Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) is a security primitive that has been proven to be effective in diverse security solutions ranging from hardware authentication to on-die entropy generation. PUFs can be implemented in a design in two possible ways: (1) adding a separate dedicated circuit; and (2) reusing an existing on-chip structure for generating random signatures. A large percentage of existing PUFs falls into the first category, which suffers from the important drawback of often unacceptable hardware and design overhead. Moreover, they cannot be applied to legacy designs, which do not allow insertion of additional circuit structures. Intrinsic PUFs, that rely on pre-existing circuit structures, such as static random-access memory (SRAM), fall into the second category. They, however, typically suffer from poor entropy as well as lack of robustness. In this paper, we introduce a novel PUF implementation of the second category that exploits the effect of manufacturing process variations in SRAM read access current. In particular, we note that transistor level variations in SRAM cells cause significant variations in the read current and the variation changes with the stored content in a SRAM cell. We propose a method to transform the analog read current value for an SRAM array into robust binary signatures. The proposed PUF can be easily employed for authentication of commercial SRAM chips without any design modification. Furthermore, it can be realized, with minor hardware modification, into chips with embedded memory, e.g., a processor, for on-die entropy generation. Simulation results at 45nm CMOS process for 1000 chips as well as measurement results based on 30 commercial SRAM chips, show promising randomness, uniqueness and robustness under environmental fluctuations.


Certain heat shock proteins are regulated by steroid hormones and are associated with oestrogen receptor function in reproductive tissues, indicating that these proteins have a role during implantation, decidualization and placentation. In the present study, the expression of hsp25, hsp70 and oestrogen receptor alpha were examined by immunohistochemistry in oviducts from rats during neonatal development, the oestrous cycle and during early pregnancy. Oestrogen receptor alpha was the first protein observed in the neonatal oviduct, and its expression preceded that of hsp70 and hsp25. Although these heat shock proteins have been associated with the oestrogen receptor, this study showed that during early development of the oviduct, the receptor protein was not associated with the concomitant expression of hsp25 and hsp70. However, these heat shock proteins were expressed when oviductal cells became differentiated. In the adult oviduct, hsp70 was more abundant than hsp25, moreover, there were no significant modifications in expression of hsp25 during the oestrous cycle. In contrast, the expression of hsp70 was significantly higher in epithelial cells during dioestrus, when the maximum amount of oestrogen receptor alpha was also observed. Therefore, the present study shows that hsp70, but not hsp25, is an oviductal protein modulated by the oestrous cycle and that it is a protein marker for specific phases of the oestrous cycle. In addition, hsp70 was more responsive to the hormonal changes in the infundibulum and ampullar regions of the oviduct. During early pregnancy, hsp25 expression was downregulated (unlike in the endometrium), whereas hsp70 was relatively abundant in the oviduct. hsp70 was observed in all functional segments of the oviduct during pregnancy, indicating that in the oviduct, this protein is modulated by oestrogens and progesterone and possibly by other pregnancy-related hormones.


Composites sandwich structures have been increasingly used in applications where high strength and stiffness to weight ratio is required to reduce weight for energy saving and optimum performance purposes. Aim of this project was to manufacture a sandwich panel with carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) skins and a Nomex honeycomb core using the wet layup method and to test it against the requirements specified in FSAE Rules for side impact and front bulkhead monocoque structures of car chassis. Investigations were made into different skin thicknesses to choose best skin thickness for the sandwich panel to improve its weight and characteristics. Tests conducted on sandwich panels were shear perimeter test and three-point bending test. From previous work and testing, shear perimeter test was found as a limiting case out of the two tests. Results showed that selected material passed both tests and was far above the baseline material and Aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel which were tested last year. From results it was established that shear perimeter strength of sandwich panel depends upon skin thickness whereas, energy absorbed by the panel during testing process is dependent upon the thickness of the core. Failure modes of CFRP-Nomex sandwich panels were quite different than Aluminium sandwich panels. In shear perimeter test, CFRP layers in each skin failed individually which was evident from kinks in the graphs. Results also indicated that CFRP material is weaker in compression than in tension.


Past studies utilizing cognitive control tasks have noted that trials following errors are characterized by slowed reaction time. Despite the assumption long held by researchers that this slowing is compensatory (in the service of post-error performance recovery), studies consistently show that post-error trials are no more accurate than post-correct trials. As a result, it has recently been proposed that post-error slowing (PES) is merely part of an orienting response that serves no task-relevant cognitive control purpose. Frontal midline theta (FMθ) oscillations represent another potential compensatory mechanism serving cognitive control processes, yet past studies relying on ERPs have failed to find an association between FMθ and post-error accuracy. The present study investigated the potentially adaptive role of PES and FMθ oscillations during a flanker task using trial-by-trial comparisons. Results indicated that error-related FMθ oscillations signal the need for enhanced top-down cognitive control and that PES supports cognitive control by providing the added time needed to achieve greater confidence in judgment. Overall, findings provide convergent evidence that both error-related FMθ and PES predict performance recovery following errors.


Fusobacterium nucleatum is a Gram-negative anaerobic organism that plays a central role in the development of periodontal diseases. The progression of periodontitis is associated with a rise in pH of the gingival sulcus which promotes the growth and expression of virulence factors by periodontopathic bacteria. We have previously reported that the expression of specific cytoplasmic proteins is altered by a shift in growth pH. In the present study we have compared cell envelope protein expression of F. nucleatum during chemostat growth at pH 7.2 and 7.8. From a total of 176 proteins resolved from the cell envelope, 15 were found to have altered expression in response to an increase in growth pH and were identified by MS. Upregulated proteins included an outer membrane porin which has been identified as playing a role in virulence, a periplasmic chaperone which assists in the folding of outer membrane proteins, and a transporter thought to be involved with iron uptake. Proteins downregulated at pH 7.8 were consistent with our previous findings that the bacterium reduces its catabolism of energy-yielding substrates in favour of energy-storage pathways. Among the downregulated proteins, two transporters which are involved in the uptake of C4 dicarboxylates and phosphate were identified. A putative protease and an enzyme associated with the metabolism of glutamate were also identified. A high proportion of the cell envelope proteins suggested by these data to play a role in the organism's response to alkaline growth pH may have arisen by lateral gene transfer. This would support the hypothesis that genes that provide an ability to adapt to the changing conditions of the oral environment may be readily shared between oral bacteria.


'Fairy tales', writes Katherine Langrish, 'are emotional amplifiers . . . [They] work as music does, directly on our feelings' (197). This collection of her essays (plus three poems) illustrates the psychological subtlety and poetic force of her own responses, and will surely guide readers towards similar sensitivity. She can also, on occasion, cast light on relationships of sources and analogues, notably in her discussion of the ballad of 'The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry' (158–87), but her main concern is usually with the deeper themes which she perceives as underlying fairy-tale plots—such themes as time, hunger, death, and rebirth. Alongside these, she can provide sudden sharp insights and speculations which even if unprovable will remain memorable and interesting. For example, in an essay on water spirits she wonders whether the fact that a stick plunged into water will appear broken although it is in fact unharmed could have inspired the prehistoric custom of bending or breaking weapons before throwing them into sacred pools (262). She boldly tackles even the apparently distasteful tale of 'The Juniper Tree', which 'acknowledges terrible evil but ends in hope' and which 'haunts' her (145). Of course, one's own responses may not always match hers; for example, she has never met anyone who likes the tale of 'Bluebeard' (198), whereas I enjoyed it as a child—largely, as I recall, for Sister Anne's recurrent rhyming reply, 'Je voie l'herbe qui verdoit et la route qui poudroit' (I see green grass growing, and on the road dust blowing). We are all subjective readers, and I am grateful to Katherine Langrish for showing how fruitful this can be. Her writing throughout is elegant, vivid, and frequently witty; there is much pleasure, as well as much information, to be obtained from Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.


The paper deals with experimental determination of the wind-driven wave spectrum by using the remote method of high-resolution coherent radar sensing of the water surface. The method is applied to the conditions of the fetch-limited wind wave growth, which is typical for enclosed waters and the sea nearshore, where the dominant wavelength is of the order of ten meters. The experiments were performed using a coherent X-band panoramic digital radar operating with the horizontal polarization for transmission and reception. The paper considers an algorithm used to form velocity images of the water surface from the data of coherent radar sensing on the basis of the phase angle difference method. The paper shows the possibility to recover wind wave spectra from the data on the Doppler shift of microwave radio waves. A theoretical justification and an experimental verification of the method are provided. Appearance of the third harmonic of the wind waves recovered from the radar sensing data of the spatio-temporal spectra of Doppler velocities is demonstrated for the first time. The functions that relate to the wave elevation spectra and the Doppler velocity spectra are determined. It is shown that the linear free-surface wave approximation is valid for the reconstruction of wave spectra. The temporal and spatial omnidirectional wave spectra obtained in the experiment are described well by the power model functions using the exponent factor of − 4 and − 5 / 2, respectively. The presented results may be used for studies of interaction between the harmonics of wind waves with the bottom topography, wave-current interaction, diagnostic of non-homogeneous currents, and other hydrophysical processes.


Abstract A 3-yr-old male panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) presented with bilateral raised crusted skin lesions along the lateral body wall that were found to be carcinoma in situ and squamous cell carcinoma. Similar lesions later developed on the caudal body wall and tail. A subcutaneous implantable carboplatin bead was placed in the first squamous cell carcinoma lesion identified. Additional new lesions sampled were also found to be squamous cell carcinomas, and viral polymerase chain reaction was negative for papillomaviruses and herpesviruses. Significant skin loss would have resulted from excision of all the lesions, so treatment with only carboplatin beads was used. No adverse effects were observed. Lesions not excised that were treated with beads decreased in size. This is the first description of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and treatment with carboplatin implantable beads in a panther chameleon.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Breast cancer is the world's most common malignancy. Despite significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, the associated mortality rate is still high. Tumor initiating cells known as cancer stem cells with unique abilities are suspected responsible for therapy failure and poor prognosis. Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) is a cancer stem cell marker which promotes aggressive features in breast cancer cells. So, the aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate LGR5 as a therapeutic target for breast cancer.

METHODS
This systematic review and meta-analysis were performed using databases of Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. We searched these databases with LGR5 and Breast Cancer and related keywords based on mesh database until Oct12, 2021. All studies that reported the rate of LGR5 high expression with Immunohistochemistry in breast cancer patients were included in this review. We used the STATA and random effect model for data analysis.

RESULTS
Finally, 7 studies including 2632 breast cancer samples were studied. The pooled prevalence of LGR5 high expression in breast cancer was 36 % (CI95%: 26-47.5%, I2= 95.5) and in triple negative was 48.6% (CI95%: 38.4-58.7%, I2= 0.0).

CONCLUSION
Our findings show that the rate of LGR5 high expression in breast cancer in general and especially in triple negative was considerable and it seems that this is a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer.


The mean time for a diffusing ligand to activate a target protein located on the surface of a microdomain can regulate cellular signaling. When the ligand switches between various states induced by chemical interactions or conformational changes, while target activation occurs in only one state, this activation time is affected. We investigate this dynamics using new equations for the sojourn times spent in each state. For two states, we obtain exact solutions in dimension one, and asymptotic ones confirmed by Brownian simulations in dimension 3. We find that the activation time is quite sensitive to changes of the switching rates, which can be used to modulate signaling. Interestingly, our analysis reveals that activation can be fast although the ligand spends most of the time "hidden" in the nonactivating state. Finally, we obtain a new formula for the narrow escape time in the presence of switching.


In this thesis, we present a study of optical communication systems that make use of multilevel modulations and exploits coherent detection with digital signal processing (DSP) and optical time division multiplexing (OTDM).
The Matlab modeling of an optical communication system if shown and the different elements of a DSP unit are analyzed. In particular we studied the Chromatic Dispersion (CD) compensation with Time Domain Equalizer (TDE), the Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) and polarization rotation
compensation with adaptive equalizer, the digital phase estimation with Feed Forward (FF) algorithms and the frequency offset compensation.
Next, we present the OTD demultiplexing for optical systems that utilize coherent receivers. A set of numerical simulation has been done for the study of the performance of the model implemented. At last we show the results obtained during a laboratory experiment. A back-to-back transmission of a 4-Channels OTDM QPSK system at 160 Gb/s with coherent
detection and digital signal processing has been successfully performed and the results are presented and commented


On the basis of a survey conducted between November 1979 and March 1980, new evidence is presented on changes in fertility levels, patterns, and differentials in Papua New Guinea. A single-stage systematic sample designed was used to select respondents in both rural and urban areas. 3986 females in the childbearing age group of 15-49 years and 2297 males ranging in age between 20 and 54 years were interviewed. 1066 males and 1857 females lived in rural areas and 1231 males and 2129 females resided in urban areas. Information was collected on the following: births occurring in the 12 months prior to the survey; the number of children ever born of all female respondents; a complete pregnancy history of all female respondents; and the age structure of the female respondents. The results of the estimated fertility measures for the rural and urban areas of Papua New Guinea are high by world standards: adjusted estimates of total fertility rates of between 6-7, gross reproduction rates of 2.99 and 2.76, and net reproduction rates of 2.25 and 2.08 for the urban and rural areas. Fertility was higher for rural respondents in all age groups except in the 30-34 and the 45-49 age groups where the rates were slightly higher for urban respondents. These differences in the fertility rates were substantial, particularly among respondents under 25 years old. The rural total fertility rate was 8.5% higher than the urban rate; the differences in the gross reproduction rate and the net reproduction rate were 8.3% and 8.2%, respectively. In the rural sample, respondents with primary education had a slightly lower fertility than those with no education, but the respondents with secondary and tertiary education showed marked differences than those with primary education, especially in the 20-39 year age groups. The differences among the youngest (15-19) year age group and the older (40-44) and (45-49) age groups were not large. The pattern for the urban sample was similar to the rural pattern, except the differences for respondents 40-44 and 45-49 were relatively larger than for rural respondents in the same age group. In general, education serves to facilitate the acceptance of new ideas and practices. Papua New Guinea's high fertility may be interpreted in terms of social and cultural factors which favor high fertility, namely marriage is the norm and women marry young. There is some evidence of possible decline in fertility levels as indicated by the more refined measures, i.e., total fertility rate and gross and net reproduction rates.


The development of small-molecule lipid-bilayer anion transporters for potential future use in channel replacement therapy for the treatment of diseases caused by dysregulation of anion transport (such as cystic fibrosis), and in treating cancer by perturbing chemical gradients within cells, thus triggering apoptosis, is an area of intense current interest. This Minireview looks at recent developments in the design of small-molecule transmembrane anion transporters and focuses on the progress so far in employing these compounds in biological systems.


In precision oncology, genomic evidence is used to determine the optimal treatment for each patient. However, identification of somatic mutations from genome sequencing data is often technically difficult and functional significance of somatic mutations is inconclusive in many cases. In this paper, to seek for an alternative approach, we tackle the problem of predicting functional mutations from transcriptome sequencing data. Focusing on SF3B1, a key splicing factor gene, we develop SF3B1ness score for classifying functional mutation status using a combination of Naive Bayes classifier and zero-inflated beta-binomial modeling (R package is available at (https://github.com/friend1WS/SF3B1ness). Using 8,992 TCGA exome and RNA sequencing data for evaluation, we show that the classifier based on SF3B1ness score is able to (1) attain very high precision (>93%) and sensitivity (>95%), (2) rescue several somatic mutations not identified by exome sequence analysis especially due to low variant allele frequencies, and (3) successfully measure functional importance for somatic mutation whose significance has been unknown. Furthermore, to demonstrate that the SF3B1ness score is highly robust and can be extensible to the cohorts outside training data, we performed a functional SF3B1 mutation screening on 51,577 additional transcriptome sequencing data. We have detected 135 samples with putative SF3B1 functional mutations including those that are rarely registered in the somatic mutation database (e.g., G664C, L747W, and R775G). Moreover, we could identify two cases with SF3B1 mutations from normal tissues, implying that SF3B1ness score can be used for detecting clonal hematopoiesis.


To evaluate the effectiveness of applying different levels of gypsum, the recovery of salinesodic soils and its influence on the chemical characteristics of soils fixed with plaster, an experiment was conducted in soil columns, installed in the soil mechanics laboratory Federal Rural University of Pernambuco. The treatments were arranged in a randomized block design with a factorial arrangement of 2 x 5 (two solos x five levels of need for plaste), with five replications. The levels were equivalent to 50, 100 , 150, 200 and 250 % of plaster need determined by the modified method of Schoonover (Schoonover M -1), incorporated into the first 12.5 cm of the soil column . Were evaluated exchangeable sodium, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), Electrical Conductivity (EC), soluble cations and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) in the saturation extract. The application level of 100 % of the need to plaster, obtained by the method of Schoonover M- 1, followed by leaching depth was effective for the correction of soil sodicity (PST < 15 %). The blade leaching corresponding to three times the pore volume of the soil salinity corrected when the levels of 50 and 100% of plaster need were used (EC <4.0 dS m-1).


Over the last quarter century there has been a series of major shifts in policies for the organisation and ownership of social rented housing in Britain. The non-market housing sector is moving towards a more plural, decentralised and potentially contestable set of arrangements. Many of the reforms have echoes in recent changes to the housing systems of transition economies. This paper aims to set the reforms in context, explain their key economic and financial aspects and assess the likely implications of the alternative organisational models proposed. Much of the policy has been developed without recourse to systematic evidence about different systems costs and benefits. Economic analysis of non-market housing systems has focussed on questions of the legitimacy of sector existence, cost contrasts with other tenures and subsidy distribution rather than the optimal economic organisation issues that arise given the actual existence of a social housing system. The paper applies ideas drawn from the economics of industrial organisation and neo-institutional economics to the emerging models of social housing, not least to develop a series of evaluative criteria with which to analyse new policies.


4-Hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) is a cytotoxic α,β-unsaturated acyl aldehyde that is naturally produced from lipid peroxidation and cleavage in response to oxidative stress and aging. Such reactive lipids covalently modify cellular target proteins, thereby affecting biological structure and function. Herein we report the identification of the epithelial fatty acid-binding protein (E-FABP) as a molecular target for 4-HNE modification both in vitro and in vivo. 4-HNE covalently modified (t 1 2 < 60 s) E-FABPin vitro, as revealed by a combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and immunochemical reactivity using antibodies directed to 4-HNE-protein conjugates. Identification of Cys-120 as the major site of modification was determined through tandem mass spectral sequencing of tryptic peptides, as well as analysis of E-FABP mutants C120A, C127A, and C120A/C127A. The in vitro modification of Cys-120 by 4-HNE was relatively insensitive to pH (6.4–8.4), and temperature (4–37 °C) but was markedly potentiated by noncovalently bound fatty acids. 4-HNE-modified E-FABP was more stable than unmodified E-FABP to chemical denaturation by guanidine hydrochloride, as assessed by changes in intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Analysis of soluble protein extracts from rat retina with antibodies directed to 4-HNE-protein conjugates revealed immunoreactivity with a 15-kDa protein that was identified by electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry as E-FABP. Evaluation of retinal pigment epithelial cell extracts derived from E-FABP null mice by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis using anti-4-HNE antibodies revealed increased modification in the null cells relative to those from wild type cells. These results indicate that E-FABP is a molecular target for 4-HNE modification and the hypothesis that E-FABP functions as an antioxidant protein by scavenging reactive lipids through covalent modification of Cys-120.


Context. We analyze spectropolarimetric data taken with the Hinode spacecraft in quiet solar regions at the disk center. Distorted redshifted Stokes V profiles are found that show a characteristic evolution that always follows the same sequence of phases. Aims. We aim to characterize the statistical properties of these events and recover the stratification of the relevant physical quantities to understand the nature of the mechanism behind them. Methods. We studied the statistical properties of these events using spectropolarimetric data from Hinode/SP. We also examined the upper photosphere and the low chromosphere using Mg i b2 and Ca ii h data from Hinode. Finally, we applied the SIRGAUSS inversion code to the polarimetric data to infer the atmospheric stratification of the physical parameters. We also obtained these physical parameters taking into account dynamical terms in the equation of motion. Results. The Stokes V profiles display a bump that evolves in four different time steps, and the total process lasts 108 seconds. The Stokes I shows a strongly bent red wing and the continuum signal exhibits a bright point inside an intergranular lane. This bright point is correlated with a strong redshift in the Mg i b2 line and a bright feature in Ca ii h images. The model obtained from the inversion of the Stokes profiles is hotter than the average quiet-Sun model, with a vertical magnetic field configuration and field strengths in the range of kG values. It also presents a line of sight velocity stratification with a Gaussian perturbation, the center of which is moving to deeper layers with time. The Gaussian perturbation is also found in the gas pressure and density stratification obtained taking into account dynamical terms in the equation of motion. Conclusions. We have examined a particular type of event that can be described as a plasmoid of hot plasma that is moving downward from the top of the photosphere, placed over intergranular lanes and always related to strong magnetic field concentrations. We argue that the origin of this plasmoid might be magnetic reconnection that is taking place in the chromosphere.


In limited trials against experimentally induced Fasciola hepatica infections, diamfenetide (N,N'-[oxybis(2,1-ethanediyloxy-4,1-phenylene)]bisacetamide) showed potential value for the prevention of acute fascioliasis in sheep and cattle. When given at a dosage of 10 mg/kg of body weight, diamfenetide was 87% effective in preventing establishment of F hepatica infections in sheep that were given the drug daily for 14 days, and was 96% effective in sheep that were given the drug for 21 days. Infective cysts (4 doses of 150 each) were given by capsule at 2-day intervals during the first week of medication. In additional trials, initial single large doses (40 to 100 mg/kg of body weight) given in conjunction with small doses each day (5 to 40 mg/kg), did not augment chemoprophylactic action. Signs of toxicosis attributable to diamfenetide were not observed. The severity of hepatic lesions ascribable to F hepatica correlated well with the degree of fluke control achieved. Small doses of diamfenetide given each day were less effective in calves than in sheep. Nevertheless, when given at dosages of 30 mg/kg daily for 11 days, the drug was 89% effective in preventing the development of F hepatica infections in two calves which were given infective cysts (4 X 100) by capsule at 2-day intervals during the first week of medication. Small doses of diamfenetide given daily were effective in preventing the establishment of F hepatica infections in ruminants.


Objective Recently, the lipid profile of atherogenic dyslipidemia has become important in cerebrovascular diseases. Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), an index that reflects this lipid profile as a single number, has been proposed, but there are still few related studies in cerebrovascular disease. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between AIP and cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) in health check-up participants. Methods We assessed consecutive health check-ups participants between 2006 and 2013. cSVD was measured including the following three subtypes: white matter hyperintensity (WMH), lacuens, and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). WMH quantitatively measured the volume, and lacunes and CMBs qualitatively evaluated the presence. AIP was calculated according to the following formula based on blood test results: AIP=log [triglyceride (mg/dL)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL)]. Results A total of 3,170 participants were evaluated (mean age: 56.5 years, male sex: 53.8%). In multivariable linear regression analysis, AIP (β=0.129, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.003–0.255) was associated with WMH. Age, hypertension, diabetes, lipid-lowering agents, and intracranial atherosclerosis were also associated with WMH volume. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, AIP (adjusted odds ratio=1.72 1.79, 95% CI=1.03–2.90) showed close association with lacunes. Age and intracranial atherosclerosis were also related to lacunes. CMBs did not show a statistically significant association with AIP. Conclusion High AIP was associated with cSVD in health check-up participants. Since this close relationship was only seen in WMH and lacunes, these subtypes may have arisen from a more atherosclerosis-related pathology.


Currently one of the most exciting problems in cosmology is the nature of dark energy,which is responsible for the late time accelerated expansion of the universe. Darkenergy modifies the distance-redshift relation, and governs the late time evolution ofgravitational potentials in the universe. Therefore by observing large scale structurewe can gain valuable information on the nature of dark energy. In this thesis we examinea particular theory of dark energy, known as elastic dark energy. Using weaklensing and the ISW effect, coupled with CMB and SNIa data, we find lower boundsfor the sound speed of elastic dark energy. We also explore how this model behaves inthe presence of collapsing matter.


AIM
This paper is a report of a study conducted to examine issues associated with the impact of age on the retention of female primary and community care nurses in the National Health Service in England.

BACKGROUND
Little is known about why older nurses in the primary and community care workforce leave and what might encourage them to stay.

METHODS
A cross-sectional survey using a semi-structured postal questionnaire was carried out during 2005. Responses were received from 485 (61%) district nurses, health visitors, school nurses and practice nurses in five primary care trusts in England. Data were analysed to test for associations.

RESULTS
Older nurses were more likely than younger ones to report that their role had lived up to expectations (P = 0.001). Issues important for older nurses were feeling valued and being consulted when change was implemented. Important factors encouraging nurses to stay were pension considerations, reduced working hours near retirement, and reduced workload. For those with degree-level qualifications, enhanced pay was a factor encouraging retention (P = 0.044). Nurses might leave in response to high administrative workloads, problems in combining work and family commitments (P < or = 0.001), and lack of workplace support (P = 0.029). Retirement and pensions advice was not widely available.

CONCLUSION
Since two-thirds of nurses were generally happy in their role, it is important that the conditions necessary to maintain this level of satisfaction are continued throughout a nurse's working life. Nurses may all too easily consider leaving prematurely unless policy makers and managers ensure that their working environment reflects the issues nurses consider to be conducive to retention.


Recent trends in embedded systems can be categorized by high application sophistication, shorter product life cycles and low cost requirements. As system complexity increases, rapid application development platforms and user interface builders became an important factor to reduce design cost and time-to-market. The tools proposed in this paper enable the rapid development of applications and the respective user interfaces, with automatic VHDL code generation for FPGAs, without requiring the need to write a single line of code. With high processing power, capability to generate graphical images and interface with pointing devices, reconfigurable hardware platforms provide a very competitive solution for embedded systems.


This paper introduces a novel framework for end-to-end learned video coding. Image compression is generalized through conditional coding to exploit information from reference frames, allowing to process intra and inter frames with the same coder. The system is trained through the minimization of a rate-distortion cost, with no pre-training or proxy loss. Its flexibility is assessed under three coding configurations (All Intra, Low-delay P and Random Access), where it is shown to achieve performance competitive with the state-of-the-art video codec HEVC.


This study was conducted to seek association between placental redox (antioxidant/oxidant) parameters and essential metals status (zinc, copper, iron) with birth weight. Placental tissue of pregnant women was collected and levels of zinc, copper and iron were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass spectrometry. The level of glutathione (GSH) along with the metals was found to markedly decrease in study group, while MDA concentration was significantly higher as compared to control group. Glutathione was found to be positively associated with the levels of zinc and birth weight inspite of negative correlation being established between birth weight and MDA. Placental iron level was indicated to be constructive association with birth weight and was unlikely related with level of MDA. Our findings from the study group supports that damaged antioxidant defence mechanism status is well linked with elevated level of MDA and decreased concentrations of essential metals rendering lower birth weight in neonates.


There is a closely relationship between vitamin K and osteoporosis. As a cofactor for carboxylase activity, vitamin K can facilitate the conversion of glutamyl to gamma-carboxyglutamyl residues and influence the synthesis and excretion of gamma-carboxylation of osteocalcin to increase the formation of bone. Vitamin K can also effectively inhibit the absorption of bone mass. Besides, there are increasing evidences that vitamin K can effect the synthesis and excretion of nephrocalcin and interlukin-1,6 that can regulate calcium balance and bone metabolism. Meanwhile, there is a consistent line of evidence in human epidemiologic and intervention studies that clearly demonstrate that vitamin K can not only increase bone mineral density in osteoporotic people, but also reduce fracture rates to improve bony health. However more researches are required before vitamin K is widely applied in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The American Medical Association recently has increased the dietary reference intakes of vitamin K to 90 mg/d for females and 120 mg/d for males.


Main results 10 studies (531 women) of 14 published trials testing the efficacy of progesterone met the selection criteria. 1 study used both suppositories and oral preparations and was treated as 2 studies in the meta-analysis. The pooled results for 8 studies on suppositories and 3 studies on oral drugs showed a small benefit for progesterone in the reduction of symptoms (table). When results were analysed according to route of administration, a small benefit in favour of placebo over suppositories and in favour of oral micronised progesterone over placebo were seen (table). 3 studies (4 comparisons) of 15 published trials comparing progestogens with placebo met the selection criteria. The progestogens were medroxyprogesterone, 15 mg (1 study); norethisterone, 15 mg (1 study); and dydrogesterone, 20 mg (2 studies). The pooled results showed a marginal benefit for progestogens over placebo in the reduction of symptoms (table). The difference in withdrawals resulting from side effects was not statistically significant for progesterone or progestogens (table).


Indonesian WiFi @wifi.id is the most popular WiFi-based internet service in Indonesia which combines the advantages of mobility owned by cellular network and reliable quality of cable network. However, the rate of user adoptions in using this service is still low. Therefore, it is important to know the factors that influence user's intention and behavior of @wifi.id internet service. This research will determine the factors of user's preferences using @wifi.id services and the factors of intention influence and use behavior in using @wifi.id services based on UTAUT 2 Model. This research uses 420 respondents of @wifi.id internet service users in Telkom University. Using questionnaire as the main data collection tool consisting of user preference questions and 28 items of statements covering nine construct variables. Traditional conjoint analysis with regression is used to test user preference and the measurement uses Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with LISREL 8.80 and AMOS 22 for moderating variables measurement. The results of this research suggest that frequency of usage is an important factor in @wifi.id user's preferences. UTAUT2 factors which contribute to the Behavioral Intention are Habit, Price Value, Facilitating Condition, Effort Expectancy, and Performance Expectancy. Those factors contribute as much as 61%, while, factors which contribute to the Use Behavior are Behavioral Intention and Habit as much as 53%. It is proven that Age moderates the impact of Social Influence and Price Value on Behavioral Intention, while Gender moderates the impacts of Social Influence and Hedonic Motivation on Behavioral Intention along with Habit on Use Behavior. Experience is proven to moderate the influences of Facilitating Condition and Hedonic Motivation on Behavioral Intention along with Habit on Use Behavior.


The euro was expected to become a substitute for the U.S. dollar as an international currency. However, compromises made during its creation make it a less than perfect substitute in the medium term. Among these compromises was the application of macro convergence and micro diversity in financial markets and supervision at the national level. This now prevents the creation of a unified capital market and places EU banks at a disadvantage when competing with U.S. banks in global markets. There were also peculiarities in the integration process that led to a single currency in the United States that suggest further institutional changes will be necessary.


We show that any finite affinely independent set can be isometrically embedded into a regular polygonal torus, that is, the finite product of the vertex sets of some regular polygons. We apply this result in the context of Euclidean Ramsey Theory, highlighting the connection between the two most significant results in this field which were previously thought to be independent. In particular with a straightforward application of Kříž's theorem we give an alternative proof of the fact that all finite affinely independent sets are Ramsey, a result which was originally proved by Frankl and Rödl.


MOTIVATION
The approaches usually used for building large genetic maps consist of dividing the marker set into linkage groups and provide local orders that can be tested by multi-point linkage analysis. To deal with the limitations of these approaches, a strategy taking the marker set into account globally is defined.

RESULTS
The paper presents a new approach called 'Bi-Dimensional Scaling Map (BDS-Map) for inferring marker orders and distances in genetic maps based on the use of an additional dimension orthogonal to the map into which markers are projected. Dynamical forces based on a two-point analysis are applied to tend to optimize the marker locations in space. The efficiency of the approach is exemplified on real data (16 and 70 markers on chromosomes 6 and 2, respectively) and simulated data (50 maps of 70 markers).


Occupational skin diseases are very common. Its clinical manifestation varies from erythema in a limited area (e.g. hand eczema in hair dressers) to anaphylaxy shock induced by insect bites. In 2007, the on line registration system for occupational skin diseases named "Occupational Skin Disease NAVI" [http://www.research12.jp/hifunavi/] was launched by Department of Dermatology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health to systematically gather clinical information of each case with occupational skin disease. Registered users can search similar clinical cases from this database by setting a keyword. Moreover, they can gather chemical information of more than 1,300 compounds and references on occupational skin diseases.


The present world aims in designing low power devices due to the rampant usage of portable battery powered gadgets. The proposed static random access memory (SRAM) design furnishes an approach towards curtailing the hold power dissipation. The design uses a tail transistor which aids in limiting the short circuit power dissipation by disrupting the direct connection between supply voltage and ground. This tail transistor also brings down the subthreshold current by providing stacking effect, which subsequently reduces hold power dissipation. A supply voltage of 0.8V is used which makes it eligible for low power applications. The designed SRAM cell has single ended write and read operations and is simulated using Cadence 45nm CMOS technology. Statistical and corner analysis is also performed for the proposed design for its robustness. The proposed SRAM cell has a hold power dissipation of 4.74154pW which is much less as compared to the standard 6T SRAM cell. Keywords— hold power dissipation, SRAM, stacking effect, subthreshold current.


A particularly difficult aspect of glass structures is the joining together of structural members. The various tasks of a joint usually can not be fulfilled by glass alone. Therefore, steel intermediate components are often applied, but since these are opaque, they form an obstacle towards the development of completely transparent structures. Transparent polymers may provide an alternative. There are literally hundreds of transparent polymers available on the market. Their individual material properties vary significantly, but they share an even bigger dissimilarity with the properties of steels. This study therefore continues on previous research to identify suitable transparent polymers. Information has been collected from material data sheets. Furthermore, a number of tensile tests on material specimens as well as specimens with steel bolt inserts, has been performed. Consecutively, a common structural glass joints was analyzed by determining the typical loads acting on it. A rough design for a polymer joint component has been developed and calculated using linear FE modeling. It was shown that in a typical case, transparent polymer intermediate joint components do not have to be unreasonably wieldy to avoid excessive creep and limit deformations and stresses. Impact modified PMMA, PC and PET-G all have their specific advantages and should be considered when searching for transparent polymers for such applications.


This study addresses the problem of flexible technology acquisition in multi-product market when demands are uncertain. We confine the concept of flexibility to the ability of manufacturing system to produce a number of different types of products, called product-mix flexibility type. And an analytical model in which economies of scope is incorporated explicitly as a feature of flexible technology is presented to find the optimal investment decision to acquire flexible technology and optimal production planning. The characteristics of optimal investment strategy related to capacity and production planning are discussed.


The basic importance of heredity in the aetiology of disease hardly needs to be stressed today. All our characteristics, whether physiological or pathological, and all aspects of our existence are determined by the interaction of genetical and environmental factors. In some cases either the genetical or the environmental factor may appear to be exclusively involved. For example, mongolism (Down's syndrome) is invariably associated with an abnormality of the chromosomes, and in phenylketonuria a gene is abnormal, leading to a gross impairment of the activity of a vital enzyme. In both cases pathological changes of the genetical complement or genotype have taken place. Nevertheless, the pathway between the genotype and its ultimate effects on the individual-the phenotype or overt manifestation of Down's syndrome or phenylketonuria-is a long one, and therefore subject to some extent to modifying influences, both genetical and environmental. On the other hand, it might be thought that involvement in


The case of a 38-year old Caucasian man with acute irreversible idiopathic bilateral paralysis of the diaphragm is presented. The relevant diagnostic procedures are discussed. Paralysis of diaphragm during fluoroscopy in the supine position, observation of paradoxical movement of the anterior abdominal wall and upright position during sleep are the major characteristics of this condition. Elevation of both hemidiaphragms on thoracic X-ray during maximal inspiration, lack of phrenic nerve conduction, gradually increasing dyspnoea without ongoing infection or simultaneous vaccination and decreased functional status may further confirm the diagnosis.


A 43-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for fever, general fatigue and left flank abdominal pain during the last two weeks. A blood test showed severe inflammation, and computed tomography (CT) study of the abdomen with intravenous contrast revealed swelling and irregular enhancement in the upper left kidney. Initially, we diagnosed it as xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis and treated it with antibiotics. A percutaneous renal biopsy was performed because the white blood cell count remained elevated after the treatment. Histopathologic examination revealed a carcinoma. Therefore, we performed left nephroureterectomy. The diagnosis was high grade urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis, and it stained positive by immunohistochemical staining using anti-granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The serum G-CSF level was also elevated on the same day. The patient received chemotherapy but, died 9 months after surgery. A G-CSF-producing urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis is known to have a poor prognosis in the Japanese literature. It is important to closely monitor a G-CSF producing tumor, when a patient shows severe inflammation, but no infection.


The session discusses the rationale which led to the development of KBTAC (Knowledge-Based Technology Applications Center) of the Electric Power Research Institute; the advantages that KBTAC brings to its user base; KBTAC data and knowledge base applications; and how these can be generalized to other applications. The initial focus of the Center will be on nuclear power plants. The approach of KBTAC is to provide several kinds of technical support so that utilities themselves can develop expert systems to address important problems in power plant operations, maintenance, and administration. KBTAC will help utilities select expert systems applications consistent with their internal resources. KBTAC will not only provide support for specific applications problems, but it also will provide technology transfer programs and consolidate sources of information to help utility engineers improve their general capabilities for applying expert systems technology.<<ETX>>


The turn to in-the-wild within HCI has given rise to an increasing concern around designing technologies which are available at large scale. Uniquely, at the intersection of public health and HCI, our work has supported the deployment of a mobile application, FeedFinder, over the last three years. We delineate the ground-work that was required to sustain this mobile application over the long-term. Focussing in particular on efforts made to engage institutions in taking ownership over FeedFinder and the data it provides, we reflect on the tensions that arose between users and civic institutions, particularly around "what matters". We provide a reflection on key requirements when designing a health data service and provide three lessons learnt which can guide researchers toward their own successful and productive long-term research deployments.


There exists a common perception that chlorophyll a concentrations in tidal coastal waters are unsuitable to be captured by remote sensing techniques because of high water turbidity. In this study, we use band index measurements to separate active chlorophyll pigments from other constituents in the water. Published single- and multiband spectral indices are used to establish a relationship between algal chlorophyll concentration and reflectance data. We find an index which is suitable to map chlorophyll gradients in the impoundments, ditches, and associated waterways of the Hackensack Meadowlands (NJ, USA). The resulting images clearly depict the spatial distribution of plant pigments and their relationship with the biological conditions of the waters in the estuary. Since these biological conditions are often determined by land usage, the methods in this paper provide a simple tool to address water quality management issues in fragmented urban estuaries.


Background Autoantibodies against double stranded (ds) DNA and nucleosomes represent a hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).1 However, the mechanisms involved in breaking the immunological tolerance against these poorly immunogenic nuclear components are not fully understood. Recent data indicate that toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognising endogenous ligands may be critically involved in the breaking of peripheral tolerance against nuclear autoantigens.2 Results of this recent studies in non-autoimmune mice provide evidence of a important role of TLR2 in the anti-dsDNA and antihistone IgG autoantibody induction by high mobility group box protein 1-nucleosome complexes derived from apoptotic cells.3 Objective Using the pristane-induced mouse model of SLE, the authors further investigated the requirement of TLR2 signalling for induction of lupus-specific autoantibody production and SLE like disease. Methods Female C57BL/6 wild-type (WT), TLR2-deficient mice were injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of 500 μl of the hydrocarbon oil pristane. The numbers of plasma cells were determined by flow cytometry. The concentrations of autoantibodies in sera were measured by ELISA. Autoantibody-secreting cells in the kidneys were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay. Renal disease was assessed by semiquantitative measurement of proteinuria in spot urine and quantified over 24 h after collection in metabolic cages as well as by histological analyses. Results TLR2−/− mice generated reduced numbers of splenic CD138/cytoplasmic κ/λ-L chain+/CD25 plasma cells in response to pristane treatment. Anti-dsDNA, antihistone, antinucleosome and some antinuclear antibody IgG responses were delayed and significantly reduced in pristane-treated-TLR2−/− mice compared to pristane-treated WT controls. There were markedly lower numbers of total IgG-secreting and anti-dsDNA specific IgG-secreting cells in the kidneys of pristane-treated-TLR2−/− mice in comparison to C57BL/6 mice. Importantly, pristane-treated TLR2-deficient mice developed significantly milder renal disease compared to the WT control group. Conclusion TLR2 is specifically required for the lupus-specific autoantibody production as well as for development of renal disease in pristane-induced murine lupus model. Specific blocking of TLR2 signalling may therefore be a promising novel strategy for treatment of SLE.


The relationship between teaching and argumentation is becoming a crucial issue in the field of education and, in particular, science education. Teaching has been analyzed as a dialogue aimed at persuading the interlocutors, introducing a conceptual change that needs to be grounded on the audience's background knowledge. This paper addresses this issue from a perspective of argumentation studies. Our claim is that argumentation schemes, namely abstract patterns of argument, can be an instrument for reconstructing the tacit premises in students' argumentative reasoning and retrieving the background beliefs that are the basis of their arguments. On this perspective, the process of premise reconstruction is followed by a heuristic reasoning process aimed at discovering the students' previous intuitions that can explain the premises and concepts that are left unexpressed in their arguments. The theoretical insights advanced in this paper are illustrated through selected examples taken from activities concerning predictive claims on scientific issues.


In 1999 the government of Bangladesh forcefully evicted sex workers from a large cluster of brothels just outside Dhaka. Members of the sex worker organisation, Ulka, immediately sought support from Naripokkho, a country-wide women's NGO. The Naripokkho office was transformed into an impromptu shelter with over 40 women sleeping there, and a few more staying with staff in their homes. This led to a new set of relationships and alliances between the sex workers and staff. Naripokkho and other Bangladeshi women's organisations supported a campaign for the rights of the sex workers and their struggles to defend themselves against the illegal evictions. This article explores the lessons learnt by these organisations through their involvement. It suggests that these struggles gave a new and more public meaning to discussions on sexuality and sexual rights that had already been taking place within the women's movement.


The self-assembly of diblock copolymers series (DBC) of polyacrylamide and methoxypoly(ethylen oxide) (MOPEO-b-PAAm) with a variable length of both the blocks were studied in water and water-ethanol solutions. The tendency of DBCs to micellization in water-ethanol mixture grew with increased molecular weights of the blocks. The addition of NaCl resulted in increase of micellar stability, while the introduction of dimethylformamide (DMF) destructed DBC micelles. In DBC bulk structure, MOPEO blocks either lost or considerably reduced their ability of crystallization due to interaction with PAAm blocks. DBC micelles encapsulated anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) that led to lowering the crytical micellization concentration.


A mixture of ammonium-EDTA, nickel and copper nitrates is suitable as a matrix modifier for the removal of sulfate interference in the determination of bismuth by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. A mixture of ammonium-EDTA and nickel nitrate is suitable as the modifier for a thallium determination. In the presence of sodium sulfate, the tolerable ashing temperatures for bismuth and thallium were decreased. Although an organic compound, such as EDTA, enhances the interference from sulfate, by the addition of nickel and copper nitrates this interference can be removed. Since analyte and other cations are masked by EDTA, the coexisting sulfates are converted to ammonium salt, which is readily decomposed and eliminated from the furnace during the ashing step. In the presence of these matrix modifiers, the tolerable concentrations of coexisting sodium sulfate for bismuth and thallium were ca. 1000-times greater than those in the absence of the modifier.


The South Galactic Cap u-band Sky Survey (SCUSS) is a deep u-band imaging survey in the south Galactic cap using the 2.3 m Bok telescope. The survey observations were completed at the end of 2013, covering an area of about 5000 square degrees. We release the data in the region with an area of about 4000 deg2 that is mostly covered by the Sloan digital sky survey. The data products contain calibrated single-epoch images, stacked images, photometric catalogs, and a catalog of star proper motions derived by Peng et al. The median seeing and magnitude limit (5σ) are about 2.″0 and 23.2 mag, respectively. There are about 8 million objects having measurements of absolute proper motions. All the data and related documentations can be accessed through the SCUSS data release website http://batc.bao.ac.cn/Uband/data.html.


In the era of globalization, educators should give more attention on the innovations of information delivery methods to students. This article discusses the development process of a web-based teaching courseware, WebQuest, for the Form Four ICT subject. The article also discusses the evaluation of the interface and the content of the WebQuest. The development methodology includes the phases of analysis, design, development, inplementation and
evaluation. For the evaluation phase, a set of survey form is used to evaluate the interface and the teaching and learning structure of the content. The samples are twenty one students from two schools who are taking ICT subject. The outcome of the research reveals that the overall presentation of the WebQuest entitled Computer System: System Concept is relevent and successful in attracting the students' interest towards the topic.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the dosimetric differences between biological and physical functions of equivalent uniform dose (EUD) and dose volume (DV) therapy in patients with phase III non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODS
Four different radiotherapy plans (DV+DV, DV-EUD+DV, EUD+EUD and EUD-DV+EUD) were developed for 15 patients with stage III NSCLC. To study physical function (DV+DV) the target area was optimized by introducing the conditions of biological function optimization, while the organs at risk were optimized by means of physical function (DV-EUD+DV). Biological function optimization (EUD+EUD) was performed for the target area by applying conditions of physical function optimization while biological function optimization (EUD-DV+DV) was conducted for the organs at risk to compare dosimetric parameters among the four groups of treatment plans.

RESULTS
PTV: D2%, D98%, D50%, V105% and Dmax of both the DV-EUD+DV group and EDU-DV+EUD group were the minimum (P<0.05). The minimum and average dose of the EUD+EUD group showed an increasing trend and high-dose area became observable. For homogeneity index (HI), DV-EUD+DV group and EUD-DV+EUD results were compared with the other groups (P<0.05), no significant difference was observed statistically between the DV-EUD+DV group and EUD DV+EUD (P=0.659). With regard to conformability index (CI), the results of the four groups showed no significant difference (P>0.05). For the organs at risk, the mean dose of lung tissue (MLD), V5, V10, V20, V30, heart V30, V40, and Dmean also revealed no significant difference (P>0.05). For the spinal cord, the D1 % of the EUD+EUD group and EUD-DV+EUD groups were significantly different (P<0.05) than the other groups. While no significant difference (P=0.32) was found between the EUD+EUD and EUD-DV+EUD groups. When comparing the number of machine unions (MU) no significant difference was revealed (P>0.05) among the results of the 4 groups.

CONCLUSION
The methods featuring optimization of physical and biological functions are effective in improving the uniformity of target area to have better outcome of the treatment. Biological function optimization or the combination of biological and physical function optimization is conducive to significantly reduce the required dose for the spinal cord.


Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase was investigated crystallographically in the reduced form. Co-ordinate errors were estimated by comparing two independently refined models, based on two different data sets. This gave a detailed error estimation as opposed to the standard sigma A and Luzzati plots, which estimate only the overall error. The high quality of the final model, obtained after scaling together the two data sets, combined with the error estimates allowed a detailed analysis of the protein and solvent structures. An automatic procedure for building and refining solvent structure was tested and found to give reproducible results. Contrary to results obtained from spectroscopic studies, the co-ordination of the metal ions in the catalytic site is preserved in the crystal structure of the reduced enzyme, as compared with the crystal structure of the oxidised form. Analysis of the solvent reveals a well-defined chain of closely packed, hydrogen-bonded water molecules filling the active site groove. This structural feature could serve as a hydrogen bond relay for efficient delivery of protons to the active centre. Analysis of electron density suggests that Glu119 is covalently modified. The modification, if originated in vivo, could have a role in the catalytic mechanism and could affect the overall electrostatic field in the active site. There are significant differences between the active sites of the two crystallographically independent monomers. They are explained in terms of local differences in the crystal environment.


At AFRICON 2002, the authors presented papers covering the business strategy of a New Entrant Operator (NEO) seeking to provide telecommunication services in South African. Two years on, the Department of Communications announced that the two short-listed bidders would each be awarded a 13% stake in the NEO. The authors here re-model the business plan for the NEO. This work forecasts the financial viability of the NEO. The basic infrastructure for such a second operator exists already in the networks owned by two other parastatals: the electricity generator and distributor and the transport parastatal, who will each be 15% stakeholders in the NEO. We examine the finances of the incumbent operator (IO) and use them to predict market share of the NEO over the next five years. We argue that the NEO will be dead on arrival if the IO deeply entrenches its position in the dominant areas listed. Since the NEO will be carrying bureaucratic baggage from its legacy, it will be prudent for the NEO to focus on green-field technology offerings and new service provision.


The authors developed a hybrid vascular graft consisting of three components: a polyurethane (PU) graft (internal diameter = 3 mm; length: 5 cm) with a compliance similar to that of natural arteries; an artificial basement membrane composed of a complex gel of Type I collagen and dermatan sulfate; and an autogenous endothelial cell (EC) monolayer constructed before implantation. As a continuation of their previous study that focused on antithrombogenicity for as long as 1 month after implantation, the authors evaluated the antihyperplastic characteristics of their hybrid vascular graft for longer implantation periods. The hybrid grafts were implanted bilaterally into carotid arteries of dogs without anticoagulant or anti-platelet agents. The implantation period ranged from 6 to 26 weeks. The overall patency rate observed in this study was 70%. Histologic evaluation of grafts revealed that luminal surfaces of the arteries and grafts joined uniformly and smoothly. The mean initimal thickness of grafts was approximately 80 microns at 12 weeks; there was no statistically significant difference in the thickness between portions of the graft. Little additional increase was observed at 26 weeks. The intimal thickness of adjacent arteries was small. Thus, anastomotic hyperplasia was considered minimized. These encouraging results were explained in terms of synergistic activities of the compliant PU graft and durable EC monolayer as follows. The PU graft, which was fabricated to have the same compliance as that of natural arteries, minimized the compliance mismatch at the anastomoses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Parental care provides substantial benefits to offspring but exacts a high cost to parents, necessitating the evolution of offspring recognition systems when the risk of misdirected care is high. In species that nest, parents can use cues associated with the offspring (direct offspring recognition) or the nest (indirect offspring recognition) to reduce the risk of misdirected care. Pythons have complex parental care, but a low risk of misdirected care. Thus, we hypothesized that female Children's pythons (Antaresia childreni) use indirect cues to induce and maintain brooding behavior. To test this, we used a series of five clutch manipulations to test the importance of various external brooding cues. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that female A. childreni are heavily internally motivated to brood, needing only minimal external cues to induce and maintain egg-brooding behavior. Females were no more likely to brood their own clutch in the original nest as they were to brood a clutch from a conspecific, a pseudoclutch made from only the shells of a conspecific, or their clutch in a novel nest. The only scenario where brooding was reduced, but even then not eliminated, was when the natural clutch was replaced with similarly sized stones. These results suggest that egg recognition in pythons is similar to that of solitary-nesting birds, which have similar nesting dynamics.


Real livestock prices and farm-wholesale marketing margins have steadily declined over the past 20 years. Studies examining the causes of these declines have generally failed to account directly for technological change in livestock production and red meat slaughtering. We estimate reduced-form models for beef and pork farm-wholesale marketing margins and cattle and hog prices that include specific measures of technological change. Empirical results indicate cost savings generated by improved meat packing technologies have reduced real margins and positively influenced real cattle and hog prices. However, technological change embodied in cattle production weights has led to substantial declines in real slaughter cattle prices. Nonetheless, the net effect of improved meat packing technology has been to increase cattle price by $1.75/cwt and reduce the farm-wholesale beef marketing margin by 22.8 cents/lb.


There has been no report regarding therapy of extracorporeal life support (ECLS) that showed stunned myocardium echocardiographically and electrocardiographically in patients with acute myocardial infarction. ECLS was performed in eight patients with cardiogenic shock or arrest unresponsive to catecholamines and intra‐aortic balloon pumping following myocardial infarction; these patients required prolonged external cardiac massage. After the initiation of ECLS, both blood pressure and metabolic acidosis improved in all patients. Four of eight patients were weaned from ECLS after a mean of 69.3 h, which was far longer than previously reported in patients with ischemic heart disease. Three of these patients survived, and cardiac function recovered to NYHA class II in two of the survivors and class III in the other. The other five patients did not recover from coma during ECLS and died. A marked improvement of ventricular wall motion was seen in two survivors with the disappearance of pathologic Q waves after the initiation of ECLS. No occlusion of the coronary arteries or bypass grafts was observed in any of the survivors. These findings suggested the existence of stunned myocardium with myocardial reperfusion. The recovery of stunned myocardium may be delayed for days or even weeks, hence the extended period of ECLS therapy was theoretically justifiable. We conclude that long‐term ECLS is a useful therapeutic method for patients with severe cardiogenic shock that is related to stunned myocardium.


Aims: Methods for prediction of the peak of the influenza from early observations are suggested. These predictions can be used for planning purposes. Methods: In this study, new robust methods are described and applied on weekly Swedish data on influenza-like illness (ILI) and weekly laboratory diagnoses of influenza (LDI). Both simple and advanced rules for how to predict the time and height of the peak of LDI are suggested. The predictions are made using covariates calculated from data in early LDI reports. The simple rules are based on the observed LDI values while the advanced ones are based on smoothing by unimodal regression. The suggested predictors were evaluated by cross-validation and by application to the observed seasons. Results: The relation between ILI and LDI was investigated and it was found that the ILI variable is not a good proxy for the LDI variable. The advanced prediction rule regarding the time of the peak of LDI had a median error of 0.9 weeks, and the advanced prediction rule for the height of the peak had a median deviation of 28%. Conclusions: The statistical methods for predictions have practical usefulness.


A description is given of the original rocketsonde thermistor mount, consisting of a 10-mil bead suspended between two metal posts. The difficulties encountered with this mount and the subsequent development of the superior "thin-film" mount are also described. The uncertainties associated with the use of the latter mount are outlined along with their effect on data acceptance. A different approach to the original problem is described, which employs longer leads for dissipation of heat conducted to the bead. The uncertainty associated with the long lead is shown to be minimal. Preliminary results of a series of 10 rocket flights are presented. These results tend to confirm the advantages of the long lead mount.


Aim. Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths. The prognostic factors may affect decision of the treatment. In this retrospective study, we aimed to determine prognostic factors for non-metastatic gastric cancer in patients who were followed-up in our centre. Method. The data were obtained from patients' file and the hospital records. The demographic parameters and pathological findings of the patients were recorded at the database. In addition to the laboratory tests of all patients, tumor,and patient-related prognostic factors were also evaluated. Result. Data of 120 patients with gastric cancer at followed-up in our department between 2009 and 2011 were analyzed in this study. The mean age of the patients was 60±11, and 92 (77%) were male. Seventy-eight percent of gastric cancer (n=93) were localized in the distal. The most common occurred stage was stage 3 (71%). Of patients, lymphovascular invasion was 62% and 44% had poorly differentiated tumor. The most common performance status was ECOG "0" (64%). The median tumor size was 5 cm (1-15 cm). The number of median excised lymph node was 20 (2-54) and the median involved lymph node was 5 (0-44). Eighty percent of patients were lymph node positive. The median follow-up period was 22 months. The 3-year survival rates were decreasing according to stage. CEA elevation, stage, node involvement, performance status, extralymphatic extension, and anemia were prognostic factor for survival. CEA and the stage of disease were independently prognostic factors for survival. Conclusion. Stage and higher CEA independently affect survival in non-metastatic gastric cancer.


Objective. Few studies have examined the relationship between gout and erectile dysfunction (ED). We investigated whether patients with gout exhibited an increased risk of ED. Methods. This longitudinal nationwide cohort study investigated the incidence and risk of ED in 19,368 men with gout who were newly diagnosed between January 2002 and December 2008. A total of 77,472 controls without gout were randomly selected from the general population and frequency-matched according to age and sex. The patients were followed up from the date on which they were included in the study cohort to the date of an ED event, censoring, or December 31, 2010. We conducted the Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the effects of gout on ED risk including age and comorbidities. Results. The gout cohort exhibited a 1.21-fold adjusted HR of subsequent ED development compared with the non-gout cohort (95% CI 1.03–1.44). The incidence of ED increased with age in both cohorts and was higher among the patients in the gout cohort than among those in the non-gout cohort. Compared to the patients without gout and comorbidities, the patients with both gout and any type of comorbidity exhibited a 2.04-fold risk of developing ED (95% CI 1.63–2.57). Further, the patients with gout who had numerous comorbidities exhibited the dose-response effect in developing ED. Conclusion. This nationwide cohort study revealed that ED risk is significantly higher in patients with gout than in the general population.


It is important to improve teachers' pedagogic competence continuously. This study aims to investigate the impact of the workshop about the implementation of the Read-Answer-Discuss-Explain-And Create (RADEC) learning model on elementary school teachers' pedagogical competence to implement the RADEC learning model. This descriptive research involved 16 teachers from 8 elementary schools in Tasikmalaya City. All participants received workshop materials including 21st century skills, RADEC learning model, and practices to prepare, conduct and evaluate RADEC learning model implementation. The research instruments were questionnaire and observation sheets. Research data were processed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that after participating in the workshop many teachers can plan (86.1%), implement (83.3%) and evaluate (58.3%) RADEC learning model. The results of this study also show that most of the teachers (97.2%) are interested in implementing the learning model in their schools because the model is easy to understand and its implementation can help students to gain attitudes, knowledge, and various 21st century skills (critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, communication and creative thinking). The results of this study indicate that the workshop about implementation of Read-Answer-Discuss-Explain-And Create (RADEC) learning model can improve elementary school teachers' pedagogic competence. Keywords—Pedagogic competence, workshop, RADEC learning model, teacher, elementary school


Ergot is an important disease of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in parts of Africa and Asia. Studies were conducted to determine the relationship between flowering biology and ergot infection, and to develop an artificial field-screening technique to identify ergot resistance in sorghum. Spikelets resisted infection after anthesis, but each day's delay in anthesis after inoculation supported 8-3% more ergot. The screening technique consisted of three components: trimming of panicles to remove pollinated spikelets before inoculation, a single inoculation of trimmed panicles, and panicle bagging for 7-10 days. Inoculated panicles were evaluated by a qualitative visual rating method (on a 1-5 scale) and a quantitative spikelet counting method. Selected accessions from the world collection of sorghum germplasm were screened at Karama Research Station, Rwanda, for two seasons and 12 ergot-resistant lines were identified. These were also resistant at ICRISAT Centre, India.


The term fibro-osseous lesion encompasses a spectrum of disorders ranging from inflammatory to neoplastic that microscopically exhibit a connective tissue matrix containing formless trabeculae of compact bone. Characteristically, they are located over healthy bone, from which they are abruptly differentiated. The majority of the lesions arise from the maxillofacial region; the occurrence of a lesion in the external auditory canal (EAC) being extremely rare as is in our case. The lesions present with a range of symptoms ranging from conductive hearing loss, Eustachian tube obstruction to bone erosion that develop due to the mass effect. We report a case of a 35-year-old male patient who presented with insidious onset left aural fullness, decreased hearing followed by intermittent mucopurulent discharge from the ear, who was eventually diagnosed with a benign fibro-osseous lesion of the external auditory canal.


Oesophageal dysphagia is a common symptom, which might be related to severe oesophageal diseases such as carcinomas. Therefore, an organic process must be ruled out in the first instance by endoscopy in all patients presenting with dysphagia symptoms. The most prevalent obstructive aetiologies are oesophageal cancer, peptic strictures and eosinophilic oesophagitis. Eosinophilic oesophagitis is one of the most common causes of dysphagia in adults and children, thus justifying the need to obtain oesophageal biopsy samples from all patients presenting with unexplained dysphagia. With the advent of standardized high‑ resolution manometry and specific metrics to characterize oesophageal motility, the Chicago classification has become a gold‑standard algorithm for manometric diagnosis of oesophageal motor disorders. In addition, sophisticated investigations and analysis methods that combine pressure and impedance measurement are currently in development. In the future, these techniques might be able to detect subtle pressure abnormalities during bolus transport, which could further explain pathophysiology and symptoms. The degree to which novel approaches will help distinguish dysphagia caused by motor abnormalities from functional dysphagia still needs to be determined.


Interatomic potentials laid at the heart of molecular physics. They are a bridge between the spectroscopic and structural properties of molecular systems. In this paper, a century-old review from 1920 to 2020, of functional forms used to analytically represent potential energy as a function of interatomic distance for diatomic systems is presented. With such a purpose fifty functions were selected. For all of them, motivation and the main mathematical features are discussed. Our goal is to provide a chronological pathway to the reader, even with little knowledge on the subject, to understand how to calculate each parameter that composes the interatomic potentials, as well as obtain spectroscopic constants from them. Comparative evaluation for the N2, CO, and HeH+ systems in their ground electronic states are also presented.


BACKGROUND:Measurement of the partial pressure of volatile anesthetics in blood is usually done using a "headspace equilibration" method with gas chromatography. However, it is not often performed in clinical studies because of the technical, equipment, and logistic requirements. To improve the accessibility of this measurement, we tested the use of a common infrared clinical gas analyzer, the Datex-Ohmeda Capnomac, for this purpose. METHODS:After characterization of the linearity of the device in measuring the volatile anesthetic concentration in the presence of nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, blood was tonometered with known concentrations of sevoflurane (actual value between 0.5% and 5.0%) in oxygen and oxygen/nitrous oxide mixtures, as well as mixtures of isoflurane and desflurane in oxygen. RESULTS:Mean bias (standard deviation) overall for sevoflurane in oxygen relative to the tonometered reference partial pressure was −4.5 (4.8%) of the actual concentration. This was not altered significantly by measurement in 40% oxygen/60% nitrous oxide. For isoflurane and desflurane it was −3.9 (3.3%) and −4.6 (3.8%), respectively, of the actual concentration. CONCLUSIONS:The accuracy and precision of measurement of volatile anesthetic gas partial pressures in blood by a double headspace equilibration technique, using a clinical infrared gas analyzer, were comparable to that achieved by previous studies using gas chromatography.


: This reply concerns the nature and change in the forms in which cultural capital operates in the process of distinction. It suggests that legitimate culture is not as central as Bourdieu described in France and that this has ramifications for theoretical understandings of social conflict over taste. It reviews some outstanding topics for research and presents some additional findings from the Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion project. social differentiation, Food: an institutional and comparative analysis


A total of 52 species of medicinal plants capable of synthesizing phenolic compounds were subjected to mass-scale screening for 24 chemical elements. The screening was performed by atomic absorption spectrometry in combination with spectrophotometric detection. The plant species tested were found to accumulate groups of two to ten chemical elements (Fe, Cr, Cu, Co, Mn, etc.), which are known cofactors and activators of many enzymes of phenol metabolism. Some of the plant species tested are overconcentrators of Cr, Co, Mn, I, and other chemical elements. The possibility of the use of these plants in the treatment and prophylaxis of disorders of the microelement metabolism is discussed.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent mediator of angiogenesis and vascular permeability, in which c-Src tyrosine kinase plays an essential role. However, the mechanisms by which VEGF stimulates c-Src activation have remained unclear. Here, we demonstrate that vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) plays a critical role in regulating c-Src activation in response to VEGF. In vascular endothelial cells, VE-cadherin was basally associated with c-Src and Csk (C-terminal Src kinase), a negative regulator of Src activation. VEGF stimulated Csk release from VE-cadherin by recruiting the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 to VE-cadherin signaling complex, leading to an increase in c-Src activation. Silencing VE-cadherin with small interference RNA significantly reduced VEGF-stimulated c-Src activation. Disrupting the association of VE-cadherin and Csk through the reconstitution of Csk binding-defective mutant of VE-cadherin also diminished Src activation. Moreover, inhibiting SHP2 by small interference RNA and adenovirus-mediated expression of a catalytically inactive mutant of SHP2 attenuated c-Src activation by blocking the disassociation of Csk from VE-cadherin. Furthermore, VE-cadherin and SHP2 differentially regulates VEGF downstream signaling. The inhibition of c-Src, VE-cadherin, and SHP2 diminished VEGF-mediated activation of Akt and endothelial nitric-oxide synthase. In contrast, inhibiting VE-cadherin and SHP2 enhanced ERK1/2 activation in response to VEGF. These findings reveal a novel role for VE-cadherin in modulating c-Src activation in VEGF signaling, thus providing new insights into the importance of VE-cadherin in VEGF signaling and vascular function.


Recently, energy-saving technology is rapidly becoming a crucial issue for mankind due to the depletion of natural resources. From this perspective, every automobile manufactures are trying to develop light materials and to validate safety with environmental consideration. In this study, we developed clutch connector tube which is the parts of power transferring clutch with light materials to substitude for existing general steel materials. We also verified that the general steel materials can be replaced with nylon, fiberglass, stainless and plastic materials or not. As a result, we verified that the mixture of glass and nylon composite material can substitude the general steel.


This paper presents the dependence of fracture toughness, fracture strength, and fracture behavior, such as crack propagation, on the crystal orientation of single-crystal silicon. We conducted on-chip tensile testing to measure fracture strength and fracture toughness of single-crystal silicon films with [100] and [110] surface in the <100> and <110> loading direction. The loading direction had a significant effect on fracture toughness, which was 2.17 MPa/spl radic/m in the <100> direction and 1.27 MPa/spl radic/m in <110>. However, the fracture stress varies with both loading direction and surface orientation. We observed a fracture specimen on which a [111] cleavage plane eventually appeared on any crystal types of the specimen.


A trustworthy record is one that is both an accurate statement of facts and a genuine manifestation of those facts. Record trustworthiness thus has two qualitative dimensions: reliability and authenticity. Reliability means that the record is capable of standing for the facts to which it attests, while authenticity means that the record is what it claims to be. The trustworthiness of records as evidence is of particular interest to legal and historical practitioners who need to ensure that records are trustworthy so that justice may be realized or the past understood. Traditionally, the disciplines of law and history have relied on the guarantee of trustworthiness inherent in the circumstances surrounding the creation and maintenance of records. For records created by bureaucracies, that trustworthiness has been ensured and protected through the mechanisms of authority and delegation, and through procedural controls exercised over record-writers and record-keepers. As bureaucracies rely increasingly on new information and communication technologies to create and maintain their records, the question that presents itself is whether these traditional mechanisms and controls are adequate to the task of verifying the degree of reliability and authenticity of electronic records, whose most salient feature is the ease with which they can be invisibly altered and manipulated. This study explores the evolution of means of assessing the trustworthiness of records as evidence from antiquity to the digital age, and from the perspectives of law and history; and examines recent efforts undertaken by researchers in the field of archival science to develop methods for ensuring the trustworthiness of electronic records specifically, based on a contemporary adaptation of diplomatics. Diplomatics emerged in the seventeenth century as a body of concepts and principles for determining the authenticity of medieval documents. The exploration reveals the extent to which legal, historical, and diplomatic methods operate within a framework of inferences, generalizations and probabilities; the degree to which those methods are rooted in observational principles; and the continuing validity of a best evidence principle for assessing record trustworthiness. The study concludes that, while the technological means of assessing and ensuring record trustworthiness have changed fundamentally over time, the underlying principles have remained remarkably consistent.


Background Disregulation of blood pressure (BP) and lipid metabolism is the basis of metabolic syndrome (MS), but interrelation of these MS components is not well studied today. Aim To investigate influence of BP upon regulation of lipid metabolism in obese children. Patients and method 40 obese patients aged 10–16 years (13.9±0.27 y.o.) with high BP (HBP; 143.6±1.1/82.4±2.9 mm) – 1st group. 40 obese patients with normal BP (118.25±1.0/69±0.8 mm, p<0.01) – comparison group (2nd group). Examination included BP measurement and analysis of lipid profile. Results Dyslipidemia in 1st group was significantly more frequent than in 2nd group: 85% versus 67.5% (p<0.05). Comparison of lipid spectrum showed that different disorders of lipid metabolism were more frequent and more significant in 1st group in comparison with 2nd: hypertriglyceridemia – 57.5% versus 22.5% (p<0.01) and 2.36±0.15 mmol/l (mean value) versus 1.64±0.04 mmol/l (p<0.01); decreased HDL-C – 37.5% versus 10% (p<0.01) and 0.91±0.01 mmol/l versus 1.03±0.02 mmol/l (p<0.05); increased LDL-C – 45.0% versus 45.7% and 3.72±0.11 mmol/l versus 3.32±0.14 mmol/l (p=0.06); increased index of atherogenicity – 75% versus 60% (p<0.05) and 3.93±0.1 versus 3.12±0.1 (p<0.01). Conclusion Arterial hypertension in obese children was associated with more frequent and significant disorders of lipid metabolism. So, arterial hypertension in obese children should be estimated as an additional risk factor of atherogenicity.


New evidence suggests that polymorphisms in the low-affinity IgE receptor ( FCER2 ) were associated with IgE levels and with increased risk of asthma exacerbation in children taking inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).

Objectives: To evaluate the association of FCER2 variant (T2206C) with IgE levels in asthmatic children and, to determine the influence of this variant on exacerbations in patients with severe asthma taking ICS and LABAs.

Methods: Children with mild, moderate and severe asthma (n 222) were genotyped for T2206C variant by PCR-RFLP. IgE levels were measured by ELISA and aged-adjusted values were determined for each individual. The number of severe exacerbations, the time of first exacerbation, number of hospitalizations and pulmonary function over 12 months were assessed in the severe group (n 99).

Results: The C allele frequency was significantly lower than the observed in other Caucasian populations (0.17, p<0.0001)1. A significant difference of IgE levels was observed among FCER2 variants with the highest value in the CC group (12.4 times over normal values) compared with TT (9) and TC (10.3) groups (p<0.05). The number and severity of asthma exacerbations, the time to first exacerbation and hospitalizations were similar among different FCER2 variants. The analysis of FEV1 from baseline to the end of the study showed no differences among FCER2 genotypes.

Conclusions: CC genotype was significantly less frequent in Argentinean population and was associated with higher IgE levels. FCER2 variants not related to increased risk of having asthma exacerbations or lung function decline in severe asthmatic children taking ICS and LABAs regularly.

(1) Koster E. et al. Allergy 2011;66:1546–1552.


The cause of a swelling in the floor of the mouth will in most cases be benign. For example, a ranula, sialolithiasis and/or infection. Tumors of the sublingual gland are very rare, but 90% are malignant and therefore malignancy should always be excluded in case of an asymptomatic swelling covered by intact mucosa.


This study investigated a new performance indicator to assess climbing fluency (smoothness of the hip trajectory and orientation of a climber using normalized jerk coefficients) to explore effects of practice and hold design on performance. Eight experienced climbers completed four repetitions of two, 10-m high routes with similar difficulty levels, but varying in hold graspability (holds with one edge vs holds with two edges). An inertial measurement unit was attached to the hips of each climber to collect 3D acceleration and 3D orientation data to compute jerk coefficients. Results showed high correlations (r = .99, P < .05) between the normalized jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation. Results showed higher normalized jerk coefficients for the route with two graspable edges, perhaps due to more complex route finding and action regulation behaviors. This effect decreased with practice. Jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation could be a useful indicator of climbing fluency for coaches as its computation takes into account both spatial and temporal parameters (ie, changes in both climbing trajectory and time to travel this trajectory).


Emerging multimedia communication networks differ from transitional data networks in that they use very high speed transmission facilities and they carry various types of traffic with different performance requirements. So, effective communication protocols that encounter for several traffic and performance characteristics need to be developed in order to meet the required QOS (quality of service) for the various types of traffic carried. Moreover, the interactions among protocols of different communication layers have to be examined in order to ensure an efficient and high performing operation. The authors are concerned with the bandwidth allocation protocol problem. They address some recently developed approaches to the problem, and examine the two lower layers of a communication subnetwork. They consider the call and packet/cell layers where they assume that two types of traffic are carried. They propose a threshold based approach to the call admission problem in the call level and examine the need for flow control in the packet/cell level. They examine various performance measures and show that the correct choice of performance measures and the sizing of the various network parameters play a significant role in a network operation.<<ETX>>


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of Toll like receptors on the osteogenesis of human pe-riodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) and probable molecular mechanism.

METHODS
Real-time PCR and flow cytometry were applied to test the expression of TLRs in hPDLSCs and the positive cell percentage of TLR. hPDLSCs were cultured in osteogenic medium for 7 to 14 days with different TLR agonists at various concentrations . The effect of different TLR on osteogenic differentiation of hPDLSCs was evaluated by alizarin red S staining, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and ALP activity assay. Western blotting was used to analyze the phosphorylation levels of extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK), P38, AKT and expression of Runx2 an osteogenic related gene after treatment with TLR agonists, compared with the effect of inhibitors of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) or protein kinase B (PKB or AKT) on Runx2 expression of hPDLSCs cultured in osteogenic medium.

RESULTS
Higher expressions of TLR1,3,4,6 were found in hPDLSCs through real-time PCR. Positive cell percentage of TLR was determined by flow cytometry and described as TLR1: 2.82%±0.68%; TLR2: 1.26%±0.09%; TLR3: 13.23%±2.05%; TLR4: 3.64%±0.79%; TLR6: 3.21%±1.64%, whose tendency was comparable to their mRNA expression in hPDLSCs. Most TLR ligands had no effect on the ALP staining, activity and mineralization of hPDLSCs at lower concentration except for 0.1 mg/L PolyI:C could induce the osteogenic ability of hPDLSCs. On the contrary, Higher concentration of TLR ligands (PolyI:C: 10 mg/L, LPS: 10 mg/L , Pam3CSK4: 1 mg/L, FSL-1: 50 μg/L) had obviously inhibitory effect on osteogenic differentiation of hPDLSCs. Activation of TLR using higher concentration of TLR ligands could downregulate the phosphorylation levels of ERK, P38, JNK and AKT, and also reduced the expression of Runx2, compared with the untreated control. The inhibitors of MAPK (U0126, SP600125,SB203580) and inhibitor of AKT (perifosine) could also inhibit Runx2 expression.

CONCLUSION
Higher concentration of TLR ligands could inhibit osteogenic differentiation of hPDLSCs. This inhibitory effect seemed to be related to decreased phosphorylation of MAPK and AKT.


Author(s): Tong, T; Karthik, J; Martin, LW; Cahill, DG | Abstract: © 2014 American Physical Society. We describe measurements of the pyroelectric coefficient of epitaxial layers of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) and PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (PZT) using a modulated laser as the heat source in the frequency range 1 Hz to 10 MHz. The pyroelectric coefficient is also measured as a function of applied static electric field and for films grown on SrTiO3, DyScO3, and GdScO3 substrates. The heat diffusion equation is solved in cylindrical coordinates for the temperature field in a multilayer sample heated by a Gaussian-shaped laser beam. The secondary contribution to the pyroelectric effect caused by piezoelectric effects and in-plane thermal expansion is revealed by the difference between the pyroelectric coefficients at high and low frequencies. The secondary pyroelectric effect has the same dependence on applied field as the pyroelectric coefficient. The magnitude of the secondary effect changes with heating frequency because of changing mechanical conditions, but the pyroelectric coefficient has no other frequency dependence between 1 Hz and 10 MHz. The secondary effect is approximately 15% and 20% of the total pyroelectric response for PZT and BST films, respectively.


Cyperus rotundus, Caesalpinia bonducella, Tinospora cordifolia, Gardenia gummifera, Ailanthus excelsa, Acacia arabica, Embelia ribes and Ventilago maderspatana from Melghat forest were screened for their antibacterial potential against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aerogenes by disc diffusion method. Out of these medicinal plants Caesalpinia bonducella, Gardenia gummifera and Acacia arabica showed remarkable antibacterial potential. The phytochemical analysis had showed the presence of Cardiac glycosides in all extracts (aqueous, acetone, ethanol and methanol) of Acacia arabica, Gardenia gummifera and ethanol, methanol extracts of Caesalpinia bonducella. Flavonoids were present in Gardenia gummifera, Ailanthus excelsa and acetone, methanol extracts of Acacia Arabica. Tannins and phenolic were present in Cyperus rotundus, Embelia ribes, and organic extracts of Ventilago maderspatana.