Persons' behavior, personal values, attitudes and level of consciousness are shaped by a number of factors that include locality, culture, religion, opportunities, environment and personal experiences. Among all other factors the gender and localities of individual was assumed to mediate the effects on pro-environmental behavior. The topographical condition in terms of climate, temperature, rain rate throughout the year, humidity, resources available and natural calamities may have more and less impact in forming personality characteristics i.e. behaviour, knowledge, values, etc. The present study has been emerged out of the above considerations. For that purpose, the state, West Bengal has been divided into six topographical zones and a sample of 145 (N = 145) secondary students of different parts of West Bengal has been taken. Samal and Sarkar Pro-environmental Behavour Questionnaire (SSPBQ) developed by researchers has been used to measure the selected variable. Descriptive statistics along with ANOVA have been employed to analyze the data. No difference of the pro-environmental behaviour was found in case of gender but the significant differences were found in case of localities as well as topographical zones. It might be concluded that the localities and topographical zones might mediate in pro-environmental behaviour of person.


The research examines the correlation between the development of improvisatory skills and pupil self-efficacy with regard to musical performance. The case-study highlights the difference between self-concept and self-efficacy, drawing attention to their importance within and beyond the Music classroom. Six, twelve-year-old students were observed within small-group, African Drumming lessons, and, in this setting, a social constructivist approach was used to explore improvisation. Whilst learning improvisatory skills appeared to strengthen the self-concept of all participants, this did not necessarily result in an increase in students' self-efficacy. The research demonstrates the complexity of self-efficacy and suggests a need for further study, focusing particularly on the relationship between pupil expectations, ability and self-efficacy.


Based upon reliability theory various analytical methods of the reliability of structural point and structural system are introduced.The characteristics of those methods are discussed.Points out that the research of the reliability of structural system is developmental trend of reliability in the future.


In this paper, a novel multiobjective evolutionary algorithm for optimal power flow (OPF) problem is presented. The OPF problem is formulated as a nonlinear constrained multiobjective optimization problem where the fuel cost and the voltage stability index are to be minimized simultaneously. A new strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA) based approach is proposed to handle the problem as a true multiobjective optimization problem with competing and non-commensurable objectives. A hierarchical clustering algorithm is imposed to provide the decision maker with a representative and manageable Pareto-optimal set. The results demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach to generate true and well-distributed Pareto-optimal nondominated solutions in one single run. The results also show the superiority of the proposed approach and confirm its potential to solve the multiobjective OPF problem.


Outstanding magneto-caloric properties of a Gd60 Ni37Co3 amorphous alloy are reported. The magnetic entropy-change peak (−ΔSpeakm) near the Curie temperature (Tc = 135 K) of the amorphous alloy under 5 T is about 10.42 J·kg−1K−1 and the refrigeration capacity (RC) under 5 T is about 860 J·kg−1, both of which are almost the highest among the amorphous alloys with Tc above 100 K. The magneto-caloric behaviors and the mechanism for the rather high magneto-caloric effect of the Gd60Ni37Co3 metallic glass are investigated.


A beam of 7Li+ ions accelerated to 56 keV by an electromagnetic isotope separator was directed through a thin carbon foil. The emergent ions were in various charge and excitation states, from which 26 spectral lines of Li i and Li ii were identified. The decay times of eight stronger lines were measured in order to determine the mean lives of upper levels involved in the decays.


Impaired reproduction is common among patients afflicted with beta-thalassaemia major and is attributed mainly to the deposition of haemosiderin in the pituitary gland and ovaries. In-vitro fertilization (IVF)--embryo transfer cycles including ovum donation cycles are described for the first time in a patient with beta-thalassaemia major. The patient's oocytes were not fertilized by the husband's sperm in repeated IVF attempts. However, when donated oocytes were used, in two consecutive cycles, most were fertilized by the husband, yielding pregnancies after each embryo transfer. It is suggested that in this case of beta-thalassaemia major, impaired oocyte function contributed to infertility. However, a possible association between thalassaemia major and defective oocytes should be tested on a basis of additional IVF-embryo transfer cycles in these patients.


With the stunning public cases of leadership gone awry, the search is on for a type of leadership that incorporates human values in an otherwise exploitative business world. In this book, the authors take the scalpel and address deeply ingrained nefarious management theory, and show the way to healing, opening fresh fields of ambition, new degrees of passion, and creativity. A synthesis of the best Western thinking and Eastern wisdom teachings, the book introduces "The Chakras of Leadership," a model of leadership that differentiates seven levels of human energy use.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Background/Significance: Intrauterine opioid drug exposure is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. Preterm infants may not exhibit the same withdrawal symptoms as term infants diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). There are no current standards for how to screen, assess, or treat NAS in preterm infants. Purpose: This study explored the current state of practice for preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks of gestational age exposed to intrauterine opioids. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of NAS practice in preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks of gestational age in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the United States and Canada. The study was conducted May through September 2018. All respondents cared for preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks of gestational age exposed to intrauterine drugs. Results: There were 70 respondents representing 67 hospitals in the United States and 1 in Canada. Level III NICUs represented 69% of respondents. Ninety-three percent reported neonatal triggers for further evaluation. Review of maternal history and maternal urine testing was the most consistent practice across NICUs. A modified Finnegan scoring tool was used for both preterm and term infants. Morphine was reported as the most common first-line drug used for treatment. Implications for Practice: Great variability in NAS practice for preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks of gestational age across the multiple NICUs supports the need for a validated preterm infant assessment tool and development of appropriate treatment strategies. Implications for Research: Future research describing the NAS symptomatology of preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks of gestational age exposed to intrauterine opioids is warranted.


P53 inactivation caused by aberrant expression of its major regulators(e.g, MDM2 and MDMX) contributes to 50% of human cancers. Recent studies have demonstrated that restoration of p53 activity by counteracting p53 repression is a promising anti-cancer strategy. Although agents(e.g., Nutlin-3a) disrupting the MDM2-p53 interaction can inhibit tumor growth, they are less effective in cancer cells with high MDMX expression levels. MDMX binds to p53 and serves as a major p53 antagonist by mainly repressing its transcriptional activity. Here we reported the identification of two samll molecules inhibitory for MDMX expression through high-throughput screening. Treatments of MCF-7 cells with these MDMX inhibitors dramatically increased the stability of p53, leading to elevated expression of proapoptotic genes(e.g., PUMA, Bax, and PIG3). These results argue for a recent notion that MDMX is a major regulator of the p53 stability. While they exerted limited effects on cell cycle progression, this new class of small-molecule p53 activitors induced MCF7 cells to undergo apoptosis. However, the MDMX inhibitors only modestly enhanced p53 activition induced by Nutlin-3a. We conclue that small molecules targeting MDMX expression would be of therapeutic benefits and be useful in dissecting the p53 network through chemical biological approaches. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4528.


To analyze the therapeutic effect of bevacizumab on radiation-induced brain necrosis. Four radiation-induced brain necrosis patients, administered with bevacizumab at a dose of 7.5 mg/kg every 3 weeks, 2 times. One case of brain metastasis of lung cancer and one case of nasopharyngeal carcinoma with brain necrosis after radiotherapy. However, their physical signs disappeared after the treatment with bevacizumab. One case of brainstem lesion and one case of brain glioma patient showed a transient improvement in signs and symptoms after treatment with bevacizumab. Bevacizumab can significantly alleviate the radiation-induced brain edema, and can improve the symptoms successively.


In this study, the transversal magnetic (TM) and electric (TE) modes of graphene plasmon in a homogeneous environment and three-layered systems were theoretically investigated. The dispersion relations of the graphene plasmon modes were derived in the framework of classical electrodynamics with plane wave modes and Neumann-Dirichlet boundary conditions. The graphene plasmon modes in the three-layer system reproduced exactly the same dispersion relations as freestanding graphene (Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 016803 (2007)), as all layers had the same refractive index. The impulse matching condition between the graphene plasmon and guided photons and the propagation decay length of graphene plasmon were investigated by numerically solving the dispersion relations for different values of the Fermi-energy and the refractive index of the upper layer. The TE-mode graphene plasmon has potential for applications of graphene as a polarization-selective modulator due to its convenient impulse matching with guided photons in the region of telecom wavelengths, despite its low propagation decay rates.


Optical systems based on freeform optical components offer many advantages over conventional systems in imaging applications, e.g. superior image quality, compact and lightweight designs. There are a few well established manufacturing method that can be used for the generation of freeform surfaces with low surface form error and low surface roughness, in the case of freeform mirrors e.g. diamond turning, nickel plating and post-polishing. Metrology is evolving rapidly, although developments are still needed in order to verify the manufactured surface with the necessary accuracy. Optical design methods of freeform surfaces are also lagging behind, many algorithms address non-imaging applications, but in the field of imaging (image-forming) only a few exists and works with various limitations. We compare the available techniques in freeform optical design for imaging and explore the advantages, disadvantages and boundary conditions of the different methods. We also intend to identify the most useful concepts and investigate how they can be embedded into commercially available optical design software.


A male child aged 1 year and 11 months had recently been treated for miliary tuberculosis for about a year. While in his own home he drank a small quantity (the exact amount being unknown) of a liquid insecticide, believing it to be lemonade. He rapidly became unconscious, and was admitted to hospital in this condition. On examination the child was deeply comatose. The limbs were flaccid; the colour was good, and the breathing regular. There was a smell of paraffin in the breath. The pupils were equal, were dilated, and did not react to light. There were no other clinical abnormalities. Gastric lavage was carried out and nikethamide given, both intramuscularly and intravenously. Later the breathing became stertorous and cyanosis was noted. Generalized clonic convulsions then developed, and these were controlled only by sodium phenobarbitone and lumbar puncture. Respirntory failure then set in, with prolonged periods of apnoea, and the child died two and a quarter hours after admission. Necropsy showed miliary tuberculosis of lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys, the miliary lesions being in varying stages of development and healing. The stomach was moderately dilated, but was otherwise normal. The lungs showed hypostatic congestion. There was no abnormality of the central nervous system. Analysis of the gastric contents showed the presence of a thiocyanate.


BACKGROUND
Animal and human data suggest that magnesium may play an important role in ischaemic heart disease. Few prospective epidemiological studies have related serum magnesium concentrations to mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) or all-causes.

METHODS
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Followup Study were used to examine the association between serum magnesium concentration, measured between 1971-1975, and mortality from IHD or all-causes in a national sample of 25-74-year-old participants followed for about 19 years.

RESULTS
The analytical samples for IHD and all-cause-mortality included 12 340 and 12 952 participants, respectively (1005 IHD deaths, 2637 IHD deaths or hospitalizations, 4282 total deaths). Hazard ratios for IHD mortality from proportional hazards analysis comparing the second (1.59-<1.68 mEq/l), third (1.68-<1.77 mEq/l), and fourth (> or =1.77 mEq/1) quartiles of serum magnesium concentration with the lowest quartile were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.58-1.08), 0.66 (95% CI: 0.47-0.93), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.52-0.90), respectively. For all-cause mortality, hazards ratios were 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72-0.93), 0.84 (95% CI: 0.73-0.96), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.75-0.95). No significant interactions between serum magnesium concentration and age, sex, race, and education were observed.

CONCLUSION
Serum magnesium concentrations were inversely associated with mortality from IHD and all-cause mortality.


Most of the existing mathematical models for binary communication channels describe low error rate wire lines satisfactorily. For typical high error rate channels, like the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) or very high frequency (VHF) wideband data channel encountered in military uses, finite-state as well as denumerable infinite state Markov chain models do not achieve an accurate characterization. The above models, including some more recent compound models, are compared against data from the actual channel using the multigap distribution as a tool. A modification of a compound model is shown that allows more accurate modeling of a wider class of channels including the high error rate radio channel.


The loss of aggrecan from articular cartilage may lead to the development of osteoarthritis (OA). Degradation products of human aggrecan, generated in vivo by enzymatic cleavages, have been identified in synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and OA. One matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), stromelysin (MMP-3), and an unidentified proteinase called "aggrecanase" are believed to generate these products in pathologic conditions. Thus far, only one proteinase, neutrophil collagenase (MMP-8), has been shown in vitro to be capable of cleavage of the aggrecan molecule at the "aggrecanase" site. In this study, we compare the presence and distribution of MMP-3 and MMP-8 in cartilages from two different joints of normal human donors. We determined whether mRNA for MMP-8 is expressed in normal human articular cartilage from different joints. In addition, we compared differences in MMP-8 and MMP-3 gene expression between human ankle and knee cartilage after in vitro stimulation by interleukin (IL)-1 beta. These two joints were chosen because the incidence of symptomatic and radiographic OA varies between the different joints. The knee is the most frequently involved joint, whereas the ankle (talocrural) joint is relatively rarely affected. Message for MMP-8 was detected in untreated cartilage from normal knee joints, but not in untreated cartilage of normal ankle joints. Message for MMP-3 was detectable in most of the knee and ankle cartilages. Messenger RNA expression for both MMPs could be up-regulated by IL-1 beta. The highest doses of IL-1 beta appeared to be most effective in stimulation of mRNA for MMP-3, whereas MMP-8 expression was more sensitive to lower doses of IL-1 beta. The fact that ankle cartilage with a low incidence of OA does not express MMP-8, whereas knee cartilage with a high incidence of OA does not express MMP-8, whereas knee cartilage with a high incidence of OA does constitutively express MMP-8, suggests that MMP-8 might be one of the key enzymes in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. This is further supported by our finding that the earliest signs of cartilage degradation were very similar to those found in IL-1 beta-treated explants.


An injection study and a field study were used to investigate the hypothesis that environmental xenobiotics have the potential to alter the immune function of northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens). Three assays, IgM‐specific antibody response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin linked to dinitrophenyl (KLH‐DNP), zymozan induced chemiluminescence (CL) of whole blood and the delayed‐type hypersensitivity (DTH), were used to assay humoral, innate and cell‐mediated immune endpoints. Sublethal doses of DDT (923 ng/g wet wt), malathion (990 ng/g wet wt), and dieldrin (50 ng/g wet wt) were used in the injection study. In all pesticide‐injected groups, antibody response was dramatically suppressed, DTH reactions were enhanced, and respiratory burst was lower. When the order of administration of pesticides and antigens was reversed, no differences in immune function between the control and dosed groups were apparent, indicating that frogs exposed to pathogens prior to pesticide exposure can still respond. A field study found significant differences in immune function between frog populations in pesticide‐exposed and pesticide‐free locations. The antibody response and CL were suppressed and the DTH enhanced in frogs from Essex County (ON, Canada). Overall, the results suggest that exposure to these pesticides can cause both stimulatory and suppressive immune changes in adult frogs and is doing so in wild populations.


BACKGROUND
Patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) have a substantially increased risk of cardiovascular death, the proposed mechanisms being arrhythmias (left ventricular hypertrophy) and accelerated atherosclerosis. The vascular endothelium protects against the development of atherosclerosis principally by releasing vasoactive substances such as nitric oxide (NO) and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor. In CRF there is accumulation of endogenous inhibitors of NO synthesis. In this present study we assessed endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in patients with advanced uraemia.

METHODS
Sixteen uraemic patients (pre-dialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis) and 18 controls were studied. Forearm plethysmography was used to measure forearm blood flow and the changes induced by carbachol (endothelium-dependent vasodilator) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP; endothelium-independent vasodilator). The order of drugs infused was randomized between subjects. Dose response curves were constructed for each agent and area under the curve (AUC) calculated (arbitrary units).

RESULTS
Overall, vasodilatation to SNP and carbachol was similar between uraemic patients and controls. However, it became apparent that there was a marked order effect for the drugs infused, such that infusion of SNP as the first agent blunted the subsequent response to carbachol. When only those patients and controls who received carbachol followed by SNP were studied (10 in each group), the response to carbachol in uraemic patients was attenuated compared to controls: AUC (median(range)) for uraemic patients 529.0 (150.9-834.7) compared to AUC for controls 703.9 (583.5-1576.6); P=0. 028. Vasodilatation to SNP was, however, similar between groups: AUC for uraemic patients 1475.0 (857.8-4717.1) compared to AUC for controls 1328.1 (216.6-3311.4); P=0.545.

CONCLUSIONS
This study has demonstrated a marked drug order effect not previously described for forearm plethysmography. When the order effect was taken into account, this study demonstrated reduced vasodilatation to carbachol in uraemic patients with a preserved response to SNP. This pattern indicates impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in uraemic patients, a defect that may predispose this group to accelerated atherosclerosis.


Introduction: In India, cervical cancer is the most common woman-related cancer, killing 1 woman every 8 minutes. Cervical cancer is more common in women who do not have a Pap test regularly. Secondary prevention achieved through Pap smear testing is the single most effective tool in reducing deaths due to cervical cancer. Scores of women in India fail to carry out this important test till today. In spite of the high incidence of cervical cancer reported from India, to the best of our knowledge, studies on assessing the knowledge and attitude of this test among women has been scanty. Hence, this study has been undertaken. Objective: The aims of this study are to explore the knowledge of Pap test among women and the association between symptomatology and reasons for availing the Pap test. Methods: The study was performed among 251 women aged between 20 and 65 years. The data was collected through a questionnaire containing their personal details and knowledge of the test. The same was tabulated. Results: The study, conducted over a period of 2 months in a tertiary care urban center, revealed that 80.1% of the subjects were not even aware of the term "Cervical Cancer" and a mere 11.6% were aware of the lifesaving Pap smear test. 36.6% of the subjects experienced one of the cardinal symptoms of cervical cancer while only 2% approached the doctor to avail the test. The remaining underwent it on recommendation by


The alias interference is the most troublesome signal which can produce the same intermediate frequency as the useful signal does when we carry out mixing in the RF (radio front) stage, thus it would degrade the SNR(signal to noise ratio) greatly of the signal and raise the error rate of demodulation. The only way to reduce this effect is to restrain the alias frequency with a filter before mixing. Usually a band-pass filter is installed in front of the LNA (low noise amplifier) to choose the specified band radio signal and reduce the energy in the alias frequency in a receiver RF.For the signal is usually very weak after receiving by the antenna in the RF so extra strict requests are needed on the indexes of the preselect filter such as SWR(stand wave ratio), insert loss and alias frequency attenuation. Microstrip filter which features smart structure, high frequency as well as good frequency response is favorable in microwave field. To realize a S band coupled microstrip Chebyshev band-pass filter, an optimal design method is introduced in this paper based on ADS(advanced design system) with the process as follows: at first we decide the number of the stages of the coupled microstrip in the attenuation curve by the decibel attenuation needed to suppress the alias interference, then we get the unitary parameters of a low pass filter by table reference, after that the simulation is carried out after the actual width and gap are figured out by ADS LineCalc tool to affirm the design. To amend the deviation and distortion of the response curve and meet the demand bitterly, the OPTIM controller is adopted to adjust the parameters of the coupled micristrip and the simulation shows the goal is well realized after the optimization.


Childhood obesity results in premature atherosclerosis and requires early intervention. Compare the effectiveness of 6‐month lifestyle interventions (with choice of either individual or group therapy) with standard care on body mass index (BMI) z‐score and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks factors in children with obesity. This 6‐month randomized controlled trial with a 6‐month follow‐up included 74 pre‐pubertal children with obesity (7.5‐11.9 years) assigned randomly (2:1) to intervention or control. Families in the intervention arm choose between an individually delivered treatment (3 hours paediatrician + 4 hours dietician) or group treatment (35 hours with a multidisciplinary team). Children participated also to a weekly physical activity programme. We measured BMI, BMI z‐score; waist circumference (WC); total and abdominal fat; blood pressure; common carotid artery intima‐media thickness and incremental elastic modulus (Einc); endothelium‐dependent and independent dilation (nitroglycerin‐mediated dilation [NTGMD]) of the brachial artery; fasting plasma glucose, insulin, lipids; and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP). Compared to controls, at 6 months, abdominal fat and hs‐CRP were reduced in both interventions. The group intervention was also effective in reducing BMI (−0.55 kg/m2; 95% confidence interval −1.16 to 0.06) and BMI z‐score (−0.08; −0.15 to 0.00) at 6 months and BMI, BMI z‐score, WC, NTGMD, total and abdominal fat at 12 months. Abdominal fat and low‐grade inflammation were significantly decreased in both interventions. High‐intensity group treatment improved early signs of atherosclerosis in children with obesity. These findings are important for the promotion of cardiometabolic health in this population.


Study objective To compare the effectiveness of a standard jet nebulizer, Respirgard II, and a standard ultrasonic nebulizer, Fisoneb, for the administration of aerosolized pentamidine (AP) as primary and secondary prophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in HIV-infected individuals. Design A retrospective, nonrandomized, parallel group comparative study. Setting Patients were enrolled in a community-based AP program (APP) between May 1989 and April 1992 in Ontario, Canada. They received AP in either (1) a centralized treatment facility ("clinic") or (2) their attending physician's office or regionalized centers ("nonclinic"). Clinic administration of pentamidine was via Fisoneb; nonclinic via Respirgard II. Patients The study group comprised of 1,762 HIV-infected individuals requiring AP for either primary (CD4 3 ) or secondary PCP prophylaxis. Of these, 1,151 used Fisoneb (clinic) and 611 used Respirgard II (nonclinic). Results In the primary prophylaxis group, 41 of the 892 patients using Fisoneb (4.6%; mean follow-up, 18 months) compared with 16 of 435 patients using Respirgard II (3,7%; mean follow-up, 14.6 months) developed PCP (p=0.44). A total of 28 of 259 (10.8%; mean follow-up, 15.3 months) patients using Fisoneb for secondary prophylaxis compared with 11 of 176 (6.3%; mean follow-up, 14.4 months) patients using Respirgard II for secondary prophylaxis developed PCP (p=0.1). Conclusions Despite the difference in dosage (120 mg/mo vs 300 mg/mo), type of nebulizer (ultrasonic vs jet), and frequency of administration (twice vs once monthly), the results of this study indicate that both regimens of AP provide comparable protection against PCP. This study further supports the effectiveness of AP as a solid second-line prophylaxis for HIV-infected individuals who are intolerant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or dapsone.


Fujii et al reported that Uracil potentiated the antitumor activity of fluorouracil (5-FU) and 1-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil (tegafur). This effect was due to inhibition of the degradation of 5-FU, yet the phosphorylation of 5-FU was unaffected. The molar ratio of tegafur and uracil was 1:4, a combination that has since been widely prescribed in Japan for the treatment of cancer patients. We present here our experimental and clinical results when investigating the antineoplastic effects of this combination of drugs--known as UFT--and provide evidence that UFT is an effective treatment for patients with cancer.


The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promoter is capable of forming secondary DNA structures, called G‐quadruplex and i‐motif, in its proximal promoter region (−85 to −50 from the transcription initiation site) that can mask transcription factor binding sites thereby inhibiting transcription. To understand this dynamic region and its implications in transcriptional control we studied protein‐DNA interactions of this structurally versatile region, specifically those involving transcription factors. Our candidate transcription factor, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) is a single‐stranded DNA binding protein able to binding to cytosine‐rich sequences such as the VEGF polypurine/polypyrimidine tract. We found that the cytosine‐rich 24‐bp oligomer has the potential of forming an i‐motif at pH 6.5 and formed a complex with hnRNP K as shown by CD spectra analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), respectively. The binding of hnRNP K to the VEGF promoter was confirmed through chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, and its effect on transcriptional control was demonstrated through RT/PCR of hnRNP K siRNA KO and overexpression assays. We also observed through EMSA/Footprint that the hnRNP K protein changes the oligo conformation from an i‐motif structure to a more unstructured linear conformation. In summary, this work is the first to show that hnRNP K serves a role in the transcriptional control of VEGF and that a bromine solution left to react to the protein‐complex can be used to footprint its binding motif. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(12 Suppl):A203.


State-of-the-art deep neural networks are trained with large amounts (millions or even billions) of data. The expensive computation and memory costs make it difficult to train them on limited hardware resources, especially for recent popular large language models (LLM) and computer vision models (CV). Recent popular dataset distillation methods are thus developed, aiming to reduce the number of training samples via synthesizing small-scale datasets via gradient matching. However, as the gradient calculation is coupled with the specific network architecture, the synthesized dataset is biased and performs poorly when used for training unseen architectures. To address these limitations, we present dataset quantization (DQ), a new framework to compress large-scale datasets into small subsets which can be used for training any neural network architectures. Extensive experiments demonstrate that DQ is able to generate condensed small datasets for training unseen network architectures with state-of-the-art compression ratios for lossless model training. To the best of our knowledge, DQ is the first method that can successfully distill large-scale datasets such as ImageNet-1k with a state-of-the-art compression ratio. Notably, with 60% data from ImageNet and 20% data from Alpaca's instruction tuning data, the models can be trained with negligible or no performance drop for both vision tasks (including classification, semantic segmentation, and object detection) as well as language tasks (including instruction tuning tasks such as BBH and DROP).


Successful assembly of suspended nanoscale rod-like particles depends on fundamental phenomena controlling rotational and translational diffusion. Despite the significant developments in fluidic fabrication of nanostructured materials, the ability to quantify the dynamics in processing systems remains challenging. Here we demonstrate an experimental method for characterization of the orientation dynamics of nanorod suspensions in assembly flows using birefringence relaxation. The methodology is illustrated using nanocelluloses (cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibrils) as model systems, where the coupling of rotational diffusion coefficients to particle size distributions as well as flow-induced orientation mechanisms are elucidated. Our observations advance the knowledge on key fundamental nanoscale mechanisms governing the dynamics of nanotubes and nanorods allowing bottom-up assembly into hierarchical superstructures.


Heterogeneous cellular networks with small cells densely deployed underlying the conventional homogeneous macrocells are emerging as a promising candidate for the fifth generation (5G) mobile network. When a large number of base stations are deployed, the cost-effective, flexible, and green backhaul solution becomes one of the most urgent and critical challenges. With vast amounts of spectrum available, wireless backhaul in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band is able to provide several-Gbps transmission rates. To overcome high propagation loss at higher frequencies, mmWave backhaul utilize beamforming to achieve directional transmission, and concurrent transmissions (spatial reuse) under low inter-link interference can be enabled to significantly improve network capacity. To achieve an energy efficient solution for the mmWave backhauling of small cells, we first formulate the problem of minimizing the energy consumption via concurrent transmission scheduling and power control into a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem. Then we develop an energy efficient and practical mmWave backhauling scheme, where the maximum independent set based scheduling algorithm and the power control algorithm are proposed to exploit the spatial reuse for low energy consumption and high energy efficiency. We also theoretically analyze the conditions that our scheme reduces energy consumption, and the choice of the interference threshold for energy reduction. Through extensive simulations under various traffic patterns and system parameters, we demonstrate the superior performance of our scheme in terms of energy consumption and energy efficiency, and also analyze the choice of the interference threshold under different traffic loads, BS distributions, and the maximum transmission power.


Adjusting the sowing date to optimize temperature conditions is a helpful strategy for mitigating the adverse impact of high temperature on summer maize growth in the North China Plain (NCP). However, the physiological processes of variation in summer maize yield with sowing date-associated changes in temperature conditions around flowering remain to be poorly understood. In this study, field experiments with two maize varieties and three sowing dates (early sowing date, SD1, 21 May; conventional sowing date, SD2, 10 June; delay sowing date, SD3, 30 June) were conducted at Xinxiang of Henan Province in 2019 and 2020. Early sowing markedly decreased the daily mean temperature (Tmean), maximum temperature (Tmax), and minimum temperature (Tmin) during pre-silking, while delay sowing markedly decreased those temperatures during post-silking. Under these temperature conditions, both varieties under SD1 at 12-leaf stage (V12) and silking stage (R1) while under SD3 at R1 and milking stage (R3) possessed significantly lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaf due to higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) compared to SD2. Therefore, SD1 at V12 and R1 stages and SD3 at R1 and R3 stages for both varieties showed significantly higher photosynthetic capacity, including higher SPAD, Fv/Fm, Pn, Tr, and Gs, which promoted greater pre-silking dry matter (DM) accumulation for SD1 to increase the kernel number, and promoted greater post-silking DM accumulation for SD3 to increase the kernel weight, eventually increased the grain yield of SD1 and SD3 compared to SD2. Results of regression analysis demonstrated that Tmean, Tmax, and Tmin values from V12 to R1 stages lower than 26.6, 32.5, and 20.3°C are necessary for improving the kernel number, while Tmean, Tmax, Tmin, and accumulated temperature (AT) values from R1 to R3 stages lower than 23.2, 28.9, 17.3, and 288.6°C are necessary for improving the kernel weight. Overall, optimal temperature conditions around flowering can be obtained by early (21 May) or delay (30 June) sowing to improve the kernel number or kernel weight due to improved photosynthetic capacity, eventually increasing the grain yield of summer maize in the NCP.


In Chile, since 2000, severe psychiatric disorders have been one of the seven programmatic priorities of public mental health policies. This priority was emphasized in 2005, including the treatment of First Episode Schizophrenia in the Regime of Explicit Health Guarantees. This mental health problem, highly relevant in epidemiological and clinical terms, usually occurs during adolescence: a period of active processes of identity construction and subjective history and, added to this, the experience of a first psychotic episode and subsequent recovery. First episode schizophrenia, widely researched in the field of clinical psychology and social sciences, has been insufficiently addressed from the perspective of subjective experiences of patients in treatment. The aim of the study was to analyze the subjective experiences associated with the diagnosis and treatment of first episode schizophrenia, in order to interpret the way these experiences participated in the construction of an autobiographical narrative. This was an interpretive qualitative single case study of a 17-year-old male participant, discharged from a day hospital for adolescents in the Metropolitan region. He was interviewed in-depth and the resulting corpus was studied based on discourse analysis, incorporating the input from the hermeneutics of Ricœur.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) is a member of the steroid/nuclear receptor superfamily and mediates the biological and toxicological effects of peroxisome proliferators. To determine the physiological role of PPARalpha in fatty acid metabolism, levels of peroxisomal and mitochondrial fatty acid metabolizing enzymes were determined in the PPARalpha null mouse. Constitutive liver beta-oxidation of the long chain fatty acid, palmitic acid, was lower in the PPARalpha null mice as compared with wild type mice, indicating defective mitochondrial fatty acid catabolism. In contrast, constitutive oxidation of the very long chain fatty acid, lignoceric acid, was not different between wild type and PPARalpha null mice, suggesting that constitutive expression of enzymes involved in peroxisomal beta-oxidation is independent of PPARalpha. Indeed, the PPARalpha null mice had normal levels of the peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase, bifunctional protein (hydratase + 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase), and thiolase but lower constitutive expression of the D-type bifunctional protein (hydratase + 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase). Several mitochondrial fatty acid metabolizing enzymes including very long chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, long chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, short chain-specific 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, and long chain acyl-CoA synthetase are also expressed at lower levels in the untreated PPARalpha null mice, whereas other fatty acid metabolizing enzymes were not different between the untreated null mice and wild type mice. A lower constitutive expression of mRNAs encoding these enzymes was also found, suggesting that the effect was due to altered gene expression. In wild type mice, both peroxisomal and mitochondrial enzymes were induced by the peroxisome proliferator Wy-14,643; induction was not observed in the PPARalpha null animals. These data indicate that PPARalpha modulates constitutive expression of genes encoding several mitochondrial fatty acid-catabolizing enzymes in addition to mediating inducible mitochondrial and peroxisomal fatty acid beta-oxidation, thus establishing a role for the receptor in fatty acid homeostasis.


Astrometeorology is a great science and gift from our ancestors known to humankind. Compared to statistical and numerical methods of forecasting, astrometeorology method has no time restrictions and weather could be forecasted for the next hour to a date far in the future. Wind speed is the weather parameter plays an important role in crop production. A study on the relationship between the wind speed events and the planet's azimuth was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during 2017-18 as a part of the formulation of astrometeorological rules for wind speed events. Hourly wind speed observed between 2011 and 2016 from each one location from 31 districts of Tamil Nadu were correlated with the ephemeris developed for the same period in Alcyone ephemeris calculator. It could be concluded from the correlation study on individual planet azimuth and wind speed events that the azimuth range of 61 – 120 of all the planets and 240 – 300 had a good influence on wind speed. The 61 – 90 degrees azimuth of the Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune had good influence on calm to light air wind speed events (0 – 12 km). The 91 – 120 degrees azimuth of all the planets had influenced moderately to heavy wind (19 – 45 km/hour). The Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune at 60 90 degrees azimuth had influenced the extreme wind speed events. The Moon, Mars and Saturn at 271 – 300 degrees azimuth had influenced the moderate to heavy wind (19 – 45 km/ hour).


To the Editor: In 1986, a new retrovirus called HIV-2 was isolated from two AIDS patients from West Africa. Through January 1988, 612 cases of HIV-2 infection were reported.' The great majority (96%) of infected individuals were West Africans. Only 21 were Europeans (6 French, 5 Portuguese, and 10 West Germans). Generally, European patients had a history of sexual intercourse with individuals from HIV-2 endemic areas. By November 1988, other European countries-Italy (2), Greece (3), Belgium (4), and United Kingdom (5)-reported indigenous HIV-2 infected persons; all these cases occurred among classical risk groups for HIV-I infection (drug addicts, homosexual men, and multiply transfused patients). We report the results of the first Spanish studies on the epidemiology of HIV-2 infection. In February 1988, serum samples from 102 West African immigrants and 235 Spanish drug abusers were tested for antibodies to HIV-I and HIV-2 by EIA and Western blot (WB) (Pasteur, Paris, France). All subjects were residents of Barcelona, and the serum samples had been collected in 1986. Only three individuals had antibodies to HIV-2 that were confirmed by WB. They were black men from Gambia (2) and Senegal ( l ) , where HIV-2 is endemic. In this study, no case of HIV-2 infection was detected among heroin addicts, in whom HIV-I infection was prevalent (84.6%). Many of the West African men studied reported active promiscuity, with frequent sexual intercourse with Spanish prostitutes, most of whom were also drug addicts. We draw attention to the possible role of prostitutes as transmitters of HIV-2 from subjects from endemic areas to drug addicts of developed countries. In January 1989, we tested serum samples from 433 Spanish drug abusers, collected between 1984 and 1988, for antibodies to HIV-2, using a synthetic peptide immunoassay (Clonatec, France). Samples from 47 subjects (10.8%) were repeatedly reactive in the ELISA test but only nine reactions were confirmed by WB (New LAV-BLOT 11, Pasteur). These nine reactions represent the first indigenous HIV-2-infected persons reported in Spain. All were also infected with HIVI . Five are men and four are women, three of whom are prostitutes and reported frequent sexual intercourse with African immigrants. None of the nine reported travel to endemic areas. Our results suggest a recent introduction of HIV-2 in the Spanish population of drug abusers (prevalence 2.1 %). We suggest a possible role of prostitutes (most of them are also drug abusers) as transmitters of HIV-2 from subjects from endemic areas to drug addicts of developed countries. V. SORIANO, MD J. TOR, MD A. RIBERA, MD Infectious Diseases Unit Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol Barcelona, Spain References


The most common and deadly form of primary brain cancer, glioblastoma (GBM), is characterized by significant intratumoral heterogeneity, high vascularity, and infiltrative growth. Delivering effective and sustained treatments to the invading GBM cells without worsening damage to the adjacent brain is a major challenge. We aim to develop an innovative, local delivery approach that couples chemotherapy-loaded brain penetrating biodegradable nanoparticles with tumor cell-targeting capabilities and convection enhanced delivery (CED). We formulated sub-100 nm sized, close to neutrally charged, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG) nanoparticles with ~5% w/w carmustine (BCNU) payload coated with a fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14) antibody to specifically target Fn14-positive brain-invading tumor cells. We observed that PLGA surface modification using non-adhesive PEG allowed nanoparticles to rapidly move through brain tissue in ex vivo rat brain slices, potentially increasing the distribution of delivered therapeutics. We showed that Fn14-targeted nanoparticles were able to selectively bind to recombinant Fn14 but not to brain extracellular matrix proteins in surface plasmon resonance assays, as well as diffuse within brain tissue in multiple particle tracking assays. In addition, when administered intracranially, Fn14-targeted nanoparticles showed improved brain tumor retention in C57BL/6 mice bearing orthotopic KR158B tumors compared to non-targeted nanoparticles. We propose that targeting treatments to invading cancer cells using non-adhesive nanoparticles will limit non-specific interactions within brain and tumor tissue and thereby allow specific interactions at target structures and increase the BCNU therapeutic index. To test this hypothesis, we plan to determine the therapeutic efficacy of Fn14-targeted and non-targeted, non-adhesive nanoparticles, capable of releasing BCNU over a 3 week period, by intracranial CED injections in C57BL/6 mice bearing orthotopic KR158B invasive tumors. Citation Format: Aniket S. Wadajkar, Jimena G. Dancy, Nina P. Connolly, Jeffrey A. Winkles, Graeme F. Woodworth, Anthony J. Kim. Targeting nanotherapeutics to the invasive glioblastoma margin via the cell surface receptor Fn14 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3107. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3107


This dissertation is divided into two parts, both of which describe measurements where a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is operated to perform measurements of novel physical systems. In the first section I describe spin-polarized STM (SP-STM) measurements on individual adatoms on a ferromagnetic surface. The aim of the first section is to illustrate how a SP-STM can be used to probe magnetic phenomena at the atomic scale. After describing the explicit details of the SP-STM apparatus, I explain how to use SP-STM to study the magnetic coupling of different 3d adatoms (Fe, Cr and Cu) to a ferromagnetic surface. It is shown that the SP-STM is capable of distinguishing which species couple ferromagnetically vs. anti-ferromagnetically to the surface. The second section describes STM measurements performed on a graphene surface equipped with a back-gate electrode that can be used to vary the charge density of the graphene in situ. These measurements represent the first time an STM has been capable of measuring a gate-tunable surface, and this section describes the extra experimental and theoretical considerations that are required to set up such an experiment and accurately interpret the data. It is shown that electrons tunneling into graphene include a strong, phononmediated inelastic signal, and that an STM tip can be an invasive probe of graphene. After showing how to account for these effects, STM experiments are presented that examine (1) how impurities effect the large scale electronic structure of graphene, (2) how the quasiparticle lifetime in graphene depends on charge density, and (3) how Co adatoms can be reversibly ionized on graphene through the use of a back-gate electrode.


Heifer feeding and management programs have a great impact on the efficiency of the future dairy herd. Dairies that feed and manage heifers for calving at about 24 mo of age are optimizing milk production, feed cost for raising heifers, number of replacement heifers available, and return on investment. Replacement heifers represent a considerable investment in labor and feed, with no return on that investment until they freshen. A summary of Kansas DHIA Holstein herds shows that some herds are receiving a good return on investment as early as 22 mo of age, whereas other herds are not reaping any return until 31 mo (Figure 1). The summary also shows that herds with heifers freshening at an average age of 24 to 25 mo have the highest Rolling Herd Averages for milk production.; Dairy Day, 1991, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 1991;


This study aims to analyze the factors that affect the thin capitalization of multinational companies in Indonesia. Thin capitalization is the practice of double taxation by way of finance branches or subsidiaries with greater interest debt rather than with equity. Independent variables used in this study is multinationality, utilization of tax haven, withholding taxes and institutional ownership, while the dependent variable is the thin capitalization. The population of this research is that companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2010-2012. Sampling was done by purposive sampling technique. Based on purposive sampling, obtained a sample of 84 companies. The method of analysis used to test the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable is the Ordinary Least Square (OLS). The results of this study indicate that (1) Multinationality significant effect on thin capitalization, (2) Utilization of Tax Haven significant effect on thin capitalization, (3) Withholding Taxes significant effect on thin capitalization, and (4) Institutional Ownership significant effect on thin capitalization.


Aspergillus spp. play a significant role in the etiology of immunoglobulin (Ig)E mediated allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS). It is unclear whether Aspergillus spp. are also involved in nasal polyps without the characteristic clinical features of AFS. Objectives: The frequency of Background: Aspergillus spp. and Aspergillus‐specific IgE in nasal lavages and serum of patients with severe nasal polyps (n = 33) without clinical features of AFS should be investigated. Study Design: Prospective study. Methods: An aliquot of nasal lavage fluid was treated with dithiothreitol and examined for Aspergillus fumigatus by culture and an Aspergillus‐specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. An additional aliquot of nasal fluid and serum of the same patient were tested for specific IgE (Unicap, Pharmacia, Freiburg, Germany) to recombinant Aspergillus fumigatus allergen (rAspf) 1 to 6. Results: All patients had negative skin prick tests for Aspergillus fumigatus. Four of 33 (12%) lavage samples were positive for Aspergillus spp. by PCR. In one of these samples, rAspf‐specific IgE was detected but none in the serum. Nasal lavage and serum samples of the remaining 29 patients were negative for rAspf‐specific IgE. Conclusions: Aspergillus spp. detection is rare in patients with severe nasal polyps without characteristic clinical features of AFS. Specific IgE in nasal secretions may be elevated in patients with negative skin prick tests and serum IgE. In these cases, immunologic mechanisms similar to AFS may be involved. Fungal etiology has been proposed to underlie severe nasal polyps in general. However, Aspergillus spp. seem not to play a significant role.


Eucalyptus pellita is currently the predominant tree species deployed for tree plantation establishment in many parts of Borneo, particularly in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. This study evaluates the occurrence of end-splitting in four-year old plantation grown E. pellita in Sabah as affected by site and growth attributes. An existing progeny tree breeding trial, involving seeds originated from Papua New Guinea, China, Vietnam, Australia and Sabah with 101 individual families, was used to carry out the split assessment. The trial trees were planted on two contrasting sites which differed significantly in soil type, soil texture, soil physical conditions, effective rooting depth and drainage capacity. Logs from the second thinning were cut into 2.2 m long sections. The end splits were evaluated by using a designated split scoring system. Plastic s-hooks, a wax emulsion end sealer and a bitumen end sealer were used as remediation measure and were compared against a control of no remedial application. The study showed that significant variation exists in log end-splitting, comparing the two sites, in combination with significant variation in tree growth. The variation in log end-splitting is attributed to the variation in tree growth as a response to the different growing conditions. Application of plastic s-hooks reduced split occurrence and severity significantly (49.62%), while the wax and bitumen end sealers had no effect on reduction of growth strain related splits. The findings suggested that end-splitting is caused by complex genetic-environment/site-growth interactions. It is vital to better understand factors involved in log end-splitting to optimise E. pellita plantation management.


Water surface oscillations in a man-made marina--Marina del Rey, California--have been studied through prototype experiments and theoretical analysis. The prototype experiments are conducted by using both the floating gauge and pressure type gauge. The field data show that a distinct mode of oscillation with wave periods between 45 minutes and 50 minutes are naturally present almost all the time. Such resonant wave periods also agree well with the theoretical results.


This paper addresses the line planning problem by the combination of existing models reinforced with realistic characteristics like lines frequencies intervals or maximum number of lines, useful for public transportation companies. The problem is solved by an innovative, easily implementable, heuristic combining column generation and elementary column enumeration methods. In this paper, the operator's exploitation costs are minimized while respecting new quality of service parameters addressed to passengers. Furthermore, a case study based on a real network is performed and described in this paper to prove the efficiency of our method. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Networks → Network design and planning algorithms


A sound understanding of developmental biology is part of the foundation of effective stem cell-derived tissue engineering. Here, the key concepts of cardiac development that are successfully applied in a bioinspired approach to growing engineered cardiac tissues, are reviewed. The native cardiac milieu is studied extensively from embryonic to adult phenotypes, as it provides a resource of factors, mechanisms, and protocols to consider when working toward establishing living tissues in vitro. It begins with the various cell types that constitute the cardiac tissue. It is discussed how myocytes interact with other cell types and their microenvironment and how they change over time from the embryonic to the adult states, with a view on how such changes affect the tissue function and may be used in engineered tissue models. Key embryonic signaling pathways that have been leveraged in the design of culture media and differentiation protocols are presented. The cellular microenvironment, from extracellular matrix chemical and physical properties, to the dynamic mechanical and electrical forces that are exerted on tissues is explored. It is shown that how such microenvironmental factors can inform the design of biomaterials, scaffolds, stimulation bioreactors, and maturation readouts, and suggest considerations for ongoing biomimetic advancement of engineered cardiac tissues and regeneration strategies for the future.


The involvement of an outer membrane transport component for vitamin B12 uptake in Salmonella typhimurium, analogous to the btuB product in Escherichia coli, was investigated. Mutants of S. typhimurium selected for resistance to bacteriophage BF23 carried mutations at the btuB locus (butBs) (formerly called bfe, at the analogous map position as the E. coli homolog) and were defective in high-affinity vitamin B,2 uptake. The cloned E. coli btuB gene (btuBE) hybridized to S. typhimurium genomic DNA and restored vitamin B12 transport activity to S. typhimurium btuBs mutants. An Mr-60000 protein in the S. typhimurium outer membrane was repressed by growth with vitamin B12 and was eliminated in a btuBs mutant. The btuBs product thus appears to play the same role in vitamin B,2 transport by S. typhimurium as does the E. coli btuBE product. A second vitamin B12 transport system that is not present in E. coli was found by cloning a fragment of S. typhimurium DNA that complemented btuB mutants for vitamin B12 utilization. In addition to this plasmid with a 6-kilobase insert of S. typhimurium DNA, vitamin B,2 utilization by E. coli btuB strains required the btuC and btuD products, necessary for transport across the cytoplasmic membrane, but not the btuE or tonB product. The plasmid conferred low levels of vitamin B12-binding and energy-dependent transport activity but not susceptibility to phage BF23 or utilization of dicyanocobinamide. The cloned S. typhimurium DNA encoding this new transport system did not hybridize to the btuBE gene or to E. coli chromosomal DNA and therefore does not carry the S. typhimurium btuBs locus. Increased production of an Mr-84,000 polypeptide associated with the outer membrane was seen. The new locus appears to be carried on the large plasmid in most S. typhimurium strains. Thus, S. typhimurium possesses both highand low-affinity systems for uptake of cobalamins across the outer membrane.


Two asymptomatic patients with surgically proven solitary primary hepatic carcinoid tumors are reported. Ultrasonography showed hyperechoic masses containing multiple small cystic areas in both cases. On unenhanced CT, one tumor was of low density and one was isodense with multiple low density foci. One tumor showed marked retention of contrast medium on post-angiographic CT. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed low intensity masses on T1-weighted images and high intensity tumors with multiple areas of higher intensity on T2-weighted imaging. The small low density areas in these masses corresponded histopathologically to multiple vascular lakes. Late enhancement of the mass was presumed to correspond with proliferative fibrous tissue within the mass.


Due to limited frequency resources, new services are being applied to the existing frequencies, and service providers are allocating some of the existing frequencies for newly enhanced mobile communications. Because of this frequency environment, repeater and base station systems for mobile communications are becoming more complicated, and frequency interference caused by multiple bands and services is getting worse. Therefore, a heterodyne receiver using intermediate frequency (IF) filters with high selectivity has been used to minimize the interference between frequencies. However, repeater and base station systems in mobile communications employing fixed IF filters cannot actively cope with the usage of multiple frequency bands, the application of various services, and frequency recycling. Therefore, this brief proposes a reconfigurable digital IF filter with variable center frequency and bandwidth while achieving high selectivity as existing IF filters. The center frequency of a filter can vary from 10 MHz to 62.5 MHz, and the filter bandwidth can be selective to one of 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz. The proposed digital filter also reduces the complexity of adders and multipliers by 38.81% and 41.57%, respectively, compared to an existing digital filter by using a filter bank and a multi stage structure. This digital IF filter is fabricated on a 130-nm CMOS process and occupies 5.90 mm2.


Congestion control is a fundamental technology to balance the traffic load and the network. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol has flexible congestion control and at the same time possesses the advantages of high efficiency, low latency, and easy deployment at the application layer. Bottleneck bandwidth and round-trip propagation time (BBR) is an optional congestion control algorithm adopted by QUIC. BBR can significantly increase throughput and reduce latency, in particular over long-haul paths. However, BBR results in high packet loss in low bandwidth and low fairness in multi-stream scenarios. In this article, we propose the enhanced BBR congestion control (eBCC) algorithm, which improves the BBR algorithm in two aspects: (1) 10.87% higher throughput and 74.58% lower packet loss rate in the low-bandwidth scenario and (2) 8.39% higher fairness in the multi-stream scenario. This improvement makes eBCC very suitable for IoT communications to provide better QoS services.


Cloud computing has achieved maturity, and there is a heterogeneous group of providers and cloud-based services. However, significant attention remains focused on security concerns. In many cases, security and privacy issues are a significant barrier to user acceptance of cloud computing systems and the advantages these offer with respect to previous systems. Biometric technologies are becoming the key aspect of a wide range of secure identification and personal verification solutions, but in a cloud computing environment they present some problems related to the management of biometric data, due to privacy regulations and the need to trust cloud providers. To overcome those problems in this paper, we propose a cryptobiometric system applied to cloud computing in which no private biometric data are exposed.


A summary of the results of a mainly experimental investigation into the development of wideband orthomode transducers (OMTs) is presented. It is shown that satisfactory performance for many applications is possible over bandwidths in excess of 2:1. The wideband return loss and cross-polarization behavior are given where the OMT used is measured in conjunction with a wideband corrugated horn. Two types of OMT are considered: one based on a finline technique and the other on a quad-ridged waveguide geometry. Overall, the latter design gives superior performance. >


Objective: To implement a best practice approach to assessment, management and prevention of delirium in two acute medical wards. Design: Twelve month quality improvement project using local data to develop and implement local guidelines and tools. Setting: Two acute medical wards in a tertiary hospital. Subjects: Ward staff and stakeholders. Interventions: Delirium screening tool, local clinical pathway, educational program, standardised nursing care plan, practical resource 'rummage' boxes, and a carer information pamphlet. Main outcome measures: Ward audit, focus groups and staff perception survey. Results: Delirium was found in ten patients among a total of thirty participants (prevalence of 37%) but only half of these cases were diagnosed by the ward medical team. Confusion was noted by nursing staff in all cases of delirium. Almost all of the participants (29/30) had three or more risk factors for delirium and thus were at high risk. Focus group participants were knowledgeable about delirium, but felt that resources and support were limited. Project tools used were acceptable to ward staff (participants of focus groups); however, substantial numbers of staff remained unaware of the project materials. Conclusion: A global approach to prevention in high risk hospital populations may be needed. Nursing staff are well placed to screen for delirium, however, sustaining change is challenging.


Clostridium difficile toxins A and B bind to eukaryotic target cells, are endocytosed and then deliver their N‐terminal glucosyltransferase domain after processing into the cytosol. Whereas glucosyltransferase, autoprocessing and cell‐binding domains are well defined, structural features involved in toxin delivery are unknown. Here, we studied structural determinants that define membrane insertion, pore formation and translocation of toxin B. Deletion analyses revealed that a large region, covering amino acids 1501–1753 of toxin B, is dispensable for cytotoxicity in Vero cells. Accordingly, a chimeric toxin, consisting of amino acids 1–1550 and the receptor‐binding domain of diphtheria toxin, caused cytotoxic effects. A large N‐terminal part of toxin B (amino acids 1–829) was not essential for pore formation (measured by 86Rb+ release in mammalian cells). Studies using C‐terminal truncation fragments of toxin B showed that amino acid residues 1–990 were still capable of inducing fluorescence dye release from large lipid vesicles and led to increased electrical conductance in black lipid membranes. Thereby, we define the minimal pore‐forming region of toxin B within amino acid residues 830 and 990. Moreover, we identify within this region a crucial role of the amino acid pair glutamate‐970 and glutamate‐976 in pore formation of toxin B.


Questioning plays a key role in English-language teaching to any learner groups including young learners. Teacher questions are frequently used to confirm information that learners have already known or to raise their critical thinking about an issue. Under these circumstances, this single case study is aimed to identify the types of questions and to have an insightful explanation of why teachers use certain types of questions in English-language class at a local state-run primary school. The two research objectives, also research questions, are verified by the analysis and interpretation of data from non-participatory observation and in-depth interview with a primary English teacher, also the single case in this study. It can be seen from the analyzed data that display and referential questions are mainly used in the observed lesson, and the teacher explained that her choice of using two types of questions depends on lesson learning outcomes and the understanding of learners' cognitive development. Some pedagogical implications of utilizing questioning strategies in TEYL lessons and suggestion for further studies are also discussed at the end of this research study.


Summary The implementation of Japan's Long-Term Care Insurance Scheme in early 2000 presaged many changes in service delivery and much debate among service providers, different levels of government, academic analysts, and major media interests. The first part of this paper gives an account of the major changes in the organization of service delivery that have increased opportunities for private sector providers, including large corporations, and restructured contractual relationships between municipalities and providers in all sectors. New arrangements for client assessment, classification, care management, and extended service types are then outlined. An assessment is then made of the likelihood that the expected outcomes of the scheme will be realized, with the concerns of welfare professionals that the public welfare system is under threat juxtaposed with bureaucratic goals of liberalizing the provision of long-term care.


Due to the importance of plants in the Earth's ecosystem, their photobiological responses have become the subject of extensive research in life sciences. Leaf optical models have been developed to assist in the analysis of remotely sensed data to derive information on leaf biochemistry and anatomy from foliar spectral curves (transmittance and reflectance). In this paper, we investigate the implications of using in vitro pigment absorption spectra to model foliar optical properties in the visible domain. Typically, pigment absorption spectra have been determined using light absorption spectroscopy (AS) or by applying a data fitting approach. Alternatively, we propose the use of photoacoustic pigment AS, which, despite being available in the literature, has not been used in the modeling of foliar optical properties before. We also perform computational experiments in which foliar modeled spectral curves generated using these different absorption data sets are compared with actual measured data. Our findings indicate that the proposed alternative not only allows key pigments to be individually incorporated into the models, which, in turn, increases the predictability of the simulations, but also enables the generation of modeled foliar spectral curves that are more accurate than those obtained using absorption data derived from standard AS procedures.


Our aim in this study is to evaluate the fasting and residual gall-bladder volumes and postprandial gall-bladder contractility in patients with cholelithiasis. We included 32 cases of cholelithiasis and 20 cases of control group without cholelithiasis in the study. The patients with cholelithiasis and the control group were evaluated by ultrasonography after 8 hours of fasting. In all of the cases, gall-bladder fasting and residual volume and postprandial ejection fraction values were recorded. Fasting gall-bladder and residual volume were found to be higher although the ejection fraction on the tenth minute was lower in patients with cholelithiasis than the control group. However, none of the parameter differences between the two groups had statistical significance. Key word: Gall-bladder, cholelithiasis, volume, contractility.


In this paper we argue for a more explicitly geographical insight into the currently dominant theme of transnationalism in studies of contemporary international migration. Although space is not the exclusive concern of geographers, the latter have a more intense engagement with space and its many attendant notions – distance, borders, geometries and spatialities of mobility, power etc. – than other social-science disciplines. The rise in interest in the transnational activities of international migrants in the 1990s coincided with the 'spatial turn' across the social sciences which popularised a flexible, liquid notion of space. Transnational activities provided the ideal empirical support for those wishing to contest firmly territorialised notions of states and power, and a range of spatial metaphors became popular in association with migration. Over the last decade geographers have built on established critiques of spatial metaphors to try to counter notions of freefloating transnational spaces, without artificially pinning them down. This paper reviews this expanding literature with the aim of locating important sites of state control of transnational activities and identifying a 'power geometry' of transnational space. These sites of control are conceptualised through Harvey's grid of spatial practices and illustrated with examples from our research around the Mediterranean. We select three essential elements of such a power geometry: territory, mobility and technology – each of which is related to both space and the borders that separate space into territories of residence, confinement, crossing, and control.


Emotional requirements must contain at least two elements: the game designer's intent (that is, the target emotional state) and the means by which the game designer expects (requires) the production team to induce that emotional state in the player. We can consider an emotional state such as happiness as universal, but the way you induce happiness isn't. Emotional requirements need context: classic pratfalls from vaudevillian theater can induce gales of laughter in a viewer who also feels horror at seeing a loved one fall. Unanticipated interactions between what the player sees, hears, and feels before or during the game can also affect the player's emotional response to stimulus, which is further conditioned by the individual's personality, culture, and life experiences.


Palmatine is a naturally occurring isoquinoline alkaloid that has been reported to display neuroprotective effects against amyloid-β- (Aβ-) induced neurotoxicity. However, the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective activities of palmatine remain poorly characterized in vivo. We employed transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans models containing human Aβ1-42 to investigate the effects and possible mechanisms of palmatine-mediated neuroprotection. Treatment with palmatine significantly delayed the paralytic process and reduced the elevated reactive oxygen species levels in Aβ-transgenic C. elegans. In addition, it increased oxidative stress resistance without affecting the lifespan of wild-type C. elegans. Pathway analysis suggested that the differentially expressed genes were related mainly to aging, detoxification, and lipid metabolism. Real-time PCR indicated that resistance-related genes such as sod-3 and shsp were significantly upregulated, while the lipid metabolism-related gene fat-5 was downregulated. Further studies demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of palmatine on Aβ toxicity were attributable to the free radical-scavenging capacity and that the upregulated expression of resistance-related genes, especially shsp, whose expression was regulated by HSF-1, played crucial roles in protecting cells from Aβ-induced toxicity. The research showed that there were significantly fewer Aβ deposits in transgenic CL2006 nematodes treated with palmatine than in control nematodes. In addition, our study found that Aβ-induced toxicity was accompanied by dysregulation of lipid metabolism, leading to excessive fat accumulation in Aβ-transgenic CL4176 nematodes. The alleviation of lipid disorder by palmatine should be attributed not only to the reduction in fat synthesis but also to the inhibition of Aβ aggregation and toxicity, which jointly maintained metabolic homeostasis. This study provides new insights into the in vivo neuroprotective effects of palmatine against Aβ aggregation and toxicity and provides valuable targets for the prevention and treatment of AD.


The highly motile, 9 + 0 sperm axoneme of Anguilla has inner dynein arms (IDAs) but not outer dynein arms. The in situ morphology of these IDAs is shown here to be essentially identical to the IDA morphology already seen in the axonemes of Chlamydomonas, Tetrahymena and Beroë, and in the sperm tails of echinoderms and several vertebrate species. In addition, this study demonstrates: (1) that the nexin (circumferential) links are present in Anguilla and are typical; (2) that IDA1 incorporates an archway, supported by a pillar-structure; (3) that images from thin sections and whole mounts are consistent with those from replicas of rapidly-frozen specimens; and (4) that the IDA and nexin link morphology is apparently unaffected by whether the axoneme is depleted of ATP, relaxed with ATP and vanadate, or inhibited by high ATP. An attempt has been made to reconcile the emergent morphology of the IDA complex with all earlier descriptions in the literature. From a detailed comparison of the results with published information on Chlamydomanas mutants, it is concluded that the nexin (circumferential) link is a major part of the 'dynein regulatory complex'.


The article deals with emigration from Russia in the period between the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The emigration from Russia has changed significantly since the early 1990s. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative analyses, the authors identify five major waves of emigration characterized by specific major categories of emigrants and motives for emigration. They examine the scales and structural characteristics of various flows of emigration, especially with regard to their age aspect. The analyses reveals that different waves of migration predominantly involve people of certain age groups, and the impact of these waves on the general population age structure will be markedly different, so that the results of this research can further be applied to modeling Russian age structure at various retrospective scenarios. The authors' comparative studies of statistics published by the Russian Federal State Statistical Agency and the statistical agencies of foreign countries show major discrepancies, suggesting that Russian data underplay the scale of emigration of Russian citizens.


A low-cost, high-performanceX-band amplifier with ion-implanted MESFET technology has been demonstrated. Various design, material, and processing approaches have been evaluated in terms of yield, cost, and device performance. An average noise figure of 2.2 dB and a standard deviation of 0.1 dB, with an associated gain of 22.5 dB and a standard deviation of 0.8 dB at the center frequency band of 9.5 GHz, have been measured.


Tumor suppressor genes such as p53 contribute to the oncogenic process via loss-of-function mechanisms such as genetic mutation or complex formation with other cellular or viral proteins. p53 is mutated in approximately 50% of human tumors and has an important role in the genesis or progression of both colorectal and hepatocellular cancers. Colorectal cancer is leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, whereas hepatocellular cancer is the leading worldwide cause of cancer death; the liver is a primary site of morbidity in both diseases. Because systemic tumor suppressor gene therapy is currently not feasible, we have chosen to develop a regional form of such therapy directed at primary or metastatic liver neoplasms. Gene replacement therapy with p53 is a promising new strategy to treat advanced human cancers.


The experiment carried out on outbred male rats has showed that one-time 3-hour immobilization stress breaks the spermatogenesis process in testicles of rats but does not change the relative number of Leydig cells. It was found out that the one-time immobilization stress leads to disorders of the main morphofunctional types of Leydig cells — the number of inactive Leydig cells increases due to the reduction of active forms of steroid-secreting cells.


Changes in family size in the Kazakh Republic, USSR, are analyzed. The authors associate the observed trend toward smaller families with rises in the standard of living, female employment, and high rates of induced abortion and contraceptive use. They emphasize the benefits for both parents and children of living in an extended family, a trend that is widespread in the region. (SUMMARY IN ENG)


The parotid gland of Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis follows the same anatomical pattern of Rodentia since no peculiar morphological and histochemical features were found in the present study that differentiate it from homologous glands in other rodents. It consists of serous secreting components and intralobular ducts that demonstrate no sexual dimorphism. Histochemical studies reveal that the glandular cells of the Praomys' parotid gland contain no acid mucosubstance, but that material of a neutral glycoprotein nature can be found in the secreting cells of acini, epithelium of the ducts, and the ductal lumina.


We report the first demonstration of octave spanning frequency combs generated by self-injection locking a distributed feedback laser to a Kerr microresonator. This method benefits from mitigated thermal transients and eliminates an optical isolator which simplifies photonic integration.


Under the current World Health Organization (WHO) classification, gliomas can be divided into diffuse variants such as astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and mixed oligo-astrocytoma versus more discrete subtypes such as pilocytic astrocytoma and other less common entities. These tumors have been assigned histologic grades ranging from I to IV to reflect expected biological behavior. The ever-growing body of literature on genetic alterations of glial neoplasms promises to augment therapeutic and prognostic information in the future. An important example is the 1p and 19q deletions in oligodendrogliomas that recently have been associated with chemosensitivity and prolonged patient survival. This article reviews the pathology of low- and intermediate-grade gliomas, highlighting practical diagnostic and prognostic issues.


Universities have shown to directly influence entrepreneurial activity in students [4-6], since they are concerned for the students to develop their entrepreneurial spirit [1-3], promoting Entrepreneurial Intention in University Students (EIUS).

Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine a model of entrepreneurial intention of Mexican university students (EIUS), performing a multiple regression analysis, by the method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), on a sample of 538, with 4 independent variables (Personal and social features, innovative features, performance features and creativity) to determine the influence on the EIUS.

The results indicate that the four variables proposed in the model are relevant to explain the level of the EIUS, without problems of multicollinearity and discarding the presence of heteroskedasticity with the Breusch-Pagan test; and with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normal distribution test it is determined that the predictor variable of the model does not require more independent variables; the contribution made with this research is of explanatory type, offering an elucidation of the empirical observations that characterize the university system in which the study was conducted.


3 papers giving the Hindu, Catholic and Protestant views on abortion, presented at a seminar for physicians at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, January 1972, are summarized. S. THANDAVESWARA stated that the traditional Hindu position, based on the ethical code, Dharma Shastras, prohibits abortion because the practice could prevent rebirth of a specific human life that is in the process of becoming liberated (moksa). Yet an institution, the Parishads, exists to reconsider such matters, and if its membership were not committed to conservative priorities, it could conceivably approve of abortion for the mothers' physical or mental health if she freely chose an abortion. O. DIJKSTRA stated the traditional Catholic view that "direct" abortion is always murder, but "indirect" abortion may be allowed as in removing a cancerous pregnant uterus. He expanded on the phenomenologic interpretation of some liberal theologians, whose views are not yet accepted officially, that the human self emerges irreversibily at nidation, before which abortion could be permitted. The author gave a Protestant position based on Biblical and sociologic sources. He disputed the Catholic's view that human life begins at nidation, and maintained that mere life is only one value to be weighed against love and justice for the fetus, mother, family and society. Love and justice require a choice of contraceptives, safe abortion for all economic classes, safe gestation for future pregnancies, and a resonable hope for a good life for the fetus, its family and society.


A number of regions in the human brain are known to be involved in processing natural scenes, but the field has lacked a unifying framework for understanding how these different regions are organized and interact. We provide evidence from functional connectivity and meta-analyses for a new organizational principle, in which scene processing relies on two distinct networks that split the classically defined Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA). The first network consists of the Occipital Place Area (OPA/TOS) and posterior PPA, which contain retinotopic maps and are related primarily to visual features. The second network consists of the caudal Inferior Parietal Lobule (cIPL), Retrosplenial Cortex (RSC), and anterior PPA, which connect to the hippocampus and are involved in a much broader set of tasks involving episodic memory and navigation. This new framework for understandingthe neural substrates of scene processing bridges results from many lines of research, and makes specific functional predictions.


This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional analysis of the three Egyptian cultivars of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) seeds namely: Balady Assiut (BA), Balady Qena (BQ) and Pusa Sawany (PS). The proximate chemical composition, caloric value, minerals (K, Mg, Ca, Na and P), total phenolics and total flavonoids were determined in okra seeds flour (OSF) and defatted okra seeds flour (DOSF). In the dry weight basis OSF and DOSF significantly (p<0.05) contained moisture 1.23-10.54%, ash 5.76-10.84%, protein 22.30-37.02%, oil 2.65-23.99%, crude fiber 9.62-17.00%, total carbohydrates 29.44-44.03% and caloric value 327.29-440.91 kcal/100g. The mean values of total phenolics, total flavonoids revealed that significantly different at (P<0.05) between samples of OSF and DOSF. In the present study the PS cultivar recorded higher contents of total phenolics (969.24, 846.82 mg gallic acid/100 g D.W) and total flavonoids (15.14, 19.69 mg catechin/100g D.W) in both OSF and DOSF, respectively, as compared to BA and BQ cultivars. The mineral contents in samples under study were found as potassium 3.13-5.48, phosphorus 0.80-1.31, magnesium 0.44-0.78, calcium 0.25-0.49 and sodium 0.03-0.35 g/100g D.W. In terms of essential amino acids the PS DOSF was higher in leucine (7.42%), lysine (5.77%), valine (5.31%), phenylalanine (5.12%) and threonine (3.37%) when compared to BA and BQ DOSF. The major non-essential amino acids in DOSF of BA, BQ and PS were glutamic (12.73-17.60%), aspartic (8.51-11.66%) and arginine (7.96-10.64%). The highest protein efficiency ratio (PER) in (PS) was (2.47), while the lowest value of protein efficiency ratio was (1.58) found in (BQ). The biological value (BV) of protein was found with values: 75.10, 69.73 and 65.73 in PS, BA and BQ, respectively. The sensory evaluation scores of chicken nuggets were observed to be significantly (P<0.05) higher in nuggets with 5% incorporation of BQ and PS DOSF as compared with control. Consequently, it recommended utilizing and consumption in different food formula in order to consider a source of protein and oil.


Ecdysteroids are the principal insect steroid hormones essential for insect development and physiology. In the last 18 years, several enzymes responsible for ecdysteroid biosynthesis, encoded by Halloween genes, have been identified and well characterized, both genetically and biochemically. However, none of these proteins have yet been characterized at the tertiary structure level. Here, we report an integrated in silico, in vitro, and in vivo analyses of the Halloween glutathione S-transferase (GST) protein, Noppera-bo (Nobo). We determine crystal structures of Drosophila melanogaster Nobo (DmNobo) complexed with glutathione and 17β-estradiol, a DmNobo inhibitor. 17β-estradiol almost fully occupied the putative ligand-binding pocket, and a prominent hydrogen bond formed between Asp113 of DmNobo and 17β-estradiol. Asp113 is essential for inhibiting DmNobo enzymatic activity by 17β-estradiol, as 17β-estradiol does not inhibit and physically interacts less with the Asp113Ala DmNobo point mutant. Asp113 is highly conserved among Nobo proteins, but not among other GSTs, implying that Asp113 is important for endogenous Nobo function. Indeed, a homozygous nobo allele possessing the Asp113Ala point mutation exhibits embryonic lethality with undifferentiated cuticle structure, a phenocopy of complete loss-of-function nobo homozygotes. These results suggest that the nobo family of GST proteins has acquired a unique amino acid residue, which seems to be essential for binding an endogenous sterol substrate to regulate ecdysteroid biosynthesis. This is the first study to reveal the structural characteristics of insect steroidogenic Halloween proteins. This study also provides basic insight into applied entomology for developing a new type of insecticides that specifically inhibit ecdysteroid biosynthesis. Significance Statement Insect molting and metamorphosis are drastic and dynamic biological processes and, therefore, have fascinated many scientists. Ecdysteroids represent one class of insect hormones that are indispensable for inducing molting and metamorphosis. It is well known that proteins responsible for catalyzing ecdysteroid biosynthesis reactions are encoded by "Halloween" genes, most of which have names of ghosts and phantoms. However, no studies have focused on the structural properties of these biosynthetic proteins. In this study, we addressed this unsolved issue and successfully unraveled a structural property that is crucial for the function of the fruit fly Halloween protein, Noppera-bo (a Japanese faceless ghost). This is the first study to reveal the structural characteristics of an insect steroidogenic Halloween protein.


Purpose-Generation Y has grown with a significant impact of technology and a good exposure through longer full time education. Thus they hold unique characteristics which influence important job outcomes. Human Resource Management personnel face a challenge managing these Generation Y. This paper seeks to identify citizenship traits in Generation Y with reference to a moderating role of job crafting and career anchor.
Design/methodology/approach – The study collected and analyzed the responses from 110 IT professionals (59 Generation Y and 51 Generation X, 67 Female and 43 Male) working in various international companies in Pune.
Findings – Generation Y IT professionals showed less positive OCB traits compared to Generation X in the workforce. Job crafting or align job content with Generation Y's career interests have a positive impact on OCB. Generation Y involved in job crafting for structural and social resources are more likely to exhibit OCB.
Research limitations/implications – The study provides valuable inputs regarding career development factors and motivation practices for Generation Y.
Originality/value – This research is an effort to study the influence of job design and career anchor on citizenship behaviors in Generation Y. The inputs gained from the study add a substantial value to the studies of OCB.


A three-dimensional analytical modeling of the magnetic field of the stator-ironless axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machine under open-circuit condition is presented in this paper. It involves the analytical solution of the governing field equations in the region between back-irons in the cylindrical coordinate, in which the magnets are assumed to be axially magnetized and have constant relative recoil permeability. The proposed modeling method is applied to a specific AFPM machine, and the analytical results are in good agreement with those of three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA).


Proton beams of energy 3 and 7 MeV, produced by a linear accelerator for protontherapy under development at ENEA Frascati, were used to irradiate lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals and 1 μm thick LiF films grown by thermal evaporation on glass substrates, in a fluence range from 1011 to 1015 protons/cm2. The irradiation of LiF induced the stable formation of aggregate visible-emitting F2 and F3+ color centers, which possess almost overlapping absorption bands around 450 nm and, under optical pumping in this spectral region, they simultaneously emit broad photoluminescence bands, peaked at 678 nm and 541 nm, respectively. Their laser excited emission spectra were acquired and the integrated photoluminescence signal was measured using a fluorescence optical microscope equipped with a cooled s-CMOS camera. The photoluminescence of proton irradiated LiF crystals and films shows an interesting linear response as a function of the irradiation fluence. By optical fluorescence microscopy, it was possible to record the transversal proton beam intensity profile by acquiring the photoluminescence image of irradiated LiF. Moreover, using cleaved LiF films grown on silicon substrates irradiated in a particular geometry allowed one to measure the colour centres photoluminescence distribution with proton penetration depth and provided a direct imaging of the Bragg peak.


Over 64000 new renal-cell carcinomas (RCC) are annually detected in the United States, and 13000 people will die from the disease. Most RCC are discovered incidentally on medical imaging and a great percentage of them may be treated by surgery, but one third of patients will present either with locally advanced tumor or with metastases[1]. In addition, another third of patients may develop metastatic disease after initial treatment.


Unexceptionally for university students, the occurrences of psychological distress are believed to be higher for them to encounter. There has been an increaseamong theinternationalpublic concerning the mental health and the impact of unidentified and untreated mental illness among university students.Theaim of this study is to identify the level of psychological well-being of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) students.Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21) were used for data collection together with the sociodemographic questionnaire. Data were collected from 443 UniSZA students. This study used descriptive analysis to obtain accurate results. The findings of this study showed that depression, anxiety, and stress found among UniSZA students were 42.2%, 73.7%, and 34.8% respectively. Findings revealed that students who faced psychological distress level possessed relatively hightendency for depression, stress, and anxiety.Psychological distress poses negative impacts on the physical, mental and academic. What is more worrying is that students who faced this kind of problem do not seek help or treatment because of the public stigma against mental illness. Keywords—Psychological well-being, university students, depression, anxiety, stress


5-(Thien-2-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine, an isomorphic fluorescent nucleoside analogue, was incorporated into multiple positions within single stranded oligodeoxynucleotides. With minimal impact on duplex stability and overall structure, oligonucleotides containing three identical isomorphic fluorescent nucleosides in alternating or neighboring positions display enhanced, sequence-dependent on-signals for either duplex formation or dissociation.


During the evolution of vascular surgery as a specialty, many conduits have been used to revascularize the lower extremities. Superficial veins and prosthetic materials make up the majority of materials used to bypass diseased segments of native artery. The deep veins of the thigh have also been reported as alternatives for arterial bypass. However, the use of the in situ superficial femoral and popliteal vein bypass has not been reported to our knowledge in current literature. We report a 79-year-old white female with lower extremity rest pain who underwent an in situ femoral popliteal bypass graft for limb salvage.


Malignant melanoma patients treated with human leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) displayed increased natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity to K562 targets within the first 2 weeks of therapy. This study explored the possibility of T-cell regulation of this NK response, as evidenced by a variation in T-cell subpopulations. T-cell subset levels were studied in 9 patients who received daily doses of IFN-alpha over a period of 42 days. Five monoclonal antibodies to T-cell surface markers were used: Leu 1 (pan-T), Leu 2a (T suppressor/cytotoxic), Leu 3a (T helper/inducer), HNK-1 (Leu 7, a marker for NK cells), and B73.1 (an antibody against the Fc receptor on NK/K cells). Percentages of these markers were measured on days 0, 3, 7, and 21 of treatment. Percentages of Leu 1-positive cells and Fc-receptor-positive cells remained relatively constant throughout treatment in all patients. A trend toward a decrease in suppressor cells and an increase in helper cells peaking on day 7 and returning to earlier values by day 21 was found in 5 patients. The increase in NK cytotoxicity was not reflected consistently in proportions of HNK-1-positive cells or Fc receptor-bearing cells within the first week of therapy. The most significant finding was an increase in the helper:suppressor cell ratio peaking on day 7 and returning to pretreatment values by day 21. This increase was seen in every patient studied. The average pretreatment Leu 3a:Leu 2a ratio was 0.67 increasing to an average value of 1.47 on day 7 (p less than 0.005). Leu 3a:Leu 2a ratios returned to pretreatment values, in parallel to NK activity, despite continuation of interferon therapy.