Abstract Background: Data on pandemic H1N1 influenza (pH1N1) virus infection in hospitalised children are limited. Aims and Objectives: To examine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children hospitalised with pH1N1 at a large tertiary-care centre in Athens and compare them with those of children hospitalised with seasonal influenza A in previous years. Methods: All children (n = 146) admitted with confirmed pH1N1 between October 2009 to February 2010 and January 2011 to May 2011 were included. Data on children ≧6 months of age (n = 109) were compared with those of 138 children admitted with seasonal influenza A who were examined during two previous influenza seasons (2002–2003 and 2004–2005). Results: The age distribution was similar between seasonal and pandemic H1N1. Bronchial asthma was significantly more common in the seasonal influenza group but the clinical presentation was similar in the two groups, except that fever was more common in patients with pH1N1. Children admitted with seasonal influenza were more likely to develop acute otitis media. There were no significant differences between the two groups for severe outcomes (admission to the ICU, mechanical ventilation or death). Only one child with seasonal influenza (0·6%) and three with pH1N1 influenza (2%) required admission to the ICU. Mean length of hospitalisation was longer in the seasonal influenza group. Conclusion: Clinical manifestations were similar between pH1N1 and seasonal influenza, and the pandemic virus did not appear to cause more severe disease in hospitalised children.


This paper deals with computing the minimal and maximal execution durations in a given concurrent control system in order to support dependability engineering by assuring the meeting of prescribed deadlines. For that purpose, a new type of time-dependent Petri nets the Duration Interval Petri net is introduced, and a dedicated reachability graph is defined in a discrete way. Using this reachability graph, shortest and largest time paths between two arbitrary states of the control system, and by this way minimal and maximal execution times, can be computed.


Abstract: Less than one year after its decision on the famous Perruche case (2000.11.17), the Assemblée plénière of the French Supreme Court has again ruled on the question of the damage awards to compensate for the birth of a disabled child due to medical failures. Even if in these three cases the French Supreme Court rejects the appeal against the contested decisions which had refused damage awards, these cases remind, in very clear terms, the damage award principle for child disablement, established by the Perruche case. In these three cases, gynaecologists committed errors. Most often, they incorrectly performed and misinterpreted ultrasound scans. Thus, they did not inform the mothers of detectable malformations of the foetus (respectively: spina bifida malformation of the spinal column, a child born without his left arm and with a half reduced right arm andimportant malformation of the upper right limb). In all these cases, the first instance judges recognized physicians' failures, so that this issue was not discussed at the French Supreme Court. Even if the contested decisions of the first instance judges sentenced the physicians to compensate for the personal damages of the parents related to the birth of a disabled child, they rejected the claims for damage awards to the children themselves (claims that had been filed, in their names, by the parents). The various Courts of Appeal based their judgements on the lack of causal link between medical failures and the disablement of the children. Rejecting the appeals aimed against these Courts of Appeal, the Assemblée plénière has approved their refusal to allow damage awards to the child. But one should not be misled. This does not mean that the Assemblée plénière reconsidered the principle of damage award for the disablement of the child; simply, in these cases, the conditions for allowing damage awards were not satisfied because of the lack of causal link between the disablement of the child and the medical failures.


In the face of the most recent developments in digital and visual art, the Internet, the latest frontiers and currents, the new languages and technologies, Souriau's schema does not work, but his reflections on the aesthetic notions of instauration and skeuopoetics do, and they pertain both to classical painting and to future perspectives. In fact, we note strong connections with research that the philosopher had had conducted on feelings, relations, forms, and processes, in terms of synaesthesia and structural correspondences. On the basis of his thinking, we can still argue the importance of these concepts and these relations as they relate to physical and phenomenal existence, to materiality and transcendence: a conceptual and imaginative universal that is considered to be eternal. Art is seen as the producer of things capable of performing actions that are purely physical. He makes this claim because these actions expressly and intentionally create things whose existence is their sole purpose.


The mental health field must deal with peer review as a fact of life. However, many providers do not understand how to describe the nature or process of the psychotherapy they use, and many peer reviewers seem to lack knowledge of what constitutes a given modality of psychotherapy. If clear definitions of the different modes of dynamic psychotherapy are available--and in fact the literature shows substantial agreement on such aspects as patient selection, time frames, goals, and techniques--formats for the peer review of each modality will naturally follow. The author presents definitions and peer review formats for symptom-relief, supportive, focal, and long-term exploratory psychotherapy.


A. Each centre should have a dedicated team involved in implantation and care of catheters. (Evidence level A) B. Each centre should analyse its catheter survival and complications: reasonable targets should include a catheter survival of >80% at 1 year and peritonitis rate of not more than one episode/24 patient-months. (Evidence level C) C. Whenever possible, the catheter insertion should be performed at least 2 weeks before starting peritoneal dialysis. Small dialysate volumes in the supine position can be used if dialysis is required during this period. (Evidence level C) D. Catheters should preferably be implanted operatively or by laparoscopy, but the Seldinger technique in selected cases can achieve comparable outcomes. (Evidence level A/B) E. Antibiotic prophylaxis should be done pre-operatively. (Evidence level A) F. Post-implantation care should consist of aseptic management of the exit site during the healing phase. A dressing should be applied aiming for immobilization of the catheter to avoid trauma and bleeding in the exit site. G. The dressing should not be changed more than once a week during the first 2 weeks, unless bleeding occurs or infection is suspected. (Evidence level C) H. Both during the early post-implantation care and after the healing period, the exit site should be kept dry. Therefore, occlusive dressings should not be used. When dressings are used after the healing period, daily changes are recommended. (Evidence level C) I. Use of mupirocine or gentamicin cream at the exit site is recommended to reduce exit site infections. (Evidence level A) J. Exit site infections should be treated according to the guidelines of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. Topical treatment should be applied in equivocal cases or as adjuvant therapy. (Evidence level C) K. Catheter removal for exit site infection should be considered (i) when a peritonitis episode with the same microorganism is present; (ii) if antibiotic treatment is unsuccessful; and (iii) in the case of recurrent exit site infections with the same organism. L. Mechanical complications, such as hernias, leakage and obstruction, should be managed according to the recommendations of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. Guideline A. PD team and type of catheter Management of access is a key factor for the improvement of peritoneal dialysis (PD) technique survival. It requires the establishment of a dedicated team that should ideally consist of nephrologists, surgeons and nurses. Nowadays, laparoscopists or interventional radiologists may also be part of the team. The …


The development of a population balance model accounting for cell adaptation to a fluctuating environment is focussed in this article. In a bioreactor, the substrate concentration field and the bioreaction kinetics are strongly coupled. The latter are determined by the intensity and magnitude of concentration fluctuations encountered along the cell trajectory. Modeling these interactions between hydrodynamics and biology in heterogeneous bioreactors is a major challenge. This model is based on a previous work regarding the dynamic response of bioreactors. It is shown that a simplified population balance equation considering only growth and adaptation is sufficient to reproduce the population growth rate dynamics in batch and continuous cultures. Finally, a validation of the model implementation in a computational fluid dynamics software is proposed. The model developed in the homogeneous case now allows the numerical scale-up of a bioreactor, for it connects the population state to the concentration changes experienced. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 369–379, 2013


This paper aimed to examine the debate over the fertility decline in the German Empire, focusing on the role of the SPD. During the German Empire, the fertility rate dramatically declined and the growing awareness of a continuous decline in the birth rate prompted a massive debate among politicians, doctors, sociologists, and feminist activists. The fertility decline was negatively evaluated and generated consciousness of crisis. However, it was not the only way to face this new phenomenon. Indeed, the use of birth control among the upper class was interpreted as a part of a modernizing process. As the same phenomenon reached the working class, it suddenly became a social problem and was attributed to the SPD. The debate over the fertility decline in imperial German society ridden with a fierce class conflict was developed into a weapon against the SPD. Contrary to the assumption of conservative politicians, the SPD had no clear-cut position on this issue. Except for a few politicians like Kautsky and the doctors who came into frequent contact with the workers, the "birth strike" was not listed as the main interest of the SPD. Even Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Social Democratic women's organization viewed it as a concern of the individual person which could not be incorporated in the party program. The women's organization of the SPD put priority on class conflict rather than issues specific to women. As a result, the debate over the birth rate decline within the SPD was not led by the women themselves. There could have been various means to stimulate the birth rate. Improvement in the welfare system, such as tax relief for large families, better housing conditions, and substantial maternity protection, could have been feasible solutions to the demographic crisis. However, Germany chose to respond to this crisis by imposing legal sanctions against birth control. In addition to paragraphs 218-220 of the German criminal law enacted in 1872 which prescribed penal servitude for anyone who had an abortion or people who helped to practice it, Paragraph 184.3 of the civil code was enacted in order to outlaw the advertising, display, and publicizing of contraceptives with an 'indecent' intention, although selling or manufacturing contraceptives was not forbidden. Such a punitive approach was especially preferred by the government and conservative parties because it was easy to implement and "cheap" in comparison with the comprehensive social welfare program. What made the SPD different from other conservative parties was the fact that the SPD opposed the government's attempt to prohibit contraception by means of strengthening a penal code. According to the SPD, it was not only morally unacceptable, but also technically impossible for the government to intervene in family limitation. Moreover, politicians from the SPD criticized that such a punitive policy targeted the working class because the upper echelon of the society could easily evade the ban on contraceptives. However, the SPD did not proceed to draft comprehensive social welfare measures in order to fight the fertility decline. The miserable condition of working class women remained as an invisible social phenomenon even within the SPD. The German women who could not find the proper means to practice contraception were driven to have abortions. Annually, hundreds of the women were accused of practicing abortion and imprisoned. In sum, German society ran about in confusion and did not know how to properly respond to the unprecedented decline in fertility. By defining the fertility decline just as a social disease due to moral decay and influence of socialism, German society lost a chance to rationalize itself. Given that women, the main actors, had no way to take part in the debate over this issue, it is not surprising that German society fought against the symptom of the disease, not against its root.


Nonlinearities and hysteretic behaviours of piezoelectric actuators used in scanning probe microscopes (SPM) lead to uncertain position determinations of the moving probe in all directions. Therefore, probes must be controlled with nanometre resolution and the three dimensions must be traceable to the unit of length for metrological investigations. Many positioning systems exist but only a few are implementable into SPM or have unsatisfying dynamic properties as well as Abbe errors. A hybrid implementation of a capacitive and a novel three-dimensional interferometric position measurement system has been developed to overcome these problems. The theory and technique of this holographic interferometry are given and the characteristics of the components used for implementation in the final set-up are analysed. A realized SPM head including this technique, in addition to a capacitive position system, as well as its properties are discussed.


Introduction: The aim of the study was to conduct a network meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and incidence of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) of eltrombopag, romiplostim, avatrombopag, recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO), and hetrombopag for adult immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the five therapies from inception to June 1, 2022, were included. The efficacy outcome was the rate of platelet response, defined as the achievement of platelet counts above 50 × 109/L. Pairwise odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) was used to rank the included therapies for each outcome. Results: In total, 1,360 participants were analyzed in 14 eligible RCTs. All of the therapies showed a significantly better platelet response than the placebo, and avatrombopag (OR, 7.42; 95% CI: 1.74–31.69) and rhTPO (OR, 3.86; 95% CI: 1.62–9.18) were better than eltrombopag. Regarding TRAEs, no significant differences were found between patients receiving eltrombopag, romiplostim, and avatrombopag. Avatrombopag carried the highest platelet response rate with SUCRA value of 87.5, and carried the least TRAEs risk with SUCRA value of 37.0. Conclusions: These findings indicated that avatrombopag appeared to be the optimal choice as the second-line therapy for adult ITP.


In prospective randomized trials differences in population based means can be considered as estimates of mean causal exposure or treatment effects. Nevertheless, occurence of intermediate events in the course of a trial may lead to biased estimates of treatment effects. Particularly this will be the case, if the probability of such an event is not independent of initial treatment allocation and the intermediate event is both a risk factor for the main outcome parameter (e.g. survival) and a predictor of subsequent treatment. This situation was referred as
'treatment by indication problem' by Robins (1992) and is common in epidemiological trials. Robins demonstrated that the usual approach of an adjusted estimation of treatment
effect using a time-dependent proportional hazards model may be biased in this situation, whether or not one further adjusts for past confounder history in the analysis. In this thesis a novel inference procedure for randomized trials is introduced which is based on the idea of Robin's G-Estimation principle but particularly consideres specifics of randomized trials. The suggested procedure allows for an unbiased and consistent estimation of a treatment effect parameter (or paremeter vector) which is connected by a real-valued function to the parameters of an underlying distribution of survival times. In fulfilment of the requirements of a causal individual-level based model, a link of a subject's observed and counterfactual
survival time is directly achieved by the inverse distribution function of survival times in a reference treatment arm. In this term, causal inference is
feasible based on the likelihood function and its corresponding test statistics, even under appropriate consideration of time-dependent confounders.


Though semantic segmentation has been heavily explored in vision literature, unique challenges remain in the remote sensing domain. One such challenge is how to handle resolution mismatch between overhead imagery and ground-truth label sources, due to differences in ground sample distance. To illustrate this problem, we introduce a new dataset and use it to showcase weaknesses inherent in existing strategies that naively upsample the target label to match the image resolution. Instead, we present a method that is supervised using low-resolution labels (without upsampling), but takes advantage of an exemplar set of highresolution labels to guide the learning process. Our method incorporates region aggregation, adversarial learning, and self-supervised pretraining to generate fine-grained predictions, without requiring high-resolution annotations. Extensive experiments demonstrate the real-world applicability of our approach.


Throughout the coal industry's two-hundred-year history, labor issues have dominated its economics and politics. Curtis Seltzer has written a comprehensive historical analysis of labor relations in the American coal industry -- the first since the 1930s. Market forces have victimized coal suppliers and their workers for most of this century as demand shifted to other fuels. Coal producers responded to poor sales and excess production capacity with policies that led to strikes, inefficiency, and turmoil. Since its founding in 1890, the United Mine Workers of America has represented most coal miners, and management has traditionally taken one of two positions toward the UMWA: break it or use it. From 1950 to 1972, the major coal operators and the union formed an industrial partnership whose purpose was to survive a protracted slump in demand by controlling labor costs, increasing productivity, and limiting competition. This partnership eventually led to a rebellion within the UMWA that demanded democratic reform, better contracts, and improved health and safety in the workplace. For the last decade, the UMWA has been reworking its relationship with management, a process marked by conflict and stress. In the years ahead, substantial environmental problems associated with coal combustion may drastically limit coal's growth. New mining technologies may cut labor requirements to the bone. As the shift to renewable energy occurs, coal may experience a transitional period of expansion followed by a rapid decline. These trends will have enormous social and economic consequences. Fire in the Hole is a story that captures the people of coal as well as the broad clash of social forces.


This paper introduces a new cooperative research program of national scale that is focused on crucial research issues in the development of high energy microwave sources. These have many applications in the DOD and industry. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), in coopertaion with the Phillips Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory, has established a tri-service research consortium to investigate novel high energy microwave sources. The program is part of the DODs 'Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative' and will be funded at a rate of $DLR3.0M per year for up to five years. All research performed under this program will be unclassified. Under its auspices, HPM scientists at nine US universities will be attacking twenty-two separate research projects under the leadership of Neville Luhmann at UC-Davis, Victor Granatstein at Maryland, Magne Kristiansen at Texas Tech, Edl Schamiloglu at New Mexico, John Nation at Cornell, Ned Birdsall at UC-Berkeley, George Caryotakis at Standord, Ronald Gilgenbach at Michigan, and Anthony Lin at UCLA. To facilitate the rapid transition of research results into the industrial community, formal collaborative subcontracts are already in place with James Benford at Physics International, Carter Armstrong at Northrop, and Glen Huffman at Varian Associates. Although this new program officially only came into existence in mid-March of this year, it builds on over a decade of microwave research efforts funded by the plasma physics office at AFOSR. It also is synergistic with the ongoing Tri-Service Vacuum Electronics Initiative led by Robert Parker of NRL as well as with the AFOSR's and Rome Laboratory's long standing Advanced Thermionic Research Initiative. An overview will be given of the broad spectrum of research objectives encompassed by NUCOMR. Areas of collaboration and technology transfer will be highlighted. The areas in which the three university consortia will conduct research are described, and the connectivity to industry and to the DOD laboratories are discussed. There are a number of critical technical barriers to reaching the desired goals for high power and high energy sources. These are discussed and the planned focus of research to resolve them is also presented.


Purpose
This study aims to excoriate, define and delineate the main drivers of "change" in commercial construction projects and generate guidelines on how to minimise exposure to the associated adverse effects upon project stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts mixed doctrines through a combination of epistemological lenses, embracing two primary philosophical stances: interpretivism, to identify the primary drivers of change based on a systematic literature review and a post-positivist, inductive approach to analyse the results of change within a Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) Design and Build (D&B) construction project case study.

Findings
The causal nexus of change during the construction phase is assessed and delineated; the key affecting factors are thematically grouped under headings: extent and severity; time in relation to implementing; instigating party; individual(s) responsible for managing the change; reason for the change; available resource; recoverable or non-recoverable; contract/project type; and type of client. Following this, the effects of change on key elements of the project are encapsulated and recommendations for adaptations which may provide improved experiences are offered.

Originality/value
The study tackles the common issue of managing the deleterious effects of change on commercial construction projects, defining management techniques to minimise stakeholder tribulation.


Summary. The pre‐registration year, a mandatory period of general clinical training in the United Kingdom, has been the subject of recent comment and criticism. The literature on the year is analysed, taking as a starting point and framework the 1983 review by the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME), and focusing on the 1987 Recommendations of the General Medical Council. It is concluded that the pre‐registration programme has been improved, but that attention needs to be given to house officers' hours of duty, to career counselling for them and to training for teachers and supervisors.


We report the first-ever discovery of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the Large Magellanic Cloud via detection of a circular shell with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up observations with Gemini-South resolved the central star of the shell into two components separated from each other by a parts per thousand 2 arcsec (or a parts per thousand 0.5 pc in projection). One of these components turns out to be a WN3 star with H and He lines both in emission and absorption (we named it BAT99 3a using the numbering system based on extending the Breysacher et al. catalogue). Spectroscopy of the second component showed that it is a B0 V star. Subsequent spectroscopic observations of BAT99 3a with the du Pont 2.5-m telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope revealed that it is a close, eccentric binary system, and that the absorption lines are associated with an O companion star. We analysed the spectrum of the binary system using the non-LTE Potsdam WR (powr) code, confirming that the WR component is a very hot (a parts per thousand 90 kK) WN star. For this star, we derived a luminosity of log L/ L-aS (TM) = 5.45 and a mass-loss rate of 10(- 5.8) M-aS (TM) yr(- 1), and found that the stellar wind composition is dominated by helium with 20 per cent of hydrogen. Spectroscopy of the shell revealed an He iii region centred on BAT99 3a and having the same angular radius (a parts per thousand 15 arcsec) as the shell. We thereby add a new example to a rare class of high-excitation nebulae photoionized by WR stars. Analysis of the nebular spectrum showed that the shell is composed of unprocessed material, implying that the shell was swept-up from the local interstellar medium. We discuss the physical relationship between the newly identified massive stars and their possible membership of a previously unrecognized star cluster.


Spleen cells (SpC) from nonimmunized CFW mice were converted into antibody plaque-forming cells (PFC) by incubation with RNA extracted from livers and spleens of immunized mice (4 days after a single intravenous injection of 0.2 ml of 5% sheep red blood cells (SRBC). RNA was extracted by the phenol-detergent procedure only when sensitization determined by the technique of Jerne showed at least one PFC per 1,500 SpC. Immunogenic activity of RNA from lives of immunized mice was identical with that of RNA from spleens. Immunogenic RNA was inactivated by RNase but not by DNase or pronase, indicating that induction of antibody synthesis requires intact RNA. Newly synthesized antibodies were specific for the SRBC injected antigen; plaques did not occur when other RBC were used in place of SRBC for the in vitro test. The influence of antibiotics on this phenomenon is also discussed.


Background: We developed a questionnaire designed to capture the vitamin D related exposures of sunlight, tanning bed use, dietary intake, and supplement use, and used an inter-method reliability approach to compare the study method (self-reported information on vitamin D related exposures nearest the blood draw) with serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels. Methods: This inter-method reliability study included 512 control women from a population-based, case-control study in Alberta, Canada. All women self-reported data on food/supplement intake (average µg/day), sun exposure (cumulative hours/year), and tanning bed exposure (cumulative hours/year) and provided fasting serum samples, measured in duplicate with a DiaSorin immunoassay for 25(OH)D levels. The correlation between participant characteristics and 25(OH)D are described. We used multivariable robust regression to estimate the percent of variation in 25(OH)D explained by our variables of interest. Results: Food intake, sun exposure, and tanning bed exposure had positive and significant correlations with 25(OH)D levels of a similar magnitude (Spearman r= 0.17 to 0.19). Supplement intake (average µg/day, Spearman r= 0.44) had the strongest positive correlation. In both crude and adjusted models (adjusted for age, body mass index, race, smoking, oral contraceptive use, and menopausal status/hormone therapy), we consistently found that food explained 3.1%, supplements 18.9%, sunlight 2.2%, and tanning bed use 3.0% of the variation in 25(OH)D levels, and all variables combined explained 27.5% - 36.0% of the total variation. Conclusions: These results suggest that our comprehensive dietary and light exposure questionnaire may be a reasonable proxy measure of vitamin D status in the recent past when either 25(OH)D measurements or serum samples are not available for study participants.


The infectivity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in deceased persons and organisms remains unclear. We studied transgenic K18 hACE2 mice to determine the kinetics of virus infectivity after host death. Five days after death, virus infectivity in the lung declined by >96% and RNA copies declined by 48.2%.


A validated method for the simultaneous characterization of xenobiotic compound-mediated inhibition of seven major cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in pooled human liver microsomes through the use of specific CYP probe substrates (cocktail assay) with low protein content, and a rapid, three minute LC-MS/MS analytical method is described. The specific CYP substrates used in this cocktail assay included phenacetin (CYP1A2), bupropion (CYP2B6), amodiaquine (CYP2C8), tolbutamide (CYP2C9), S-mephenytoin (CYP2C19), dextromethorphan (CYP2D6), and midazolam (CYP3A4/5). The LC-MS method incorporated the aforementioned seven CYP substrates along with their respective major metabolites, and one internal standard, labetalol. In a cross-validation analysis, the concentrations of each CYP probe substrate in the assay had minimal effect (i.e., inhibition or activation) on the other CYP activities. Furthermore, the assay conditions for the multiple probe substrate, ie., cocktail assay, were validated against the single probe substrate assay using 18 compounds with known CYP inhibition liabilities and 10 proprietary compounds. The inhibitory constant (Ki) determined with this cocktail assay was highly correlated (R(2) ≥ 0.77 for each individual probe substrate) with that of the single probe substrate assay for all 27 CYP inhibitors. This seven CYP inhibition cocktail assay has increased the efficiency to assess compounds for inhibition of the major CYP isoforms in a high throughput, drug discovery setting.


Loss of chloride ion from imidazol-2-yl complex 4a activates the H-H bond of dihydrogen or the C-H bond of acetylene, forming an Ir(III) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complex (3b or 9). Deprotonation of Ir(III) hydride 4b gives one new species, formulated as Ir(I) carbene complex 5. Protonation or alkylation of 5 occurs at the metal, returning the Ir(III) core of 6a,b. Deprotonation of cationic NHC complex 3a gives neutral imidazol-2-yl analogue 4a; as seen by X-ray diffraction, the Ir-C bond in 3a is shorter than that in 4a. These and other comparisons and interconversions of NHC complexes with an NH function and related imidazol-2-yl species expand the potential of NHC complexes by showing their bifunctional character.


This dissertation exposes the theoretical design of a rocket upper stage using a coolant method based on a liquid tank surrounding the combustion chamber. The project involves the calculation, design and simulation of the performances of the rocket engine and the coolant method as well. The aim of this work is to show that a simple cooling method for a certain stages can be easily carry it out without using the classic expansive methods: regenerative, ablation, radiation and film cooling. For this reason, the first chapters of this thesis will introduce these cooling methods: what they do, how they do it, their advantages and disadvantages. The research of this project starts explaining the concepts of the new cooling methods. How does it work and which can be their advantages for an upper stage. Afterwards, in order to prove the system an upper stage has been designed concerning the new tendency for small payloads around 300 and 500 kg for low orbits and using a proper propellant to fulfil the requirements of the cooling system without leading to suppose a risk or either a high increase of the cost without sacrificing very much the performance. During the design of the stage, two variants are going to be presented for the same rocket engine. A first variant of a rocket chamber made of copper in order to test how behave a very thermal conductive material and a second variant made of Inconel-718, and alloy mainly made out of nickel for aerospace applications, less thermal conductive but with a higher melting point and mechanical properties. Simulations of rocket performance have been carried out with SolidWorks CFD add-on to verify the design was correctly made. The results of these simulations show a very accurate theoretical performance if compared with the calculations previously made. The results obtained by the coolant system iterative simulation show that the copper is not a suitable material for this system because it transfers the heat so fast to the coolant that before the burn time is finished, all the liquid is already vaporized and the final temperature of the walls is too high. On the other hand, Inconel-718 behaves much better and has a good relation between the energy absorbed and the one transferred to the coolant which prevents it to reach a critical wall temperature that could decrease its mechanical properties and ruin the whole mission. Finally, as conclusions, the results are exposed, discussed and possible changes explained to improve the system.


The zone of study is located north of Pointe noire town, in the Department of Kouilou, in Republic of Congo. In order to better understand the floristic richness and chorology of the study site of interest, an analysis on a flora, of the autoecological and phytogeographycal spectra of species was undertaken. This analysis is based on the floristic material from different botanical surveys carried out in 2012, and deposited at the National Herbarium of the Congo (IEC). Over a study area of 202'700 ha investigated through 243 phytosociological plots, a matrix of 580 specific and subspecific taxa, distributed in 386 genus and 119 families, were inventoried. Seven species, of which one for the science, were new for the flora of Republic of Congo. The families of Fabaceae, Poaceae, Rubiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, of Malavaceae and Annonaceae and are the most diversified in species. The ecological spectrum highlights the strong preponderance of the phanerophytes, sarcochores and mesophiles, thereby confirming the dominance of the forest biodiversity compared to grasslands. From a phytogeographical perspective, the preponderance of the base element identified as well as three families and eleven genus of endemic nature integrate the flora within the Guineo-Congolian centre of endemism.


Isospin diffusion is probed as a function of the dissipated energy by studying two systems Ni+Ni and Ni+Au, over the incident energy range 52-74AMeV. Experimental data are compared with the results of a microscopic transport model with two different parameterizations of the symmetry energy term. A better overall agreement between data and simulations is obtained when using a symmetry term with a potential part linearly increasing with nuclear density. The isospin equilibration time at 52 AMeV is estimated to 130±10 fm/c.


The causes of ovarian dysgenesis remain incompletely understood. Two sisters with XX ovarian dysgenesis carried compound heterozygous truncating mutations in the BRCA2 gene that led to reduced BRCA2 protein levels and an impaired response to DNA damage, which resulted in chromosomal breakage and the failure of RAD51 to be recruited to double‐stranded DNA breaks. The sisters also had microcephaly, and one sister was in long‐term remission from leukemia, which had been diagnosed when she was 5 years old. Drosophila mutants that were null for an orthologue of BRCA2 were sterile, and gonadal dysgenesis was present in both sexes. These results revealed a new role for BRCA2 and highlight the importance to ovarian development of genes that are critical for recombination during meiosis. (Funded by the Israel Science Foundation and others.)


Background Besides ocular and oral dryness, fatigue is a prominent symptom in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). Objectives To investigate the importance of fatigue in relation to other symptoms and to evaluate the effect of rituximab treatment on fatigue in pSS patients with active disease. Methods The present analysis was based on data from our follow-up study of treatment with rituximab.(1) Twenty-eight pSS patients were treated with rituximab (1000 mg at days 1 and 15) and evaluated for 60 weeks. Subjective symptoms of dryness, physical fatigue, and limb pain were scored on a scale of 0–10 according to the ESSPRI. Mental fatigue was also scored on a scale of 0–10. Patients were asked to rank their symptoms of dryness, physical fatigue, pain, and mental fatigue in order of importance; from most to least eligible for improvement. In addition, the importance for improvement of each symptom was scored on a scale of 0–10. Fatigue was assessed in more detail with the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Systemic disease activity was assessed with the ESSDAI. Results At baseline, 24 of the 28 (86%) pSS patients reported physical fatigue as most eligible for improvement, followed by pain and dryness. Mental fatigue was ranked as least eligible for improvement by 50% of the patients. However, for all these 4 domains, patients found it very important to get rid of their symptoms, reflected by median scores of importance of 8 or higher. The highest scores were given for physical fatigue (median 10, IQR 9–10). Rituximab treatment resulted in a significant improvement in all clinical assessments. At 16 and 24 weeks of follow-up, physical fatigue showed 31% and 25% improvement in median values at group level, pain 36 and 29%, dryness 29% and 36%, and mental fatigue 36% and 9%, respectively. Regarding MFI domains, most improvement was reported in general (25% and 25%) and physical (19% and 16%) fatigue. In comparison, systemic disease activity assessed with ESSDAI improved 73% at group level. At 60 weeks of follow-up, all clinical assessments had returned to baseline values. Before rituximab treatment, 18% of the patients had physical fatigue score <5, representing patient-acceptable symptom state (PASS). At 16–24 weeks, this proportion of patients increased to 21–36%. The proportion of patients with low disease activity according to ESSDAI increased from 29% at baseline to 75–79% at 16–24 weeks. Conclusions Fatigue is a very important symptom in pSS patients with active disease, which particularly concerns physical fatigue. Rituximab treatment resulted in a significant improvement of all patient-reported symptoms. However, the large majority of patients still experienced physical fatigue above the cut-off value for the PASS. Therefore, clinical attention for this prominent symptom is warranted in future clinical trials in pSS. References Meiners et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2012;71(8):1297–302. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Background The importance of studying the excessive use of social media in adolescents is increasing and so is the need for in-depth evaluations of the psychometric properties of the measurement tools. This study investigated the properties of the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS) in a large representative sample of Czech adolescents. Methods We analyzed the representative sample of 13,377 Czech adolescents (50.9% boys), 11–16 years old, who participated in the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey (2017–18), using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and network models. Furthermore, we evaluated the measurement invariance and constructed the validity of the SMDS. Results We found support for a single dominant factor but not for strict unidimensionality. Several residual correlations were identified. The strongest were for: problems–conflicts–deceptions; persistence–escape; and preoccupation–tolerance–withdrawal. Girls, particularly 13- and 15-year-olds, scored higher than boys in the same age group, and 13- and 15-year-olds achieved higher scores than 11-year-olds, although some items were not invariant between the groups. The SMDS was positively related to other online activities, screen time, and falling asleep late, but negatively related to well-being and mental health. Discussion and conclusions The SMDS showed solid psychometric properties and construct validity. However, small violations of measurement invariance were detected. Furthermore, the network analysis showed important residual relationships between the items.


The purpose of this study is to examine I. M. Pei and his partner Harry Cobb's downtown Dallas architecture within the context of their overall stylistic development. This paper explores the structure of five buildings within the framework of the city, and addresses their possible influence on the city's future architectural direction. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter I introduces and states the problem as it discusses the fabric of Dallas architecture. Chapter II outlines a brief biography of I. M. Pei, looking to those who have influenced him, while discussing the key public buildings of his stylistic development. Chapter III is devoted to Pei's first structure in the city, the Dallas Municipal Administration Center. Chapter IV explores the concepts of his planned Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Chapter V outlines a brief biography and focuses on the work of Harry N. Cobb: One Dallas Centre, ARCO Tower, and the Allied Bank Tower. Chapter VI summarizes the contributions of Pei and Cobb by placing them within the context of twentieth century architecture, and pointing out their specific achievements with their additions to the fabric of Dallas architecture.


After over a decade of independence from the Soviet Union, this Baltic country of 4 million inhabitants is hoping to join the European Union and NATO in the near future. A compact grammar section and a pronunciation guide are included, along with a phrasebook designed for travellers, businesspersons, students, and diplomats. The bilingual dictionary designates part of speech and case declension, and gives crucial everyday vocabulary.


Background. There are several scoring systems used for in-hospital mortality prediction in critical illness. Their application in a local scenario requires validation to ensure appropriate diagnostic accuracy. Also, their use in assessing post-discharge mortality in the ICU survivors has not been extensively studied.Aim. To evaluate the ability of APACHE II, III and SAPS II to predict in-hospital and post-discharge mortality in adult ICU patients.Material and methods. APACHE II, APACHE III and SAPS II, with corresponding predicted mortality ratios, were calculated for 303 consecutive patients admitted to the 10-bed ICU in 2016. Long-term mortality was calculated based on information taken from PESEL database.Results. Median APACHE II, APACHE III and SAPS II scores were 19, 67 and 44 points, with corresponding in-hospital mortality ratios of 28.1, 18.5 and 34.8%. Observed in-hospital mortality was 35.6%. 12-month post-discharge mortality reached 17.4%. All systems predicted in-hospital mortality (p<0.05): APACHE II (AUC=0.783; 95%CI 0.732-0.828), APACHE III (AUC=0.793; 95%CI 0.743-0.838) and SAPS II (AUC=0.792; 95%CI 0.742-0.836), as well as mortality after ICU discharge (p<0.05): APACHE II (AUC=0.712; 95%CI 0.643-0.775), APACHE III (AUC=0.721; 95%CI 0.653-0.783) and SAPS II (AUC=0.695; 95%CI 0.625-0.759), with no statistically significant difference between them (p>0.05).Conclusions. Although the predictive values were the highest for APACHE III and SAPS II, no differences were noticed between the scores. In case of post-discharge mortality, diagnostic accuracy was much lower. Further studies are needed to create scores estimating the long-term prognosis of subjects successfully discharged from the ICU.


Three patients diagnosed as having remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting edema syndrome, pemphigus erythematosus and idiopathic interstitial pneumonia were treated with oral prednisolone. Several weeks after starting the treatment, they experienced repeated chest pain attacks between midnight and early morning, although none of the patients had a past history of ischemic heart disease. One of the patients exhibited aggravation of symptoms soon after increasing the dose of prednisolone. A definitive diagnosis of vasospastic angina was made using electrocardiograms, coronary angiography and vasospasm provocation tests. These cases emphasize that clinicians should be aware of the possible occurrence of vasospastic angina following the initiation of corticosteroid therapy.


A study to assess traditional practices aggravating maternal mortality in urban and mixed rural-urban populations was carried out in Toangoma and Tandika Wards in Temeke District. Data were collected using questionnaire interviews, un-structured interviews, and in-depth interviews. Data collected were mainly qualitative, and this necessitated use of content analysis. In addition, quantitative analyses were also performed where necessary. Findings indicate that most maternal deaths and complications were associated with cases of anaemia, eclampsia and haemorrhage. The factors behind were more less related to traditional practices. Young age at birth, poor nutrition associated with taboos on types of foods to be eaten during pregnancy, as well as short child spacing instigated by preference of male children were the main factors behind problems related to anaemia and women failure to push during delivery. Also, poverty and lack of control over household resources, male dominated decisions on when and where to seek medical help, and adherence to other cultural norms and values are part of the traditional practices that acted as barriers on women towards seeking modern medical care. Other traditional practices aggravating maternal mortality in the area include belief systems on the causes and cures of diseases. The study recommends that people should be given more modern education about maternal problems associated with over-reliance on traditional practices, right kind information about traditional medicines and herbs, and the discouragement of early marriage to alleviate the problem.


Reports the design and characteristics of a UVA meter. Its calibration in terms of the UVA irradiance at a patient's skin surface is discussed. The meter's detector has been designed to have a maximum sensitivity in the UVA region with a minimum response outside this region, and to have a uniform response to a UVA source located at any position on a circle concentric to the longitudinal axis of the detector.


This paper describes a 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) systems. The ADC is based on a 2.5-2.5-2.5-4 bits-per-stage pipeline architecture and occupies an area of 1.3 mm2 in a 0.35 mum CMOS process. At the target sampling rate of 20.48 MS/s, measured results show that the converter consumes 19.5 mW from a 1.5 V power supply and achieves 56 dB SNR and 60 dB SFDR. Effective resolution bandwidth is 100 MHz and energy consumption per conversion is 0.19 pJ


Background: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a therapeutic target to combat obesity and related disorders. Pheochromocytoma and functional paraganglioma (PPGL) are associated with activated BAT due to catecholamine excess. Our aim was to evaluate BAT activity by gene profile and assess its relation to clinical characteristics and overproduced catecholamine. Methods: mRNA expression of 15 genes in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was measured via RT-PCR in 25 patients with PPGL and 14 controls undergoing cholecystectomy. Results: We found in VAT of PPGL higher expression of UCP1 (p < 0.001), CEBPB, PPARGC1A (both p < 0.001), PRDM16 (p = 0.069) and DIO2 (p = 0.005). UCP1 expression correlated only with norepinephrine levels and its metabolite. UCP1 expression, among others, correlated negatively with BMI, age and positively with HDLc levels. Dominance of BAT or BeAT markers was not assessed in PPGL. In SAT of PPGL, we found higher expression of ADRB3, CIDEA (both p < 0.05), and PPARGC1A (p = 0.001), but not UCP1. Conclusion: We demonstrate signs of UCP1-dependent norepinephrine-induced thermogenesis connected with higher expression of DIO2, PPARGC1A, CEBPB and PRDM16 in retroperitoneal VAT of PPGL and its relations to circulating HDLc and triglycerides levels. However, no direct relationship with increased basal energy metabolism measured by calorimetry was found.


Computerized drilling-statistics files provide a readily accessible low-cost tool to support exploration planning and basin evaluation. Daily initial potential rates vs. success ratios, comparison footage drilled, computed drilling, and completion costs are used to rank geologic provinces for 1974 to 1976 activity. To target favorable areas in exploration plays, historical well data are summarized to chart success, drilling costs, and daily IP yield in specific prospective formations. A case history from the Rocky Mt. illustrates this technique. Proper use of these data and techniques can result in improved selection of exploration opportunities, increased management or investor support, and better success for planned exploration programs.


The adsorption of a rod-shaped (rectangular parallelpiped) surface-active particle at a liquid-liquid interface has been theoretically studied. The adsorption energy, which is the free energy of the interface adsorbing the particle, is governed by the interfacial tensions between the particle and the liquids and the particle shape. The aspect ratio of the rod-shaped particle determines its adsorbing direction at the interface. The rod-shaped particle having aspect ratio larger than unity adsorbs in parallel direction with the liquid-liquid interface, while the plate-shaped one having the aspect ratio less than unity does perpendicularly. These theoretical results are important to understand the effects of the particle shape on the behavior of the surface-active particles in the self-assembled structures.


This study examined coparenting in a sample of 177 two-parent families with firstborn adolescents by using annual home interview data from mothers, fathers, and adolescents. With a path-analytic approach and with earlier problem behaviors controlled for, coparenting conflict predicted relative increases in adolescent risky behavior over 2 years. In addition, evidence for 2 types of mediation was found. Marital love mediated the link between adolescents' early risky behavior and coparenting 1 year later, and coparenting conflict mediated the link between marital love and adolescents' risky behavior 1 year later. Linkages did not emerge for coparenting cooperation or triangulation. Interventions that are focused on the marital and coparental relationships in families with adolescents may modify trajectories of adolescent risky behavior.


: This document gives an overview of solving the limitations of cipher text formatting while implementing cryptography techniques on computers. The Manna Cipher uses the numbering system to represent ciphers rather than alphanumeric characters. The aim is to create a ciphering standard which is painstakingly difficult to crack even using the latest super computers. This document will be focusing on the plain text the resultant cipher text and the run time to have a fair idea about the randomness and compare the randomness of SHA 512 SHA 256 and RSA 512.


Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major health care concern worldwide. There are some reports showing an association between genes and their variants involved in circadian rhythm; clock and clock related genes function and development of BD in patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of rs534654 variant on TMEM165 (transmembrane protein 165) gene with the risk of BD. Genotyping of the rs534654 was carried out using the tetra primers- amplification refractory mutation system-PCR (4P-ARMS-PCR) method in 203 patients with BD type 1 and their healthy and normal counterpart. The frequency of the G and A alleles of rs534654 polymorphism was 53% and 47%, respectively in patients. Genotype frequency in patients in comparison with control subjects was 5.4% vs 2.5% for the AA homozygous; 11.3% vs 80.8% for the GG homozygous; and 83.3% vs 16.7% for the heterozygous AG. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in frequencies between the control and patient groups (P = 0.001). Based on this finding, it is possible to conclude that the impairment in the rs534654 single nucleotide polymorphism in TMEM165 gene is associated with the risk of BD development.


Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) has increased generous notoriety in new scaffold development and extension deck substitution since it offers imaginative development strategies that bring about time and cost reserve funds when contrasted with conventional extension development practice. One innovation usually actualized in ABC to successfully execute its undertakings is the utilization of preassembled connect parts (precast/prestressed connect segments). Precast/prestressed connect segments are manufactured offsite or close to the site and afterward associated nearby utilizing little volume conclusion pour associations. Stomachs are additionally generally used to reinforce the association between certain preassembled segments utilized in ABC, for example, bar components. Scaffolds containing conclusion pour associations and stomachs can be structured utilizing AASHTO LRFD liveload dispersion factor recipes under the condition that the extension must be adequately associated. Be that as it may, these equations were created utilizing expository models that didn't represent the impacts of conclusion pours and stomachs on liveload dispersion. This exploration study researches live-load dissemination attributes of precast/prestressed solid scaffolds with conclusion pour associations and stomachs. The examination was directed utilizing limited component connect models with conclusion pour joints that were adjusted utilizing exploratory information and diverse design of stomachs. The solid material utilized for the conclusion pour associations was created as a major aspect of a bigger task expected to grow high early-quality solid blends that explicitly arrive at quality in just 12 hours, a basic necessity for ABC ventures until a focal edge of 38o which is somewhat out of as far as possible. Keywords—ABC,AASHTO LRFD


Proteolytic activity of central-nervous-system tissue of the normal rat was examined over the pH range 2-9 with casein, haemoglobin and myelin basic protein as substrates. With casein as a substrate, brain and spinal cord homogenates showed very similar activity profiles with increasing pH, with the main peaks of proteolytic activity at pH 3-4 and 5-6. When haemoglobin was used, one broad main peak of activity from pH 3 to 5 was demonstrated. There was no optimum pH, however, for proteolytic activity with myelin basic protein as a substrate, and considerable hydrolysis were observed from pH 3.5 up to pH8. Proteolytic activity at the various pH values was compared by using homogenates of spinal cords from rats with acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis and those from rats injected with Freund's adjuvant alone. The profiles of activity were similar with peaks at pH 3.5 and 5.5 with casein as a substrate, but the specific activity was significantly higher at most pH values in the spinal-cord homogenates from rats with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Similarly the spinal-cord homogenates from these latter rats contained much more proteolytic activity toward myelin basic protein throughout the pH range than was present in the control spinal cords. Homogenates from lymph nodes of rats with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis and from those of the controls contained two to three times as much proteolytic activity as that of the central-nervous-system tissue and had a different proteolytic activity profile form that of the central-nervous system, with higher activity at the neutral than at acid pH. The results are discussed with regard to the probability that inflammatory cells such as lymphocytes may be the cause of the increased proteolytic activity in the central nervous system of animals with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, and that enzymes from these cells possess the capability of digesting myelin basic protein.


Abstract: Improving rapid detection methods for pathogens is important for research as we collectively aim to improve the health of ecosystems globally. In the northern hemisphere, the success of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations is vitally important to the larger marine, aquatic, and terrestrial ecosystems they inhabit. This has led to managers cultivating salmon in hatcheries and aquaculture to bolster their populations, but young salmon face many challenges, including diseases such as bacterial kidney disease (BKD). Early detection of the BKD causative agent, Renibacterium salmoninarum, is useful for managers to avoid outbreaks in hatcheries and aquaculture stocks to enable rapid treatment with targeted antibiotics. Isothermal amplification and CRIPSR-Cas12a systems may enable sensitive, relatively rapid, detection of target DNA molecules from environmental samples compared to quantitative PCR (qPCR) and culture methods. We used these technologies to develop a sensitive and specific rapid assay to detect R. salmoninarum from water samples using isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and an AsCas12a RNA-guided nuclease detection. The assay was specific to R. salmoninarum (0/10 co-occurring or closely related bacteria detected) and sensitive to 0.0128 pg/µL of DNA (approximately 20–40 copies/µL) within 10 min of Cas activity. This assay successfully detected R. salmoninarum environmental DNA in 14/20 water samples from hatcheries with known quantification for the pathogen via previous qPCR (70% of qPCR-positive samples). The RPA-CRISPR/AsCas12a assay had a limit of detection (LOD) of >10 copies/µL in the hatchery water samples and stochastic detection below 10 copies/µL, similar to but slightly higher than the qPCR assay. This LOD enables 37 C isothermal detection, potentially in the field, of biologically relevant levels of R. salmoninarum in water. Further research is needed to develop easy-to-use, cost-effective, sensitive RPA/CRISPR-AsCas12a assays for rapidly detecting low concentrations of wildlife pathogens in environmental samples.


Spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM), as an emerging nonvolatile memory technology, provides very dense array structure and extremely low leakage power consumption. It demonstrates a great potential in replacing conventional static random access memory technology to develop the next-generation on-chip cache memory of microprocessors and graphics processing units. The multilevel cell (MLC) design of STT-RAM that stores two or more bits in one cell potentially has higher storage capacity and faster system performance, attracting significant attention. In this paper, we first quantitatively evaluated the data storage density of the MLC STT-RAM. Our results revealed limited density improvement because of the large size of access transistor induced by high write current amplitude requirement and asymmetry of switching behavior. Moreover, the read and write accesses of existing MLC STT-RAM cache designs require two-step operation. The system level evaluation shows that the long access latency could amortize the performance speed brought by larger cache size, and even degrade the system performance for some applications. To unleash the potential of MLC STT-RAM cache, we proposed a new design through a cross-layer co-optimization. The memory cell structure integrated the reversed stacking of magnetic junction tunneling for a more balanced device and design tradeoff. In architecture development, we presented an adaptive mode switching mechanism: based on application's memory access behavior, the MLC STT-RAM cache can dynamically change between low latency single-level cell mode and high capacity MLC mode. Furthermore, we divided cache lines into fast and slow regions and investigated new data migration policies to allocate frequently access data to fast regions. Simulation results show that the proposed techniques can improve the system performance by 10.2% and reduce the energy consumption on cache by 9.5% compared with conventional MLC STT-RAM cache design.


This paper describes a pilot disaster preparedness campaign for Central Vietnam. Central Vietnam is highly prone to water related disasters, which result in an enormous loss of lives and livelihood and make sustainable development almost impossible. Residents in the lagoons of Central Vietnam, who are particularly vulnerable because of their proximity to water, were the target audience for this project. The project first built social marketing capacity among Vietnamese government officials and community leaders, and then used their input as well as secondary and primary research to prepare the campaign. The significance of the project lies in the fact that this may be one of the first projects in Vietnam to systematically plan a campaign based on social marketing principles. These principles are new in Vietnam, a communist country that has only recently introduced economic reform. The project thus signals the greater acceptance of nonstructural and particularly social marketing/communication approaches to disaster preparedness, where in the past the emphasis has been on structural solutions such as building dykes and dams. The project is also part of a shift that is taking place in disaster mitigation where disaster relief, the mainstay to date, is now coupled with disaster preparedness.


A comparison between the action of Ambroxol and Acetylcysteine was carried out in 28 children aged 2 to 13 (mean 7 years 3 months) affected with spastic bronchitis. 14 patients were treated daily for 10 days by the oral route with 30 mg of Ambroxol (2 sachets) and 14 with 200-300 mg of Acetylcysteine (2-3 sachets). Quantity and quality of sputum, difficulty in expectorating, cough, dyspnea, bronchial bruits, were assessed before the treatment, 5 days into it and at the end. Both drugs were effective and well tolerated, but Ambroxol proved to be more rapid in achieving a satisfactory improvement than Acetylcysteine.


Impact factor (Web of Science, Clarivate Analytics) and CiteScore (Scopus, Elsevier) are the two leading metrics for journal evaluation, assessment and ranking. The relationship between the two is now established, using their respective percentile in this paper for 105 journal in the Computer science, theory and methods (CSTM) subject category. The available studies did not consider the quartile comparison of the journal percentiles of the two database (Scopus and Science Citation Index expanded). The mean impact factor and CiteScore are 2.08 and 2.67 respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient between the impact factor and CiteScore is (0.919, p = 0.000) and between their respective journal percentiles is (r = 0.804, p = 0.000). Analysis of variance revealed that the means of the impact factor and CiteScore of the 105 CSTM journals are the same (F = 3.64, P = 0.058) but different (F = 38.94, P = 0.00) for their respective percentiles. The median test contradicts the ANOVA as the medians of impact factor and CiteScore are different at 0.05 level of significance. The median journal percentiles are the same for only 2 journal titles. The median journal percentile (SCIE) is greater than the median journal percentile (Scopus) for 5 journal titles and less than the median journal percentile (Scopus) for 98 journal titles. The same result was obtained when the percentiles were converted to quartiles, but in this case, the median journal quartiles are the same for 37 journal titles. The median journal quartile (SCIE) is greater than the median journal quartile (Scopus) for 67 journal titles and less than the median journal quartile (Scopus) in only one journal title. Only 37 (35 %) journals are in the same quartile of the two metrics. Caution is recommended in journal evaluation as conflicting different results can be obtained using the same metric.


The aim of this research is to develop a framework conducted by Ribeiro N, Nguyen T, Duarte AP, de Oliveira RT, Faustino C.,2020 [1]. The research was conducted at the East Java Regional Revenue Agency with a population of 140 employees. Saturated samples are used so that all populations are included in the research sample. Data were collected using a questionnaire instrument with a 5-point Likert scale rating. The data analysis technique used is Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 24. The results show that managerial coaching skills have a significant effect on individual performance, empowerment and work engagement can affect individual performance, either directly or as a mediation between manager coaching skills and individual performance. This research enriches information/theory regarding the relationship between Managerial Coaching Skills and Individual Performance Improvement through Empowerment and Work Engagement and offers a new approach to the relationship between variables.


The cryptogamic flora of a small isolated natural fragment of rainforest in south-eastern Tasmania has retained its rainforest character but has been modified in comparison to the flora of large, well-buffered rainforest stands. There is a high proportion of widespread wet forest species and many typical rainforest lichens and bryophytes are absent or represented only by depauperate and/or sterile individuals. The relative proportions of hepatics to mosses is reversed compared with that normally found in rainforest and there is a much lower diversity in the bryophyte flora. In spite of these modifications, the flora of the rainforest fragment is quite distinct from that of the surrounding sclerophyll vegetation. The community acts as a refuge for many species and contributes significantly to the overall biodiversity of the area. The site is very important for biological conservation but the data suggest that the ecosystem is extremely fragile and must be protected from future disturbance if its rainforest flora is to survive. The new combination, Bacidia vallatula (Jatta) Kantvilas, is proposed, and the lichen Byssoloma subdiscordans (Nyl.) P. James is recorded from Tasmania for the first time.


Neonatal jaundice is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and neonates born in low and middle-income countries bear a disproportionate burden. We previously developed a low-cost, point-of-care system to measure total serum bilirubin (TSB) in neonates. This device was effective at detecting and monitoring jaundice; however, the disposable strips were difficult to produce at scale. Here, we report a new lateral flow cassette design, called BiliDx, that was produced at scale using traditional manufacturing techniques. We evaluated the performance of BiliDx at sites in Nigeria and Malawi. The lateral flow strip consists of plasma separation membranes, nitrocellulose, and a plastic cassette. We evaluated the performance of the strips and reader at two hospitals located in Nigeria and Malawi compared to reference standard TSB. We also assessed performance for samples with high direct bilirubin (DB) and high hematocrit (HCT). We collected 1,144 samples from 758 neonates (TSB ranged from 0.2 to 45.9 mg/dL). The mean bias of BiliDx measurements in the validation set was +0.75 mg/dL, and 95% limits of agreement were -2.57 to 4.07 mg/dL. The mean bias and limits of agreement were comparable for samples with HCT < 60% and HCT ≥ 60%, and for samples with low and intermediate DB levels; the samples with high DB levels had wider 95% limits of agreement (-4.50 to +3.03 mg/dL). Error grid analysis shows that 96.9% of samples measured with BiliDx would have resulted in the same clinical decision as the reference standard. This performance is comparable to previous results that used a handmade two-dimensional strip. Additionally, error grid analysis shows that all 20 samples with high DB levels would have resulted in the same clinical decision as the reference standard. This evaluation supports the use of BiliDx lateral flow cassettes to provide accurate point-of-care measurements in low-resource settings.


REPORT OF A CASE A 3-month-old girl presented with a 10-week history of multiple enlarging plaques on the face and extremities. She was the product of a full-term pregnancy to a healthy 19-year-old primigravida. The day before delivery, the mother's membranes ruptured, and a fever developed over the next 24 hours. A cesarean section was performed due to an increase in fetal heart rate. After delivery, antibiotics were administered to the baby, who had no further complications. The mother continued to have a fever and high blood pressure. Both infant and mother remained in the hospital for 23 days. Approximately 1 week after discharge, an annular lesion appeared on the infant's cheek that became progressively enlarged. Similar lesions appeared on the extremities. Cutaneous examination revealed annular erythematous scaly plaques, some with central clearing, ranging from 2 to 4 cm on the face, arms, and legs (Figure 1). Routine laboratory studies


Understanding the roles of human DNA repair proteins in genetic pathways is a formidable challenge to many researchers. Genetic studies in mammalian systems have been limited due to the lack of readily available tools including defined mutant genetic cell lines, regulatory expression systems, and appropriate selectable markers. To circumvent these difficulties, model genetic systems in lower eukaryotes have become an attractive choice for the study of functionally conserved DNA repair proteins and pathways. We have developed a model yeast system to study the poorly defined genetic functions of the Werner syndrome helicase-nuclease (WRN) in nucleic acid metabolism. Cellular phenotypes associated with defined genetic mutant backgrounds can be investigated to clarify the cellular and molecular functions of WRN through its catalytic activities and protein interactions. The human WRN gene and associated variants, cloned into DNA plasmids for expression in yeast, can be placed under the control of a regulatory plasmid element. The expression construct can then be transformed into the appropriate yeast mutant background, and genetic function assayed by a variety of methodologies. Using this approach, we determined that WRN, like its related RecQ family members BLM and Sgs1, operates in a Top3-dependent pathway that is likely to be important for genomic stability. This is described in our recent publication at www.impactaging.com. Detailed methods of specific assays for genetic complementation studies in yeast are provided in this paper.


Five-membered hypervalent iodine heterocycles derived from benziodoxole and benziodazole oxide have recently emerged as reagents of choice for various synthetically useful oxidative transformations. In particular, IBX (2-iodoxybenzoic acid) and DMP (Dess-Martin periodinane) are widely used for the selective oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols and for a variety of other important oxidations. IBX-amides and IBX-esters are a new class of pentavalent iodine reagents with a pseudo-benziodoxole structure and a reactivity pattern similar to IBX.


Seventeen patients with myeloproliferative disorders and one patient with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMMoL) were treated with ranimustine++ (MCNU), and the efficacy was evaluated. MCNU was given intravenously by drip infusion at an usual dose of 100 approximately 150 mg with intervals arranged according to the counts of peripheral blood cells. A complete remission was achieved in all 10 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in chronic phase. In three of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) the excellent effects were obtained, and the other 2 cases showed moderate effect. An excellent effect was obtained in both 2 patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET). A patient with CMMoL revealed partial remission. The overall efficacy rate was 100%. The cases with CML needed more long term and much more dose of the drug in order to get remission compared with PV and ET. After remission in both PV and ET, well controlled states were maintained for a relatively long period with no additional administration. In CMMoL, MCNU combined with 6-mercaptopurine also showed remarkable anti-tumor effects. It suggests that MCNU may be one of the useful drugs for the treatment of CMMoL. The side effects observed with MCNU were a slight degree of nausea and vomiting (28%), however they showed no trouble on carrying out the therapy.


Infections are associated with increased mortality in patients with sepsis or septic shock. However, to the best of our knowledge, the influence of the site of infection on patients with cancer remains unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between the site of infection and mortality in patients with cancer and sepsis or septic shock. The present study was conducted in a Lebanon tertiary care centre from July 2010 to April 2015. A total of 176 patients with active cancer presenting to the emergency department with sepsis or sepsis shock were included in the present analysis. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis of the effect of the site of infection on mortality were performed. The most common site of infection was the lung (37.50%), followed by the urinary tract (26.70%), unknown site (13.63%), gastrointestinal (13.07%) and others (9.10%). The overall mortality rate was 47.73%. Gastrointestinal infection (78.26%) was associated with the highest mortality, followed by pneumonia (62.12%). The urinary tract infection with the lowest mortality rate was the reference group. After adjusting for confounding variables, gastrointestinal infection was associated with the highest in-hospital mortality [hazard ratio (HR), 2.64; 95% CI, 1.25-5.55], followed by pneumonia (HR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.03-3.68). The association between site of infection and 28-day and 60-day mortality was analysed by Cox regression, as well as by stratified analysis to investigate the association between site of infection and mortality from haematological and solid tumors. Gastrointestinal infection had a higher mortality rate. In conclusion, the site of infection had the same association with mortality in patients with solid and haematological tumours.


Histamine fish poisoning is quite common and occur in consequence of microbial decarboxylase whose activity begin early in the post-mortem but are triggered in consequence of abuse in the shelf life of fish products. In this study forty-eight samples of tuna, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, fresh or processed were sampled from fish shops and supermarkets in the City of Bologna in the period from January to July 2010. Concentration of histamine was assessed using ELISA quantitative test and presence of psicrotrophic histamine forming bacteria was searched using a modified Niven agar medium which allow detection of suspect colonies that were confirmed by PCR for detecting the presence of the histidine decarboxylase genes in their DNA. The positive colonies were then identified on the basis of their morphology, Gram reaction and biochemical characteristics with API20E. The differential capability of the Niven agar was found to be low and approximately one fifth of the suspect colonies were confirmed by the PCR test, which however included both strong and weak histamine producing strains. The presence of Morganella morganii was associated with concentration of histamine 460 mg∙kg-1 above the allowed limit in a sample of tuna sampled from a fish shop. The same bacterium was found in samples of Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus). High histamine concentration (between 258 and > 300 mg∙kg-1) were observed in salted European pilchard and European anchovy (228 mg∙kg-1) sold loose in supermarkets. Because temperature abuse could occur when Tuna (fresh/defrozen) are hold on chopping board to sell fresh cuts and during shelf life of salted pilchard and pickled anchovies held in opened cans in chilled display cabinets for extended period, which might results in very high histamine concentration, controls on time and temperature at the retail, in addition to those done during the harvest and processing are needed. The studies aiming at quantitatively assess the prevalence and number of histamine producing bacteria in fish products that were not involved in histamine poisoning cases and/or do not show high level of histamine are rather complex , requiring many tests for confirming the histamine forming ability of the suspect isolated strains and further studies are needed to develop techniques for enumerating the histamine producing bacteria.


The monoalkylation and cross-linking reactivities of a group of four structurally related DNA−DNA interstrand cross-linkers have been determined on restriction enzyme fragments and select oligomers. These highly potent cytotoxic DNA−DNA cross-linkers consist of two cyclopropa[c]pyrrolo[3,4-3]indol-4(5H)-ones indoles [(+)-CPI-I] joined by a urea (Bizelesin) or a bisamido furan, bisamido pyrrole, or bisamido N-methylpyrrole linker. Using a thermal cleavage assay in combination with radio-labeled restriction enzyme fragments, we have shown that these compounds cross-link duplex DNA six or seven base pairs apart on opposite strands, but they differ among themselves for both alkylation reactivity and DNA sequence selectivity. Bizelesin and the [(+)-CPI-I]2 bisamido furan and [(+)-CPI-I]2 bisamido N-methyl pyrrole compounds prefer purely AT-rich sequences (e.g., 5'-T(A/T)4 or 5A*-3', where T represents the cross-strand adenine alkylation and A* represents an adenine alkylation), while the [(+)-CPI-I]2 bisamido ...


Summary: We investigated with an in vivo single-pass perfusion technique net secretion of calcium, magnesium, and zinc from proximal and distal small intestinal segments and from the cecum plus colon segments of suckling, weanling, and adolescent rats during perfusion with either isotonic (300 mOsm/kg) or hypertonic (500 mOsm/kg) mineral-free solutions. There was net secretion of calcium, magnesium, and zinc in all segments perfused at all age periods.During isotonic perfusion, rates of net secretion of calcium and zinc were severalfold greater in the proximal and distal segments of the suckling rats compared with the corresponding segments of the adolescent rats. Net magnesium secretion was similar in the suckling and adolescent rats. Net secretion rates for the weanling rats tended to be intermediate. During hypertonic perfusion, net secretion rates for calcium, magnesium, and zinc were severalfold greater from all segments of the suckling rats compared with the corresponding segments of the adolescent rats. During either isotonic or hypertonic perfusions, rates of net secretion of calcium and magnesium in general were greater from the proximal and distal segments than from the cecum plus colon in the suckling and weanling rats. In contrast, for the adolescent rats, net secretions from all segments in general were similar. For zinc, rates of net secretion were somewhat greater in the cecum plus colon of rats in all age groups.Our findings suggest a greater permeability of the intestinal epithelium, not only to water and electrolytes but also to certain minerals (calcium and magnesium) and trace elements (Zn) in suckling rats compared with adolescent rats. The implication is that during periods of osmotic diarrhea, infant animals appear to be at risk for losing excessive amounts of minerals and trace elements. These findings may have clinical relevance to human infants suffering from recurrent diarrheal diseases.Speculation: The changes in the rate of net secretion of minerals in the small and large intestine of the rats during maturation could be the result of alterations in the biochemical composition of the intestinal mucosal membrane that occur with maturation. These alterations in the biochemical composition appear to decrease the permeability of the mucosal membranes along the length of the intestinal tract.


In recent years, finite strain consolidation theories including a mechanical nonlinearity and a reasonable coordinate system have been proposed and used in educations and practical consolidation problems. However, despite their reasonable ability to predict the consolidation behavior, their failure in the field can be attributed to the complexity of estimating and selecting proper parameters for simulating the consolidation phenomenon. In this study, therefore, the application of a piecewise-linear method was proposed to solve such problems including the assumption of the uniqueness in compressibility. Especially, the concept of reference curve was introduced to define the effect of strain rate dependency of clay. The applicability of the methodology is verified by several tests. It was found that the proposed method is applicable in restrictive ranges of study carried out in the laboratory. Finally it is expected that the verification in field consolidation problem has to be carried out through future study.


The hydrothermal reactions of a mixture of (NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O, Cu(Ac)2·H2O and 3-bpo ligands at different temperatures result in the isolation of two novel inorganic-organic hybrid materials containing different but related isopolymolybdate units, [Cu(3-bpo)(H2O)(Mo4O13)]·3H2O () and [Cu2(3-bpo)2(Mo6O20)] (). The {Mo4O13}n chains in and unprecedented [Mo6O20](4-) isopolyhexamolybdate anions in are linked by octahedral Cu(2+) ions into two-dimensional hybrid layers. Interestingly, 3-bpo ligands in both and are located on either side of these hybrid layers and serve as arched footbridges to link Cu(ii) ions in the layer via pyridyl N-donors, and at the same time connect these hybrid layers into 3D supramolecular frameworks via weak MoNoxadiazole bonds. Another important point for is that water clusters are filled in the 1D channels surrounded by isopolytetramolybdate units. In addition, dye adsorption and photocatalytic properties of and magnetic properties of have been investigated. The results indicated that complex is not only a good heterogeneous photocatalyst in the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB), but also has high absorption capacity of MB at room temperature and can selectively capture MB molecules from binary mixtures of MB/MO or MB/RhB. All MB molecules absorbed on can be completely released and photodegraded in the presence of adequate peroxide. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility revealed that complex exhibits antiferromagnetic ordering at about 5 K, and a spin-flop transition was observed at about 5.8 T at 2 K, indicating metamagnetic-like behaviour from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phases.


This weed management investigation was carried out at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station (ZARS), Bangalore, during the summers of 2017 and 2018 to standardize agrotechniques for weed management of rice grown under aerobic conditions. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with eleven treatments replicated thrice. It consisted of two pre-emergence herbicides and one early post-emergence herbicide, the stale seedbed technique, mulching, hand weeding and intercultivation which was compared to the weedy check. The results showed that pyrazosulfuron ethyl 10% wettable powder (WP) at 35 active ingredient (a.i.) g ⋅ ha–1 as PE fb bispyribac sodium 10% SC at 30 ml ⋅ ha–1 a.i. as an early post-emergence herbicide performed better in terms of rice grain and straw yield (5,800 and 9,786 kg ⋅ ha–1, respectively), plant height (58.42 cm), rice total dry matter production (149.84 g ⋅ plant–1), productive tillers ⋅ hill–1 (40.32), panicle length (24.53 cm), 1000 grain weight (25.35 g), net returns (Rs. 62424), higher B : C ratio (2.59) and lower total weed density, weed dry weight at different stages of rice and weed index (3.80%) as well as higher weed control efficiency (90.52%). This practice could be recommended to farmers growing aerobic rice under these climatic conditions.


We calculate the fixation probability of a beneficial allele that arises as the result of a unique mutation in an asexual population that is subject to recurrent deleterious mutation at rate U. Our analysis is an extension of previous works, which make a biologically restrictive assumption that selection against deleterious alleles is stronger than that on the beneficial allele of interest. We show that when selection against deleterious alleles is weak, beneficial alleles that confer a selective advantage that is small relative to U have greatly reduced probabilities of fixation. We discuss the consequences of this effect for the distribution of effects of alleles fixed during adaptation. We show that a selective sweep will increase the fixation probabilities of other beneficial mutations arising during some short interval afterward. We use the calculated fixation probabilities to estimate the expected rate of fitness improvement in an asexual population when beneficial alleles arise continually at some low rate proportional to U. We estimate the rate of mutation that is optimal in the sense that it maximizes this rate of fitness improvement. Again, this analysis relaxes the assumption made previously that selection against deleterious alleles is stronger than on beneficial alleles.


One of the weaknesses in augmented reality (AR) scenes is that, most of the times, the virtual model lacks realism and is not integrated sufficiently into the scene to be credible. The problem lies in lighting conditions differences from real environment and virtual objects superimposed. This problem takes on special significance indoors, to visualize interior design proposals, because a non-integrated scene may seem unlikely and unattractive. In this paper, we describe a teaching experience conducted in the framework of an interior design specialization course. It was carried out by students from the School of Building Construction of Barcelona in November 2011, at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Students were required to use AR freeware tools for modeling and visualize their own proposals indoor. The challenging task was to make virtual objects blend harmoniously into the real scene, so they should appear as if they were like real. New modeling techniques have been experienced in order to add lighting conditions maps to virtual objects. We used for that radiance and global illumination simulations from the real environment to get real scene lighting information. Experience was useful to determine the consistency of illumination between the virtual objects and the surrounding real objects in the scene, as well as, to evaluate the importance of the use of this technology in interior design proposals and architectural visualization.


It has been demonstrated that hidden representation learned by deep model can encode private information of the input, hence can be exploited to recover such information with reasonable accuracy. To address this issue, we propose a novel approach called Differentially Private Neural Representation (DPNR) to preserve privacy of the extracted representation from text. DPNR utilises Differential Privacy (DP) to provide formal privacy guarantee. Further, we show that masking words via dropout can further enhance privacy. To maintain utility of the learned representation, we integrate DP-noisy representation into a robust training process to derive a robust target model, which also helps for model fairness over various demographic variables. Experimental results on benchmark datasets under various parameter settings demonstrate that DPNR largely reduces privacy leakage without significantly sacrificing the main task performance.


Abstract Plant growth stage and temperature influence the activity of glyphosate on common lambsquarters. A biotype of common lambsquarters in Dickinson County, KS (DK) was not controlled upon treatment with glyphosate in the field. In a greenhouse dose–response study, the DK biotype expressed 1.5-fold less sensitivity to glyphosate compared to a known susceptible biotype from Riley County, KS (RL). Common lambsquarters plants were treated at different growth stages (5 to 7, 10 to 12, 15 to 17, or 19 to 21 cm tall) with glyphosate at a field rate (840 g ae ha-1), and, regardless of the biotype, plants were more susceptible to glyphosate when they were 5 to 7 cm tall. Common lambsquarters plants were treated with glyphosate (840 g ae ha-1) after growing at different temperatures (25/15, 32.5/22.5, or 40/30 C day/night), and regardless of the biotype, plants were more susceptible to glyphosate when grown at 25/15 C. The results suggest that the DK biotype exhibits reduced sensitivity to glyphosate compared to the RL biotype, and glyphosate applied at field rate would be more effective on smaller common lambsquarters plants and at cooler temperatures. Common lambsquarters seedlings tend to emerge when temperatures are cooler, early in the spring relative to other summer annual weeds. Therefore, plants should be identified and treated earlier in the growing season for best efficacy with glyphosate. Nomenclature: Glyphosate; common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album L. CHEAL.


The crossover region in the phase diagram of polymer solutions, in the regime above the overlap concentration, is explored by Brownian dynamics simulations to map out the universal crossover scaling functions for the gyration radius and the single-chain diffusion constant. Scaling considerations, our simulation results, and recently reported data on the polymer contribution to the viscosity obtained from rheological measurements on DNA systems support the assumption that there are simple relations between these functions, such that they can be inferred from one another.


The main objective of this study was to analyze the effects of the Primate online tutorial system on classroom and support in-service teachers in the Canary Islands for the early instruction of students at risk for mathematics difficulties. This is a tutorial learning system that uses the Moodle platform to create a virtual educational environment, aimed at teaching teachers that attends at-risk students who are considered to have a higher probability of failing academically in math. Teachers receive a training on how to instruct early mathematics in children who are at risk based on scientific research. A sample of classroom and support in-service teachers from the Canary Islands participated in the online course. It was found that both groups improved their knowledge in the different areas evaluated through the tutorial system. Finally, positive ratings were received by both the classroom and support in-service teachers.


The small-plot experiment with sewage sludge compost (SSC) was started in the spring of 2003. Soil type is acidic Arenosol at the Research Institute of Nyíregyháza, University of Debrecen, in the NE part of Hungary. The applied SSC contained 40% of sewage sludge, 25% of straw, 30% of rhyolite and 5% of bentonite. Four treatments in five blocks have been conducted, where the SSC was applied at a rate of 0, 9, 18 and 27 t ha and then was ploughed into the soil. Treatments were repeated in 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015. Test plants were maize (Zea mays L.), triticale (x Triticosecale x Wittmack) and green pea (Pisum sativum L.) followed each other in a crop rotation every year. Composite soil samples were mixed from 5 subsamples in each plot from 0-30 and 30-60 cm soil layers after harvesting of test plants. Experimental results showed that composted sewage sludge Régiókutatás Szemle 2018 2. sz. DOI: 10.30716/RSZ/2018/2/5 application had positive effects on the chemical properties of the soil, especially the increase of pH


The increasing prevalence of resistance to antibiotics of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the main causative agent of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, necessitates the development of both new therapeutic strategies and noninvasive methods in order to evaluate their efficacy. The efficacy of passive immunotherapy with human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or solvent alone, administered intranasally or intravenously, was evaluated in a mouse model of acute pneumonia. Lung bacterial load was also evaluated, using a classical but invasive method, as was respiratory function (minute ventilation, respiratory frequency and tidal volume) using plethysmography, a simple noninvasive method commonly used in inhalation toxicology, but not previously used to assess respiratory infection. Forty-eight hours after infectious challenge, the lung bacterial load was significantly lower in IVIG-treated mice than in untreated mice. At the same time, minute ventilation was significantly lower than reference values for untreated mice (36+/-3 versus 57+/-8 mL.min(-1), p<0.01, and 31+/-2 versus 50+/-5 mL.min(-1), p<0.01 for intranasal and intravenous administration of solvent, respectively) but not in mice treated with IVIG by either route of administration. Plethysmography therefore appears to be a simple and reliable test for the follow-up of acute respiratory infection.


Short-term variability in ozone column at a givenlocation is almost solely caused by dynamical changes connected totropospheric pressure systems. Long-term trends and interannual variabilityof ozone are also influenced by these dynamical changes. We address twoquestions here, which are still under discussion: What is the impact of thesedynamical changes on the observed long-term trend of ozone, and what is thequantitative contribution of the physical processes standing behind thedynamical variability to the trends and short-term variability? Theseprocesses are identified as horizontal isentropic transport and the verticaldisplacement of isentropes. We use a multiple regression model to analyze thevariability of the total ozone column and of profile data here.The model for ozone column is based on a newly introduced explanatoryvariable using the equivalent latitude profile at a givenlocation. After transforming the equivalent latitude profile into an ozoneprofile with the help of an ozone climatology, we integrate the ozone profileby using the pressures at the isentropic levels, thus incorporating the effectof compression and expansion. Ozone column data are taken from high qualitystations of the Dobson spectrometer network.Profile data from ozone sondes is examined by the equivalent latitude profilealone.


We have analysed 40 marker loci on 13 chromosomes for linkage with Marfan syndrome. None of the loci was linked to the Marfan syndrome locus at theta = 0.00. This study provides a basis for an exclusion map and for further collaboration in mapping of the locus.


We investigate the dynamics of a tagged particle embedded in a strongly interacting confined liquid enclosed between two opposing flat walls. Using the Zwanzig-Mori projection operator formalism we obtain an equation of motion for the incoherent scattering function suitably generalized to account for the lack of translational symmetry. We close the equations of motion by a self-consistent mode-coupling ansatz. The interaction of the tracer with the surrounding liquid is encoded in generalized direct correlation functions. We extract the in-plane dynamics and provide a microscopic expression for the diffusion coefficient parallel to the walls. The solute particle may differ in size or interaction from the surrounding host-liquid constituents offering the possibility of a systematic analysis of dynamic effects on the tagged-particle motion in confinement.