Abstract A two-layer model for the recirculation is studied Initially, a narrow jet of the upper layer moves eastward with the lower layer remaining stagnant. Att = 0 cold air flows over the narrow front region, all the moving water in the upper layer sinks to the lower layer with the momentum vertically well mixed within the lower layer. Thus, cooling creates an unbalanced eastward jet in the second layer and an unbalanced pressure field at a vertical density front. After the geostrophic adjustment a high pressure center south of the front and a low pressure center north of the front are established. These pressure centers drive a much stronger barotropic eastward current slightly north of the pressure center and slow westward return flow in the far field both south and north of the front. Thus, cooling over a narrow stream can intensify an eastward jet and create recirculation gyres both north and south of the stream.


We review the occurrence of negative energies in Pais–Uhlenbeck oscillator. We point out that in the absence of interactions, negative energies are not problematic neither in the classical nor in the quantized theory. However, in the presence of interactions that couple positive and negative energy degrees of freedom, the system is unstable, unless the potential is bounded from below and above. We review some approaches in the literature that attempt to avoid the problem of negative energies in the Pais–Uhlenbeck oscillator.


A 2 inch NaI(Tl) scintillator has been incorporated into a remote real time monitor for gamma ray background. The scintillator contains a small 241Am source which provides a high energy reference pulse for maintaining system gain. Gain is maintained automatically by a variable gain linear amplifier at the central station. The detector is connected to the central station by a single coaxial line which passes both the high voltage and the signal. Gamma ray pulses are processed in a modified Wilkinson analog to digital converter to provide an output count rate proportional to exposure rate (microR/hour). The system has been shown to be stable against temperature change, to be independent of gamma ray energy in the range 0.1 to 2.0 MeV, and to be useful in the range 1.0 to 10,000 microR/hour.


Numerous components of signaling pathways involved in key cellular processes reside on the Golgi complex. Here, we will focus on the roles of signaling proteins that regulate cargo trafficking along the anterograde and retrograde pathways. Emphasis will also be put on the effects of these regulatory proteins on the maintenance of the structure and function of the Golgi, and in particular on the phosphorylation of key components of the transport machinery. These pathways position the Golgi complex as a central hub in the regulation of cell signaling. To date, however, the activation and coordination of these signaling molecules remain a mystery. Being able to describe the interplay between several of these signaling pathways and secretion, and the flow of information through these pathways, will help us to understand how the secretory machinery works and how it interacts with other cellular functions. This will also advance our understanding of how the secretory pathway functions under physiological circumstances, and how its dysregulation can initiate pathological conditions.


Although a number of calculations of the inner potential have been made in the past for various crystals, the results have not been entirely satisfactory, and in some cases widely divergent values for the same substance were published by different authors. In the present work, a number of these calculations are examined and possible sources of error discussed. It is shown that electron distribution charts and curves obtained experimentally are not suitable for the calculation of inner potential, and an exponential approximation for atomic scattering factors is given which is found to be more reliable for this purpose. A simple modification of the electron distribution curves obtained from these atomic scattering factors is described; this is applied when the atoms are bound in a crystal lattice, thus enabling the inner potential of the crystal to be calculated. The results of a number of calculations based on this method are given and compared with the experimental values, the agreement being satisfactory.


New evidence from the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) suggests that prostate cancer screening is beneficial, particularly in the core age group of 55 to 69 years.


In the IEEE 802.15.4 medium access control (MAC) protocol for wireless sensor networks, a sensor node needs to associate with a coordinator before it starts sending or receiving data. The sensor node will mostly choose the nearest coordinator to associate with. However, this method is not suitable for a constantly moving sensor node because it will end up switching coordinators too often due to short connectivity time. The IEEE 802.15.4 has a simplistic and inadequate method of choosing a coordinator in this context. In this paper, we introduce a method to increase the mobile sensor node connectivity time with its co-ordinator in IEEE 802.15.4 beacon-enabled mode. Our method is based on the timestamp of the beacons received from the nearby coordinators and filtering weak beacon signals. By choosing the coordinator which has sent the most recent received beacon with good signal quality, we increase the moving node connectivity time with the coordinator. Our technique results in significant improvement by reducing the number of times the moving node switches coordinators. This increases the throughput and reduces the wasted power in frequent associations.


With its rapid global spread, the SARS-COV-2 virus has revealed the fragility of many national public health services as well as their inadequate epidemic preparedness (1). This is the case even in countries that usually play leadership roles in global health, such as the United States or the United Kingdom (2). COVID-19 has exposed several unresolved healthcare issues. Insufficient capacity in many intensive care units soon became a pressing topic that has triggered public alarm in several western countries, particularly in Italy, one of the most gravely affected countries (3, 4). However, it should not be forgotten that this is mainly a public health crisis in relation to both the territorial and residential categories of health settings (5).


When a fabrication process is renewed, of practical importance is how to make the best use of layout resources so far accumulated for old fabrication processes. The present paper describes an automatic recycling system for layout data once used dedicatedly for functional cells of the standard-cell level. The main process of this system is i) to transform given layout data into a layout description format expressed in parameters associated with shapes, sizes, and locations of layout elements, and then ii) to resynthesize an optimal layout in accordance with a new set of design rules by means of a graph theoretic linear programming approach. A part of implementation results is also shown.


Introduction: The Comparative Obstetric Mobile Epidural Trial (COMET) published in 2001 demonstrated 25% higher incidence of operative vaginal delivery in women who received traditional bupivacaine 0.25% epidural top-ups compared with women receiving low dose local anaesthetic and opioid top-ups or infusions. At present, number of epidural drug combinations and delivery methods are available. The aim of our survey was to obtain information about current practice of epidural analgesia for labour in maternity units within our region.


Background: Deep learning, especially deep convolutional neural network (CNN), has emerged as a promising approach for many image recognition or classification tasks, demonstrating human or even superhuman performance. Used as feature extractor, some pre-trained CNN models can match or surpass the performance of domain-specific, "handcrafted" features. In this study, we aim to determine whether deep features extracted from digital mammograms using a pre-trained deep CNN are prognostic of occult invasive disease for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) on core needle biopsy. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, we collected digital mammography magnification views for 99 subjects with DCIS at biopsy, 25 of which were subsequently upstaged to invasive cancer. We utilized a deep CNN model that was pre-trained on non-medical images (e.g., animals, plants, instruments) as the feature extractor. Through a statistical pooling strategy, we extracted deep features at different levels of convolutional layers from the lesion areas, without sacrificing the original resolution or distorting the underlying topology. A multivariate classifier was then trained to predict which tumors contain occult invasive disease. This was compared to the performance of traditional "handcrafted" computer vision (CV) features previously developed specifically to assess mammographic calcifications. The generalization performance was assessed using Monte Carlo cross validation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Deep features were able to distinguish DCIS with occult invasion from pure DCIS, with an area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC) equal to 0.70 (95% CI: 0.68-0.73). This performance was comparable to the "handcrafted" CV features (AUC-ROC = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.66-0.71) that were designed with prior domain knowledge. Conclusion: In spite of being pre-trained on only non-medical images, the deep features extracted from digital mammograms demonstrated comparable performance to "handcrafted" CV features for the challenging task of predicting DCIS upstaging. Acknowledgments: This work was supported in part by NIH/NCI R01-CQA185138 and DOD Breast Cancer Research Program W81XWH-14-1-0473. Citation Format: Lo JY, Grimm LJ, Mazurowski MA, Baker JA, Marks JR, King LM, Maley CC, Hwang E-SS, Shi B. Prediction of occult invasive disease in ductal carcinoma in situ using deep learning features [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS5-04.


This paper provides a summary of the symposium on the institutional and social construction of Responsible Investment (RI), held at the 22nd IABS Conference. In the context of the symposium, we propose to move beyond the dominant focus on the financial impact of RI to consider the potential of emergent institutional and sociological perspectives to explain the practices and concepts related to RI. In doing so, our aim is to explore in greater detail the current changes in the RI infrastructure and the impact of these changes on wider issues of corporate sustainability and social responsibility.


This research explored the biodegradability of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in two laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) that operated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The potential limit of 2,4-D degradation was investigated at a hydraulic retention time of 48 h, using glucose as a supplemental substrate and increasing feed concentrations of 2,4-D; namely 100 to 700 mg/L (i.e. industrial strength) for the aerobic system and 100 to 300 mg/L for the anaerobic SBR. The results revealed that 100 mg/L of 2,4-D was completely degraded following an acclimation period of 29 d (aerobic SBR) and 70 d (anaerobic SBR). The aerobic system achieved total 2,4-D removal at feed concentrations up to 600 mg/L which appeared to be a practical limit, since a further increase to 700 mg/L impaired glucose degradation while 2,4-D biodegradation was non-existent. In all cases, glucose was consumed before the onset of 2,4-D degradation. In the anaerobic SBR, 2,4-D degradation was limited to 120 mg/L.


Traditional Indian apparels consumer market is still a niche market. The main aim of this article is to observe the influence of perceived quality, price sensitivity, perceived value, status consumption, consumer traits relating to product design (centrality of visual product aesthetics (CVPA), product knowledge (independent variables) on purchase intention of traditional Indian apparels. A structured questionnaire was circulated among respondents in Delhi NCR to collect data. Convenience sampling was employed for data collection. The psychometric properties of purchase intention for Traditional Indian apparels were examined by testing the reliability and validity of the measures. Multiple Regression tool was used to find out the relationship between independent variables on dependent variable (purchase intention). The regression results revealed that perceived quality, CVPA were found to have significant and positive effect on consumer's intention to purchase Indian traditional apparels.


A kinetic model describing the time evolution of ∼70 individual CO2(X1Σ+) vibrational levels during the afterglow of a pulsed DC glow discharge is developed in order to contribute to the understanding of vibrational energy transfer in CO2 plasmas. The results of the simulations are compared against in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy data obtained in a pulsed DC glow discharge and its afterglow at pressures of a few Torr and discharge currents of around 50 mA. The very good agreement between the model predictions and the experimental results validates the kinetic scheme considered here and the corresponding vibration–vibration and vibration–translation rate coefficients. In this sense, it establishes a reaction mechanism for the vibrational kinetics of these CO2 energy levels and offers a firm basis to understand the vibrational relaxation in CO2 plasmas. It is shown that first-order perturbation theories, namely, the Schwartz–Slawsky–Herzfeld and Sharma–Brau methods, provide a good description of CO2 vibrations under low excitation regimes.


Laboratory animals are used and the experimental research is run in various
scientific fields such as human and animal health, disease control, sustainable environmental
health, health industry and product innovation, and biosafety planning. The experimental
research includes those studies that are not yet proven to be completely safe or those not
possible to be run on humans. Rats, mice and rabbits are commonly used in these studies.
Based on the kind of the study, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, sheep, cattle, chicken,
sparrows, goats, horses, nonhuman primates, invertebrates, fish and fly species can be used.
Though labaratory animals provide significant contributions to the humans and development
in science, they require protection by humans and require to be protected from unfair use.
Ethical boards and rules are formed to accomplish those goals prohibited the use of the
laboratory animals in experimental research under unethical conditions and ruled that any
research shall use methods that require the least amount of pain and suffering. The boards
ruled not only on research methods but also on feeding and management practices to uphold
the main principles of animal welfare. It is obvious that these rulings are the already late
responsibility of human kind.


An infusion-dialysis based procedure has been developed as an approach to isolate organic nanoparticles from green tea. Tea nanoparticle (TNP) can effectively load doxorubicin (DOX) via electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. We established an ABCB1 overexpressing tumor xenograft mouse model to investigate whether TNP can effectively deliver DOX into tumors and bypass the efflux function of the ABCB1 transporter, thereby increasing the intratumoral accumulation of DOX and potentiating the anticancer activity of DOX. MTT assays suggested that DOX-TNP showed higher cytotoxicity toward CCD-18Co, SW620 and SW620/Ad300 cells, as compared to DOX. Animal study revealed that DOX-TNP resulted in a greater inhibitory effect on the growth of SW620 and SW620/Ad300 tumors than DOX alone. The cTnI levels in mice showed that TNP had no cardiotoxicity and DOX-TNP had moderate cardiotoxicity. Blood Smear tests demonstrated that TNP and DOX-TNP did not cause neutropenia or thrombocytopenia in mice. Therefore, TNP is a safe nanocarrier with excellent biocompatibility and minimal toxicity. In pharmacokinetics study, DOX-TNP greatly increased the SW620 and SW620/Ad300 intratumoral concentrations of DOX, as compared to DOX alone. But DOX-TNP had no effect on the plasma concentrations of DOX up to 240 min after administration. Furthermore, ex vivo IHC analysis of SW620 and SW620/Ad300 tumor sections revealed evidence of prominent antitumor activity of DOX-TNP. In conclusion, our findings suggested that natural nanomaterials could be useful in combating multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells and potentiating the anticancer activity of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer treatment. Citation Format: Yi-Jun Wang, Yujian Huang, Nagaraju Anreddy, Guan-Nan Zhang, Yun-Kai Zhang, Meina Xie, Derrick Lin, Dong-Hua Yang, Mingjun Zhang, Zhe-Sheng Chen. Tea nanoparticle, a safe and biocompatible nanocarrier, greatly potentiates the anticancer activity of doxorubicin. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2201.


The prescription drug component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI measures recent and past drug price changes, and provides the basis for projecting future price trends and health care expenditures. However, there are concerns about the adequacy of the price data because of recent changes in the structure of the market for prescription drugs. We compare the prescription drug data of the CPI with a large alternative data set from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. We analyze the overall consistency if the data from the two sources, and examine the influence of the large shift from brand to generic drug sales and the increased reliance on third party insurance plans that are excluded from the CPI sampling frame.


Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infects individuals of all ages and establishes a lifelong latency. Current antiviral drugs are suboptimal in efficacy and safety and ineffective against resistant/refractory HCMV. Therefore, there is an unmet clinical need for efficacious, safe, and mechanistically novel HCMV drugs. The recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of letermovir (LTV) validated the HCMV terminase complex as a new target for antiviral development. LTV targets terminase subunit pUL56 but not the main endonuclease enzymatic function housed in the C terminus of subunit pUL89 (pUL89-C). Structurally and mechanistically, pUL89-C is an RNase H-like viral endonuclease entailing two divalent metal ions at the active site. In recent years, numerous studies have extensively explored pUL89-C inhibition using metal-chelating chemotypes, an approach previously used for inhibiting HIV ribonuclease H (RNase H) and integrase strand transfer (INST). Collectively, the work summarized herein validates the use of metal-binding scaffolds for designing potent and specific pUL89-C inhibitors.


PurposeChina's controversial one-child policy has been blamed for creating an ageing population, a generation of employees without siblings and a 4-2-1 family structure that places eldercare responsibility, primarily on women. Current understanding of how this affects contemporary employees' work–life interface is lacking. This study examined the moderating roles of family structure and gender in the relationships between work–life conflict (WLC), job satisfaction and career aspiration for university academics.Design/methodology/approachOnline and self-administered surveys were used to collect data, which involved 420 academic staff in three Chinese research universities.FindingsOur results revealed that WLC is positively related to career aspiration, and this relationship is stronger for academics with siblings and, within the only-children group, significantly stronger for women than for men. WLC is also negatively related to job satisfaction, and this relationship is stronger for only-children academics.Research limitations/implicationsResults were limited by a cross-sectional sample of modest size. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the understanding of gender roles and changing family structure in the work–life interface of Chinese academics.Practical implicationsOur findings have implications for both universities seeking to improve staff well-being and for wider society. A number of support mechanisms are proposed to enhance the ability of only children, especially women, to operate as effective members of the labour market.Originality/valueOur results showed that only-children academics face a unique set of difficulties across career and family domains, which have been previously neglected in literature.


In recent years the undergraduate engineering curriculum of several areas has started to incorporate the study of harmonic distortion on electrical systems. Several education simulation tools have been developed and investigated, most of them a short time ago. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is not any literature review on this topic. In this work, we present for the first time a systematic survey on educational tools to model and simulate the effect of power harmonics on industrial electrical networks. As a result, several improvement aspects have been identified and recommendations and implications for future research have been provided. For that, a retrospective study has been accomplished, showing a growing trend toward simulation and modeling. The key teachers' perceptions to incorporate these practices are the ease of the teaching‐learning process and the importance of modeling and simulation in the industry. The main research challenge is the conduction of integral assessments that comprise both tools' quality and use experience, and their contribution to achieve learning outcomes. Statistical tests should be used to validate the academic results obtained. This is a major challenge, since only a few of the existing studies incorporate such tests. Other implications for future research refer to the involvement of a higher number of students in the evaluations and the use of free software in the development of the applications.


Introduction of a left or right synthetic border repeat together with the overdrive sequence in an octopine Ti-plasmid deletion mutant, lacking the right border, resulted in the complete restoration of the oncogenicity of the mutant strain. However introduction of a border repeat without the overdrive, only restored oncogenicity partially. The overdrive sequence turned out to be able to stimulate the synthetic border mediated T-region transfer, independent of its orientation and position relative to the border repeat. Furthermore the distance between border repeat and overdrive could be enlarged, without a loss of overdrive activity. Here we enlarged the distance between the two sequences up to 6714bp. These results were confirmed by estimating the amount of single stranded T-DNA molecules from induced agrobacteria, containing the various border constructs.


The objective of this work was to study the effect of diameter of the cotton squares in the corporal mass of adults of boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). The assay was carried out under field and laboratory conditions, in Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Six samplings obtained from a random harvesting of ten plants of each cultivar (Coodetec 405 and Fibermax 986). The number and diameter of squares were recorded for each plant. Squares with oviposition orifices were kept individually in a recipient and observed daily until adult emergence. The larger the diameter of the squares, the more corporal mass of boll weevil newly emerged adults in both cultivars.


Recombinant mumps viruses (MuVs) based on established vaccine strains represent attractive vector candidates as they have known track records for high efficacy and the viral genome does not integrate in the host cells. We developed a rescue system based on the consensus sequence of the L-Zagreb vaccine and generated seven different recombinant MuVs by (a) insertion of one or two additional transcription units (ATUs), (b) lengthening of a noncoding region to the extent that the longest noncoding region in MuV genome is created, or (c) replacement of original L-Zagreb sequences with sequences rich in CG and AT dinucleotides. All viruses were successfully rescued and faithfully matched sequences of input plasmids. In primary rescued stocks, low percentages of heterogeneous positions were found (maximum 0.12%) and substitutions were predominantly obtained in minor variants, with maximally four substitutions seen in consensus. ATUs did not accumulate more mutations than the natural MuV genes. Six substitutions characteristic for recombinant viruses generated in our system were defined, as they repetitively occurred during rescue processes. In subsequent passaging of primary rescue stocks in Vero cells, different inconsistencies within quasispecies structures were observed. In order to assure that unwanted mutations did not emerge and accumulate, sub-consensus variability should be closely monitored. As we show for Pro408Leu mutation in L gene and a stop codon in one of ATUs, positively selected variants can rise to frequencies over 85% in only few passages.


GaAs micro-electromechanical RF relays fabricated by surface micromachining techniques were characterized for their response to total ionizing dose. Microrelays with two different geometries were studied. For one geometry, changes in switch actuation voltage at moderate dose levels were observed. For an alternative geometry, no change in actuation voltage was observed. A mechanism for dielectric charge trapping and its effect on the electrostatic force is proposed.


Forecasting short-term electricity market prices has been the focus of several studies in recent years. Although various approaches have been examined, achieving sufficiently low forecasting errors has not been always possible. However, certain applications, such as demand-side management, do not require exact values for future prices but utilize specific price thresholds as the basis for making short-term scheduling decisions. In this paper, classification of future electricity market prices with respect to pre-specified price thresholds is introduced. Two alternative models based on support vector machines are proposed in a multi-class, multi-step-ahead price classification context. Numerical results are provided for classifying prices in Ontario's and Alberta's markets.


Studies conducted on a number of silicon power transistors indicate that for some devices a hot spot, once formed, will remain even though the power dissipation is reduced to a level at which operation was previously free of hot spots. The hot spot can be eliminated only by a significant reduction in power dissipation from the level at which the hot spot first appeared. The effect of the hot spot on reliable device operation is discussed.


Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is one of the most prevalent viruses, with acute and recurrent infections in humans. The current gold standard for the diagnosis of HSV is viral culture which takes 2-14 days and has low sensitivity. In contrast, DNA amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be performed within 1-2 h. We here describe a multiparameter PCR assay to simultaneously detect HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA templates, together with integrated positive and negative controls, with product detection by melting curve analysis (MCA), in an array of semi-solid polyacrylamide gel posts. Each gel post is 0.67 μL in volume, and polymerized with all the components required for PCR. Both PCR and MCA can currently be performed in one hour and 20 min. Unprocessed genital swabs collected in universal transport medium were directly added to the reagents before or after polymerization, diffusing from atop the gel posts. The gel post platform detects HSV templates in as little as 2.5 nL of raw sample. In this study, 45 genital swab specimens were tested blindly as a preliminary validation of this platform. The concordance of PCR on gel posts with conventional PCR was 91%. The primer sequestration method introduced here (wherein different primers are placed in different sets of posts) enables the simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens for the same sample, together with positive and negative controls, on a single chip. This platform accepts unprocessed samples and is readily adaptable to detection of multiple different pathogens or biomarkers for point-of-care diagnostics.


Electron-beam vapour deposition was employed to prepare Fe/Pd nano-multilayers with various thicknesses and periodicities. It was found that the magnetic moment per Fe atom in Fe/Pd multilayers was considerably enhanced when the Fe layer thickness was less than 6.5 nm, up to 3.27 mu B at an Fe layer thickness of 1.6 nm, and that there was an increasing tendency towards perpendicular magnetization as the thickness of the Fe layer decreased. The magnetic enhancement may be attributed to the formation of a non-equilibrium Fe-enriched phase with FCC structure at the Fe/Pd interfaces.


Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of a reference strain of Yersinia enterocolitica serovar O15, Ye614, was examined for its chemical structure and antigenicity. The O15 LPS was partially hydrolyzed with diluted acetic acid and fractionated on a Sephadex G-50 column. Only one peak was detected at fractions where the R-core oligosaccharide of a Y. enterocolitica rough strain was eluted. The chemical compositions of this oligosaccharide and the O15 LPS were similar to those of the R-core oligosaccharide and the rough LPS, respectively. The O15 LPS was antigenically identical to the rough LPS in immunodiffusion tests. These results indicate that the O15 LPS of Y. enterocolitica is rough LPS and that antigenic factor O15 is a rough antigen.


Evidence is adduced to support the proposal that pathological fatigue is a consequence of impaired capillary blood flow resulting in inadequate oxygen delivery, which is in accordance with physiological concepts of fatigue. Case reports are presented.


: Introduction: Tuberculosis is a major health problem in Brazil. It is estimated that only 75% of all cases are detected, and that 76% of them are cured. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to analyse the missed pulmonary tuberculosis in the general medical inpatient wards. Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Rawalpindi Medical University Rawalpindi during June 2019 to March 2020. Using a standard chart, we recorded the patient identification, place of origin, lasting of symptoms, reason for admission, previous pulmonary Tb records, HIV serum testing, location of Tb and way of diagnosing, side effects presented to the antituberculosis therapy during hospitalization, need to be transferred to the ICU or the respiratory isolation ward, hospitalization time. Results: The data was collected from 120 patients of pulmonary TB. The mean duration of symptoms upon admission was 2.9 months. Previous Tb was reported by 32 patients (23%), 37.5% of which had been discharged, 34.4% had abandoned Tb treatment, 15.6% were under treatment upon admission, and 12.5% were admitted due to multi-resistant Tb (MRTB). Serum testing for HIV was positive in 42% of the studied patients. HIV-positive patients presented a higher occurrence of extrapulmonary Tb. Conclusion: It is concluded that TB cases are being "missed" in the general medical inpatient wards in hospitals in Pakistan.


Purpose. Development of mathematical model for calculation of starting modes of asynchronous motor connected in series with capacitors. Method. Mathematical modeling of dynamic modes of asynchronous motors with lateral capacitor compensation of reactive power. Results. The calculation algorithm and results of mathematic modeling of processes during starting modes of asynchronous motor feeding from the network through capacitors connected in series are presented. It is shown that for some values of capacitance the self-excitation processes and subharmonic oscillations can appear. Scientific novelty. Mathematic modeling and research of processes in asynchronous motor under its feeding through capacitors is carried out for the first time. The calculation algorithm is based on the mathematical model of asynchronous motor with high level of adequacy, which takes into account the magnetic core saturation and the current displacement in limbs of the rotor. Practical implication. Developed mathematical model makes it possible to investigate the possibility of self-excitation modes appearing in condition of their feeding from line with lateral compensation of reactance in order to avoid the negative effects typical for them.


We study an array of coupled optical cavities in the presence of two-photon driving and dissipation. The system displays a critical behavior similar to that of a quantum Ising model at finite temperature. Using the corner-space renormalization method, we compute the steady-state properties of finite lattices of varying size, both in one and two dimensions. From a finite-size scaling of the average of the photon number parity, we highlight the emergence of a critical point in regimes of small dissipations, belonging to the quantum Ising universality class. For increasing photon loss rates, a departure from this universal behavior signals the onset of a quantum critical regime, where classical fluctuations induced by losses compete with long-range quantum correlations.


Damn' Rebel Bitches takes a totally fresh approach to the history of the Jacobite Rising by telling fascinating stories of the many women caught up in the turbulent events of 1745-46. Many historians have ignored female participation in the '45: this book aims to redress the balance. Drawn from many original documents and letters, the stories that emerge of the women - and their men - are often touching, occasionally light-hearted and always engrossing.


Objective To evaluate apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), measured in specific infratentorial brain structures in the first weeks of life, as prognostic indicator of neuromotor outcome for HIE neonates both treated and not with whole-body hypothermia (TH). Methods We retrospectively evaluated 71 MRI studies of term neonates, born between 2010 and 2013 at Boston Children's Hospital. Selected cases were classified into three groups: 1) HIE neonates who underwent TH, 2) HIE normothermics (TN), and 3) controls. The neuromotor outcome was categorised as normal, abnormal and death. The ADCmean was calculated for six infratentorial brain regions. Results 51 infants were included: 29 HIE TH treated, 11 HIE TN, and 11 controls (mean gestational age of 39.07 weeks; 62% male; 11.7% non-survivors). Mean age at first MRI was 3.6 days (range, 1–14 days). Statistically significant correlation was shown between motor outcome and the ADC mean in the vermis (p = 0.002), cerebellar left hemisphere (p = 0.035), midbrain (p = 0.028), and pons (p = 0.008). In patients treated with TH, only in the vermis did ADC mean remained significantly lower than controls (p = 0.03). There were significant correlation between infant survival and ADC mean in all ROIs except the pons and medulla. Conclusions ADC mean values during the first week of life in vermis, cerebellar left hemisphere, midbrain and pons are correlated with the motor outcome in infants with HIE. Therefore, this objective tool could be used to detect particularly severe cases of HIE for assessing prognosis at the first week of life.


Objectives: To assess the safety, immunogenicity and lot consistency of a liquid hexavalent combined vaccine (DTaP-IPV-PRP~T-HBs, HEXAVAC®) (Sanofi-Pasteur MSD, France) administered to infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age.Methods: A total of 1028 infants were vaccinated with one of 3 vaccine lots, in a randomized, double-blind fashion. Equivalence testing was used to compare post-vaccination seroprotection/seroconversion rates and geometric mean titers (GMTs) for each antigen between the three lots. Blood samples were drawn before vaccination and one month after the third dose. Local and systemic adverse events were monitored for 3 days following each injection.Results: Equivalence between lots was demonstrated for all antigens, on post-dose 3 seroprotection/seroconversion rates and GMTs. Reported rates of local and systemic adverse events tended to increase with subsequent doses. Altogether, 11.8% of the infants reported at least one adverse local event (mainly redness and induration/swelling) after the first dose and 36.1% after the third dose. Systemic adverse events (mainly irritability and fever) were reported by 39.2% of the infants after the first dose and by 57.5% after the third one.Conclusion: Three separate lots of the liquid hexavalent combined vaccine induced consistently protective antibody responses against all antigens. These results and the well established clinical tolerability of this combined vaccine make it suitable for primary immunization of infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age.


A tuneable dye laser was used to study the energy-level structure near the dissociation limit of the B Π3o,u+ state of I2. The laser was continuously scanned from 498.0 to 520.0 nm while irradiating iodine vapor. Use of a wide-band filter, selected to pass only the third Stokes line of the fluorescence over the range of the laser scan, resulted in a continuous plot of the energy-level structure from about 35 vibrational levels below the dissociation limit to beyond the dissociation limit. From the spectrum, a value for the dissociation energy of the B Π3o,u+ state was determined, corresponding to λ = 498.8 ± 0.3 nm, in agreement with recent absorption-spectroscopy experiments. The laser was then set at each of two wavelengths: 517.1 nm, well below the dissociation limit, and 501.2 nm, close to the dissociation limit; the absolute self-quenching and foreign-gas (N2) quenching cross sections for I2 were measured by use of a digital detection system. The results were Stern-Volmer plots that yielded values of σ2τ, where πσ2 is the quenching cross section and τ is the lifetime. Cross sections are reported on the basis of τ = 1.15 × 10−6 s. A surprisingly large background fluorescence, due to collisional excitation transfer, was superimposed on the line spectrum in the foreign-gas quenching data, but not for self-quenching; appropriate corrections therefore were required for the former. Values obtained for λ = 517.1 and 501.2 nm were, respectively, σself2=40±8 and 75 ± 15 A2, σN22=3.7±1.0 and 15 ± 3 A2.


Participant satisfaction and experience can impact the effectiveness of a given intervention. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore adolescents' satisfaction and gameplay experience with a videogame intervention aimed at reducing HIV-related risk. Satisfaction and gameplay experience data were collected from adolescents who played the PlayForward: Elm City Stories videogame as part of a randomized controlled trial. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using in-person interviews following six weeks of gameplay. Gender differences were evaluated. Three hundred and thirty-three participants were enrolled in the study and six-week data were available for 267 participants, of whom 133 (50%) played PlayForward (50% girls; 11–14 years; mean age 12.9). They generally reported high levels of satisfaction with their gameplay experience. Exploratory analysis of gender differences revealed girls were more likely to report that they would play the game again or would tell their friends to play the game, while boys felt more connected to their characters in the game. A videogame intervention that is both effective and well liked is essential to best affect health outcomes.


This paper describes the design of manufacturing objects done with the EXPRESS modeling language, and its implementation in a suite of Java classes. The Java suite constitutes an open manufacturing information system and a set of services, which are used to modify it. The rationale behind the objects model of the manufacturing information system is the fact that computer applications (CAD, CAM, CAPP or PAC) require static data from manufacturing objects like machine-tools, robots, ASRSs or AGVs but they use proprietary formats to store it. The proprietary formats lead to incompatibilities and interoperability problems among the applications. The proposed manufacturing objects and their implementation constitute a solution to facilitate data sharing and exchanging of flexible manufacturing resources.


This paper evaluates the accuracy of municipal budgets and their major components and explores the factors influencing tax revenue forecasting errors in municipalities with extended scope between 2002 and 2011 using the generalised method of moments. Tax forecasting errors are influenced by the economic situation and structure of tax revenue. Higher underestimation is observed in municipalities with incremental revenue forecasting. The impact of political factors is quite strong: municipalities with more fragmented municipal councils approve more optimistic tax revenue forecasts and forecasts are more optimistic in election years.


We present a new algorithm, Robust Automated Assignment of Rigid Rotors (RAARR), for assigning rotational spectra of asymmetric tops. The RAARR algorithm can automatically assign experimental spectra under a broad range of conditions, including spectra comprised of multiple mixture components, in ≲100 s. The RAARR algorithm exploits constraints placed by the conservation of energy to find sets of connected lines in an unassigned spectrum. The highly constrained structure of these sets eliminates all but a handful of plausible assignments for a given set, greatly reducing the number of potential assignments that must be evaluated. We successfully apply our algorithm to automatically assign 15 experimental spectra, including 5 previously unassigned species, without prior estimation of molecular rotational constants. In 9 of the 15 cases, the RAARR algorithm successfully assigns two or more mixture components.


Aspect oriented systems suffer from an issue named pointcut fragility problem, which occurs when a poincut unintentionally captures or misses a given join point as a consequence of apparently harmless modifications of the base elements or system structure. One promising approach to cope with this problem is the definition of pointcuts in terms of elements of an intermediary conceptual model. In this paper we investigate the benefits of defining these conceptual models at early stages of the development. Concretely, we use the AO-ADL architectural language and, in particular, its support to define: (1) semantics-based compositions, and (2) parameterized architectural templates. We also demonstrate the feasibility of our approach through a case study.


Mutations in the methyl-DNA binding domain of MECP2 cause Rett syndrome; however, distinct mutations are associated with different severity of the disease. Live-cell imaging and single-molecule tracking are sensitive methods to quantify the DNA binding affinity and diffusion dynamics of nuclear proteins. In this issue of Genes & Development, Zhou and colleagues (pp. XXX-XXX) used these imaging methods to quantitatively describe the partial loss of DNA binding resulting from a novel pathological MECP2 mutation with intermediate disease severity. These data demonstrate how single-molecule tracking can advance understanding of the molecular mechanisms connecting MECP2 mutations with Rett syndrome pathophysiology.


Electroencephalography (EEG) provides a non-invasive means to advancing our understanding of the development and function of the brain. However, the majority of the world's population residing in low and middle income countries has historically been limited from contributing to, and thereby benefiting from, such neurophysiological research, due to lack of scalable validated methods of EEG data collection. In this study, we establish a standard operating protocol to collect approximately 3 min each of eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state EEG data using a low-cost portable EEG device in rural households through formative work in the community. We then evaluate the acceptability of these EEG assessments to young children and feasibility of administering them through non-specialist workers. Finally, we describe properties of the EEG recordings obtained using this novel approach to EEG data collection. The formative phase was conducted with 9 families which informed protocols for consenting, child engagement strategies and data collection. The protocol was then implemented on 1265 families. 977 children (Mean age = 38.8 months, SD = 0.9) and 1199 adults (Mean age = 27.0 years, SD = 4) provided resting-state data for this study. 259 children refused to wear the EEG cap or removed it, and 58 children refused the eyes-closed recording session. Hardware or software issues were experienced during 30 and 25 recordings in eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions respectively. Disturbances during the recording sessions were rare and included participants moving their heads, touching the EEG headset with their hands, opening their eyes within the eyes-closed recording session, and presence of loud sounds in the testing environment. Similar to findings in laboratory-based studies from high-income settings, the percentage of recordings which showed an alpha peak was higher in eyes-closed than eyes-open condition, with the peak occurring most frequently in electrodes at O1 and O2 positions, and the mean frequency of the alpha peak was found to be lower in children (8.43 Hz, SD = 1.73) as compared to adults (10.71 Hz, SD = 3.96). We observed a deterioration in the EEG signal with prolonged device usage. This study demonstrates the acceptability, feasibility and utility of conducting EEG research at scale in a rural low-resource community, while highlighting its potential limitations, and offers the impetus needed to further refine the methods and devices and validate such scalable methods to overcome existing research inequity.


Myc oncogenes are contributing to the development of cancer, and many of the genes to become active. Studies on the expression of these genes have led to the development of new therapies for the treatment of cancer patients. This situation was quickly discovered that A pioneer or biomarker Myc expression triggers the differentiation and proliferation of cells as mitogenindependent, especially. Myc activation was a consequence of mutations in the coding sequence. Mutations in the coding sequence were observed in 4 of the 50 leukemia specimens. Four mutations which is named SNP (rs3134614, rs1800834, rs61731506, rs74067837), in exon 2 mutations. DNA sequencing reveals that A, G, C, and T formed in exon 2 of the L-myc gene. Any change has been determined at exon 1. A point mutation or single point mutations called SNP contains an incorrect base pairing. In addition to, seeing if the point mutations of L-Myc have acute leukemias, or acute leukemia patients with the existence point mutations of L-Myc gene we analyzed by the gene sequence assay and Polymerase Chain Reaction-based Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) assay. In the study, the mutation observed in patients with leukemia has proven to be the most common type of L-Myc mutations, consistent with the literature. There is significant difference in the genotype distribution between leukemia patients and controls was observed. Our results suggested that L-Myc gene polymorphism was a suitable prognostic marker in the identification of metastatic growth chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) in Turk populations.


The organic-inorganic nanohybrids are emerging as one of the most attractive sensing materials in the area of gas sensors and usually exhibit some advanced properties because of synergetic/complementary effects between organic molecules and inorganic components. This work demonstrates a novel class of organic-inorganic nanohybrids, Cu2+-doped SnO2 nanograin/poly pyrrole nanospheres, for the sensitive room-temperature H2S gas sensing. Doping Cu2+ in SnO2 nanograins remarkably enhances the surface potential barrier by tailoring surface defects. After polymerizing pyrrole surrounded nanograins in aqueous media to form the organic-inorganic nanohybrids, the resulting nanoheterojunctions further improve the sensitivity. Additionally, the nanohybrids-based sensor provides high surface area and abounding reaction sites to accelerate gas diffusion and adsorption as well as the electron transfer. Compare with pristine SnO2 nanograins alone, the sensitivity of using the nanohybrids increases 7 times for the detection of 50-ppm of H2S. The response and recovery rate can increase 27 and 22 times at room temperature, respectively. Significantly, this work provides an attractive material for the real-time monitoring of H2S, whereas the insights into organic-inorganic composite interactions within the sensing mechanism may pave the way for designing functional materials with tailored properties.


ABSTRACT Unethical behaviour has become an increasingly controversial issue in Higher Education institutes. There have been debates about the reasons for the increase in unethical behaviour. But many of those debates contain problems. A key problem has been the lack of empirical results about faculty members' perceptions of their role in the phenomenon, how cultural contexts influence the perception of university teachers about their role in the academic integrity field and whether conflicts exist between what they believe their role should be and the types of roles they actually play. The aim of the study is to explore this aspect using a qualitative research design to facilitate comprehensive access to faculty members' beliefs and practices. The findings suggest that professors believe the teaching role extends beyond encouraging the learning of the subject matter being studied and includes offering education and information to students about the importance of avoiding academic misconduct such as cheating and plagiarism. Implications for university across different countries are also discussed.


This invention relates to a treating composition containing 0.3 to 30% by weight of a fluoroaliphatic radical containing poly(oxyalkylene) compound, 0.3 to 30% by weight of an anti-soiling agent and 0 to 60% by weight of an environmentally acceptable water-miscible organic solvent and water for the use for imparting excellent water- and oil repellency, stain resistance and dry soil resistance to textiles, carpets, concrete, paper, leather and wool.


-Video Conferencing requires high bandwidth, low delay, and video transmission between geographically distributed nodes (users). It is challenging as well as interesting to study high quality video conference and to deliver data through the best internetwork. Presently Google+, iChat and Skype as well as SDN based unicast & multicast video conferencing techniques are in use. In present paper, we propose performance evaluation for present and developing video conferencing techniques. Here Google+, iChat, Skype and SDN based systems are compared amongst metrics like bandwidth, latency, throughput and speed. Comparison between different video conferencing techniques is analyzed technically. It is observed that google+, iChat & Skype are used for intra and internet. We also review the new techniques such as SDN based systems.


In today's Nigerian society, crime represents a critical stakeholder. The unprecedented rise in crimes, such as, armed robbery, cultism, kidnapping, terrorism, banditry and cattle rustling has constrained the Nigerian government to introduce several crime fighting approaches. Despite government efforts, especially through State security forces, crimes have assumed a worsening dimension with increasing cases of attacks and abduction of villagers, worshippers, travellers and other settlers around Nigeria. Schools around the country are not spared, as both students and staff of different levels of educational institutions are kidnapped for ransom and sometimes killed by bandits and terrorists. Many Nigerian farmers have also been forced to abandon their farms due to incessant attacks. Not only are lives and property threatened, the Nigerian economy is also distressed by the impacts of insecurity on agriculture and the attendant hike in the prices of essential food commodities. Following the seeming inability of regular government crime fighting approaches to substantially deal with Nigeria's rising insecurity, this paper examined the application of stakeholder relations perspectives to approach the country's worsening insecurity. The qualitative paper combined Stakeholder and Relational Dialectics as theoretical cornerstone. It examined the impacts of some crime-yielding challenges, such as, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, economic inequality and pseudo-social participation on the meteoric rise in crime in Nigeria. The paper recommended the application of dialogue in managing the rising militia activities and crimes. It was also recommended that beyond equipping State security formations, Nigerian government should direct attention to the conditions that breed crimes in the country.


A 9-year-old female suddenly developed headache and nausea. Computed tomography (CT) revealed pineal mass lesion and obstructive hydrocephalus. One week after the onset, hydrocephalus spontaneously resolved. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the mass was a subacute hematoma and that hydrocephalus had improved. Sequential MRI 4 months later revealed an enhanced lesion in the pineal region. Total removal of the tumor by the occipital transtentorial approach established the histopathological diagnosis of pineoblastoma.


In this paper, we propose a new robotic system to assist visually impaired people in unknown indoor and outdoor environments. The robotic system, which is equipped with a visual sensor, laser range finders, speaker, gives visually impaired people information about the environment around them. The laser data are analyzed using the clustering technique, making it possible to detect obstacles, steps and stairs. By using the visual sensor, the system is able to distinguish between objects and humans. The PC analyses the sensors data and send information to the visually impaired people by natural language or beep signal. The usefulness of the proposed system is examined experimentally.


Abstract Little research examines how older queer (lesbian and bisexual) women understand and construct meanings around their body size in the context of individual and community norms and identities. Grounded theory was used to analyse transcripts from 31 interview participants drawn from a health programme in the San Francisco Bay Area. Older queer women of size navigate tensions between body ideals and community ideals in and through their experiences of body size. Women's embodied experiences of fatness, chronic pain and weight changes shifted in tandem with their experience of interactions with other queer women, as well as what bodies and body ideals should be in 'the lesbian community'. This study found that bodily norms and health ideologies are embedded and embodied in communities and navigated through the ongoing formation and configuration of communities over time. Body acceptance movements may be out of touch for this population based on their internalisation of the medical model in which weight loss automatically means improved health. Health interventions for older, queer women of size must be community-based to effectively shift behaviours, norms and expectations around healthy living in fat, ageing bodies.


Abstract 1. Typology as a discipline In the past century, typology was mostly used as an alternative method of pursuing one of the same goals as generative grammar: to determine the limits of possible human languages and, thereby, to contribute to a universal theory of grammar. The paradigm result was the absolute universal law that would rule out as linguistically impossible what would seem logically imaginable, e.g., a language with a gender distinction exclusively in the 1st person singular.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this report was to review the current literature on human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) with particular attention to the aspects of interest for dental health care workers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The authors searched original research and review articles on specific aspects of HHV-8 infection, including virology, epidemiology, transmission, diagnosis, natural history, therapy, and oral aspects. The relevant material was evaluated and reviewed.

RESULTS
HHV-8 is a recently discovered DNA virus that is present throughout the world but with major geographic variation. In the Western world, the virus, transmitted mainly by means of sexual contact, is strongly associated with Kaposi's sarcoma and body cavity-based lymphoma and more controversially with multiple myeloma and non-neoplastic disorders. There is no specific effective treatment, but human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitors may play an indirect role in the clearance of HHV-8 DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus. HHV-8 DNA is present in saliva, but as yet, there are no documented instances of nosocomial transmission to health care workers. The prevalence of HHV-8 among dental health care workers is probably similar to that in the general population.

CONCLUSION
HHV-8 does not appear to be ubiquitous in most populations, particularly in western Europe and the United States, where it may be restricted to a population at risk of having Kaposi's sarcoma develop (men infected with human immunodeficiency virus and patients who are iatrogenically immunosuppressed). Most serologic studies suggest a global HHV-8 seroprevalence of 2% to 10% and show that the virus may be under immunologic control in people who are healthy but infected with HHV-8. Also, HHV-8 certainly has the means to overcome cellular control and immune responses and thus predispose to malignancy. To date, there are no data to suggest that health care staff members are at particular risk of HHV-8 acquisition through occupational routes.


Cancer-related neuropathic pain is prevalent in up to 40% of patients with advanced disease. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is used to treat chronic pain when other treatments are ineffective. Radiotherapy is an established treatment modality for patients with oncological diseases. The ionizing radiation from radiotherapy can potentially damage electrical devices, including SCS devices. Additionally, all parts of SCS can potentially interfere with radiotherapy delivery. We present a case of successful administration of radiotherapy to a patient without damaging the SCS device implanted in proximity to the target lesion.


Background—Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) has been demonstrated in arteries and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). However, the validity of the methods used is questioned, and antibiotic treatment trials have thus far shown disappointing results. Nevertheless, antibodies against the Cp outer membrane proteins (OMPs) have been associated with progression of atherosclerosis and AAAs. The aim of this study was to detect Cp OMPs in the wall of AAA patients by use of purified serum antibodies directed against Cp OMP and to assess potential cross-reacting proteins in AAA walls. Methods and Results—Seventeen patients undergoing infrarenal AAA repair were studied. Full AAA thickness tissue was collected from the anterior wall of the aneurysm. Anti-OMP was extracted from seropositive AAA patients by use of an ELISA kit (Labsystems). Analysis was performed by use of 2D polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting, and mass spectrometric protein identification. OMP antigens were not detected in 16 of 17 AAA walls. However, 3 major AAA proteins cross-reacted with anti-OMP. The proteins were all identified as heavy chains of human immunoglobulin. Conclusions—We could not find evidence of Cp OMP in 16 of 17 AAA walls, but instead, all samples showed a strong cross-reaction between Cp OMP antibodies and human immunoglobulin. This might indicate that AAA is an autoimmune disease, perhaps triggered by an initial Cp infection.


Using Information Technology (IT) in preparing a Balanced Score Card (BSC) may increase the levels of environmental pollution. For the purpose of mitigating the harmful emissions resulted from using the bad techniques, it is necessary to invent a BSC dealing with the Green Information Technology (GIT) perspective. The Green Balanced Scorecard (GBSC) helps the organization to fulfill the profitable aims without harming the environment in these days or in the future. The GBSC evaluation measures the performance of the organization from four axes aiming at achieving the essential functions as well as the sustainability of the green environment. This study gives a model of GBSC which reduces the consequences against the environment. However, depending on the traditional card will increase, in turn, the polluting emissions. The study suggests that GBSC should rely on the main drivers of GIT. In addition to the optional driver (sustainability), by modifying the axes of the traditional BSC in away suits the Iraqi environment. Generally, the proposed approach GBSC in this paper services the environment - friendly organizations in fulfilling the aims of profits without harming the environment; therefore, the sustainability in the Iraqi environment is achievable.


Temporal comparisons of case survival are commonly used to assess improvement in cancer treatment at the population level. However, such comparisons may be confounded by secular trends in disease prognosis, even within conventional stage categories. The objective of the current study was to characterize within‐stage migration of tumor size in breast carcinoma, and to estimate the effect of this shift on reported breast carcinoma survival.


Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several genetic loci associated with the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC), including SMAD7 (18q21). SMAD7 regulates the Wnt signaling pathway, interacts with transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and is involved in other functions of the inflammatory process. Pre-diagnostic use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) has been shown to reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer and may affect survival following diagnosis. It is unclear what role, if any, SMAD7 may have on survival. We considered two candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of SMAD7 identified from GWAS: one where the minor allele is associated with a decreased risk of developing colorectal cancer (rs4939827) and one where the minor allele is associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (rs4464148). A population-based registry within the National Cancer Institute9s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program was used to identify incident cases of invasive colorectal cancer occurring from 1997 to 2002 in women between the ages of 50 and 74 that were residents of 13 counties in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. A total of 731 cases of colorectal cancer were genotyped, including 352 with tumors in the proximal colon and 379 with tumors in the distal colon or rectum. Through December 31, 2009, a total of 161 deaths due to colorectal cancer occurred (77 proximal and 84 distal/rectal). The median duration of follow-up was 6.4 years. Proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CRC-specific survival using a co-dominant model, and P-values for a linear trend in effect were calculated assuming a log-additive model. Each SNP was considered individually in models that adjusted for race, age at diagnosis, and stage at diagnosis. Additionally, models were stratified by tumor subsite and pre-diagnostic NSAID use. Among all cases, there was no significant association with CRC-specific survival for either polymorphism (for rs4939827 TT is the reference genotype; adjusted HR = 1.03 for TC, 95% CI: 0.71 — 1.49; adjusted HR for CC = 1.21, 95% CI: 0.78 — 1.88, with P for trend = 0.41; for rs4464148 TT is the reference genotype; adjusted HR for TC = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.64 — 1.26; adjusted HR for CC = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.69 — 1.98, with P for trend = 0.92). For those with distal/rectal tumors, we observed evidence of effect modification for rs4939827 by pre-diagnostic NSAID use (P for interaction = 0.04), with the strongest association occurring among those who ever used NSAIDs regularly (adjusted HR = 3.12, 95% CI: 1.20 — 8.11 for the CC genotype, with P for trend = 0.02, based on 43 deaths among 188 at risk). In contrast, no modification of the rs4464148 effect on CRC-specific survival by pre-diagnostic NSAID use was observed. Previous studies indicate that the risk of developing colorectal cancer may be reduced among individuals with the rs4939827 variant. Our results do not show evidence of an overall association between this variant and CRC-specific survival. In stratified analysis, however, we noted a potential association between the C allele of rs4939827 and poorer prognosis, specifically in patients that have tumors in the distal colon or rectum and have ever used NSAIDs regularly prior to diagnosis. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(12 Suppl):B71.


The authors present a detailed study of the macroscopic spreading kinetics of a non-volatile liquid, polydimethylsiloxane, on model solid surfaces of continuously adjustable spreading power, with special attention paid to the immediate vicinity of the zero spreading parameter value. They establish the existence of new spreading regimes which are, they think, the signature of non-monotonic interactions versus thickness laws.


Recently, there is a great of industrial interest on the production of biodegradable metal/ceramic composites. The casted Fe-Mn-Si alloys prepared by casting tools have low biodegradable rate; so it is important to seek a method as powder metallurgy (PM) to prepare porous bodies with increased biodegradability. Moreover, the addition of hydroxyapatite (HA) nano rods to that alloy increases its bioactivity and forms composite with improved properties. In the present study, Fe-14Mn-6Si/HA composites were prepared by PM and sintered at different temperatures, i.e. 1100, 1150 and 1200oC. Also, the effect of HA nano-rods content on the composite properties (physical properties, microstructure and micro hardness) and bioactivity were studied. The results revealed that bulk density increased with increasing sintering temperature up to 1150oC; then decreased at 1200oC. Also, the bulk density increased with increasing the HA content. Moreover, the hardness of the sintered composites increased with increasing sintering temperature and HA amount. The maximum hardness values were 1293 & 1792 MPa for the specimens which contain 8 % HA and sintered at 1150 and 1200oC, respectively. The bioactivity of the prepared composites increased with increasing HA amount. The highest bioactivity was for the composite that contains 8 wt.% HA.


Among the high-grade malignant gliomas (III-IV), grade IV glioma, or glioblastoma (GBM), is the most common and destructive form of brain cancer. Despite rigorous molecular, preclinical, and clinical research these tumors remain a challenge to treat and 70% of patients diagnosed with GBM will succumb to the disease within 2 years. New immune-based cancer treatments are currently in development, among which, anti-PD-1 is in a phase II clinical trial for recurrent glioblastoma. Tumor cells exploit PDL-1/PD1 pathway to induce T cell exhaustion and evade host antitumour immunity. PDL-1 expression on glioblastoma has been shown to correlate with a bad prognosis. There is strong demand for knowledge about the mechanisms regulating PDL-1 expression in glioblastoma. Our research group, has previously identified a relevant role for FKBP51, and its spliced isoform FKBP51s, in PDL-1 expression and melanoma resistance to the therapy. FKBP51 is an immunophilin capable of immunosuppression, originally cloned in lymphocytes. Because FKBP51 was identified as highly expressed in glioblastoma, correlating with tumor aggressiveness, we investigated whether this protein and/or its spliced isoform FKBP51s could be involved in regulation of PDL-1 expression in glioblastoma. In addition, we looked at the role of these protein-isoforms in glioblastoma resistance to chemotherapy. To this aim, we used two different glioblastoma cell lines termed D54 and U251. Our results suggest that, differently from melanoma, in which PDL-1 is inducible and associated with FKBP51 splicing, glioblastoma cell lines express high basal levels of PDL-1. Interestingly, both the canonical and the spliced FKBP51 isoforms were highly expressed in the glioblastoma cell lines. Expression of PDL-1 was regulated by FKBP51s knockin and knockout and the levels changed in accordance with FKBP51s levels. Moreover, in glioblastoma cells silenced for FKBP51s, the decrease in PDL-1 levels was associated with a significant increase in apoptosis, either spontaneous apoptosis and the one stimulated by etoposide or temozolomide. Two recently developed compounds, selective inhibitor of FKBP51, termed SAFit1 and SAFit2 were able to reduce expression of PDL-1 on glioblastoma cell lines. Particularly, SAFit 2 was found to be more effective, in accordance with the notion that it is more brain-permeable than SAFit1. SaFit 2 was also shown to increase sensitivity to etoposide of glioblastoma cell, although to a lesser extent when compared to FKBP51siRNAs. In conclusion, our preliminary results suggest that FKBP51s plays a relevant role in glioblastoma resistance and PDL-1 expression. Future studies are needed to shed light on the mechanisms underlying FKBP51s-induced PDL-1 expression and signaling pathway downstream to FKBP51s/PDL-1 that sustain glioblastoma resistance. Citation Format: Michele Russo, Paolo D'Arrigo, Felix Hausch, Anna Rea, Martina Tufano, Maria Fiammetta Romano, Simona Romano. Study of PDL-1 regulation and expression in glioblastoma and its role in cancer resistance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2216.


Manual trimming of sheepskin is intensive labor, and the working environment is full of rotten smells. The tannery is facing increasingly severe recruitment difficulties. This paper uses computer vision technology to study automatic recognition of sheepskin contours, which is the basis for the subsequent automatic trimming of sheepskin. After observing and analyzing the raw sheepskin images collected by an industrial array camera, a method of sheepskin contour extraction based on computer vision measurement technology is proposed in this paper. This method uses the fast Otsu threshold algorithm based on the pixel set to perform binary image segmentation. Combined with morphological processing for edge defect filling and topology analysis of boundary contour tracking algorithm to extract maximum contour information, it has a pixel-level three-dimensional de-noising preprocessing function and can accurately extract the sheepskin contour in the raw sheepskin image. The experimental results show that using the fast Otsu threshold algorithm proposed in this paper for binary segmentation to extract sheepskin contours, the detection rate is nearly 160% faster than the traditional Otsu algorithm, the edge protection is better, the error segmentation is reduced by nearly 3% and it has good anti-noise performance. It can meet the industrial production requirements of subsequent automatic cutting of sheepskin.


Introduction: Few studies in Iran have explored the potential impact of factors influencing the survival time of patients with HIV and AIDS. Therefore, this study was designed to estimate the time from the HIV to AIDS progression and the time from the AIDS to the AIDS-related death and non-AIDS-related death. The prognostic factors influencing this process were also investigated. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in Isfahan province, from 2000 to 2014.The outcome was three categories: alive or lost to follow up, and death due to AIDS related, non-AIDS-related. Cox proportional hazard and competing risks Cox model was employed to evaluate the effects of prognostic variables on the survival rate of progression to AIDS and from the AIDS to the AIDS-related death and non-AIDS-related death. Results: We identified 307 patients, 44 were ineligible. At the end of the study period, 197 (74.9%) patients were alive or lost to follow up, 28 (10.6%) died from AIDS-related causes, and 38 (14.4%) died from non-AIDS-related causes. Results showed there was a significant association between gender (P=0.04), increase in age (P=0.022), TB coinfection (P=0.004), and a decreased level of CD4 cell count (P=0.012) with progression to AIDS. Also there was a significant association between CD4 level (P=0.013) and antiretroviral therapy (P<0.001) and AIDS-related deaths. There was a significant association between a level of CD4 cell count (P=0.022) and TB coinfection (P=0.01) with non-AIDS-related deaths. Conclusion: A substantial proportion of the patients had progressed to AIDS in the first year because they were identified very late. This source of HIV infection had the chance to transmit the infection to others. Also patients who died from AIDS-related causes of death had poorer immunological status at recruitment.


According to the TCM theory, diabetes is characterized in the initial stage by deficiency and consumption of qi and yin fluid and excessive dryness-heat; in the middle stage by deficiency of both qi and yin, and obstruction of channels and collaterals; while in the late stage, by various complications due to consumption and loss of qi and yin, imbalance of yin and yang and stagnation of both phlegm and blood stasis, which may result in failure of the kidney and serious injury of the channels and collaterals and zang-fu organs. In recent years, there are lots of reports concerning Chinese-drug treatment of diabetes with satisfactory therapeutic results. The following is a survey of treatment of diabetic complications with Chinese drugs.


The difficulties of evaluating patients with complex neuropsychiatric conditions and prescribing appropriate treatments are well known. Imaging complements clinical assessments and allows a clinician to narrow the differential diagnosis by facilitating accurate and efficient evaluation. This is particularly relevant to neuropsychiatric conditions that are often diagnosed using a trial-and error process of exclusion. Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a functional brain imaging procedure that allows practitioners to measure the functional changes of gray matter structures based on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). The accurate diagnosis and treatment selection in psychiatry is challenging due to complex cases and frequent comorbidities. However, such complex neuropsychiatric conditions are increasingly benefitting from new treatment approaches, in addition to established medications. Among these are combination transcranial magnetic stimulation with ketamine infusions (CTK), hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and perispinal administration of etanercept (PSE). This article provides readers with six case study examples that demonstrate how brain SPECT imaging can be used, both as a diagnostic tool, and as a potential biomarker for monitoring and evaluating novel treatments for patients with complex neuropsychiatric conditions. Six patients were assessed in our clinic and baseline brain SPECT imagesTourettes and a long history of alcohol were visually compared with SPECT images collected after periods of treatment with CTK or HBOT followed by PSE. This retrospective review demonstrates the clinical utility of these novel treatments and describes how SPECT imaging can complement standard diagnostic assessments. A novel display technique for SPECT images is described and we argue that SPECT imaging can be used for monitoring biomarker for clinical change.


Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a promising material for wound dressing due to its predominant water binding capacity, mechanical property, biodegradability, and histocompatibility. Whereas BC itself exhibits no antimicrobial activity. To gain antimicrobial activity, several kinds of antibacterial agents have been introduced into BC. However, all of the antibacterial composite dressings are still in the stage of experimental research. In this paper, the types, antibacterial mechanism, and shortcomings of antibacterial composite dressings based on BC are summarized, in order to make prospects of the research trends of antibacterial composite dressings based on BC in future.


Background: tuberculosis patients who are resistant to rifampicin, isoniazid, fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs present a serious challenge to TB treatment programmes. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) started surveillance for this condition, defined as extensive drug resistance (XDR-TB). We describe outcomes of XDR-TB patients started on treatment in 2008. Methods: we used the latest data reported by countries to WHO by December 2011. Treatment regimens were known to differ between countries. Standardized definitions for outcomes were widely applied. Results: 20 countries reported outcomes for a total of 641 XDR-TB cases. Most cases were reported by South Africa (345), Peru (70), Romania (53), Georgia (49), Brazil (45) and Namibia (20), with other countries reporting a median of two cases each (range 1-19). Overall treatment success was 23%, 34% of cases died, 22% failed treatment, 12% defaulted and 9% were not evaluated. Success of 50% or more was only achieved by countries managing 1-3 cases. In countries with >20 cases, deaths were highest in Namibia (90%) and South Africa (40%), and failures peaked in Brazil (80%) and Romania (55%). More than half the cases in Peru were either not evaluated or defaulted. Conclusions: national data reported to WHO show less favourable outcomes for XDR-TB patients than have, to date, been published in the literature, and are similar to untreated tuberculosis. The high mortality in southern African countries may be associated with HIV co-morbidity and low access to anti-retroviral agents. Better optimization of regimens and support to potential defaulters is recommended.


The interface width between polystyrene and poly-(methyl methacrylate) has been determined by neutron reflectometry as a function of molecular weight. It changes with molecular weight between 3.3 nm and 5.5 nm in the investigated range. The molecular-weight dependence is consistent with a mean-field theoretical description of the interface width of incompatible polymer blends. The determination of the interface width between incompatible polymers thus provides a means to obtain accurately the segment interaction parameter for polymer blend systems, which are otherwise difficult to determine. Results are compared with other experiments for this blend system.


· This article categorizes the distinct roles played by philanthropy consultants and presents a tool and framework for charitable foundations to identify and evaluate the roles and capabilities they need from those consultants. · The article categorizes seven capability areas, from strategy setting to talent development, that are core to all foundations. Then, it identifies trigger points within these capability areas that lead foundations to undertake projects that may require outside support. Third, the article maps the capabilities that foundations consider in determining whether and how to engage philanthropy consultants. · The resulting tool is and broadly providing foundation staff and boards a for understanding the range of roles philanthropy consultants play on any given engagement and a mechanism for choosing role and capability set, if required, by their own organization.


Aims: The purpose of this study was to analyse changes in smoking habits among adolescents in three regions of Sweden following the introduction in 1997 of a law prohibiting sales of tobacco to persons under 18 years: the minimum-age law. Methods: The analysis is based on data collected among adolescents in compulsory school years 7 and 9 (about 13—14 and 15—16 years respectively), in 1996, 2000, and 2005, in three regions of Sweden. The samples comprise 43,857 students who completed a self-administered questionnaire anonymously in the classroom. The data were subjected to contingency-table analysis and logistic regression analysis. Results: The rates of smoking among students in year 9 were significantly lower in 2005 than in 1996 in two regions and unchanged in one region. This pattern held even after control for sex, parents' smoking habits, and academic orientation. In year 7 there were no changes over time (boys) or any clear pattern (girls). Conclusions: Based on outcomes from test purchases of tobacco products that were carried out in parallel to the collection of the questionnaire data, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the regional differences described may at least in part be due to differences in the availability of cigarettes. In 2005 it was significantly easier for adolescents to purchase tobacco products at retailers in the city of Malmö than at those in the counties of Värmland and Västernorrland.


A new spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of omeprazole (OMP) based on its degradation reaction catalyzed by ultraviolet (UV) light is proposed. OMP in aqueous solution is very unstable, which renders a serious difficulty for controlling its quality. It does not show native fluorescence, but when exposed to UV radiation, it generates a highly fluorescent degradation product with adequate stability for indirect OMP quantification. Under the studied optimal experimental conditions (pH, temperature, exposure time to UV radiation), a specific rate constant of 2.851 min⁻¹--described by zero-order kinetic--was obtained for the degradation reaction. Using λ(exc) 293 nm and λ(em) 317 nm, a linear relationship was obtained (r² 0.9998) in the concentration range of 0.1 to 1.3 µg mL⁻¹, with a detection limit of 1.07 10⁻³ µg mL⁻¹ (S/N = 3). The methodology developed was successfully applied to OMP quality control in pure drugs and tablet dosage forms without previous treatment, with good tolerance to common excipient, and a high level of concordance between the nominal and experimental values. This work constitutes an important contribution to knowledge of the degradation mechanism of OMP. It has been shown to be appropriate for OMP quality control, to have an adequate sampling rate, low cost instrument, and to be a less polluting procedure.


Abstract. A three-dimensional air quality model based on a set of chemical species mass conservation equations describes the time evolution of chemical species in the atmosphere. In order to solve this set of equations, proper choices of initial and boundary conditions are needed. Ideally, initial and boundary conditions should be determined on the basis of observations. However, since such high-resolution observations are generally not available, it becomes necessary to use other information sources to specify the initial and boundary values. The fact that both the initial and the boundary conditions are specified with some degree of presumption makes it important to evaluate their influence in the model results. In this paper we present a study of the impact of initial and boundary concentrations on the modelled surface ozone concentration over two environments: Huelva and Badajoz, an industrial and a rural zone, respectively. The impacts are analysed for the same meteorological period (10–15 August 2003).


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Emerging data have suggested that β-cell dysfunction may exacerbate the development and progression of type 1 diabetes (T1D). In this review, we highlight clinical and preclinical studies suggesting a role for β-cell dysfunction during the evolution of T1D and suggest agents that may promote β-cell health in T1D.

RECENT FINDINGS
Metabolic abnormalities exist years before development of hyperglycemia and exhibit a reproducible pattern reflecting progressive deterioration of β-cell function and increases in β-cell stress and death. Preclinical studies indicate that T1D may be prevented by modification of pathways impacting intrinsic β-cell stress and antigen presentation. Recent findings suggest that differences in metabolic phenotypes and β-cell stress may reflect differing endotypes of T1D. Multiple pathways representing potential drug targets have been identified, but most remain to be tested in human populations with preclinical disease.

SUMMARY
This cumulative body of work shows clear evidence that β-cell stress, dysfunction, and death are harbingers of impending T1D and likely contribute to progression of disease and insulin deficiency. Treatment with agents targeting β-cell health could augment interventions with immunomodulatory therapies but will need to be tested in intervention studies with endpoints carefully designed to capture changes in β-cell function and health.


Examining the three novels on the Korean War in which Luling joined as one of the Chinese backup forces such as First Snow, The Battle in the Hollow Area and The comrade faithful to you forever, this study researches how the writer, Luling expresses 'war' and the feeling toward 'the man' in the war. About 'the man' in the war, this writing investigates the warm human character and kindness expressed in the North Koreans and the soldiers of the Chinese backup forces. By analyzing the novels, it is revealed that the Luling's thought of 'war' that although the war is a righteous one and is to help the neighboring countries, the war must not happen as the war itself has violence and makes people wretched. Luling who insists the war be for peace is criticized in publications because of these novels resistant to war. However, this criticism is not only the one caused by the difference in opinion about the war but also related with the big political event in modern Chinese history, 'Hufeng incident'. By all appearances it is the criticism on the novel, but the one broken out during the process to eliminate the 'Hufeng group'. In 1955, Luling was in jail as 'an antirevolutionary group' for 20 years and rehabilitated in 1980. After the rehabilitation, however, Luling was already a schizophrenic. The enormous political accident of modern China leads the talented writer to mental death. Through his novels resistant to war and the life, Luling invokes us to waken our mind and spirit.


Humans share with a variety of animal species the spontaneous ability to detect the numerical correspondence between limited quantities of visual objects and discrete auditory events. Here, we explored how such mental representation is generated in the visual modality by monitoring a parieto-occipital ERP component, N2pc, whose amplitude covaries with the number of visual targets in explicit enumeration. Participants listened to an auditory sequence of one to three tones followed by a visual search display containing one to three targets. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to respond based on the numerical correspondence between tones and visual targets. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to ignore the tones and detect a target presence in the search display. The results of Experiment 1 showed an N2pc amplitude increase determined by the number of visual targets followed by a centroparietal ERP component modulated by the numerical correspondence between tones and visual targets. The results of Experiment 2 did not show an N2pc amplitude increase as a function of the number of visual targets. However, the numerical correspondence between tones and visual targets influenced N2pc amplitude. By comparing a subset of amplitude/latency parameters between Experiment 1 and 2, the present results suggest N2pc reflects two modes for representing the number of visual targets. One mode, susceptible to subjective control, relies on visual target segregation for exact target individuation, whereas a different mode, likely enabling spontaneous cross-modal matching, relies on the extraction of rough information about number of targets from visual input.


Einstein's field equations for the case of a static and spherically symmetric distribution of stiff matter are considered. The problem is reduced to a single second-order non-linear differential equation for which a class of three particular solutions is obtained. Two of the solutions correspond to flat spacetime and the Schwarzschild metric respectively. The third solution leads to a new metric, the first of its kind, which takes a very simple form in canonical coordinates. The pressure (and energy density) vanish at spatial infinity and diverge at the centre, and thus the solution could represent a cosmological model with a central singularity.


For pt.I see ibid., vol.50, p.453-61, (Mar. 2002). In a companion paper, the problem of summing crosstalk from mixed sources has been deeply analyzed. The problem of determining a good model for the summation of mixed crosstalk is becoming more important now that many digital subscriber line (DSL) services are being deployed in the field. The straightforward application of the usual 1% worst-case model for only one kind of disturber to all the individual worst-case contributions is overly pessimistic. The most well-known methods of summing mixed crosstalk, the FSAN and the Mean PSD methods, are less pessimistic. Also, the two new summation methods presented previously, the Minkowski-bound and the Holder-bound methods, are less pessimistic and offer the appealing feature of choosing the level of pessimism or optimism through a parameter. However, the accuracy of these methods has never been quantified in the past. As more and more types of DSLs are deployed by multiple service providers, it is imperative to gain confidence in the methods of modeling worst-case mixed crosstalk and to understand their limitations. In this paper, the problem of defining an accurate statistical modeling of the pair-to-pair crosstalk power coupling losses is addressed first. This has been accomplished by exploiting a large measurement campaign performed on real cables. The results of a large simulation campaign that compares the accuracy of known and newly proposed methods of summing mixed crosstalk are then presented. In addition, it is proposed here to use the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as the metric for determining the actual system performance in the presence of mixed crosstalk. A Monte Carlo simulation is run that assigns randomly each disturber to a pair-to-pair NEXT coupling which matches the statistics of measured cables. The Monte Carlo method accurately determines the I % worst-case impact on the SNR of DSL systems affected by mixed crosstalk. ISDN, HDSL, HDSL2, T1 and ADSL are each simulated with many different numbers and types of mixed crosstalk.


In a-Si:H, large concentrations of B or P (of order 1%) are required to dope the material, suggesting that doping mechanisms are very different than for the crystal for which much smaller concentrations are required. In this paper, we report simulations on B and P introduced into realistic models of a-Si:H and a-Si, with concentrations ranging from 1.6% to 12.5% of B or P in the amorphous host. The results indicate that tetrahedral B and P are effective doping configurations in a-Si, but high impurity concentrations introduce many defect states. For a-Si:H, we report that both B(3,1) and P(3,1) (B or P atom bonded with three Si atoms and one H atom) are effective doping configurations. We investigate H passivation in both cases. For both B and P, there exists a ""hydrogen poison range"" of order 6 Å for which H in a bond-center site can suppress doping. For B doping, nearby H prefers to stay at the bond-center of Si-Si, leaves B four-fold and neutralizes the doping configuration; for P doping, nearby H spoils the doping by inducing a reconstruction rendering initially tetrahedral P three-fold.


Background
Pakistan, like the rest of the world has not been spared by COVID-19, with the cases escalating nationwide. Being a developing country, Pakistan has had meagre resources and weak health systems to tackle the menace. We analysed the national response of Pakistan to the pandemic by critically analysing the interventions taken at community, health systems and multi-sectoral level and identifying the response gaps. The fragile health system of Pakistan performed fairly well according to its ability - the bed capacity was expanded, health professionals' capacity building strategies were adopted, telemedicine was put into practice, indigenous production of required personal protective equipment started, testing capacity was increased, and attempts were made to improve the surveillance mechanisms. However, the strategies adopted at the community level proved in-adequate. The severity of the disease was not communicated clearly to the public, religious leaders were not effectively on board, social distancing measures were not strictly followed specially during religious festivities, contact tracing was not extensively carried out specially in the rural areas - overall awareness of the community to COVID-19 remained low. The educational institutions were closed in time but the intermittent lockdown procedures and easing of transport restrictions led to community spread of the virus. Overall, Pakistan's performance has been acceptable, but community engagement and participation need to be improved.


Comprehensible explanations of probabilistic reasoning are a prerequisite for wider acceptance of Bayesian methods in expert systems and decision support systems. A study of human reasoning under uncertainty suggests two different strategies for explaining probabilistic reasoning: The first, qualitative belief propagation, traces the qualitative effect of evidence through a belief network from one variable to the next. This propagation algorithm is an alternative to the graph reduction algorithms of Wellman (1988) for inference in qualitative probabilistic networks. It is based on a qualitative analysis of intercausal reasoning, which is a generalization of Pearl's "explaining away", and an alternative to Wellman's definition of qualitative synergy. The other, Scenario-based reasoning, involves the generation of alternative causal "stories" accounting for the evidence. Comparing a few of the most probable scenarios provides an approximate way to explain the results of probabilistic reasoning. Both schemes employ causal as well as probabilistic knowledge. Probabilities may be presented as phrases and/or numbers. Users can control the style, abstraction and completeness of explanations.


BACKGROUND
Abnormal glycosylation of immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) has been implicated in the pathophysiological characteristics of IgA nephropathy, leading to failure of normal clearance mechanisms and mesangial deposition of serum IgA1. Furthermore, systematic measurement of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) thickness by electron microscopy evidenced two different subgroups: IgA nephropathy with normal GBM (N-GBM) and thin GBM (T-GBM). This finding prompted us to study comparatively the profile of N- and O-glycosylation of IgA1 in the two subgroups.

METHODS
Using lectin-binding properties, sialylation and galactosylation of serum IgA1, isolated on jacalin-conjugated agarose, were investigated in male and female patients with IgA nephropathy with T-GBM (n = 22) and N-GBM (n = 22) compared with matched (age and sex) healthy controls (n = 22). Sambacus nigra agglutinin (SNA) and Maackia amurensis agglutinin (MAA) were designed to examine the detection of Neu5Acalpha2,6- and Neu5Acalpha2,3-linked galactose, respectively. Helix aspersa agglutinin (HAA) was used to examine the expression of terminal N-acetylgalactosamine of the O-linked glycans in the hinge region of IgA1.

RESULTS
The following galactosylation abnormalities were confirmed in the common subgroup with N-GBM: a trend to an alpha2,6 oversialylation (SNA binding) of native IgA1 associated with a defect in its terminal galactose (HAA binding); these two findings were predominant in male patients (P < 0.05 and 0.01 for SNA and HAA, respectively). No change in MAA was observed. Conversely, no significant anomaly was found in the T-GBM variant, which could indicate the absence or low magnitude of galactosylation defects (not significant) or another yet unidentified defect.

CONCLUSION
The present study evidenced differences in glycosylation profiles of serum IgA1 according to GBM thickness (N-GBM versus T-GBM) in patients with IgA nephropathy. These data raised the possibility of different mechanisms for IgA1 glomerular deposition.


The NAD+-linked 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH) of swine lung was purified to a high specific activity by affinity chromatographies on prostaglandin (PG)-and NAD+-Sepharose. The affinities of the enzyme for various synthetic analogues of PGA, E, F, and I and their inhibitory effects on the enzymatic reaction were examined. The modification of the alkyl side chain of PG, particularly at C-15 or C-16, reduced the affinity of the enzyme for these PG analogues. Furthermore, 14-methyl-13,14-dihydro-PGE1 and 16-cyclopentyl-omega-trinor-15-epi-PGE2 were potent inhibitors of PGDH.


This standard operating procedure (SOP) validates an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) procedure for the trace element determinations in hydrothermal fluids. Hydrothermal fluids are aqueous solutions with a wide range of temperature, salinity, pH and trace elements that can be used by a set of microbial proteins containing redox-sensitive transition metals as their catalytic core. Due to the high variability of these samples, we have developed this protocol taking into account the special features of the matrices analyzed. An ICP-MS 7900 Agilent system was used. Calibration curves are linear in the 0.01 to 100 μg/L concentration range