Background: Delivering a child is a very stressful experience for women. Pregnancy and labor entail complex events that are unique to each individual female. The management of labor pain is often done using analgesics and anesthesia, which have been shown to have some side effects. More comprehensive data are needed to provide clinically significant evidence for clinicians to confidently prescribe exercises to patients. This study was done to evaluate the effect of antenatal exercises, including yoga, on the course of labor, delivery, and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among 200 primiparous subjects (aged 20–40). A questionnaire was provided to the subjects to obtain their demographic and obstetrical information 6 weeks after delivery, and their hospital records were also assessed for further details. Based on the nature and details obtained for the antenatal exercises, subjects were divided into two groups: control and exercise. Outcome measures included the need for labor induction, self-perceived pain and perceived exertion during labor, duration and nature of the delivery, newborn infant weight, maternal weight gain, history of back pain, and post-partum recovery. The total maternal weight gain (in kilograms) was calculated from weight at 6 weeks after delivery minus the weight at 12–14 weeks of gestation. Back pain during pregnancy and self-perceived labor pain were measured using a visual analog scale (VAS). The overall perceived exertion during labor was measured using an adapted Borg scale for perceived effort. Results: The subjects who followed regular antenatal exercises, including yoga, had significantly lower rates of cesarean section, lower weight gain, higher newborn infant weight, lower pain and overall discomfort during labor, lower back pain throughout pregnancy, and earlier post-partum recovery compared to those who did no specific exercises or only walked during pregnancy. Conclusions: This retrospective study showed that regular antenatal exercises, including yoga, result in better outcomes related to the course of labor, delivery, and pregnancy. These results notably indicated that pregnant women should be active throughout pregnancy and follow a supervised exercise program that includes yoga unless contraindicated. We require further large-scale prospective studies and quasi-experimental trials to confirm the observed findings.


Over the last two generations there has been a revolution in the understanding of the relation between Christianity and Judaism in the ancient world. Sixty years ago, the study of early Christian history was carried on almost wholly without reference to the Jews. Scholars showed great interest in the Judaism that existed prior to the beginning of Christianity,but once the Church was established, the Jews were all but forgotten. Christian scholars learned biblical Hebrew,but saw no need to master the language of the rabbis or to study the Jewish communities that existed alongside of Christians in the great cities of the Middle East.


In this communication, a novel triple band frequency selective surface (FSS) designed for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMs) frequency bands is presented. Unit cell of the proposed FSS consists of one rectangular-shaped resonator designed for 942 MHz and one synthetic resonator designed for both of 1842 and 2142 MHz frequencies. A novel technique is introduced to design a synthetic resonator in which two loop-shaped resonators intersect to each other resulting a unique resonator operating at two frequencies. The proposed design has the advantages of separating two very closely spaced frequency bands as in GSM systems with a narrow notch between the two frequencies of 1842 and 2142 MHz. Furthermore, a very low-frequency response sensitivity to the oblique incidence angles is achieved by using a miniaturized single synthetic resonator for the two frequencies in a single layer. Good agreement is observed between the measured and simulated results. A minimum of 20-dB attenuation for the transmission coefficient is achieved in all downlink frequency ranges of GSM system with a good stability against the oblique angle of incidence for both transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic polarizations.


Feminist economic geography has been a rich site for exploring issues of political economy and gender. In this chapter the authors explore the contributions of feminist economic geographers to rethinking economy. Diverse economies thinking reveals diversity in existing economic practices, broadening our view of what is important and viable economic activity. This includes recognizing and valuing care work and the household, and recognizing diversity in forms of economic transactions, labour and enterprise through which people around the world secure their livelihoods. Alternative markets, unpaid work and noncapitalist enterprises all come into view as vital parts of our economy. Community economies scholarship begins by rethinking 'the economy' and the discourses that shape expectations of how globalization and capitalism function. Building on the work of J.K. Gibson-Graham, the diverse economies framework informs the work of others in the 'Community Economies Collective' and the 'Community Economies Research Network'.


An efficient protecting group controlled regioselective chromium(0)-mediated three-component higher order cycloaddition of tethered diynes with cyclic trienes that generates five rings and six stereogenic centers in one step is described. Following a sequence of reactions featuring a chemoselective Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement and a regioselective cyclopropane hydrogenolysis, the total synthesis of 9-epi-pentalenic acid was achieved.


Background and aims Charcot-Marie Tooth disease (CMT) is a hereditary peripheral neuropathy characterized by progressive muscular atrophy and motor-sensory disorders that can lead to muscle weakness and sensory loss, especially in the extremities. We present a clinical case of a patient with CMT who underwent spinal anesthesia for limb orthopedic surgery. Methods A 63-year-old male, classified as ASA II, was scheduled for tibiotarsal arthrodesis due to CMT sequelae. Past medical history included type 1 CMT and dyslipidemia. Physical examination revealed a high arched left foot with slight muscle weakness of the lower limbs and left foot paresthesia, without other neurological deficits. We decided to perform the procedure under spinal anesthesia using 10 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% and 2 mcg sufentanyl (L3-L4 level, beveled 27G needle), without immediate vascular or neurological complications. Results The patient remained hemodynamically stable throughout the procedure and no adverse events were registered. After surgery, the patient gradually regained motor function until full recovery 4 hours after the block. The immediate post-operative period was uneventful, and the patient was safely discharged home 2 days later without further neurologic impairment. Conclusions There is no definitive consensus about the safety and use of regional anesthesia in patients with CMT, only a few case reports and small case series suggesting it can be used without worsening a patient's stable neurologic condition. We report a successful clinical case in which neuraxial anesthesia proved both safe and effective in this setting, in agreement with previous descriptions. Additional studies addressing this matter are required.


We use longitudinal data incorporating three generations of Americans to reevaluate the character and consequences of political socialization within the family. Findings about parental influence based on youth coming of age in the 1990s strongly parallel those based on youth socialized in the 1960s. As expected on the basis of social learning theory, children are more likely to adopt their parents' political orientations if the family is highly politicized and if the parents provide consistent cues over time. The direct transmission model is robust, as it withstands an extensive set of controls. Early acquisition of parental characteristics influences the subsequent nature of adult political development.


Dendritic cells (DC) are the most powerful antigen presenting cells (APC) and play a pivotal role in initiating the immune response. In light of their unique properties, DC have been proposed as a tool to enhance immunity against infectious agents and in anticancer vaccine strategies. In the last few years, the development of DC has been extensively investigated. The present paper summarizes the most recent findings on the differentiation of myeloid DC from hematopoietic CD34+ progenitors and methods for DC generation in vitro. A better understanding of DC function has important implications for their use in clinical settings.


The popular explanation for skin bleaching among Black Jamaicans is self-hate. The concept of complex personhood debunks the psychopathology explanation of skin bleaching. Complex personhood is an autonomous, multidimensional, nuanced and optimal self that displays strength, weakness, resilience, ambiguities and contradictions. Some of the skin bleaching literature frames the skin bleachers as self-hating, restricts identity to a binary, argues erroneously that there is only one way to be black and silences the skin bleachers in public discourse. The self-hate explanation for skin bleaching in Jamaica is informed by the doll study in America which confounds the minority of Black children's choice of a white doll with self-hate. The self-esteem studies in Jamaica and America refutes the self-hate thesis. The use of complex personhood to understand the behavior of the Jamaican skin bleachers liberates them from the self-hate explanation for their behavior and provides the alternative explanations of miseducation and colorism.


This paper considers recent pleas for a 'geography of gentrification', arguing that they have been very urban in focus and often enact what, following Soja (1996), might be described as 'firstspace epistemology'. The paper identifies traces of other, secondspace and thirdspace geographies of gentrification. It is argued that these geographies may not be fully commensurable with each other but that they each may have some commensurability with rural as well as the urban spatialities. The paper goes on to explore these arguments in relation to studies of gentrification of the British countryside, focusing particularly on gentrification in rural Norfolk.


In this brief paper, we show the neutrino velocity discrepancy obtained in the OPERA experiment may be due to the local Doppler effect between a local clock attached to a given detector at Gran Sasso, say $\mathcal{C}_{G}$, and the respective instantaneous clock crossing $\mathcal{C}_{G}$, say $\mathcal{C}_{C}$, being this latter at rest in the instantaneous inertial frame having got the velocity of rotation of CERN about Earth's axis in relation to the fixed stars. With this effect, the index of refraction of the Earth crust may accomplish a refractive effect by which the neutrino velocity through the Earth crust turns out to be small in relation to the speed of light in the empty space, leading to an encrusted discrepancy that may have contamined the data obtained from the block of detectors at Gran Sasso, leading to a time interval excess $\epsilon$ that did not provide an exact match between the shift of the protons PDF (probability distribution function) by $\text{TOF}_{c}$ and the detection data at Gran Sasso via the maximum likelihood matching.


The current stage of the road sector development is characterized by the increased demand in the road marking. For the arrangement of road marking, various materials are used: paint, retroreflective glass beads, plastics of cold and hot application, polymer strips, prefabricated items, etc. Each material has its own set of unique characteristics related to durability, retroreflectivity, cost of application and life cycle. Due to the expansion of the production range of road marking materials, their choice becomes a difficult task and it should be carried out while taking into account the following requirements: normative distances of visibility must be ensured in all weather conditions 24 hours a day; long-term preservation (resistance to environmental impacts); road marking must not interfere with the vehicles movement, it should foster gliding. In order to properly select the road marking materials, the road traffic level and the predicted operation life cycle should be taken into account. For optimal selection, it is primarily necessary to review the quality characteristics of the materials through the testing of their physical, mechanical, technological and functional characteristics. Commonly, the roads owners require the quality requirements for the materials in accordance with the European standards. Technical requirements for road marking materials and methods of their testing which are lacking in the Ukrainian standards are considered. A list of equipment for the required tests according to the European standards is given. Basing on the analysis results, it can be noted that in order to ensure the compliance of the Ukrainian laboratories abilities to check the quality of technical characteristics of materials according to the European standards, the new equipment should be provided (Tregers device, Stormer viscometer, X-ray fluorescence analyzer, wear test bench and others) as well as mastering the new testing methods. Due to the high cost of the devices and equipment (for example, of the wear test bench), it is necessary to build the test sites on the roads or establish contacts with the European laboratories on the possibility of transferring the samples of materials to them for testing.


This paper presents the architecture and the knowledge/action representation language of a support environment for distributed problem solving. The paper addresses both the definitional/preparatory (i.e. articulation work) phase and the actual problem-solving (i.e. substantive work) phase of a complex system. The architecture unifies these problem-solving phases in a dynamic way under a new paradigm for distributed problem solving.


Oceanographic images obtained from environmental satellites by a wide range of sensors allow characterizing natural phenomena through different physical measurements. For instance Sea Surface Temperature (SST) images, altimetry data and ocean color data can be used for characterizing currents and vortex structures in the ocean. The purpose of this thesis is to derive a relatively complete framework for processing large dynamic oceanographic image sequences in order to detect global displacements such as oceanographic streams and to localize particular structures like motion current and vortices and fronts. These characterizations will help in initializing particular processes in a global monitoring system. Using area-based algorithms, two least squares methods have been used to solve the apparent motion which involves Least Squares Matching (LSM) and Hierarchical least squares Lucas and Kanade (HLK). SST images of Caspian Sea taken by MODIS sensor on board Terra satellite have been used in this study. Three daily SST images with 24 hours time interval are used as input data. The LSM technique, as a flexible technique for most data matching problems, offers an optimum spatial solution for the motion estimation. The algorithm allows for simultaneous local (i.e. template) radiometric correction and local geometrical image orientation estimation. Actually, the correspondence between two image templates is modeled both geometrically and radiometrically. In order to implement weighted least squares fit of local first-order optical flow constraints in each spatial neighborhood, the HLK method has been used. This method locates water current using coarse-to-fine strategy to track motion in Gaussian pyramids of SST images. This method allows the detection of large motion in coarse resolution layer and guides to correct result in finer layers. The method used in this study has presented more efficient and robust solution compared to the traditional motion estimation schemes to extract water currents.


The study was designed to determine the influence of leadership role on deviant behavior with respect to destructive practices and truancy among female students in southern Cross River State, Nigeria. The survey design was used for this study. The Student Self Report Inventory (SSRI) questionnaire was used to collect data. The sample for this study consisted of four hundred (400) SS111 female students. The data collected were statistically analyzed using the independent t –test. The findings revealed that female students who play leadership role involve themselves in destructive practices more than female students who do not play leadership role. The findings also revealed that female students who do not play leadership role involve themselves in truancy more than students with leadership role. Based on the findings, it was recommended that school authority should be able to detect early misbehavior and help the child while he is still receptive to treatment than he will be later.


Patient safety is as an increasingly active field of research and policy in the UK and around the world. The prevailing academic model for understanding the cause of patient safety incidents considers failures in cognitive and system aspects of care to playa role, with an emphasis on system factors in preventing harm. General practitioners (GPs) are the first port of call for a wide range of undifferentiated medical, psychological and social problems, presented by patients with whom they may form lasting relationships. The priorities and processes of care in general practice are consequently less clearly defined, more individualised and more strongly influenced by the people involved than in the hospital settings where the existing model was developed. Research in general practice has thus far been conducted from a professional standpoint, using doctors' reports to detect and understand safety incidents. Patients may bring a valuable new perspective to understanding the nature, incidence and cause of adverse events in general practice, allowing the existing model to be refined. This study aimed to provide a detailed description and analysis of patients' perspective on episodes of care they regarded as regrettable. A qualitative approach was used, conducting in-depth interviews with 34 patients whose healthcare experiences made them likely to be good key informants regarding patient safety issues in general practice. An adaptive theorising approach was used, to allow grounded insights arising from the empirical data to be interpreted in the light of, and to add to the development of, theories about the causation of adverse events. The results showed respondents' evaluations of GPs' medical performance to be contingent on their expectations, prior experiences and the doctor-patient relationship. They understood the quality and safety of GPs' care to be determined by their knowledge, skills and an attitude of professional commitment, using this understanding to inform the attribution of responsibility or blame for their experiences of care. This approach differed from the prevailing academic model in that it focussed on errors more than adverse outcomes, placed a strong emphasis on the importance of personal and relational factors in error causation and paid relatively little attention to the role of system factors. It identified diagnostic error as a significant issue in general practice, highlighting the dependence of technical aspects of care upon the GP's personal and interpersonal performance. Having sufficient professional commitment to choose to perform well was seen as a prerequisite for the safe application of knowledge and skills. Even where little or no physical harm was sustained, errors attributed to a failing in professional commitment could result in Significant psychological distress, loss of trust, and changes in future help-seeking behaviour. Interpersonal aspects of care and personal factors in GP performance appear to be key influences on safety in this context. This has implications for the focus of safety improvement efforts, which may need to take more account of the role of the individual professional, alongside issues of human factors and system design. A renewed emphasis is recommended on traditional values of altruistic professionalism and personal responsibility. Patients may make good partners in improving safety, provided it is acknowledged that their perspective is subject to socially patterned biases, and that they are sometimes hesitant to challenge medical authority.


The articles in this special section focus on 5G mobile communication. With initial commercialization expected in 2020, fifth generation (5G) mobile communications is gathering increased interest and momentum around the world. Following discussions on the 5G vision and key requirements such as high data rate, low latency, and massive connectivity, various candidate technologies have been proposed and investigated. These new technologies include massive antenna technologies to provide beamforming gain and support increased capacity, new waveforms to flexibly accommodate various services and applications with different requirements, and new multiple access schemes to support massive connections. From a spectrum point of view, there is also increased interest in the use of spectrum above 6 GHz for 5G mobile communications.


To design a facility, expected flows between the resources is one of the most important input. Flows are usually calculated given some statistics of previous periods or from the expected demand and the process required. However, in a refurbishing and recycling facility, flows are very fluctuating and not trivial to predict. The quantity produced by such facility not only depends on the demand but also on the supplies which are returned products under guaranty or discarded products after their end-ofuse. The uncertainty and the variability on these supplies are often higher than the one on the demand which makes it even more complex to calculate the expected flows. This article contributes a methodology for designing such recycling and refurbishing facilities that are concurrently efficient and robust. It provides an empirical illustration of the methodology through a computer refurbishing and recycling facility case study. 1 Reverse Logistics and Facility Design Reverse logistics is growing in importance, notably to limit the increase of products reaching landfills and thus reduce their negative environmental and social impact. Currently, most products are not designed for profitable recycling and refurbishing and thus, there are few facilities that are focused on these types of processes. However, with the help of ecodesign tools and processes, it is to be expected that they will increase in number and size. Ecodesign notably aims to design parts so as to make it easier to salvage products or materials after the end of use or end of life of the products. For example, it promotes designing products for repair or for disassembly. On one side, it is thus becoming more economical to disassemble products yet on the other side the recycling and refurbishing market is still barely profitable, notably due to a general lack of efficiency. In this context, designing, implementing and operating high performance recycling and refurbishing facilities, or zones within wider scope facilities, is a crucial factor for companies to be able to perform and even survive in such an environment. Such facilities have to address stochastic process flow complexity and offer-demand matching dynamics [1]. This chapter contributes a methodology for designing such recycling and refurbishing facilities with the aim of concurrent high efficiency, flexibility and robustness. It uses a computer hardware refurbishing and recycling facility case [1,2] as context for illustrating the methodology and its outcomes. The chapter is structured as follows. Section two addresses the key complexity issues in recycling and refurbishing facilities. Section three introduces our proposed design methodology. Section four provides the illustrative case study and its results. Finally section five provides concluding remarks and avenues for further research. 2 Refurbishing and Recycling Facility Layout Complexity Reverse logistics presents numerous characteristics making facilities design and planning quite challenging [1,2]. Indeed, even if the logistics network might simply look like the "reverse" of a forward logistics system, the roles of its players are less obvious and operations are more complex due to multifaceted uncertainty. For example, the daily quantity and arrival time of discarded products are usually unknown and hard to predict with precision, as well as their overall inbound rate. The wide variety of products increases this uncertainty. If there is uncertainty in the input process, there is even more in the decision process. Among the routinely made decisions, one must evaluate each product unit to decide whether or not it will be repaired. If so, then one must determine which parts will be needed for repairing it. If not repaired, then one has to decide whether the product parts can and should be reused in other products. Further decisions deal with whether these parts should rather be disassembled aiming to recycle raw material as much as possible while discarding in a landfill what cannot be recovered. The operational process is thus characterized by numerous sorting and evaluation steps. In this proposed methodology, we consider that products from different types and models, between which parts are interchangeable, are part of a same product group. To provide substance to the methodological and model development, Figure 1 adapted from [2] provides a generic process mapping for computer recycling and refurbishing. There are decisional nodes and physical nodes representing key activities such as cleaning, repairing, disassembly for parts and disassembly for raw material. Although it has been proposed for computer recycling and refurbishing, it is generic enough to be applicable for any goods which have parts and can be repaired except for step G, software installation and computer configuration, which can be replaced by reconfiguration of the product if applicable. Figure 1. Mapping of the generic refurbishing and recycling process The refurbishing and recycling process can also be described as a tree (starting with the incoming product) with a huge number of roots (whose extremities correspond to objects (products, parts and materials) in various states, each having specific branching (with object state probabilities and decisions). Since some products such as computers have a short lifecycle, they have a high obsolescence rate. So at each sorting step of the process, even if the part evaluated is in good condition, one needs to validate the value of the part. Should it be kept? Will it potentially be reused, or are there already too many of its type in inventory? If so, decision must be taken as to whether or not it will be disassembled to gather components and materials or be discarded to landfill. The value of short lifecycle salvaged products and parts is thus fast evolving and hard to assess. This fluctuating value impacts the probability of sorting decisions at every step of the recycling process, thus making flow and inventory management more complex. The physical flows between production resource types are thus highly stochastic. Collection Sorting


A substance toxic for mice has been extracted from the washed mycelia of Mortierella wolfii. This toxin could also be demonstrated in culture fluids after spontaneous autolysis of the fungal hyphae. Purification of the toxin was carried out using Sephadex chromatography (G-200, G-50) and resulted in a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels. Properties of the toxin included heat lability at 60 C, trypsin sensitivity, activity over a wide pH range, and a molecular weight of 23,600. The mean lethal dose for 16-week-old male mice was 3.3 μg of protein.


Objective Research has shown the importance of delving into the variables associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors in adolescence, highlighting gender-related differences in their presentations. This two-wave longitudinal study aims to address gaps in understanding the concurrent contribution of borderline and narcissistic personality traits to the presence and maintenance of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. Method We recruited 705 adolescents (65% females; age range 13-19 years old; Mage = 15.84, SD = 1.31) to self-report on behavioral problems (YSR-112), borderline (BPFSC-11) and narcissistic traits (PNI) at baseline and again on behavioral problems after 12 months. Results Data highlighted significant differences between males and females for all variables except externalizing problems. Hierarchical regression models showed that borderline traits are a prominent risk factor for all behavioral problems in males and females at baseline and after 12 months. Moreover, regardless of gender, higher grandiose narcissism contributes to lower internalizing problems only when the direct contribution of vulnerable presentations of narcissism is considered. Grandiose narcissism is also a risk factor for externalizing problems after 12 months in females, whereas vulnerable narcissism significantly increases the likelihood of internalizing trajectories improving over 12 months. Conclusions This study provides more evidence of the associations between maladaptive personality traits and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems: (1) confirming that borderline traits are crucial beyond gender, (2) stressing the importance of considering both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic traits, and (3) highlighting the adaptive value of narcissistic vulnerability in capturing the adolescent crisis. The implications for clinical practice and intervention are also discussed.


The distribution of magnetization in the ordered Invar alloy Fe72Pt28 has been studied as a function of temperature in the range 100?520?K using polarized neutron diffraction. The temperature range covers both the Invar region and the paramagnetic regime in which the thermal expansion has normal Gr?neisen behaviour. The polarized neutron data have been analysed in terms of localized iron 3d and Pt 5d moments allowing local anisotropy of the magnetization distribution on the Fe atoms. The results suggest that the Pt atoms carry a small negative moment () in the magnetically ordered state. The fraction of unpaired electrons with eg symmetry is approximately 48% and does not change with temperature. This is in contradiction to models of the Invar effect which invoke the thermal population of two states with a different number of eg and t2g carriers.


Type 2 diabetes is caused by unhealthy lifestyles, such as consuming foods rich in simple sugars and lack of exercise. One of the treatment therapies for this disease is α-glucosidase inhibitors. Some strains of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) group typically exhibit α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, antimicrobial activity, acids and bile salt tolerance, and probiotic status.

 This study aims to isolate LAB from naniura, characterize and test its activity as an α-glucosidase inhibitor, as well as identify those with the highest activity.

 The method used to molecularly identify potentially good LAB was through the amplification of the 16S rRNA gene.

 This study obtained a total of 9 strains using BAMA codes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The cocci cell activity, gram-positive, and antibacterial activity of BAMA 4 against E.coli was 7.54 mm, while against S. aureus was 8.05 mm. The percentage of viability in acid and bile salt is 28.7% and 68.6%, respectively. Additionally, the proportion of α-glucosidase inhibition is 65%.

 The BAMA 4 strain is a species of Pediococcus acidilactici. Pediococcus is a genus of gram-positive lactic acid bacteria in the Lactobacillacea family.

 BAMA 4 strain produced antibacterial optimally and its cells survived the growth in acid and bile conditions. The percentage of probiotics was relevantly high in this activity. This study will be helpful for other in-vivo research.


Following oral administration in the fasting healthy subject, the mean maximum concentration of tianeptine is 334 +/- 79 ng/ml. Absorption of tianeptine from the tablet form is rapid and complete. Maximum plasma concentration is obtained by the first hour following administration (0.94 +/- 0.47 h). Absolute bioavailability is 99 +/- 29%. Tianeptine is thus rapidly and completely absorbed in the tablet form and is not subject to first-pass effect. Distribution of tianeptine in the body is characterized by the following: its rapidity, the mean distribution half-life being about 0.7 h; its limited extent, the apparent volume of distribution being about 0.8 L/kg (0.77 +/- 0.31 L/kg); and protein binding, which averages 93.8 +/- 2.4%. Elimination of tianeptine is characterized by a short mean half-life of 2 h 30 min (2.5 +/- 1.1 h) and by renal excretion of 0.4 ml/min (0.4 +/- 0.4 ml/min). Tianeptine is extensively metabolized. Major metabolites are analogs of tianeptine with a C5 and C3 lateral chain and a N-demethylated derivative. Studies have shown negligible influence on pharmacokinetic parameters of chronic alcoholism even in case of hepatic cirrhosis. In renal failure, and in the elderly, studies have revealed a 1-h prolongation of elimination half-life which suggests that the dosage should be limited to two tablets per day in such cases.


In laparoscopic surgery, forceps are stuck through trocars into the abdominal cavity, and dissect and grasp internal organs. Because of their straight shapes, the current forceps suffer from the narrow range of operation and limit the skill of surgeons. In this paper, we propose active forceps actuated by unconventional use of shape memory alloy. In developing active forceps, we utilize two properties of shape memory alloy, shape memory effect and super elasticity The forceps possess both stiffness for transmitting operation forces from surgeons and flexibility in changing their shapes.


SUMMARY
ViewDock TDW is a modification of the pre-existing ViewDock Chimera extension (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/) used to visualize results of virtual screening experiments. By combing TDW hardware and an enhanced ViewDock interface, dozens of ligand-protein complexes are rendered simultaneously to parallelize the analysis of candidate ligands. The ViewDock TDW GUI allows the user to easily and interactively manipulate the molecules on the TDW as an entire set, a selected subset or a single ligand-protein complex and preserves all Chimera functionality.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
ViewDock TDW is an open source software; freely available on the web at http://www.tdw-prime.webs.com. Chimera UCSF is also available, free of charge, at http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/


Background- Implementing patient-centered care in the Dutch health care system is currently an important goal. Patient-centered care focuses on the patient and the individual's particular healthcare needs. The main goal of patient-centered care is to help the patients to become active participants in their care. The University of Twente conducted in cooperation with the Rathenau Institute research over experiences of patients with the health care system. From the 20th April 2012 till the 19th March 2013 a total of 94 participants wrote down their experiences with the Dutch health care system on the website www.patientenwetenbeter.nl. In this bachelor thesis research about who is most likely to participate in this study was conducted. Furthermore additional benefits in the patient's health and an increase in satisfaction of writing about their experience are analyzed.
Methods- The participants were asked to fill out a short questionnaire regarding socio-demographic variables about the writer. Then descriptive analysis was conducted on the basis of the gained data. Furthermore, the writers were asked to answer how their experience writing their story was. The answers regarding the writing experience were classified from the researchers into themes and sub-themes on the basis of an open thematic analysis.
Results- Most of the writers were female, well-educated, between the ages of 26 and 70 years old, visited the hospital more than 10 times and wrote about ambivalent experiences. The following themes were found in the answers "Positive assessment of writing", "Negative assessment of writing", " Duty", " Insight", "Higher regard for health", "Change for next patient", " Reliving of emotion", " Self-awareness of emotion", " Closure" and "Relief".
Conclusion- All in all was the sample more heterogeneous than previously expected. Although more women than men participate in this study and this might have led to a greater number of answers in the theme emotional response. Our findings indicate that the benefits of the Patienten Weten Beter study (PWB-study) are similar to those gained through expressive writing. In total 8 out of the 10 themes regarding the benefits of expressive writing were also found in the literature study. The two themes, which were not found in prior studies, are "Attitude towards writing" and the theme "Duty". It can be concluded that benefits similar to those of expressive and therapeutic writing might be possible to reach with a much simpler set-up.


The article examines Finland's case within the framework of current discussions on the relevance of neutrality policy. It is widely believed that Finland's neutrality arose during the cold war as a result of a pragmatic assessment of the general world order at that time. The military non-alignment is regarded from this perspective as a rational and necessary policy for a small state in the bipolar world. After the cold war some politicians and researches argued that under the new conditions the policy of military neutrality is not relevant anymore and that belonging to the Western community is the only choice. However, Finland's military non-alignment policy and reliance on self-defense have remained unchanged for almost three decades. Finnish authorities have consistently pursued this line with a strong support of the majority of population. The reasons for that cannot be explained only as a rational political choice of a small state in certain geopolitical realities, the issue is more complex. Some Finnish researchers consider neutrality as part of the Finnish national identity. Using this approach, the author examines the genesis and development of neutrality policy as part of its national identity, which evolved at the junction of East and West. The article examines the influence of Sweden and Russia on the development of Finland's statehood and its foreign policy. Sweden determined the political structures and inculcated Finns with the Scandinavian identity. The role of Russia in the beginning of Finnish statehood was crucial. It formed the subsequent Eastern vector of Finland's foreign policy. The symbiosis of Western (Swedish) and Eastern (Russian) vectors gives Finland additional advantages, allowing a small state to claim the role of a «bridge-builder» between East and West. The author concludes that this complex combination has created the prerequisites for neutrality expressed in the policy of military non-alignment. Neutrality as a part of Finnish national identity has deep historical roots. It was born together with the Finnish statehood and has been staying with it despite all the changes in international environment.


Aim: Climate change impacts forest functioning and services through two inter-related effects. First, it impacts tree growth, with effects, for example, on biomass production. Second, climate change also reshuffles community composition, with further effects on forest functioning. However, the relative importance of these two effects has rarely been studied. Here, we developed a new modelling approach to investigate these relative importances for forest productivity. Location: Eleven forest sites in central Europe. Time period: Historical (1990) and end-of-21st-century climate-like conditions. We simulated 2,000 years of forest dynamics for each set of conditions. Major taxa studied: Twenty-five common tree species in European temperate forests. Methods: We coupled species distribution models and a forest succession model, working at complementary spatial and temporal scales, to simulate the climatic filtering that shapes potential tree species pools, the biotic filtering that shapes realized communities and the functioning of these realized communities in the long-term. Results: Under an average temperature increase (relative to 1901–1990) of between 1.5 and 1.7 °C, changes in simulated forest productivity were caused mostly by changes in the growth of persisting tree species. With an average temperature increase of 3.6–4.0 °C, changes in simulated productivity at sites that currently have a mild climate were again caused predominantly by changes in tree species growth. However, at the warmest and coldest sites, changes in productivity were related mostly to shifts in species composition. In general, at the coldest sites, forest productivity is likely to be enhanced by climate change, whereas at the warmest sites the productivity might increase or decrease depending on the future precipitation regime. Main conclusions: A combination of two complementary modelling approaches that address questions at the interface between biogeography, community ecology and ecosystem functioning, reveals that climate change-driven community reshuffling in the long term might be crucially important for ecosystem functioning. (Less)


PURPOSE
To compare game activity demands between female and male semiprofessional basketball players.

METHODS
Female (n=12) and male (n=12) semiprofessional basketball players were monitored across 3 competitive games. Time-motion-analysis procedures quantified player activity into predefined movement categories across backcourt (BC) and frontcourt (FC) positions. Activity frequencies, durations, and distances were calculated relative to live playing time (min). Work:rest ratios were also calculated using the video data. Game activity was compared between genders for each playing position and all players.

RESULTS
Female players performed at greater running work-rates than male players (45.7±1.4 vs. 42.1±1.7 m/min, P=.05), while male players performed more dribbling than female players (2.5±0.3 vs. 3.0±0.2 s/min; 8.4±0.3 vs. 9.7±0.7 m/min, P=.05). Positional analyses revealed that female BC players performed more low-intensity shuffling (P=.04) and jumping (P=.05), as well as longer (P=.04) jogging durations, than male BC players. Female FC players executed more upper-body activity (P=.03) and larger work:rest ratios (P<.001) than male FC players. No significant gender differences were observed in the overall intermittent demands, distance traveled, high-intensity shuffling activity, and sprinting requirements during game play.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that gender-specific running and dribbling differences might exist in semiprofessional basketball. Furthermore, position-specific variations between female and male basketball players should be considered. These data may prove useful in the development of gender-specific conditioning plans relative to playing position in basketball.


Objective: To evaluate fertilization rate, embryo quality and pregnancy rate in patients undergoing Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) using fresh and cryopreserved ejaculated sperm.
Methods: We carried out an analytical cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection from December 1st, 2017 to May 1st, 2018. We compared two groups of patients undergoing ICSI using ejaculated sperm: group I comprised of those in whom fresh semen was used and group II was comprised of those in whom cryopreserved semen was used. We collected the fertilization rate, embryo quality, and pregnancy rate.
The Odds Ratio was calculated to determine the association between the variables. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. A logistic regression analysis was done.
Results: when OATS sperm was used, we had higher fertilization rate 67, 5% vs. 46, 9%, p=0,042 and better embryo quality on day 3, 95% vs. 5%, p=0.008 with freshly ejaculated sperm against the cryopreserved semen.
After logistic regression, the fertilization rate, embryo quality and pregnancy rate in the fresh and cryopreserved ejaculated semen were similar.
Conclusion: The semen with OATS may be more susceptible to damages caused by cryopreservation, resulting in lower fertilization rate and embryo quality but similar pregnancy rates.


This paper deals with a general dissipative control problem for nonlinear systems with full state feedback. This problem includes positive real control and H/sub /spl infin// control problems as special cases. The paper shows that the solution to the control problem is equivalent to the existence of a solution to a partial differential inequality.


Major depression increases cardiovascular risk despite lower cholesterol levels. Little is known about effects of antidepressants on metabolic risk factors. We studied lipoprotein composition, insulin sensitivity (quantitative insulin sensitivity check index), and saliva cortisol in 78 depressed patients before and after 35 days of amitriptyline or paroxetin treatment. Data were analyzed by principal component factor analyses and analysis of variance (ANOVA). At baseline, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index was inversely correlated with cortisol (r = -0.46; P = 0.005) in normal weight patients, with body mass index in overweight patients (r = -0.50; P < 0.001). In overweight patients, hypercortisolemia correlated inversely with total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (eg, cortisol at 4:00 PM and low density lipoprotein cholesterol: r = -0.49, P = 0.002). After treatment, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index was unchanged. Triglycerides increased in responders to amitriptyline only (P < 0.05). Parameters of cholesterol metabolism improved slightly without differences between treatment groups (eg, high density lipoprotein: pre 43.5 +/- 12.0; post 47.6 +/- 13.0 mg/dL; P = 0.01; low density lipoprotein triglycerides, a measure of low density lipoprotein atherogenicity: pre 458 +/- 120; post 415 +/- 130 mg/g; P < 0,01). The inverse correlation of cortisol and cholesterol, at least in the obese subgroup, proposes a mechanism for the known association of depression with low cholesterol. As determinants of plasma lipids in major depression, we identified body mass index, insulin sensitivity, and cortisol. Although uncontrolled, our data suggest that treatment of depression exerts a mainly beneficial effect on lipid regulation.


This thesis presents a linguistic ethnographic study of language ideologies and identities in a multilingual, university community in Kazakhstan: a university aspiring to put Kazakhstan's 'Trinity of Languages' project, aimed at developing societal tri-lingualism in Kazakh, Russian and English, into practice. Data was collected at a Kazakhstani university from 2012 to 2013, combining participant-observation and fieldnotes, audio recordings and interviews. Drawing on the concept of heteroglossia (Bakhtin 1981), the research investigates how young people draw on ideologies of separate and flexible multilingualism (Blackledge and Creese 2010) and on the often contested indexicalities of Kazakh, Russian and English linguistic resources to negotiate identities as multilingual people in Kazakhstan, particularly in contexts of performance, and stance-taking. Consideration of these ideological and linguistic resources also sheds light on Kazakhstan's wider 'processes of ideological transformation' (Smagulova 2008:195) and their real-life implications for multilingual people. Furthermore, the analysis highlights how participants construct stances towards translanguaging (Garcia 2009) and suggests that acts of contextualisation, which frame interactions as being more or less 'on-stage' or 'off-stage', shape the way that speakers draw on linguistic resources and their indexical meanings, and how these contexts can afford or constrain speaker agency in the negotiation of identities.


Today, a high level of consensus exists regarding the importance of scientific progress and technological innovation for the growth and competitiveness of firms and for the improvement of national economic performance. Indeed, since the early 1970s the economics and management literature has paid special attention to two essential aspects of this phenomenon. The first concerns the formulation and revision of synchronic and diachronic models1 in an effort to identify and explain the constitutive elements as well as the dynamics of technological change. The second concerns the identification and analysis of the macroand micro-level factors influencing and conditioning the innovative performance of firms. Among these, the systemic approach to innovation has emerged during the 1990s as a particularly useful conceptual framework to understand the determinants and consequences of innovation in a useful way (Edquist 1997). The research works presented in this book deal with the analysis of various patterns of developing and using technology capabilities – encompassing the process of innovation in different national and sectoral contexts in Latin America and Europe. The first distinctive feature is that they explore the relationship between microand macro-level processes on a comparative basis, through the analysis of fairly heterogeneous cases. The commonalities lie in the level of observation. At the micro level, technology transfer, implementation and diffusion are considered as organizationally complex processes of knowledge flows and transformations, which pose crucial challenges in terms of the management of expertise (Fleck 1983) and sociotechnical alignment (Molina 1990, 1997). At the macro level, the main concern is usually the influence of structural conditions, such as national, regional and sectoral, social and technological contexts and the trends regarding these processes. Here the concepts of national innovation systems (NIS) and industrial


In this study, R(+)-α-methylbenzylamine-modified magnetic chiral sorbent was synthesized and assessed as a new enantioselective solid phase sorbent for separation of mandelic acid enantiomers from aqueous solutions. The chemical structures and magnetic properties of the new sorbent were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The effects of different variables such as the initial concentration of racemic mandelic acid, dosage of sorbent, and contact time upon sorption characteristics of mandelic acid enantiomers on magnetic chiral sorbent were investigated. The sorption of mandelic acid enantiomers followed a pseudo-second-order reaction and equilibrium experiments were well fitted to a Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity of racemic mandelic acid on to the magnetic chiral sorbent was found to be 405 mg g(-1). The magnetic chiral sorbent has a greater affinity for (S)-(+)-mandelic acid compared to (R)-(-)-mandelic acid. The optimum resolution was achieved with 10 mL 30 mM of racemic mandelic acid and 110 mg of magnetic chiral sorbent. The best percent enantiomeric excess values (up to 64%) were obtained by use of a chiralpak AD-H column.


Thin films of SnS were prepared by spray pyrolysis on Corning 7059 glass substrates using temperatures, T/sub s/, in the range, 200-425/spl deg/C and keeping the other deposition parameters constant. For growth temperatures, T/sub s/=300-360/spl deg/C, the films showed only the SnS phase with a strong (111) orientation. The films formed at other temperatures showed additional phases with deviation from stoichiometry. All the films had p-type conductivity and the resistivity varied from 10/sup 3/ to 10/sup -1/ /spl Omega/-cm. The films had absorption coefficients greater than 10/sup 4/ cm/sup -1/ and the energy band gap of the stoichiometric films was about 1.32 eV. A heterojunction solar cell, n-CdS/p-SnS was produced with an efficiency of about 0.5%.


There have been concerns about antimicrobial resistance since the first widespread use of antibiotics in humans. More recently, this concern has grown and become the focus of clinical, scientific, and political activity. In part, the political interest is a consequence of publicizing a bleak picture of a post‐antibiotic world. There are, however, dangers in using a discourse of fear. In this article, we discuss whether the evidence base is available to justify such claims and, more importantly, put this in the policy context with which it is used. Many governments now use a risk assessment approach to identify security concerns, based on reasonable worst‐case scenarios. There is no doubt that for effective policy‐based action to occur, antimicrobial resistance needs to be seen as a national and international security priority, particularly as the major cost of inaction will mostly be felt in the future. We conclude that presenting the evidence in a manner that is used to encourage prioritization of security policy is not only justified, it is essential to drive action in this area.


Nanoscale CMOS technologies have been widely used to implement radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuits. However, the thinner gate oxide and silicided drain/source in nanoscale CMOS technologies seriously degrade the electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness of RF circuits. Against ESD damage, on-chip ESD protection design must be included in RF circuits. As the RF circuits operating in the higher frequency band, the parasitic effect from ESD protection devices and/or circuits must be strictly limited. To provide the effective ESD protection for a 60-GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) with less RF performance degradation, a new ESD protection design was studied in a 65-nm CMOS process. Such ESD-protected LNA with simulation/measurement results has been successfully verified in silicon chip to to achieve the 2-kV HBM ESD robustness with the lower power loss in a smaller layout area.


Abstract. 1 The western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman, and Douglas‐fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, have been used to test the hypothesis that variation in levels of foliar sugars form part of the basis for plant resistance to herbivore attack. 2 Budworm population growth was evaluated on artificial diets with 2–45% sucrose using a three generation bioassay. Diets with 1.2% and 3.9% N were tested to determine if responses to sugar were dependent on levels of protein. The 3.9% N diets were supplemented with a mineral salt mixture, so they had high levels of N and minerals. 3 The response of budworm population growth to sucrose concentrations ≤20% was convex at 1.2% N and flat for 3.9% N. Population growth on the 1.2% N diet, which had levels of N and minerals similar to host foliage, was good with only 2% sugar, but optimal at the 6% sucrose level; the number of F1, F2 and F3 larvae produced declined substantially when sugar was increased to 11% and 20%. On the 3.9% N diets, population growth was equivalent for diets with 2% and 11% sucrose. Sucrose concentrations ≥29% were detrimental to the budworm at both N levels. 4 Sugar concentrations in Douglas‐fir foliage varied between 5.7% and 18.4%. Thus, results from the 1.2% N experiment indicated that budworm performance was best on diets with sugar concentrations near the lower limit observed for host foliage. This implies that plants with higher foliar sugar may be inferior hosts for the budworm. Field observations supported this conclusion, as putatively resistant Douglas‐fir trees had significantly higher levels of sugars in their foliage than nearby paired susceptible trees. Variation in foliar sugars among individual trees may be part of the mechanism in Douglas‐fir resistance to C.occidentalis damage.


Abstract Squalene, a bloodmeal component secreted by ticks for defense (allomone), was tested for antifungal activity against naturally occurring antagonistic molds isolated from the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say). Temperature-growth profiles separated Aspergillus niger van Tieghem, Penicillium glabrum (Wehmer) Westling and the entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) from slower developing Cladosporium cladosporioides (Fresenius) de Vries and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (Sacc.) Bainier and demonstrated peak growth at 24°C-34°C. In contrast to fast growing fungi, C. cladosporioides and S. brevicaulis showed heightened growth on blood agar but suppressed growth on media supplemented with squalene. Squalene had no effect on the growth of other fungi, indicating its release has minimal significance as a surface antimycotic. Scopulariopsis brevicaulis is endosymbiotic in D. variabilis, and depleting tick secretory (squalene) reserves by leg pinching promoted susceptibility to increasing levels of S. brevicaulis by creating a fungal bloom that killed the tick. We conclude that mycostatic ability of squalene to regulate growth of S. brevicaulis within the tick is more important than its ability to deter fungi from penetrating internally.


3-(3′-Isocyanocyclopent-2-enylidene)propionic acid at a concentration of 2 to 5 μg ml−1 inhibited cellulose digestion by a mixed culture of rumen microorganisms and in other experiments inhibited the degradation of timothy hay (Phleum pratense) in a digestibility test. At isocyanide concentrations of 12 μg ml−1 the fermentation activity of rumen fluid, measured by its dehydrogenase activity, was inhibited but not abolished. All of these isocyanide effects were reversed by the incorporation of nickelous ion into the solutions of the systems under study. The activity of 1 mol of isocyanide is reversed by about 1 mol of Ni2+ and, in the case of the cellulose digestion test, by about 1 mol of Co2+. Of some 15 other ions tested only Pd2+ and possibly chromium reversed the effect of the isocyanide.


Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are encouraged to make an informed decision about dialysis. Survival rates for dialysis are equivalent yet there is wide variation in peritoneal dialysis uptake in the adult UK population. It is unclear how much is attributable to variations in patients' preferences. Kidney function usually declines over months and years; few studies have addressed how a chronic illness context affects choice. This study describes patients' decision making about dialysis and understands how the experience of CKD is associated with treatment choice.


Structural isomers of sucrose, i.e. disaccharides composed of glucose and fructose molecules with different glucosidic linkages, were examined for their effect on the reaction between sucrose and various glucosyltransferases (GTases) from Streptococcus mutans MT8148 and Streptococcus sobrinus 6715. Trehalulose (alpha 1-1), turanose (alpha 1-3), maltulose (alpha 1-4), and palatinose (alpha 1-6) were used as the sucrose analogues. Mutans streptococci were found not to utilize these sucrose analogues. Analysis of enzymatic products of GTase and sucrose with thin layer chromatography clearly revealed that glucan synthesis from [14C]sucrose by the various purified GTase preparations from S. mutans and S. sobrinus was inhibited in the presence of these sucrose analogues except turanose, resulting in the release of increased amounts of [14C]fructose and [14C]oligosaccharides. It was also found that the fructose residues in the oligosaccharides were derived from those of sucrose analogues but not sucrose itself. The Lineweaver-Burk plots of the substrate saturation kinetics of GTase vs sucrose indicated increased Km and Vmax in the presence of sucrose analogue, as compared with sucrose alone. Finally, these sucrose analogues except turanose inhibited sucrose dependent cellular adherence of S. sobrinus 6715 to a glass surface, while they scarcely inhibited the adherence of S. mutans MT8148. Among the analogues, maltulose appeared the most effective inhibitor against GTases in general.


Objectives: This study examined alcohol drinking, smoking, and health behaviors among children in low income families in the after-school program. Methods: Data were collected from 443 children in the 23 free after-school programs which had a network in Gangneung city in South Korea. The items of the questionnaire were selected from the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey (K-NHANS), and the same age group were examined as K-NHANS. Results: The results showed that children in the after-school program had significantly high rate of suicidal ideation, smoking and alcohol drinking, compared to children in general in Korea. The results also showed that participation in physical activities and subjective health status in the children enrolling the free after-school programs were significantly lower than those of general children in Korea. Conclusion: These findings implied that special consideration should be given to the health status and health behaviors of children in low income families who enrolled in the free after-school programs. Based on the findings, we discussed the issue of health inequality of this population and policy implications to alleviate disparities in health status and improve health outcome in this population.


During mitosis, "polar ejection forces" (PEFs) are hypothesized to direct prometaphase chromosome movements by pushing chromosome arms toward the spindle equator. PEFs are postulated to be caused by (i) plus-end-directed microtubule (MT)-based motor proteins on the chromosome arms, namely chromokinesins, and (ii) the polymerization of spindle MTs into the chromosome. However, the exact role of PEFs is unclear, because little is known about their magnitude or their forms (e.g., impulsive vs. sustained, etc.). In this study, we employ optical tweezers to bring about the lateral interaction between chromosome arms and MTs in vitro to directly measure the speed and force of the PEFs developed on chromosome arms. We find that forces are unidirectional and frequently exceed 1 pN, with maximum forces of 2-3 pN and peak velocities of 63 +/- 41 nm/s; the movements are ATP-dependent and exhibit a characteristic noncontinuous motion that includes displacements of >50 nm, stalls, and backwards slippage of the MT even under low loads. We perform experiments using antibodies to the chromokinesins Kid and KIF4 that identify Kid as the principal force-producing agent for PEFs. At first glance, this motor activity appears surprisingly weak and erratic, but it explains how PEFs can guide chromosome movements without severely deforming or damaging the local chromosome structure.


The MLL-partial tandem duplication (MLL-PTD),characterized by the internal duplication of exons 3-9 or 3-11 in the MLL gene, produces an elongated protein, and is considered as a gain-of-function mutation. The MLL-PTD is primarily found in elderly patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemiaas well as healthy individuals.Previously we showed that Mll-PTD knock-in (MllPTD/WT) mice presented enhanced self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and partially blocked differentiation of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Interestingly, Mll-PTD increased the protein level of HIF1A in HSPCs, which is critical for enhanced self-renewal of HSCs. In the current study, we investigated the mechanisms for HIF1A activation by Mll-PTD.
 In normoxia, HIF1A is hydroxylated by prolyl hydroxylases (PHD), resulting in rapid protein degradation via ubiquitination. PHD is one of the well-known enzymes whose activity is dependent on the cellular level of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG), one of the metabolites in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Accumulation of subsequent metabolites of α-KG, such as succinate, fumarate, and malate, inhibits activity of α-KG-dependent enzymes. Indeed, mitochondrial dysfunction is known to result in accumulation of TCA cycle intermediates, leading to activation of HIF signaling. Thus, we first examined if Mll-PTD induces the alteration of mitochondrial functions. Interestingly, cellular respiration and activity of mitochondrial complexes (I, II, and III) were significantly decreased in HSPCs of MllPTD/WT mice, while the copy number of mitochondrial DNA was not altered. These results indicate that suppression of mitochondrial activity is not due to the decrease of the total mitochondria. We also examined mRNA expression levels of several major TCA cycle enzymes, and found that succinate dehydrogenase (Sdh) complex (Sdha, Sdhb, and Sdhd) was significantly downregulated in MllPTD/WT HSPCs. SDH is a critical TCA cycle enzyme which converts succinate to fumarate. Inactivation of SDH is known to result in impairment of mitochondrial biogenesis, a blockade of the TCA cycle, and accumulation of TCA cycle metabolites.
 We next quantified metabolites in glycolysis and TCA cycle in the plasma from WT control and MllPTD/WT mice. NMR analysis revealed that succinate, fumarate, and malate were increased in the plasma of MllPTD/WT mice. Especially, the ratios of fumarate and malate to α-KG were both significantly increased in MllPTD/WT compared to WT control. Indeed, post-α-KG metabolites increased HIF1A protein in human cord blood CD34+cells in vitro, indicating that higher levels of succinate, fumarate, and malate to α-KG levels stabilize HIF1A. We also confirmed that knockdown of Sdh increased the HIF1A protein level in murine cell line in normoxia. These results indicate that downregulation of Sdh in MllPTD/WT is one of the mechanisms for suppression of mitochondrial activity, leading to pseudohypoxia and HIF1A activation.
 Besides PHD, TET and histone lysine demethylases are also α-KG-dependent enzymes. We found that in MllPTD/WT HSPCs, the 5-methylcitosine (5-mC) level was increased in genomic DNA, and trimethylation levels at H3K4, H3K9, H3K36 and H3K79 were also increased. Collectively, these results suggest that metabolic pseudohypoxia due to lower mitochondrial activity not only activates HIF1A signaling but also induces hypermethylation in DNA and histones, through suppression of α-KG-dependent PHD and demethylases.
 In summary, we demonstrate that through suppression of mitochondrial complex II, Mll-PTD causes pseudohypoxia and hypermethylation of the epigenome, which may contribute to expansion of premalignant clones and accumulation of additional mutations in those cells. Interestingly, it has been proposed that IDH mutations are involved in tumorigenesis in leukemias and brain tumors through a similar mechanism. Moreover, loss-of-function mutations of the TCA cycle enzymes, SDH complex, and fumarate hydratase, are frequently found in various solid tumors associated with pseudohypoxia and hypermethylation phenotypes. Further investigations of the impact of metabolic-rewiring-mediated pseudohypoxia/hypermethylation on tumorigenesis may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies to prevent the onset and/or the progression of various types of malignant diseases.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


With the advent of chips that nearly hold 2 billion transistors, low power design is extremely important. We need tools that let us measure the power dissipation of our circuits to choose the lowest power design. For this, we need to generate the inputs that cause the maximum power dissipation in each one of our design choices. In this work we show the results we obtained applying the simulated annealing algorithm in the generation of these input patterns for the ISCAS85 combinational circuits. In our experiments we got for most of the circuits better results than those previously reported elsewhere.


Since the invention of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) [1] and atomic force microscopy (AFM) [2], a new class of local probe microscopes has entered the laboratories around the world. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) uses probing tips to map properties, such as topography, local adhesive forces, elasticity, friction or magnetic properties. In the emerging fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology these types of microscopes help to characterize the nanoworld. In addition, local probes can also be used to modify the surfaces and to perform lithography processes.

AFM, especially, has turned out to be a versatile instrument, which can be operated in various environments, such as liquids, gases or vacuum. High and low temperature versions are available, which allow scientists to explore a large variety of materials. The strategy is not to prepare samples according to the requirements of the microscopy technique, but to perform experiments in its most native state, e.g., to study biological material in liquids. Questions to be addressed originate from almost all scientific areas. One example is the field of molecular electronics, where single molecules are investigated in order to perform specific tasks, e.g., molecular switches, molecular transistors or even molecular processors. In this area, STM and AFM have become essential tools to characterize the structure and function of molecules on surfaces.

AFM has evolved considerably in the last few years, where new operation modes, such as non-contact force microscopy (nc-AFM), Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) or friction force microscopy (FFM), were developed. One main focus is the high resolution capabilities of nc-AFM, which were drastically improved. Atomic resolution on metals, semiconductors [3] and insulators was achieved. Recently, the atomic structure of single molecules was identified by nc-AFM, which gives new opportunities to investigate the local structure of these molecules [4]. In this Thematic Series, the structure of oxides is explored by the combination of nc-AFM. Colour centres are characterized by KPFM and tunnelling spectroscopy. The arrangement of molecules on insulators is another type of application, which is discussed in the present Thematic Series. The ability to measure across phase transitions gives insight into fascinating phenomena, such as metal-superconductor transitions or metal-insulator transitions.

Another important development is related to nanomechanics, where phenomena, such as friction, wear, elasticity and plasticity are studied on an atomic scale. Atomic friction has been studied in great detail, where the main mechanism is related to atomic instabilities, which lead to the characteristic stick slip behaviour. The loading and velocitiy dependence were interpreted in terms of a thermally activated Prandtl–Tomlinson-model [5–6]. The transition into the superlubricity regime was observed for incommensurate contacts [7] and for contacts at low loads [8]. Furthermore, the control of atomic friction was achieved by electrostatic and mechanical actuation of the nanoscale contacts [8]. In this Thematic Series, a microfabricated tribometer bridges the gap between the nanometer-scale to the micron scale of micromachinery. Mechanical actuation is used to reduce friction of these micro contacts.

An important aspect of SPM is the possibility to modify surfaces. The probing tip can be either used to push or pull atoms, molecules or particles across surfaces. These experiments give information about the local bonding and to explore friction and wear mechanisms. Two different regimes were observed, which were related to the commensurability of the contacts [9]. The manipulation of a large number of particles gives also access to the size and shapes of the particles [10] and is discussed in this Thematic Series as well.

A schematic drawing of the family of scanning probe microscopes in Fig. 1 demonstrates how fast and diverse this field of research develops. I hope that this Thematic Series will help the reader to get insights in this fascinating world. Furthermore, I want to thank the colleagues for their excellent contributions.

Figure 1

Scanning probe microscopy: A large familiy of microscopes, which have in common that they use local probes to characterize surfaces. AFM: Atomic Force MicroscopySTM: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, PDM: Phase Detection Microscopy, FMM: Force Modulation ...

Ernst Meyer

Basel, December 2010


The clinical presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS) with psychiatric symptoms is uncommon but it is believed that MS patients are twice as likely to be afflicted with bipolar disorder as the general population. We report two cases (mother and daughter) of MS presenting with bipolar disorder in the form of recurrent manic psychosis and whose outcome was favourable with neuroleptics and corticosteroids. In both cases we found multiple hypersignal lesions on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially in the right frontal lobe where we observed signs of activity. Apart from clinical and radiological concordance, the patients exhibited similar class I HLA alleles and identical class II HLA alleles. We focused discussion on whether there may be a common genetic susceptibility to both illnesses or whether MS caused psychiatric manifestations. The coincidence of psychiatric and neurological symptoms in most relapses supports the second hypothesis.


A series of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based copolymers, with DPP and bithiophene (BT) as the electron-acceptor and donor backbone units, respectively, are synthesized with branched alkyl side chains that are either directly coupled to the N-positions of DPP or separated by an alkyl ester group. The ester moieties in the side chains induce specific cohesive molecular interactions between these side chains, as compared to the alkyl-only side chains with weak van der Waals interactions. Structure analysis of the DPPBT-based copolymers demonstrated that the introduction of a proper alkyl ester spacer to the branched alkyl chains can shorten the π-π stacking distance between the DPPBT backbones down to 3.61 Å and promote the development of two-dimensionally extended domains. DPPBT-based copolymers, including different branched alkyl ester-labeled side chains, are spun-cast on polymer-treated SiO2 dielectrics from dilute chloroform solutions for organic thin-film transistors. A DPPBT-based copolymer with properly engineered side chains (i.e., 2-decyltetradecyl ester-labeled side chains) shows the highest hole mobility of 2.30 cm2 V-1 s-1 and an on/off current ratio of above 106.


COACHES' AND PRINCIPALS' CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF THE ROLES OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS COACHES Gwenanne M. Salkind, Ph.D. George Mason University, 2010 Dissertation Director: Jennifer Suh, Ph.D. Many schools employ coaches to support mathematics instruction and student learning. This research study investigated the roles of coaches from five school districts in Virginia. Participants included 125 elementary mathematics coaches and 59 principals. Results from cross-sectional surveys revealed that most coaches did not have a degree in mathematics education or hold a mathematics specialist endorsement. Principals did not value the mathematics specialist endorsement as a selection criterion as much as they valued other criteria. Coaches were serving in multiple roles, predominantly acting as classroom supporters, resource providers, instructional specialists, and data coaches. They were also acting as pull-out teachers, providing remediation to students. Coaches' work with teachers was largely determined by teachers' comfort level and willingness to be coached. Principals thought classroom supporter, catalyst for change, instructional specialist, data coach, and school leader were the most important roles. Statistically significant differences showed that principals and coaches disagreed about the importance of three coaching roles (catalyst for change, school leader, and resource provider). Many principals were not aware that they did not share common understandings with their coaches about the coaches' roles and responsibilities, their vision of mathematics instruction, and their mutual communication.


# 2000 International Union of Crystallography Printed in Denmark ± all rights reserved Trichomaglin, a novel ribosome-inactivating protein, has been crystallized in two crystal forms using the hanging-drop vapourdiffusion method. The form A and form B crystals belong to the orthorhombic space group P212121 and the hexagonal space group P61 (or P65), respectively. X-ray data have been collected to 3.3 and 2.2 AÊ resolution for the form A and B crystals, respectively. Received 18 May 2000 Accepted 28 July 2000


As a decisive factor in the formation of a glassy phase from a silicate or borate melt on cooling, the crit. rate of cooling (vcr) was studied for the system Na2O 0-50 mole-B2O3 by the systematic measurement of the cooling rate conditions controlling crystn. from the melt on cooling, or from glass by heating. The WELCH thermocouple heating device (cf. Gossink, 1970) was used by which the beginning of crystn. during cooling and heating could be obsd., and thus the vcr was calcd. for 1 mg samples. The log of vcr as a function of the Na2O concn. in the binary mixts. coincides when plotted on the temp.-mole fraction projection of the phase diagram with the max. of congruent fusion-crystn. equil. for the stoichiometric ratios Na2O:B2O3 = 1:1; 1:2; 1:4; the min. of the log vcr curve coincided with the compn. of binary eutectica with 30 and 34 mole Na2O. There is a min. for the peritectic equil. for the 1:3 compn. The temp. of the first indication of crystn. in the melt on cooling (Tcm), and in the glass on heating (Tcg) were detd. at a rate of +-1 Deg/sec. The interval between Tcm and Tcg indicates the presence of easily crystallizing compns., and crit. temp. ranges which must be passed as rapidly as possible to avoid devitrification


Abstract. Accurate estimations of adult mortality are essential for understanding population dynamics and achieving efficient management actions that are directed toward long-lived species. Several noninvasive methods may be used to monitor endangered long-lived birds like raptors, but their performance in real-world scenarios remains poorly studied. We used eight Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) breeding pairs (1) to compare the efficiency of direct observations with binoculars and telescopes (2004–2016), camera trapping (2012–2016), and feather genetic analysis (2004–2015) for detecting and identifying individuals over time, (2) to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of methods, and (3) to evaluate the accuracy of the direct observation method for estimating survival by comparing it with camera trapping and feather analysis. Both the feather genetic analysis and camera trapping approaches allowed us to successfully identify individuals and to detect replacements that we did not notice during direct observations. The classic direct observation method overestimated adult survival, which could hamper an accurate understanding of the demographic dynamics of this population. Feather analysis gave a low detection rate of individuals (47%), probably due to difficulties in finding feathers in the rugged habitat of this species. However, identification success at the individual level with this method was 96%. Remote camera surveys had both a high detection rate (100%) and identification success (93%). Given that costs associated with camera surveys were lower than the costs of genetic procedures, we concluded that camera trapping is the most efficient indirect method to assess adult survival in this and other raptors with external features that make individual identification possible. However, because no method showed complete efficiency, genotyping of feathers collected at the end of the breeding season could be a useful additional method, especially when camera trapping is not possible or when it fails.


The National Hospital for Speech Disorders opened its doors seventeen years ago. Thousands of young men and women have availed themselves of our clinical services, 70 per cent of whom were given free treatment. Incidentally, since I opened the clinic we have handled over 15,000 stutterers, besides several thousand nonstuttering speech defectives. Stuttering is herein defined as that speech phenomenon which is characterized (1) by tonic and clonic spasms of the vocal tract, which (2) result in conversational difficulty characterized by hesitancy. Theoretically, it is assumed that the stutterer type personality in one born with a special organic structure having constitutional factors which all but parallel the constitutional factors of the nonstutterer type. The stutter type is an extremely sensitive personality, in which the emotional range always overreaches that of the nonstutterer type. This human organism is not always destined to stuttering speech. Only an environment of opposition accentuating the


A new adaptive multiple access scheme based on the theory of order statistics is introduced. Because the proposed low-complexity method requires relatively small channel information overhead and processing delays, it can be feasible in fast-fading environments and systems with large number of users. Numerical results reveal significant system performance improvement over conventional approaches.


The impact of numerous diseases has been linked to differences in sex between organisms, including various neurological diseases. As neuropeptides are known to be key players in the nervous system, studying the variation of neuropeptidomic profiles between males and females in a crustacean model organism is of interest. By using high-resolution mass spectrometry with two complementary ionization sources in conjunction with quantitative chemical labeling (isotopic reductive dimethylation), differences were observed in five key neural tissues and hemolymph. Interestingly, while males and females possess numerous neuropeptide isoforms that are unique to their sex, the represented families of each sex remain largely consistent. However, some differences in familial isoforms were also observed, such as the relative numbers of neuropeptides belonging to RFamide and allatostatin A-type families. Additionally, >100 neuropeptides detected across five neural tissues and hemolymph were found to have statistically significant differences in abundance between male and female blue crab samples. Also, hundreds of putative peptide sequences were identified by de novo sequencing that may be indicative of previously undiscovered neuropeptides, highlighting the power of using a multifaceted MS approach.


During polar spring, periods of elevated tropospheric bromine drive near complete removal of surface ozone. These events impact the tropospheric oxidative capacity and are an area of active research with multiple approaches for representing the underlying processes in global models. We present a method for parameterizing emissions of molecular bromine (Br2) over the Arctic using satellite retrievals of bromine monoxide (BrO) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). OMI retrieves column BrO with daily near global coverage, and we use the GEOS‐Chem chemical mechanism, run online within the Goddard Earth Observing System Earth System Model to identify hotspots of BrO likely associated with polar processes. To account for uncertainties in modeling background BrO, hotspots are only identified where the difference between OMI and modeled columns exceeds a statistical threshold. The resulting hotspot columns are a lower‐limit for the portion of OMI BrO attributable to bromine explosion events. While these hotspots are correlated with BrO measured in the lower troposphere over the Arctic Ocean, a case study of missing detections of near‐surface BrO is identified. Daily flux of Br2 is estimated from hotspot columns of BrO using internal model parameters. When the emissions are applied, BrO hotspots are modeled with a 5% low bias. The sensitivity of the resulting ozone simulations to the treatment of background uncertainties in the BrO column is demonstrated. While periods of isolated, large (>50%) decreases in surface ozone are modeled, this technique does not simulate the low ozone observed at coastal stations and consistently underestimates ozone loss during March.


The familial character of vitamin-D-resistant rickets has been mentioned in the past, yet the exact mode of its inheritance has been neglected. There have been postulations of the dominant character of the trait, but this has been surmised from a few isolated cases which have not received sufficient attention with regard to the entire family history. The disease was first described by Albright, Butler, and Bloomberg 1 and the familial tendency was soon recognized by Gill 2 and Christensen. 3 Since Pederson and McCarroll 4 found this disease to be a leading cause of dwarfism in their clinic, the determination of the mechanism of inheritance is important from the standpoint of family counseling. The purpose of this paper is to report an additional case of vitamin-D-resistant rickets in a child whose family history is rather striking in that five generations of her family show members to be affected with this


Unmixing based denoising for hyperspectral images is a recent addition to the literature, and aims to reconstruct the data using noise-free and pure spectral signatures and their abundances. Unmixing based denoising has the potential of providing enhanced denoising performance by excluding the noise effects in the endmember and abundance matrices, and also enables selective elimination of effects such as cloudiness, if specific endmembers can be extracted for such effects. This paper proposes a superpixel segmentation and spectral unmixing based denoising and destriping approach for hyperspectral images. Superpixel segmentation enables integrating spatial information into the unmixing process efficiently without complex optimization procedures or a multitude of parameters, as in most spatial preprocessing approaches. The proposed methodology uses a single parameter, and provides fast and enhanced denoising performance with respect to previously proposed unmixing based denoising approaches for hyperspectral images.


The article is devoted to the problem of professional burnout, which has not lost its relevance both theoretically and in practice for several decades. The activity of a teacher is characterized by communicative and emotional saturation, increased responsibility, which is one of the factors of burnout. At the same time, it is noted that nowadays the socio-economic changes taking place all over the world strengthen the effect of unfavorable factors of the professional environment, increasing the level of psycho-emotional stress of teachers. Despite the research data showing that university professors are less prone to professional burnout, compared with their colleagues at other levels of education, this phenomenon is becoming commonplace in the system of higher education. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to study the features of professional burnout of university professors in comparison with school teachers. The study was conducted with the use of the questionnaire "Professional burnout" (N.E. Vodopyanova, E.S. Starchenkova), which allows to determine both the level of burnout and the expressiveness of its structural components. The study showed exposure to university professors' professional burnout: all employees in various degrees showed signs of burnout, while a high level of professional burnout was diagnosed in 40.8% of university professors of Mari State University (Russia). It was found out that they have all indicators of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. The peculiarity of university professors' burnout is the structural coherence and homogeneity of professional burnout, the relationship with the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents: the length of work experience, the position.


Orthogonal drawings, i.e., embeddings of graphs into grids, are a classic topic in Graph Drawing. Often the goal is to find a drawing that minimizes the number of bends on the edges. A key ingredient for bend minimization algorithms is the existence of an orthogonal representation that allows to describe such drawings purely combinatorially by only listing the angles between the edges around each vertex and the directions of bends on the edges, but neglecting any kind of geometric information such as vertex coordinates or edge lengths. Barth et al. [2] have established the existence of an analogous ortho-radial representation for ortho-radial drawings, which are embeddings into an ortho-radial grid, whose gridlines are concentric circles around the origin and straight-line spokes emanating from the origin but excluding the origin itself. While any orthogonal representation admits an orthogonal drawing, it is the circularity of the ortho-radial grid that makes the problem of characterizing valid ortho-radial representations all the more complex and interesting. Barth et al. prove such a characterization. However, the proof is existential and does not provide an efficient algorithm for testing whether a given ortho-radial representation is valid, let alone actually obtaining a drawing from an ortho-radial representation. In this paper we give quadratic-time algorithms for both of these tasks. They are based on a suitably constrained left-first DFS in planar graphs and several new insights on ortho-radial representations. Our validity check requires quadratic time, and a naive application of it would yield a quartic algorithm for constructing a drawing from a valid ortho-radial representation. Using further structural insights we speed up the drawing algorithm to quadratic running time.


Unlike the mammalian fetus, whose growth is supported by the sustained provision of maternal nutrients, poultry embryos undergo development in a relatively closed space, and the yolk sac serves as the sole nutrient supply for embryonic development throughout the whole incubation period. To increase our understanding of the muscle developmental patterns in the final stage of incubation and early days posthatching, we used late‐term duck embryos and newly hatched ducklings as animal models. Pectoralis muscle samples were collected at 22 days (22E) of incubation, 25 days (25E) of incubation, hatching and day 7 posthatching. The pectoralis muscle mass, muscle fibre bundles and myofibre cross‐sectional area showed a marked reduction from 22E to hatching, but they increased dramatically by day 7 posthatching. The mRNA expression of Atrogin‐1, a key mediator of the ubiquitin system responsible for protein degradation, increased dramatically with the age of late‐term duck embryos, but it decreased by day 7 and reached a very low level. The extent of mRNA expression of FoxO1, one of the transcription factors of the Atrogin‐1 gene, exhibited a transient increase at 25E and then decreased from hatching to day 7. The phosphorylated p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (S6K1)/S6K1 ratio exhibited a dramatic reduction from 22E to hatching (P < 0.05) and then increased by day 7. The results of the present study indicated that there was a developmental transition of pectoralis muscle from atrophy in late‐term duck embryos to hypertrophy in neonates.


There are several common engineering composites that are designed to take advantage of manufactured residual stresses. Concrete may be designed with pre-stressed steel tendons. Engineering ceramic composites may be designed with mismatch in thermal properties of the components to produce residual stresses and enhance crack deflection properties. Metal matrix composites may also be designed with mismatch in elastic properties of the component to enhance crack deflection properties.The objective of this work is to explore the possibility of designing a spiral wound pipe with enhanced mechanical properties. Consider a sheet of steel wound into a spiral in preparation for welding into pipe. Consider then that it is twisted prior to and during welding of the spiral. When the weld solidifies and the torque is released, the pipe would, in principle, maintain some of the stress of the twist. The spiral could be twisted either "inwards" or "outwards" prior to the weld, and the result would be residual tension or compression.This work is based entirely on theory and analysis. Analyses are performed that predict the residual stresses incurred during the proposed manufacturing technique, and the resulting stresses due in-service conditions. In principle, pipe design and manufacture could be adjusted for either onshore pipelines subject to internal pressure, or offshore pipelines subject to hydrostatic pressures at depth. Both possibilities are considered.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


BACKGROUND
This study was undertaken to determine the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous lateral internal sphincterotomy (SLIS) for chronic anal fissure by assessing the relief of defecatory pain, duration of wound healing and associated complications such as bleeding, infection, and anal incontinence.

METHODS
This descriptive case series was carried out at the Department of Surgery, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad from September 1, 2008 to February 28, 2009.

RESULTS
Out of fifty patients 31 were males and 19 were females. The mean age was 30.04 ± 8.49 years. Defecatory pain and bleeding per rectum were the commonest symptoms, found among all patients. Symptomatic relief of pain following surgery was observed among all patients at 4th week while all fissures healed at 8th week. At 4th weeks follow-up visit none of the patients had flatus incontinence while at 8th weeks all patients had good faecal continence. Majority (76%) of the patients were managed as Day case or Extended day case surgeries. There was no in-hospital mortality in this case series.

CONCLUSION
SLIS is a valuable surgical procedure for patients with chronic anal fissure. It is effective and safe, offers quick relief of defecatory pain, and promotes early fissure healing without being attended by any major complications. The initial transient incontinence of flatus and faeces improves spontaneously over few weeks period. Majority of the patients are manageable on day case or extended day case surgery basis.


Prepaid cards, also commonly referred to as stored-value cards, are typically credit card-sized pieces of plastic that contain or represent an amount of pre-loaded value. They include a wide range of payment products, such as gift cards, payroll cards, teen cards, and travel cards. Despite significant product innovations, it is unclear whether and how existing federal and state laws that apply to other financial products (e.g., checks, credit cards, deposit accounts) apply to the different varieties of prepaid cards. Overall, the law in this area is very much unsettled. In an effort to understand the legal and regulatory issues facing prepaid cards, the Center invited Judith Rinearson, chief counsel to American Express' electronic stored-value business, to present a workshop on the topic. This paper provides highlights from Rinearson's presentation. It analyzes the different kinds of prepaid card products on the market and the federal and state laws that potentially apply to them.


The objective of the present study was to evaluate the clinical and laboratory alterations and hepatic lesions caused by the intake of Crotalaria spectabilis in sheep. Fifteen ewes (unknown breed) were used, which were allocated into three groups of 5 animals. These groups received milled C. spectabilis seeds in their feed over 28 days, with inclusion rates of 0.4% (G1), 0.6% (G2) and 1% (G3). Blood samples and hepatic biopsies for histology were drawn at: T0 (day before the seeds were included in the diet), T1 (7 days after the seeds were included), T2 (14 days), T3 (21 days) and T4 (28 days). The results were submitted to variance analysis (ANOVA) using Statistical Analysis System software (SAS), and differences between the means were compared by the Tukey posttest (p < 0.05). Only one animal from G3 presented clinical signs of intoxication at T3. The results from the hematological parameters were within the normal range for this species. Serum activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatine phosphokinase (CK) did not show significant differences among the groups, whereas gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity was significantly different between G1 (33.66 ± 25.8 U/L) and G2 (67.3 ± 14.8 U/L) at T0. Ultrasonography evaluation revealed hepatic alterations throughout the experimental period, which was confirmed by histology. Therefore, analyses of hemogram and hepatic function alone do not have diagnostic value for C. spectabillis intoxication in sheep, and it is necessary to perform additional tests, such as ultrasonography and percutaneous liver biopsies.


Ovules are complex structures that are present in all seed bearing plants and are contained within the carpels in flowering plants. Ovules are the site of megasporogenesis and megagametogenesis and, following fertilization, develop into seeds. We combined genetic methods with anatomical and morphological analyses to dissect ovule development. Here, we present a detailed description of the morphological development of Arabidopsis ovules and report on the isolation of two chemically induced mutants, bell (bel1) and short integuments (sin1), with altered ovule development. Phenotypic analyses indicated that bel1 mutants initiate a single integument-like structure that develops aberrantly, sin1 mutants initiate two integuments, but growth of the integuments is disrupted such that cell division continues without normal cell elongation. Both mutants can differentiate archesporial cells, but neither forms a normal embryo sac. Genetic analyses indicated that bel1 segregates as a single recessive mutation, and complementation tests showed that the two mutants are not allelic. The phenotypes of the mutants indicate that normal morphological development of the integuments and proper embryo sac formation are interdependent or are governed in part by common pathways. The ovule mutants that we describe in Arabidopsis represent novel genetic tools for the study of this stage of reproductive development.


A plasma confined in a dipole field exhibits unique equilibrium and stability properties. In particular, equilibria exist at all beta values and these equilibria are found to be stable to ballooning modes when they are interchange stable. When a kinetic treatment is performed at low beta, a drift temperature gradient mode is also found which couples to the MHD mode in the vicinity of marginal interchange stability.