Practically, the framework developed in this study is expected to be easily adapted and adopted by data repositories storing quantitative datasets. Theoretically, we will contribute to the knowledge organization and knowledge representation of social science quantitative data, by identifying high-level concepts and relations that are frequently found in social science quantitative research.


Equations of motion and the Lagrangian formalism for extended objects coupled to Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields are developed. These equations are minimal generalizations of the corresponding equations for point particles. It is seen that the string superconducts when it couples to an Abelian gauge field. Further, in this case, (a) the total charge on it is quantized, and (b) the total magnetic flux through it is quantized and conserved if it is closed and no segment of it is electrically neutral. The Lagrangians which lead to the equations of motion are not unique. Here, for a suitable Lagrangian, property (a) emerges at the classical level, the total charge being a topological invariant which labels the elements of ${\ensuremath{\pi}}_{1}[\mathrm{U}(1)]$. Both of these properties partially generalize to other extended objects and non-Abelian gauge fields. It is pointed out that for some Lagrangians, extended objects may have topological invariants (the analogs of total charge) for any gauge group. Supersymmetric extensions of the interaction Lagrangians are also outlined. For a point particle, such an extension correctly describes a spin-half particle in an Abelian or a non-Abelian gauge field.


Bold, sophisticated, engaging, and startlingly modern, Buncheong ceramics emerged as a distinct Korean art form in the 15th and 16th centuries, only to be eclipsed on its native ground for more than 400 years by the overwhelming demand for porcelain. Elements from the Buncheong idiom were later revived in Japan, where its spare yet sensual aesthetic was much admired and where descendants of Korean potters lived and worked. This innovative study features 60 masterpieces from the renowned Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, as well as objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and presents current scholarship on Buncheong's history, manufacture, use, and overall significance. "Modern Tradition" illustrates why this historical art form continues to resonate with contemporary Japanese ceramicists and Korean artists as they reclaim an ancient national tradition.


The morphology, anatomy and histology of the organs concerned with capture and digestion of food ofthe canine catfish-eel, Plotosus canius Hamilton, have been described. It shows a primitive organisation of digestive organs in the presence of only one type of secretory cell in the gastric glands and diffused pancreatic cells, embedded within the intrahepatic cells. The study indicates the species to be a carnivore with characters of both primitive, as well as, developed carnivorous nature. While discussing, the structural peculiarities observed, have been correlated with type of food generally encountered in the gut of the species.


A multi-carrier code division multiple access system with a frequency domain RAKE receiver is described. We compare multi-carrier and direct sequence CDMA systems using frequency and time domain RAKE receivers in the downlink of a mobile cellular system. No guard interval or interleaving is used in our multi-carrier system and in this way the multi-carrier and direct sequence systems occupy the same bandwidth. The modulation scheme is differential phase shift keying. The results are presented as received bit error rates from Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations are conducted in a multipath channel with Rayleigh fading characterised by a 300 Hz classical Doppler spectrum with additive white Gaussian noise. In the multipath fading channel the performance of the direct sequence CDMA system is superior to the multi-carrier CDMA RAKE receiver for multiple users using the architectures described.


Compared with the relay protection devices located in traditional substation, the protection devices used in smart substation based on IEC61850 are different under hardware structure and signal processing. Electromagnetic instrument transformers are replaced by electronic transformers with digital outputs, and hard-wiring control cables are displaced by optical fibers to transmit switch information and control commands. Besides, some communication networks are built for information sharing. Adopting the digital acquisition equipment, fiber communication and information network will undoubtedly affect the relay protection's action performance and may expand the functions to a certain extent. In this paper, the structure scheme of a smart substation was introduced firstly. Then, the technical characteristics of the electronic transformer and communication network technologies were analyzed, and their impacts on the operation performance and functional expansion of the relay protection installed in the substation's bay level were studied. According to the analysis results, it is founded that, applying the electronic instrument transformer can help to enhance the relay protection's reliability and simplify its hardware configuration, and constructing the communication network can contribute to achieve the integrated protection and substation area protection. In addition, a few application problems existed in the electronic transformer and communication network were briefly discussed.


Real world data on the cardiovascular (CV) safety and effectiveness of linagliptin (LINA) complement trial data from CARMELINA, which showed CV safety, and CAROLINA (results pending). As part of a 5-year (05/2011-12/2016) post-marketing monitoring program, using 2 large insurance claims databases, we assessed the risk of a composite CV (cCV) outcome (hospitalization for myocardial infarction, stroke, unstable angina, or coronary revascularization). We identified three 1:1 propensity score (PS)-matched cohorts of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who initiated linagliptin or a comparator [other DPP-4is (n=39,834 pairs), pioglitazone (PIO; n=29,646 pairs), or sulfonylureas (SU; n=25,285 pairs). We estimated pooled HR and 95% CI controlling for over 180 baseline characteristics. After PS-matching, patient characteristics were similar (Table 1) and mean follow-up was 0.8 years. LINA had a similar risk of the cCV outcome compared to other DPP-4is [HR (95% CI) = 0.90 (0.80-1.02)] and PIO [HR (95% CI) = 0.99 (0.86-1.13)], but was associated with a reduced risk compared to SU [HR (95% CI) = 0.77 (0.66-0.90)] (Table 1). Results were robust across numerous sensitivity analyses. These real-world data show that LINA has reassuring effectiveness and safety on a cCV outcome compared to other DPP-4is and PIO, and is associated with a decreased risk compared to SU. Disclosure E. Patorno: Research Support; Self; National Institute on Aging. Other Relationship; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH. C. Gopalakrishnan: None. M. Mahesri: None. K.G. Brodovicz: Employee; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. D. Bartels: Employee; Self; BI X GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH. A. Meyers: Employee; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. J. Barberio: None. J. Liu: None. S. Schneeweiss: Consultant; Self; Aetion, WHISCON, LLC. Funding Boehringer Ingelheim


Goals To compare the healthcare resource consumption of patients who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with an age-, gender-, and comorbidity-matched cohort of patients without IBS from a managed care perspective. Study Retrospective cohort analysis. Data were obtained electronically through the Henry Ford Health System corporate data warehouse. Patients with IBS were eligible if they had at least one primary diagnosis of irritable colon (ICD-9-CM 564.1). The control cohort was identified from an age, gender, and comorbidity population-matched (5:1) sample. The index date for the IBS and control cohorts was defined as the first initial diagnosis and first clinical encounter in 1998, respectively. The charges per patient by resource use type were collected for the 12 months before and after the index date. Results A total of 501 patients with IBS and 2505 controls fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria (70% female, 58% between 40 and 65 years). The IBS cohort, before the IBS diagnosis, had significantly higher total charges (p < 0.001), drug charges (p < 0.001), and outpatient charges (p < 0.001) than the control cohort. During the postindex (postdiagnosis period), the patients with IBS had higher total charges (p < 0.006), outpatient charges (p < 0.022), and drug charges (p < 0.001) than the control population. The control cohort had higher procedure charges (p < 0.001) during both periods. Conclusions Patients with an IBS diagnosis represent a substantial cost to managed care before and after the diagnosis of IBS. Costs associated with these patients result mainly from non-IBS conditions. Further research is warranted to identify these patients earlier, and to prevent the economic burden associated with them.


Objective: The aim of this study is to review clinical trials using Qigong exercise on patients with hypertension and to assess their methodology and results. Method: Electronic literature searches for clinical trials of Qigong exercise were performed in 21 electronic databases (5 international databases and 16 Korean databases). English, Korean or Chinese articles were included. Laboratory or animal studies were excluded. Results: A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Five randomized controlled trials, Four non-randomized trials and two before-after studies were included. Seven studies used self-developed Qigong exercise. Two studies used Guolin Qigong exercise and two studies used Qigong exercise with an anti-hypertension drug. Of the nine randomized trials or non-randomized trials, four studies used an anti-hypertension drug control and three studies used waiting list controls. Compared to baseline, a change in blood pressure after the Qigong exercise treatment was significant in all studies. However, the results effect of blood pressure between Qigong exercise and controlled trials were not consistent. Conclusion: There are low-quality clinical trials of Qigong exercise for hypertension. To evaluate the effects of Qigong exercise, more rigorous trials are warranted.


A series of experiments with undergraduate management students was conducted to examine the behavioral effects of situations with dual discrimination in an incentive compensation scheme. Subjects were randomly assigned to a disadvantaged or advantaged status and simultaneously were discriminated for or against, in a two-person tournament. A game theoretic model was used to predict the choices subjects in the two conditions of dual discrimination would make if they attempted to maximize monetary outcomes. Results indicated that while the theory of tournaments was capable of predicting the pattern of results, subjects tended to expend more effort than predicted. The implications of these results for the theory and for public policy are discussed. 01590


Atrophic gastritis, mainly the consequence of long-standing Helicobacter pylori infection, is linked to the development of gastric cancer. In the case of atrophic gastritis, severity may be mainly related to the lifetime risk of the single patient to develop gastric cancer, mostly in relation to the degree and extension of mucosal damage. As atrophic gastritis is the result of complex multifactorial interactions, the application of artificial neural networks is promising and may be useful for the identification of those patients with atrophic gastritis at higher risk for gastric malignancies. The experience of application of artificial neural networks in atrophic gastritis is still scarce. The available data suggest that these systems may contribute to identify patients with corporal metaplastic atrophic gastritis and to optimize bioptic sampling during gastroscopy.


Liver transplantation (LT) candidates often present with poor oral hygiene, which could potentially lead to systemic infections and sepsis owing to their cirrhotic state. In this study, we investigated the oral health status of LT candidates and propose guidance for the detection and treatment of encountered oral lesions among these patients. The decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index was determined through oral examination. The presence of dental calculus was detected using panoramic radiography and defined by the radiopaque dental calculus (RDC). From January 2011 to August 2018, 56 LT candidates were enrolled with a median follow‐up of 39 months. The overall mean numbers of decayed, missing, and filled teeth among these patients were 2.7 ± 2.8, 10.9 ± 8.3, and 5.4 ± 4.5, respectively. Eighteen patients (32.1%) had RDC. The 5‐year survival rates of all 56 patients was 57.7%, while that of those who either received LT (23 patients) or not were 82.1% and 39.8%, respectively. A Cox regression model revealed better overall survival of patients after LT (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.067, p = 0.001), worse survival among patients with RDC (aHR = 3.468, p = 0.010), at Child–Pugh stages B and C (aHR for stage B = 11.889, p = 0.028; aHR for stage C = 19.257, p = 0.013) compared to patients at Child–Pugh stage A, and those with a model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) score ≥25 (aHR = 13.721, p = 0.018). This study demonstrates that RDC was associated with worse prognosis in LT candidates. We therefore recommend that interprofessional collaboration should be a routine preoperative procedure for the evaluation of oral hygiene among LT candidates.


I present a history of Kuhn's discovery of paradigms, one that takes account of the complexity of the discovery process. Rather than emerging fully formed in Structure, the concept paradigm emerged through a series of phases. Early criticism of Structure revealed that the role of paradigms was unclear. It was only as Kuhn responded to criticism that he finally articulated a precise understanding of the concept paradigm. In a series of publications in the 1970s, he settled on a conception of a paradigm as a concrete exemplar that functions as a guide to future research.


The global community is crossing planetary boundaries while it has not yet met the basic needs of at least one-third of the global population. Although governance systems are developing, they are still unable to adequately deal with current global environmental problems. This article assesses global green governance, inferring that it is reactive, incoherent and fragmented, lacks the tools to implement a systemic approach, is ad hoc rather than principled, is becoming politically charged, and may be unable to support the implementation of a green economy and cope with the societal changes expected by 2050. The article concludes that fragmentation of international environmental law and policy is inevitable, but that some degree of constitutionalization is necessary to provide a rule of law framework in an increasingly globalized, networked, multilevel world. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.


This paper presents a fuzzy logic control based new resonant dc-dc converter for higher boost ratio. As it is based on interleaved technique, we can enjoy the benefits such as low inductor ripple current and results in low current stress on the transformer and switches. A resonant circuit is added on the secondary side of the transformer which provides better boost ratio. The performance analysis is made with the operating principle for different duty ratios. Comparative analysis of the proposed converter is made with conventional PI controller and FUZZY logic controller for different input voltages. MATLAB/Simulink is used as simulation tool for the proposed circuit and the comparative analysis is presented.


This paper talks about the cloud computing that had come full circle toward logically centralised administrative domains and shared computational resources. Distributed computing, cluster computing, grid computing, and cloud computing are all terms that have developed over the past few years. Each is distinct from the others in some ways, but there's a great deal of overlap. A turn-of-the-century distributed computing application that has the right profile could easily have morphed through the series, proudly calling itself a cloud computing application today.


The current Modular Helium Reactor (MHR) fuel cycle uses fissile LEU (19.8 wt% U-235) and depleted uranium in separate TRISO particles, in a single fuel rod within a graphite matrix. The TRISO particle volume packing fraction (PF) in the fuel rods is 29%, of which the LEU particle PF is 62%. The lifetime between refuelings is about 476 effective full power days (EFPD). In this paper we assess the possibility of replacing the depleted uranium TRISO particles with thorium TRISO particles, and evaluate the impact of such replacement on fuel cycle length. A preliminary scoping study was performed to determine the most promising fuel rod/zoning configurations. The scoping study indicates that there is advantage to separating the thorium TRISO particles from the LEU particles at the fuel rod level instead of mixing them within a single rod. An axial checkerboard distribution of the fuel rods where all uranium and all thorium rods are interchangeable along the axial direction within the graphite block is the most promising configuration that was identified in this study and can be lead to a fuel cycle length extension of 50% to 80% relative to the current design, with only a modest increase in the fissile material loading (15%–20%). To this advantage can be added the benefit of a significant reduction in nuclear waste and in health risk. This study also lays the foundation for improving the fuel rod arrangement within the graphite block and the graphite blocks within the entire reactor core. The analysis is limited to a once-through fuel cycle based on in-situ fissioning of the U-233, without further separation and reprocessing.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


As now a days there are lot many software that are related to the bio-informatics and the acquisition of the data is very much easy. The improvement in the field of biology is very drastic that the data is even stored in various places. The paper discusses about the prediction health of the patients using various parameters that are given by the users. We are using various algorithms that were already available in order to achieve it. One of the major algorithm is the back propagation algorithm where the predicted rate of the software increases every time we use the software. There are already software's available, but the reliability and the feasibility of the software is very low comparatively. In this paper, we are discussing about two types of datasets that are structured and unstructured. Both of the types of data sets are accepted in the project.


Real-time control solutions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted great interest in recent years. Most existing control methods use Wi-Fi technology. While Wi-Fi is inexpensive and easy to use, it has only a limited transmission range. Thus, 4G/5G cellular networks have been proposed as an alternative enabling technology. This study focuses on the problem of improving the appropriateness of the control commands sent by the ground control station (GCS) to the UAV over the control and nonpayload communication (CNPC) link of the UAV through the cellular network. To satisfy the low-latency requirement of the CNPC link, multiaccess edge computing (MEC) technology is leveraged to collocate the GCS and base station. The effectiveness of the proposed edge-based approach is demonstrated by conducting experiments on two LTE platforms with different MEC deployment methods. An edge-enabled UAV control solution is proposed in which each end-to-end control delay in the UAV-GCS system is estimated based on the preceding delay such that the location of the UAV at the moment it receives the control command from the GCS can be predicted in advance and taken into consideration by the GCS when formulating an appropriate control decision. To this end, an analytical modeling method is proposed for estimating the expected error range of each control delay based on a bimodal distribution approximation of the empirical control delays observed at the UAV. Finally, an event-driven simulator is developed to confirm the accuracy of the analytical predictions of the control delay based on the expected error between consecutive delays.


The agricultural industry utilizes antibiotic growth promoters to promote livestock growth and health. However, the World Health Organization has raised concerns over the ongoing spread of antibiotic resistance transmission in the populace, leading to its subsequent ban in several countries, especially in the European Union. These restrictions have translated into an increase in pathogenic outbreaks in the agricultural industry, highlighting the need for an economically viable, non-toxic, and renewable alternative to antibiotics in livestock. Probiotics inhibit pathogen growth, promote a beneficial microbiota, regulate the immune response of its host, enhance feed conversion to nutrients, and form biofilms that block further infection. Commonly used lactic acid bacteria probiotics are vulnerable to the harsh conditions of the upper gastrointestinal system, leading to novel research using spore-forming bacteria from the genus Bacillus. However, the exact mechanisms behind Bacillus probiotics remain unexplored. This review tackles this issue, by reporting antimicrobial compounds produced from Bacillus strains, their proposed mechanisms of action, and any gaps in the mechanism studies of these compounds. Lastly, this paper explores omics approaches to clarify the mechanisms behind Bacillus probiotics.


Patients with multiple personality disorder (N = 102) at four different centers were interviewed with the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule. The presenting characteristics of the patients at all four centers were very similar. The clinical profile that emerged included a history of childhood physical and/or sexual abuse in 97 (95.1%) of the cases. The subjects reported an average of 15.2 somatic symptoms, 6.4 Schneiderian symptoms, 10.2 secondary features of the disorder, 5.2 borderline personality disorder criteria, and 5.6 extrasensory experiences; their average score on the Dissociative Experiences Scale was 41.4. The results indicate that multiple personality disorder has a stable, consistent set of features.


: This paper presents an unified chassis control with electronic stability control (ESC) and active front steering (AFS) under lateral force constraint on AFS. When generating the control yaw moment, an optimization problem is formulated in order to determine the tire forces, generated by ESC and AFS. With Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality condition, the optimum tire forces can be algebraically calculated. On low friction road, the lateral force in front wheels is easily saturation. When saturated, AFS cannot generate the required control yaw moment. To cope with this problem, new constraint on the lateral tire force is added into the original optimization problem. To check the effectiveness of the propose method, simulation is performed on the vehicle simulation package, CarSim.


In the paper a method for achieving the total static balancing of a linkage with two independent loops is presented. There are also analyzed two solutions for partial static balancing of the studied linkage. Finally, a series of results of the simulations performed in the studied balancing cases are given.


Geodynamic process and metallogeny constitute an important research field all over the world. Studying the tectonic evolution process we can get to know why some groups of ore deposits occur in some specific geological settings and why large amounts of metals are accumulated in some specific places of the metallogenic belts or regions. In this paper, a review is given concerning the research work conducted in this field since 1960's. Four important periods of researches have been proposed, i.e., the observation of the submarine exhalative ore system and the study of the similarities in the geological history in the present continents, the metallogeny along the mobile continental margins, the intra-continental orogenic and extensional processes, and the continent convergence or even terrain accessory and related metallogeny throughout the geological history. Exemplified by South China comprising Cathynian and Yangtze blocks, a world-class nonferrous metallic province, the authors propose three important lateral or vertical continental accessories and ore-forming processes throughout the geological history. They include Neoproterozoic Rodinia assembly and breaking up and related Sn-Cu-Ni mineralization, Emeishan mantle plume and related Cu-Ni-Pt-Pd-V-Ti mineralization, and Late Triassic assembly of Indo-China, South China and North China cratons and related Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous large-scale non-metallic mineralization.


In hybrid laser–MIG keyhole welding, anti-crack elements can be added into the weld pool through a filler metal in anticipation of compensating mass loss, preventing porosity formation and improving compositional and mechanical properties of the welds. Understanding the mixing and diffusion of the filler metal in the molten pool is vital to achieve these desired objectives. In this study, mathematical models and associated numerical techniques have been developed to investigate the mixing and diffusion processes in hybrid laser–MIG keyhole welding. The transient interactions between droplets and weld pool and dynamics of the melt flow are studied. The effects of key process parameters, such as droplet size (wire diameter), droplet generation frequency (wire feed speed) and droplet impinging speed, on mixing/diffusion are systematically investigated. It was found that compositional homogeneity of the weld pool is determined by the competition between the mixing rate and the solidification rate. A small-size filler droplet together with high generation frequency can increase the latitudinal diffusion of the filler metal into the weld pool, while the large-size droplet along with the low generation frequency helps to get more uniform longitudinal diffusion. Increasing the impinging velocity of the filler droplet can improve the latitudinal diffusion of the filler metal. However, a high impinging velocity can cause a lower diffusion zone in the upper part of the welds. This study provides a good foundation for optimizing the hybrid laser–MIG keyhole welding process to achieve quality welds with desired properties.


Fritillaria spp. constitute important traditional Chinese medicinal plants. Xinjiang is one of two diversity hotspots in China in which eight Fritillaria species occur, two of which are endemic to the region. Furthermore, the phylogenetic relationships of Xinjiang Fritillaria species (including F. yuminensis) within the genus are unclear. In the present study, we sequenced the chloroplast (cp) genomes of seven Fritillaria species in Xinjiang using the Illumina HiSeq platform, with the aim of assessing the global structural patterns of the seven cp genomes and identifying highly variable cp DNA sequences. These were compared to previously sequenced Fritillaria cp genomes. Phylogenetic analysis was then used to evaluate the relationships of the Xinjiang species and assess the evolution of an undivided stigma. The seven cp genomes ranged from 151,764 to 152,112 bp, presenting a traditional quadripartite structure. The gene order and gene content of the seven cp genomes were identical. A comparison of the 13 cp genomes indicated that the structure is highly conserved. Ten highly divergent regions were identified that could be valuable in phylogenetic and population genetic studies. The phylogenetic relationships of the 13 Fritillaria species inferred from the protein-coding genes, large single-copy, small single-copy, and inverted repeat regions were identical and highly resolved. The phylogenetic relationships of the species corresponded with their geographic distribution patterns, in that the north group (consisting of eight species from Xinjiang and Heilongjiang in North China) and the south group (including six species from South China) were basically divided at 40°N. Species with an undivided stigma were not monophyletic, suggesting that this trait might have evolved several times in the genus.


The combustion of liquid fuels emulsified with water have long generated interest in the internal combustion engine research community. Typically, these fuels consist of small quantities of water emulsified with ultrasonification or other mechanical methods into a pure or multicomponent hydrocarbon fuel. These emulsion fuels promise significant advantages over base liquid fuels, such as better fuel economy, colder combustion temperatures, less NOx emissions, and so on. However, a significant practical disadvantage of these fuels is that they are prone to phase separation after they have been prepared. Till date, an objective but economical method of identifying the various degrees of phase separation has not been identified. Present research presents such a method and shows its utilization in analyzing the stability of water and hydrocarbon fuel emulsions over time without the addition of chemical stabilizers. It is expected that present research will pave the way in establishing this method to study the stability of other specialized multicomponent fluids.


We described an anesthetic management of a patient with abdominal aortic aneurysm associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) focusing on preanesthetic evaluation of cardiovascular reserve and on intraoperative continuous circulatory monitoring with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and continuous cardiac output measurement (CCO). Based on echocardiographic and hemodynamic measurements after a 50 m-walk load, we predicted the allowable range of alteration of preload (LV diastolic dimension; Dd), myocardial performance (arterial blood pressure and ejection fraction) and of heart rate. During anesthesia and operation, we continuously monitored Dd, arterial blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac output, and maintained these variables within the allowable range. The changes in preload after clamping or unclamping of the aorta was promptly reflected by Dd as compared to pulmonary capillary wadge pressure. The CCO was also usuful in detecting abrupt changes in myocardial performance. In conclusion, we suggest preanesthetic stress test to be performed to evaluate cardiovascular reserve and to predict the allowable range of alteration of hemodynamic variables. Continuous monitoring of preload (Dd) by TEE and of myocardial performance by CCO is useful to detect early changes in these variables.


Hospitality Study Program (HSP) of Bali Sate Polytechnic always improves the quality of graduates in order to be able to compete in the job. The number of similar institutions that are always growing, demanding the lecturers always to be creative and innovate so that quality of graduates are able to compete competitively. This study examines the factors that influence learning motivation to improve the academic achievement of students so they are more confident to confront the global competition. The study was conducted on semester VI who have been and are conducting job training at hotel/restaurant as research sample (100) using confirmatory factor analysis. The result showed that the three factors,both lecturer factor, infrastructure, and environmental factors give significant influence to learning motivation to improve the academic achievement of students. The most dominant factor determining student learning motivation is lecturer, followed by infrastructure and subsequently is environmental factor. Thus, it is suggested to management to give more training or development to the lecturers,especially the lecturers who teach the core subjects. To the lecturers are expected to continue to develop themselves by participating in various trainee in industry so that the material given to students is always up-todate.


During every standard workshop or event, the examples of working interoperability solutions are used to motivate for 'plug and play' standards for M&S as well, like standardized batteries for electronics, or the use of XML to exchange data between heterogeneous systems. While these are successful applications of standards, they are off the mark regarding M&S interoperability. The challenge of M&S is that the product that needs to be made interoperable is not the service or the system alone, but the model behind it as well. The paper shows that the alignment of conceptualizations is the real problem that is not yet dealt with in current interoperability standards.


ABSTRACT Oleate, the most abundantly occurring cis-unsaturated fatty acid, has the particularity to induce the accumulation of MAP1LC3B/LC3 (microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta) at the trans-Golgi apparatus. A genome-wide RNA interference screen designed to identify the mechanisms of this LC3 redistribution led to the identification of a BECN1-PIK3C3-independent pathway that, however, requires the ATG12–ATG5 and ATG7-dependent conjugation system, and several genes/proteins involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi anterograde protein transport, as well as the unfolded protein response, including the integrated stress response that results in the phosphorylation of EIF2A/eIF2α (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2A). Functional experiments revealed that oleate blocks conventional protein secretion, stalling the process at the level of the trans-Golgi network. Oleate-induced blockade of protein secretion occurred even after depletion of ATG5, suggesting that it does not rely on the recruitment of LC3 to the Golgi apparatus (which does require ATG5). Rather, it appears that oleate and other pharmacological inhibitors of protein secretion with a similar mode of action provoke a perturbation of the trans-Golgi compartment that secondarily results in the local enrichment of LC3.


Introduction Intestinal endometriosis is considered the most severe form of deep endometriosis, the rectosigmoid being involved in about 90% of cases of bowel infiltration. Transvaginal sonography (TVS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been used for noninvasive diagnosis and preoperative mapping of rectosigmoid endometriosis (RE), but no consensus has been reached so far regarding which method is the most accurate in this setting. Objective We aimed at performing a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the accuracy of TVS versus MRI in the diagnosis of RE in a same population. Methods A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Studies were identified by searching the MEDLINE, Embase, and LILACS databases, as well the reference lists of retrieved articles, through February 2019. We included all cross-sectional studies that evaluated the accuracy of TVS versus MRI in the diagnosis of RE within a same sample of subjects and that used surgical findings with histological confirmation as the gold standard. The QUADAS-2 instrument was used to evaluate study quality. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (LR+), and negative likelihood ratios (LR-) for the diagnosis of RE were calculated. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42017064378. Results Eight studies (n = 1132) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, LR+, and LR- values of MRI for RE were 90% (95% CI, 87–92%), 96% (95% CI, 94–97%), 17.26 (95% CI, 3.57–83.50), and 0.15 (95% CI, 0.10–0.23); values of TVS were 90% [95% CI, 87–92%], 96% (95% CI, 94–97%), 20.66 (95% CI, 8.71–49.00) and 0.12 (95% CI, 0.08–0.20), respectively. Areas under the S-ROC curves (AUC) showed no statistically significant differences between MRI (AUC = 0.948) and TVS (AUC = 0.930) in the diagnosis of RE (P = 0.13). Moreover, considering the average prevalence among the studies of 47.3%, both methods demonstrated similarly high positive post-test probabilities (93.9% for TVS and 94.8% for MRI), and the combined use of them yielded a post-test probability of 99.6%. Conclusion MRI and TVS have similarly high accuracy and positive post-test probabilities in the noninvasive diagnosis of RE. Combination of MRI and TVS may increase even further the positive post-test probabilities to near 100%.


Purpose of reviewThis article summarizes our current knowledge of changes in the intestinal microbiota in elderly people and centenarians. Recent findingsAge-related processes comprise specific changes in the intestinal microbiota and related metabolic alterations. They result in 'inflamm-aging', which is associated with age-related inflammatory processes and diseases, including cachexia, frailty, cancer, and metabolic as well as neurological diseases. Age-related microbial changes consist of an increase in proteolytic bacteria and a decrease in saccharolytic bacteria. These changes are associated with sarcopenia and longevity, and might be attenuated by pre and probiotics. These findings could explain, at least in part, why probiotics have been successfully used in elderly people for the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, and for the enhancement of vaccination responses. SummaryThe intestinal microbiota changes with age. These changes are of relevance in regard to morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. Dietetic (probiotics, prebiotics) and other lifestyle interventions might delay, or even reverse, such alterations.


Background: Meckle's diverticulum is not a very common cause of acute abdomen, yet occasionally it manifests itself as a life threatening condition. We carried out this study to observe the varied clinical manifestations of Meckle's diverticulum in patients with acute abdomen. Material and methods: This study was conducted in Agency Headquarter Hospital Wana and data collected from various surgical clinics. It was a prospective study conducted during four years form 2000-2003. All patients underwent laparotomy for signs and symptoms of acute abdomen. A total of 900 cases were studied. Of these (18 patients) 2% were found to have Meckle's diverticulum. Results: Nine hundred patients of acute abdomen were studied. All were operated and the diagnosis confirmed by histopathologic examination. Eighteen patients (2%) were having Meckle's diverticulum. Six patients (37.5%) were symptomatic. Twelve patients (62.5%) were having Meckle's diverticulum with no signs of pathology. Of the symptomatic 6 patients, 2 patients (39%) presented with intestinal obstruction. Haemorrhage, perforation, diverticulitis, and Meckle's diverticulum having ectopic mucosa were presented each in one patient (15%). Conclusion: Meckle's Diverticulum is a rare cause of acute abdomen. It presents with obstruction in the pediatric age group and with perforation, heamorrahage and ectopic mucosa in adults. The symptoms caused by Meckle's diverticulum are mainly due to bands or ectopic mucosa. Diverticulum found in patients less than 30 years age should be resected and in older patients resection is indicated if ectopic gastric tissue is suspected. Diverticular bands can simply be cut in these patients.


The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of reconciliation between Kant's transcendental idealism and McCarthy's epistemological point of view on artificial intelligence, which are at first glance likely to be considered contradictory. For this, characterizing the standpoint of J. McCarthy, who coined the word 'artificial intelligence' as scientific realism and that of A. Turing, who provided a crucial thought experiment that shaped the contemporary conception of artificial intelligence as behaviorism, we shall compare these two standpoints with the transcendental idealism of I. Kant, who conferred on us a monumental indicator for understanding the human reason. Through this comparison, we shall argue that scientific realism, which is currently a prominent philosophical standpoint of artificial intelligence, is not compatible with Kant's transcendental idealism but assumes a standpoint strikingly analogous to behaviorism. Nevertheless, we shall also argue that once transcendental idealism is looked at from the viewpoint of behaviorism, scientific realism can be seen as compatible with transcendental idealism. This compatibility we name the possibility of artificial reason in this paper.


Early diagenetic phosphate cements are described from the Albian condensed glauconitic limestone of the Tatra Mountains, Western Carpathians with regard to their macro- and micromorphology, distribution, classification, and genesis. The cements occur within stratigraphically condensed semi-pelagic foramini-feral-glauconitic layers and are associated with mature hardgrounds within the Tatra Albian limestone. Phosphate cement fabrics consist of crypto- to microcrystalline carbonate-fluorapatite, and they occur as: (i) rim envelopes, (ii) infillings of intraparticle porosity, (iii) rim cement, (iv) multiple rim cement, (v) palisade fabric and (vi) cluster cement. Micromorphological variability of the cement fabrics results from varying texture of the cemented sediment, the nature of original porosity, as well as from presence of associated microbial fabrics. The microbial fabrics are interpreted as fossilized coccoid cyanobacteria.

Phosphate cementation developed under peculiar early diagenetic conditions within semi-closed microenvironments rich in organic matter in the marine phreatic environment. The cementation contributed to the formation of phosphatic fossils and hardgrounds. The accretion of the cements was due to concentration of biologically uptaken phosphorus near the sediment/water interface, enrichment of pore fluids with respect to phosphate, and its precipitation within restricted microenvironments. Phosphate cementation post-dated seafloor formation of pelletal glauconite but predated partial decomposition of organic matter as well as dissolution or neomorphism of aragonite and high-Mg calcite. Phosphate cementation occurred on a carbonate platform following the submersion of Urgonian reefal build-ups. Episodes of phosphate cementation were repeated during the sedimentation of the Tatra Albian limestone as a response to rapid relative sea-level rises and increased influence of nutrient-rich Tethyan waters.


The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has updated its third stage of labour guidelines (RCM 2012) to be clearly supportive of a delay in umbilical cord clamping, although specific guidance on timing is yet to be announced. It is therefore imperative that both midwives and student midwives understand and are able to integrate delaying into their practice, as well as communicating to women the benefits; only in this way can we give women fully informed choices on this aspect of care. The main benefit of delayed cord clamping is the protection it can provide in reducing childhood anaemia, which is a major issue, especially in poorer countries. A review of the evidence found no risks linked to delayed clamping, and no evidence that it cannot be used in combination with the administration of uterotonic drugs. Delayed cord clamping can be especially beneficial for pre term and compromised babies.


Th e purpose of the study was to examine dietary intake, body composition and bone mineral density changes at the beginning and end of a competitive season in female athletes of sports that have been less represented in the literature. NCAA Division I basketball (n=10) and soft ball (n=10) players mean age (20±1 years) completed 3-day food records at the beginning and end of season. Body composition and bone mineral density were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Mean energy intake was signifi cantly lower at the beginning compared to the end of the season (1925±466 vs. 2326±782 kcals/day; p=0.02). Lean, fat, and total body mass, and total and regional BMD were unaltered from the beginning to the end of season (p>0.05). Macronutrient consumption by percentage did not change across the season (p>0.05) with aggregate data equalling 3.5±1.3, 1.2±0.6, and 1.2±0.5 g/kg/day for carbohydrate, fat, and protein respectively. Carbohydrate and protein intakes were below the recommended levels. Low intake of fi bre (17±6.3 g/day) and high sodium (3700±1120 mg/day) also raise concerns. Despite no major alterations in body composition or BMD many female athletes' diets in the sports investigated while living on campus failed to meet recommended intake levels suggesting maximal athletic performance and health parameters may be stunted due to poor nutrient choices.


Typical venous malformations are easily diagnosed by skin color changes, focal edema or pain. Venous malformation in the skeletal muscles, however, has the potential to be missed because their involved sites are invisible and the disease is rare. In addition, the symptoms of intramuscular venous malformation overlaps with myofascial pain syndrome or muscle strain. Most venous malformation cases have reported a focal lesion involved in one or adjacent muscles. In contrast, we have experienced a case of intramuscular venous malformation that involved a large number of muscles in a lower extremity extensively.


In ancient times, they were considered magical objects with supernatural powers. These days, we just stick them on our refrigerators. Yet those little magnets deserve our admiration more than ever. Take laptop computers, with their slim hard drives. It became possible to manufacture the motors for those drives only after the development of especially powerful permanent magnets in the early 1980s. Such muscular magnets are now found in many other places as well-various household appliances, cellphones, and the small electric motors that operate accessories in our cars, to name a few. They are also critical in the brawny electric motors that propel hybrid vehicles and in the generators attached to many wind turbines. So they can help both to reduce energy consumption and produce green electric power. Because the magnets themselves are hidden away, many of us tend to take them for granted. We shouldn't, especially not now. The manufacture of most high-performance magnets requires neodymium, a rare earth element that's in short supply. Almost all of the world's production comes from China, which has increasingly restricted exports to ensure that it has enough to satisfy its own needs. So the price of neodymium has been skyrocketing. If the trend continues, pretty soon we'll have a real crisis on our hands.


We investigate the density of states (DOS) for hole transport in undoped and doped amorphous organic films using high lateral resolution Kelvin probe force microscopy. Measurements are done on field effect transistors made of N,N1-diphenyl-N, N1-bis(1-naphthyl)-1,10-biphenyl-4,4II-diamine undoped or p doped with tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane. We determine the DOS structure of the undoped material, including an anomalous peak related to interfaces between regions of different surface potential, the DOS doping-induced broadening, and doping-induced sharp peaks on the main DOS distribution.


Clinical and hemodynamic studies were carried out in 20 patients suffering from refractory congestive heart failure with invasive technique and non-invasive methods such as tolerance exercise test, 24-hour Holter monitoring, etc. Digitalis was then withdrawn and China-made amrinone (AMR) was administered orally for 15 days. All the indices mentioned above were repeated and each patient served as his own control. The results indicate that AMR can improve hemodynamic parameters as well as exercise tolerance. Holter monitoring revealed no significant increase in arrythmogenic potentiality. The total clinical effective rate was 95%. No severe side effects were found except thrombocytopenia observed in 20% of the patients. It is suggested that China-made AMR is effective in treating refractory congestive heart failure.


Within the framework of a color flux-tube model with a four-body confinement potential, the tetraquark states [cq][c¯q¯] (q = u or d) with I JPC = 01− − are systematically investigated. The numerical results indicate that states Y (4008), Y (4140), Y (4260), and Y (4360) can be uniformly described as tetraquark states [cq][c¯q¯] with n2S+1 LJ of 11 P1, 15 P1, 25 P1 and 15F1, respectively, in the color flux-tube model. They are compact three-dimensional spatial configurations similar to a rugby ball, higher orbital angular momentum L, more prolate. The four-body confinement interaction based on a color flux-tube picture should be responsible for the formation of those compact tetraquark states.


High speed rail (HSR) networks have been an essential catalyst in stimulating and balancing regional economic growth that ultimately benefits the society as a whole. Previous studies have revealed that HSR services sustainably yield superior social values for people, especially for adults and those of working age. This has become an advantage of HSR networks over other forms of public transportation. The Shinkansen network in Japan is one of most successful HSR models. Its services bring significant social advantages to the communities it serves, such as shorter travel times and increased job opportunities. Nevertheless, the societal impact of HSR networks depends on many factors, and the benefits of HSR could also be overrated. The goal of this research is to measure the socioeconomic impacts of HSR on people of all genders and age groups. The outcomes could lead to more suitable development of HSR projects and policies. This study investigates data sets for Japanese social factors over 55 years in order to determine the impacts of HSR. The assessment model has been established using Python. It applies Pearson's correlation (PCC) technique as its main methodology. This study broadly assesses social impacts on population dynamics, education, age dependency, job opportunities, and mortality rate using an unparalleled dataset spanning 55 years of social factors. The results exhibit that younger generations have the most benefits in terms of equal educational accessibility. However, the growth of the HSR network does not influence an increase in the employment rate or labour force numbers, resulting in little benefit to the workforce.


28 he number of courses delivered via the World Wide Web is increasing rapidly, but courses delivered through distance education often have a high attrition rate caused, in part, by individual students' characteristics. Success in these courses often depends on students' abilities to successfully direct their own learning efforts. In her book Designs for Self-Instruction, Keirns described a self-directed learner as one who "works with instructional materials on his or her own time, without direct supervision or guidance from either instructor or fellow students."1 This article describes the evolution of a Web-based university course that incorporated a structured protocol designed to promote active self-directed learning, as well as strategies we have found beneficial in fostering students' selfregulation efforts. In January 1997, we2 began planning the redesign of a university course in human development. The course professor had received a $25,000 grant through Virginia Tech's Center for Innovation in Learning to develop Web enhancements for her course, which typically enrolled 250 to 300 students per semester. As in many classes of that size, the professor spent her time lecturing, with students hastily scribbling down notes. Students were expected to read the book, attend class twice a week, and participate in lab activities. Midterm and final examinations assessed learning. Occasional quizzes provided incentives for class Evolution of a Web-Enhanced Course


Immunostimulants are gradually being used in the prevention and treatment of recurrent respiratory tract infections in susceptible children, but their drug effects have not been quantified. The purpose of this study was to confirm the efficacy of immunostimulants in the prevention and treatment of recurrent respiratory tract infections in susceptible children. A model‐based meta‐analysis was used to describe the time course of placebo and immunostimulants in the prevention of respiratory tract infections in children. The cumulative number of respiratory tract infections was used as an indicator of efficacy. A meta‐analysis was used to analyze the incidence of drug‐related adverse events. Fourteen articles with 2400 pediatric subjects were finally included in the analysis. The results showed that the cumulative number of respiratory tract infections increased linearly with time, with the incidence of respiratory tract infections in the placebo group being 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.55‐0.75) per month. OM‐85 BV and pidotimod reduced the incidence of respiratory tract infections by 0.21 (95%CI, 0.16‐0.26) and 0.19 (95%CI, 0.17‐0.21) compared to placebo per month, respectively. Pidotimod and OM‐85 BV can effectively reduce the incidence of respiratory tract infections in susceptible children, with no significant increase in the incidence of drug‐related adverse events when compared with placebo (risk ratio values were 1.07 [95%CI, 0.66‐1.71] and 1.31 [95%CI, 0.54‐3.19], respectively). This study provides quantitative support for the application of immunostimulants for the prevention of recurrent respiratory tract infections in children.


The skeletal remains of non-adults provide endless insights into numerous aspects of their personal, family and social lives. Although they were considered to be marginal members of society, children can potentially shed light on factors influencing the overall health and survival of their communities, sensitively conveying the ability of a population to adapt to its environment and cope with moments of crisis. In the last decade, worldwide interest in the archaeology of children has grown, and has driven the bioarchaeological investigation of their skeletal remains. However, the bioarchaeological study of non-adults has received surprisingly little interest in the Baltic states. This review presents the past and current state of the art with specific focus on the Baltic area from prehistory to historic times, outlining new research fields and the benefits of studying non-adult skeletal remains, and proposing specific possible directions for future work on this topic. The paper is aimed at giving a louder voice to the youngest actors of ancient communities, and perhaps offers a starting point for developing a definitive bioarchaeology of children in the Baltics.


A simple and rapid in vitro chemical solubility test applicable to industrial uranium trioxide (UO3) was developed together with two in vitro cellular tests using rat alveolar macrophages maintained either in gas phase or in alginate beads at 37 degrees C. Industrial UO3 was characterized by particle size, X-ray, and IR spectra, and chemical transformation (e.g., aging and hydration of the dust) was also studied. Solvents used for the in vitro chemical solubility study included carbonates, citrates, phosphates, water, Eagle's basal medium, and Gamble's solution (simulated lung fluid), alone, with oxygen, or with superoxide ions. Results, expressed in terms of the half-time of dissolution, according to International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) classification (D,W,Y), varied for different hydration states of UO3, showing a lower solubility of hydrated UO3 in solvents compared to basic UO3 or UO3 heated at 450 degrees C. Two in vitro cellular tests on cultured rat alveolar macrophages (cells maintained in gas phase and cells immobilized in alginate beads) were used on the same UO3 samples and generally showed a lower solution transfer rate in the presence of macrophages than in the culture medium alone. The results of in vitro chemical and cellular tests were compared, with four main conclusions: a good reproducibility of the three tests in Eagle's basal medium the effect of hydration state on solubility, the classification of UO3 in terms of ICRP solubility criteria, and the ability of macrophages to decrease uranium solubility in medium.


It has been shown recently that there is premature mitochondria biosynthesis in blastocysts from older women whose egg or embryo quality is poor and that aneuploid blastocysts also have a high number of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copies. Whether nondiploidy/aneuploidy or reduced egg or embryo quality causes premature mitochondrial biosynthesis is not known. This study constructed haploid, diploid, triploid, and tetraploid blastocysts by parthenogenetic activation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection with one or two sperm heads, blastomere electrofusion, respectively, and generated reduced cytoplasm quality embryos from diabetic mouse and in vitro fertilization of aged oocytes, and examined whether nondiploidy or reduced cytoplasm quality causes premature mitochondrial biosynthesis. MtDNA numbers of each blastocyst from different models were tested by absolute quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction. It was found that mtDNA content in preimplantation embryos was not associated with their chromosome ploidy, while mtDNA copy numbers in embryos with suboptimal quality were increased. Therefore, it might be the reduced cytoplasmic quality, and not chromosome nondiploidy, that causes premature mitochondria biosynthesis in blastocysts.


This study aims to know the Qawa'id learning process from the perspective of Cognitive Theory at the Raudhatut Thalibin Islamic boarding school in the village of Tayur Hulu Sungai Utara (HSU) of South Kalimantan, Indonesia and to know the Qawa'id learning method with the Cognitive Theory perspective in the boarding school. This type of study is descriptive qualitative one. Data are collected through interview, observation, and documentation. The collected data was analyzed by means of the interactive model (interactive model) of Miles and Huberman. The results of this study reveal that the steps of Qowaid learning in the perspective of cognitive theory are as follows. (1) The teacher explains in advance the material to be taught using the deductive method. (2) The teacher gives examples of what has been explained before. (3) The teacher asks the students to memorize qowaid and vocabulary contained in the sentences or text they are learning. (4) The teacher will not move from one rule to another before the students really understand one rule first. The Qowaid learning methods used in the perspective of cognitive theory, namely; (1) the Nahw wa Tarjamah Method (Grammar Translation), (2) the deductive method, (3) the question and answer method, (4) and the bahtsul masa'il method.


BACKGROUND
There appear to be sex differences in the risk factors for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in type 2 diabetic patients, but studies in Taiwanese patients have not been conducted.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 610 (268 men, 342 women) Taiwanese patients aged 63.3+/-10.8 years were evaluated. PAD was diagnosed by an ankle - brachial index <0.9. Risk factors included age, sex, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), smoking, menopause, diabetes duration, hypertension, insulin therapy, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high- (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoproteins A1 (ApoA1) and B (ApoB) and uric acid (UA). When compared with the men, the women were significantly older and had longer duration, smaller WC, higher levels of systolic blood pressure, TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, ApoA1 and ApoB, lower levels of UA, fewer smokers and more insulin users. Stepwise logistic regression showed age, BMI (inverse association) and systolic blood pressure as independent risk factors for men [respective odds ratios (OR): 1.080 (1.024-1.139), 0.832 (0.713-0.971) and 1.028 (1.005-1.051)]; and for women they were age, UA and insulin therapy [respective OR: 1.113 (1.056-1.173), 1.340 (1.101-1.630) and 4.173 (1.974-8.824).

CONCLUSIONS
PAD risk factors differ significantly between the sexes.


The measurement of N(2)O(5) by Evans [Appl. Opt. 25, 1866-1868 (1986)] contains several serious errors. A reanalysis of the published infrared spectra gives the more realistic error bar of +/-45%.


Generally, to produce film-type thermoplastic composites with good mechanical properties, high-performance reinforcement films are used. In this case, films used as a matrix are difficult to impregnate into tow due to their high melt viscosity and high molecular weight. To solve the problem, in this paper, three polypropylene (PP) films with different melt viscosities were used separately to produce film-type thermoplastic composites. A film with a low melt viscosity was stacked so that tow was impregnated first and a film with a higher melt viscosity was then stacked to produce the composite. Four different composites were produced by regulating the pressure rising time. The thickness, density, fiber volume fraction (Vf), and void content (Vc) were analyzed to identify the physical properties and compare them in terms of film stacking types. The thermal properties were identified by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). The tensile property, flexural property, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to identify the mechanical properties. For the films with low molecular weight, impregnation could be completed fast but showed low strength. Additionally, the films with high molecular weight completed impregnation slowly but showed high strength. Therefore, appropriate films should be used considering the forming process time and their mechanical properties to produce film-type composites.


Abstract The viscous and especially the elastic properties of polymer melts can be altered by a previously imposed deformation history. This phenomenon, usually termed as shear modification, is caused by the reversible physical disentanglement of the polymer molecule chains. The shearing unit presented in this paper was used to systematically investigate the processing parameters governing shear modification. A set of rheological tests was carried out with the shear modified sample material and the expected changes in the rheological behaviour were detected. The relative change of the storage modulus G', measured using a Rheometrics On-line Rheometer system, was taken as a measure for the degree of modification and was found to correlate with the specific energy dissipated during sample preparation. The effects of shear modification on product properties were investigated for the tubular film-blowing process. Changes in the optical and mechanical properties of films which can be attributed to the previously imposed shear modification process were found.


People are the most valuable asset of any organization. Therefore, the need for executive Human Asset Management is undeniable. One important area that supports successful Human Asset Management is good records management of staff's progress. Thus, there must be an effective way of keeping records of each staff's activities. The boost of Information Technology application provides opportunities for organizations to manipulate the technology in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations. One example is the development of computerized record management system using database system, which now has expanded its' capabilities with the introduction of web driven database system. The tremendous growth of this technology offers the ability to transfer large amount of stored and organized data on demand. As a result, powerful and scalable data has been a crucial component of today's web applications. The evolution of this technology has in turn supports the development of new record management software, whether develop internally or through outsourcing. There are numerous methodologies that could be adhered to in system development process. Thus, developers must carefully select the methodology that is suit with own systems needs to be followed. This report will discuss about the development of Staff's Activities Web Database System. It could be seen as an introductory work to a new dimension of record management system, which is based on the web application. This system is develop based on the Database Life Cycle approach. Even though the system is initially designed for the School of Accountancy, UUM, the structure and functions developed are flexible. Thus, this system could be used as a model or reference by other departments or schools in order to develop a similar system in future. Last but not least, some issues and challenges related to the system design and development has also been discovered in this project.


Background: Occurrence of Tuberculosis (TB) in the form Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) poses challenges to the health systems throughout the world. Familiarities with risk factors related to disease transmission and exact rate of disease can be used to decrease the infection rate and control of disease. Objectives: Present study was conducted with the aims to find out rate and factors responsible for the occurrence of MDR- TB in a tertiary care hospital Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Methodology: This is a cross sectional descriptive studyconducted at PMDT Unit, Lady Reading hospital Peshawar, Pakistan with time duration of eight months form February 2018 to August 2018. Data of interest through special designed proforma were collected from all suspected cases visited this unit for their checkup.Data was then entered into Microsoft excel sheet and transferred into SPSS software for analyses purposes. Results: A total of 846 respondents were included in this study including 429 (50.7%) females and 417 (49.3%) males. Majority of the cases 455 (53.7%) were in most gainful age group of > 42 years. Urbanized population accounted for 411 (48.5%). Majority of the respondent lacked education and conjugal status indicated 592 (69.9%) of married participants. Our result found that association between uneducated participants were 69% more likely to contract MDR-TB than those who were illiterate (OR = 1.693, 95% CI [.976-2.938], p = .059). Participants residing in urban areas have 60% lower chances of MDR-TB than rural once. Close contact of patients with MDR-TB has also showed association within increase and occurrence of disease Conclusion: The patients of TB and MDR-TB are already suffered a lot by the myths and stigmas that surround the illness. It is highly recommended the community that only food and shelter is not enough, the patient required full support of family and colleagues need full guidance and counseling. Provide financial and practical support for the treatment of disease. All suspected cases with lower education level, residence of far flung areas and close contact of MDR-TB must nominated as special cases for disease occurrence and treated as special cases to stop and cut the chain of this disease.


There is growing interest in using current and future gravitational-wave interferometers to search for anisotropies in the gravitational-wave background. One guaranteed anisotropic signal is the kinematic dipole induced by our peculiar motion with respect to the cosmic rest frame, as measured in other full-sky observables such as the cosmic microwave background. Our prior knowledge of the amplitude and direction of this dipole is not explicitly accounted for in existing searches by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, but could provide crucial information to help disentangle the sources which contribute to the gravitational-wave background. Here we develop a targeted search pipeline which uses this prior knowledge to enable unbiased and minimum-variance inference of the dipole magnitude. Our search generalises existing methods to allow for a time-dependent signal model, which captures the annual modulation of the dipole due to the Earth's orbit. We validate our pipeline on mock data, demonstrating that neglecting this time dependence can bias the inferred dipole by as much as O (10%) . We then run our analysis on the full LIGO/Virgo O1+O2+O3 dataset, obtaining upper limits on the dipole amplitude that are consistent with existing anisotropic search results.


The two dimensional Hamiltonian with generalized shape invariance symmetry over S, has been obtained via Fourier transformation over the three coordinates of the SU(3) Casimir operator defined on SU(3)/SU(2) symmetric space. It is shown that the generalized shape invariance is equivalent to SU(3) symmetry and that there is one to one correspondence between the representations of the generalized shape invariance and SU(3) Verma modules. Also the two dimensional Hamiltonian in R space which posseses ordinary shape invariance symmetry with respect to two parameters, has been obtained via Inönü–Wigner contraction over SU(3) manifold.


The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic and the accompanying public health restrictions have posed significant challenges to parents with dependent children. A rich body of literature has examined the problems encountered by parents and their gendered division of labour in childcare during the pandemic. However, little attention has been paid to their interactions and collaborations with extended family for childcare. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 43 urban parents in Shenzhen, China, I examine how parents mobilised childcare support from extended family during the pandemic, focusing on their collaboration with grandparents. Viewing parenting as a series of interactive and relational practices, I analyse how parents made new childcare arrangements and sought support from extended family to cope with work–childcare conflict and their ambivalence towards family collaboration in childcare during the pandemic. My findings highlight the significance of extended family collaboration for parents to overcome childcare challenges and reveal the embeddedness and relationality of parenting during the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic within extended family.


To the Editor:— We are reviewing every procedure, and record and testing every piece of equipment in the department involved, but at this moment we still do not know the cause of the contamination in some of the bottles of two lots of dextrose solution. The original tests were satisfactory, and retained samples and stocks remaining in our Berkeley warehouse were not contaminated. Some of the bottles returned from the field were unquestionably contaminated, a contamination which was apparent on visual inspection and viable on culture. This laboratory has over a half century record of safety in the production of bioligicals and other products for parenteral injection. It is a record which neither management nor the men and women of unquestioned capability and integrity who staff the laboratories would wilfully jeopardize. Yet what was to us inconceivable happened. I need not protest of our extreme regret for this most unfortunate


Many findings of behavioral decision research suggested that attention had a crucial role in decision-making. We proposed a method to induce attention toward particular attribute such as money using control by coefficient of variation in multi-attribute decision task. The experiment consisted of two steps: 1) arousing attention using the proposed method and 2) testing the effect of the method. We hypothesized that the participants would pay more attention to high, relative to low, CV attributes. The results for the first step of the experiment showed that the participants paid more attention to high, relative to low CV probability and low, relative to high, CV outcome. Results for the second step of the experiment were similar to those observed in the first step. This finding indicates that the proposed method was effective in arousing attention during the decision-making process.


Abstract. In neoclassical theory, knowledge generates increasing returns – and therefore growth – because it is a public good that can be costlessly reused once created. In fact, however, much knowledge in the economy is actually tacit and not easily transmitted –and thus not an obvious source of increasing returns. Several writers have responded to this alarming circumstances by affirming hopefully that knowledge today is increasingly codified, general, and abstract – and increasingly less tacit. This paper disputes such a trend. But all is not lost: for knowledge does not have to be codified to be reused and therefore to generate economic growth.


The notion of 'isolation' in infectious diseases refers to the possibility of people known or suspected to be infected from the wider population, and has historically been used to control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Isolation practices in healthcare settings evolved over the 20th century resulting in a focus on the disruption of known routes of potential transmission. There was renewed attention to infection prevention and control (IPC) in the UK at the turn of the 20th century after high-profile reports acknowledged the importance of IPC as a key indicator of high-quality clinical care, and the impact of healthcare-acquired infections. There has been a shift away from isolation wards towards isolation in single rooms on general wards. For infections that are spread by the airborne, droplet or contact routes, placing the patient in single-room isolation is considered to be an important component of transmission-based precautions (TBPs). However, in practice isolation is complex and a number of challenges are involved in implementing IPC procedures.


Enzymes in adenosine-to-inosine editing, a functionally important base modification in tRNAs, indicate an additional type of tRNA editing. In all organisms, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) contain numerous modified nucleotides. For many base modifications in tRNAs, the functional significance is not well understood, and the enzymes performing the modification reactions are unknown. Here, we have studied members of a family of putative nucleotide deaminases in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We show that two Arabidopsis genes encoding homologs of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) tRNA adenosine deaminases catalyze adenosine-to-inosine editing in position 34 of several cytosolic tRNA species. The encoded proteins (AtTAD2 and AtTAD3, for tRNA-specific adenosine deaminase) localize to the nucleus and interact with each other in planta in bimolecular fluorescence complementation and coimmunoprecipitation assays. Both AtTAD2 and AtTAD3 are encoded by essential genes whose knockout is lethal and leads to arrested embryo development at the globular stage. Knockdown mutants for AtTAD2 and AtTAD3 display reduced growth and inefficient editing from adenosine to inosine in six nucleus-encoded tRNA species. Moreover, upon comparison of DNA and complementary DNA sequences, we discovered cytidine-to-uridine RNA editing in position 32 of two nucleus-encoded serine tRNAs, tRNA-serine(AGA) and tRNA-serine(GCT). This adds a unique type of RNA editing to the modifications occurring in nuclear genome-encoded RNAs in plants.


ABSTRACT In 2011, 5 years after the implementation of a statewide prescription monitoring program (PMP) in Ohio, a survey was distributed to physicians in five specialty areas. During the study period, 95 of 156 surveys were returned, for a 61% response rate. The purpose of the questionnaire was to assess utilization rates as well as reasons for accessing the PMP database and any influence the database may have had on prescribing practices. Over 84% of respondents were aware of the existence of the state PMP. However less than 59% of the respondents who were aware of the program had ever used it. Medical specialty was found to have a significant impact on both awareness and utilization of the system, with pediatric physicians least likely, and emergency physicians most likely, to be aware of and utilize the state PMP. Recommendations based on the authors' survey results include targeting pediatric and internal medicine providers for increased education regarding awareness and benefits of PMP utilization.


Researchers have proposed a variety of predictive business process monitoring (PBPM) techniques aiming to predict future process behaviour during the process execution. Especially, techniques for the next activity prediction anticipate great potential in improving operational business processes. To gain more accurate predictions, a plethora of these techniques rely on deep neural networks (DNNs) and consider information about the context, in which the process is running. However, an in-depth comparison of such techniques is missing in the PBPM literature, which prevents researchers and practitioners from selecting the best solution for a given event log. To remedy this problem, we empirically evaluate the predictive quality of three promising DNN architectures, combined with five proven encoding techniques and based on five context-enriched real-life event logs. We provide four findings that can support researchers and practitioners in designing novel PBPM techniques for predicting the next activities.


Previous research has shown that estimating full-body poses from a minimal sensor set using a trained ANN without explicitly enforcing time coherence has resulted in output pose sequences that occasionally show undesired jitter. To mitigate such effect, we propose to improve the ANN output by combining it with a state prediction using a Kalman Filter. Preliminary results are promising, as the jitter effects are diminished. However, the overall error does not decrease substantially.


Real-world graphs exhibit many interesting properties that differentiate them from random graphs, which have been extensively studied for the past decades. For various proposed generative models, a majority of them build the graph by sequentially adding each node and the attached edges. However, the growth of many real-world graphs, such as social networks, is naturally modeled by the sequential insertion of edges. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, no generative model has been proposed to reveal this process. We propose the first sequence-of-edges model, denoted as temporal preferential attachment (TPA). It relies on preferential attachment (PA), one of the most influential mechanisms to generate scale-free graphs, and takes time-decay effect and node fitness into consideration. Empirical analysis demonstrates that our model preserves several key properties of the real-world graphs, including both the properties observed from the snapshot graphs (e.g., power-law distribution) and temporal properties observed from the graph generation process (e.g., shrinking diameter). Meanwhile, our model is sufficiently general to accommodate several forms of time decay and fitness distributions. Then, we design two efficient algorithms that generate TPA graphs with billions of edges in several minutes.


Tofuyo and sufu are fermented tofu products which are popular in Okinawa, Japan and in China, respectively. Water extracts from 4 types of tofuyo (produced in Okinawa, Japan) and one type of sufu (produced in Beijing, China) were prepared and their antioxidative activity and angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity were determined. The sufu extract showed higher antioxidative and ACE inhibitory activities than the 4 tofuyo extracts. There was a positive correlation between the antioxidative activity and ACE inhibitory activity of the extracts from the 5 samples. SDS-PAGE patterns of the extracts indicated that all the extracts mainly, consisted of peptides whose molecular weights were less than 10 kDa. Although further investigations on the structure of the peptides in the extracts should be conducted and the relationship between the peptide structure and the 2 activities should be determined, it was shown that sufu contained highly active components and could be used as a functional food.


Herein, we report a new approach to synthesize a series of 1,2,4-[e]-benzotriazine and cinnoline derivatives from 3-substituted isoindolin-1-one. All the reported products are obtained through an economical two-step synthetic procedure resulting in fair-to-high yields. Cinnolines (a) and 1,2,4-[e]-benzotriazines (b) result from an intramolecular cyclization of the corresponding 3-substituted isoindolin-1-ones, which, in turn, are prepared by an addition reaction from 2-cyanobenzaldehyde and 2-(2-nitrophenyl) acetonitrile (a) or 2-nitroaniline derivatives (b). A proposed mechanism for this transformation is presented.


This study aims to determine the validity and reliability of a questionnaire on preschool teachers' self-efficacy in the teaching of English as a second language in Malaysia. This survey-designed study used questionnaire as the instrument. The questionnaire contains 87 items under three constructs; teachers' self-efficacy, teachers' English language proficiency, and teaching strategies. Five experts were involved in validating the questionnaire while the reliability coefficient values were obtained from 200 preschool teachers of three districts. The results have shown that the validity of the questionnaire is high with the coefficient value of .924 based on the consensus from the experts. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient values of the reliability for self-efficacy construct was .921, English language proficiency construct was .961, and teaching strategies construct was .976. Therefore, the questionnaire has been proven to have high validity and reliability which is appropriate to measure preschool teachers' self-efficacy, English language proficiency, as well as teaching strategies in the teaching of English as a second language.n


The transportation industry is under mounting pressure to move to more environmentally friendly energy sources. This is primarily because of increased publicity relating to acid rain, increased levels of air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel depletion. One potential replacement for fossil fuel energy in internal combustion engines is fuel cells. Fuel cells, however, face a problem of declining power generation if contaminants are allowed to enter the fuel cell. The contaminants can enter the fuel cell as impurities in the fuel and oxidant gas streams. Additionally, fuel cell components such as bipolar plates and sealing gaskets have a tendency to evolve impurities which could degrade the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). This paper will explore the potential effects of contaminants on the performance of a PEMFC. The effect of low levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in the hydrogen (H2) fuel gas will be examined. Additionally, the ability of the fuel cell to recover from CO exposure will be explored. Preliminary guidelines for CO will be presented for hydrogen purity. The potential of metal contaminants to leach from the fuel cell components will also be explored. Data will be presented to understand the nature of the contaminants.


The 2000 U.S. census was the first in which respondents were permitted to self-identify with more than one race. A decade later, multiple-race identifiers have become one of the fastest-growing groups in the nation. Such broadening multiracial identification poses important political ramifications and raises questions about the future of minority group political solidarity. Yet we know little about the opinions of multiple-race identifiers and from where those opinions emerge. Bridging literatures in racial politics and political socialization, and drawing upon a multimethod approach, this article provides insight into the consequences of the U.S.'s increasingly blurred racial boundaries by examining the attitudes of Americans of White-Black parentage, a population whose identification was traditionally constrained by the one-drop rule. Findings show that on racial issues such as discrimination and affirmative action, biracials who identify as both White and Black generally hold views akin to Blacks. But on nonracial political issues including abortion and gender/marriage equality, biracials who identify as White-Black or as Black express more liberal views than their peers of monoracial parentage. Being biracial and labeling oneself a racial minority is thus associated with a more progressive outlook on matters that affect socially marginalized groups. Two explanations are examined for these findings: the transmission of political outlook from parents to children, and biracials' experiences straddling a long-standing racial divide.


The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21(WAF1), induces cell-cycle arrest and can act as a tumor suppressor. However, increasing evidence indicates that p21(WAF1) can also increase resistance to some anticancer therapies and thus promote tumor growth. The mechanisms explaining this paradox have not been explained. We found that conditioned media from MCF-7 breast cancer cells transfected with a p21(WAF1)-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly reduced endothelial cell migration, invasion and vascular sprouting. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of the conditioned media revealed that p21(WAF1) knockdown significantly reduced secretion of thioredoxin (Trx), a redox protein known to promote tumor angiogenesis. p21(WAF1) knockdown decreased Trx enzymatic activity in cancer cells, by effects on the expression levels of intracellular thioredoxin-binding protein 2 (TBP2), known to bind and inactivate Trx. Consistent with these findings, media from cancer cells transfected with TBP2 siRNA promoted endothelial cell invasion and blocked the anti-angiogenic effect of p21(WAF1) siRNA. Addition of Trx siRNA blocked the pro-angiogenic effects of TBP2 siRNA. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed p21(WAF1) bound TBP2 gene promoter. Taken together, our data suggests that p21(WAF1) can induce Trx secretion and angiogenesis in cancer cells, by direct transcriptional repression of the TBP2 promoter.


Introduction . The problem of extended urethral strictures treatment remains relevant due to the complexity of the supervision of such patients and the high frequency of disease recurrence after surgical treatment. Purpose of the study . Evaluation of the effectiveness of one-stage buccal urethroplasty according to the Kulkarni technique using two flaps for extended anterior urethral strictures. Materials and methods . The study included 18 men with an extended anterior urethral stricture, who underwent buccal urethroplasty by perineal access using the Kulkarni dorsolateral onlay technique using two flaps from January 2018 to March 2020, and a postoperative follow-up period of at least 6 months. The study was prospective. Control examination was carried out 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after surgery. The criteria for the recurrence of urethral stricture were the presence of complaints of deterioration in the quality of urination in combination with a decrease in the maximum urinary flow rate of less than 12 ml/sec and the presence of residual urine in an amount of more than 100 ml, as well as the need to perform any surgical intervention to restore the normal passage of urine. Results . The age of the patients ranged from 32 to 72 years (median 58 years). The length of the stricture ranged from 6 to 11 cm (median, 8 cm). The stricture was localized in the penile segment in 11 (61.1%) cases and the penile and bulbar urethra in 7 (38.9%) cases simultaneously. An iatrogenic cause of urethral stricture occurred in 11 (61.1) patients, idiopathic in 5 (27.8%) patients and inflammatory in 2 (11.1%) patients. The stricture was primary in 12 (66.7%) cases and recurrent in 6 (33.3%). Spontaneous urination was preserved in 6 (33.3%) patients, cystostomy existed in 12 (66.7%) patients. The follow-up period after surgery ranged from 3 to 24 months (median - 12 months). Recurrence of urethral stricture was noted in 3 (16.7%) cases. The use of this technique for recurrent forms of the urethral stricture (recurrence after the previous urethroplasty) is the most significant risk factor for treatment failure. 1 (5.6%) case of erectile dysfunction and stress urinary incontinence has taken place of the late postoperative complications. Conclusions . The Kulkarni operation using two buccal flaps for extended strictures of the anterior urethra allows to achieve high rates of efficacy and safety of a treatment, however, the risk of failure increases significantly when used for the treatment of recurrent types of strictures.