This paper presents Power management of Cell Sites. The method makes use of GSM modem. The GSM modem which gives the instant message about the mains power supply to the cell sites. The temperature sensors and relay will sense the temperature of the room and if the main fails the GSM module will send the message to the master mobile which is already set in the system. The cell site base transreciever station (BTS) which are operated by Diesel generator, when the power is off we can switch on the Diesel generator by sending the SMS command like (DG ON) or we can switch of the generator with the command (DG OFF). The method can greatly improve the developing efficiency, reduces the delay and fuel consumption. The proposed one has better performance and involves less hardware complexity. This is a single comprehensive solution that remotely controls and monitors the subsystems inside each base station site and enables network operators to coordinate and manage the conditions at all base station sites across their network.


Abstract: Several studies have shown that qualitative (binary) ant-plant networks are highly nested in tropical environments, in which specialist species (with fewer interactions) are connected with generalists (with the most interactions) in cohesive subgroups. Interactions occur in both qualitative and quantitative networks, however, how their frequency may structure the nestedness in ecological networks involving these organisms is, we believe, unknown. Based on this perspective, we used nestedness analysis to address the effect of interaction frequency on ant-plant networks (n = 14 networks). Unlike binary networks, quantitative networks are often significantly non-nested. In addition, species with a higher interaction frequency have a higher number of links, indicating that these species are possibly more abundant and/or competitive. Moreover, different biological parameters can change the nature of ant-plant interactions, as a plant can be a good resource for one ant and a 'bad' resource for another. Thus, this suggests a new perspective for the study of interaction networks in the tropics, since species with lower interaction frequency are not necessarily subsets of species with higher frequency, and consequently generate the non-nested pattern in quantitative networks.


Accumulating evidence indicates that glial cells directly influence neuronal information processing in the nervous system. Based initially on in vitro studies and focusing on astrocytes (Volterra & Meldolesi, 2005; Haydon & Carmignoto, 2006; Perea et al., 2009), bi-directional interactions between glial cells and neurons have been demonstrated; the existence of these interactions is now also supported by in vivo approaches (Wang et al., 2006; Winship et al., 2007; Petzold et al., 2008; Schummers et al., 2008; Halassa et al., 2009; Nimmerjahn et al., 2009). Yet, 'gliophysiology', specifically how neuronal network activities recruit different types of glial cells, remains poorly understood. In this context, the study of Parri et al. (2010) highlighted in this issue of EJN provides an important basis for understanding the physiology of neuron–glia interactions in thalamic processing of sensory information. The authors used a combination of electrophysiological and calcium-imaging techniques to study glial cell responses in acute slices of rat ventrobasal (VB) nucleus of the thalamus. The VB receives excitatory somatosensory inputs, notably from the vibrissae, and projects to the somatosensory cortex from which an excitatory projection feedbacks onto the VB. The sensory and the cortical inputs to the VB are both glutamatergic. Parri et al. demonstrate that, in astrocytes, stimulation of either of these inputs evokes delayed, slow calcium responses. These calcium responses require stimulation of metabotropic glutamatergic receptors (mGluR5). Furthermore, individual VB astrocytes exhibited different sensitivities to sensory and cortical afferent inputs, and were overall more readily recruited by cortical inputs. As stated in Parri et al., the larger number of cortical, when compared with sensory, afferent fibres innervating the VB may account for these observations. Thus, the results of Parri et al. suggest that VB astrocytes might be important in sensory input processing and physiological brain states that rely on the recurrent activation of the cortico-thalamic pathway. Interestingly, the authors also showed that direct stimulation of astrocytes triggers slow excitatory NMDA receptor-mediated currents in VB neurons, confirming results from previous research and obtained in several brain regions (Parri et al., 2001; Angulo et al., 2004; Fellin et al., 2004; Perea & Araque, 2005; Kozlov et al., 2006; D'Ascenzo et al., 2007). Such slow currents may further prolong and favour excitation in the thalamo-cortical loop. In a second part of their article, Parri et al. analysed the responses evoked by the same afferent pathways in another type of glial cells, oligodendrocyte precursors expressing the proteoglycan NG2 (NG2 cells; also known as polydendrocytes or synantocytes). These glial cells play a critical role in myelination during postnatal brain maturation, and a pool of these precursors is maintained in the adult brain (Nishiyama et al., 2005). Whereas astrocytes are closely associated with synapses but rarely form true synaptic connections with neurons, glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses are present between neurons and NG2 cells (Bergles et al., 2010). In the VB, responses of NG2 cells to sensory and cortical inputs differed markedly from those of astrocytes: stimulation of the afferent pathways did not trigger slow calcium responses in NG2 cells. Instead, stimulation induced brief synaptic currents mediated by the activation of AMPA receptors. Moreover, the majority of NG2 cells responded to the stimulation of both afferent pathways. Parri et al. also demonstrate that depolarizations inducing a rise of calcium in NG2 cells did not trigger any detectable responses in neighbouring neurons. The authors conclude that the two types of glial cell are differently and selectively recruited by the major VB excitatory inputs, and that their responses exhibit different properties to those of thalamocortical neurons. The study of Parri et al. is the first comparative analysis of thalamic astrocyte and NG2 cell responses to stimulation of sensory and cortical inputs, and provides us with a challenging hypothesis on the role of astrocytes in the modulation of thalamocortical loops.


A better understanding of the mechanisms of anaesthesia and sedation are expected not only to improve the understanding of the neural correlates of consciousness but also to
help improve safety from the complications of anaesthesia/ sedation and develop safer drugs and objective brain function monitoring systems. Neuroimaging modalities such
as functional MRI, magnetoencephalography and MR spectroscopy provide complimentary information about brain functions and can help interrogate brain activity
in a living human brain. Most anaesthetic drugs act by enhancing the inhibitory actions of GABA in the brain. Most neuroimaging research has focused on anaesthetic-induced
unconsciousness, with only few investigating the earliest levels of sedation-induced altered consciousness.
The work in this thesis used a range of advanced neuroimaging modalities to investigate the role of GABA (through a GABA-ergic drug, propofol), during mild sedation, in humans. This was performed as a series of experiments within two, sequential, scanning sessions, MEG followed by fMRI, in the same participants.
Propofol resulted in a dissociation of the visual gamma band response (decreased evoked, increased induced power). This was related to a reduced BOLD fMRI response but there were no changes in MRS detectable GABA concentration. Response to multisensory stimulation also revealed interesting changes with MEG and fMRI.
Functional connectivity analyses showed changes in connectivities of the posterior cingulate cortex (key hub of default-mode network) and thalamus with each other and
other key brain regions. Resting state networks were identified with MEG too, which revealed interesting increases in connectivity in certain band- limited networks while motor networks showed no change. Perfusion fMRI using arterial spin labelling revealed a global and regional reduction in perfusion, highlighting some of the key
regions (frontal cortex, precuenus, PCC and thalamus) involved in sedation.


A model of a small open economy with open capital and labour markets is presented. Labour demand is based on capital mobility and increasing returns in production. Migration decisions are based on the relative attractiveness of regions in terms of the stock of infrastructure, including its tax cost and the degree of congestion, and the level of wages prevailing. Equilibria are not Pareto efficient because individuals do not take account of the impact of their actions on the level of wages prevailing, the extent of the tax base to finance infrastructural provision, or the degree of congestion. The model generates new insights into a range of policy issues that surfaced over the course of the recent Irish boom.


We report for the first time the in vitro characterization of a reverse tetracycline repressor (revTetR). The dimeric wild-type repressor (TetR) binds to tet operator tetO in the absence of the inducer anhydrotetracycline (atc) to confer tight repression. We have isolated the revTetR G96E L205S mutant, which, contrary to TetR, binds tetO only in the presence of atc. This reverse acting mutant was overproduced and purified. Effector and DNA binding properties were analyzed by EMSA and quantified by fluorescence titration and surface plasmon resonance. The association constant K(A) of revTetR for binding of [atcMg](+) is approximately 10(8) M(-1), four orders of magnitude lower than that of TetR. The affinity of TetR for tetO is 5.6 +/- 2 x 10(9) M(-1) and that for revTetR in the presence of atc is 1 +/- 0.2 x 10(8) M(-1). Both induced forms, the atc-bound TetR and the free revTetR, have the same low affinity of 4 +/- 1 x 10(5) M(-1) for DNA. Therefore, atc does not act as a dimerization agent for revTetR. We discuss the structural differences between TetR and revTetR potentially underlying this reversal of activity.


Abstract: The role of reactive oxygen species in ionizing radiation injury and the potential of antioxidants to reduce these deleterious effects have been studied in animal models for more than 50 years. This review focuses on the radioprotective efficacy and the toxicity in mice of phosphorothioates such as WR‐2721 and WR‐151327, other thiols, and examples of radioprotective antioxidants from other classes of agents. Naturally occurring antioxidants, such as vitamin E and selenium, are less effective radioprotectors than synthetic thiols but may provide a longer window of protection against lethality and other effects of low dose, low‐dose rate exposures. Many natural antioxidants have antimutagenic properties that need further examination with respect to long‐term radiation effects. Modulation of endogenous antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase, may be useful in specific radiotherapy protocols. Other drugs, such as nimodipine, propranolol, and methylxanthines, have antioxidant properties in addition to their primary pharmacological activity and may have utility as radioprotectors when administered alone or in combination with phosphorothioates.


The objective of the study was to compare different models in the estimation of genetic parameters for test-day milk records in Churra da Terra Quente (CTQ) ewes. Data comprising 10700 test-day measurements from the first lactation of 3096 ewes were used in analysis of morning milk yield (MMY), afternoon milk yield (AMY), and daily milk yield (DMY). Records before 30 and after 150 days in milk were discharged. Average milk yield was 217.1 g, 198.3 g, and 415.4 g for MMY, AMY, and DMY, respectively. Pedigree le contained 5494 animals. Simple fixed regression animal model (FRM) and random regression animal models (RRM), where orthogonal Legendre polynomials of order 3 were used. The REML method as implemented in the VCE-5 programme was applied for estimation of (co)variance components. Statistical models contained linear regression on days in milk and number of lambs born as fixed effects, while fock-test-day, permanent environment of a ewe, and direct additive genetic effect were treated as random. Estimates of heritability from FRM were low, from 2.9% for AMY to 8.2% for MMY. Heritability estimates from RRM presented a maximum at 60 days of lactation (≥ 33.9%) and decreased to values lower than 2.5%at the end of lactation. There is a potential for using random regression to model additive genetic and permanent environmental effects for genetic evaluation in CTQ ewes, especially from the first two thirds of lactation when decision on mating has to be taken.


The effect of hypoxia (reduction of arterial Po2 to 26-28 mm Hg) on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO2) was studied in paralyzed and artificially ventilated rats, using a CBF technique of improved accuracy at high flow rates. Results obtained on animals maintained on 70% N2O unexpectedly showed that hypoxia of this severity is accompanied by an increase in CMRO2, and they indicated that 2 different mechanisms are involved, both related to catecholamine metabolism. In one breed of Wistar rats studied, hypoxia was accompanied by a 6-fold increase in CBF and by an increase in CMRO2 to 180% of control. Prior removal of the adrenal glands curtailed the increase in CBF (400% of control) and CMRO2 (125% of control). The excessive increase in CMRO2 (to 180% of control) did not occur in another breed of Wistar rats. However, since infusion of adrenaline in normoxic animals gave rise to a doubling of CMRO2 it is concluded that, at least under some circumstances, circulating catecholamines can increase oxygen consumption in the hypoxic brain. In the second breed of rats studied, hypoxia was consistently accompanied by a 20-30% increase in CMRO2 which was unaffected by prior adrenalectomy. Since the increase was prevented by sedative and anesthetic doses of diazepam, it is tentatively concluded that the increase was elicited by increased activity in cerebral catecholaminergic pathways. The conclusion is supported by parallel studies showing that a similar increase in CMR02 occurs in hypercapnia, which is blocked both by diazepam and propranolol.


This study examines the causal factors to explain the different integration patterns of the Turkish community in the Netherlands and Germany. The Dutch and German Turkish communities offer an excellent opportunity for comparative analysis of integration, since they share many socio-cultural characteristics but differ in their level of integration. It suggests that the Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands are more integrated into the host society than their counterparts in Germany due to the difference in "macro-environmental factors" such as the political-legal framework and economic factors in these countries. These factors can stimulate or constrain the integration of ethnic groups. While anti-ethnic legislation, unfavourable immigration policies and discrimination in the labour market discourage integration, anti-discrimination laws and easy naturalization promote integration of immigrant communities into host societies.


This article chronicles a service-learning (SL) subject on community psychology in Hong Kong ( n = 26) and elaborates on how students experience concepts, frameworks, and values in community psychology and put them into practice at service-learning settings. Upon acquiring basic concepts in community psychology, including sense of community, empowerment, human diversity, and social capital, students engaged in 40 hours of service-learning sessions that included assigned community services and independent SL projects addressing both community needs and students' strengths. Learning reported by students in terms of experiential acquisition of community psychology concepts, personal empowerment, and implications on their service-learning practices are discussed with reference to Zimmerman's (1995) conceptual framework of personal empowerment. Students' interpersonal, interactional, and behavioral outcomes from their service-learning experiences are detailed.


Background: Workplace violence is a global problem in the health sector especially in the hospitals affecting healthcare works' job satisfaction and performance. Workplace violence is present in different forms associated with various factors and the nurses are the most affected. The aim of this study was to explore workplace violence experience among nurses working at a selected University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda.Method: There search approach used was quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design. The stratified random sampling was used to recruit 195 participants among 379 nurses. The data was collected using a structured, validated, and self-administered questionnaire that was adapted from the International Labor Organization, International Council of Nurses, World Health Organization and Public Services International. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing frequencies and percentages. Chi-square test was used for evaluating the association between variables.Results: The findings revealed that (58.5%, n=114) of nurses have experienced some types of WPV in the twelve months preceding the study, among them (44.6%, n=108) of nurses were verbally abused. The nurses providing emergency care, the nurses working at the emergency department and nurses working with vulnerable patients like HIV/AIDS patients were associated with workplace violence Chi square(1, n=195), P=<0.001). The psychological problems has been found as the first consequences of workplace violence.Conclusions: Based on the study findings, it was concluded that the hospital management needs to be aware of workplace violence, develop and implement appropriate policies and strategies. These strategies will strengthen nurses' concentration towards their and will resulting in service delivery improvement.


While developing and emphasizing oral skills in foreign language learning in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEF) seems to be the general trend in the whole of Europe, the place and attention given to oral skills in the majority of schools across Europe is less than it deserves. This is so owing to a number of factors, one being that oral skills are slow to develop, require time and investment in terms of attention and resources and yet leave largely insubstantial evidence of effort, and finally teaching materials oftentimes focus on more manageable language elements and skills. The Web application described in the subsequent pages is a reasonable solution to this problem as it allows teaching staff to jointly evaluate the oral skills and proficiency of their pupils through a web-based environment. The main objectives of the rationale behind the web app are in bringing teaching staff in various institutions by providing them with a community where their assessments can be validated by their colleagues and to provide them and their pupils with tools to distribute and share annotated video and audio materials on the internet. This article outlines the workings of the web app, its major components, the logic behind it and the logistics in creating online assessments of oral proficiency in a collaborative assessment environment with a Community of Practice as a safeguard for the continual and sustained operation of the web-based evaluation environment for asses-


The amount and type of waste are increasing due to population growth. Many harmful materials have been in the atmosphere for a very long times. This causes a crisis in the waste disposal and thereby contributes to environmental issues. Recycling concrete manufacturing waste materials not only offers a resource for producing concrete of top standard but also aids in correctly addressing the issue of waste disposal. Due to the leftover ceramic powder's high resistance and inability to be processed by any recycling process, using it in concrete is a good use for it. Using powdered ceramic waste in concrete as a pozzolana, their strength and water absorption were explored. The samples were made with 15% and 20% porcelain dust waste substitutes. Simultaneous effects were determined by using 0.5% and 1% nano-alumina and 15% and 20% waste ceramic powder. compression power, tests for water absorption, and weight and strength loss tests were accomplished. After 7 and 28 days of curing for nano-alumina at 0.5%, the increases in compressive strength are 11.46% and 10.22%, respectively. After 7 and 28 days of curing for 1% of the nano-alumina, the increases in compressive strength are 16.25% and 14.73%, respectively. The findings indicate that the compressive strength of the concrete is not significantly harmed by the inclusion of ceramic waste up to 20%. Additionally, the use of pozzolana, ceramic waste powder, and nano-alumina increases compressive strength while lowering the ability to absorb water. Consequently, nano-alumina can enhance the impacts of ceramic waste powder on concrete's characteristics.


Synopsis : Direct-quenching after hot rolling above recrystallization temperature in austenite was investigated in low carbon and low alloy high tensile strength steels. Effects of cooling rates during direct-quenching on the microstructures, strength, and toughness were investigated, comparison being made with reheatquenching. It was clarified that the strength and toughness were remarkably improved by direct-quenching in a certain range of cooling rates, in which the microstructure of direct-quenching showed up as a mixture of martensite and fine bainite, while that of reheat-quenching was coarse bainitic. These results showed that the improvements of the strength and toughness were due to the enhancement of hardenability by direct-quenching. By calculating ideal critical diameters from tensile strengths of as-quenched steel plates, it became clear that the increase in hardenability by diect-quenching was about by 40%. It was too large to ascribe the increase of hardenability only to the difference of austenite grain sizes in direct-quenching and reheat-quenching. Some possible mechanisms for these interesting phenomena were discussed.


Starspots, just as Sunspots, are among the most obvious tracers and signatures of stellar surface magnetic activity. Emphasized already several decades ago as the origin for the rotationally modulated brightness of cool late-type stars, it is just now that we start to trace individual surface features in great enough detail to understand their magnetic behavior and interaction. Starspots also became the most important "noise" for detecting extra-solar planets and could possibly be decisive when it comes to detect another Earth. Since this is not a review, and because indirect imaging techniques are covered in other papers in this volume, I focus in this paper on some specific detections of starspots and introduce four new facilities particularly suited for starspot research in the near future.


[1] Correlated data for natural cloud-to-ground lightning flashes were obtained with a high-speed video camera (54000 frames per second), five stations of electric field change antennas, and a seven-station VLF/LF LIghtning NETwork (LINET), along with operational lightning and electric field networks at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Four observed flashes at 25–55 km distance had return-stroke-like upward illumination (UI) from the ground just after (within 2 ms of) a return stroke (RS), but in a separate channel connection to ground (0.7 to 2.5 km apart). The UI events were visible for short duration (0.5 ms or less) and short length (to 1.7 km altitude or less), and they had slow propagation speed (1.6–2.6 × 107 m s−1) and no apparent connection to the RS channel. In one case, the RS was no longer visible to the ground when the UI began 1.30 ms later, although mid-level channel was still distinct. In another case, the main RS had dimmed over the 0.52 ms interval before the UI but was still visible. The remaining two cases had the entire length of the prior RS channel no longer visible (for 40 and 240 μs) before the UI began (1.32 and 1.87 ms later). Electric field change data for the UI events resemble those of weak return strokes. These events were not located by the operational ground-strike and VHF detection systems; all four UI events were detected by LINET as negative ground strokes with small (less than 7 kA) peak current magnitude.


The aim of the paper is to develop a theoretical and empirical framework that allows us to determine the way the housing prices evolve in Barcelona. Housing is a durable good, which involves both consumption and investment components. That is why the behaviour of market for housing differs from both financial and goods markets. We develop a model that explains long run equilibrium relation between prices to buy and to rent, as well as dynamics of deviations from this equilibrium. Recent empirical studies of housing market shows significant fluctuations over time, but they have much less short-term volatility than financial markets and the changes in house prices have a bigger impact on consumer spending than do equity prices. We test the model with the data for Barcelona for two periods: 1970-1985 and 1985-2000. The general evolution of housing price exhibits the pattern of long wave; there have been two periods of sharp increase of housing prices during the second period. The dynamics of rental price exhibits a similar pattern, but the ratio of these prices is not constant over time. We argue that the periods of relatively high housing price with respect to rental price correspond to additional demand for housing coming from investors. Conclusion of the paper includes a detection of complex non-random dynamics of the prices for housing in Barcelona and explanation of this effect with the proposed theoretical model.


Pioneer 11 observations of the interaction of Jupiter's magnetosphere with the distant solar wind have confirmed the earlier Pioneer 10 observations of the great size and extreme variability of the outer magnetosphere. The nature of the plasma transitions across Jupiter's bow shock and magnetopause as observed on Pioneer 10 have also been confirmed on Pioneer 11. However, the northward direction of the Pioneer 11 outbound trajectory and the distance of the final magnetopause crossing (80 Jupiter radii) now suggest that Jupiter's magnetosphere is extremely broad with a half-thickness (normal to the ecliptic plane in the noon meridian) which is comparable to or greater than the sunward distance to the nose.


Female urinary incontinence can be improved by nonsurgical pharmacologic as well as non-pharmacologic treatments. Hygiene and dietary rules apply to all forms of incontinence. If overweight, weight loss improves stress urinary incontinence. There are levels of evidence to show that pelvic floor muscle training and behavioral therapy improve incontinence. Duloxetine is better than placebo for improvement of quality of life and for the impression of an improvement, but its place is still not determined in the algorithm of conservative treatments. The effects of vaginal electrostimulation and oestrogen are inconsistent or inhomogeneous. In case of urgency incontinence, anticholinergics remain the first line treatment and the place of stimulation of posterieur tibial nerve is still to be defined.


Abstract. The ambiguous representation of hydrological processes has led to the
formulation of the multiple hypotheses approach in hydrological modeling,
which requires new ways of model construction. However, most recent studies
focus only on the comparison of predefined model structures or building a
model step by step. This study tackles the problem the other way around: we
start with one complex model structure, which includes all processes deemed
to be important for the catchment. Next, we create 13 additional simplified
models, where some of the processes from the starting structure are disabled.
The performance of those models is evaluated using three objective functions
(logarithmic Nash–Sutcliffe; percentage bias, PBIAS; and the ratio between the root mean
square error and the standard deviation of the measured data). Through this
incremental breakdown, we identify the most important processes and detect
the restraining ones. This procedure allows constructing a more streamlined,
subsequent 15th model with improved model performance, less uncertainty and
higher model efficiency. We benchmark the original Model 1 and the final
Model 15 with HBV Light. The final model is not able to outperform HBV Light,
but we find that the incremental model breakdown leads to a structure with
good model performance, fewer but more relevant processes and fewer model
parameters.


This paper presents a new appearance-based place recognition system for topological localization. The method uses a panoramic vision system to sense the environment. Color images are classified in real-time based on nearest-neighbor learning, image histogram matching, and a simple voting scheme. The system has been evaluated with eight cross-sequence tests in four unmodified environments, three indoors and one outdoors. In all eight cases, the system successfully tracked the mobile robot's position. The system correctly classified between 87% and 98% of the input color images. For the remaining images, the system was either momentarily confused or uncertain, but never classified an image incorrectly.


What does Congress do? How does it do it? Is Congress up to the challenges ahead? This concise primer offers students and general readers a brief and systematic introduction to Congress and the role it plays in the U.S. political system. Drawing on his experience as a former Congressional staff member, the author explores the different political natures of the House and Senate, examines Congress's interaction with other branches of the Federal government, and looks ahead to the domestic and foreign challenges that are likely to drive the Congressional agenda for decades to come. The book provides revealing insights into the sometimes contradictory Congressional responsibilities of representation and lawmaking oversight and appropriation and managing and organizing the government. It includes a case study (on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security) that sheds light on Congress's often complicated procedures. The book also includes boxed features on Congressional action - highlighting such topics as file sharing and student loans - that show students how Congress's work affects their lives. Chapter-ending lists of web resources add to the book's usefulness.


For the first time, we use the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on-board the Fermi satellite to search for sterile neutrino decay lines in the energy range 10-25 keV corresponding to sterile neutrino mass range 20-50 keV. This energy range has been out of reach of traditional X-ray satellites such as Chandra, Suzaku, XMM-Newton, and gamma-ray satellites such as INTEGRAL. Furthermore, the extremely wide field of view of the GBM opens a large fraction of the Milky Way dark matter halo to be probed. We start with 1601 days worth of GBM data, implement stringent data cuts, and perform two simple line search analyses on the reduced data: in the first, the line flux is limited without background modeling, and in the second, the background is modeled as a power-law. We find no significant excess lines in both our searches. We set new limits on sterile neutrino mixing angles, improving on previous limits by approximately an order of magnitude. Better understanding of detector and astrophysical backgrounds, as well as detector response, can further improve the limit.


INTRODUCTION :
The chronic kidney disease is a worldwide public health problem with an
increasing incidence and prevalence and hence an increasing number of patient are
treated with renal replacement therapy —dialysis or transplantation. The annual
incidence of ESRD has doubled over the past decade to reach about 135 per million in
Europe and similar rate in USA. It is expected to continue to rise at an annual rate of
around 5–8%. In India, the annual incidence is 34–240 per million population38.
Two factors are important. The first is the ageing of the population; the incidence
of ESRD is higher in elderly people than in the general population. The second factor is
the global epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus; the number of people with diabetes
worldwide (currently about 154 million) is predicted to double within the next 20 years.
And in India as per the diabetes atlas 2006 published by the diabetes federation , the
number of diabetes in India currently around 40.9 million is expected to rise to 69.9
million by 2025 unless urgent preventive measures are taken. And with it there is an
expected parallel epidemic of diabetic nephropathy.
AIM :
To evaluate the patients with chronic kidney disease stage 5 (CKD 5) and their prospective
renal transplant donors regarding:
1. The renal replacement choices made by the patients with CKD 5.
2. To assess the medical and non-medical factors that affect living related renal donor
selection among prospective renal transplant recipient.
METHODS :
Over 24 months, consecutive patients with CKD 5 and their relatives were interviewed at
their presentation to the nephrology services of Christian Medical College, Vellore, and the
reasons for the choice of modality chosen were analyzed and the prospective recipient and their
donors were again interviewed separately and the medical and non medical factors that affected
the donor selection were determined.
RESULTS :
1257 consecutive CKD 5 patients were enrolled over 24 months. Conservative, dialytic
treatment and renal transplantation were chosen by 513 (40.8%), 320 (25.5%) and 424 (33.7%)
patients. Only socioeconomic status affected significantly the modality chosen and not the age,
gender or donor availability. Patients or donor were likely to withdraw from transplant
evaluation commonly due to absence of voluntary donor , presence of a male donor, coercion not
to donate and absence of sponsorship either fully or partly. The commonest cause of rejection of
a donor was ABO incompatibility (45.8%), followed by diabetes mellitus (DM) or risk of DM
(24%), renal disease (5.9%), hypertension (5.5) and persistent cross match positivity (5.1).
CONCLUSION :
The non medical factors that negatively influences the donor availability or withdrawal
should be identified and to improve the rates of organ donation.


Helminths are parasites that cause disease at considerable cost to public health and present a risk for emergence as novel human infections. Although recent research has elucidated characteristics conferring a propensity to emergence in other parasite groups (e.g. viruses), the understanding of factors associated with zoonotic potential in helminths remains poor. We applied an investigator-directed learning algorithm to a global dataset of mammal helminth traits to identify factors contributing to spillover of helminths from wild animal hosts into humans. We characterized parasite traits that distinguish between zoonotic and non-zoonotic species with greater than 88% accuracy. Results suggest that helminth traits relating to transmission (e.g. definitive and intermediate hosts) and geography (e.g. distribution) are more important to predicting zoonotic species than morphological or epidemiological traits. Whether or not a helminth causes infection in companion animals (cats and dogs) is the most important predictor of propensity to cause human infection. Finally, we identified helminth species with high modeled propensity to cause zoonosis (over 70%) that have not previously been deemed to be of risk. This work highlights the importance of prioritizing studies on the transmission of helminths that infect pets and points to the risks incurred by close associations with these animals.


Identification based on Chinese handwriting is an interesting research in the field of pattern recognition and computer vision. Recently, many innovative methods and approaches have been developed for writer identification. Unlike character of western alphabet such as English, German, French, some oriental character such as Korean, Arabic and Chinese have structural characteristics. These structural characteristics, particularly on Chinese character have a complex structure due to the numerous strokes that warped into a cursive shape and have much larger set of characters. Hence, more features are needed to be generated prior to the classification phase for better identification. However, these features need to be well-represented for identification purposes. Hence in this study, an improved discretization is implemented to transform the range of continuous quantitative values of writer's features into a number of appropriate intervals, denoted as an integer label. Several experiments have been conducted with two different types of datasets: pre-discretized and post-discretized datasets. Post-discretized datasets is the extarcted features that have performed with discretization process; while pre-discretized are the original features, obtained from Direction-based Feature Extraction (DFE) technique. For reliable identification performance through discretization, 10, 7 and 5 crossvalidations (CV) have been tested on both datasets. The experiments have shown that the overall best result are obtained with discretized data, with identification accuracy above 94.0% compared to pre-discretized with identification accuracy below 50.0%. It can be concluded that the discretization process is efficient for representing the writers' features in obtaining higher identification rates for better forensic document analysis.


Abstract. Fire serves as a successional initiation in jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests of North America, as jack pine reproduce using seratonous cones that open only in intense heat. Jack pine seedling resilience after fire is characterized by high numbers of mortality. The estimation of sapling survivability and density is useful for understanding dynamics of carbon sequestration, forest structure and dynamic, and supporting management of the landscape. Most studies concerning the interaction of forest disturbances occurs at moderate spatial resolution. These moderate resolution data analyses do not adequately capture the fine scale spatial variation of the landscape after fire for understanding sapling survival. Thus, high-resolution data, such as aerial photography may provide more detailed information to support decision-making. A key to the types of spatial patterns that emerge in these early years is the pre-fire stand condition. In heavily managed areas, the mosaic of forest patches may include extensive variety in disturbance conditions. In this current research we address the problem of scale in relation to understanding the influence of pre-fire condition on post-fire early recovery patterns. To do this, we combine data output from the LandTrendr algorithm in Google Earth Engine with spectral data from aerial photography collected by airplane and Unmanned Aerial System to perform a random forest classification. The result is a finer scale resolution map of forest conditions of varying sapling density.


Decision-support requires the gathering and presentation of information, but is subject to many kinds of resource restrictions (e.g. cost, length, time). Individual users differ not only in the resources they have available to expend, but also in the priorities they place on different kinds of information. While it is straightforward to represent these differing priorities and related constraints in a user model, using that model to allocate resources for an unseen task across multiple agents in a dynamic environment is not as simple. Before the information gathering process begins, it is not known which agents will be able to usefully participate, or how much utility they will ultimately be able to provide. MADSUM is a distributed adaptive system that uses a negotiation process to solicit and organize agents to produce information, and a presentation assembly process to coherently assemble the information into text for decision support. MADSUM assumes poor predictive models of ultimate information utility and thus requires dynamic organizational management in response to run-time information failures. A user model, including content preferences, deadlines, and length constraints, informs both processes. An evaluation demonstrates that the influence of the user model on content selection and presentation improves system output, and that the organization responds appropriately and predictably in the presence of inevitable information failures.


Recently there has been an increasing need for synthesizing valued chemicals through biorefineries. Lactams are an essential family of commodity chemicals widely used in the nylon industry with annual production of millions of tons. The bio-production of lactams can substantially benefit from high-throughput lactam sensing strategies for lactam producer screening. We present here a robust and living lactam biosensor that is directly compatible with high-throughput analytical means. The biosensor is a hydrogel microparticle encapsulating living microcolonies of engineered lactam-responsive Escherichia coli. The microparticles feature facile and ultra-high throughput manufacturing of up to 10,000,000 per hour through droplet microfluidics. We show that the biosensors can specifically detect major lactam species in a dose-dependent manner, which can be quantified using flow cytometry. The biosensor could potentially be used for high-throughput metabolic engineering of lactam biosynthesis.


In formal education, a majority of e-learning courses is still conducted in a learning management system (LMS). Teachers and authors of educational resources can make use of context-aware recommender systems, which would recommend relevant learning objects to be included in the course. Context data can be obtained, among other sources, from an existing learning environment. This paper describes a two-phase survey of four LMSs – Chamilo, Claroline, Ilias and Moodle – and their characteristics suitable for creating an LMS part of a context model, which would be relevant to implement in recommender systems for this purpose. A sample set of use cases is given, which describes how teachers and content authors could use the system. Based on the survey results, a set of context model dimensions is proposed.


When designing the Kalman filter of integrated navigation system, the point of pinnacle importance focuses on the systemic state equation and measurement equation. Aiming at the relativity and poor observability among measurement information in loosely coupled integrated navigation system, the tightly coupled integrated navigation system is constructed with the information fusion technology based on Kalman filter. In this mode, pseudo-range and pseudo-range rate are used as measurement information for their better observability and independence, to improve the accuracy of Kalman filter. The experiments are carried out based on semi-physical, using the actual datum which are received by Global Position System (GPS) software receiver. The results show clearly that when the accuracy of inertial components declines, the tightly coupled integration can provide higher position accuracy than the loosely coupled integration.


Objective Data on the burden of gastrointestinal diseases are incomplete, particularly in Southern European countries. The aim of this study was to estimate the burden of digestive diseases in Portugal. Patients and methods This was a retrospective observational study based on the national hospitalizations database that identified all consecutive episodes with a first diagnosis of a digestive disease between 2000 and 2010 using ICD-9-CM codes. Comparative analyses were carried out to assess hospitalization trends of major indicators over time and across regions. Results More than 75 000 deaths attributable to digestive diseases were observed, representing 16% of the overall in-hospital mortality. Over half of these (59%) were premature deaths (in patients <75 years of age). Biliary tract disease was the most common digestive disorder leading to hospitalization (249 817 episodes, 5210 episodes of acute stone-related cholecystitis in 2010, with an 11% increase compared with 2000). Gastric cancer was responsible for the highest number of in-hospital deaths (10 278) and alcohol-related liver disorders accounted for the highest in-hospital premature deaths (7572). Both costs and the in-hospital mortality rate for major digestive diseases showed a significant positive relation with progression of time (&bgr;=0.195, P<0.001); however, when adjusted for age, this was not significant. Significant positive associations were found between age and in-hospital mortality (odds ratio=1.032, P<0.001) and between costs and in-hospital mortality (odds ratio=1.054, P<0.001). Conclusion In Portugal, digestive diseases represent a major burden, with evidence of an increasing trend. An ageing population contributes strongly towards this increase, placing further demands on healthcare organizations. Diseases such as gastric cancer, biliary tract disease and alcohol-related liver disorders may require particular attention.


Passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) mediated in rats by IgE-like antibodies against egg albumin or the benzylpenicilloyl determinant was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by intravenous treatment with Y-12,141; the ED50 was 0.09--0.2 mg/kg. The inhibitory effect of Y-12,141 ON PCA was about 5 times as potent as that of disodium cromoglycate (DSCG). Oral treatment with Y-12,141 resulted in the inhibition of PCA, showing an ED50 of 2.5 mg/kg. This action of Y-12,141 on PCA was considered to be due to the inhibition of the release of allergic mediatros from mast cells in a manner similar to DSCG. The results suggest that Y-12,141 may have an anti-allergic activity.


With regard to animal welfare concerns, behavioral information of weaned and mixed piglets is great interest in swine production. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the change in behavior of weaned piglets over time in two different groups (littermates and piglets from different litters) after mixing. Two weaned groups of piglets (72 individuals in all) housed either with littermates or with foreign piglets (6 individuals in 1.8 m×1.4 m pens, 28°C±1°C temperature) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3 after mixing. The behaviors of the weaned piglets in the control and treatment groups were significantly different among the days after mixing. Piglets were, however, more active and aggressive in the groups with foreign piglets. This study reveals a lower level of agonistic behavior in groups of piglets that came from the same litter.


A growing literature is demonstrating a link between working memory (WM) and speech-in-noise (SiN) perception. However, the nature of this correlation and which components of WM might underlie it, are being debated. We investigated how SiN reception links with auditory sensory memory (aSM) – the low-level processes that support the short-term maintenance of temporally unfolding sounds. A large sample of old (N = 199, 60–79 yo) and young (N = 149, 20–35 yo) participants was recruited online and performed a coordinate response measure-based speech-in-babble task that taps listeners' ability to track a speech target in background noise. We used two tasks to investigate implicit and explicit aSM. Both were based on tone patterns overlapping in processing time scales with speech (presentation rate of tones 20 Hz; of patterns 2 Hz). We hypothesised that a link between SiN and aSM may be particularly apparent in older listeners due to age-related reduction in both SiN reception and aSM. We confirmed impaired SiN reception in the older cohort and demonstrated reduced aSM performance in those listeners. However, SiN and aSM did not share variability. Across the two age groups, SiN performance was predicted by a binaural processing test and age. The results suggest that previously observed links between WM and SiN may relate to the executive components and other cognitive demands of the used tasks. This finding helps to constrain the search for the perceptual and cognitive factors that explain individual variability in SiN performance.


Abstract The liquidity-coverage ratio (LCR) requires banks to hold enough liquidity to withstand a 30-day run. We study the effects of the LCR on broker-dealers, the financial intermediaries at the epicenter of the 2007–2009 crisis. The LCR brings some financial-stability benefits, including a significant maturity extension of triparty repos backed by lower-quality collateral, as well as the accumulation of larger liquidity pools. However, it also leads to less liquidity transformation by broker-dealers. We also discuss the liquidity risks not addressed by the LCR. Finally, we show that a major source of fire-sale risk was self-corrected before the introduction of postcrisis regulations.


A novel and general approach for synthesis of the multi-oxygenated dihydrofuran sesquiterpenes has been developed starting from santonin. The key steps involve: the strategic acid-catalyzed double-bond shifting affording 4, the novel base-promoted epoxide rearrangement of 5 generating two key functionals (the C5-OH and the Δ7,11 double bond), and the stereoselective cyclization of tetrahydrofuran ring without pre-controlling the stereochemistry of C-7. As an example of this approach, synthesis of (+)-2,14-deoxyalatol was described in detail.


The aim of this paper is to study the behavior of M-30 grade of concrete to determine the compressive strength by partially replacement of cement by mineral admixture such as silica fume and also added steel fiber. Cement was partially replaced by silica fume in 0%,10% and 20% by weight.The tests were performed according to Bureau of Indian standards. The results thus obtained were compared and examined with respect to the control specimen. The optimum percentage of partially replacing cement by silica fume was 10% which showed the maximum improvement in compressive.


This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of the main perceived barriers to leisure‐time physical activity (LTPA) and their associations with the frequency of LTPA in a representative sample of industrial workers from Brazil (n = 47 477), according to their income strata (low income: ≤$US280, middle income: $US281–$US1400, and high income: ≥$US1401). Data were collected between 2006 and 2008 via questionnaires about the main perceived barrier to LTPA and the frequency of LTPA. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to evaluate differences among groups. There was a lower prevalence of regular practice of LTPA in the low‐ (15.8%) and middle‐income strata (18.2%) than among the individuals of the high‐income stratum (27.6%). A large proportion of workers who regularly participated in LTPA reported no barriers (low: 43.1%; middle: 46.8%; high: 51.6%). Additional obligations and fatigue were the two most common perceived barriers in all family income strata among participants who engaged in different frequencies of LTPA. The odds for all perceived barriers showed a positive trend related to frequency of LTPA (from regular to no LTPA), with higher values according to income. In summary, the ordering of the main perceived barriers to LTPA differed according to workers' income stratum and frequency of engaging in LTPA.


Introduction: The Robson ten-group classification identifies the women's groups that make the greatest contribution to the overall rate of Caesarean Section (CS), and thereby helps to optimise CS rates. It also helps to ensure optimum maternal and perinatal outcomes. Aim: This study was undertaken to examine the rates of CS using the Robson ten-group classification, and also to identify the women's groups that contribute most to CS rates in a tertiary care teaching and referral hospital in Kolkata, India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted over a period of one year from May 2012 to April 2013. All pregnant women admitted under the supervision of a particular unit of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and delivered in that hospital during the study period were included. Necessary data collection was done on the following parameters, i.e., previous obstetric history, category of pregnancy, course of labour and delivery, and gestational age. The women were categorised into the ten Robson groups. For each group, the CS rate, relative size of the group, and the percentage contribution made by the group to the overall CS rate were calculated and expressed in percentages. Chi-square test, Z-test and the trial version of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 were used to analyse the data. Results: The CS rate in the present study was 43.13% (735 out of 1704 deliveries). Not only the largest group in terms of relative size 649 (38.08%), the Robson group 1 had a CS rate of 41.75% (271/649), as well as the largest absolute number of caesarean deliveries. The group 1 made the largest contribution (271) to the overall CS rate (15.9%). The group 5 was the second largest contributing group 155 (9.09%), followed by group 3 96 (5.63%) and group 2 69 (4.04%). In the present study group 5 showed the CS rate of 95.67%, group 3 with CS rate of 24.48% and group 2 with CS rate of 60.52%. Conclusion: The Robson groups 1, 2, 3 and 5 were found to be the major contributors to the overall CS rate. These groups may be targeted for effective interventions to reduce the CS rate. Active management of labour in a primigravida with spontaneous onset, reduction of primary caesarean delivery, promoting vaginal birth after CS, and careful assessment of cases before induction of labour in nulliparous women, are likely to be few effective strategies.


A nanotube material is obtained by the reaction of polycrystalline TiO2 with concentrated NaOH solution for 20 h at 110 °C. From the contents of Na, Ti and the structural water determined, it is concluded that the nanotube material is Na2Ti2O4(OH)2, rather than TiO2, TiOx or H2TiO3. After treating with an HCl solution of pH 1, nanotube Na2Ti2O4(OH)2 can be converted to nanotube H2Ti2O4(OH)2. The crystalline structure of such nanotube materials belongs to an orthorhombic crystalline system. TEM results indicate that nanotube Na2Ti2O4(OH)2 is formed in the reaction stage of TiO2 with concentrated NaOH solution. The formation process is discussed.


The Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales and Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales of the MMPI-2 are becoming more popular for interpretation of standard MMPI-2 profiles. These new scales were developed using all 567 questions of the MMPI-2, making it necessary for the patient to complete all items for interpretation of these scales. This study generate estimations of the RC and PSY-5 scales with protocols in which only 370 questions were completed. Equations were created with over 1000 protocols and then cross-validated with a different set of protocols. The results showed moderate utility of the RC and PSY-5 scales with only 370-items completed. The following provides tables which can be used in situations when only the first 370-items are completed, but additional interpretation with RC and PSY-5 scales is still desired.


The retiolite graptolites can be divided into at least two major groups, each derived independently from diplograptid ancestors. The lacinia of some Ordovician forms, and the ancora and ancora sleeve ('reticulum') of Silurian retiolites, are both novel structures. Some other retiolite taxa lacking these structures are best grouped within diplograptid families. The nomenclature of retiolite structures is discussed.


Among the studies investigating the relationship between reading comprehension of EFL learners and motivational variables, no study has investigated the relationship between the two motivational factors of selfregulation, self-efficacy, and reading comprehension in preintermediate level in the Iranian EFL context.Therefore, the present study intended to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy, self-regulation and reading comprehension. One hundred pre intermediate university students in two different universities participated in the present study. Moreover, three instruments were used in the present study: (a) self-efficacy questionnaire, (b) selfregulation questionnaire, and (c) reading comprehension test. The Pearson-product formula was used to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy and reading comprehension. However, there was no significant correlation between self-efficacy and self-regulation, and no significant relationship was found between selfregulation and reading comprehension. The results of the study draw the attention of EFL learners to attempt for improving their reading comprehension of second language texts through improving their self-efficacy beliefs.


Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is a revolutionary and low-cost technology for boosting the spectrum and energy efficiencies in future wireless communication network. In order to create controllable multipath transmission in the conventional line-of-sight (LOS) wireless communication environment, an IRS-aided directional modulation (DM) network is considered. In this paper, to improve the transmission security of the system and maximize the receive power sum (Max-RPS), two alternately optimizing schemes of jointly designing receive beamforming (RBF) vectors and IRS phase shift matrix (PSM) are proposed: Max-RPS using general alternating optimization (Max-RPS-GAO) algorithm and Max-RPS using zero-forcing (Max-RPS-ZF) algorithm. Simulation results show that, compared with the no-IRSassisted scheme and no-PSM optimization scheme, the proposed IRS-assisted Max-RPS-GAO method and Max-RPS-ZF method can significantly improve the secrecy rate (SR) performance of the DM system. Moreover, compared with the Max-RPS-GAO method, the proposed Max-RPS-ZF method has a faster convergence speed and a certain lower computational complexity.


The vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 relies on the world-wide availability of effective vaccines, with a potential need of 20 billion vaccine doses to fully vaccinate the world population. To reach this goal, the manufacturing and logistic processes should be affordable to all countries, irrespectively of economical and climatic conditions. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are bacterial-derived vesicles that can be engineered to incorporate heterologous antigens. Given the inherent adjuvanticity, such modified OMVs can be used as vaccine to induce potent immune responses against the associated protein. Here we show that OMVs engineered to incorporate peptides derived from the receptor binding motif (RBM) of the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 elicit an effective immune response in immunized mice, resulting in the production of neutralizing antibodies. The immunity induced by the vaccine is sufficient to protect K18-hACE2 transgenic mice from intranasal challenge with SARS-CoV-2, preventing both virus replication in the lungs and the pathology associated with virus infection. Furthermore, we show that OMVs can be effectively decorated with RBM peptides derived from a different genetic variant of SARS-CoV-2, inducing a similarly potent neutralization activity in vaccinated mice. Altogether, given the convenience associated with ease of engineering, production and distribution, our results demonstrate that OMV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines can be a crucial addition to the vaccines currently available.


This study discusses the occurrence of possession disorders in Makassar. The method used is a qualitative grounded theory method with data collection using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The participants were three women, each of whom had experienced at least two possession disorders. The criteria for possession disorder refer to PPDGJ III. The results indicated that parenting, the role of the father figure, and the relationship with the mother, as well as the transmission of abusive religious beliefs were more likely the causes of possession disorders in the Makassar/Indonesian context. The abuse experienced is more related to parenting patterns than physical or sexual abuse as appears in the Western literature. Future research that deepens parenting themes and religious beliefs is important to understand the occurrence of other psychopathologies besides possession disorders.


In May 1979, the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas 'at San Antonio, conducted preliminary investigations at site 41 BX 180, a group of historic limestone ruins located on the Walker Ranch in northern Bexar County, Texas. A history of ownership of Walker Ranch is included. Archaeological investigations of three structures and associated artifacts are described. An appendix discusses the faunal material from the site.


ABSTRACT With animals as the primary and intermediary vectors of COVID-19, we sought to understand the ways in which animals were represented in UK news media during the emergence of the global pandemic and how these portrayals impact the lives of humans and animals. Using the Lexis-Nexis online media archive, we searched for news media reports featuring animals during the emergence of COVID-19 in the UK from the period January–October 2020. We analyzed a total of 452 news articles from three UK newspapers: Daily Mail, The Sun (both tabloids), and The Guardian (a broadsheet). Newspaper articles were thematically coded and qualitatively analyzed for emergent themes. Using a trans-species lens, whereby we view the shared commonalities between species as a challenge to anthropocentric hierarchies of human dominance, we explore three main themes: "It's their fault," "It's not their fault," and "It's our fault." Each theme illustrates how animals are represented by news media in the attribution of blame and victimhood of those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Our results show that animals are utilized by today's polarized media as tools to promote the political and social ideals of the press and their respective readership. The tabloids used animals for the promotion of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism. In comparison, The Guardian held a pro-environmental stance by framing the zoonotic disease as a platform to challenge the human–animal dichotomy and advocate for environmental, human, and animal equality. Domestic companion animals received the greatest positive media coverage across the newspapers, particularly in relation to the value of the human–animal bond for human health during the lockdown. In comparison, across the broadsheet and tabloid press, animals in research received limited coverage. Research animals were neither recognized for their contribution to human health nor as vulnerable others impacted by COVID-19. The specific impacts of these themes upon animals are discussed.


Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have a higher risk for atherosclerosis mainly as a consequence of chronic systemic inflammation, notwithstanding, the implicated pathways have not been completely understood. CD36 is a scavenger receptor relevant for atherogenesis, there are still controversies about its role in this process and there is no clinical information about CD36 and subclinical atherosclerosis in human patients with RA. Objectives To Evaluate the relation between the membrane expression of CD36 in peripheral blood monocyte cells and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) in patients with RA. Methods We included 37 patients with RA (ACR 1987) attending the rheumatology department of Hospital Civil "Dr. Juan I. Menchaca" Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The cIMT was assessed by high definition mode B ultrasound and patients were grouped as increased cIMT if >0.6 mm or as no increased cIMT if <0.6 mm. Disease activity was evaluated with the DAS28-cRP. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (Tg), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) were measured. The atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was calculated. Anti-CCP antibodies, serum IL-6 and TNFa were measured by ELISA. Membrane expression of CD36 was measured by immunofluorescence flow cytometry in PMBC. Data was analyzed with the software WinMDI 2.9 and SPSS v. 22 IBM, Inc. Results Of the studied patients, 24 (65%) had increased cIMT, this group showed higher serum TC (p<0.001), Tg (p=0.006), oxLDL (p<0.001) and AIP (p<0.001) and lower serum HDL-c (p=0.005). Titers of hs-cRP, TNFα, IL-6 and anti-CCP also were higher in the increased cIMT group. Mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) for CD36 was lower in the increased cIMT compared with the no increased cIMT (46.84±40.46 vs. 122.70±34.71, p<0.001). The cIMT was negatively correlated with CD36 MFI. We observed negative correlations between CD36 and TNFa (-0.729, p<0.001) and IL-6 (-0.822, p<0.001). Conclusions Low membrane expression of CD36 is observed in RA patients with subclinical atherosclerosis, Further, studies are needed to validate our findings and clarify the regulation and role CD36 in subclinical atherosclerosis in RA Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.6032


Kaustuva Barik (firstname.lastname@example.com) teaches Economics at the School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. The Delhi government's move to allow only alternate use of cars with odd and even registration numbers from 1 January 2016 is a step in the right direction. However, even as such command and control measures will be diffi cult to sustain, the gains made from these measures will only wane over time. Long-term measures with strong economic incentives to ensure favourable outcomes are imperative for better quality of air and environment. This involves strengthening public transportation systems. The recent decision of the Delhi government to permit private vehicles with odd or even registration numbers to run on alternate days has created a stir. The policy envisages reducing the number of vehicles on Delhi roads by about 50%, which is expected to reduce the level of air pollution in the city. The policy attracted appreciation from quite a few quarters on grounds of improvement in environmental quality. However, many looked at it with dismay as they did not have an inkling of how to manage commuting when the new policy comes into effect. The magnitude of the problem can be imagined if we visualise a scenario where about 42.4 lakh private vehicles will be banned from plying on road1 on any given day. People commuting in these vehicles needed to be accommodated in existing alternative modes of transport such as buses and the metro. The alternative to private vehicles, that is, the public transport system in Delhi, is inadequate, irregular, and overcrowded as usual. Against this backdrop, this article examines the economic gains of the new policy decision and explores the possibility of attaining the policy objective through alternative means.


There is considerable agreement that a more price responsive system would make for a more robust grid. This raises the issue of how the end-user can be induced to accept a system that relies more heavily on price signals than the current system. From a modeling perspective, how should the software 'agent' representing the consumer of electricity be modeled so that this agent exhibits some price responsiveness in a realistic manner? To address these issues, we construct an agent-based approach that is realistic in the sense that it can transition from the current system behavior to one that is more price responsive. Evidence from programs around the country suggests that there are ways to implement such a program that could add robustness to the grid.


Abstract A mechanism is proposed for pattern formation in developmental subfields. In application to imaginal disks, the compartmentalization appears as a prerequisite for the generation of positional information in the proximo-distal dimension. Cooperation of three or four compartments in the production of a morphogen leads to a cone-shaped morphogen distribution, since a high production rate of the morphogen is possible only at the intersection of compartment borders. The local concentration of the cone-shaped distribution is a measure for the distance from this center and can be used as positional information. In agreement with the experimental observations, the model predicts that (i) the distalmost structures are formed at the intersection of compartment borders; (ii) distal transformation occurs whenever cells of all compartments come close to each other; (iii) distal transformation does not require a complete set of circumferential structures; (iv) mutants exist in which the positional information and not the response of the cells is altered and (v) no distal to proximal intercalation of missing leg segments occur. Regeneration and formation of supernumerary insect legs can be explained as well. Simple molecular reaction can account for this type of pattern formation. The "complete circle rule" of French, Bryant and Bryant (Science 193,969-981 (1976)) for distal transformation may be simplified by a "cooperation of compartments" rule.


This study analyses challenges related to the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) as enhanced cooperation among the current 22 Member States and discusses possible solutions for coping with them. Complexity is identified as a main challenge owing to the EPPO's specific multilevel structure, the relationship between the EPPO and non-participating Member States, and the fact that the EPPO Regulation leaves many procedural rules to the law of the Member State in which an investigation takes place. Depending on the nature of the challenge, the suggested strategies to cope with complexity encompass legislative, administrative, and monitoring measures.


We reexamine and refine analytical theories for permeability in colloidal networks, with particular focus on constants and identification of approximations. The new theories are compared against numerical simulations of Stokes flow through the networks and reveal nearly quantitative power-law predictions for both pore size and permeability at low volume fractions, with systematic deviations observed only at high volume fractions. Comparison with two previously published experimental data sets yields mixed results: in one case, very good agreement is found, while in the other, only the scaling is correctly predicted. In fractal gel networks, the permeability is commonly modeled as a power-law function of volume fraction, with the fractal dimension of the network determining the power-law exponent. To quantitatively probe the influence of gel structure on permeability, we investigate this relation in structures generated by diffusion-limited cluster aggregation (DLCA) and reaction-limited cluster aggregation (RLCA) and, for contrast, non-overlapping uniform random dispersions of particles. Geometric analyses are used to determine network pore size distributions, fractal dimensions, and percolation characteristics. High-fidelity simulations of the slow viscous flow of Newtonian fluids are used to obtain first-principles-based velocity and fields and hence network permeabilities. Interestingly, the effective pore size that determines permeability is found to be somewhat larger than that measured by a method based on the insertion of spherical probes. Empirical inclusion of a fractal dimension dependence on volume fraction is found to yield quantitative results for permeabilities over the entire volume fraction range studied, in both DLCA and RLCA materials.We reexamine and refine analytical theories for permeability in colloidal networks, with particular focus on constants and identification of approximations. The new theories are compared against numerical simulations of Stokes flow through the networks and reveal nearly quantitative power-law predictions for both pore size and permeability at low volume fractions, with systematic deviations observed only at high volume fractions. Comparison with two previously published experimental data sets yields mixed results: in one case, very good agreement is found, while in the other, only the scaling is correctly predicted. In fractal gel networks, the permeability is commonly modeled as a power-law function of volume fraction, with the fractal dimension of the network determining the power-law exponent. To quantitatively probe the influence of gel structure on permeability, we investigate this relation in structures generated by diffusion-limited cluster aggregation (DLCA) and reaction-limited cluster aggregatio...


Multicellular tumor spheroids (MTS) have been at the forefront of cancer research, designed to mimic tumor-like developmental patterns in vitro. Tumor growth in vivo is highly influenced by aberrant cell surface-specific sialoglycan structures on glycoproteins. Aberrant sialoglycan patterns that facilitate MTS formation are not well defined. Matrix-free spheroids from breast MCF-7 and pancreatic PANC1 cancer cell lines and their respective tamoxifen (TMX) and gemcitabine (Gem) resistant variants were generated using the RGD platform of cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Phe-Lys peptide modified with 4-carboxybutyl-triphenylphosphonium bromide (cyclo-RGDfK (TPP)). MCF-7 and MCF-7 TMX cells formed tight spheroids both in the classical agarose-and RGD-based platforms while all PANC1 cells formed loose aggregates. Using lectin histochemistry staining, sialidase assay, neuraminidase (Vibrio cholerae) and oseltamivir phosphate (OP) neuraminidase inhibitor treatments, MCF-7 and PANC1 cells and their drug-resistant variants expressed different sialic acid (SA) content on their cell surfaces. α-2,3- and α-2,6-sialic acid surface residues facilitated spheroid formation under cyclo-RGDfK(TPP)-induced self-assembly. Pretreatment with α-2,3- SA specific Maackia amurensis (MAL-II) lectin, α-2,6-SA specific Sambucus nigra (SNA) lectin, and exogenous α-2,6-SA specific neuraminidase (Vibrio cholerae) dose-dependently reduced spheroid volume. OP enhanced cell aggregation and compaction forming spheroids. PANC1 and MDA-MB231 xenograft tumors from untreated and OP-treated RAGxCγ double mutant mice expressed significantly higher levels of α-2,3- SA over α-2,6-SA. MCF-7 spheroids also expressed a high α-2,3-SA to α-2,6-SA ratio. These results suggest that the relative levels of specific sialoglycan structures on the cell surface correlate with the ability of cancer cells to form avascular multicellular tumor spheroids and in vivo xenograft tumors.


The article is devoted to the 120th birth anniversary of the fifth principal of the Kazan State Medical Institute, associate professor of the ophthalmology department Suleyman Bek-Mukhametovich Enaleev, whose life journey was short and thorny. His curiosity, thirst for knowledge and self-sacrificing work had raised him from a simple village boy to the principal of the Kazan State Medical Institute and the People's Commissar of Healthcare of Tatarstan. The article describes the successful start of his career as manager, but false accusations tragically cut short his life. For a long time his name was noteless because documents showing his activities during this period were seized from the Institute archives. Only official orders were preserved, which shed light on active work he performed in this post: not only taking the great interest in his employees' lives, covering the cost of their treatment and other needs, but also supported the scientific, medical and educational work of his colleagues. In addition, associate professor S.B. Enaleev actively participated in launching new schools and hospitals in Tatarstan, creating new departments at the Institute (departments of pathophysiology, surgery of the pediatric faculty and the faculty of public health, 4th department of internal medicine), recruiting their personnel, organizing repair of university buildings and dormitories, etc. However, despite the progress made by S.B. Enaleev while he was in charge of the Institute, in 1938 the NKVD arrested him on a false denunciation. Unable to withstand the torture and beatings, S.B. Enaleev died. Many years later, a special commission of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of Tatarstan rehabilitated his good name.


Foods contaminations with Mycotoxin producing fungi is the common problem in production and maintenance of foods leads to production and presence of many types of Mycotoxins with extensive clinical effect on human called Mycotoxicosis. The aim of this study is to determine humidity percent and fungal contaminations of flour which is used in bakeries of Tabriz city. From 89 bakeries that were baking every kind of wheat bread, flour samples were collected .At first, humidity percent of samples was measured with standard method; Then experimented with standards of Iran(997 and 2393):10 gram flour sample were dissolved in 90cc of ¼ sterile Ringer solution; then10 -2 ,10 -3 ,10 -4 ,10 -5 and10 -6 dilutions were prepared. From each dilution, 1cc were spilled in different sterile plates; afterward, 15-20cc of  sterile YCGA culture medium were spilled on the plates and they were shacked slowly; hereafter, they were left until the culture mediums were coagulated. Thereupon, the plates were incubated in 25 oc for 5 days. Finally, fungi colonies were identified and counted. From 89 samples, 28 samples (31,5%)contain fungi contaminations more than 104colonies/gram of flour(allowable limit) [p<0.05]. Results showed the most fungi were Aspergillus niger and Acromonium. Mean of humidity percent in samples was12.8±0.76 which was in standard level (≤14%) (p=0.000). Findings of this study are according to results of other studies. With respect to wheat is a staple food of Iranians, attention and follow up in all steps of production, distribution and maintenance of wheat and flour with the aim of minimizing fungi contaminations is necessary.


Background
This study aimed to investigate the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and shoulder adhesive capsulitis (AC) using a large-scale, nationwide, population-based cohort in the Republic of Korea.

Methods
A total of 3,471,745 subjects aged over 20 years who underwent a National Health Insurance Service medical checkup between 2009 and 2010 were included in this study, and followed from the date of their medical checkup to the end of 2018. Subjects were classified into the following four groups based on the presence of dysglycemia and history of diabetes medication: normal, prediabetes, newly diagnosed T2DM (new-T2DM), and T2DM (claim history for antidiabetic medication). The endpoint was new-onset AC during follow-up. The incidence rates (IRs) in 1,000 person-years and hazard ratios (HRs) of AC for each group were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models.

Results
The IRs of AC were 9.453 (normal), 11.912 (prediabetes), 14.933 (new-T2DM), and 24.3761 (T2DM). The adjusted HRs of AC in the prediabetes, new-T2DM, and T2DM groups were 1.084 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.075 to 1.094), 1.312 (95% CI, 1.287 to 1.337), and 1.473 (95% CI, 1.452 to 1.494) compared to the normal group, respectively. This secular trend of the HRs of AC according to T2DM status was statistically significant (P<0.0001).

Conclusion
This large-scale, longitudinal, nationwide, population-based cohort study of 3,471,745 subjects confirmed that the risk of AC increases in prediabetic subjects and is associated with T2DM status.


Bilateral one stage total knee replacement (TKR) has a number of advantages. There is one operative procedure and anesthetic and overall recovery time is significantly reduced. It is a more cost-effective procedure in that acute hospital stay is less and although rehabilitation time is greater in the short term, overall it is less. Additionally, if there is a bilateral flexion contracture present there is an inevitable loss of extension if a single knee is operated upon as this knee will assume the position of the unoperated knee. Patients greatly prefer having both knees corrected at one operative setting rather than having to have the inconvenience and pain associated with a second operative procedure at three to six months after the first one. There are potential disadvantages to a one stage procedure. One concern has been that there is more peri-operative morbidity associated with one stage bilateral total knee replacement. In a review of 501 patients undergoing bilateral one stage total knee replacement at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) there were no peri-operative deaths, myocardial infarctions or cerebrovascular accidents. There were arrhythmias present in 5% of patients. Fat emboli were present in 3% and 2 patients (0.4%) had pulmonary emboli. The average transfusion requirement was 2.6 units and allogeneic blood was required in 42%. There were 2 deep infections, 3 hematomas and 5 patients with delayed wound healing There was an increased incidence of major complications in patients with ASA classification 3 and with increasing age over 70 years. New data indicates peri-operative administration of hydrocortisone may mitigate lung injury as demonstrated by reduction in cytokine and desmosine levels in a randomised trial. There was also a trend toward less need for narcotic medication and better range of motion in the steroid treated group Patient selection is important and all patients are screened pre-operatively by an internist and anesthesiologist. In over 3000 bilateral TKRs at HSS infection rate and mortality were lower than in the unilateral total knee replacement patients. Much of this is due to patient selection criteria. All patients underwent the procedure with epidural anesthesia with post-operative epidural PCA for 48 hours. All patients are discharged on warfarin and spend the operative night in the recovery room. The procedure has acceptable morbidity and great advantage in properly selected patients.


A 4-year-old girl visited with the chief complaint of clitoral enlargement which was first pointed out when she was one year old. She has received excision of the femoral tumor, which was histologically an arteriovenous hemangioma, at 4 years old. The prepuce was darkly purplish and the clitoral neck was enlarged without enlargement of the clitoral glans. The external genitalia otherwise were normal and there were no virilizing signs. The mass was excised at the preoperative diagnosis of prepucial hemangioma. The mass was enclosed in the prepuce and adherent to its skin and there was no enlargement of the clitoris itself. The histopathological diagnosis was arteriovenous hemangioma.


Discusses the role of women in World War II. During World War II, over 350,000 women from across the United Stated served in the military. More than 7,000 of these women came from North Carolina. As far back as the Revolutionary War, women had served with the military as nurses, cooks, and laundresses. However, these women were considered civilians and not military. It was not until World War I, when some women served in the U.S. Navy as "Yeomanettes," who performed mostly clerical duties, that women were considered part of the military. In 1942 officials established the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), giving women auxiliary status. Females did get military status when the army disbanded the WAAC and established the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in July 1943. Other military branches quickly followed the army's lead, producing the WAVES, SPARS, and WASPs. Many North Carolina women who served during World War II have shared their experiences through oral history interviews conducted for the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project based in the University Archives & Manuscripts department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.


Digital Talking Books (DTBs) offer to visually impaired users an evolution of analogue talking books that mimics the interaction possibilities of print books. This paper describes a new DTB player which tries to improve the usability and accessibility of current players, through the combination of the possibilities offered by multimodal interaction and interface adaptability, and the integration of several language processing components. Besides the potential for a greater enjoyment of the reader in general, these modifications also pave the way to the use of DTBs in different domains, from e-inclusion to e-learning applications.


Schisandrin B (Sch B), an active extract of Schisandra chinensis, has demonstrated antioxidant activity in a number of in vitro and in vivo models. In the present study, the capacity of Sch B to protect against oxidative injury in keratinocytes using the human keratinocyte‑derived HaCaT cell line was investigated. To induce oxidative injury, tert‑Butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) was employed. The results indicate that Sch B efficiently reduced tBHP‑induced cell death, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. Sch B also effectively attenuated the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and restored adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels in tBHP‑injured HaCaT cells. Furthermore, Sch B enhanced the expression of key antioxidant enzymes, including catalase, heme oxygenase‑1, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase, and further engaged the nuclear factor‑erythroid 2‑related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway by modulating its phosphorylation through activating multiple upstream kinases, including protein kinase B, adenosine monophosphate‑activated protein kinase and mitogen‑activated protein kinases (MAPKs). The present study suggests that Sch B provides a protective effect in keratinocytes in response to oxidative injury via reinforcing the endogenous antioxidant defense system. Therefore, it may be applied as an adjuvant therapy or in health foods to delay the skin aging process and the onset of skin diseases caused by oxidative stress.


In the election campaign of 2006 the centre-right coalition (known as the Alliance) promised to abolish the property tax if they won the election and replaced with a low municipal fee. This is a reform that benefitted house owner, especially those living in urban areas where property values are high. In other words, they had a lot to gain from a centre-right victory. By using house owners as the treated and others as the control group, I look for evidence of prospective pocketbook voting in the 2006 election. My results are statistically insignificant.


In many inference problems, the evaluation of complex and costly models is often required. In this context, Bayesian methods have become very popular in several fields over the last years, in order to obtain parameter inversion, model selection, or uncertainty quantification. Bayesian inference requires the approximation of complicated integrals involving (often costly) posterior distributions. Generally, this approximation is obtained by means of Monte–Carlo (MC) methods. In order to reduce the computational cost of the corresponding technique, surrogate models (also called emulators) are often employed. Another alternative approach is the so-called approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) scheme. ABC does not require the evaluation of the costly model but the ability to simulate artificial data according to that model. Moreover, in ABC, the choice of a suitable distance between real and artificial data is also required. In this work, we introduce a novel approach where the expensive model is evaluated only in some well-chosen samples. The selection of these nodes is based on the so-called compressed MC scheme. We provide theoretical results supporting the novel algorithms and give empirical evidence of the performance of the proposed method in several numerical experiments. Two of them are real-world applications in astronomy and satellite remote sensing. (Corresponding author: Luca Martino.)


One of nursing community intervention to decrease depression level of elderly is ILMI SpaRe. The aim of this report is to show description application of ILMI SpaRe intervention  for erlderly with depression in community nursing care. Result shows decreasing level of depression in older people for knowledge by 10,08%, attitude by 8,05 % and 60,8% for skill in spiritual care intervention and progressive muscle relaxation. By result of intervention application of ILMI SpaRe is concluded that spiritual care intervention combined with progressive muscle relaxation can reduce depression in older people group. This research is recommended for decision maker elderly program in community to increase community empowerment, activation self help group for elderly with health problem, especially depression and involving the seniors in community activities as form for appreciations, so older people can live health and healthy


Several new techniques for designing finite-duration impulse-response digital filters have become available in the past few years. The motivation behind three design techniques that have been proposed are reviewed here, and the resulting designs are compared with respect to filter characteristics, ease of design, and methods of realization. The design techniques to be discussed include window, frequency-sampling, and equiripple designs.


Mesobuthus martensii Karsch, commonly known as the Chinese scorpion or Manchurian scorpion, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine as Quanxie to treat chronic pain, tetanus, tremors, convulsion, and paralysis for more than a thousand years. We report a case of poisoning after ingestion of a teaspoon of Quanxie powder. The patient presented with chest pain, dizziness, diaphoresis, generalised involuntary limb twitching, and hypertonia around 15 minutes post-ingestion. The patient recovered uneventfully after supportive management. Intravenous diazepam appeared to be effective in alleviating limb twitching. Failure to accurately measure the dose and to boil before consumption may have contributed to his clinical toxicities.


Local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) model has been used widely for analyzing heat transfer during internal flow through porous media, including when a channel is only partially filled with a porous medium. In such problems, the Biot number describes the rate of convection heat transfer between solid and fluid phases. While uniform Biot number models are commonly available, recent advances in functionally graded materials necessitate the analysis of spatially-varying Biot number in such geometries. This paper presents LTNE-based heat transfer analysis for fully developed flow in a channel partially filled with porous medium and with spatially-varying Biot number to describe solid-fluid interactions in the porous medium. Fully uncoupled ordinary differential equations for solid and fluid temperature distributions are derived under three different boundary condition models. Solid and fluid temperature fields are presented for a variety of Biot number distributions, including quadratically and periodically varying interactions. An explanation of the nature of temperature distribution predictions for such problems is provided. For special cases, the results presented here are shown to reduce to past work on constant Biot number. This work improves the theoretical understanding of porous media heat transfer and facilitates the use of such theoretical models for functionally graded materials.


In this paper we consider approximate dynamic programming methods for ambulance redeployment. We first demonstrate through simple examples how typical value function fitting techniques, such as approximate policy iteration and linear programming, may not be able to locate a high-quality policy even when the value function approximation architecture is rich enough to provide the optimal policy. To make up for this potential shortcoming, we show how to use direct search methods to tune the parameters in a value function approximation architecture so as to obtain high-quality policies. Direct search is computationally intensive. We therefore use a post-decision state dynamic programming formulation of ambulance redeployment that, together with direct search, requires far less computation with no noticeable performance loss. We provide further theoretical support for the post-decision state formulation of the ambulance-deployment problem by showing that this formulation can be obtained through a limiting argu...


ABSTRACT We tested the effects of various putative efflux pump inhibitors on colistin resistance in multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Addition of 10 mg/liter cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) to the test medium could significantly decrease the MICs of colistin-resistant strains. Time-kill assays showed CCCP could reverse colistin resistance and inhibit the regrowth of the resistant subpopulation, especially in Acinetobacter baumannii and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. These results suggest colistin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria can be suppressed and reversed by CCCP.


Use of primary trisomics has played an important role in genetics and breeding of rice. A great number of trisomics could be induced through anther culture of autotetraploid rice. In earlier work, trisomics of rice selected according to auricle distances from -2.5 cm to + 2.5 cm resulted in low selection efficiency. This paper reports on an efficient time to select trisomics.


Background and aims Studies have shown an association between Neonatal hearing loss (NHL) and preterm birth and low birth weight, but the prevalence of NHL more specific within these categories is not known. Aim of this study is to present the risk of NHL by week of gestation and categories of birth weight in an nationwide cohort of neonates born <32 weeks of gestation Methods Results of the two-stage Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program in Dutch neonatal intensive care units and diagnostic examination were centrally registered between October 1998 and December 2012 and included in this study. NHL was defined as impaired when the neonates' conventional Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) level exceeded 35 dB in one (unilateral) or two (bilateral) ears at diagnostic examination. Birth weight was stratified into <750 g, 750–999 g, 1000–1249 g, 1250–1499 g, and ≥1500 g. Results In total 18,564 neonates with a gestational age between 24.0 and 31.9 weeks were eligible for this study. Logistic regression analyses revealed significant associations between gestational age, birth weight and both unilateral and bilateral NHL (all p < 0.002). Gestational age (p < 0.001) and birth weight (p < 0.01) were both independent risk indicators of total NHL, and associated with NHL in a dose-response relationship. The prevalence of NHL consistently increased with decreasing week of gestation (1.2% to 7.5% from 31 to 24 weeks) and decreasing birth weight (1.4% to 4.8% from ≥1500 g to <750 g). Conclusions Gestational age and birth weight are independently associated with NHL in a dose-response relationship. This information can be used to gain insight into health and related costs associated with very preterm births. Abstract O-036 Figure 1


Epitaxial layers were grown on 4° off-axis 4H-SiC substrates by hot-wall chemical vapor deposition. The reduced off-cut angle resulted in lower basal plane dislocation (BPD) densities. The dependence of BPD reduction on growth conditions was investigated using ultraviolet photoluminescence (UVPL) imaging. With this method, it was found that the dislocations were converting to threading edge dislocations throughout the thickness of the film. A high (≥ 97%) conversion efficiency was found for all films grown with this orientation. A conversion of 100% was achieved for several films without pre-growth treatments or growth interrupts.


OBJECTIVE
This clinical trial was designed to assess the lipids regulating effects of domestic simvastatin (DS, produced by Chengdu Huayu Pharmaceutical Co.) in patients with hyperlipidemia.

METHODS
160 hyperlipidemic patients were randomly divided into 3 groups (A, B and C). Groups A and B were subjected to single-blind trial; group C was for open trial. Group A took DS 10 mg q.n., group B Zocor 10 mg q.n. and group C DS 10 mg q.n. respectively for 8 weeks. All the patients were followed up at the 4th week and 8th week. 155 patients finished the trial with 59 cases in group A, 47 cases in group B and 39 cases in group C.

RESULTS
At the 4th week, serum total cholesterol (TC) in group A, B and C decreased by 16.88%, 19.23% and 14.10%; serum triglycerides (TG) decreased by 19.27%, 15.66% and 17.96%; HDL-C increased by 7.69%, 7.46% and 6.69%; and LDL-C decreased by 23.02%, 27.84% and 24.43%, respectively; there was no significant difference among the three groups (P > 0.05). At the 8th week, serum TC in groups A, B and C decreased by 25.03%, 26.53% and 25.22%. TG decreased by 23.85%, 24.74% and 24.75%; HDL-C increased by 9.23%, 8.95% and 8.39%; and LDL-C decreased by 33.72%, 35.50% and 30.99%, respectively; still, no significant difference among the three groups was observed (P > 0.05). The incidence rates of side effects in the three groups were similar. The clinical effects were more significant at the 8th week than at the 4th week for Zocor and DS.

CONCLUSION
These data suggest that DS is as effective and safe as Zocor in clinical use for lipids regulating serum.