sultation. At that time, his visual acuity was 20/40 OD and 20/25 OS. Mild to moderate conjunctival redness and swelling were noted. By slit-lamp biomicroscopy multiple tarantula hairs were seen at all depths of both corneas. Some hairs were also noted to protrude through Descemet's membrane posteriorly into the anterior chamber. Hairs embedded in the corneal stroma were surrounded by focal, whitish, intrastromal infiltrates, while hairs protruding posteriorly into the anterior chamber were encapsulated with dense, 'mutton fat' inflammatory precipitates (Fig 1). A mild iritis was also present. The remainder of the ocular examination showed nothing remarkable. As the spider hairs appeared deeply embedded in the corneas, we did not attempt to remove them. In order to reduce the existing inflammatory reaction in the anterior eye segment, topical corticosteroids were instilled in both eyes about 10 times each day during waking hours. A rapid decrease in the ocular inflammation was observed within 48 hours, and the corticosteroid eyedrops were tapered slowly over a period of three months. The embedded hairs gradually underwent resorption, and by 10 months none were visible. The visual acuity returned to 20/20 in both eyes, and the patient has remained symptom-free. The irritative effects of tarantula hairs are thought to be mainly mechanical,'2 though a toxic chemical or hypersensitivity phenomenon has not been ruled out. Cooke et al.' classified the hairs from Theraphosid spiders into four types. In small mammals, such as mice, a generalised inflammatory reaction from type IV hairs involving the respiratory tract may produce death from asphyxia. It is believed that type III hairs, which are long and thin with many sturdy barbs, are most likely to penetrate skin and cause severe urticaria in humans. Brachypelma smithi, a large colourful species native to Mexico and often sold in pet stores, has type III hairs. Eye injury from hairs have included keratitis, conjunctivitis, iritis, and putative chorioretinal scarring.34 We recommend that extreme caution be exercised during and after handling these spiders. Patients suspected of having ocular injuries should be examined closely by slit-lamp biomicroscopy. PATRICIA C T CHANG H KAZ SOONG W. K. Kellogg Eye Center, University ofMichigan, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105, USA JAMESM BARNETT 315 EastSherman Boulevard, Muskegon, Michigan 49444, USA


Cooperative co-evolution is often used to solve difficult op timization problems by means of problem decomposition. In order to do so efficiently, one must have a good understanding of co-evolution's dynamical behavior. To build such understanding, we have constructed a methodology for analyzing co-evolution based on dynamical systems theory. In this paper we show how it can be applied to investigate the effects that collaboration methods have on performance and to identify a problem property relevant in this respect.


Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) and next generation sequencing studies (NGSS) are often performed in family studies to improve power in identifying genetic variants that are associated with clinical phenotypes. Efficient analysis of genome‐wide studies with familial data is challenging due to the difficulty in modeling shared but unmeasured genetic and/or environmental factors that cause dependencies among family members. Existing genetic association testing procedures for family studies largely rely on generalized estimating equations (GEE) or linear mixed‐effects (LME) models. These procedures may fail to properly control for type I errors when the imposed model assumptions fail. In this article, we propose the Sequence Robust Association Test (SRAT), a fully rank‐based, flexible approach that tests for association between a set of genetic variants and an outcome, while accounting for within‐family correlation and adjusting for covariates. Comparing to existing methods, SRAT has the advantages of allowing for unknown correlation structures and weaker assumptions about the outcome distribution. We provide theoretical justifications for SRAT and show that SRAT includes the well‐known Wilcoxon rank sum test as a special case. Extensive simulation studies suggest that SRAT provides better protection against type I error rate inflation, and could be much more powerful for settings with skewed outcome distribution than existing methods. For illustration, we also apply SRAT to the familial data from the Framingham Heart Study and Offspring Study to examine the association between an inflammatory marker and a few sets of genetic variants.


PUBLISHED RESEARCH in this area during the years 1943-45 is confined to questionnaire studies. Current literature indicates recognition of the importance of placing a graduate in a school situation where he would receive sympathetic and constructive guidance and in a position for which he is best adapted by personal and professional qualifications (8). However, there is little evidence to show that conditions have improved in this respect. Current trends indicate greater emphasis on follow-up studies and problems connected with induction of the teacher in the profession.


Many light emitting diode (LED) phosphors have overlapping emission and absorption bands, such as Ce 3+ -doped garnets and Eu 2+ -doped silicates, nitrides, and oxynitrides. These overlapping bands inevitably lead to self-absorption effects through either non-radiative energy transfer mediated via electron-electron correlation process or actual emission and radiative energy transfer which involves emission and absorption of a photon due to spectral overlap. The first process has been often discussed in the literature. The second process has been investigated in this work through a semi-quantitative formalism. Spectral shift, changes in emission peak shape, photoluminescent conversion efficiency, and phosphor characterization are discussed in light of self-absorption. The simulated results are compared to experimental data and shown to correlate well with observed data.


Shrimp aquaculture industry is playing a vital role in Malaysia agricultural economy, especially its increasing contribution to balance of trade of agricultural products.
Brackish water white shrimp production is the main contributor of Malaysian shrimp aquaculture industry. However, Malaysian brackish water white shrimp production is
facing low productivity performance and issue of environmental degradation that caused by shrimp culturing. Hence, this study attempts to measure technical,
allocative and cost efficiency, and production risk of Malaysian brackish water white shrimp production. Parametric (stochastic frontier analysis) and non parametric
approaches (data envelopment analysis) are applied in this study. In this study, dependent variables are production of white shrimp and cost of production; while independent variables are quantity of inputs (labour, feed and seed) and price of inputs (labour, feed and seed). In addition, the factors such as full-time, farmer"s age, education level, experience, seminar, land ownership, pond size, number of ponds, pond age, fertilization, size of fry and culturing days are applied in technical inefficiency and cost inefficiency analyses. Average scores of technical, allocative and cost efficiency that generated by parametric approach are 54.7%, 66.3% and 36.4%, respectively. While average scores of technical, allocative and cost efficiency
that generated by non parametric approach are 43.3%, 59.9% and 26.1%, respectively. Besides, result of production risk analysis indicated that labour is considered as a risk decreasing input, but feed and seed are considered as risk
increasing inputs. Results of parametric and non parametric approaches consistently showed that factor of seminar negatively and significantly affect technical inefficiency and cost inefficiency. Hence, government authority should organize more seminars that related to shrimp aquaculture, management, accounting and motivation for the shrimp farmers. Besides, government authority should implement
mandatory attendance at seminar for the shrimp farmers. Efficiency performance of Malaysian brackish water white shrimp production needs to be improved in order to achieve higher productivity, at the same time minimize the environmental degradation.


The PSSRU undertakes research into health and social care issues, and receives some funding from the Department of Health. The focus of the Unit's work is community-based long-term care, particularly in relation to services for older people and people with mental health problems. Increasingly , the research spans the interface between health and social care. This study, The systematic evaluation of the development and impact of the single assessment process in England, is being undertaken at the University of Man-chester. It has been commissioned by the Department of Health as part of the research programme to support the National Service Framework for Older People. The project has two aims. The first is to review the conduct of assessment across health and social care in order to highlight key issues in the initial implementation of the Single Assessment Process (SAP). The second is to evaluate its impact from the perspective of multiple stakeholders: users; managers in health and social services; and professionals including specialist clinicians. A literature review has explored key issues in implementation of the SAP derived from previous research in both the UK and overseas. This has been supplemented by a focus group comprising SAP lead officers in the North West of England in order to highlight the issues of particular relevance to those charged with the task of implementing the new arrangements for the assessment of older people in localities. Some of the key messages from this are summarised in this document. In the research, data will be collected at three levels – national, authority and individual service user – to evaluate the impact of the SAP in five parts: n a national survey of SAP lead officers to identify who coordinates assessment, the types of material collected and whether this is shared electronically. n data from specialist clinicians in ge-riatric medicine and old age psychiatry will be collected to explore the extent to which medical practitioners are involved in the SAP. n a sample of older people being assessed at the point at which entry to a care home is being considered will be compared with data collected previously to explore if the introduction of the SAP has led to a more effective identification of needs. n a sample of older people in receipt of care management in three local authorities will be compared to data collected previously to explore if care packages are more closely aligned …


Pelviscopy, a surgical technique employing new apparatuses and instruments, has replaced the classic laparotomy in gynecology in over 75% of cases. According to an organ-oriented surgical catalogue, pelviscopic surgery has proven to be successful in the treatment of ectopic pregnancy (nearly 100%), ovarian cyst enucleation, oophorectomy, and myoma enucleation. In cases of extensive bowel and omental adhesiolysis, pain-free status is achieved in 60%. Second-look and repelviscopy enhance the success rate of adhesiolysis. The results achieved in Kiel have been statistically proven in over 15,000 peliviscopies.


Presents the first report of successful electrical operation of electrostatic micromotors in liquid environments. Surface-micromachined polysilicon harmonic (wobble) side-drive micromotors with flange and center-pin bearing designs are studied. Micromotor operation in four liquid environments including acetone, methanol, deionized (DI) water, and silicone lubricating oil is investigated. Of these liquids, we have successfully achieved electrical operation of flange and center-pin bearing micromotors in DI water and silicone lubricating oil.


Urban waterfront redevelopment, in port cities and other cities on water, is still largely confined to advanced countries. However, it is now impacting upon developing countries as they seek to revive historic cities in post-colonial contexts, including Islamic renewal, urban conservation and tourism development. These trends raise a variety of policy issues and problems, increasingly debated in an expanding literature, and invite comparison between contrasted case studies. This paper attempts to situate Zanzibar's Stone Town waterfront within a theoretical framework originally based on European and North American experience but increasingly influenced by global trends.


The aim of this study is to investigate the structural transformations of erbium oxide (Er2O3) dielectric which can be used as a sensitive region in the new generation RadFET radiation sensors under a high gamma dose. The Er2O3 film was grown on n-type Si (100) by RF magnetron sputtering and film thickness was measured as 118 nm. The samples were irradiated by a 60Co radioactive source with the doses of 1 kGy, 25 kGy, and 50 kGy. The crystal structure samples were analysed by the X-ray diffraction method. The variation in the bond properties of the as-deposited Er2O3 film was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The pre-irradiation Er2O3 film demonstrated an amorphous structure, and the peaks belonging to the cubic phase were observed after irradiation, their density increasing with increasing the dose. The Er 4d spectra of the Er2O3/Si films were two fitted peaks indicating Er-Er and Er-O bonds, except for the interface. The binding energy shifted to higher energies with increasing the depth from due to possible ErSiOx formation at the interface. The Si-O/Er-O and M/O ratios change with the applied dose and film depth.


Graphene, a new material for the electron-device community, has many extraordinary properties. Especially, it provides a perfect platform to explore the unique electronic property in absolutely two-dimensions. However, most electronic applications are handicapped by the absence of a semiconducting gap in pristine graphene. To control the semiconducting properties of graphene, doping is regarded as one of the most feasible methods. Herein, a brief review is given on the recent research progress of graphene doping, which is roughly divided into three categories: First, the hetero atom doping, including arc discharge, chemical vapor deposition, electrothermal reaction and ion-irradiation approaches; Second, the chemical modification strategy; Third, the method of electrostatic field tuning. In addition, the various potential applications of the above doping methods are also introduced.


Ovarian squamous cell carcinoma is a rare and aggressive ovarian neoplasm, where most of the cases arise from mature teratoma, which represents up to 20% of all ovarian tumors. Moreover, primary squamous cell carcinoma is considered to be related to human papillomavirus infection. The diagnosis is difficult and metastasis from bladder, genital tract, lung, and digestive tract cancers must be ruled out. There are no guidelines for treatment, however, radical surgery combined with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are the most common approach. We present the case of a young women diagnosed with a de novo ovarian squamous cell carcinoma, as well as the treatment and follow-up that she received.


The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal pathway plays a central role in regulating tumor cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation. The components of this pathway, Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK, are frequently activated in human cancers. Targeting this pathway is considered to be a promising anticancer strategy. In particular, MEK is an attractive drug target due to its high selectivity to ERK. We can expect potent growth inhibitory and proapoptotic effects by inhibiting MEK. We synthesized derivatives of N-[2-(2-Chloro-4-iodo-phenylamino)-3,4-difluorophenyl] -methanesulfonamide as novel MEK1/2 inhibitors. Among these compounds, we found SMK-17 to be a potent MEK1/2 inhibitor with high aqueous solubility. The in silico docking study suggested that SMK-17 be bound to an allosteric pocket of MEK1. The kinetics study and kinase profiler analysis confirmed the allosteric character of SMK-17. SMK-17 inhibited MEK1 kinase activity by a non-ATP-competitive manner and it was highly selective to MEK1 and 2. SMK-17 inhibited the growth of tumor cell lines in vitro. Especially, it seemed that cell lines harboring highly phosphorylated MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 were highly sensitive to SMK-17. Moreover, unlike previously reported MEK inhibitors, PD184352 or U0126, SMK-17 did not inhibit phosphorylation of ERK5. In vivo, SMK-17 exhibited potent antitumor activity in animal models by oral administration. SMK-17 selectively blocked the MAPK pathway signaling without affecting other signal pathways, which resulted in significant antitumor efficacy without notable side effects. In conclusion, we found very potent MEK inhibitor SMK-17 from our structure-activity correlation study of new derivative series of diphenyl amine sulfonamide. Kinase profiler and kinetics study revealed that SMK-17 is a non-ATP-competitive and highly selective MEK1/2 inhibitor. Moreover, SMK-17 exhibited potent antitumor activity in animal models by oral administration. SMK-17 selectively blocked the MAPK pathway signaling without affecting other signal pathways both in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that SMK-17 is a useful chemical biology tool for characterizing the function of MEK/MAPK signaling. Furthermore, we are now investigating the combination effects of SMK-17 with several drugs, and studying about prediction marker of this compound. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B133.


A method is presented for the electric-field-directed self-assembly of higher-order structures composed of alternating layers of biotin nanoparticles and streptavidin-/avidin-conjugated enzymes carried out on a microelectrode array device. Enzymes included in the study were glucose oxidase (GOx), horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and alkaline phosphatase (AP); all of which could be used to form a light-emitting microscale glucose sensor. Directed assembly included fabricating multilayer structures with 200 nm or 40 nm GOx-avidin-biotin nanoparticles, with AP-streptavidin-biotin nanoparticles, and with HRP-streptavidin-biotin nanoparticles. Multilayered structures were also fabricated with alternate layering of HRP-streptavidin-biotin nanoparticles and GOx-avidin-biotin nanoparticles. Results showed that enzymatic activity was retained after the assembly process, indicating that substrates could still diffuse into the structures and that the electric-field-based fabrication process itself did not cause any significant loss of enzyme activity. These methods provide a solution to overcome the cumbersome passive layer-by-layer assembly methods to efficiently fabricate higher-order active biological and chemical hybrid structures that can be useful for creating novel biosensors and drug delivery nanostructures, as well as for diagnostic applications.


In this paper we describe our spoken english-persian medical dialogue translation system. We describe the data collection effort and give an overview of the component technologies, including speech recognition, translation, dialogue management, and user interface design. The individual modules and system are designed for flexibility, and to be able to leverage different amounts of available resources to maximize the ability for communication between medical care-giver and pa-


Use of evidence-based practices is important for the success of students in special education settings in public education. In total, 255 special educators in public education were surveyed about (a) use of instructional practices, (b) preparedness to use interventions, (c) access to training, (d) influences on decision-making, and (e) areas of need related to current roles. Results indicate a research-to-practice gap as educators reported using many practices not identified as evidence-based intervention when working with individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. Information about access to training and the types of trainings educators were currently participating in was gathered. Educators also reported feeling inadequately prepared to use interventions.


2,2-Diethyl-4,5-dimethyl-2H-imidazole 1, formally a 1,4-di-azadiene, does not produce [4 + 2] cycloadducts with various electronically-different dienophiles. In the presence of tri-fluoroacetic acid, it tautomerizes to 2,2-diethyl-4-methyl-5-methylene-3-imidazoline 2 and forms a dimer, the structure of which was determined by X-ray crystallography.


Poor and inconsistent germination of Protea cynaroides seeds are often observed in soil. A protocol based on embryo culture was developed for efficient in vitro propagation of P. cynaroides. The effects of temperature, light conditions and gibberellic acid (GA3) on the in vitro germination of P. cynaroides embryos were studied. The results showed that the use of alternating temperatures of 21/12°C (light/dark) significantly improved the germination percentage of the embryos, where 90% of embryos germinated, compared to a maximum of 55% when grown under a constant temperature of 25°C. Mean cotyledon fresh mass of embryos that germinated on media containing gibberellic acid (2.89, 28.89 M GA3) were significantly higher than those cultured on media without growth regulators. Conversely, root growth was severely inhibited in embryos germinated on media containing gibberellic acid. The in vitrogerminated seedlings were successfully transplanted to a peat/coir/sand mixture in the mist bed.


A systematic study of the growth and doping of GaN, AlGaN, and InGaN by both molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) has been performed. Critical differences between the resulting epitaxy are observed in the p-type doping using magnesium as the acceptor species. MBE growth, using rf-plasma sources to generate the active nitrogen species for growth, has been used for III-Nitride compounds doped either n-type with silicon or p-type with magnesium. Blue and violet light emitting diode (LED) test structures were fabricated. These vertical devices required a relatively high forward current and exhibited high leakage currents. This behavior was attributed to parallel shorting mechanisms along the dislocations in MBE grown layers. For comparison, similar devices were fabricated using a single wafer vertical flow MOVPE reactor and ammonia as the active nitrogen species. MOVPE grown blue LEDs exhibited excellent forward device characteristics and a high reverse breakdown voltage. We feel that the excess hydrogen, which is present on the GaN surface due to the dissociation of ammonia in MOVPE, acts to passivate the dislocations and eliminate parallel shorting for vertical device structures. These findings support the widespread acceptance of MOVPE, rather than MBE, as the epitaxial growth technique of choice for III-V nitride materials used in vertical transport bipolar devices for optoelectronic applications.


The colocation of high-power communication transmitters and sensitive receivers at a common site frequently causes radio frequency interference due to the generation of spurious intermodulation frequencies in the receiver mixer. These spurious frequencies result from the mixing of the transmitter frequencies with each other and with the receiver local oscillator in the receiver mixer. The problem treated in this paper is that of obtaining an analytical method of predicting the amplitudes of these spurious intermodulation frequencies having been given the amplitude of each of the frequencies at the mixer input.


Aggressive surgical management of full-thickness oesophageal burns reduces the morbidity and mortality associated with this potentially lethal condition. This regime is the only method of making a firm diagnosis, and hence, instituting adequate treatment for full-thickness oesophago-gastric necrosis which could occur in any patient after ingestion of caustic material. A case of severe full-thickness oesophageal burns in a 23 year-old man successfully treated by early oesophagoscopy, oesophagectomy, oesophagostomy. feeding gastrostomy, followed by isoperistaltic right colon bypass is reported.


Phenolic compounds, both derivatives of benzoic and cinnammic acid, possess biologically valuable properties: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and others. Studies of the accumulation of these compounds focused mostly on plant material. Rich sources of these compounds are representatives of Basidiomycota taxon. The aim of the study was qualitative and quantitative HPLC analysis of phenolic acids in biomass from in vitro culture of selected edible mushroom species belonging to the phylum Basidiomycota: Agaricus bisporus, Boletus badius, Cantharellus cibarius. The investigations revealed the presence of the following acids: p-hydroxybenzoic, syringic and galic acid. Both the composition and the amount of phenolic acids in biomass of A. bisporus and Boletus badius were diverse. The total amount ranged from 6.07 mg·100 g−1 DW in A. bisporus to 14.78 mg·100 g−1 DW in Boletus badius. Syryngic acid amounts fluctuated in the range of 1.75–9.66 mg·100 g−1 DW, with its maximum in Boletus badius. Gallic acid dominated in the biomass of the same species (5.12 mg·100 g−1 DW). p-Hydroxybenzoic acid was found in biomass from in vitro culture of A. bisporus at levels 0.70 mg/100 g DW. In biomass of in vitro culture of Cantharellus cibarius no phenolic compounds were found before and after hydrolysis. The results of HPLC analyses show that in vitro culture of B. badius and A. bisporus are a good dietary source of phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity.


The relationship between General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score and complaints presented at the general practitioners office was examined, and showed that the correlation between them is not as high as might be expected. Many patients who present psychosocial problems to their GP appear to have a low GHQ score; many patients with a high GHQ score exclusively present somatic complaints, which are also assessed by the GP as being purely somatic. Implications of the results are discussed.


Phytoplankton are key players in the global carbon cycle, contributing about half of global primary productivity. Within the phytoplankton, functional groups (characterized by distinct traits) have impacts on other major biogeochemical cycles, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and silica. Changes in phytoplankton community structure, resulting from the unique environmental sensitivities of these groups, may significantly alter elemental cycling from local to global scales. We review key traits that distinguish major phytoplankton functional groups, how they affect biogeochemistry and how the links between community structure and biogeochemical cycles are modelled. Finally, we explore how global environmental change will affect phytoplankton communities, from the traits of individual species to the relative abundance of functional groups, and how that, in turn, may alter biogeochemical cycles. Synthesis. We can increase our mechanistic understanding of the links between the community structure of primary producers and biogeochemistry by focusing on traits determining functional group responses to the environment (response traits) and their biogeochemical functions (effect traits). Identifying trade‐offs including allometric and phylogenetic constraints among traits will help parameterize predictive biogeochemical models, enhancing our ability to anticipate the consequences of global change.


The paper discusses Jacques Lacan's discourse of the other, relevant to the authority of societal influence and the creation of a person's ego and alter egos. In this theory Lacan refers to the little others (i. e. the ego and alter egos) and the big Others (i. e. points of authority, societal expectations, and cultural norms). Studying one's psychological makeup and development is a process that can be quite invasive and lengthy. However, there is a genre of literature that focuses directly on authors' personal and introspective views of their own lives. Autobiographies are books in which authors write about their own personal experiences. They can include information about a person's childhood, their upbringing, the beginning of their career path, or any other life periods they deem notable enough. Thus the paper will look at Agatha Christie's autobiography from the perspective of Lacanian ideas. Christie's childhood is an exceptional example of how Lacan's theories explain children's desires and how they are shaped by the environment and authority figures around them. Christie would not have begun reading books well before her mother wanted her to if Nursie had not begun reading her stories. Likewise, she probably would not have been interested in doing math problems at such a young age if her wealthy father had not given her such positive feedback over her desire to learn academics as a young girl. The developments of Christie are unique to her own environment and situation; and there are many other people who have developed in other ways due to the authority figures around them. In the future, Lacan scholars may want to look at more autobiographies to see if the discourse of the Other presents itself.


A stereo‐, regio‐ and chemoselective synthesis of a series of structurally diverse novel oxobenzothiophene embedded spirooxindolopyrrolidine/pyrrolizidine hybrid heterocycles were achieved in excellent yields by multicomponent 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction process. The 1,3‐dipole component employed was generated in situ from isatin and N‐methylglycine/L‐proline while the dipolarophile, ethyl 2‐(3‐oxobenzo[b]thiophen‐2(3H)‐ylidene)acetate was prepared from thiophenol in two good yielding steps. The formation of spiroheterocyclic hybrids occurred through the formation of two C=C and one C−N bonds in a single synthetic transformation. The compounds formed consists of three adjacent stereocenters, out of which two are spirocarbons. The synthesized spiro compounds were assayed for their AChE/BChE inhibitory activity and most of the spirocompounds showed promising cholinesterase inhibitory activity. Among them, spiropyrrolidine that substituted with chlorine atom on the oxindole ring displayed significant activity (4.16±0.09 μM) with respect to standard drug, galantamine (2.09±0.11 μM). Molecular modelling simulation was explored for the most potent compound that revealed interesting binding templates to the active site of enzyme.


Sometimes, empirical approach to find the facts of world phenomena is regarded as the only one of the valid method. It will be useless when the facts of inner phenomena are the object of observation. The existence and the essence of god, for instance, cannot be observed by empirical approach. It is better for the student of religion, therefore, to use "religion scientific" to find the facts of his observation including the "mystical" phenomena.


Abstract 4088

Poster Board III-1023

Although adoptive transfer of antigen-specific CTLs is generally safe and can be clinically effective for the treatment of several malignancies, the administration of stimulatory cytokines may be required to sustain their long-term growth and persistence in vivo. IL2, a γ-chain T-cell growth cytokine, has been used clinically, but is associated with significant toxicities. In addition, IL2 supports the expansion and function of Tregs, counterbalancing its stimulatory effects on CTLs and favoring the establishment of an immune-protected microenvironment for cancer. IL15, like IL2, is a γ-chain cytokine capable of sustaining the expansion and function of effector T cells. We have explored whether this cytokine also shares with IL2 an unwanted stimulatory effect on Tregs. Naturally occurring Tregs (CD4+CD25bright) were isolated from buffy coat preparations from healthy volunteers (mean of Treg recovery: 0.7% ± 0.05% of the starting population of mononuclear cells). The suppressive function of isolated Tregs was confirmed by their ability to inhibit the proliferation of activated T lymphocytes labeled with carboxyfluorescin diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) using FACS analysis to measure CFSE dilution after 5-6 days of culture (activated T cell:Treg ratio 1:1). The proliferation of activated T cells in the presence of Tregs was significantly reduced (28%±5%) as compared to activated T cells cultured in the presence of control CD4+CD25– T cells (59%±5%) (p<0.05). Following addition of IL15 (2.5 ng/mL), however, proliferation of activated T cells continued even in the presence of Tregs (83%±5% plus IL15 without Tregs vs. 80%±5% plus IL15 and Tregs) (p=0.9), suggesting that this cytokine mitigates the immunosuppressive effects of Tregs. We then analyzed whether Tregs affected the anti-tumor activity of antigen-specific CTLs. We used our Epstein-Barr-Virus-(EBV)-specific CTLs as tumor model. EBV-CTLs were co-cultured with EBV-infected cells (LCLs) (CTL:LCL ratio 1:2). Residual tumor cells were enumerated by FACS analysis after 5-7 days of culture. In the absence of exogenous IL-15, EBV-CTLs failed to eliminate EBV-infected cells (residual LCLs: 37%±8%), while the addition of IL15 (2.5 ng/mL) increased the anti-tumor effect of CTLs, so that only 4%±1% tumor cells were detectable at the end of the culture. We then explored the effects of adding Treg to the cultures (Treg:CTL ratio 1:1). The percentage of tumor cells increased rather than decreased by day 5-7 when CTLs were cultured with Tregs in the absence of IL15 (residual tumor cells from 37%±8% in the absence of Tregs to 53%±9% in the presence of Tregs) (p<0.05). When IL15 was added, Treg were more limited in their ability to inhibit T effector cells, so that residual tumor cells were 4%±1% and 11%±3% % in the absence or in the presence of Tregs, respectively. To discover if IL15 has a direct effect on Tregs, we analyzed STAT5 phosphorylation after exposing Tregs to the cytokine. We found that this molecule was phosphorylated in 47%±18% of Tregs 15 minutes after exposure to IL15 (2.5 ng/mL). This effect was mediated by the specific interaction of the cytokine with its own receptor, as no phosphorylation occurred when Treg cells were pre-incubated with an IL-15Rα blocking antibody. This action on Tregs notwithstanding, IL15 stimulation did not modulate Treg inhibitory function, since these cells, even after exposure to IL15 (2.5 ng/mL) for 3-5 days, continued to significantly inhibit the proliferation of T lymphocytes activated in the absence of IL-15 (74%±17% inhibition). Hence, IL15 enhance the proliferative and anti-tumor effects of antigen-specific CTLs, and these effects are not impaired by the presence of Tregs. Administration of IL15 may therefore benefit patients receiving adoptive T cell therapies.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Identifying Consumer Dissonance in Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) and ensuring that their consumers do not get dissatisfied and become consumers of their competitors is the need of the hour for all QSRs. Hence this study attempts to identify the factors that cause Consumer Dissonance (CD) in QSRs and what are the factors that have a relationship with CD. In this case it is Consumer Loyalty (CL). This Research paper is based on a study conducted on the basis of the responses given to the structured questionnaire administered to the respondents of the four QSRs viz., McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, and Subway in Chennai City by the researchers. The two important factors which affect customers in QSRs in Chennai City as identified by the researchers are CD and CL. Another aspect which has been studied by the researchers is the kind of relationship that exists between CD and CL in the abovementioned QSRs in Chennai City. Keywords— Dissonance, Cognitive Dissonance, Consumer Dissonance, and Consumer Loyalty.


In Efimov physics, a three-body parameter (3BP), previously regarded as nonuniversal, uniquely defines bound and scattering properties of three particles. A universal 3BP, however, has been recently shown in experiments and theory in ultracold homonuclear gases. Our present study further predicts a universal 3BP for heteronuclear atomic systems near broad Feshbach resonances and provides physical interpretations for its origin. We show that for a system composed of two light and one heavy atom, the physical origin of the universal 3BP is similar to the homonuclear case, while for systems composed by one light and two heavy atoms, the universality of the 3BP is now mostly controlled by the heavy-heavy interatomic properties. This new universality is explained by the universal properties of the van der Waals interactions in a simple Born-Oppenheimer picture. Finally, we show the numerically determined 3BPs for some combinations of alkali atoms used in ultracold experiments.


The selection of a filter vector for linear filtering of a sequence of spatially invariant images of an object or scene to maximize the ratio of desired component energy to undesired component and noise energy in the filtered image is considered. The filtered image is a weighted linear combination of the images of the sequence, and the filter vector is the set of weights. New results extend this filtering technique to spatially invariant imaging applications with multiple desired components. The filter vector which provides the filtered image requires the solution of an eta -dimensional eigenvector problem, where eta is the number of desired processes in the image sequence. An explicit result is given for eta =2. Special results are also given for the cases in which the filter is designed only to suppress undesired processes or only noise. A four-image multispectral example illustrates the method.<<ETX>>


When courts are congested, the risk associated with facing a defaulting tenant is high for landlords. They tend to compensate for this risk by increasing rents to include a "risk premium." This has the effect of making the probability of defaulting increase, as well as further overloading the courts. Using a simple model we show in this paper how a better equilibrium can be reached when the resources of the judiciary are slightly increased. Our explanation is that a rise in public legal resources not only allows courts to produce more decisions (direct effect ), but also reduces the number of cases coming in by giving landlords an incentive to charge lower rents (indirect effect ). The synergy of the two effects creates a multiplier of public expenditure on justice.


The maintenance of enterprise application software at a customer site is a potentially complex task for software vendors. This complexity can unfortunately result in a significant amount of work and risk. This paper presents a case study of a product software vendor that tries to reduce this complexity by integrating product data management (PDM), software configuration management (SCM), and customer relationship management (CRM) into one system. The case study shows that by combining these management areas in a single software itnowledge base, software maintenance processes can be automated and improved, thereby enabling a software vendor of enterprise software to serve a large number of customers with many different product configurations.


creases in excretion of gonadotrophins and estrogens in pseudocyesis. Not included in this section is the suggestive evidence on the possible role of the cerebropituitary-adrenal axis in the pathogenesis of hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes (Selye et al.), nor the work on psychic strain modifying the excretion of adrenal hormones (Hoagland et al.). Unfortunately, it has been since submission of this book for publication that the therapeutic effect of adrenocortico-tropic hormones and cortisone in rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and asthma have brought the psychosomatic implications of this system of hormonal relationships into particular relief. But this criticism is justified more from realization of what the reviewer and other specially oriented readers might anticipate from the table of contents than what is the author's actual intent. In so far as it is the writing of a book reviewing endocrinology for the general physician, it is well fulfilled.


Lifestyle is composed of cultural and behavioural patterns and lifelong personal habits that developed through processes of socialization. Lifestyle may be health promotive or detrimental to health. Health requires the promotion of healthy lifestyle. Many current day health problems are associated with lifestyle changes. Because of rising urban population, the number of slum dwellers is rising. The mobility of people from rural to urban areas is the main reason of the growing slum population in cities. This Descriptive, cross-sectional study was directed to assess lifestyle pattern in four purposively selected slums in Mymensingh Municipal area. Non-Probability purposive type of sampling technique was used for selecting the study unit. Sample size was one hundred and twenty-three (123) families. Data were collected by interview with one of the adult family members, preferably with the head of the family, with mixed type of interviewer administered questionnaire. There were 494 family members with an average family size of 4.02, while mean age was 24.58 years with a standard deviation (SD) of 17.79 years. Male-female ratio was 103:100. Of 409 members over 5 years, 174(42.54%) did not have schooling and were illiterate. At least 105(33.02%) members were house-wives, and 99(81.15%) members were smokers. An overwhelming majority (79, 64.23%) families had monthly income between 2000 to 4999 taka. As many as 55(44.72%) families lived in kaccha house, while 40(32.52%) had to live in "Jhupree". In cent per cent families, tube well was the source of water for drinking and other household purposes. A highest majority 121(98.37%) of the families had latrine, while the remaining 2(1.63%) did not have any latrine, and defecate in open air. Of 121 families, 78(64.46%) families had sanitary latrine, while 43(37.54%) did not have sanitary latrine. It was revealed that 86(69.92%) families had cell-phone, while 65(52.85%) families had television, 10(8.13%) families had radio, and 5(4.06%) families had DVD/VCR for recreational facilities. As many as 75(60.98%) respondents had correct knowledge, while the rest 48(39.02%) had incorrect knowledge on hand washing. Of 75, at least 66(88.00%) respondents practiced hand washing, while 9(12.00%) respondents did not practice it. As many as 110(89.43%) members sought medical help for major and minor illness of their family members, whereas the rest 13(10.57%) families did not. Of 110, 62(56.36%) families paid visit to government Hospital, while 22(20.00%) visited to private clinic, 12(10.90%) to pharmacy, 10(9.10%) to qualified doctors and 4(3.64%) to the traditional healers. As many as 58(52.71%) respondents mentioned that they preferred as the facilities cater service free of cost, while 32(29.10%) preferred for better and effective treatment, 16(14.55%) for close to their residence and 4(7.27%) for their belief. Living condition of slum dwellers is considerably low due to low income and inadequate education. Moreover, poor physical environment with unsanitary excreta disposal method is commonplace in slum areas. Existing lifestyle of slum dwellers is unacceptable, and should be improved so that they can contribute to the national development.


Under certain circumstances, variable height mounts (VHMs) manufactured by GCX Corporation-which are used to support physiologic monitors and displays-may unexpectedly drop to the wall mount support arm's lowest position, presenting the risk of staff injury or equipment damage. Hospitals can reduce the likelihood of this hazard by carrying out the company's recommended twice-annual inspection and by leaving the mount's height-locking lever disengaged during routine use.


Episodic paroxysmal hemicrania (EPH) is a rare disorder characterized by discrete bouts of hemicranial headache separated by headache-free remissions. Although EPH resembles episodic cluster headache in the location and quality of pain as well as the pattern of associated autonomic features, it is distinguished by the greater frequency and shorter duration of individual headaches. Differentiation of these disorders is important because EPH almost invariably responds to treatment with indomethacin but not to standard cluster headache therapy.


OBJECTIVE
Kidney stones are one of the most common disorders of the urinary tract. With increasing awareness, a larger proportion of patients are seeking medical knowledge from the Internet. In present study, the features, reliability and efficacy of videos on YouTube related to the treatment of kidney stones were evaluated.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In December 2014, YouTube was searched using keywords "nephrolithiasis"; "renal calculi"; "renal stones"; and "kidney stones" for videos uploaded containing relevant information about the disease. Only videos in Turkish were included in the study. Two physician viewers watched each video and classified them as useful, partially useful and useless according to European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines. The source, length, number of views, number of favourable opinions, and days since uploaded date of the all videos were evaluated.

RESULTS
A total of 600 videos were analysed The median length of videos was 6.7±10.4 (median: 3, IQR: 0.03-58) minutes. Each video was viewed at an average of 2368 (min: 11, max: 97133) times. Most of the videos (32.8%) were created by academicians and physicians. Nearly half (47.4%) of the videos were uploaded in 2014. The majority of the videos (62.5%) contained information for treatment. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy and ureterorenoscopy were the most common treatment modalities (32.8% and 28.0%, respectively ) in these videos. A statistically significant difference was not detected between view numbers and source of videos (p=0.87). However, there was a statistically significant difference between usefulness to the viewers and source of videos. Hospital -based videos were detected to be more useful (p=0.000).

CONCLUSION
As a result, videos that would be prepared in internet environment by professional individuals or organizations in a way which would attract attention and be easily comprehended by the public could contribute to the knowledge and education of our society about the stone disease which is commonly seen in our country.


INTRODUCTION
The cue reactivity paradigm allows for systematic evaluation of motivational responses to drug-related cues that may elicit drug use. The literature on this topic has grown substantially in recent decades, and the methodology used to study cue reactivity has varied widely across studies. The present research provided a meta-analytic investigation of variables that have an impact on cue reactivity effects to enhance our understanding of this key feature of tobacco use disorders.

METHODS
A total of 128 publications yielded 249 effect sizes, which were analyzed to investigate the magnitude of the cue reactivity effect and potential moderators.

RESULTS
Craving generated a moderate-to-large effect size (Hedges' g=0.71, p<.001), indicating that drug cues produced significantly greater craving than neutral cues. However, physiological variables yielded significantly lower or non-significant effect sizes. Analyses of a variety of empirically and theoretically-relevant moderator variables showed that cue modality, cue personalization, cue reactivity environment, and the use of multiple assessments of cue reactivity were significantly associated with the magnitude of cue-specific craving effects (ps<.001). Effect sizes were not significantly related to abstinence status, gender, CPD, and treatment seeking status.

CONCLUSIONS
The results underscored the strength of self-reported craving as an index of cue reactivity across studies, which support theories that posit cue reactivity is core to the addictive process for daily tobacco cigarette smokers. The present research further elucidates the variables that alter the cue reactivity effects across studies and provides recommendations for future cue reactivity research.

IMPLICATIONS
A core feature of addiction is that drug-related cues can have a major impact on motivational responses across multiple substance use disorders, including tobacco cigarettes. This paper describes a meta-analysis updating and synthesizing cue reactivity research with tobacco cigarette smokers over the last 20 years, a time of rapid growth for this literature. The study leads to a better understanding of the cue reactivity paradigm across different self-report and physiological variables, and identifies factors that may modulate addictive motivation for tobacco cigarettes.


Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are key elements of regulatory networks that modulate gene expression. The sRNA RydC of Salmonella sp. and Escherichia coli is an example of this class of riboregulators. Like many other sRNAs, RydC bears a 'seed' region that recognises specific transcripts through base-pairing, and its activities are facilitated by the RNA chaperone Hfq. The crystal structure of RydC in complex with E. coli Hfq at a 3.48 Å resolution illuminates how the protein interacts with and presents the sRNA for target recognition. Consolidating the protein–RNA complex is a host of distributed interactions mediated by the natively unstructured termini of Hfq. Based on the structure and other data, we propose a model for a dynamic effector complex comprising Hfq, small RNA, and the cognate mRNA target. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05375.001


Human cognition is a complex process, especially in the exploration of the unknown world. Computer technology is a kind of virtual reality computer digital processing technology, realizing the virtual construction of the cognitive object information and environment information to show people a world which can real experience, as perceptive world which can immerse. In the new cognition and practice mode of virtual reality system constructed by virtual technology, the three elements of subject, medium and object and their relations have a series of profound changes. Only making deep analysis and research to information dimensions of virtual cognition process in the realization of playing the fundamental and important role in achieving the change can we make correct understanding and evaluation to the essence and value of virtual cognition and the relationship between the virtual world and the real world. This kind of cognition and evaluation can not only discover the various insufficiency and the flaw of the previous practical epistemology, but also enrich and develop the practical epistemology of dialectical materialism.


A low-complexity and low-memory entropy coder (LLEC) is proposed for image compression. The two key elements in the LLEC are zerotree coding and Golomb-Rice (1966, 1991) codes. Zerotree coding exploits the zerotree structure of transformed coefficients for higher compression efficiency. G-R codes are used to code the remaining coefficients in a variable-length codes/variable-length integer manner resulting in JPEG similar computational complexity. The proposed LLEC does not use any Huffman table, significant/insignificant list, or arithmetic coding, and therefore its memory requirement is minimized with respect to any known image entropy coder. In terms of compression efficiency, the experimental results show that discrete cosine transform (DCT)- and discrete wavelet transform (DWT)-based LLEC outperforms baseline JPEG and embedded zerotree wavelet coding (EZW) at the given bit rates, respectively. For example, LLEC outperforms baseline JPEG by an average of 2.2 dB on the Barbara image and is superior to EZW by an average of 0.2 dB on the Lena image. When compared with set partition in hierarchical trees, LLEC is inferior by 0.3 dB, on average, for both Lena and Barbara. In addition, LLEC has other desirable features, such as parallel processing support, region of interest coding, and as a universal entropy coder for DCT and DWT.


BACKGROUND
Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are among the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children. The bacterial extract OM-85 BV (bronchovaxom) has shown protective effect for ARTIs on children. We report a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel, prospective clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of two courses of OM-85 BV in the prevention of ARTIs in susceptible children during 12 months.

METHODS
Fifty-four susceptible children from 1 to 12 years of age living in the metropolitan area of Chihuahua City were selected. They were randomized to receive either OM-85 BV or placebo (one capsule a day for 10 days a month for 3 consecutive months) at the beginning of the trial and 6 months later with the same schedule. Patients were followed up for 12 months, including the administration period. The trial began in July 1997 and ended in April 1999.

RESULTS
The number (mean +/- SD) of ARTIs was 5.04 +/- 1.99 (median, 5.0) in the OM-85 BV group vs 8.0 +/- 2.55 (median, 8.0) in the placebo group, with a mean difference of - 2.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], - 4.22 to - 1.7). The number of antibiotic courses was 2.46 +/- 2.08 (median, 1.5) in the treatment group vs 4.46 +/- 2.08 (median, 4.0) in the control group, a difference of - 2.0 (95% CI, - 3.14 to - 0.86). The total duration of ARTIs was 35.23 +/- 17.64 days (median, 30.5 days) in the OM-85 BV group vs 60.75 +/- 25.44 days (median, 55.0 days) in the placebo group, ie, a difference of - 25.52 days (95% CI, - 37.56 to - 13.47 days), p < 0.001 by Student's t test and Mann-Whitney U test for all the items. Four patients in the OM-85 BV group had five adverse events. Only one episode of skin rash was related to the medication intake. Six patients in the control group had six adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS
OM-85 BV had a preventive effect on ARTI in the susceptible children for 12 months with an important reduction on the antibiotic requirements and the number of days of suffering ARTIs.


This research is motivated by the phenomenon of the development of smartphones, where competition between companies is getting tougher smartphone. Apple is a company engaged in the field of hardware and software, including hardware made by Apple is the Iphone. Apple is proving to be one of the big companies, it is derived from Apple's global sales reached 150 million units, but in Indonesia according to TBI in 2011 through 2013 the percentage is only able to control less than 5%, as well as on sales in Semarang according Sinarmas Mobile for 4 months experienced a low point only the highest selling 12 units and 18 units. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of brand image and product quality to eputusan purchase iPhone. This type of research is explanatory research, with data collection through a questionnaire, literature study and interviews. The sampling technique using census techniques using research instrument questionnaire. The sample in this study amounted to 58 respondents who are iPhone users on S1 students FISIP Diponegoro University. This study uses linear regression analysis techniques and the significance test is used to prove the hypothesis using SPSS for windows version 20.0. The results showed that the brand image (X1), and product quality (X2), both jointly and individually a positive influence on purchase decisions dependent variable (Y). Simultaneously the brand image, product quality, has an influence on purchasing decisions by 40.7% according to multiple regression. Suggestions from this study is that Apple needs to improve the quality of products on the batteries to meet the needs of consumers and strengthen the brand image on promotional products.


[Au]-catalyzed [3 + 3] cycloaddition reaction of enynones/enynals with azides, which allows the efficient regioselective synthesis of highly fused furo[3,4-d][1,2,3]triazines in good-to-excellent yields under mild conditions, has been developed. The synthetic utility of furanotriazines was exploited by oxidation with cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) affording highly functionalized dihydrotriazines. Both furo[3,4-d][1,2,3]triazines and dihydrotriazines exhibit good fluorescence activity.


Dental caries is one of the commonest of all dental diseases and is the main cause of loss of teeth in young people. It is a common belief that the high caries susceptibility of occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth is directly related to the morphology of the pits and fissures. Occlusal fissures are deep invaginations of enamel, they can be classified into V-type: Wide at the top and gradually narrowing towards the bottom U-type almost the same width from top to bottom. I-type an extremely narrow slit IK-type extremely narrow slit associated with large space at the bottom Y-type wide at the top and suddenly narrowing towards the bottom.


IntroductionBleeding complications adversely affect patient's outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Radial approach PCI was advocated to overcome this complication. The information regarding the safety and feasibility of radial approach PCI in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Southeast Asian population was limited. Hence, we sought to examine the outcome of radial versus femoral approach in this particular cohort.Materials and MethodsThis is an observational retrospective analysis of the Malaysian National Cardiovascular Disease Database-Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (NCVD – PCI) registry, recruiting patients with AMI from 2007 – 2014. Patients were stratified into radial and femoral groups depending on the PCI access route. The patient's baseline characteristics, lesion, and procedural data, complications, and outcomes are assessed accordingly.ResultsA total of 11,555 (4895 radial and 6660 femoral) cases were included in the analysis. In the radial group, there were predominantly more males (89.2%) with the younger patient (mean age 55.2 ± 10.5 years) as compared to the femoral group. They also had a higher body mass index (BMI) and taller. However, femoral group patients had significantly more premorbid conditions, namely diabetes mellitus, hypertension, previous stroke, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Complex lesions were similar in both groups with no difference in fluoroscopy time, although higher contrast load recorded in the femoral group. The adjusted odds ratio of developing in-hospital complications after femoral approach PCI compared to radial approach for death, MACE and vascular complications were OR: 8.21 95% CI 5.38 – 12.54, OR: 3.39 95% CI 2.51 – 4.58, OR: 1.79 95% CI 1.01 – 3.16 respectively. ConclusionPCI via the trans-radial approach has resulted in a significantly lower risk of vascular complications, MACE and death compared to the trans-femoral approach. Our study confirmed the superiority of the trans-radial approach in the setting of primary PCI in the Southeast Asian population and underscores the importance of trans-radial interventions to reduce bleeding complication rates.


We have evaluated the density-density response of the two-dimensional electron gas at zero temperature by solving the Dyson equation for the particle-hole Green's function, including exchange Coulomb matrix elements and short-range contributions in the ladder approximation. We study the effect of these correlations on the total energy, compressibility per particle, local field factor G(q), static structure factor and pair-correlation function. Results are compared with the normal random-phase approximation, local field theories and quantum Monte Carlo calculations.


To the Editor.— Erythema nodosum (EN) is a well-recognized but poorly understood reaction of the skin to a diverse range of conditions. The most important of these are infections such as streptococcal infections, tuberculosis, Yersinia , and Salmonella enteritidis . Recently, EN has been found in patients with toxoplasmosis, 1 Campylobacter jejuni enteritis, 2 and Shigella flexneri colitis. 3 We describe a case of EN caused by Q fever, an association not previously described. Report of a Case.— A previously healthy 20-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of fever and nonproductive cough of two weeks' duration. She was in the 20th week of her first pregnancy. Until two months previous to admission, she had been living in the country. On examination, only small (0.5 to 1 cm) tender lymph nodes were found in both laterocervical areas. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 125 mm/h, and all biochemical and hematologic values were


The field of cyber-physical systems is a growing IT research area that addresses the deep integration of computing, communication and process control, possibly with humans in the loop. The goal of such area is to define modelling, controlling and programming methodologies for designing and managing complex mechatronics systems, also called industrial agents. Our research topic mainly focuses on the area of data mining and analysis by means of multi-agent orchestration of intelligent sensor nodes using internet protocols, providing also web-based HMI visualizations for data interpretability and analysis. Thanks to the rapid spreading of IoT systems, supported by modern and efficient telecommunication infrastructures and new decentralized control paradigms, the field of service-oriented programming finds new application in wireless sensor networks and microservices paradigm: we adopted such paradigm in the implementation of two different industrial use cases. Indeed, we expect a concrete and deep use of such technologies with 5G spreading. In the article, we describe the common software architectural pattern in IoT applications we used for the distributed smart sensors, providing also design and implementation details. In the use case section, the prototypes developed as proof of concept and the KPIs used for the system validation are described to provide a concrete solution overview.


Purpose To determine the potential and usefulness of ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) as a diagnostic procedure on a larger cohort of paediatric patients with ocular toxocariasis. Methods UBM was performed on 41 eyes of 41 patients with ocular toxocariasis in order to determine configuration of peripheral retina, pars plana and vitreous. Location and range of peripheral pathology using ophthalmoscopy with scleral indentation, UBM and intraoperative confirmation were recorded and compared. Results Pathological structures such as vitreous condensations or membranes of various configuration and extent were identified by UBM. UBM revealed peripheral granuloma and pseudocystic changes in the peripheral vitreous in 15 of 41 eyes. Compared with indirect ophthalmoscope, statistical analysis showed significant differences in the number of clock-hours of peripheral pathology detected by UBM (p=0.015), while statistical differences were not found between UBM and intraoperative peripheral examinations using scleral indentation (p=0.432). Conclusions UBM seems to be a valuable and reliable diagnostic technique for the evaluation of patients with ocular toxocariasis. Longitudinal studies will have to determine the relevance of UBM findings for the individual clinical course and their influence on therapeutic decisions.


Abstract Introduction Amidst another wave of COVID-19, the alarming number of cases per day in India has affected the healthcare system and professionals tremendously. As the disease burden continues to increase, ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists remain at high risk of exposure to this aerosol borne virus. This requires the creation and regulation of protocols for conducting routine clinical practice, especially by ENT specialists. Objectives To review the available literature and to propose strategies and recommendations for ENT practitioners to conduct their regular practice amidst this pandemic. Data synthesis A systematic review of the available literature on ENT practice during the COVID-19 pandemic was done. Out of the many protocols proposed in various studies, the most practical and feasible ones that could be adopted by practicing ENT doctors/ surgeons in the long run were selected. Adequate precautions and use of high level of personal protective equipment (PPE) is required to be adopted by all practicing ENT doctors. Use of teleconsultation has been promoted as it limits face-to-face exposure. Proper guidelines should be followed for both emergency and elective surgeries. Endoscopy can be used as a safe and useful tool for ENT examination. Conclusion As practicing otorhinolaryngologists, it is of utmost importance that we take all necessary precautions and adopt safety measures in our clinical practice while conducting out patient department (OPD) consultations, operative procedures, and emergency care to protect our patients, ourselves, and other healthcare staff during this time.


Alcohol-related traffic crashes and deaths remain a major problem in the United States as 2014 data revealed that there were 32,675 traffic fatalities that year, with 31% of them being related to alcohol. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) began research in February 2008 aimed at identifying potential in-vehicle approaches to the problem of alcohol-impaired driving that are sensitive, reliable and less intrusive than ignition interlocks. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) was created, and two passive technologies based on breathand touch (tissue)based systems for detecting alcohol were selected to be tested against a research grade hand-held breathalyzer device and venous blood. Healthy male and female volunteers (age 21-40) signed an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved informed consent and participated in experiments in which they consumed 0.9 g/kg of alcohol (vodka) under a variety of drinking regimens and scenarios that mimicked real-life situations. The volunteers then provided passive breath and tissue (i.e., finger touch) samples and had their blood drawn for subsequent quantification of alcohol via gas chromatography. The lag time of appearance of alcohol in each sample as well as peak concentration, time to peak, and elimination rate were the primary dependent variables. The overall aim of the experiments was to test whether the alcohol levels measured by the two prototype devices correlate with venous blood under the following scenarios: lag time, eating a snack, eating a full meal, exercising, and "last call". The lag time experiment revealed that the order of alcohol appearance after drinking was (from quickest to slowest): breath, blood, and tissue, although the early breath samples were contaminated by mouth alcohol. However, the concentration-time curves for both prototype devices paralleled that of blood. Similar profiles were observed in the "last call" experiment with a "surge" of alcohol being observed after an extra drink was consumed during the distribution phase. The exercise scenario revealed similar profiles, although the touch-based device registered a slightly higher alcohol level. Finally, the two eating scenarios indicated that blood alcohol concentrations were lower after consuming a meal compared to a snack, and breath and touch samples reflected these patterns. The sample size of 10 individual participants is small, but individuals served as their own controls by participating in more than one experiment. Furthermore, the study is ongoing and so the sampling limitation will be addressed. The data support the proof-of-concept that passive technologies can detect alcohol quickly and are not affected by many of the common scenarios that alter blood alcohol concentrations. Such devices, if proven to be reliable and reproducible with additional human testing, represent a significant technological breakthrough in strategies to reduce alcohol-impaired individuals from driving a vehicle and causing injuries and/or deaths.


Background Invasive fungal infection (IFI) detection requires application of complex case definitions by trained staff. Administrative coding data (ICD-10-AM) may provide a simplified method for IFI surveillance, but accuracy of case ascertainment in children with cancer is unknown. Objective To determine the classification performance of ICD-10-AM codes for detecting IFI using a gold-standard dataset (r-TERIFIC) of confirmed IFIs in paediatric cancer patients at a quaternary referral centre (Royal Children's Hospital) in Victoria, Australia from 1st April 2004 to 31st December 2013. Methods ICD-10-AM codes denoting IFI in paediatric patients (<18-years) with haematologic or solid tumour malignancies were extracted from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset and linked to the r-TERIFIC dataset. Sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and the F1 scores of the ICD-10-AM codes were calculated. Results Of 1,671 evaluable patients, 113 (6.76%) had confirmed IFI diagnoses according to gold-standard criteria, while 114 (6.82%) cases were identified using the codes. Of the clinical IFI cases, 68 were in receipt of ≥1 ICD-10-AM code(s) for IFI, corresponding to an overall sensitivity, PPV and F1 score of 60%, respectively. Sensitivity was highest for proven IFI (77% [95% CI: 58–90]; F1 = 47%) and invasive candidiasis (83% [95% CI: 61–95]; F1 = 76%) and lowest for other/unspecified IFI (20% [95% CI: 5.05–72%]; F1 = 5.00%). The most frequent misclassification was coding of invasive aspergillosis as invasive candidiasis. Conclusion ICD-10-AM codes demonstrate moderate sensitivity and PPV to detect IFI in children with cancer. However, specific subsets of proven IFI and invasive candidiasis (codes B37.x) are more accurately coded.


In 1966, Ervin M. Wilson invented his first combination product set – a rational, non-centric structure that musicians can use as a scale. In 2005, David C. Keenan invented a guitar fretboard that can play all twenty notes from a particular combination product set. I propose a Halberstadt keyboard design that makes use of a seventynote combination product set. The combination product sets used by the two instruments are not reduced to the octave, and they do not repeat at the octave.


Dutch language users often insert an inflectional schwa after an adverb, in certain grammatical constructions. The main hypothesis here is that this insertion, which is often ungrammatical, is driven by speakers' tendency towards regular speech rhythm, which overrides the fine grammatical nuances conveyed by absence of inflection. This rhythmicity hypothesis was investigated in a huge text corpus, viz. all web pages written in Dutch. The proportion of weak-syllable insertion was obtained for a sample of test phrases, varying in rhythmic context around the insertion point. Logistic regression of these proportions shows large and significant effects of rhythmic context on the odds of weak-syllable insertion. Hence, this insertion may well be due to rhythmical factors in language production, in addition to lexical-grammatical factors.


Since the Enlightenment, educational research has been conceived as the creation of objective educational knowledge to regulate educational practice employing scientific method analogously to the method used in natural science. Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849), an English Enlightenment educationist, claimed that "Observation and experience, which has so much advanced our knowledge in physics, may, perhaps, with equal success, be applied to the science of education." Experimental method had been also emphasized in the scientific ideal of educational research advocated by E. C. Trapp (1745-1818) and Imm. Kant (1724-1804). The creation of objective educational science has been deemed as embodied in the "modernity project" of western world. As the process of modernization reached its zenith during the last few decades, the whole world has been virtually constructed as an electronic, universal, timeless and technical global system. Western technocratic rationality has brought the supreme domination of the principles of cultural and social construction, such as rationality, order, efficiency and unity, to a global scale. Educational research based on western rationalistic logic has been conducive to making the educational practice in the world more and more uniform. In other words, education is becoming more and more globalized. Simultaneous with globalizing tendencies in education, strong localizing forces are promoting revitalization of local cultures. The so-called scientific research derived from western experience has been criticized as implicated in the worst excesses of colonialism neglecting the local needs. According to many decolonising methodologist, indigenous forms of knowledge should be taking into serious accounts in doing educational research and implementing educational practice. However, globalization and localization are not divergent processes. They are actually complementary ones. According to Giddens, globalization is really about the transformation of time and space and increasingly engages not only large-scale systems but also local bodies and individuals. Accordingly, the local is integrally tied to the global, and the global to the local. From educational perspective, problems are arising: what forms of educational knowledge can contribute to the harmonization of globalization and localization? What kinds of educational research can produce such forms of knowledge? This paper addresses itself to the issues of educational study confronting the challenges of the dialectic process of globalization and localization.


Optics is the field of science and the area encompassing the physical phenomena and technologies associated with generation, transmission, manipulation, detection and utilization of light. In recent decades, optics research has flourished with the invention of the laser, which increased the interaction between optics and electronics. There are still plenty of improvements and advances yet to be made. Below are few of numerous advanced research which will support us in moving forward.


In this paper, we show that a general equilibrium model that properly captures the role of family support, changes in demographics and the productivity growth rate is capable of generating changes in the national saving rate in China that mimic the data well. Our results suggest that most of the increase in the saving rate between 1980 and 2010 is due to the interaction between the decline in the fertility rate due to the one-child policy and the shortcomings of the old-age support programs, especially against the long-term care risks, provided by the government in China.


This study reports long-been-neglected pitfalls when using multiple dummy variables in a regression model. We conduct simulation analysis to explain the mathematical meaning of a product term of two dummy variables, and find that the interaction dummy term indicates only the extra contribution, not the additive contribution of two dummies. The results suggest that testing and estimating interaction effects of dummy variables are not meaningful, and that dummy variable techniques should be handled carefully when introducing two or more dummies in a multiple regression model.


Purpose: The peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) expression has been shown dramatically increased in neoplastic tissues and tumor cell lines originated from ovary, liver, colon, breast, or brain relative to untransformed tissues. Its expression has been also associated with tumor progression and aggressiveness. To explore whether PBR expression level could be of prognostic value in invasive breast cancer, we studied a series of 117 patients who underwent surgery for primary breast carcinomas and were followed-up for 8 years. Experimental Design: Using an immunohistochemical approach, we first compared PBR expression in normal and tumoral tissues, then we studied PBR expression together with clinicopathological variables (histological type, histological grade, lymph node, estrogen and progesterone receptor status), and biological markers such as BclII, Ki-67, and HER2/Neu. Results: Our results revealed a significant increase of PBR expression in tumoral versus normal breast cells. We found a negative correlation between PBR expression and estrogen receptor status (P = 0.03) as well as a positive correlation between PBR and Ki-67 (P = 0.044). Although the disease-free survival was not affected by PBR in the whole population, high PBR expression level was significantly correlated with a shorter disease-free survival in the lymph node-negative patients, P = 0.038. Conclusions: As the axillary lymph node-negative status is generally considered as a good prognosis factor, the high expression of PBR in this patient subgroup may be used to identify a new high risk population, for which a more specific therapy would be beneficial.


We have investigated the functional relationship between metalloendopeptidase EC 18.104.22.168 (MP24.15) and the amyloid precursor protein involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and discovered that the enzyme promotes Aβ degradation. We show here that conditioned medium (CM) of MP24.15 antisense-transfected SKNMC neuroblastoma has significantly higher levels of Aβ. Furthermore, synthetic-Aβ degradation was increased or decreased following incubation with CM of sense or antisense-transfected cells, respectively. Soluble Aβ1–42 was degraded more slowly than soluble Aβ1–40, while aggregated Aβ1–42 showed almost no degradation. Pretreatment of CM with serine proteinase inhibitors 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonyl fluoride and diisopropyl fluorophosphate completely inhibited Aβ degradation. Additionally, α1-antichymotrypsin (ACT), a serpin family inhibitor tightly associated with plaques and elevated in AD brain, blocked up to 60% of Aβ degradation. Interestingly, incubation of CM of MP24.15-overexpressing cells with ACT formed an SDS-resistant ACT complex, suggesting an ACT-serine proteinase interaction. Recombinant MP24.15 alone did not degrade Aβ. 14C-Diisopropyl fluorophosphate-radiolabeled CM from MP24.15-overexpressing cells contained increased levels of several active serine proteinases, suggesting that MP24.15 activates one or more Aβ-degrading serine proteases. Thus, ACT may cause Aβ accumulation by inhibiting an Aβ-degrading enzyme or by direct binding to Aβ, rendering it degradation-resistant. Identification of the Aβ-degrading enzyme and MP24.15's role in its activation is underway. Pharmacological modulation of either enzyme may provide a means of regulating Aβ in the brain.


This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of using the spectral and the temporal octave-band order statistics for musical genre classification. In order to represent the relative disposition of the harmonic and non-harmonic components, we utilize the octave-band order statistics of power spectral distribution. Experiments on the widely used two music datasets were performed; the results show that the octave-band order statistics improve genre classification accuracy by 2.61 % for one dataset and 8.9 % for another dataset compared with the mel-frequency cepstral coefficients and the octave-band spectral contrast. Experimental results show that the octave-band order statistics are promising for musical genre classification.


"Zero-hour" biopsies of 65 donors have been performed since 1994. Donor kidneys were categorized into five groups based on the morphological findings in "zero-hour" biopsies. No morphological abnormalities were found in 38% of the cases (group 1). Arteriosclerosis was present in 31% of donor kidneys (group 2). Specific morphological alterations, i.e. acute tubular necrosis [21.5%], tubulointerstitial nephritis [6.2%] or glomerulonephritis [3.1%] were detectable in the cases remained (group 3-5). During an average of 336 posttransplant days clinical and histological follow up was performed (50 rebiopsies). Statistical data of mismatch (1.4-2.0), average of donor/recipient age (35-42 years), cold and warm ischaemic time (1290 and 66 min) were comparable in all groups. According to our observations: 1. higher creatinin was found in grafts with arteriosclerosis (group 2) (p < 0.05), 2. there were more non-viable grafts and longer period of delayed graft function in acute tubular necrosis (group 3), 3 higher creatinin, rejections with the need of rehemodialysis were observed in four cases of tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN-group 4). Glomerulonephritis (GN-group 5) grafts had only delayed graft function, however these groups were few for statistical evaluation. Biopsy complication in 1/115 cases was found (rebiopsy induced kidney haemorrhage). In conclusion, "zero-hour" biopsies can be useful and safe tools to predict early graft function. Besides "zero-hour" biopsies help the histological interpretation of consecutive graft rebiopsies.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: As its wavelength of 1940nm more closely matches the water absorption peak of electromagnetic radiations, the SuperPulsed Thulium Fiber Laser should be more efficient than the Holmium:YAG Laser, which is the current gold-standard. Therefore, this technology should allow working with higher efficiency for stone treatment. We aimed to compare in vitro the efficiency of SuperPulsed Thulium Fiber Laser (TFL) and Holmium:YAG Laser. METHODS: First, a TFL of 50W (IPG Photonics®) and an MH1 Holmium:YAG laser of 30W (Rocamed®), were modified at our convenience in order to deliver only one single pulse on hard kidney stones phantoms made of Begostone, with a 272µm fiber placed perpendicularly to the target, at different distances established with a micrometric screw. Experiments were repeated ten times. The resulting craters were studied and measured by optical microscopy (Zeiss® AxioCam Imager 2). Secondly, we treated hard and soft kidney stones phantoms for two minutes in an in vitro model, using a 200 µm fiber and a Lithovue® ureterorenoscope (BostonScientific®): kidney stones were dried and weighed before and after treatment, with a Mettler AT261 analytic balance (Mettler®) allowing to calculate the speed of destruction for each parameter. RESULTS: For a single pulse, the volume ablated was about 3 times higher with the thulium laser. This was due to a bigger surface of the crater with TFL, and there was no significant difference between the depth of the impacts obtained with the two lasers. During lithotripsy, the average destruction speed was 0,57, 1,32 et 1,99 mg/sec for TFL parameters of "fine dusting", "dusting" and "fragmentation", while it was 0,25 and 0,98 mg/sec respectively for Ho:YAG parameters of "dusting" and "fragmentation". CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the Ho:YAG laser, the volume ablated by a single pulse with TFL is three times higher, and its speed of ablation is 2 (fragmentation) to 5 (dusting) times higher. Technologic superiority of TFL added to very high frequencies seems to lead to significant time saving. Further studies are necessary to confirm these observations in vivo. Source of Funding: none


Aortic regurgitation as a severe complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is usually due to the aortic valve leaflets that carry severity and inhomogeneous distribution of the calcification. However, it is difficult to precisely simulate the post-procedural biomechanical behavior on aortic tissue. This paper presents and validates a reliable system to predict which aortic stenosis patients may suffer aortic regurgitation after TAVR and to identify the best fit for TAVR valve. We randomly chose 22 patients (12 patients without regurgitation and 10 patients have regurgitation) who had been followed for at least 2 years after TAVR. An elastic model is designed to characterize the biomechanical behavior of the aortic tissue for each patient. After calculating the loading force on the tissue, the finite-element method (FEM) is applied to calculate the stresses of each tissue node. The support vector regression (SVR) method is used to model the relationship between the stress information and the risk of aortic regurgitation. Therefore, the risk of regurgitation and the optimal valve size can be predicted by this integrated model prior to the procedure. Leave-one-out cross-validation is implemented to assess the accuracy of our prediction. As a result, the mean prediction accuracy is 90.9% for all these cases, demonstrating the high value of this model as a decision-making assistant for pre-procedural planning of patients who are scheduled to undergo intervention. This method combines a bio-mechanical and machine learning approach to create a procedural planning tool that may support the clinical decision in the future.


Clinical studies reveal remarkable variation in screw patterns, or screw density in spinal instrumentation. Screw density may have a great impact on blood loss, operative time, radiation, risk of screw malposition, and cost. Thus, there is a need to understanding of the biomechanical effects of screw density so as to minimize the number of pedicle screws while ensuring safe and effective instrumentation. The objective of this study was to compare the deformity correction effects and bone-screw loadings of different pedicle screw densities in spinal instrumentation for scoliosis treatment. Spinal instrumentation simulations were performed on three scoliosis patients using 3 screw density patterns (low, preferred, and high screw density) proposed by two experienced surgeons and basic correction techniques: concave rod attachment, rod derotation, apical vertebral derotation, and convex side rod attachment. Simulation results showed that all tested screw densities generated quite similar correction, with differences between the achieved corrections all below 3°. The average bone-screw forces were 244±67N, 214±66 N, and 210±71 N, respectively for low, preferred, and high densities. It remains a complex challenge balancing the benefit of load sharing between more implants with the overconstraints and limited degrees of freedom introduced by the increased number of implants. Studies on additional screw densities and patterns proposed by more surgeons for a variety of cases, and using more diverse correction techniques are necessary to draw stronger conclusions and to recommend the optimal screw density.


Diffuse reflectance Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was investigated as a tool to monitor the integrity of production blending processes. Laboratory blends were used to produce calibration samples for two different products. The calibration models derived from these blends were then used to predict the contents of real production samples for the respective products. The results of this study demonstrate that FT-NIR is a good approach for in-process confirmation of blending. The excellent sample interrogation provided by FT-NIR was deemed critical for this application.


Using computer posturografic (stabilometric) complex a study of postural control peculiarities was carried out in 108 women aged 65-74 years who had experienced two or more falls during the year (fallers). These tests were: Sensory Organization Test, Motor Control Test, Rhythmic Weight Shift. It was found that elderly women with fallers had a decrease of sensory information (somatosensory - by 1,8 %, of the visual - by 6 %, and of the vestibular - by 10,1 %), the neurophysiological mechanisms of postural control (by 5,7 points), violation of adaptation possibilities of sensory and motor components of the legs to respond quickly to changes in the center of gravity within the support base of its footing (7,3 ms), as well as reducing balance control in the frontal (by 7,2 %) and sagittal (by 23,2 % ) planes compared with the women of the same age without fallers.


In general, JPEG2000 code streams have marker codes in the header, which define particular meanings such as start of packet and end of code stream. Marker codes do not exist in the data part of code streams. The selective encryption of the data part has been considered to avoid generating marker codes. Such encryption is effective in business content exchange. To handle this issue, some schemes have been proposed. However, the security of these schemes has not been evaluated yet. This paper shows that an existing scheme can be broken by cryptanalysis. We describe a secure encryption scheme and mode against cipher-text attacks, known plain-text attacks and chosen plain-text attacks.


A wavelength converter in the third window of fiber optic communication is designed. It is based on a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) channel waveguide and cascaded second order nonlinearity effect. Both stationary and time domain investigations confirm that the device performance is improved by an integrated metal mirror, placed after an additional waveguide segment having suitable length. This is calculated in order to provide an optical path along which the co-propagating electromagnetic waves, changing their phase mismatch, can interact more efficiently after the mirror reflection.


Results are reported from an improved measurement of ν_{μ}→ν_{e} transitions by the NOvA experiment. Using an exposure equivalent to 6.05×10^{20} protons on target, 33 ν_{e} candidates are observed with a background of 8.2±0.8 (syst.). Combined with the latest NOvA ν_{μ} disappearance data and external constraints from reactor experiments on sin^{2}2θ_{13}, the hypothesis of inverted mass hierarchy with θ_{23} in the lower octant is disfavored at greater than 93% C.L. for all values of δ_{CP}.


Cytoplasm is an important target for the radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE). In the present work, the critical role of protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway in the generation of RIBE signaling after X-ray irradiation and the rapid phosphorylation of Akt and mTOR was observed in the cytoplasm of irradiated human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial (A549) cells. Targeting A549 cytoplasts with individual protons from a microbeam showed that RIBE signal(s) mediated by the Akt/mTOR pathway were generated even in the absence of a cell nucleus. These results provide a new insight into the mechanisms driving the cytoplasmic response to irradiation and their impact on the production of RIBE signal(s).


Purpose
The purpose of this study was to improve standardized language assessments among bilingual toddlers by investigating and removing the effects of bias due to unfamiliarity with cultural norms or a distributed language system.

Method
The Expressive and Receptive Bayley-III language scales were adapted for use in a multilingual country (Singapore). Differential item functioning (DIF) was applied to data from 459 two-year-olds without atypical language development. This involved investigating if the probability of success on each item varied according to language exposure while holding latent language ability, gender, and socioeconomic status constant. Associations with language, behavioral, and emotional problems were also examined.

Results
Five of 16 items showed DIF, 1 of which may be attributed to cultural bias and another to a distributed language system. The remaining 3 items favored toddlers with higher bilingual exposure. Removal of DIF items reduced associations between language scales and emotional and language problems, but improved the validity of the expressive scale from poor to good.

Conclusions
Our findings indicate the importance of considering cultural and distributed language bias in standardized language assessments. We discuss possible mechanisms influencing performance on items favoring bilingual exposure, including the potential role of inhibitory processing.


Background Falling is a leading cause of injury and death in the United States. Researchers and clinicians strive to identify and rehabilitate those at risk of falling in order to mitigate the impact of fall events and prevent future falls. Recently, perturbation-based balance testing and interventions have received increased attention, partly because reactive postural control responses triggered by perturbations are important for balance recovery during actual falls. However, current systems are limited by the need for multiple individuals to operate the device, downtime between trials to reset the perturbation and/or single mode functionality. To this end, we have developed a Perturbation Platform System that can induce perturbations in both vertical and angled directions. Results The system consists of two box platforms that can individually perform straight (25.4 mm, 50.8 mm and 76.2 mm) and angled (5°, 10°, and 15°) height changes while an individual is standing or walking overground. In addition, the system can automatically reset to the original position following perturbation. The platform achieves peak downward accelerations of 5.41 m/s2 during drop events that simulate sudden changes in foot-contact surfaces. Conclusions The novel system can be used in a laboratory setting to better understand balance response and control mechanisms. In addition, this portable system can be used in a clinical or home setting to provide perturbation-based balance exercises that aim to improve balance and mobility.


A coherent framework is presented for determining the free energy change accompanying ligand binding to protein receptors. The most important new feature of the method is the contribution of the flexibility of the free ligand, and hence its conformational change on binding, to the free energy. Flexibility introduces two additional terms in the free energy difference: the internal energy difference between the ligand in the bound and free states and the backbone entropy loss. The former requires taking explicit account of the difference in solvation of the various forms of the free ligand. The solvation free energy change is estimated using an atomic solvation parameter model [Eisenberg & Mclachlan (1986) Nature 319, 199-203], with an improved parameter set. In order to evaluate the method, we applied it to three data sets for which increasingly general methods are required. The set to which the most restrictive theory can be applied consists of eight crystallized endopeptidase--protein inhibitor complexes which do not change conformation on binding and for which the major contribution to the solvation free energy is entropic. The results are in good agreement with the measured values and somewhat better than those previously reported in the literature. The second data set compares the relative binding free energies of biotin and its analogs for streptavidin. In this case the structures are also rigid, but solvation free energy must include both enthalpic and entropic components. We find that differential free energy predictions are approximately the same as those obtained by free energy perturbation techniques. The final application is an analysis of the measured stabilities of 13 different MHC receptor-peptide complexes. In this case we show that flexibility contributes 30-50% of the free energy change and find a correlation of 0.88 between our predicted free energies and peptide dissociation times.


The Red Lakes, Minnesota, supported a substantial Walleye Sander vitreus fishery from the early to mid-20th century, but experienced a major crash in the late 1990s. The population has since rebounded following a successful inter-agency recovery program and now supports valuable commercial and recreational fisheries. The variation in population densities associated with the collapse and subsequent recovery in the Red Lakes Walleye population provides a rare opportunity to study potential changes in relative fecundity (eggs/kg of body mass) under varying rates of exploitation: overexploited (1989 data), recovering (2004 data), and recovered (2017 data). Female Walleye were collected spring 1989 (n=30) in the Blackduck and Tamarac rivers and spring 2004 (n=30) and 2017 (n=30) in the Tamarac River. Results indicate relative fecundity was significantly lower in 2017 (50,768, SD=10,266) than in 1989 (58,216, SD=6,211) and 2004 (61,964, SD=7,472). We hypothesize differences in relative fecundity among fishery states were due to differences in Walleye population abundances caused by varying exploitation rates in the years leading up to fecundity estimates.