Although it is widely believed that an important function of protected areas is to conserve species that are unable to survive elsewhere, there are very few empirical studies in which a comparison is made between biodiversity of protected areas and that of the cultivated landscape surrounding them. We examined the diversity of trees, birds, and macrofungi at 58 sites in three land-use types in a tree-covered landscape in Kodagu district in the Western Ghats of India. Ten forest reserve sites in the formal protected area, and 25 sacred groves and 23 coffee plantations in the neighboring cultivated landscape were sampled. A total of 215 tree, 86 bird, and 163 macrofungus species were recorded. The forest reserve had a large number of trees that were restricted in their distribution, and the sacred groves had a large number of macrofungi. We observed that deciduous trees and non-forest-dwelling birds increased, and evergreen trees and forest-dwelling birds decreased with increasing intensity of land management. We found that trees having non-timber uses and macrofungi useful to the local people, as well as those with medicinal properties, were abundant in sacred groves. We found no significant differences in the distribution of endemic and threatened birds across the three land-use types. Although endemic trees were more abundant in the forest reserve than in sacred groves, threatened trees were more abundant in sacred groves than in the forest reserve. We attribute the high diversity in sacred groves to the native tree cover in shade coffee plantations. We conclude that informal protected areas are as important as formal ones for biodiversity conservation in Kodagu. We recommend that a conservation strategy that recognizes informal protection traditions is essential for successful biodiversity conservation in regions where formal reserves are surrounded by a matrix of cultivated land.


This paper provides a review of research that addresses the relationship between indoor temperatures and health outcomes, taking into consideration studies that focus heat or cold exposure within the household context. It aims to extend previous research by considering both indoor temperatures from existing housing, and empirical studies that focus on energy efficiency measures and subsequent health impacts. To achieve this aim, a literature review was undertaken, combining engineering and health databases. The review established that, overall, inadequate indoor temperatures are associated with poor health status, whereas energy efficiency measures have been associated to improved indoor temperatures and occupant's health namely regarding cardiovascular, respiratory and mental health disorders. These health conditions are among the most prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCD). The review also highlighted the need for more empirical studies with an extended timeframe to deal with climate change challenges. It underlined the potential advantages of the convergence between health and energy efficiency studies, for better modelling and planning.


Summary form only given. We present the design of a broadband multiple-beam klystron (MBK) capable of generating >700 kW of peak RF power with a 3-dB instantaneous bandwidth of >11% at a center frequency of ~3.3 GHz. The MBK will operate in the TM01 fundamental-mode and is designed to be powered by an 18-beam, 42 kV, 41.6 A electron gun that is currently in fabrication. The gun employs a concentric beam-packing topology of 6 inner and 12 outer beamlets, each with an emitter current density of ~11 A/cm2. The electrodynamic circuit is comprised of six cavities with an overall length of 22 cm. Three of the six cavities are of a two-gap design, with inherently higher R/Q's as compared to single-gap cavities, thus enabling broader bandwidth operation and higher power and gain in a shorter interaction length. We will describe our design methodology, including the development of analytic design aids, discuss design trade-offs, and present final circuit parameters along with the results of 3-D particle-in-cell simulations of realistic circuit topologies


ABSTRACT
ObjectivesCox Proportional Hazards models tested the relationship between access to care for time sensitive medical events and 30-day survival while controlling for appropriateness and quality of care.
ApproachA population study of all acute myocardial infarction (AMI), trauma, and stroke events treated within British Columbia between April 1st 1999 and March 31st 2013. Data sources included: the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD); a registry file; the Vital Statistics Mortality data; and the Medical Services Plan (MSP) Payment Information.
Access to care was estimated with a de-identified residential postal code to hospital distance matrix developed using origin-destination network analysis in ArcGIS 10.2. Appropriateness of care compared national protocols with treatment received. Care that was contraindicated, outdated, or at an inexperienced facility was inappropriate. Quality of care was an outcome measure that used risk-standardized mortality ratios and funnel plots to identify hospitals that offered poor care.
ResultsThere were 106,409 AMI, 220,602 trauma, and 88,136 stroke events that occurred during the study period and used in condition specific hierarchical hazards models. Adjusted hazards ratios (aHR) found access to care were not associated with 30-day mortality after controlling for appropriateness and quality of care along with patient (i.e. age, sex, income, rurality, frailty) and system specific (i.e. method of transport, transfer patterns, facility volume, rurality, peer group) characteristics. Appropriate care reduced the hazard of mortality for all three conditions: AMI aHR=0.860 (95% CI=0.792-0.993, p-value=0.0003); stroke aHR=0.448 (95% CI=0.324-0.619, p-value<0.0001) and trauma aHR=0.824 (95% CI=0.703-0.967, p-value=0.0176). Quality of care reduced hazards of mortality for trauma (aHR=0.689, 95% CI=0.586-0.808, p-value<0.0001) and stroke (aHR=0.762, 95% CI=0.689-0.842, p-value<0.0001). Inter-hospital transfers were protective for AMI (aHR=0.513, 95% CI=0.406-0.649, p-value<0.0001) and stroke (aHR=0.768, 95% CI=0.630-0.936, p-value=0.0089) but detrimental for trauma (aHR=1.583, 95%CI=1.310-1.913, p-value<0.0001). Method of transport was also significant. Self-transport was protective for trauma (aHR=0.462, 95% CI=0.417-0.513, p-value<0.0001) and stroke (aHR=0.330, 95% CI=0.301-0.363, p-value<0.0001). Older age was associated with higher mortality rates across all three conditions (p-value<0.0001) and being female increased the hazard of death for AMI (aHR=1.049, 95% CI=1.010-1.088, p-value=0.0125) but was protective for trauma (aHR=0.583, 95% CI=0.551-0.617, p-value<0.0001) events.
ConclusionAs health systems evolve to meet the needs of their patients and work to provide equitable care under economic pressure for efficiency, it is important to understand how access, appropriateness and quality of care affect patient outcomes and distribute services accordingly.


TRPC1/4/5 channels are non-specific cation channels implicated in a wide variety of diseases, and TRPC1/4/5 inhibitors have recently entered the first clinical trials. However, fundamental and translational studies require a better understanding of TRPC1/4/5 channel regulation by endogenous and exogenous factors. Although several potent and selective TRPC1/4/5 modulators have been reported, the paucity of mechanistic insights into their modes-of-action remains a barrier to the development of new chemical probes and drug candidates. The xanthine class of modulators includes the most potent and selective TRPC1/4/5 inhibitors described to date, as well as TRPC5 activators. Our previous studies suggest that xanthines interact with a, so far, elusive pocket of TRPC1/4/5 channels that is essential to channel gating. Targeting this pocket may be a promising strategy for TRPC1/4/5 drug discovery. Here we report the first structure of a small molecule-bound TRPC1/4/5 channel – human TRPC5 in complex with the xanthine Pico145 – to 3.0 Å. We found that Pico145 binds to a conserved lipid binding site of TRPC5, where it displaces a bound phospholipid. Our findings explain the mode-of-action of xanthine-based TRPC1/4/5 modulators, and suggest a structural basis for TRPC1/4/5 modulation by endogenous factors such as (phospho)lipids and Zn2+ ions. These studies lay the foundations for the structure-based design of new generations of TRPC1/4/5 modulators.


We propose a method for mapping a spatially discrete problem, stemming from the spatial discretization of a parabolic or hyperbolic partial differential equation of gradient type, to a heterogeneous one with certain comparable dynamical features pertaining, in particular, to coherent structures. We focus the analysis on a (1+1)-dimensional phi(4) model and confirm the theoretical predictions numerically. We also discuss possible generalizations of the method and the ensuing qualitative analogies between heterogeneous and discrete systems and their dynamics.


The magnitudes of earthquakes are known to follow a power law distribution referred to as the Gutenberg‐Richter empirical law. Seismological observations and laboratory experiments suggest a decrease of the decay exponent (b value) with differential stress. The physical mechanism controlling this decrease, however, remains unclear. The present study is dedicated to the origin of relative b value variations with stress obtained in a 2‐D rate‐and‐state planar fault model considering a population of asperities with size‐dependent fracture energy. The simulations show that both b value in the intermediate magnitude range and mainshock magnitude increase with normal stress. Analytical relationships are derived, showing that the increase of b value is related to the decrease of critical nucleation length with normal stress, enhancing the productivity of small‐magnitude events and partial ruptures. The theoretical formulas also show how the increase of mainshock magnitude is a consequence of normal stress dependence of stress drop.


Abstract Background: Although established markers such as CEA and CA19-9 are important for diagnosing early stages of colon cancer, they are not ideal. Developing promising markers include cytokeratin 1 (CK1) and mucin-1 (MUC1), but the combined value of each of these markers is unclear. We therefore evaluated the value of a combined laboratory-based score of these four markers in the diagnosis of colon cancer. Methods: Two hundred patients who had undergone colonoscopic examination (150 colon cancer, 50 benign growths) were recruited. The study was controlled by 35 healthy subjects. CEA, CA19-9, CK1 and MUC1 were measured by ELISA and evaluated for cancer diagnosis using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: Serum levels of all four markers were increased in the order colon cancer > benign disease > healthy controls (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, CA19.9 (p = 0.025), CK1 (p < 0.001) and MUC1 (p = 0.009) were significant independent predictors of colon cancer. A score that gave the greatest power of discrimination for colon cancer was defined as 1.06 + [0.001 × CA19.9 result] + [0.003 × CEA result] + [0.03 × CK1 result] + [0.05 × MUC1 result]. The colon score provided superior discrimination, AUC, and sensitivity and specificity for colon cancer versus benign growth than each of the individual markers. Similarly, the colon score provided superior AUC, and sensitivity and specificity that each individual marker for tumour stage, lymph node invasion and distant organ metastases than each individual marker. Conclusion: A colon score derived from serum CEA, CA19-9, CK1 and MUC1 is a potential valuable non-invasive index that could be used for detection and screening early stage colon cancer patients.


The difluoromethyl group (CF2H) has received great attention due to its distinct properties in recent years. Herein, we report a new strategy for postmodification of difluoromethyl compounds. Ortho-selective C-H borylation of difluoromethyl arenes is achieved by a cyclometalated mesoionic carbene-Ir complex. The regioselectivity is controlled by a hydrogen bond between CF2H and the boryl group via the outer-sphere direction.


Background: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) is the most common type in cases of TBI. Up to 50% of patients experience post concussion symptoms (PCS) after mTBI, which impairs their quality of life (QoL). Despite the high prevalence, existing studies on PCS and QoL of Indonesian persons with mTBI are limited. Objectives: To identify the PCS experience, the QoL level of persons with mTBI, and the correlation between PCS severity and QoL. Methods: One hundred persons with mTBI were recruited from one referral hospital in Aceh province. Questionnaires consisted of three parts: 1) Demographic and Health-related Data Form, 2) the Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ), and 3) the Quality of Life after Brain Injury Overall Scale (QOLIBRI-OS). The contents of these questionnaires were validated by three experts. The intra-class correlation coefficient of RPQ and the internal consistency reliability coefficient of QOLIBRI-OS yielded values of .90 and .91 respectively. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation analysis were used. Results: Within 2-60 weeks after mTBI, the average symptoms persons experienced were seven ( M = 6.7, SD = 3.17). The frequency of symptoms were occurred sometimes ( M = 2.37, SD = 0.50) with a low severe level ( M = 1.03, SD = 0.51). The top five symptoms commonly found were dizziness, headache, fatigue, forgetfulness and taking longer to think, respectively. Regarding the severe level of PCS, hearing disturbance ( M = 1.56, SD = 0.53) and blurred vision ( M = 1.49, SD = 0.85) were ranked as the first and the second respectively. Overall, the mean scores of total and each item of QoL were at a moderate level. The PCS severity was significant negatively related to QoL ( r = - .33, p < .01). Conclusion: PCS could occur at the stage initial and become beyond years post mTBI. Health care providers should increase strategies to reduce PCS severity to improve the QoL of Indonesian persons with mTBI over the short and long term periods.


Objective: To study the extraction and separation of effective composition of Pumpkin Polysaccharide and its glucatonic effect. Methods: Pumpkin (Cucurbiat moschata Puch) was water extracted, alcohol precipitated and separated on the macroporous absorption resin column, sepherose and sephadex A 200 columns. The polysaccharide obtained was colded and dried into white powder. The alloxan diabetic rate was given the polysaccharide powder (3.8g/kg) and xiaoke pills (positire control group) for successive 21 days, respectively. Their blood sugar changes in fasting were determined. Results: Pumpkin polysaccharide has remarkable glucatonic effect on alloxan diabetic rats. The effect is supperior to xiaoke control group ( P 0.01). Conclusion: The effective composition of pumpkin polysaccharide has significant glucatonic effect on alloxan diabetic rats.


Abstract:During the first half of the eighteenth century, law, paperwork and legalities were unifying vehicles in the development of a French empire. The empire was a structure dealing with civilians (sailors, planters, merchants, craftsmen) supporting economic activities overseas. Courts, law and paperwork contributed to establishing royal authority over new territories through their status as key institutions supporting people in their private dealings and disputes. The daily routine of jurisdictions and legalities were milestones in the advent of an overseas empire that became a proper political formation before the Seven Years War. This article looks into three main moments: the expansion of paperwork and jurisdictions under Louis XIV; the process of lawmaking and differentiating colonies from France, until the Regency; and finally the collection of, and attempts to harmonise, local colonial regulations by Maurepas and his agents.


The authors have discussed the factors causing urinary incontinence and emphasised their interferential activity. Such pre-disposing factors as: sex, race, genetics, anatomy, neurology, connective tissue issues, cultural and environmental background have been discussed in detail. The significance of the following promoting factors has been presented: obesity, occupation, rec-reation, surgeries undergone, smoking, chronic cough, urinary tract infections, irregular menstruation, medication effects, diet, menopause, and decompensation factors (age, dementia, mental handicap, other diseases, medication effects, and environmental factors).


The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of the association between service quality as perceived by consumers and its determinants. In particular, the SERVQUAL instrument is discussed and then it is demonstrated how it can be adapted 1.0 fit the needs of small professional services firms using a CPA firm as an example. The entire analysis can be performed with a spreadsheet package and the results are easy to interpret. The results are pre- sented and the managerial implications are discussed.


Nematodes, the earth's most abundant metazoa are found in all ecosystems. In order to survive in diverse environments, they have evolved distinct feeding strategies and they can use different food sources. While some nematodes are specialists, including parasites of plants and animals, others such as Pristionchus pacificus are omnivorous feeders, which can live on a diet of bacteria, protozoans, fungi or yeast. In the wild, P. pacificus is often found in a necromenic association with beetles and is known to be able to feed on a variety of microbes as well as on nematode prey. However, in laboratory studies Escherichia coli OP50 has been used as standard food source, similar to investigations in Caenorhabditis elegans and it is unclear to what extent this biases the obtained results and how relevant findings are in real nature. To gain first insight into the variation in traits induced by a non-bacterial food source, we study Pristionchus-fungi interactions under laboratory conditions. After screening different yeast strains, we were able to maintain P. pacificus for at least 50–60 generations on Cryptococcus albidus and Cryptococcus curvatus. We describe life history traits of P. pacificus on both yeast strains, including developmental timing, survival and brood size. Despite a slight developmental delay and problems to digest yeast cells, which are both reflected at a transcriptomic level, all analyses support the potential of Cryptococcus strains as food source for P. pacificus. In summary, our work establishes two Cryptococcus strains as alternative food source for P. pacificus and shows change in various developmental, physiological and morphological traits, including the transcriptomic profiles.


This study aimed to investigate the effects of low-dose continuous ozone gas in controlling Listeria innocua and quality attributes and disorders of Red Delicious apples during long-term commercial cold storage. Red Delicious apples were inoculated with a three-strain L. innocua cocktail at ∼6.2 log10 CFU/apple, treated with or without 1-methylcyclopropene, and then subjected to controlled atmosphere (CA) storage with or without continuous gaseous ozone in a commercial facility for 36 weeks. Uninoculated Red Delicious apples subjected to the above storage conditions were used for yeast/mold counts and quality attributes evaluation. The 36 weeks of refrigerated air (RA) or CA storage caused ∼2.2 log10 CFU/apple reduction of L. innocua. Ozone gas application caused an additional > 3 log10 CFU/apple reduction of L. innocua compared to RA and CA storage alone. During the 36-week CA storage, low-dose continuous gaseous ozone application significantly retarded the growth of yeast/mold, delayed apple firmness loss, and had no negative influence on ozone burn, lenticel decay, russet, CO2 damage, superficial scald, and soft scald of Red Delicious apples compared to CA-alone storage. In summary, the application of continuous low-dose gaseous ozone has the potential to control Listeria on Red Delicious apples without negatively influencing apple quality attributes.


Background Desmoid tumor of the breast is very rare and locally aggressive but has no distant metastasis. Bilateral lesions are extremely rare, found in only 4% of patients. Two cases of bilateral desmoid tumor of the breast are reported. The clinical presentation, diagnosis, imaging, treatment, and follow-up outcomes of recurrence as well as a brief literature review are provided. Case reports Case 1 is a 31-year-old woman who presented with nipple retraction. An ultrasound revealed BIRAD V in both breasts. She underwent a bilateral excisional biopsy under ultrasound mark with the pathology result of extra-abdominal desmoid tumor in both breasts. The patient had a bilateral mastectomy with silicone implantation due to the involved margins by excision. She remained tumor free after 7-year follow-up. Case 2 is a 28-year-old woman who presented with a lump on her right breast that she had discovered ~2 months earlier. An ultrasound showed a spiculated mass in the right breast and some circumscribed hypoechoic masses in both breasts. A bilateral breast excision was done. The pathology result was an extra-abdominal desmoid tumor. She had recurrence on both sides and underwent a mastectomy and silicone implantation. The tumor has not recurred after 1-year follow-up. Conclusion Imaging cannot distinguish between benign breast lesions and malignancy. Pathology results are helpful in making a definitive diagnosis. Given that the desmoid tumor is locally aggressive, a local excision with clear margins is recommended. Chemotherapy and hormonal treatment are controversial.


Background While booster vaccinations clearly reduce the risk of severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and death, the impact of boosters on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections has not been fully characterized: Doing so requires understanding their impact on asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic infections that often go unreported but nevertheless play an important role in spreading SARS-CoV-2. We sought to estimate the impact of COVID-19 booster doses on SARS-CoV-2 infections in a vaccinated population of young adults during an Omicron BA.1-predominant period. Methods and findings We implemented a cohort study of young adults in a college environment (Cornell University's Ithaca campus) from a period when Omicron BA.1 was the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant on campus (December 5 to December 31, 2021). Participants included 15,800 university students who completed initial vaccination series with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, were enrolled in mandatory at-least-weekly surveillance polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and had no positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test within 90 days before the start of the study period. Robust multivariable Poisson regression with the main outcome of a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test was performed to compare those who completed their initial vaccination series and a booster dose to those without a booster dose. A total of 1,926 unique SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified in the study population. Controlling for sex, student group membership, date of completion of initial vaccination series, initial vaccine type, and temporal effect during the study period, our analysis estimates that receiving a booster dose further reduces the rate of having a PCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection relative to an initial vaccination series by 56% (95% confidence interval [42%, 67%], P < 0.001). While most individuals had recent booster administration before or during the study period (a limitation of our study), this result is robust to the assumed delay over which a booster dose becomes effective (varied from 1 day to 14 days). The mandatory active surveillance approach used in this study, under which 86% of the person-days in the study occurred, reduces the likelihood of outcome misclassification. Key limitations of our methodology are that we did not have an a priori protocol or statistical analysis plan because the analysis was initially done for institutional research purposes, and some analysis choices were made after observing the data. Conclusions We observed that boosters are effective, relative to completion of initial vaccination series, in further reducing the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a college student population during a period when Omicron BA.1 was predominant; booster vaccinations for this age group may play an important role in reducing incidence of COVID-19.


This paper describes a speaker diarization model based on target speaker voice activity detection (TS-VAD) using transformers. To overcome the original TS-VAD model's drawback of being unable to handle an arbitrary number of speakers, we investigate model architectures that use input tensors with variable-length time and speaker dimensions. Transformer layers are applied to the speaker axis to make the model output insensitive to the order of the speaker profiles provided to the TS-VAD model. Time-wise sequential layers are interspersed between these speaker-wise transformer layers to allow the temporal and cross-speaker correlations of the input speech signal to be captured. We also extend a diarization model based on end-to-end neural diarization with encoder-decoder based attractors (EEND-EDA) by replacing its dot-product-based speaker detection layer with the transformer-based TS-VAD. Experimental results on VoxConverse show that using the transformers for the cross-speaker modeling reduces the diarization error rate (DER) of TS-VAD by 11.3%, achieving a new state-of-the-art (SOTA) DER of 4.57%. Also, our extended EEND-EDA reduces DER by 6.9% on the CALLHOME dataset relative to the original EEND-EDA with a similar model size, achieving a new SOTA DER of 11.18% under a widely used training data setting.


Development of devices for automatic identification of diseases is desired especially in developing countries. In the case of malaria, even today the gold standard is the inspection of chemically treated blood smears through a microscope. This requires a trained technician/microscopist to identify the cells in the field of view, with which the labeling chemicals gets attached. Bright field microscopes provide only low contrast 2D images of red blood cells and cell thickness distribution cannot be obtained. Quantitative phase contrast microscopes can provide both intensity and phase profiles of the cells under study. The phase information can be used to determine thickness profile of the cell. Since cell morphology is available, many parameters pertaining to the 3D shape of the cell can be computed. These parameters in turn could be used to decide about the state of health of the cell leading to disease diagnosis. Here the investigations done on digital holographic microscope, which provides quantitative phase images, for comparison of parameters obtained from the 3D shape profile of objects leading to identification of diseased samples is described.


BACKGROUND
CD146 is a cell adhesion molecule belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. It plays a critical role in cell proliferation and activation, and contributes to inflammatory reactions. We studied the association between CD146 and renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) under normal (NG) and high glucose (HG) to understand its role in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.

METHODS
Human proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells were cultured in different glucose media (NG5mM, HG15mM and HG40mM). CD146 mRNA expression was determined by RT-PCR. CD146 protein expression was assessed by fluorescence immunoassay, enzymatic immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. A soluble form of CD146 was evaluated by ELISA.

RESULTS
We found weak expression of CD146 mRNA and protein in the NG group. Faint labeling of CD146 protein was detected mainly at the cell-cell junction, with sparse staining in cytoplasm and nucleus. In the HG group, both membrane and intracellular expression of CD146 were significantly increased by high glucose, while osmotic pressure had no effect on CD146 expression in cultured HK-2 cells. A soluble form of CD146, sCD146, was detected in the supernatant of HK-2 cells in the NG group which was elevated in the HG40mM group (29.33 -/+ 1.22 ng/mL vs. 61.87 -/+ 9.10 ng/mL, p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
CD146 might be a novel marker for RTECs, correlating with cell proliferation and cell-cell conjunctions. High glucose up-regulates both CD146 and sCD146 expression. CD146 may be a biomarker of activated RTECs, and sCD146 may have clinical value for determining severity and prognosis of diabetic nephropathy.


in the lay press can be a source of misinformation which might lead women to change methods of contraception or to select a different initial method. However, the reading and interpretation of this same medical literature by physicians and its effect on their discussion of various methods with patients has perhaps a more profound impact on choice. Women come to the consultation with many questions and ask their doctor to interpret what often appears to be conflicting information on contraceptive methods. By not elaborating on the changing attitudes of the doctors who were doing the family planning in the Palatine family planning clinic, the authors sought to explain the decrease in the choice of the pill over the four-year period by the influence of the media on the public rather than by the influence of the changing in attitude of the doctors as these changes affected the consultation. The power of the doctor in the doctor-patient relationship to influence choice is well known and should not be ignored when attempting to analyse changes in patients' behaviour. The differences in contraceptive choice between the authors' data and the American study they cite may reflect prevailing biases and attitudes of the doctors more than the patients. Controlled studies taking into consideration physicians' attitudes toward various contraceptive methods as well as other issues, such as physicians' feelings about abortion as an alternative to contraceptive failure, should be carried out if a true picture of the reasons for the changing pattern of contraceptive choice is desired. JOHN J FREY


Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism calls fresh attention to the forgotten but foundational contributions of men to the creation of modern British feminism. Focusing on the revolutionary 1790s, the book introduces several dozen male reformers who insisted that women's emancipation would be key to the establishment of a truly just and rational society. These men proposed educational reforms, assisted women writers into print, and used their training in religion, medicine, history, and the law to challenge common assumptions about women's legal and political entitlements. This book uses men's engagement with women's rights as a platform to reconsider understandings of gender in eighteenth-century Britain, the meaning and legacy of feminism, and feminism's relationship more generally to traditions of radical reform and enlightenment.


We report on the electrical and microstructural characteristics of La- and Y-based oxides grown on silicon substrates by ultrahigh vacuum atomic beam deposition, in order to examine their potential as alternate gate dielectrics for Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. We have examined the issues of polycrystallinity and interfacial silicon oxide formation in these films and their effect on the leakage currents and the ability to deposit films with low electrical thickness. We observe that polycrystallinity in the films does not result in unacceptably high leakage currents. We show significant Si penetration in both types of films. We find that the interfacial SiO2 is much thicker at ∼1.5 nm for the Y-based oxide compared to the La-based oxide where the thickness is <0.5 nm. We also show that while the Y-based oxide films show excellent electrical properties, the La based films exhibit a large flat band voltage shift indicative of positive charge in the films.


We study relative Cohn path algebras, also known as Leavitt-Cohn path algebras, and we realize them as partial skew group rings (to do this we prove uniqueness theorems for relative Cohn path algebras). Furthermore, given any graph E we define E-relative branching systems and prove how they induce representations of the associated relative Cohn path algebra. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for faithfulness of the representations associated to E-relative branching systems (this improves previous results known to Leavitt path algebras of row-finite graphs with no sinks). To prove this last result we show first a version, for relative Cohn-path algebras, of the reduction theorem for Leavitt path algebras. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 16S99, 16G99.


Experimental hemisection injury of rat spinal cord was undertaken in order to examine Wallerian degeneration of ascending and descending tracts, and alterations in neurons and synapses. By light microscopy degeneration of axons was recognized first at 72 hours post-operatively. On the other hand, EM study revealed axonal degeneration 24 hours post-operatively. There were several ultrastructural changes in the early stages after hemisection injury. Increase in number of lysosomes in neurones was believed to be related to "autolysis" of the injured spinal cord. Another noteworthy finding was the "separation" of boutons. The mechanisms considered to account for these findings were deafferentation and oedema.


Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a strong driver of tumorigenesis in multiple types of tumors, however targeting mTOR for cancer therapy has yielded only limited success. This may be explained in part by signaling redundancy with other pathways, such as CDK9 mTOR-Like (CTORC) complexes, recently described by our group. One of the binders common to mTORC1 and CTORC2 is La related protein 1 (LARP1). LARP1 influences ribosome biogenesis by regulating translation of 5'terminal oligopyrimidine tract (5' TOP) containing mRNAs, which often encode ribosomal proteins and translation factors. Here, we validate LARP1 as common target of mTORC1 and CTORC2 as well as investigate its influence on leukemogenesis. To explore LARP1's role in leukemogenesis we utilized CRISPR/CAS9 technology to create OCI-AML5 and U937 LARP1 knockout (KO) cells. Loss of LARP1 expression significantly diminished proliferation potential of AML cell lines both in vitro as well as in vivo when implanted into the flank of athymic nude mice as xenografts. Additionally, primary CD34+ leukemia cells were transfected with LARP1 targeting or scrambled siRNA and leukemic progenitor growth was assessed in methocellulose colony formation assays. We observed suppression of leukemic progenitors colony forming ability in LARP1 siRNA transfected cells, compared to the Ctrl siRNA transfected cells. We also determined enhanced sensitivity of Larp1 KO cell lines to standard chemotherapy agents such Azacitidine, Cytarabine and Venetoclax. We employed polysome profiling to compare global translation levels between Larp1 KO and control U937 cells. Our polysomal profiling results show that KO of LARP1 in U937 cells reduces global translation and ribosome biogenesis as expected as we observed a suppression of both monosomal and polysomal peaks. In summary, Larp1 is important for leukemogenesis and influences their response to treatment with currently used chemotherapy agents. These observations together suggest that LARP1 is a promising target for development of novel antileukemia approaches.
 Citation Format: Dominik A Nahotko, Aneta H Baran, Mariafausta Fischietti, Elspeth M Beauchamp, Leonidas C Platanias. Role of LARP1 in the leukemogenesis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome; 2023 Jan 23-25; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Blood Cancer Discov 2023;4(3_Suppl):Abstract nr A39.


This work explores cross-lingual transfer learning (TL) for named entity recognition, focusing on bootstrapping Japanese from English. A deep neural network model is adopted and the best combination of weights to transfer is extensively investigated. Moreover, a novel approach is presented that overcomes linguistic differences between this language pair by romanizing a portion of the Japanese input. Experiments are conducted on external datasets, as well as internal large-scale real-world ones. Gains with TL are achieved for all evaluated cases. Finally, the influence on TL of the target dataset size and of the target tagset distribution is further investigated.


Abstract The present study describes a facile and environmentally friendly hydrothermal method for the fabrication of metal decorated silica-based core-shell magnetic nanocomposite M@Si-MNCs, applied as a sustainable coating material for the solid-phase microextraction of toxic cadmium ions. M@Si-MNCs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray-diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyzer. Relevant parameters have been studied to obtain maximum recovery, including pH, adsorbent dosage, model solution volume, - adsorption and desorption time, and matrix effects. The developed method obtained excellent linearity from 50 to 500 µg/L with a limit of detection of 1.2 µg/L and a limit of quantification of 4.1 µg/L. The new method was applied for separation, preconcentration and determination of cadmium in environmental and tobacco samples.


Last month the Mars Climate Orbiter swooped in too low as it headed for Mars orbit, dipped too deeply into the atmosphere, and was never heard from again. Early investigations put the blame on a mismatch of units, with one team of flight engineers reporting measurements in English units that another team assumed were metric. Now observers are pointing to a variety of problems with the orbiter. Whatever the causes, three review panels are rushing to sort them out well before Mars Polar Lander, which may be susceptible to some of the same problems, arrives on 3 December.


Weakly supervised instance segmentation (WSIS) using only image-level labels is a challenging task due to the difficulty of aligning coarse annotations with the finer task. However, with the advancement of deep neural networks (DNNs), WSIS has garnered significant attention. Following a proposal-based paradigm, we encounter a redundant segmentation problem resulting from a single instance being represented by multiple proposals. For example, we feed a picture of a dog and proposals into the network and expect to output only one proposal containing a dog, but the network outputs multiple proposals. To address this problem, we propose a novel approach for WSIS that focuses on the online refinement of complete instances through the use of MaskIoU heads to predict the integrity scores of proposals and a Complete Instances Mining (CIM) strategy to explicitly model the redundant segmentation problem and generate refined pseudo labels. Our approach allows the network to become aware of multiple instances and complete instances, and we further improve its robustness through the incorporation of an Anti-noise strategy. Empirical evaluations on the PASCAL VOC 2012 and MS COCO datasets demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance with a notable margin. Our implementation will be made available at https://github.com/ZechengLi19/CIM.


The performance of three automatic depression tracking schemes developed by Terry & Atlas (1996), Murray & Simmonds (1991a) and Konig et al. (1993) when applied over one month are assessed. The schemes respectively identify depressions by (a) locating the innermost closed contour in a PMSL field, (b) finding maxima in the curvature in a bi‐cubic spline fitted to the PMSL data and (c) performing a grid point search to identify a minimum in a PMSL field. The largest number of depressions was found by the Murray and Simmonds scheme, with the Atlas and Terry scheme finding the least. The Murray and Simmonds scheme also found the largest number of tracks, with the other two having comparable numbers of tracks. Two possible explanations for the differences in the number of tracks are considered. Firstly, the case where one or more centres identified by one scheme as corresponding to a single track are not found by the other schemes. Secondly, the case where a single track found by one scheme is split into two or more tracks by the other schemes. All three techniques had a similar latitude of cyclogenesis, although the Atlas and Terry and Konig et al. schemes found more lows at high latitudes as a result of using data on a latitude/longitude grid. The longest mean track length was found with the Konig et al. scheme. A comparison of the PMSL fields with satellite imagery shows that the major NWP centres have trouble producing reliable analyses around the Antarctic because of the lack of data. Copyright © 1999 Royal Meteorological Society


Sierra Gomez, approximately 20 km east of Aldama, Mexico, consists of approximately 500 m of folded and thrusted middle Cretaceous massive to thin-bedded mudstones and wackestones. Thin-bedded units are generally laminated and show local soft-sediment deformation. The laminated carbonates are dark-gray, with some bedded, black chert and contain gastropods, oysters, and the bivalve Corbula. Massive units are generally dark-gray to tan, with chert nodules and stylolites, and contain rudists, oysters, corals, and gastropods. The silicified megafauna includes abundant bivalves such as radiolitid and toucasid rudists, Ostrea sp., Corbula sp., Granocardium sp., and several other genera. At least five species of gastropods have been found that include at least two species of Turritella and Heliocryptus planorbis. Abundant corals as well as worm encrustations and sponge borings (Clinos) are also recorded. These limestones have been described as basinal facies of the Aurora Limestone. A significant portion of the megafauna has apparently not been transported. Shallow-water deposition is also indicated by the presence of rudists in apparent growth position. Normal marine conditions are established by the presence of the stenohaline coelenterates. End_of_Article - Last_Page 766------------


What is already known about this topic? Mercury is still used in the manufacture of some thermometers in China. This may pose health risks if exposure is not properly prevented and controlled. What is added by this report? An onsite investigation of a workplace at a thermometer facility in Jiangsu Province in 2019 found heavily elevated airborne and urinary mercury levels among a massive number of workers exposed to mercury. Traditional and obsolete technology as well as inadequate protection measures for occupational hazards caused this high level of exposure. What are the implications for public health practice? Employers at thermometer producing facilities need to adopt effective protection measures and implement strict management. Monitoring exposure, adopting better engineering controls, diligent cleaning, and providing recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) along with training to their workers properly can alleviate mercury exposure at their facilities. In addition, transitioning to mercury-free thermometers would eliminate the risk of mercury exposure.


Helicobacter pylori infection causes chronic gastritis that can trigger peptic ulcer disease and gastric malignancy (Marshall, 1994). The serious complications of peptic ulcers (bleeding or perforation) affect many elderly patients worldwide (Pilotto, 2001). Successful eradication of the infection results in ulcer healing (Adamek et al., 1998) and may prevent the progression of intestinal metaplasia in elderly patients (Pilotto & Malfertheiner, 2002); however, clinical interest in H. pylori infection in elderly people remains low (Pilotto & Salles, 2002). Furthermore, gastroduodenal diseases are associated with other diseases in many old patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of H. pylori infection and primaryH. pylori resistance to antimicrobial agents in elderly Bulgarian patients with gastroduodenal diseases.


Expressions for the determination of exergy losses and entropy growth induced by irreversibility of the heat transfer process in light-absorbing panels of flat-plate solar collectors used as a heat source to operate low-temperature heat-consuming power plants and converters have been obtained.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a major risk factor for hepatic dysfunction, acute or chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma after kidney transplantation (KTP). The present article summarizes some of published articles about prevention of HBV reactivation in renal transplant recipients METHODS: Many articles published in English language as full-text manuscripts reviewed in a variety of sources such as Scopus, Pub Med and Google Scholar with key words of hepatitis B and kidney transplantation to collect current data about this issue. FINDINGS: The risk of reactivation of HBV followingKTP is related to the status of serologic markers of HBV at the time of KTP.KTP candidate patients who are hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivehave higher risk for reactivation especially those who are hepatitis B e antibody positive or have high levels of HBV DNA in serum. Lamivudine has been most extensively used for prevention of HBV reactivation, but it is associated with a high rate of drug resistance.It seems that the optimal antiviral agent for prevention of HBV reactivation is entecavir which is associated with the lowest risk of drug resistance,however lamivudine-resistant HBV is less sensitive to entecavir. The preferred antiviral agent for lamivudine-resistant HBV is tenofovir which should be added to lamivudine rather than stopping lamivudine. It is reported that combination therapy in this sitting may reduce the development of resistance to


The coronavirus outbreak has created a global health crisis that has disrupted all industries, including the construction industry. Following the onset of the pandemic, construction workers faced and continue to face unprecedented safety and health challenges. Therefore, construction employers established new safety precautions to protect the health and safety of the workforce and minimize the spread of the virus. The new precautions followed the advice and guidelines offered by different health and safety agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). With construction projects resuming operations, it becomes important to analyze the coronavirus-related health and safety concerns of construction workforce and understand how the new safety procedures can assist on jobsites. Existing studies mostly focused on interviews and surveys with construction companies to understand the impact on project performance and supply chains. However, no study has yet to analyze the United States construction workforce. This paper fills the gap by providing a qualitative descriptive analysis of the COVID-19 complaints data gathered by OSHA from construction jobsites. Information gathered by OSHA includes the jobsite location, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) of the construction company, the type of the complaint (i.e., formal or non-formal), and a thorough description of the complaint. N-grams were employed to analyze the complaints, detect trends, and compile a list of the most frequent concerns reported by the workforce. The analysis of the complaints data identifies safety practices that were most violated, highlights major safety and health concerns for construction workers, and pinpoints geographical areas that have seen a surge in complaints. The study also synthesized the existing research corpus and compiled a list of 100 best practices that construction employers can adopt to mitigate the concerns of the workforce. The findings of this study provide insights into the safety and health trends on construction sites, lay the foundation for future work of academicians and practitioners to address the concerns faced by construction workers, and serve as lessons learned for the industry in the case of any future pandemic.


Delegation of decision authority is a fundamental characteristic of systems engineering problems. Engineers and managers at higher levels within the organization allocate responsibility and resources to other individuals through requirements flowdown and other processes. The prevalence of schedule slippages and budget overruns on systems engineering projects raises questions about the adequacy of and potential to improve existing methods. However, at present the community lacks a foundational understanding of these processes that would be valuable in identifying and validating candidate improvements to the systems engineering process. In this paper, we develop a conceptual modeling framework for delegation in systems engineering based on the principal-agent problem, a game-theoretic model of agent interaction across hierarchical levels. Several variations on the basic model are possible. We study the model and its variations on an illustrative example of a passenger vehicle engineering process. Numerical results highlight the impact of various assumptions, including whether engineers act normatively or according to proposed behavioral decision models. Implications and extensions are discussed, including the need for behavioral validation of engineering decision models and the potential to use the modeling framework to evaluate newly proposed delegation schemes.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Background: Diabetes mellitus is associated with an increased risk of psychological disorders and symptoms. Objectives: This research investigated the effect of group reminiscence therapy on depression among women with type II diabetes. Patients and Methods: The present study was a clinical trial study. Twenty-four patients referring to the diabetic clinic of Golestan hospital in Ahvaz, Iran were selected through simple random sampling and were divided in two groups. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. Group reminiscence therapy was held over eight biweekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. Finally, data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney, Friedman, and Chi-Square tests, using SPSS version 20. Results: A significant difference was observed between the two groups after the intervention (P = 0.001). The rating for depression decreased significantly in the experimental group. Before the group reminiscence therapy, the highest rating for depression obtained by the experimental group was "need for consultation" (50%), whereas after the intervention, the highest rating was "no depression" (50%). One month after the intervention, the highest rating obtained for depression was "low" (50%). Conclusions: Reminiscence therapy decreased depression among diabetic female patients after the intervention and one month after the intervention. It can be said that, through the reminiscence therapy, patients' past memories were reviewed and emphasis on the positive aspects thereof in the group setting was followed by an increased sense of self-worth and a decrease in depression.


The magnetic and structural properties of (111)Pt/Co and Pt/Co/Ag superlattices were studied. The samples were grown at 373 K on Ag buffer layers preformed on 7×7-(111)Si substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. The superlattices with Co layer thickness ( t) smaller than 1.5 nm exhibited perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The dependence of the coercivity (H c) of the Pt/Co superlattices on t is presented in detail. The H c exhibited a t -5/2 dependence that was previously reported not to be demonstrated in an epitaxial Pt/Co/Pt wedge-shaped sandwich structure.


Lesions of the anterior hypothalamic nucleus and the medial preoptic area sharply attenuated enhancement of wheel running by estradiol benzoate in ovariectomized female rats. Lesions of the corticomedial amygdala had no effect on this behavior. The hormonal effects on activity were largely independent of any changes in body weight. Results of this first experiment indicated that the anterior hypothalamic and medial preoptic areas are critically involved in the induction of activity by estradiol. However, this experiment provided no support for suggestions that the corticomedial amygdala inhibits those structures that mediate the estrogenic induction of activity. In the second experiment, food deprivation was used to stimulate activity. Results of this experiment suggested that the reduction in the ability of estradiol to induce activity following anterior hypothalamic and medial preoptic lesions does not reflect a general inability to become more active.


In this work, we explore various relevant aspects of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics regarding Burger's equation. The stability, precision, and efficiency of the algorithm are investigated in terms of different implementations. In particular, we argue that the boundary condition plays an essential role in the stability of numerical implementation. Besides, the issue is shown to be closely associated with the initial particle distribution and the interpolation scheme. Among others, we introduce an interpolation scheme termed symmetrized finite particle method. The main advantage of the scheme is that its implementation does not involve any derivative of the kernel function. Concerning the equation of motion, the calculations are carried out using two distinct scenarios, where the particles are chosen to be either stationary or dynamically evolved. The obtained results are compared with those obtained by using the standard finite difference method for spatial derivatives. Our numerical results indicate subtle differences between different schemes regarding the choice of boundary condition. In particular, a novel type of instability is observed where the regular distribution is compromised as the particles start to traverse each other. Implications and further discussions of the present study are also addressed.


An object of the present study was the development of liposomes loaded with the medicine Veklury® (remdesivir) stabilized by electrostatic adsorption of polysaccharide film formed from chitosans with different physicochemical characteristics and hyaluronic acid. The functionalization of the structures was achieved through the inclusion of an aptamer (oligonucleotide sequence) with specific affinity to the spike protein of the human coronavirus HCoV-OC43. The hydrodynamic size, electrokinetic potential and stability of the structures were evaluated at each step in the procedure. The encapsulation efficiency and loaded amount of remdesivir (99% and 299 µg/mL) were estimated by UV–vis spectroscopy. Our investigations showed manifestation of promising tendencies for prolonged periods of the drug release and increased effectiveness of its antiviral action. Among all studied versions of the delivery system, the most distinguished and suitable in a model coronavirus therapy are the liposomes formed from chitosan oligosaccharides. The cytotoxicity of the liposomes was determined against the HCT-8 cell line. A cytopathic effect inhibition test was used for the assessment of the antiviral activity of the compounds. The virucidal activity and the effect on the viral adsorption of the samples were reported by the end-point dilution method, and the alteration in viral titer was determined as Δlgs compared to untreated controls. The redox-modulating properties of the nanoparticles were studied in vitro in certain/several/a few chemical model systems. Our investigations showed a manifestation of promising tendencies for a prolonged effect of the drug release and increased effectiveness of its antiviral action.


OBJECTIVE
Microvascular thrombosis is the hallmark pathology of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a rare life-threatening disease. Neurological dysfunction is present in over 90% of patients with TTP, and TTP can cause long-lasting neurological damage or death. However, the pathophysiology of microvascular thrombosis in the brain is not well studied to date. Here, we investigate the formation and resolution of thrombosis in pial microvessels. Approach and Results: Using a cranial intravital microscopy in well-established mouse models of congenital TTP induced by infusion of recombinant VWF (von Willebrand factor), we found that soluble VWF, at high concentration, adheres to the endothelium of the vessel wall, self-associates, and initiates platelet adhesion resulting in the formation of pial microvascular thrombosis in ADAMTS13-/- (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13) mice. Importantly, VWF-mediated pial microvascular thrombosis occurred without vascular injury to the brain, and thrombi consisted of resting platelets adhered onto ultra-large VWF without fibrin in the brain in rVWF (recombinant VWF) challenged ADAMTS13-/- mice. Prophylactic treatment with recombinant ADAMTS13 (BAX930) effectively prevented the onset of the VWF-mediated microvascular thrombosis and therapeutic treatment with BAX930 acutely resolved the preexisting or growing thrombi in the brain of ADAMTS13-/- mice after rVWF challenge. The absence of platelet activation and fibrin formation within VWF-mediated thrombi and efficacy of BAX930 was confirmed with an endothelial-driven VWF-mediated microvascular thrombosis model in mice.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results provide important insight into the initiation and development of microvascular thrombi in mouse models that mimics TTP and indicate that rADAMTS13 could be an effective interventional therapy for microvascular thrombosis, the hallmark pathology in TTP.


The numeral density of the revealed with the help of PTA-plane and twisted asymmetric and symmetric interneuronal contacts of the sensomotor brain cortex of rats after 6 minutes mechanical asphyxia has been studied. It was revealed that in 90 minutes and 6 hours the relative contacts of the concave synapses will be increased progressively. This reaction has the compensatory-adaptive character and ensures the restoration of the integrative activity of the brain during the early postresuscitation period.


Error control consists of error detection and error correction in the communication system. The purpose of this research work is to reduce error in the wireless communication system by using the advantages of both error correction techniques which are forward error correction (FEC) and automatic repeat request (ARQ). Thus, error can be corrected without retransmission and also via retransmission(s) when needed. Combination of FEC and ARQ is known as Hybrid ARQ. In this paper, Hybrid ARQ system is designed using three components which are the irregular repetition code (IRC) as a simple code, bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID) as a simple Turbo processing and ARQ. The HARQ system is enhanced by the extended mapping (EM) adopted in the mapping system. The performance of the systems is evaluated in the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The results show the Hybrid ARQ with extended mapping (Hybrid ARQ-EM) outperforms Hybrid ARQ with standard mapping (Hybrid ARQ-SM). Hybrid ARQ-EM achieves low bit error rate BER (10 -5 ) at low signal-to-noise ratio SNR which only 3.03dB close to the theoretical limit. The proposed system Hybrid ARQ-EM achieves 52 percent gain enhancement of SNR gap from the theoretical limit compared to Hybrid ARQ-SM. Hybrid ARQ-EM gives better performance although in worse channel condition.


Thirty-nine patients with DSM–III diagnoses of schizophrenia were examined for age disorientation, an inability to produce one's correct chronological age upon request. Six patients were age-disoriented and demented (as defined by Mini-Mental State evaluation), while two patients had delusions concerning their age, but were not demented. Age-disoriented, demented patients had very large cerebral ventricles and very low Mini-Mental State scores. This group differed on the cognitive and neuroanatomic variables from other demented, but not age-disoriented, patients, as well as from non-demented patients who were age-oriented. The age-disoriented patients appeared to be at an extreme end of the dementia spectrum in schizophrenia.


Three highly oxygenated new diterpenes, trigochinins A-C (1-3) were isolated from Trigonostemon chinensis. Their structures with the absolute configuration were determined by a spectroscopic method, X-ray crystallography, and CD analysis. This study suggested the revision of the C-6 stereochemistry of trigonothyrins A-C reported quite recently. Compound 3 showed significant inhibition against MET tyrosine kinase activity with a IC(50) value of 1.95 microM.


Background: Migration, whether voluntary or forced, entails major adaptations. An elaborate insight into the circumstances helps to induce various interventions in migrants. Aims and Objectives: To elicit the psychological health, lifestyle variables, religiosity, spirituality and coping among migrants and compare it with non migrants in a rural locality. Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was undertaken among 404 adults aged 20 years and above. The General Health Questionnaire–12, Religiosity scale by Wilkes, The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale and COPE scale were used as psychometric tools for data collection. Data was analysed using SPSS (ver. 20.0). Results: A sample of 137 migrants and 267 non migrants were analysed. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups for occupation and education (p=0.002 & 0.000 resp). The mean scores of the psychological health of migrants (10.58± 6.32) were slightly better than that of non migrants (11.49 ±5.69, p= 0.142). Spirituality scores showed migrants being more inclined towards spiritualism (p=0.016). Young age, religious and spiritual propensity showed a statistically significant correlation with better Psychological health (p=0.036, 0.000&0.013resp). Conclusion: Providing psychosocial assistance to migrant populations focussing on educational, occupational & religious-spiritual issues can reduce vulnerabilities especially for psychological health.


We discuss side channel leakage from modular reduction for NIST recommended domain parameters. FIPS 186-2 has 5 recommended prime fields. These primes have a special form which is referred to as generalized Mersenne prime. These special form primes facilitate especially efficient implementation. A typical implementation of efficient modular reduction with such primes includes conditional reduction. A conditional reduction in modular reduction can constitute an information channel on the secret exponent. Several researchers have produced unified code for elliptic point addition and doubling in order to avoid a simple power analysis (SPA). However, Walter showed that SPA still be possible if Montgomery multiplication with conditional reduction is implemented within the unified code. In this paper we show SPA on the modular reduction with NIST recommended primes, combining with the unified code for elliptic point operations. As Walter stated, our results also indicate that even if the unified codes are implemented for elliptic point operations, underlying field operations should be implemented in constant time. The unified approach in itself can not be a countermeasure for side channel attacks.


The andrological implications of the diseases of the seminal vesicle are analysed on the basis of the author's clinical experience, with special reference to the symptomatology of circumscribed seminal vesiculitis and to the therapeutic possibilities. A diagnostic scheme for recognizing the disease is recommended.


Abstract. Changes in the stress state of faults and their surroundings is a highly plausible mechanism explaining earthquakes interaction. These stress changes can impact the seismicity rate and the size distribution of earthquakes. However, the effect of large earthquakes on the earthquake size distribution along the Longmenshan fault has not been quantified. We evaluated the levels of the b value for the stable state before and after the large earthquakes on 12 May 2008 (Wenchuan, MS 8.0) and 20 April 2013 (Lushan, MS 7.0) along the Longmenshan fault. We found that after the mainshocks, the size distribution of the subsequent earthquakes shifted toward relatively larger events in the Wenchuan aftershock zone (b value decreased from 1.03 to 0.84), and generally remained invariable in the Lushan aftershock zone (b value remained at 0.76). The time required for the b value to return to stable states after both mainshocks were entirely consistent with the time needed by the aftershock depth images to stop visibly changing. The result of the temporal variation of b values show decreasing trends for the b value before both large earthquakes. Our results are available for assessing the potential seismic risk of the Longmenshan fault as a reference.


Objective Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mood swing illness characterized by episodes ranging from depressive lows to manic highs. Although the specific origin of BD is unknown, genetics, environment, and changes in brain structure and chemistry may all have a role. Through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations, this study looked into functional abnormalities involving the striatum between BD group and healthy controls (HC), compared the whole-brain gray matter (GM) morphological patterns between the groups and see whether functional connectivity has its underlying structural basis. Materials and methods We applied sliding windows to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 49 BD patients and 44 HCs to generate temporal correlations maps to determine strength and variability of the striatum-to-whole-brain-network functional connectivity (FC) in each window whilst also employing voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to high-resolution structural MRI data to uncover structural differences between the groups. Results Our analyses revealed increased striatal connectivity in three consecutive windows 69, 70, and 71 (180, 182, and 184 s) in individuals with BD (p < 0.05; Bonferroni corrected) in fMRI images. Moreover, the VBM findings of structural images showed gray matter (GM) deficits in the left precentral gyrus and middle frontal gyrus of the BD patients (p = 0.001, uncorrected) when compared to HCs. Variability of striatal connectivity did not reveal significant differences between the groups. Conclusion These findings revealed that BD was associated with a weakening of the precentral gyrus and middle frontal gyrus, also implying that bipolar illness may be linked to striatal functional brain alterations.


In this paper, we investigated the effects of herringbone riblets, a type of bio-inspired micro-scale surface patterns, on pressure losses and flow turning angles in a linear cascade over a range of low Reynolds numbers from 0.50 × 105 to 1.50 × 105 and at three different incidence angles. Our experiments showed that despite their micro-scale size, herringbone riblets produced a significant reduction in pressure loss and a substantial increase in flow turning angle except at the low end of the Reynolds numbers tested. In comparison to the baseline case without riblets, the highest reduction in the zone-averaged pressure loss coefficient behind one flow passage was 36.4% which was accompanied by a 4.1 deg increase in the averaged turning angle. The loss reduction was caused by a decrease in γmax at α = −1 deg, a narrower wake zone at α = 9 deg and a mixture of both at α = 4 deg due to the suppression of flow separation on the blade suction surface. It was also noted that such a significant improvement was always accompanied by the appearance of a serrated wake structure in the contours of pressure loss coefficient in which the region with a higher loss reduction occurring directly behind the divergent region of herringbone riblets. The observed improvement in cascade performance was attributed to the secondary flow motion produced by herringbone riblets which energizes the boundary layer. Overall, this work has produced convincing experimental evidence that herringbone riblets could be potentially used as passive flow control devices for reducing flow separation in compressors at low Reynolds numbers.


Fast food has become an important part of our diet and the increase in fast-food consumption is likely to continue. Our aim was to study the relationship between fast food and Body Mass Index (BMI) and the pattern of consumption of fast food in female university students. Total of 141 female students from different study levels of Nutrition and Food Science Department, King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh Saudi Arabia were included. A survey questionnaire which contains three sections was used; firstly sociodemographic data, secondly fast food consumptions pattern and thirdly whether students apply basic nutrition knowledge in their selection of food or not. Height, weight and BMI were measured. We found that overweight and obesity were present in 25% of female students. Fast food consumption frequency of 1-2 times per week was high among them (74.5%). There is no significant relationship between fast food consumption, BMI and the pattern of consumption of fast food. There is a significant (p<0.05) positive relationship between increase in size of fish sandwich meal and increase of BMI. However there is no significant relationship between portion size of other food types and BMI. Moreover, we found significant (p<0.05) positive relationship between university study level and the knowledge in explaining why fast food is unhealthy.


Two strains of broiler chicks fed a basal wheat-soybean diet designed to be complete in all known nutrients failed to achieve optimal growth at 3 weeks of age. Increments of dietary sodium resulted in increased growth responses and improved feed efficiencies (P less than .05) which were not related to genotype. The sodium requirements for optimum weight gain was found to be greater than the NRC (1971) requirement when the water sodium level was 3 ppm. The addition of 50 ppm of sodium to the drinking water improved growth and feed efficiency (P less than .05) of birds fed the basal diet. When 100 ppm of sodium was added to the drinking water, a further increase in growth was obtained equivalent to that of birds receiving the basal diet to which increments of sodium were added up to .15%. Sodium in the drinking water was shown to be utilized more effectively than was sodium in the feed.


Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) span multiple disciplines, including the medico-legal sciences, also with reference to the concept of disease and disability. In this context, the International Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death (ICD) is a standard for the classification of diseases and related problems developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and it represents a valid tool for statistical and epidemiological studies. Indeed, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) is outlined as a classification that aims to describe the state of health of people in relation to their existential spheres (social, family, work). This paper lays the foundations for proposing an operating model for the use of AI in the assessment of impairments with the aim of making the information system as homogeneous as possible, starting from the main coding systems of the reference pathologies and functional damages. Providing a scientific basis for the understanding and study of health, as well as establishing a common language for the assessment of disability in its various meanings through AI systems, will allow for the improvement and standardization of communication between the various expert users.


The object of the research reported in this thesis was to investigate the effects of word characteristics on children's reading performance.

The experiments investigating word imagery and age of acquisition showed that imagery was a highly significant word characteristic for less skilled readers. There was an age of acquisition effect which was inversely correlated with reading ability.

Probabilistic measures of orthographic regularity (such as Initial Bigram Frequency and Versatility and First Order approximation to English) were shown to be significant predictors of reading for good and poor readers and lexical decision performance for average readers. It also appeared that as reading ability improved, word properties such as the Orthographic Neighbour Ratio, which takes into account neighourhood size and frequency affected reading accuracy in the good and average reader in the lexical decision task.

Other measures of orthographic regularity-orthographic neighbourhood size and body type were also shown to affect reading accuracy although effects appeared less marked for skilled readers. The regularity effect was seen to be dependent upon hostility and frequency of word neighbours, and the frequency of the target word itself, rather than due to a regularity-irregularity dichotomy.


To determine whether bile salts alter the permeability of the biliary tree to inert solutes, we investigated the effects of taurocholate and taurodehydrocholate on [14C]sucrose bile-to-plasma ratio in the situ perfused rat liver. Sucrose bile-to-plasma ratio remained virtually constant over a 3-h period in untreated rats. Infusing increasing amounts of taurocholate produced the anticipated dose-dependent increase in bile flow and bile salt secretion up to a maximal secretory rate of 278 nmol X min-1 X g liver-1. When the secretory rate was exceeded, bile flow decreased by 22%. Even at doses below the maximal secretory rate, sucrose bile-to-plasma ratio increased in a dose-dependent fashion. To determine whether this was due to recruitment of more permeable centrizonal hepatocytes, the effect of equimolar amounts of taurodehydrocholate was determined. This nonmicelle-forming bile salt led to more marked choleresis than taurocholate but did not affect sucrose bile-to-plasma ratio. We conclude that taurocholate, but not taurodehydrocholate, leads to a dose-dependent increase in biliary permeability.


Progenics is developing methylnaltrexone (MNTX), an opioid antagonist licensed from UR Labs and the University of Chicago, for the potential treatment of the side effects of opioid pain therapy, such as constipation and post-operative bowel dysfunction. MNTX was discovered at the University of Chicago and subsequently licensed by UR Labs. In October 2001, Progenics entered into an agreement with UR Labs to obtain exclusive worldwide rights to the drug [423791]. MNTX is in phase II trials, with phase III studies expected to begin in 2002 [423791]. In October 2001, a double-blind, randomized, phase II study evaluating sc MNTX in cancer patients for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation was initiated at the University of Chicago Medical Center [423791]. In December 2001, the company stated that it was preparing to initiate phase IIb trials of the compound in opioid-induced constipation and post-operative bowel dysfunction [423791], [432507]. These trials were initiated in February 2002 [440995].


Summary form only given. Structural studies performed in several families of metallic polymers show that the degree of order, the local structure adopted by the polymeric chains as well as the chain conformation depend upon the synthesis conditions, the stretching ratio and the sample history. These structural features are important variables able to tune the metallic properties of these polymers whose electronic wave function is at the boarderline of the localization-delocalization transition. We illustrate these effects with recent structural measurements performed on the polyaniline family of conducting polymers (PAN) showing direct relationship between the degree of crystallinity and the conducting properties of PAN-HCl fibers, the crystalline coherence length and the low temperature microwave dielectric constant of PAN-HCl. It is also found that the structure of PAN-CSA depends upon the nature of the solvent used to process the material.


IMAGINE THE scene. Monday morning and you are the only qualified nurse on a busy elderly care unit. Of the other three care staff, one is a regular' and the others are from the agency and have never been in the building before.


The continually evolving understanding of bone biology and the analysis of clinical complications have led to a modified approach in internal fixation using plates. Anatomical reduction of the fragments in comminuted diaphyseal and metaphyseal fractures itself is no longer a goal. Important reduction aims are the correct length of the bone, and axial and torsional alignment. The preservation of the viability of the bone fragments is the key to unimpaired fracture healing. The primary stability of an osteosynthesis seems to be of minor importance for bone healing. More important is the rapid integration of unreduced but vital fragments into the fracture callus which buttresses the fracture area opposite the plate reducing the risk for overload and fatigue failure of the implant. Additional primary bone grafting leeds to local vascular disturbance of the bone and is rarely indicated. Indirect reduction technique with the aid of the fracture table or the distractor and a minimal but optimal use of implant material is the new concept to achieve undisturbed fracture repair in metaphyseal and diaphyseal fractures. In articular fractures the anatomic restoration of the articular surface can be obtained by the combination of indirect reduction technique (ligamentotaxis, soft tissue taxis) and accurate direct reduction of certain strategic fragments. Modifications of the plate design (limited contact, point contact) which minimize additional vascular damage to the bone help to accomplish this new concept.


This paper attempts to estimate in an approximate way the impact of the basic bipolar process parameters upon harmonic distortion for the log-domain lossy integrator case. A symbolic transistor-level calculation is elaborated, based on the Charge-Control-Model (CCM) for the Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT). Results correlating the BJT finite beta and parasitic base and emitter resistance with the harmonic distortion level present at the output are provided.


A novel channel equalizer algorithm is introduced for wireless communication systems to combat channel distortions resulting from multipath propagation. The novel algorithm is based on minimizing the bit error rate (BER) using a fast approximation of its gradient with respect to the equalizer coefficients. This approximation is obtained by estimating the exponential summation in the gradient with only some carefully chosen dominant terms. The paper derives an algorithm to calculate these dominant terms in real-time. Summing only these dominant terms provides a highly accurate approximation of the true gradient. Combined with a fast adaptive channel state estimator, the new equalization algorithm yields better performance than the traditional zero forcing (ZF) or minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizers. The performance of the new method is tested by simulations performed on standard wireless channels. From the performance analysis one can infer that the new equalizer is capable of efficient channel equalization and maintaining a relatively low bit error probability in the case of channels corrupted by frequency selectivity. Hence, the new algorithm can contribute to ensuring QoS communication over highly distorted channels.


Cone beam volumetric tomography (CBVT) or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is a diagnostic imaging technology that is changing the way dental practioners view the oral and maxillofacial complex as well as teeth and the surrounding tissues. CBVT has been specifically designed to produce undistorted three dimensional images similar to computed tomography (CT), but at a lower equipment cost, simpler image acquisition and lower patient radiation dose. This article highlights the CBVT application in endodontics and its treatment outcome.


The Meritocratization of Health.
As in other Western countries, the aging of the Dutch population is one of the factors responsible for the increased demand for health care. The retrenchment of the welfare state, the privatization of social health insurance, and the widening of income differences will exacerbate tensions arising from this growing demand. Government, insurance companies, and doctors jointly emphasize the importance of health consciousness and preventive behaviors among the population. The internalization and individualization of the medical perspective is greatly enhanced by the fact that for many people, being healthy has become an emblem of civilization. The ideology of "healthism" and the newly emerging corporate health ethic have strong moral overtones: illness becomes a sign of individual weakness and therefore brings about feelings of personal guilt. The advancement of genetic screening turns this meritocratization of health into an even more dangerous development. Adapted from the source document.


While ageing is accepted as a major problem for most industrialized societies, its labour market consequences are not yet fully understood. This paper analyses the effects of changes in the age composition of the Federal Republic of Germany on the incidence of unemployment in different sex-age groups. The German population has aged substantially in recent decades because of declining fertility and a halt in guestworker recruitment. The German wage-setting process appears to be characterized by the presence of a strong union movement that hampers flexible wage adjustments. Thus, age structure variations can be expected to lead to fluctuations in age-specific unemployment rates. In general, this intuition is confirmed by the estimations presented here. A strong positive relationship between the size of a cohort and its relative unemployment experience can only be established formally for a few sex-age groups, however.


BackgroundPeople diagnosed with cancer are living longer and whilst cancer survival is improving for many cancers, there is not the same parity for all social groups - older people and people living in more deprived areas often have more chronic health conditions. We examined the association between those other health conditions and cancer incidence, prevalence and survival for all Welsh patients, for the four most common cancers and all malignant cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer).
MethodsWe extracted data on all malignant cancer cases from the WCISU's population-based cancer registry for diagnosis periods 1995-2015. Cases were linked to a Cluster Network and to Patient Episode Database for Wales hospital data for the preceding year to establish pre-existing health conditions. From this, a Charlson score was calculated for each case - this is a validated score to predict risk of death and disease burden.
For incidence and prevalence, we calculated the proportion of patients with Charlson score 0, 1 and 2+, and proportions with each health condition examined. We calculated one-year net survival by Charlson score or condition. Where possible, analysis was by cancer type, age-band, area deprivation, rurality, sex and stage at diagnosis.
ResultsOne in four people were already living with another serious condition. Patients diagnosed in more deprived areas of Wales were more likely to have an existing condition at diagnosis. Survival worsened as the severity or number of existing conditions increased.
ConclusionPatients diagnosed with cancer in more deprived areas of Wales were more likely to be already living with another serious condition, showing a significant decrease in their projected survival at Charlson score 1 and 2+ compared to the least deprived areas.
This work will enable acute, primary and community care, and other organisations to understand the overall burden of ill health in the cancer population in Wales.


Lands for domestic production in rural areas have increasingly shrunk and the rules of access have changed as corporate land grabs intensify in many parts of the Global South. These occurrences are outcomes of processes that are packaged in state policies that promote market intervention in agricultural production. In Ghana, state initiatives promote large-scale industrial cassava production in rural areas. This article discusses land grabs in cassava frontier communities, their impacts on land access rules, and social relations. It is argued that while land, gender, and class relations change as a result of competition over, and commodification of, land resources, community institutions, namely chiefs and families, play significant roles that legitimize dispossession of social groups whose land-use rights are derived from other hierarchies. The changes in production relations in the communities are linked to processes linked to older commodity production. Similar changes have occurred at the household level as circuits of commodity production integrate within domestic production. The article highlights different struggles by women and migrants to renegotiate their access rules and their local citizenship status.


Dental tissues have special characteristics, and its regenerative capacity is noteworthy. However, understanding the circumstances that lead to regeneration is challenging. In this study, the chronology of the healing process after immediate replantation of rat incisor teeth was examined by histological and immunohistochemical analyses within a 60-day period. Thirty-six male Wistar rats had their maxillary right incisors extracted and replanted after 15 min in saline storage. The rats were sacrificed immediately 3, 7, 15, 28, and 60 days after replantation. The histological analysis showed rupture of the periodontal ligament and formation of a blood clot, which started being replaced by a connective tissue after 3 days. At 7 days, the gingival mucosa epithelium was reinserted and areas of root resorption could be seen. At 15 days, the periodontal ligament was repaired. At 3 days, the pulp presented an absence of the odontoblast layer, which started being replaced by a connective tissue. This tissue suffered gradual calcification, filling the root canal at 28 and 60 days. The root ends were closed. The immunohistochemical analysis revealed greater expression of OP, OPG, and RANK proteins in the initial periods (0 and 3 days), while TRAP expression predominated at 28 and 60 days (P < 0.05). In conclusion, in delayed tooth replantation, there is great new bone formation activity in the earlier periods of the repair process, while a predominance of bone resorption and remodeling is observed in the more advanced periods.


The use of a modified bovine collagen graft as a low-pressure conduit was investigated by implantation into the iliocaval system of dogs. In the 210 day observation period, a patency rate of 87.5% was achieved. Nearly all graft failures occured within the first 14 days following implantation; failure after that time did not seem to be dependent upon length of time of implantation. Progressive organization of the neointima was seen histologically. New smooth muscle fibers were observed in the neointima with electron microscopic evidence of reconstitution of the subendothelial membrane. Continuing resorption of graft collagen coincided with its replacement by newly developed collagen type III fibers in a surface-parallel orientation.


OBJECTIVE
To provide basic data for clinical application and individualized design of lumbar disc prostheses by measuring the anatomical parameters of lumbar intervertebral discs and endplates in healthy adults with CT three-dimensional reconstruction technology.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis was performed on 200 males and 200 females with normal lumbar spine who were admitted to the imaging center or outpatient department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from September 2019 to December 2020. The age ranged from 20 to 60 years old, with an average of (40.61±11.22) years old. The measurement segment was L1-S1 intervertebral disc, and the measurement indicators included the axial anteroposterior diameter and transverse diameter of the intervertebral disc, sagittal anterior, middle and posterior height, coronal left and right height, intervertebral space angle, and transverse and anteroposterior diameters of the upper and lower endplates of each vertebral body.

RESULTS
①In terms of gender, the anatomical parameters of L1-S1 disc axial diameter, transverse diameter, sagittal anterior, middle and posterior height, left and right coronal height and intervertebral space angle were all higher in males than in females(P<0.05), and the anatomical parameters of upper and lower endplates of L1-S1 vertebral body were higher in males than in females(P<0.001). ②In comparison of sagittal height of anterior, middle and posterior intervertebral discs, the sagittal height of L1-L5 intervertebral discs was middle-high > anterior-high > posterior-high(P<0.001), while that of L5S1 intervertebral disc was anterior-high > middle-high > posterior-high (P<0.001). ③In the comparison of left and right coronal height, there was no statistical significance in the left and right coronal height of L1-S1 disc between male and female(P>0.05). ④The L1-S1 intervertebral spaces angle between male and female increased with the increase of vertebral body segments. ⑤The anterior and posterior diameters and transverse diameters of upper and lower of L1-S1 vertebral bodies endplates were height in males than in females(P<0.001).

CONCLUSION
The results suggest that gender differences should be considered in the design of adult lumbar disc prostheses. The anatomical parameters of the lumbar intervertebral disc varied with the increase of the vertebral body sequence, suggesting that different anatomical parameters of the intervertebral disc should be considered in the design of the artificial intervertebral disc, and the changes in the height of the sagittal position suggest that the design of the intervertebral disc should be wedge-shaped.


Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) is a potent stimulator of GH secretion from the pituitary gland. Although GHRH is essential for the growth of immune cells, the regulatory effects of its antagonist in granulomatous disease remains unknown. Here, we report expression of GHRH receptor (R) in human tissue with sarcoidosis granuloma and demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects of MIA602 (a GHRH antagonist) in two in vitro human granuloma models and an in vivo granuloma model. MIA602 decreases levels of IL2, IL12, and IL17A in in vitro granuloma model. We show further that the anti-inflammatory effect of MIA602 appears to be mediated by reduction in CD45++CD68+ cells in granulomatous tissue and upregulation in PD-1 expression in macrophages. In analysis of expression of proteins involved in the mitochondrial stage of apoptosis, we show that MIA602 increases the levels of caspase 3, BCL-xL/BAK dimer, and MCl-1/Bak dimer in granuloma. These findings indicate that MIA602 may not induce apoptosis. The clinical relevance of our findings further suggest that HGRH-R is potentially a target for treatment of granulomatous disease and MIA602 possibly a novel therapeutic agent for sarcoidosis.


Charge pumps can be used to generate floating voltage supplies owing to their low input to output voltage drop and circuit simplicity. When used to power the high-side circuitry of half-bridges, the charge pump circuit can be simplified significantly by replacing the function of the dedicated pump oscillator with the switching action of the half-bridge output voltage. Three classes of the auto charge pump are identified, and a model is derived for each of the circuits. Using the model, auto charge pump circuits are designed for use in a half-bridge inverter and tested. The tests show a good match between the models and the experimental results. Finally, a comparison of the the various auto charge pump circuits is made.


The approach allows to organize distributed storage of large amounts of diverse data in order to further their parallel processing in high performance cluster systems for problems of climatic processes analysis and forecasting. For different classes of data was used the practice of using meta descriptions - like formalism associated with certain categories of resources. Development of a metadata component was made based on an analysis of data of surface meteorological observations, atmosphere vertical sounding, atmosphere wind sounding, weather radar observing, observations from satellites and others. A common set of metadata components was formed for their general description. The structure and content of the main components of a generalized meta descriptions are presented in detail on the example of reporting meteorological observations from land and sea stations.


In order to avoid cultural and essentialist fallacies, this contribution argues that diversity can only be understood in paradoxical terms. Diversity has to be constructed and is therefore subject to temporal, regional and functional variations, which makes it an extremely fluid category. One manner in which diversity is constructed is through law. While legal history has traditionally been concerned with the manner in which law has historically created differences of personal status, amongst legal categories, and between sources of law, contemporary legal historians are confronted with the problem of how to observe cultural, ethnic, functionalist and other forms of diversity that are not necessarily defined by law. The manner in which nineteenth-century legal systems ignored the particular experience and circumstances of indigenous populations is a case in point: How can legal historians observe that which is not included in the law? By understanding diversity as paradox, I will argue that the constructivist approach to diversity requires a methodology to allow legal historians to move between legal and non-legal sources without losing sight of the specificity of legal observation.


We present the design of a stable object storage for a parallel computer with distributed shared memory. A prototype has been built for our experimental multiprocessor MEMSY. The stable storage has been realized with RAM memory in order to obtain short access times. The objects stored are primarily checkpoints for roll back recovery.


Background: Ventral hernias are common problem in surgical practice. Repair of hernia by a prosthetic mesh is a well recognized procedure. But whether the procedure is to be done by open or laparoscopic technique is still a topic of discussion. Laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) hernioplasty is a newer technique in managing ventral hernia in our country. We are evaluating the usefulness of this procedure as routine operation for ventral hernias. Methods: All patients attending at Bangladesh Institute of Research & Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic disorders (BIRDEM) outpatient department (OPD) with ventral hernia were approached and counseled for laparoscopic IPOM, but only those who agreed were included in this study. Fifty consecutive patients underwent IPOM by a single surgeon. Preoperative evaluation was done rationally and surgery performed by standard laparoscopic method. Age, sex, diabetes status and additional procedures done were evaluated. Post- operative follow up period was from 3 months to 75 months and any complication or recurrence were noted. Results: We are reporting 50 cases of laparoscopic IPOM, over a time period of 78 months (April 2010- September 2016). Eleven cases were male, 39 female (M: F=1:3.5). 35 (70%) cases were diabetic, 15 (30%) were non-diabetic. Mean age of the patients were 47.7yrs (male 47.7+9.5 yrs, female 47.7- 2.6 yrs, diabetic patients 47.7+ 2.5yrs, non-diabetic patients 47.7-5.9yrs). Indication for IPOM was paraumbilical hernia 29 cases (58%), incisional hernia 14 cases(28%), multiple incisional hernia 2 cases ( 2 large defect in one case, 5 defects of varying size in another patient), umbilical port hernia 2 cases, paraumbilical along with incisional hernia 1 case, epigastric hernia 1 case, lumber hernia 1 case. In 48 cases (96%) polypropylene mesh and only in 2 cases (4%) dual mesh were used. In addition to IPOM procedure, in same sitting laparoscopic cholecystectomy was done in 8 cases, Dilatation & Curettage in 1 case and adhesiolysis in 7 cases. None of the case required conversion to open, neither was there any intra-operative complication. In one case there was recurrence . In another case there was false recurrence due to development of ascites. Four patients developed seroma which were managed conservatively. Conclusion : Laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) hernioplasty has proved to be an effective surgical procedure for ventral hernia repair. It provides much benefits with low complications and conversion in experienced hands. Birdem Med J 2017; 7(2): 106-109


Radiotherapy of individuals suffering with head & neck or brain tumors subserve the risk of sensorineural hearing loss. Here, we evaluated the protective effect of Aminothiol PrC-210 (3-(methyl-amino)-2-((methylamino)methyl)propane-1-thiol) on the irradiated inner ear of guinea pigs. An intra-peritoneal or intra-tympanic dose of PrC-210 was administered prior to receiving a dose of gamma radiation (3000 cGy) to each ear. Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABRs) were recorded one week and two weeks after the radiation and compared with the sham animal group. ABR thresholds of guinea pigs that received an intra-peritoneal dose of PrC-210 were significantly better compared to the non-treated, control animals at one week post-radiation. Morphologic analysis of the inner ear revealed significant inflammation and degeneration of the spiral ganglion in the irradiated animals not treated with PrC-210. In contrast, when treated with PrC-210 the radiation effect and injury to the spiral ganglion was significantly alleviated. PrC-210 had no apparent cytotoxic effect in vivo and did not affect the morphology or count of cochlear hair cells. These findings suggest that aminothiol PrC-210 attenuated radiation-induced cochlea damage for at least one week and protected hearing.