Bioswales and other forms of green infrastructure can be effective means to reduce environmental stresses in urban ecosystems; however, few studies have evaluated the ecology of these systems, or the role that plant selection and microbial assembly play in their function. For the current study, we examined the relationship between plant transpiration rates for five commonly planted herbaceous species in three bioswales in New York City, as well as bioswale soil microbial composition and soil chemistry. Soils were sampled near individual plants, with distinction made between upper (bioswale inlet) and lower slopes (bioswale outlet). We found high variation in transpiration rates across species, and that Nepeta × faassenii was the highest conductor (13.65 mmol H2O m–2s–1), while Panicum virgatum was the lowest conductor (2.67 mmol H2O m–2s–1) (p < 0.001). There was significant variation in percent N of leaves and soil, which did not relate to the higher water conductance in bioswales. Significantly higher C, N, and water content on the high end of bioswale slopes suggest storm water run-off is mostly absorbed on the inlet side. Bacterial and fungal communities were significantly clustered by bioswale and by plant species within each bioswale implying there are micro-environmental controls on the soil microbial composition, and that plant composition matters for microbial assemblages within bioswales. Plants with higher transpiration rates were associated with greater fungal and bacterial diversity at the level of the bioswale and at scale of the individual plant, suggesting a possible link between plant physiological traits and soil microbial communities. These data suggest that the specific plant palette selected for planting bioswales can have deterministic effects on the surrounding microbial communities which may further influence functions such as transpiration and nutrient cycling. These results may have implications for bioswale management to improve urban water quality and reduce stress on sewage systems after storm events by revising plant species palette selection based on the functional consequences of plant-microbial associations in engineered green infrastructure.


BACKGROUND
Prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been reported to be higher in the institutionalized mentally disabled patients than that of the general population previously reported in Iran. This study aims to investigate HBV infection among nurses and families of the hospitalized mentally disabled patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This study was conducted on 110 nurses and family members of the mentally disabled patients who were hospitalized in five residential care centers of Tehran. The presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) was examined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Afterwards, HBV DNA was extracted, and then propagated via a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and specific primers. Finally, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using the neighbor-joining method to compare virus genomes in the nurses' serum with other isolated HBVs worldwide.

RESULTS
Out of 102 studied nurses, three (3%) were positive for HBsAg (100% female). Also, no patient was positive for the HBV genome, while eight (7.3%) nurses were positive for HBcAb including two (25%) males and six (75%) females. Genome sequencing of one DNA positive sample showed that the isolated virus from this patient contained sub genotype D1 and subtype ayw2. The results of none of the family members were positive for HBsAg, HBcAb, or HBV DNA.

CONCLUSION
This study showed a higher prevalence of HBsAg among nurses (3%) compared to the Iranian general population (1.7-2.1%). The virus isolated from the nurses belonged to subgenotype D1 and subtype ayw2 in accordance with previous Iranian reports. Also, there was no drug-resistant or vaccine-escape mutations in the obtained viral genome. Moreover, low immune pressure on the virus in the asymptomatic chronic HBV patients might be responsible for low nucleotide divergence among the derived HBV genome.


This report describes four models used to analyse Australian broadacre mixed-grain farm systems. The models that are included in this report are: IMAGINE, STEP, LUSO and APSfarm. For each model, we include a brief description of how they work, their data requirements and model outputs. IMAGINE is a bio-economic model that focuses on the impacts of tree belts on crop yields. The model accounts for the interactions between herbaceous and woody crops in terms of water and nutrient competition. Its financial analysis includes cash flow reporting. The STEP model simulates the transition from one farm system to another (mainly land-use sequence), and gives a full financial analysis of the change. LUSO simulates the impact of diseases, weeds and break crops on crop yields. LUSO reports discounted cash flows for different management strategies. The APSFarm model focuses on operational decisions. It simulates how the allocation of production and factor inputs affect farm business performance and the environment.


OBJECTIVE
This paper explores the psychosocial outcomes for individuals and communities in rural Victoria who experienced the outbreak of Ovine Johne's Disease (OJD).

DESIGN
The study uses a qualitative methodology to analyse the minutes of evidence provided by the inquiry into the control of OJD to identify the psychosocial events, experiences and outcomes associated with the control of this outbreak. The inquiry was undertaken by the Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the Victorian State Government.

SETTING
Public hearings were undertaken by the committee across several rural Victorian communities and the state capital, Melbourne.

SUBJECTS
The transcripts detail 136 submissions from 98 individuals and 23 organisations.

OUTCOME MEASURES
The analysis aimed to provide insight into the impact of the disease on individuals and communities and also to explore the factors individuals perceived as associated with these outcomes.

RESULTS
While the paper identifies that aspects of stock loss associated with the outbreak caused substantial emotional and economic distress, for farmers the most significant finding was the impact of the government control program on individuals, families and rural communities. The control program was perceived as having very limited scientific credibility and its implementation was described as heartless, inflexible and authoritarian. Involvement with the program resulted in farmers reporting emotions, such as, trauma, shame, guilt and stigma. Families became discordant and the sense of community within rural townships fragmented. Psychological outcomes of grief, depression and anxiety emerged as prevalent themes within families and communities.

CONCLUSIONS
These data highlight the need for significant attention to the management of rural disasters, such as, the OJD program.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
There is an acknowledgement in the literature that rural disasters have a significant impact on the well-being of individuals, families and communities. The major focus of the previous research has, however, been on the impact of economic losses with less recognition of the other psychosocial loss experiences that accompany the experience of rural disaster. This paper achieves a clear description of the experiences for individuals (trauma, stigma, sense of personal failure, loss of identity, diminished self esteem and family disruption) and communities (destroyed social cohesion, economic disharmony) caught up in the OJD disaster and explores the factors that individuals perceive as responsible for these outcomes. The mental health outcomes for individuals, such as, loss, grief and depression are also explored within this paper. This paper highlights the psychosocial complexity of the experience of rural disaster for individuals and communities significantly extending the current knowledge base in this area.


During the past twenty years, unionid mussels have declined in both abundance and diversity throughout the eastern United States. As a result, there has been an increased call to evaluate the toxicity of various pollutants to unionids in an attempt to separate habitat-caused losses from those precipitated by aquatic contaminants. Few toxicity data for unionids were available until recently because unionids are not easily cultured and no test method had been developed for these animals. Therefore, water quality criteria developed by the USEPA in the 1970s and 1980s were derived from data lacking any information on unionid mussel sensitivities. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has advocated the use of a 9-day toxicity test method its scientists developed in the late 1980s. This method, which requires the use of silt, an algal mixture for food and daily changes of water, is not only more labor intensive, it also introduces sources of variation with the use of silt and algae, as well as being substantially different from the standard 96-h fathead minnow or zooplankton tests. The evaluation of TVA's suggested test conditions indicate that the use of a 16L:8D light regime, with or without silt or algae did not result in a more » change in the toxicity of dissolved copper to juvenile Utterbackia imbecillis mussels compared to that recorded using TVA's test conditions. « less


Basic research is a journey taken by scientists to explore our fundamental understanding of biology. The process of conducting basic research leads to new solutions and knowledge that can be applied to different problems, including many unexpected ones. One of the primary questions I have been interested in since starting my journey, upon entering graduate school, is: how do bacteria detect changes and modify themselves accordingly to survive diverse environments? This is critical during infection of the host, a situation in which the bacteria detect cues upon entering the host and additional changes during the progression of the infection. Understanding the ways that bacteria sense these changes and respond may reveal potential new strategies to combat infections and antibiotic resistance.

From the beginning of my graduate training in Olaf Schneewind's lab during the mid-1990s, I knew that there was a growing body of knowledge about signal transduction systems used by bacteria to respond to environmental changes. One class of signal transduction systems, called the second messenger signaling system, detects changes in the environment and generates a second messenger signaling molecule in the cell. This signaling molecule then binds directly to proteins or RNA to alter their behavior, thus allowing the bacterial cell to respond to changes. This fundamental signaling process that occurs in bacteria also exists in higher organisms, so findings from prokaryotes have the potential to explain how signaling systems work in eukaryotes. The literature on secondary signaling systems in bacteria in the 1990s was predominantly based on studies of two molecules, cyclic AMP (cAMP) and "magic spot" (ppGpp), in one model bacterial organism (Escherichia coli), indicating that other secondary messenger signaling molecules may exist. Since that time, a large number of other signaling molecules (cyclic-di-GMP, cyclic-di-AMP, cyclic-GMP-AMP, and cyclic GMP, among many others) have been identified by numerous labs, supporting the idea of diversity of second messenger signaling systems in prokaryotic organisms. Three basic research questions can be asked for all of these signaling molecules: 1. Which of the cellular protein(s) and RNA(s) bind these signaling molecules? 2. What are the allosteric changes on the protein and RNA upon binding to the signaling molecule? 3. How does a cell coordinate these events to form a coherent response?

Continuing on this path as a post-doctoral fellow in Steve Lory's lab, I successfully identified a few of these new binding proteins, which launched the start of my own lab on the quest to find other binding proteins in the bacterial cell. One way to find these proteins was to test every single protein encoded in the genome of a bacterium. This is doable since the number of protein-encoding genes is a discrete, finite number (approximately 1,000 to 6,000, depending on the bacterial species). However, I ran into a technological roadblock, since testing even a few proteins took many months to complete. There were no feasible ways to test thousands of proteins for their ability to bind a signaling molecule in a reasonable time frame (i.e., the tenure clock). On a dark day before the winter holidays after years of searching for a solution, I spotted a mixture of protein and the ligand on a dry nitrocellulose paper. This quick and simple process, akin to putting a paper towel on a coffee spill, easily differentiated binding proteins, since they prevented the signaling molecule from moving with the liquid wicking away on the paper. Through both serendipity and paying careful attention in the lab, I realized that this procedure, which we termed Differential Radial Capillary Action of Ligand Assay, or DRaCALA, that took only seconds to complete was a solution to my technological roadblock.

Work by my student Kevin Roelofs adapted DRaCALA to screen thousands of proteins encoded on the bacterial genome. Members of my lab, including Kevin, Mona Orr, and Sarah Helman, as well as other labs have used this assay to identify a number of new protein receptors for cyclic-di-GMP and cyclic-di-AMP. In addition to these discoveries, my students Ori Lieberman and Eric Zhou have used this method to identify small molecule inhibitors that can occupy the binding site and prevent binding by the signaling molecule. Such inhibitory molecules can serve as lead compounds to treat bacterial infections and reduce antibiotic resistance. In addition, Gregory Donaldson, a former student, utilized DRaCALA to detect interactions between proteins and larger nucleic acids, indicating that the assay may allow for the rapid detection of biomarkers and pathogens in the clinical setting. The development of this simple DRaCALA technique not only enabled me to answer the question I was personally interested in but has also reduced the technological barrier for scientists interested in other signaling molecules and binding proteins. As evidenced by my adventurous journey in science, support for basic research can pave the way for discovery and applications in unforeseeable ways. I believe continued support for basic research is critical to advance our knowledge and uncover innovative solutions to existing and new problems.

Image 1

Vincent T. Lee.


Oxidative stress markers have been shown to be elevated in oral squamous cell carcinomas; plays a crucial role in the build-up of advanced glycation end-receptors of advanced glycation end (AGE-RAGE) products; and has been shown to exacerbate cellular dysfunction, vascular change, apoptosis, and activate inflammatory pathways. The purpose of this study is to assess comprehensively the involvement of RAGE in oral squamous cell malignancies. The findings imply that these receptors and their associated ligands play a significant role in the growth and spread of the tumor, hence impacting the prognosis and life expectancy of the affected individual. This comprehensive review uncovers promising evidence for the clinical use of these molecules, such as RAGEs, in prognostic considerations or as molecular targets for therapy. The available literature shows a role for RAGE in invasion, migration, and angiogenesis in oral cancers. These preliminary findings are encouraging for the therapeutic use of these molecules for prognostic considerations or molecularly targeted therapy.


Wire bonding was an important process in electronics packaging technology. The bonding quality had a great influence on the performance of integrated circuit. In this paper, the first golden wire's bond failure was analyzed in detail. It was found that the results of the destructive bond pull test were in accordance with the failure criteria specified in the MIL-STD-883G Method 2011.7 after 150 °C high temperature stability baking for 24 hours. But the first wire's bond peeled between the bond and the pad interfaces when the circuits were in use. Material and structure of the pad were analyzed and the bonding parameters' window was tested. The results showed that the thickness of the pad was three times as thick as conventional one, so the power used conventionally became the power limit for the circuit. This could not even be detected in the on-line bond pull testing. Finally, the defect was eliminated by adding golden ball peeling test and improving the bonding parameters. The bonding reliability was improved remarkably.


Summary: A comparative study was made of the growth and nitrogen fixation of nickel-depleted and nickel-supplemented cultures of the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica. Four sets of growth conditions were used, involving both dark light and continuous light regimes, anaerobic and aerobic conditions, light limitation and supplementation of the gas phase with hydrogen. In each case nickel-containing cells had an active hydrogen uptake capacity whereas nickel-depleted cells did not. These differences in hydrogenase activities did not correlate with differences in acetylene reduction and growth rates, or fixed nitrogen, phycocyanin or chlorophyll contents. It is concluded that under the growth conditions used the capacity of cells to consume hydrogen gas confers no advantage to the organisms in terms of their growth rates and nitrogen fixation.


Access to finance remains a critical bottleneck for farmers and agribusinesses in Africa. Farmers, processors, and other agricultural value chain actors need better access to a broad suite of financial services for working and investment capital and for managing risks if they are to become more productive and contribute to global food security. While access to financial services is a frequent constraint at all segments of agricultural value chains, pre-harvest financing at the farm level is perhaps the biggest gap, as evidenced by the low usage of agricultural inputs and equipment in Africa. Improved access to pre-harvest financing is critical for farmers to use high quality inputs and equipment more quickly and on a larger scale. Most farmers often resort to self-financing or using other personal income. Such strategies have proven insufficient to foster broad-based agricultural growth and multipliers for poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, and overall economic growth. One promising innovation in pre-harvest finance is Brazil's Cedula de Produto Rural, which is commonly referred to as crop receipt (CR). A CR is a bond issued by a farmer or farmer organization (FO) to deliver a certain amount of farm produce (crop or livestock) or the cash equivalent thereof at a future date. Against this promise, the buyer or financier advances a certain amount of cash or inputs to be settled at maturity of the bond. The bond can be issued to a processor, an offtaker, an input supplier, a bank, or a financial investor that provides pre-harvest finance against it. This study includes six chapters as follows: Chapter 1 provides details on the background and purpose of the study; Chapter 2 analyzes the international experiences with CRs; Chapter 3 discusses generic entry points for CRs in Africa; Chapters 4 and 5 present specific opportunities for CRs in Zambia and Uganda; and Chapter 6 presents the study's main findings and offers recommendations.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

(a) Introduction. The regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been associated with a lower risk for epithelial cancers including breast. NSAIDs block cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and -2 enzyme metabolism of Ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to prostaglandins (PGs). Additionally, Ω-6 and Ω-3 PUFA are metabolized by lipoxygenases (LOX) and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzyme families to produce over 100 metabolites known as 'oxylipins'. Oxylipins exhibit a wide spectrum of biological activity including mediators of pain and inflammation.

The overarching objective of the work is to determine if sulindac (an NSAID) intervention changes oxylipin profiles in breast cancer patients, and if individual oxylipins are related to pain caused by aromatase inhibitors (AI).

(b) Methods. This work takes place within the context of an R01-funded single arm, open-label clinical trial of sulindac (N = 100). Breast cancer patients that are stable on AIs complete pain and quality of life questionnaires, and provide blood and urine samples after a 4-week NSAID washout, after a 3 month observation period, at baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months on sulindac intervention (150 mg bid). Oxylipins were quantified in blood and urine (n = 10) at the end of washout, baseline, and after 3 months on sulindac using liquid chromatography (LC) mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods.

(c) Results. We quantified 62 total oxylipins in plasma and 87 in urine. Thus far, our analysis has focused on plasma oxylipins. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare oxylipin levels at baseline and after 3 months of sulindac. COX metabolites of both Ω-6 and Ω-3 PUFA were non-significantly decreased. In terms of Ω-6 metabolites, 7 LOX products were significantly decreased 11-HETE (P = 0.028), 15-HETE (P = 0.037), 9,12,13-TriHOME (P = 0.017), 9,10,13-TriHOME (P = 0.012), 8-HETE (P = 0.028), 9-HETE (P = 0.028), and 12-HETE (P = 0.047). Significantly decreased Ω-6 CYP450 metabolites were 15(S)-HETrE (P = 0.028), and 5,6-DiHETrE (P = 0.028). The Ω-3 metabolites that significantly decreased were the LOX-derived 5-HEPE (P = 0.022), and 15-HEPE (P = 0.028), and CYP450-derived 5,15-DiHETE (P = 0.047), 5,6-DiHETE (P = 0.009), and 15,16-DiHODE (P = 0.012).

Thus far 53% of participants reported pain other than "every day types of pain" post-washout. The Ω-6 CYP450 metabolite 11(12)-EpETrE was significantly correlated with both "worst pain" (ρ = -0.669; P = 0.034) and severity (ρ = -0.778; P = 0.008). The Ω-6 CYP450 metabolite 20-HETE was significantly correlated with severity (ρ = -0.714; P = 0.047).

(d) Conclusions. Our preliminary data indicate that oxylipin profiles change in response to sulindac and may be related to pain. Success in shifting plasma oxylipin profiles toward an anti-inflammatory/anti-thromobotic/cardioprotective profile would maximize efficacy and to reduce potential toxicities of NSAIDs within the context of for prevention of breast and other cancers.

Citation Format: Jessica Anne Miller, Betsy Werthiem, Jun Yang, Bruce Hammock, Denise Roe, Alison Stopeck, Patricia A. Thompson. Application of lipidomics to a sulindac intervention of aromatase inhibitor-induced pain. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1903. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1903


Infection of host cells by Listeria monocytogenes results in the recruitment of cytoplasmic actin into a tail-like appendage that projects from one end of the bacterium. Each filamentous actin tail progressively lengthens, providing the force which drives the bacterium in a forward direction through the cytoplasm and later results in Listeria cell-to-cell spread. Host cell actin monomers are incorporated into the filamentous actin tail at a discrete site, the bacterial-actin tail interface. We have studied the consequences of microinjecting three different actin monomer-binding proteins on the actin tail assembly and Listeria intracellular movement. Introduction of high concentrations of profilin (estimated injected intracellular concentration 11-22 microM) into infected PtK2 cells causes a marked slowing of actin tail elongation and bacterial migration. Lower intracellular concentrations of two other injected higher affinity monomer-sequestering proteins, Vitamin D-binding protein (DBP; 1-2 microM) and DNase I (6-7 microM) completely block bacterial-induced actin assembly and bacterial migration. The onset of inhibition by each protein is gradual (10-20 min) indicating that the mechanisms by which these proteins interfere with Listeria-induced actin assembly are likely to be complex. To exclude the possibility that Listeria recruits preformed actin filaments to generate the tails and that these monomer-binding proteins act by depolymerizing such performed actin filaments, living infected cells have been injected with fluorescently labeled phalloidin (3 microM). Although the stress fibers are labeled, no fluorescent phalloidin is found in the tails of the moving bacteria. These results demonstrate that Listeria-induced actin assembly in PtK2 cells is the result of assembly of actin monomers into new filaments and that Listeria's ability to recruit polymerization competent monomeric actin is very sensitive to the introduction of exogenous actin monomer-binding proteins.


Abstract : Computer security continues to increase in importance both in the commercial world and within the Air Force. Dedicated hardware for security purposes presents and enhances a number of security capabilities. Hardware enhances both the security of the security system and the quality and trustworthiness of the information being gathered by the security monitors. Hardware reduces avenues of attack on the security system and ensures the trustworthiness of information only through proper design and placement. Without careful system design, security hardware leaves itself vulnerable to many attacks that it is capable of defending against. Our SHI(EL)DS architecture combines these insights into a comprehensive, modular hardware security backplane architecture. This architecture provides many of the capabilities required by the Cybercraft deployment platform. Most importantly, it makes significant progress towards establishing a root of trust for this platform. Progressing the development of the Cybercraft initiative advances the capabilities of the Air Force's ability to operate in and defend cyberspace.


Introduction and Acknowledgments Anorthosite and granite or syenite are associated with masses of gabbro at so many places that many petrologists believe that they have a common origin, or that they are differentiates from a common magma. The great sill at Pigeon Point, Minnesota, shows some features that indicate rather clearly the genetic relations of such rocks, and that may throw light on the general problem of rock differentiation. This sill seems to have been large enough to permit thorough differentiation, but not so large that the intrusion of the later phases of the magma obscured the relations of the phases already solidified. The outcrops are numerous, and there may be no other single geologic unit in which the relations of these common rock types are so clearly and suggestively exposed. The field-work was done for the Minnesota Geological Survey. The writer has had the advantage of frank discussion with . . .


The persistent evolution of the Internet continues to transform the way individuals, as well as businesses, educational institutions, and government organizations access, share, and communicate information. Convergence of digital voice, video, and data, is further consolidating the Internet as a critical infrastructure. One of the main routing protocols in the Internet and current de facto standard is the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Presently ubiquitous, BGP is a critical component of the exponentially growing network of routers that constitutes our contemporary Internet. Carrier networks, as well as most large enterprise organizations with multiple links to one or more service providers use BGP. The Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a serious threat to the legitimate use of the Internet. Prevention mechanisms are thwarted by the ability of attackers to forge or spoof the source addresses in IP packets. By employing IP spoofing, attackers can evade detection and put a substantial burden on the destination network for policing attack packets. In this paper, we propose Source Address Validation Implementation (SAVI) that can mitigate the level of IP spoofing on the Internet. A key feature of our scheme is that it does not require global routing information. SAVIs are constructed from the information implicit in Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route updates and are deployed in network border routers. We establish the conditions under which the SAVI correctly works in that it does not discard packets with valid source addresses. Based on extensive simulation studies, we show that, even with partial deployment on the Internet, SAVIs can proactively limit the spoofing capability of attackers. In addition, they can help localize the origin of an attack packet to a small number of candidate networks.


Current strategies in the treatment of metastasized pancreatic cancer (PC) offer little hope for a cure. New treatment modalities, including immunotherapy are warranted for this type of cancer. In our previous study, we showed the in vitro and in vivo effectiveness of immunotherapy through vaccination with whole PC cells, remodeled to express α-gal epitopes (Cancer Res; 70(13); 5259-69, 2010). It was thought that the immunogenicity of well-characterized as well as uncharacterized multiple TAAs contained in cancer cells was upregulated by α-gal epitopes and these TAAs ultimately leaded to polyclonal expansion of both B and T cells. For the clinical development of more effective immunotherapy, we proposed that tumor lysate is a suitable source of TAAs, because it contains several known as well as unknown TAAs that could elicit an anti-tumor immune response. In this study, we investigated whether vaccination with PC tumor lysate, expressing α-gal epitopes can efficiently induce T cell response and antibody production against multiple TAAs. A human PC cell line, PANC1, which expresses MUC1 was employed and transfected with α1,3GT gene (α-gal PANC1), 2 × 106 of either parental or α-gal PANC1 were injected s.c. into NOD/SCID mice. The grown PANC1 tumors were enucleated for generating tumor lysates. α1,3GT KO mice were immunized with pig tissues to produce anti-Gal in their sera like human. These mice were vaccinated intraperitoneally by 10 mg of either parental (control group) or α-gal PANC1 tumor lysate (α-gal group). Tumor lysate of parental PANC1 lacked of α-gal epitopes and it of α-gal PANC1 clearly expressed ~40 x 106 of these epitopes per 1mg of lysate. These tumor lysates express MUC1 at similar level. Specific proliferation, assessed by CFSE assay of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells responses to either MUC1 peptide or PANC1 tumor lysate in α-gal group were significantly higher in comparison with these in control group [MUC1; CD4+ T cell: α-gal vs. control; 12.1±3.7 vs. 2.0±0.7% (p=0.0058), MUC1; CD8+ T cell: α-gal vs. control; 8.2±1.4 vs. 3.8±0.9% (p=0.036), Tumor lysate; CD4+ T cell: α-gal vs. control; 71.3±7.0 vs. 7.9±1.0% (p=0.0005), tumor lysate; CD8+ T cell: α-gal vs. control; 20.2±2.8 vs. 7.1±0.7% (p=0.0054)]. To prove the antibody production response to multiple TAAs, the presence of immunostained PANC1 proteins was investigated by Western blots, using mice sera before/after vaccination. The sera from control group did not display obvious bands that were recognized by anti-MUC1 Ab. In contrast, sera from α-gal group showed positive bands that bound to not only MUC1 but also different TAAs in PANC1 cells. Thus, all immunoractions were much higher in vaccination groups of tumor lysate than that of cell lysates. These results suggested that vaccination with tumor lysate, remodeled to express α-gal epitopes enabled the immune system to generate a multiclonal B- and T-cell responses against a broad spectrum of tumor antigens and can provide a chance to develop the potential immunotherapy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Citation Format: Eiji Miyoshi, Masahiro Tanemura, Tsukasa Tanida, Takahiro Deguchi, Yuji Nonaka, Hiroaki Nagano, Masaki Mori, Yuichiro Doki. High efficacy of α-gal epitopes immune-based therapy against pancreatic cancer using tumor cell lysates. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B29.


A single injection of anti-Thy 1.2 serum was used to study the spontaneous loss of suppressor cells in NZB/WF1 mice. When given 1 day before primary allografting with C57BL/6 skin, anti-Thy 1.2 significantly prolonged mean graft survival (MGS) in 5-week-old NZB/NZWF1 graft recipients. However, four times the dose of anti-Thy 1.2 was required to cause graft prolongation when compared with BALB/c recipients. In contrast to its graft-prolonging effect in 5-week NZB/WF1 mice, anti-Thy 1.2 failed to prolong MGS in either 17- or 34-week-old NZB/WF1 animals. Spleen cells from anti-Thy 1.2-treated 5-week-old NZB/WF1 mice could transfer suppression of graft rejection to otherwise untreated 5-week-old syngeneic recipients. This transfer required viable, radioresistant T cells. Although spleen cells from anti-Thy 1.2-treated 5-week-old mice transferred the suppression to 5-week-old recipients, the same cells were not effective if given to 17-week-old recipients. However, spleen cells from 17-week-old-pretreated donor mice were able to prolong MGS when given to the younger 5-week-old syngeneic recipients. The transfer studies of skin allograft prolongation by anti-Thy 1.2-treated spleen cells suggest that the ability to initiate suppressor cell activation is present in both young and older NZB/WF1 mice, whereas suppressor effector mechanisms are deficient in the older mice. In addition to its usefulness in studying the details of suppressor cell action, the studies suggest that anti-Thy 1.2 treatment may be a valuable probe for the presence of suppressor cells and/or their precursors.


Neural named entity recognition (NER) models may easily encounter the over-confidence issue, which degrades the performance and calibration. Inspired by label smoothing and driven by the ambiguity of boundary annotation in NER engineering, we propose boundary smoothing as a regularization technique for span-based neural NER models. It re-assigns entity probabilities from annotated spans to the surrounding ones. Built on a simple but strong baseline, our model achieves results better than or competitive with previous state-of-the-art systems on eight well-known NER benchmarks. Further empirical analysis suggests that boundary smoothing effectively mitigates over-confidence, improves model calibration, and brings flatter neural minima and more smoothed loss landscapes.


Since the absorption spectra of Fe(II) ions solutions vary with the concentration of Fe(II) irons, the authors tried to establish a direct measurement of active haemachrome in human blood through spectral analysis, and successfully made an experiment on it. The authors prepared Fe(II) ions solutions with various concentrations chemically, using 1, 10-phenanthroline (phen) as chromogenic agent. After the absorption spectra of these solutions were analyzed, Gaussion fitting at absorption peaks was performed to them. The linear fitting figure showed that the areas of Gaussion fitting curves correspond to the concentrations of Fe(II) irons. Thus, the concentration of Fe(II) in human blood was figured out in this way, and the result fitted quite well the actual concentration. As an optimized method, this creative idea is more accurate and precise. It will probably contribute to the development of new devices for measuring Fe(II) ions in human blood.


This work presents a historical analysis of death announcements (N = 1,443) posted in the New York Times between 1912 and 2002. Announcements were coded according to two main categories: the genre of the announcement and the presence of emotion words. Four distinct main genres emerged: death notices, memorials, recognition postings by organizations, and recognition postings by nonorganizational parties (friends and family). The proportion of death notices declined steadily from 1912 to 2002, while the proportion of announcements paying tribute to the deceased increased. The announcements were also analyzed in terms of emotion words used, and it is argued that the increasing frequency of emotion words used in the death announcements reflects a progressive emotionalization and psychologization of grief and loss.


In the title compound, C10H9ClN2O5, the nitro group is significantly twisted out of the plane of the benzene ring to which it is attached [dihedral angle = 27.4 (6)°]. In the crystal, molecules are linked into centrosymmetric dimers via pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. These dimers are further linked by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into double chains running along the a axis.


In this paper, a novel multi-objective Bayesian optimization method is proposed for the sizing of analog/RF circuits. The proposed approach follows the framework of Bayesian optimization to balance the exploitation and exploration. Gaussian processes (GP) are used as the online surrogate models for the multiple objective functions. The lower confidence bound (LCB) functions are taken as the acquisition functions to select the data point with best Pareto-dominance and diversity. A modified non-dominated sorting based evolutionary multi-objective algorithm is proposed to find the Pareto Front (PF) of the multiple LCB functions, and the next simulation point is chosen from the PF of the multiple LCB functions. Compared with the multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA) and the state-of-the-art online surrogate model based circuit optimization method, our method can better approximate the Pareto Front while significantly reduce the number of circuit simulations.


A new subtype A strain of HIV-1, designated HIV-1 IbNg, was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of an HIV-seropositive, but healthy, 23-year-old blood donor from Ibadan, Nigeria. Analysis of the envelope-encoding sequences of HIV-1 strains isolated from the major centers of the AIDS pandemic has identified at least 9 distinct HIV-1 genetic clusters or clades, tentatively designated as A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and O. The gp120-coding region of HIV-1 IbNg was characterized. The env gene was amplified from viral RNA using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. RNA was prepared by cocultivations of PBMCs from the Nigerian subject with phytohemagglutinin-stimulated PBMCs from an HIV seronegative donor. The PCR products were cloned into pBluescriptIIsK(+) and sequenced by the dideoxy chain termination method. Nucleotide sequence data were used to generate a consensus nucleotide sequence of the entire gp120-coding region of HIV-l IbNg, using the Sequence Analysis Software Package. Alignment of the nucleotide sequences of the env gene of HIV-1 IbNg with those of other known HIV-1 strains indicated that this virus most closely clustered with HIV-1 strains belonging to the A subtype, which was in agreement with the observation that this subtype is most closely associated geographically with central and western Africa. DNA sequence analysis of the env genes of 4 additional HIV-1 strains (G3, G9, JV1083, and JP88) from Nigeria indicated that these strains clustered most closely with HIV-1 strains belonging to the G subgroup. Characterization of the entire genomic sequence of HIV-1 IbNg is important for identifying molecular structure(s) of viral gene(s) that may be involved in the pathogenesis of subtype A strains in Nigeria. Research is currently underway to obtain a complete sequence of the entire HIV-1 IbNg genome.


Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are extremely useful in the accurate diagnosis of anterior knee pain, a common complaint arising from numerous causes (including fracture, chondromalacia patellae, and alignment and tracking abnormalities). Plain CT is effective for evaluating intraosseous lesions of the knee. Although CT arthrography provides excellent visualization of the patellar articular cartilage, the technique is expensive and invasive. Cine CT is an excellent method for assessing patellofemoral tracking and alignment. Kinematic MR imaging can also perform this function. In addition, MR imaging can provide valuable information concerning the status of patellar cartilage. Although MR imaging can accurately show high-grade chondromalacia patellae, it is less accurate in the detection of low-grade disease. The authors believe that MR imaging and plain radiography offer radiologists the greatest latitude in making a specific diagnosis of the cause of anterior knee pain; however, CT is a useful alternative.


In this article, we explore intimate partner violence (IPV) from an intersectional, feminist perspective. We describe how an updated feminist view guides us to a perspective on IPV that is more strongly grounded in an antioppressive, nonviolent, socially just feminist stance than a second-wave gender-essential feminist stance that suggests that patriarchy is the cause of IPV. At the time we began to work together it seemed that a researcher had to be identified as a "family violence" researcher or a "feminist" researcher of violence against women, and that it wasn't possible to be a feminist researcher who looked beyond patriarchy as the cause of IPV. We advocate critically thinking about essentialist practices in clinical work so that we can maintain an antioppressive, socially just, nonviolent approach to working with clients who experience IPV.


The article presents the data on the level of highsensitivity C-reactive protein in the blood plasma of young adults with growth hormone deficiency that occurred in childhood and persists in adulthood. It was found that prolonged deficiency of endogenous growth hormone is associated with a significant increase of C-reactive protein level in the blood plasma of patients. This could significantly enhance the risk of early atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases in patients with growth hormone deficiency already at a young age. Therapy with recombinant growth hormone preparations leads to normalization of C-reactive protein levels already in 3–6 months after therapy initiation/retreatment.


GD2 is a disialoganglioside that is expressed on the cell surface in specific normal and malignant human tissues. Tumor specific cell surface antigens serve as important targets in cancer therapy. Anti-GD2 therapy using antibodies targeted to the cell surface antigen GD2 to induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity has been proven effective in treating GD2 expressing tumors like neuroblastoma and melanoma. Prior studies of osteosarcoma have shown GD2 to be expressed in malignant cells of osteosarcoma patients. In this study, the expression of GD2 in osteosarcoma will be evaluated further. A previously created and described tissue microarray was stained with 14.G2a, a murine monoclonal anti-GD2 antibody that was obtained from the National Cancer Institute. The intensity and location of tissue staining were assessed by a comparison between the positive and negative control slides. To evaluate GD2 expression quantitatively a cell-based ELISA was performed on different osteosarcoma patient derived cell cultures. The results of the tissue microarray showed that 34.8% of patient samples stained positive for GD2 while 60.9% of samples showed intermediate staining and only 4.3% of samples showed negative staining for GD2 (n=88). Nearly all of the osteosarcoma cell lines (n=24) showed levels of GD2 expression comparable to the neuroblastoma and fibrosarcoma cell lines and in some cases GD2 expression was significantly greater. Anti-GD2 therapy has been proven effective in treating patients with neuroblastoma and melanoma. The findings in this paper indicate that osteosarcomas express GD2 to a similar extent as neuroblastomas. These results would suggest clinical trials are worthwhile to further evaluate the benefit of anti-GD2 therapy in patients with osteosarcoma. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5332. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5332


To determine the relationship between apoptosis and carcinogenesis of oral mucosa, the distribution patterns of apoptosis in normal (N), inflammation (IF), dysplasia (DYS) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of oral mucosa were evaluated by in situ end-labeling method. Results showed that the apoptosis levels in N and IF were relatively lower and stable, whereas the apoptosis of DYS was the highest one in all observed groups. The apoptosis of DYS and SCC were increased obviously higher than N and IF. The results indicated that apoptosis played an important role in premalignant lesion and malignancy of oral mucosa.


During 1984-1988, 16,779 sputa from 3546 patients were studied. Minimal requirements of representability were obtained in sputa of 2500 (70.5 per cent) patients under study. Total of unsatisfactory samples reached 4812 (28.7 per cent). Even sufficiently repeated taking of sputum failed to produce any representable material from 267 patients (7.5 per cent). Carcinoma was identified in 455 cases (18.2 per cent), cytologic evaluation was verified by autopsy in 105 cases. Squamous carcinoma was found in 265 cases [58.2 per cent], accuracy was 87.9 per cent. Adenocarcinoma was found in 82 cases [18 per cent], accuracy was 100 per cent. Small cell carcinoma was found in 72 cases [15.8 per cent], precision of typing was 95.8 percent. Undifferentiated carcinoma was found in 36 cases [7.9 per cent], accuracy was 33.3 per cent. A overall accuracy of typing was 85.7 per cent. A concise characteristics of cytologic picture in basic types of lung carcinoma were presented.


Deficiency of protein Gs (Gs; OMIM no.103580), the stimulatory regulator of adenylyl cyclase, is associated with resistance to PTH and other hormones, sc calcifications, short stature, and skeletal defects (Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy). It is caused by heterozygous loss of function mutations in GNAS 1, the gene encoding the alpha-subunit of Gs. Obesity is a classical feature of patients with Gs deficiency, but the mechanism leading to fat accumulation has not been elucidated. We measured glycerol flux, using a nonradioactive tracer dilution approach, to analyze the lipolytic response to epinephrine in 6 patients with Gs deficiency and PTH resistance and compared it to six age-matched normal controls and nine massively obese children. Basal glycerol production was reduced by 50%, and lipolytic response to epinephrine was reduced by 67%, in Gs-deficient children, as compared with controls. The degree of impairment of lipolysis was similar in Gs-deficient children who were only moderately overweight and in morbidly obese children. These findings extend the spectrum of hormonal resistance in Gs deficiency. Besides beta-adrenergic receptors, Gs protein itself should be examined as a possible step involved in the decreased lipolysis observed in common obesity.


Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nonmethane hydrocarbon (NMHC) emissions from two mechanically ventilated commercial broiler houses located in the southeastern United States were continuously monitored over 12 flocks for a one-year period during 2006-2007 as a joint effort between Iowa State University and the University of Kentucky. H2S and NMHC concentrations were measured using UV-Fluorescence H2S analyzers and methane/nonmethane/total hydrocarbon dual flame ionization detector gas chromatographs. Ventilation rates in each house were measured continuously by monitoring building static pressure and operational status of all ventilation fans in conjunction with individual performance curves developed and verified in situ using a Fan Assessment Numeration System (FANS) unit. United States EPA methods TO-15 and TO-17 were used for the nonmethane hydrocarbon compound speciation. The top-25 compounds are presented. The overall mean H2S and NMHC emission rates for a one-year period were 65.7 ± 42 g/d-house and 0.76 ± 0.43 kg C3H8/d-house, respectively. Annual H2S emission for the two broiler houses (including downtime emissions) averaged 19.2 kg per year per house or 0.147 g per bird marketed when the birds were marketed at 52 days of age with a stocking density of 11.8 bird per m2 (1.1 bird per ft2). Annual NMHC emission averaged 231 kg per year per house (510 lb per year per house) or 1.77 g per bird marketed.


Moreover, the investigations permitted the following conclusion: Infants with a low serum level of B12 have on the whole low haemoglobin levels, and the higher the serum B12 the higher is the folk acid value. Furthermore, jaundice is less common in infants with a high serum level of B12, i. e. exceeding 50 nano-g/100 ml, than in infants with a lower B1, level. Indeed, severely jaundiced infants also have a Iower serum B12 than non-jaundiced and slightly jaundiced infants. Moreover, the serum B12 appears to be higher in the cord blood of infants presenting by the breech than in infants in cephalic presentation. It was demonstrated also that the mothers have lower folic acid levels during the spring than during the autumn and that epileptic mothers on antiepileptic medication (phenobarbitone and phenantoin) have lower folic acid levels than other mothers, a finding which is in keeping with reports on megaloblastic anaemia in patients on antiepileptic medication.


This study examined how experts and laypeople using both a deliberative and a survey method prioritized 28 hazards related to food and everyday items. To enable them to make deliberative decisions, participants received detailed descriptions of the hazards. The participants prioritized the hazards before and after a group discussion, in which the group's average prioritization was discussed. The rankings of the hazards before and after the group discussion were highly correlated. However, laypeople and experts differed significantly in their rankings for 18 of the 28 hazards. Trust and confidence were important predictors for laypeople's risk rankings. To test the influence of the deliberative method (e.g., providing detailed information about each hazard), data from a second group of laypeople were collected with a no‐information survey. This group did not receive specific information about the hazards. The risk rankings of the laypeople who received information were highly correlated with the risk rankings of laypeople who did not receive information. Overall, the results suggest that deliberative methods of risk‐ranking or no‐information survey methods with no information about hazards provide similar results among laypeople. The conclusion is that government agencies should not only base their risk prioritization on evidence from risk assessments but also need to consider laypeople's hazard rankings. This procedure may result in an efficient and publicly accepted risk management strategy.


The etymological relation between author and authority implies the hierarchical authority inherent in the texts' addressor. The authority of the writer of the text stems from his perception as the source of the text, similar to the perception of the signified in general as the source of the sign. Therefore I wish to capture in the concept   Author-ity a wider system of connections between the act of representation and its validity, a system that is manifest as authority within the social order, since the semiotic relations between the source and its copy include a necessary dimension of hierarchy, whether between addressor and addresseror between signifier and signified. The politics of literature or of representation in general, are one aspect of Author-ity and the other aspect literature or the representation that is in politics. The relationship between polities and its justification is relationship of representation; the holder of authority claims it since the authority he uses represents a more elementary authority, whether it is the will of the people, the will of the people, the word of god or civil rights. Therefore politics will always require representation, whether by a member of parliament representing the sovereign citizen, or by a novel that structure the ideology that justifies the government.


Abstract Abstract Poultry red mites (Dermanyssus gallinae, PRM) are dangerous ectoparasites that infest chickens and threaten the poultry industry worldwide. PRMs usually develop resistance to chemical acaricides, necessitating the development of more effective preventive agents, and vaccination could be an alternative strategy for controlling PRMs. The suitability of plasma membrane proteins expressed in the midguts as vaccine antigens was evaluated because these molecules are exposed to antibodies in the ingested blood and the binding of antibodies could potentially induce direct damage to midgut tissue and indirect damage via inhibition of the functions of target molecules. Therefore, in the present study, a copper transporter 1-like molecule (Dg-Ctr1) was identified and its efficacy as a vaccine antigen was assessed in vitro. Dg-Ctr1 mRNA was expressed in the midguts and ovaries and in all the life stages, and flow cytometric analysis indicated that Dg-Ctr1 was expressed on the plasma membrane. Importantly, nymphs fed on plasma derived from chickens immunized with the recombinant protein of the extracellular region of Dg-Ctr1 showed a significant reduction in the survival rate. These data indicate that the application of Dg-Ctr1 as a vaccine antigen could reduce the number of nymphs in the farms, contributing to reduction in the economic losses caused by PRMs in the poultry industry. To establish an effective vaccination strategy, the acaricidal effects of the combined use of Dg-Ctr1 with chemical acaricides or other vaccine antigens must be examined.


Abstract : Many massive stars are embedded within gaseous circumstellar matter; sometimes dust and molecules are also present. Though the disks are sometimes too small to be detected directly, this material can be detected in the spectrum of radiation we observe from the star. Often, the circumstellar material has a disk-like distribution, but the physical processes that form and maintain these disks are not well understood. Be stars are an example of rapidly rotating, hot stars, whose spectra at optical wavelengths show both hydrogen emission lines and, frequently, emission lines from singly ionized metals due to the presence of a disk. We have computed theoretical models of circumstellar disks for Be stars, using a non-LTE radiative transfer code which incorporates a number of improvements over previous treatments of the disk thermal structure, including a realistic chemical composition. These models can predict spectral line profiles and equivalent widths, spectral energy distributions, and continuum polarization. Models with accurate thermal structures and radiation fields are essential to interpreting observations correctly. These models can also predict images on the plane of the sky in important wavelengths and are therefore ideally suited for comparison with interferometric observations. I will demonstrate that our models can be constrained by direct comparison with optical interferometric observations for the H emitting region and by contemporaneous H line profiles. Detailed comparisons of our predictions with H interferometry and spectroscopy place very tight constraints on the model free parameters for these star-disks systems.


Stochastic dominance is a crucial tool for the analysis of choice under risk. It is typically analyzed as a property of two gambles that are taken in isolation. We study how additional independent sources of risk (e.g., uninsurable labor risk, house price risk) can affect the ordering of gambles. We show that, perhaps surprisingly, background risk can be strong enough to render lotteries that are ranked by their expectation ranked in terms of first-order stochastic dominance. We extend our results to second-order stochastic dominance and show how they lead to a novel and elementary axiomatization of mean-variance preferences.


Abstract Wild type androgen receptor (AR) acts as a tumor suppressor and mediates the differentiation of non-malignant prostate epithelial cells. However, in the development of prostate cancer AR activity becomes critical for the development and progression of disease. Previous studies demonstrate that re-expressing wild type AR within an AR negative cell line (PC3) possesses tumor suppressor quality by reducing cell proliferation and tumorgenicity in mice. Further, it is documented that acetylation of AR in non-malignant cells is a post-translational modification associated with increased transcriptional activity of AR, whereas acetylation of AR in tumor cells results in negative regulation of AR transcriptional activity. We therefor are seeking to investigate the regulation of re-expressed AR within PC3 cells by induced acetylation post HDAC inhibition. Our preliminary data reveals that sensitivity to HDAC inhibition is increased with the re-expression of AR in PC3 cells. Further, epigenetic modification of AR in this model negatively regulates mTORC1 and mTORC2 expression and activity, independent of AR transcriptional activity. Ongoing experiments are being conducted to investigate further the role of epigenetic post-translational modification of AR and its negative regulation of mTORC1/2 signaling. Citation Format: Leigh Ellis, Remi Adelaiye, Shengyu Ku, Alejandro Godoy, Roberto Pili. Epigenetic modification of AR in PC3 cells negatively regulates mTORC1/2 activity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research; 2012 Feb 6-9; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(4 Suppl):Abstract nr B5.


Companies need to have tactics to win business competition. One way that can be used by the company is to recognize and understand the customer. Companies that perform customer relationship management will be able to sustain its business. The existence of customers is the driving force of business enterprises in various industries. In business services, the customer can be as an actor and a very crucial business objects. This study aimed to clarify the concept of customer relationship management and serves some research management customer relations in Indonesia. The study also describes the application of customer relationship management the company has done in Indonesia.   Keywords : Customer Relationship Management, Customer, Relationship Judul Asli : Peran Manajemen Hubungan Pelanggan dalam Bisnis Indonesia


Abstract Background Although the costs of bipolar disorder (BD) treatments are associated with local and universal factors, data from non-Western countries remain limited. The associations between clinical features and costs of outpatient pharmacotherapy have not been well characterize. To estimate the costs of outpatient BD treatments and their associations with clinical features in a Japanese population, we investigated with special reference to the costs of medicines constituted the bulk of the total healthcare expense and were steadily increasing. Methods The Multicenter Treatment Survey for Bipolar Disorder (MUSUBI) retrospectively evaluated 3130 patients with BD who visited 176 Japanese psychiatric outpatient clinics in 2016. Clinical features and drug prescriptions were recorded, and the total daily costs of psychotropic drug treatment were calculated. The annual medical costs related to outpatient BD treatments in Japan were estimated based on the corresponding demographics. The associations between daily medical costs and patients' clinical features were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results The daily costs of psychotropic drugs ranged from zero to JPY3245 (mean, JPY349 equivalent to USD32.5) and were exponentially distributed. The annual costs for outpatients BD treatments were approximately 51.9 billion Japanese yens (519 million US dollars). Subsequent multiple regression analysis revealed that social adjustment, depressive symptoms, age, rapid cycling, psychotic symptoms, and comorbid mental disorders correlated strongly with the daily cost of psychotropic drugs. Conclusion The estimated annual costs for outpatient BD treatment in Japan were equivalent to those in OECD countries (except for the US) and higher than those in some Asian countries. The cost of psychotropic treatments was associated with individual characteristics and psychopathological conditions. Key Messages Psychotropic treatment for an outpatient with bipolar disorder has a daily cost approximately JPY350. The annual outpatient treatment cost for bipolar disorder in Japan was estimated to 51.9 billion Japanese yen in 2016. Individual characteristics and psychopathological conditions affected the cost of drug treatment.


This paper presents E-Learning (E-L) to support the Programs of Education and Training (E&T), Research and Development (R&D) for improvement quality of the Indonesian Human Resources (IQIHR). The programs of the IQIHR must be related with the modern Art, Science, Engineering and Technology (ASET). The prosperity of the Human Resources will be approached from prosperity approach which is mainly emphasized with three universes of aspects: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual (PIES) aspects. There are three basic requirements for developing these aspects: Material, Energy and Information (MEI). Social welfare and increase of life quality are desired output that must be attained from the MEI aspects. Current standard of living of human being should be reported as feedback information in the programs of the IQIHR. In global communication, developed countries and developing countries should build several attractive and sound symbiosis bridges, to prevent loss of universe balances. High quality of human resources as products of IQIHR activities, have social impacts not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. A new work force strategy without denying the existing of high quality of human resources is established by retooling the work forces, thus the challenges of social impacts could be answered wisely and would be bright opportunities to improve human standards of living.


Some members of the library community, including the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, have suggested that libraries should open up their catalogs to allow users to add descriptive tags to the bibliographic data in catalog records. The website LibraryThing currently permits its members to add such user tags to its records for books and therefore provides a useful resource to contrast with library bibliographic records. A comparison between the LibraryThing tags for a group of books and the library-supplied subject headings for the same books shows that users and catalogers approach these descriptors very differently. Because of these differences, user tags can enhance subject access to library materials, but they cannot entirely replace controlled vocabularies such as the Library of Congress subject headings.


Abstract. We present an analytical phase noise model for fractional-N phase-locked loops (PLL) with emphasis on integrated RF synthesizers in the GHz range. The noise of the crystal reference, the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), the loop filter, the charge pump, and the sigma-delta modulator (SDM) is filtered by the PLL operation. We express the rms phase error (jitter) in terms of phase noise of the reference, the VCO phase noise and the third-order loop filter parameters. In addition, we consider OFDM systems, where the PLL phase noise is reduced by digital signal processing after down-conversion of the RF signal to baseband. The rms phase error is discussed as a function of the loop parameters. Our model drastically simplifies the noise optimization of the PLL loop dynamics.


East Nusa Tenggara's culture is deeply-rooted in patriarchy. It is more common for women to engage in the private sphere, rather than the public sphere. However, the women of East Nusa Tenggara have recently defied this expectation. In the 2014 Provincial Legislative Election, six women were elected as legislative members for the 2014-2019 period, reflectinga 100 percent increase in the number of women elected as representatives. This event became an important phenomenon, marking the history of women's representation in the parliament. It also became the basis of two questions. First, how the six women managed to enter politics amidst the strong patriarchy in East Nusa Tenggara. Second, the roles of the six women in formulating policies that are gender-responsive.This study focuses on local regulations relating to maternal and child health, the environment, and labor in order to have a holistic view on gender-responsive policies. This study is qualitative in nature and is centered on case study, while information was gathered through an in-depth interview with each of the six female representatives. Furthermore, the administrators of six political parties, namely Nasional Demokrat, GolonganKarya, Demokasi Indonesia Perjuangan, Amanat Nasional, Hati Nurani Rakyat, and Kebangkitan Bangsa were also interviewed. The principal findings of this study show that the election of these women in 2014 are connected to their "acting for" substantive representation and the support given by their families. With the increase of female representation in the legislative sphere, women are encouraged to be engaged in formulating gender-responsive policies in East Nusa Tenggara.


The leaf of aloe has an antioxidant activity which can reduce free radicals. The research of aloe toward chemical compund of fresh and rotten leaf, and its antioxidant activities. Ethanol extract the leaf o aloe by using maceration method, concentrated by rotary evaporator and evaporated by waterbath. The test of antioxidant activity use DPPH method 1,1- diphenil-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH), and an observed parameter is the percentage of free- radical-reduction in 30th minute with different concentrations (40ppm, 60ppm, 80ppm, 100ppm ) and value of IC50  ( Inhubitory concentrations) is analyzed by using regressions equation. The of EESDG show the percentage of muffled- fresh-research leaf from arboretum of usu (Univercity of north sumatera) is higher as the entianceluent of concentration sample ;92,10% ; 92,10%; 93,80%; 93,80%; and the lowest percentage down to 22,26%; 25,31%; 27,94%; 35,72%. And result of antioxidant activity by using light of spectrophotometer is catched on the wave of 516 nm, and get the result that (EESDG) fresh and rotten leaf from Langkat has IC50 of 39,70 ppm and 40,03ppm. While fresh and rotten leaf from Arboretum of USU has IC50 of 28,50 and 43,20 ppm. The research result that the estracts of ethanol and simplisia aloe have a very strong antioxidant activity. Keywords:. gaharu leaf,ethanol extract, antioxidant activity


Breast cancer, a critical health problem, is considered to be a progressive disease with a poor prognosis if detected late. Public education about the disease plays a vital role in early detection and subsequent improvements in prognosis. The present study assesses the knowledge and awareness about various aspects of breast cancer among female in Kangra Region of Himachal Pradesh. METHODS: The knowledge of various aspects of breast cancer including incidence, early Warning signs, risk factors, screening, early detection measures and sources of information was Evaluated among female in Grace School Of Nursing Kangra (students and staff members), and randomly selected different areas of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, from August 1 to 31, 2012. A self-structured validated questionnaire that contained 10 itemized questions about breast cancer was randomly distributed to the participants. Respondent's levels of knowledge were determined. RESULTS: Of 121 females, 106 (88%) were available for final analysis with a mean age of 21 years (age range: 18 to 55 years). Fifty nine (55%) respondents were single and ninety four (88%) had no family history of breast cancer. Their knowledge about the incidence of the disease was poor; only 11% replied correctly. A total of forty nine (46.2%) respondents mentioned swelling in the skin/axilla while twenty seven (25.5%) suggested skin changes as early warning signs of breast cancer. None of the participants expressed knowledge about all established risk factors of the disease. Sixty two (58.4%) did not know the proper way to perform a breast selfexamination and forty two (39.6%) had never performed this test. Additionally, sixty seven (63.2%) knew that mammography was a screening tool for breast cancer. Sources of information about the disease were: television and radio (52, 49%), printed material in journals and newspapers (16, 15%) and family physicians (9, 8.5%). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that respondents showed deficient knowledge about key Issues concerning breast cancer and its early detection measures. Majority of the respondents had heard of breast cancer but the knowledge and understanding of the disease was low .Measures need to be taken to spread awareness about this disease in females so that they can play a vital role in early detection of this disease. It also revealed that health workers were not the main source of information in the region, thereby posing a challenge for community health services to provide basic required information about breast cancer.


This article describes an approach for standardizing the assessment system. It consists of a set of longitudinal assessment tools used throughout the 5.5 year competence-based program, such as portfolio, Hall-Tonna Values Inventory, ALBALÁ (an electronic database to register and assess every student's clinical encounter with any patient, anywhere), OSCE and accumulative written test, as well as a set of assessment tools used according to each particular type of course.


This research presents a generalised procedure to determine the optimal dwell point location for an arbitrary service device within a defined region. Similar to some existing dwell point location research for material handling systems, this study models a generic system that responds to demands for service from a region defined by a bi-variate random vector over some predefined service region as well as from a particular point analogous to the Input/Output (I/O) location for an arbitrary material handling system. A step-by-step procedure is delineated for determining the optimal dwell point location for a generic system. Extensions to the model for systems with multiple point (I/O) locations as well as for systems with multiple service regions are also presented.


The goal of the study is to identify optimal breakwater designs to be placed on the banks of various water bodies in coastal Louisiana, to prevent the coastal erosion. Coastal erosion is a significant concern for Louisiana's wavy coastline. The loss of coastal wetlands is threatening the environment and the economic development. One of the ways to prevent coastal erosion and wetland losses is by using breakwaters designed to reduce the wave energy and change the transport of sediments brought by the waves. The objective of this research is to analyze the turbulent characteristics around specially designed three-dimensional (3D) breakwaters, and its impact on sediment deposition under coastal wave actions. Both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experimental measurements were conducted. In order to validate the CFD models used for this study, the simulation results were compared to data measured from a scale-down experiment. Once the validity of the CFD models has been confirmed on three miniature panels, namely, a solid panel, a panel with three holes, and a panel with eight holes, the simulations were scaled up to the actual size of the designed breakwater panels for tests. The breakwater designs aim to allow sediment pass through the holes, to deposit sediment at target areas, and to reduce wave actions. There were three different panel-design cases simulated in this study. The results of 3D CFD simulations of these panels were compared and analyzed to determine the performance of each design in terms of wave reduction and sediment retention.


Abstract Seven species of Coccinellidae inhabiting citrus groves in Florida were evaluated for ability to develop and reproduce on the citrus aphids Toxoptera citricida (Kirkaldy) and Aphis spiraecola Patch. Choice tests performed with adults and larvae indicated that both aphid species were generally acceptable prey. Coccinella septempunctata L., Coleomegilla maculata fuscilabris (Mulsant), Coelophora inaequalis F., and Olla v-nigrum Mulsant were unable to complete development on either aphid. Hippodamia convergens Guerin larvae completed development on A. spiraecola with 68% survival; none survived on T. citricida. Only Cycloneda sanguinea (L.) and Harmonia axyridis Pallas completed development on both A. spiraecola (60 and 70% survival, respectively) and T. citricida (100 and 95% survival, respectively). Larval developmental time was shorter on T. citricida than on A. spiraecola, and resulting adults were heavier, differences being more pronounced in H. axyridis. Females of C. septempunctata, C. inaequalis, and O. v-nigrum produced viable eggs on T. citricida. O. v-nigrum did not produce eggs on A. spiraecola. Females of C. m. fuscilabris and H. axyridis produced no eggs on A. spiraecola and mostly infertile eggs on T. citricida. Female H. convergens laid twice as many eggs feeding on T. citricida as on A. spiraecola and egg viability was similar. C. sanguinea females laid similar numbers of eggs on both aphids, but eggs produced on A. spiraecola had higher fertility. Pollen added to the T. citricida diet temporarily improved the fertility of H. axyridis females, but not that of C. sanguinea females. C. sanguinea was judged the best candidate for augmentative biocontrol of T. citricida, the primary vector of citrus tristeza virus.


A novel α-FeOOH/mesoporous carbon (α-FeOOH/MesoC) composite prepared by in situ crystallization of adsorbed ferric ions within carboxyl functionalized mesoporous carbon was developed as a novel visible light assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst. The visible light active α-FeOOH nanocrystals were encapsulated in the mesoporous frameworks accompanying with surface attached large α-FeOOH microcrystals via C-O-Fe bonding. Assisting with visible light irradiation on α-FeOOH/MesoC, the mineralization efficiency increased owing to the photocatalytic promoted catalyzing H2O2 beyond the photothermal effect. The synergistic effect between α-FeOOH and MesoC in α-FeOOH/MesoC composite improved the mineralization efficiency than the mixture catalyst of α-FeOOH and MesoC. The iron leaching is greatly suppressed on the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite. Interestingly, the reused α-FeOOH/MesoC composites showed much higher phenol oxidation and mineralization efficiencies than the fresh catalyst and homogeneous Fenton system (FeSO4/H2O2). The XPS, XRD, FTIR, and textural property results reveal that the great enhancement comes from the interfacial emerged oxygen containing groups between α-FeOOH and MesoC after the first heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction. In summary, visible light induced photocatalysis assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like process in the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite system improved the HO• production efficiency and Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle and further activated the interfacial catalytic sites, which finally realize an extraordinary higher degradation and mineralization efficiency.


Automatic speech recognition (ASR) has been established as a well-performing technique for many scenarios where lots of labeled data is available. Additionally, unsupervised representation learning recently helped to tackle tasks with limited data. Following this, hardware limitations and applications give rise to the question how to efficiently take advantage of large pre-trained models and reduce their complexity for downstream tasks. In this work, we study a challenging low resource conversational telephony speech corpus from the medical domain in Vietnamese and German. We show the benefits of using unsupervised techniques beyond simple fine-tuning of large pre-trained models, discuss how to adapt them to a practical telephony task including bandwidth transfer and investigate different data conditions for pre-training and fine-tuning. We outperform the project baselines by 22% relative using pre-training techniques. Further gains of 29% can be achieved by refinements of architecture and training and 6% by adding 0 . 8 h of in-domain adaptation data.


Digital angle modulations having input symbol memory can be demodulated using maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE or Viterbi decoding). The demodulation of the more bandwidth efficient of these can require a large number of computations. In this paper, lower complexity decoding approaches are presented. These decoders use a predetermined processing order and a reduced number of survivor signals, S , at every-time NT . Processing is performed on the signal sequences using metrics (likelihoods) obtained by a matched filter bank similar to that needed for MLSE. The decoders can achieve asymptotic optimality of error rate while being computationally faster and simpler than MLSE for many modulations. In addition, error rate performance can be traded for complexity reduction. Expected performance has been verified for representative modulations.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
No consensus has been reached concerning the effects of peri-operative immunonutrition in patients undergoing liver transplantation. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of peri-operative immunonutrition on clinical outcomes and liver function in patients undergoing liver transplantation.

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN
The Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and google scholar were searched to identify all available randomized controlled studies which compared peri-operative immunonutrition support (glutamine, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, arginine and ribonucleic acids) with standard nutrition. The data analysis was performed using Revman 5.2 software.

RESULTS
A total of 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 501 patients were included. Peri-operative immunonutrition significantly reduced the risk of infectious complications (RR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.98, p=0.04) and shortened the postoperative hospital stay [weighted mean difference (WMD): -3.89; 95% CI: -7.42 to -0.36; p=0.03]. Furthermore, perioperative immunonutrition improved liver function by decreasing the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the blood (WMD: -25.4; 95% CI: -39.9 to -10.9, p=0.0006). However, we did not find statistically significant differences in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TB) and direct bilirubin (DB) levels. There were no statistically significant differences in mortality and rejection reaction.

CONCLUSIONS
Peri-operative nutrition support adding immunonutrients like glutamine, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, arginine and ribonucleic acids may improve outcomes in patients undergoing liver transplantation. Due to the limited sample size of the included trials, further large-scale and rigorously designed RCTs are needed.


Depth estimation enables a wide variety of 3D applications, such as robotics, autonomous driving, and virtual reality. Despite significant work in this area, it remains open how to enable accurate, low-cost, high-resolution, and large-range depth estimation. Inspired by the flash-to-bang phenomenon (i.e. hearing the thunder after seeing the lightning), this paper develops FBDepth, the first audio-visual depth estimation framework. It takes the difference between the time-of-flight (ToF) of the light and the sound to infer the sound source depth. FBDepth is the first to incorporate video and audio with both semantic features and spatial hints for range estimation. It first aligns correspondence between the video track and audio track to locate the target object and target sound in a coarse granularity. Based on the observation of moving objects' trajectories, FBDepth proposes to estimate the intersection of optical flow before and after the sound production to locate video events in time. FBDepth feeds the estimated timestamp of the video event and the audio clip for the final depth estimation. We use a mobile phone to collect 3000+ video clips with 20 different objects at up to $50m$. FBDepth decreases the Absolute Relative error (AbsRel) by 55\% compared to RGB-based methods.


A bstract : The existence of an authoritative figure is an indivisible part of society living in Indonesia. The high claims of iron tablets in pregnant women were indicated not followed by high consumption of Fe tablets. Motivation was suspected to be a problem in various treatment processes. The aim of this research was to know the level of influence in influencing the decision and also the perception of various influence roles based on the understanding of local wisdom.  Descriptive method was used by using a closed questionnaire to 130 respondents. The results showed that the husband, the parents and the mother-in-law were the individuals who had an influence on the decision of a pregnant woman. The need for permission was the highest factor chosen regarding the participation in the health program. This study provides an overview of the influence of individuals that must be considered in making a health program for pregnant women. Keywords: health program, influence of individual, local wisdom, pregnant mother


The endothelium of the carotid arteries, pulmonary trunk and aorta from twelve human subjects aged between 42 and 86 yr was examined en face after staining of the cell borders with a silver nitrate solution. The three vessels each showed similar features with a background pattern of fusiform, mononuclear cells orientated in the longitudinal axis of the vessel. Superimposed on this was a highly variable pattern of small and large polygonal cells and, less commonly, giant cells. Many examples of an abrupt transition from one pattern to another were observed. Preparations which were also stained with haematoxylin showed that large polygonal cells and giant cells contained many nuclei, often arranged into one or more nuclear clusters. The endothelial pattern was related to the underlying intimal structure by taking transverse sections of selected arterial segments. Although a specific endothelial pattern could not be related to a particular intimal morphology, there was a tendency for increasing intimal fibrous thickening and lipid deposition to be associated with more disorganised endothelial patterns and with the presence of large, multinucleate endothelial cells.


The post-Paleozoic metallogenic evolution of southeastern Peru is clarified on the basis of the stratigraphic and lithologic settings of the majority of the known metallic ore deposits and a regional program of K-Ar and 40 Ar- 39 Ar geochronology. This central Andean transect displays a range of mineralization types unparalleled in other regions of the country. Contrasting magmatic, tectonic, and metallogenic relationships are shown by the calc-alkaline--shoshonitic Upper Triassic--Holocene Main Arc magmatic domain, underlying the present Cordillera Occidental and Altiplano, and the more restricted Triassic--Pliocene Inner Arc domain of the Cordillera Oriental, which incorporates a great variety of igneous suites and exhibits a correspondingly diverse metallogeny. Major economic mineralization occurred simultaneously in the two domains only during the late Oligocene to early Miocene interval.The earliest significant Andean W, Cu, Mo, Sn, and Au mineralization is hosted largely by weakly peraluminous granites of the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic (190-225 Ma) Carabaya batholith in the Inner Arc; magma genesis resulted from sediment anatexis along the margin of the Permian ensialic Mitu rift. Renewed rifting in the Middle Jurassic (ca. 170-180 Ma) in this area was associated with the emplacement of the volcano-plutonic Allinccapac Peralkaline Complex, syenitic plutons of which host minor Cu, Ag, and Zr(-REE) vein systems. Mesozoic mineralization in the Main Arc, weak in comparison to that in other central Andean transects, comprises Upper Jurassic (145-165 Ma) Cu-Au veins (e.g., Rosa Maria), and mid-Cretaceous (ca. 95-110 Ma) Cu (Santiago, Valparaiso) and Fe (Morritos, Cerro Pelado) veins of the Ilo-Ite district. Restricted Upper Cretaceous (ca. 80 Ma) Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag veins in the Crucero district of the Inner Arc are interpreted as recording a brief episode of arc broadening or bifurcation.Large-scale porphyry Cu(-Mo, Ag) centers were emplaced in the Main Arc in the interval 52.15 (Cuajone) to 57.1 Ma (Toquepala) as the terminal stage in the evolution of the subaerial volcanic succession of the Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene Toquepala Group, which had previously experienced only minor Cu(-Pb-Ag-Au) vein mineralization at ca. 80 (Challatita) and 62 Ma (Lluta district). The early Eocene event represents the metallogenic culmination of the Peruvian Coastal batholith and its extension in northern Chile. In contrast, only the northern extremity of the upper Eocene-lower Oligocene arc of northern Chile occurs in the study area, and the minor Ataspaca Cu-Mo-Pb-Zn-Ag stockwork and skarn mineralization (39-45 Ma) is a pale reflection of the coeval array of giant porphyry copper deposits farther south. Much of south-eastern Peru lacked magmatism immediately before and after the ca. 40-Ma Incaic orogeny and hence experienced a metallogenic hiatus. The Main Arc was resuscitated in the Santa Lucia area at 31 to 32 Ma; at 28.5 + or - 1 Ma it abruptly broadened to a width of ca. 235 km. However, hydrothermal activity remained restricted in both scale and distribution. The moderate-sized Berenguela (ca. 27 Ma) and Santa Barbara (23.5 Ma) epithermal Ag deposits are associated with calc-alkaline subvolcanic centers, in the latter case emplaced in the initial stages of cordilleran uplift. Post-Oligocene mineralization in the Main Arc was also apparently sparse in comparison to the broadly contemporary epithermal Ag-Au-base metal deposits of central and south-central Peru, but it comprises the Au-rich veins of the Manazo camp (19 Ma) and the Ag veins of the Cacachara (6.5-7 Ma) and Compuerta camps (7 Ma).The Inner Arc revived at 28 to 29 Ma, simultaneously with the Main Arc broadening. Anatexis resulting from shoshonitic basalt injection generated strongly peraluminous monzogranite stocks with which are spatially associated major, high-grade, lithophile and base metal lode systems, including San Rafael (23-24 Ma) and Palca 11 (24-25 Ma), now the most productive hard-rock Sn and W deposits of the Western Hemisphere. However, the widespread middle and late Miocene peraluminous magmatism in this region failed to produce Sn polymetallic mineralization of the scale developed in Bolivia at this time; only the small Jesica vein system (17.4 Ma) has been confirmed to contain Sn, and the Sb veins of the area (e.g., Collpa: 12.3 Ma) are also of restricted size. In contrast, the uranium stockworks (6.8-8.0 Ma) associated with the rare element-enriched, rhyolitic Macusani Volcanics are large and apparently of high grade.Although sharing several metallogenic features with contiguous central Andean transects, southeastern Peru differs markedly from other areas of the country in the nature and age of mineralization. Thus, the Inner Arc domain does not persist to the northwest, and the radical and commonly abrupt changes we define in the distribution of magmatism, and hence mineralization, during the middle and late Tertiary are apparently unrepresented in central Peru. The individual metallogenic evolution of this region is ascribed to the inferred occurrence of a marked deflection in the western boundary of the South American plate throughout the Andean orogeny.


Higher education institutions, such as universities, formulate strategies and undertake initiatives to support sustainable development (SD). Scholars draw up and examine sustainability reports as the main institutional documents to assess and communicate universities' efforts towards SD. However, the presupposition of a commitment to SD by the university community is the declaration included in their codes of ethics, which can subsequently be verified and included in their sustainability reports. Thus, although codes of ethics orient strategies, no studies have yet attempted to examine if they can be considered as a communication tool able to express a university's commitment to SD. This exploratory study aims to investigate if and how the codes of ethics of the Italian public universities reflect their commitment towards SD. Content analysis was carried out using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations' 2030 Agenda. The findings suggest that SD is a common aim among Italian universities, although it is not explicitly communicated in their codes of ethics, and that each university contributes to SD in different ways. In practical terms, this study suggests to adopt an approach that is better directed towards SD to improve universities' codes of ethics and compliant strategies.


Suicide prevention in rural areas presents unique challenges, including isolation and lack of support services. In rural Indian Country, suicide continues to be a cause for community concern and can be viewed as one outcome of historical trauma. In light of this, a paradigm shift is needed that honors indigenous perspectives more fully regarding etiology, collective symptomology, and collective responsibility for determining appropriate intervention. Suicide prevention and intervention efforts must occur on individual, community, and systemic levels, and should include integration of traditional healing methods. Community settings such as primary care, emergency departments, and schools can play a critical role in the delivery of mental health and suicide prevention services. This article provides an overview of current challenges and opportunities for service provision in rural tribal communities, as well as an overview of evidence-based and promising practices for intervention. It also provides practical recommendations for schools, communities, and policy leaders. Language: en


Abstract 1337 Erythroid hypoplasia or aplasia is a hematological condition observed in including idiopathic pure red cell aplasia (PRCA), thymoma-associated PRCA and aplastic anemia. Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia in bone marrow is a rare type of MDS that was not included in existing classifications of MDS. Patients with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia have common characteristics; transfusion dependencies, immunologic abnormalities and successful immunosuppressive therapies with cyclosporin A (CsA). Thus, we may regard erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia as one of hematological disease entities. However, pathogenic mechanisms of erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia have not been fully elucidated, although T-lymphocyte-mediated inhibition of erythropoiesis is suspected to be the most possible mechanism of the pathogenesis. Recently, we reported that oligoclonal expansion of CD8 + /perforin + T cells was observed in patients with thymoma-associated PRCA and the oligoclonality was exclusively detected in CD8 + T cells, but not CD4 + T cells. To clarify the pathogenetic role of the T-cells, we analyzed the T-cell subsets and therapeutic responses in patients with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia in bone marrow. Among 253 patients with MDS diagnosed at Hiroshima University Hospital between 2000 and June 2011, 12 patients (4.7%) showed erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia. A total of 22 patients with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia, including 8 MDS with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia, 3 idiopathic PRCA, 3 thymoma-associated PRCA and 8 aplastic anemia, were enrolled in this study. All patients were treated with CsA and improvement in anemia in this study followed the International Working Group (IWG) 2006 criteria. For T-cell subset analysis, mononuclear cells (MNCs) were purified from bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood (PB) of the patients. MNCs were stained with fluorescent (FITC, PE, PerCP or APC)-conjugated antibodies for CD8, perforin, CCR7, CD62L, CD27, CD28 and CD45RO, CD45RA and were subjected to flow cytometric analysis. As controls, 30 patients with MDS without erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia and 30 patients without BM abnormalities were also analyzed. Among 22 patients with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia, 10 patients (4 MDS with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia, 1 idiopathic PRCA, 3 thymoma-associated PRCA and 2 aplastic anemia) responded to CsA therapy within 2 to 8 weeks. The median blood hemoglobin concentration increased from 6.5 g/dL at the baseline to 9.3 g/dL with treatment, with a median increase of hemoglobin of 2.8 g/dL from the baseline. We attempted to compare the T-cell subsets between CsA-responders and non-responders. All of 3 thymoma-associated PRCA showed good response to CsA therapy, suggesting that the oligoclonal expansion of a CD8 + /perforin + T-cell subset may be associated with the responses to immunosuppressive therapy. Thus, we focused on a T-cell subpopulation expressing CD8 + /perforin + . Intriguingly, the CD8 + /perforin + T cells were significantly increased in the CsA-responders (44.3 ± 9.6%, n=10) compared to the non-responders (19.0 ± 9.3%, n=12, P 0.0001), normal BM controls (16.9 ± 7.0%, n=30) and MDS without erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia (15.1 ± 7.0%, n=30). Among the CD8 + /perforin + T cells, CD27 + /CD62L +/− /CCR7 low /CD28 low /CD45RA ++ /CD45RO + population was prominent, which is consistent with an effector memory T (T EM ) cell subset described by Decrion et al . Our study reveals that CD8 + /perforin + T cell subset is a large population in the patients with CsA-responsive erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia. It is suggested that CD8 + /perforin + T cell subset may have functions to reduce erythroid progenitors via immunological mechanisms. The mechanisms may be easily suppressed by immunosuppressive therapies. In conclusion, expansion of CD8 + /perforin + T cell subset predicts response to cyclosporin A therapy in patients with erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia. The disease entity of "erythroid hypoplasia/aplasia in bone marrow with expansion of CD8 + /perforin + T cell subset", including MDS, PRCA with or without thymoma and aplastic anemia, may have common pathogenetic mechanisms. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


The objective of this project is to develop a functional portable videogame console for playing retro/arcade games that is capable of loading games from an SD card. For that, the device will be build around a stm32 microcontroller, specifically the stm32f103ZE. To accomplish this objective, this document will detail the operational processes that occur in the microcontroller, how to configure these processes, how to communicate with the development board and with other modules and how to program it. The same goes for the LCDs microcontroller and for the SD card interfaces and FAT32 file system. All this implies a good knowledge of the programming language C and the ability to find and understand reliable documentation. The console, named G-Engine, will be a portable device for playing arcade games. It will display the game on a 480x320 pixel resolution LCD, and the user will control it using its 8 input buttons: four directions buttons, two action buttons and the select and start buttons. G-Engine will be able to load games from an SD card making it so the user can have multiple games installed on the card and can change from one to another any time. It will implement the FAT32 file system so the games can be installed on the SD card from any PC by just "click and drag" the game into the card. To ensure portability the device has a 5200mAh Li-Ion battery that can be charged through a mini-USB connector. It will also have three battery status LEDs. One indicates low battery, other indicates that the device is being charged and the last indicates that the charge has finished. In order to reduce the power consumption the device has a power switch to disconnect the battery from the processor when the gaming session is over


Chemoport, a central venous infusion system is commonly used in cancer patients for administration of chemotherapy. Dislodgement with subsequent migration of chemoport catheter in to the heart is rare but potentially catastrophic complication. The treatment of choice is immediate retrieval of dislodged part of catheter by either surgery or percutaneous approach. Percutaneous removal is safer and less invasive making it the standard treatment modality. We herein report the case of a 3 year old child who was referred to us for the management of a dislodged chemoport catheter. In this article we discuss the treatment approach in this particular case as well as review the existing literature.


This article discusses experiments demonstrating that the gastrointestinal hormones, gastrin, secretin, and CCK (cholecystokinin), stimulate the growth of the exocrine pancreas. Exogenous gastrin, secretin, and CCK increase pancreatic weight DNA, RNA and protein content of the rat pancreas. Antrectomy, which removes most endogenous gastrin, decreases pancreatic growth. The effects of antrectomy are prevented by exogenous gastrin. Infusion of HCI into the duodenum to release secretin and infusion of amino acids into the duodenum to release CCK also stimulate pancreatic growth. These results provide evidence that the regulation of pancreatic growth is an important action of the gastrointestinal hormones.


This research investigates early mover advantage of a special group of online firms: entrepreneurial etailers that operate on third party eCommerce platforms. The conventional wisdom suggests that early mover advantage would not be substantial when barrier to entry is low. However, this research argues that etailers, even when barrier to entry is low online, can enjoy early mover advantage because of the relatively high switching cost in the uncertain online environment, and the system design features of ecommerce platforms. Customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities, as measured by customer attraction, conversion and retention capabilities, can help enhance the sources of online early mover advantage. Panel data of 7,309 etailers from the cosmetics and women's clothing industries is analyzed to verify the hypotheses. The empirical evidences strongly corroborate the predicted early mover advantage for online retailers and the role of CRM capabilities in boosting early mover advantage as well as etailer performance.