Abstract Although reactive oxygen species (ROS) are required for spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) self-renewal, they induce DNA damage and are harmful to SSCs. However, little is known about how SSCs protect their genome during self-renewal. Here, we report that Ogg1 is essential for SSC protection against ROS. While cultured SSCs exhibited homologous recombination-based DNA double-strand break repair at levels comparable with those in pluripotent stem cells, they were significantly more resistant to hydrogen peroxide than pluripotent stem cells or mouse embryonic fibroblasts, suggesting that they exhibit high levels of base excision repair (BER) activity. Consistent with this observation, cultured SSCs showed significantly lower levels of point mutations than somatic cells, and showed strong expression of BER-related genes. Functional screening revealed that Ogg1 depletion significantly impairs survival of cultured SSCs upon hydrogen peroxide exposure. Thus, our results suggest increased expression of BER-related genes, including Ogg1, protects SSCs from ROS-induced damage. Summary sentence OGG1 suppresses ROS-induced damages in spermatogonial stem cells.


Race powerfully affects perceivers' responses to faces, promoting biases in attention, classification, and memory. To account for these diverse effects, we propose a model that integrates social cognitive work with two prominent accounts of visual processing (perceptual learning and predictive coding). Our argument is that differential experience with a racial ingroup promotes both (a) perceptual enrichment, including richer, more well-integrated visual representations of ingroup relative to outgroup faces, and (b) expectancies that ingroup faces are more normative, which influence subsequent visual processing. By allowing for "top-down" expectancy-based processes, this model accounts for both experienceand non-experience-based influences, including motivation, context and task instructions. Fundamentally, we suggest that the psychological impact of race is largely attributable to the fact that human beings live and interact primarily with members of racial ingroups. Although race has little inherent meaning, we treat it as an important dimension because it structures our social environment, which in turn structures mental representation.


To conduct the survey were used 35 (thirty-five) red-browned parrots (A. rhodocorytha), adults, captive, of both genders and clinically healthy, belonging to the live collection of the Museum of Biology Teacher Mello Leitao, located in Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo, Brazil. Harvests were performed in the morning, by puncture of the brachial vein getting 0.5mL of blood stored in EDTA for a period no longer than 6 hours. Blood smears of fresh material were made at collection, stained using the method of May-Grunwald-Giemsa. Analysis of blood elements was done by cell counting in a mirrored Neubauer chamber using Natt and Herrick solution at a ratio of 2:200 as diluent. For the analysis of the methodology, homoglobinometry cyanide hemoglobin using commercial kits by colorimetry on a semi-automatic biochemical analyzer was used. After completion of the statistical data the following parameters were obtained (mean±standard deviation): Erythrocytes (x106/μl): 2.68±0.56; Hemoglobin (g/dl): 14.27±0.69; Hematocrit (%): 53±3.38; Mean corpuscular volume (fl): 206.7±45.82; Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (pg): 56.4±14.46; Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (%): 27.5±1.19; Thrombocytes (x3/μl): 25.8 ± 10.5; Total plasma protein (g/dl) 5.4±0.5; Leukocytes (x103/dl): 3.1±2; Heterophile (/uL): 1937±1676; Lymphocytes (/uL): 1144±599; Monocytes (/uL): 24.4 ± 28.2; Basophils (/uL): 42.2±46.2; Eosinophils (/uL): 11.7±19.9. In the relation between males and females, no significant differences were found in any hematological parameter evaluated.


Web site design and implementation is very often seen within companies and businesses as a 'technical task' whose realisation can improve their business operations dramatically and swiftly. At the same time, they do not consider any additional investment or research prior to the design and implementation of their Web site. Using a case study of a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) and its local operativity at Gatwick Airport (Crawley) in West Sussex, UK, we describe our approach to developing a Web site based on extensive surveys, which helped us to reveal the feasibility, purpose and operability of the company's Web site design. The company is called Aviation Aircraft Services (AAS), and is a SME that relies on major contracts from British Airways for cutlery, blanket and linen packaging.


Through the comparison between archives and public libraries to carry out the government information service activities in theory and practice,this article suggested that the public library should transform the idea,increases the propaganda,strengthens with the government and the archives staffs exchange,and service effect evaluation should be introduced in the public library appraisal indicator system to complete this work.


Highlights The authors study the timing of leniency applications using a novel application of multi-spell discrete-time survival analysis for a sample of cartels prosecuted by the European Commission between 1996 and 2014. The start of a Commission investigation does not affect the rate by which conspirators apply for leniency in the market investigated, but increases the rate of application in separate markets in which a conspirator in the investigated market also engaged in collusion. The revision of the Commission's leniency programme in 2002 increased the rate of pre-investigation applications. Our results shed light on enforcement efforts against cartels and other forms of


The detection of invasive pathogens is critical for host immune defense. Cell surface receptors play a key role in the recognition of diverse microbe-associated molecules, triggering leukocyte recruitment, phagocytosis, release of antimicrobial factors, and cytokine production. The intense selective forces acting on innate immune receptor genes has led to their rapid diversification across plant and animal species. However, the impacts of this genetic variation on immune functions are often unclear. Formyl peptide receptors (FPRs) are a family of animal G-protein coupled receptors which are activated in response to a variety of ligands including formylated bacterial peptides, microbial virulence factors, and host-derived peptides. Here we investigate patterns of gene loss, sequence diversity, and ligand recognition among primate and carnivore FPRs. We observe that FPR1, which plays a critical role in innate immune defense in humans, has been lost in New World primates. Patterns of amino acid variation in FPR1 and FPR2 suggest a history of repeated positive selection acting on extracellular domains involved in ligand binding. To assess the consequences of FPR variation on bacterial ligand recognition, we measured interactions between primate FPRs and the FPR agonist Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B, as well as S. aureus FLIPr-like which functions as an FPR inhibitor. We find that comparatively few sequence differences between great ape FPRs are sufficient to modulate recognition of S. aureus ligands, further demonstrating how genetic variation can act to tune FPR activation in response to diverse microbial binding partners. Together this study reveals how rapid evolution of host immune receptors shapes the detection of diverse microbial molecules.


In this paper, we propose a new spatial modulation (SM) scheme based on quaternary quasi-orthogonal sequences (Q-QOSs), referred to as Q-QOS-SM. Unlike an original SM scheme, the proposed scheme uses the indices of the Q-QOSs for mapping of input bits, resulting in two times more bits to be allocated to an antenna-selection part compared to the original SM. From simulation results, the Q-QOS-SM is shown to achieve much higher bit throughput than the existing SM and generalized SM schemes for all simulation cases.


A proposed system in which targeted strategies are implemented for a range of immigrant populations with irregular legal status. Published as part of the Baker Institute's "2013 Policy Recommendations for the Obama Administration."


Abstract
This chapter explores what managers in the library and information science workplace can do to keep stress and burnout levels low. The literature on stress and burnout in human services, or the helping professions, is surveyed and the differences between the two phenomena are explained. Research is clear that keeping stress levels low and burnout at bay in the workplace benefits both employees and the organization. Even so, managers are given little training on how to identify and deal with stress and often fail to notice that their employees are chronically stressed. When managers become aware that they do have employees who are seriously stressed or burned out, they are often unsure whether they should address the problem and how to handle it. The author explains the differences between stress and burnout and clarifies how managers can minimize their negative impact by monitoring six areas in which workers are most likely to experience them: (1) the demands of the job which include the quantity of work and the knowledge required to perform; (2) the amount of control employees are permitted to exercise in the workplace; (3) the amount of the social support employee's feel they have from managers and colleagues; (4) the quality of workplace relationships; (5) the clarity of one's role on the job; and (6) support and honest communication during times of change. The practical implication of this information aimed at managers is to help them create a better workplace and mentally and physically healthier staff members.


Chronic inflammation with aging ("inflammaging") plays a prominent role in the pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies. Aberrant inflammatory activity impacts many different cells in the marrow, including normal blood and stromal marrow elements and leukemic cells, in unique and distinct ways. Inflammation can promote selective clonal expansion through differential immune-mediated suppression of normal hematopoietic cells and malignant clones. We review these complex roles, how they can be understood by separating cell-intrinsic from extrinsic effects, and how this informs future clinical trials.


A Z80 microcomputer-based control system for the cascaded single-phase rectifier circuit is presented. The cascaded rectifier circuit is composed of two thyristor bridges, that is, one is the conventional bridge and the other thyristor bridge with forced commutation. This circuit configuration is adopted to improve the input power factor. The system uses the microcomputer to generate the required firing pulses to the thyristors and to monitor the commutating process. Once the commutation failure is detected, the gating sequence is changed to return the system to the normal condition, thus realizing the commutation failure-free thyristor converter.


In this paper, power system electromagnetic and electromechanical transient hybrid real-time simulation technology is expounded in details, which has advantages of the electromagnetic transient simulation program and electromechanical one. The more details needed to analyze the dynamic characteristics of power systems are provided by this hybrid simulation technology, and the scale of power system simulated is not limited in the hybrid simulation program. The hybrid simulation program is applied to analyze the power system subsynchronous oscillation problem occurred in a power plant with 4 turbine generators located in the northwestern China. According to the simulation results, it is clear that the stability of generators is threatened by the subsynchronous oscillations caused by capacitor series compensation in the transmission line connecting the power plant and the load center system. In meantime, the effectiveness of the countermeasure is validated simultaneously by the hybrid simulation results.


Wasson's presentation provides students more opportunity to analyze longer cases as the course proceeds. He also shows a bit of a lyrical flair, e.g., his name for a pizza mix in one case is Via Romano. His introductions to each section of cases are short, but typically contain pithy observations. Gist reveals his automobile bias when he names an Italian sports car Bragazzini and selects a specie of rattlesnake for a Detroit entry. Many of his cases, even outside of the social responsibility section, carry ethical or moral overtones. Overall, however, his cases are quite well written and stimulating. The Wasson entry appears to be the more suitable Journal of Marketing, July, 1973


Prospectively identified fluoxetine-exposed pregnancies were evaluated to determine whether fluoxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor commonly used for the treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, might be associated with neonatal complications after maternal fluoxetine exposure during the third trimester through delivery. The outcomes of all prospectively identified, spontaneously reported pregnancies with confirmed fluoxetine exposure during the third trimester through delivery were evaluated. Postnatal complications unrelated to malformations were reported in 15 of the 112 identified pregnancies (115 infants), but there was neither a consistent or recurring pattern nor a dose relationship. On the basis of this survey and comparison with reported rates from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, it is unlikely that maternal fluoxetine use during the third trimester results in significant postnatal complications.


Using a simple empirical strategy, we decode the information in insider trades. Exploiting the fact that insiders trade for a variety of reasons, we show that there is predictable, identifiable "routine" insider trading that is not informative for the future of firms. Stripping away these routine trades, which comprise over half the entire universe of insider trades, leaves a set of information-rich "opportunistic" trades that contains all the predictive power in the insider trading universe. A portfolio strategy that focuses solely on opportunistic insider trades yields value-weight abnormal returns of 82 basis points per month, while the abnormal returns associated with routine traders are essentially zero. Further, opportunistic trades predict future news and events at a firm level, while routine trades do not.


In order to investigate the inhibition of the extracts of prescription of 921 on prostate cancer cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo.The authors use the methods as follow:SRB assay was applied to examine the anti-proliferation of the extracts of prescription of 921 in vitro both on human cancer cell DU-145,PC-3m,EJ and mice prostate cancer TRAMP-C2.The experimental implanted tumor mice model Hepatoma(H22),Sarcoma(S180),Prostate cancer(TRAMP-C2) and tumor nude mice model Prostate cancer(PC-3M) were used to evaluate its anti-tumor activity in vivo.Furthermore,it was also observed to enhance therapeutic effect when combined with cyclophosphamide(CTX) on S180.The results were:1) the extracts of prescription of 921 showed proliferation inhibitory activities on DU-145,PC-3M,EJ and TRAMP-C2 cell lines.2) It inhibited mice H22,S180,TRAMP-C2 and naked mice PC-3M when administered i.g.at 3.6~14.3 g/(kg·day) for 9 days.The extracts of prescription of 921 enhanced CTX's therapeutic effect and didn't enhance its toxicity.In summary,the extracts of prescription of 921 showed inhibitory activity on the growth of prostate cancer.


Hypersomnia is a frequent reason for sleep consultation request and often the etiologic diagnosis is difficult to make. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there is a relation between clinical data, multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) findings and polysomnography (PSG) parameters and the etiological diagnosis of hypersomnia that could aid diagnosis achievement. Retrospective study of patients observed in our outpatient sleep consultation between 2011 and 2013 with clinical diagnosis of hypersomnia. All patients performed PSG and MSLT. We performed a comparative analysis of gender, age, BMI, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), MSLT data (mean sleep latency and SOREM number) and PSG parameters between different hypersomnia diagnoses: idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), insufficient sleep syndrome (ISS), narcolepsy, depressive disorder (DD), sleep-related movement disorders (SRMD), circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSD), insomnia and sleep apnea syndrome (SAS). We included 85 patients, mostly female (n=46, 54.1%), with a mean age of 49.5+12.8 years. More frequent diagnoses were IH (N=20, 23.5%), DD (N=19, 22.4%) and ISS (N=13, 15.3%). We found significant differences respecting gender (IH and DD associated with female gender vs. ISS and CRSD with male, p=0.001); age (insomnia and ISS associated with younger age versus SAS and narcolepsy, p=0.001); sleep efficiency (p=0.007) and No-REM sleep latency (p=0.002), both higher in narcolepsy and ISS and lower in insomnia. No differences were found on the remaining data analyzed between different diagnoses. Most of the clinical, MSLT and PSG data were not associated with the etiological diagnosis of hypersomnia, being essential the realization of a good medical history.


In many applications such as high-level synthesis (HLS) and logic synthesis and possibly engineering change order (ECO) we would like to get fast and accurate estimations of different performance measures of the chip, namely area, delay and power consumption. These measures cannot be estimated with high accuracy unless a fairly detailed layout of the chip, including the floorplan and routing is available, which in turn are very costly processes in terms of running time. As we have entered the deep sub-micron era, we have to deal with designs which contain million gates and up. Not only we should consider the area occupied by the modules, but we also have to consider the wiring congestion. In this paper we propose a cost function that is, in addition to other parameters, a function of the wiring area. We also propose a method, to avoid running the floorplanning process after every change in the design, by considering the possible changes in advance and generating a floorplan which is tolerant to these modifications, i.e., the changes in the netlist does not dramatically change the performance measures of the chip. Experiments are done in the high-level synthesis domain, but the method can be applied to logic synthesis and ECO as well. We gain speedups of 184% on the average over the traditional estimation methods used in HLS.


The tendon-to-bone interface is a special structure connecting the tendon and bone and is crucial for mechanical load transfer between dissimilar tissues. After an injury, fibrous scar tissues replace the native tendon-to-bone interface, creating a weak spot that needs to endure extra loading, significantly decreasing the mechanical properties of the motor system. Macrophages play a critical role in tendon-bone healing and can be divided into various phenotypes, according to their inducing stimuli and function. During the early stages of tendon-bone healing, M1 macrophages are predominant, while during the later stages, M2 macrophages replace the M1 macrophages. The two macrophage phenotypes play a significant, yet distinct, role in tendon-bone healing. Growing evidence shows that regulating the macrophage phenotypes is able to promote tendon-bone healing. This review aims to summarize the impact of different macrophages on tendon-bone healing and the current immunomodulatory biomaterials for regulating macrophages, which are used to promote tendon-bone healing. Although macrophages are a promising target for tendon-bone healing, the challenges and limitations of macrophages in tendon-bone healing research are discussed, along with directions for further research.


Continuum robots do not contain rigid links and identifiable rotational joints. Their structure bend continuously along their length via elastic deformation and produce motion through the generation of smooth curves, similar to the tentacles or tongues of the animal kingdom. One technique to construct lightweight continuum devices with many degrees of freedom is to utilize remote actuation, and transfer motion into the structure via groups of antagonistic tendons. Independent tendon pairs or triads control the orientation of the backbone. Usually, continuum robots have a small working volume due to the fact that they need to bend their backbone in order to reach the aimed positions. This work proposes a new design for continuum robots with increased working volume by replacing the continuous backbone with a telescopic structure driven by wires and electric motors. Using this kind of design, it is possible to change the length of the robot. When attaching cable pairs to the end of the telescopic structure, it is possible to provide two axis bending using two mechanisms to exert tension on the cables in two horizontal orthogonal directions. To control the robot, a PLC was used, using an open loop control. The open control scheme works with the relation to he number of cycles of the DC motor that makes the end pole extremity reach a determined displacement. Applying such changes in the structure of a continuum robot, it is possible to build robots that could reach higher positions. This feature makes the robot more suitable for operations in inaccessible places, such as inspections of electric power transmission and distribution networks. To verify the efficiency of the proposal, a study case was adopted and a prototype was constructed, designated for wood cross-arms inspection. As a consequence, a robot was developed, much longer than any other continuum robot proposed, up to 9 meters high. Bearing in mind the importance of studying the deformation of the robot once the structure will bend in order to promote movements, it was analyzed, using the finite element method. The aim of the analysis is to find out how the structure would react to an external load caused by the tensile cables and to determine the amount of force that the mechanisms need to promote a specific displacement in the pole extremity. Finally, in order to validate the proposed design, a prototype has been developed, constructed and submitted to tests.


Evolving dynamics of modern power systems caused by high penetration of renewable energy sources increased the risk of failures and outages due to declining power system inertia. Large-scale wind farms must participate in frequency control that responds optimally in due time and adaptively in case of detecting power imbalance in the grid. Existing research studies have shown interest on stepwise inertial control (SIC) on wind turbines (WTs). However, the adequate power increment and time duration of WTs using SIC are the key questions that have not yet been fully addressed. This paper proposes an intelligent learning-based control system for WTs participation in frequency control, as well as for mitigating negative effects of the SIC. First, an appropriate optimization model for grid frequency control is defined. Then, the model is solved using lightning flash algorithm (LFA), imperialist competitive algorithm, and particle swarm optimization to control the WTs in a wind farm. The obtained dataset by LFA are applied to an artificial neural network that is trained with the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm and LFA. The proposed control system optimally adjusts the power increment and duration time of participation for each WT in the farm. Analyses on a 100 MW wind farm has been integrated into the IEEE 9-bus system and experimental tests have proved the efficacy of the proposed approach.


During academic year 2006-2007 we have been trying to restart the Institute for Preventive Medicine of Università Cattolica in Milan for all university students. Thanks to a co-operation between Milan Università Cattolica Health Centre and the Postgraduate School in Medicine for Work of Università Cattolica of Rome, we have studied with the utmost care the structural and functional background of the Health Centre. Through questionnaires we have calculated all students' needs and if they felt quality in the service. In addition to that, we moved on and we investigated all ideas relating to future projects in order to restart all Institutes for Preventive Medicine in each University without additional costs for all University administrations.


Twenty-six phytophagous, predacious and generalist mite species were found on the weed species Datura stramonium in the vicinity of solanaceous vegetables from two locations in Turkey during 2009–2010. Of seven species of phytophagous mites, Tetranychus urticae was the predominant species on the weed leaves. Additionally, 15 predacious mite species from seven families were identified: Phytoseiidae, Anystidae, Stigmaeidae, Bdellidae, Ascidae, Ameroseiidae and Iolinidae. Phytoseiidae (nine species) and Iolinidae (one species) were the most abundant predacious mites in the families. The dominant predacious species were Cydnodromus californicus and Pronematus ubiquitus. The Shannon index (H′), a biodiversity parameter of the predacious mites was very high compared to that of phytophagous mites that occurred at a high density. Among four generalist species from three families (Tydeidae, Acaridae and Oribatidae), one species, Zygoribatula microporosa, was found in the Turkish mite fauna. In Ankara, the population density of spider mites on the weed leaves began to increase in early July and peaked three times in late July, early September and mid-October in 2009–2010. In Bursa, the mites emerged in early June and peaked four times in early July, early August, early September and early October in 2010–2011. Cydnodromus californicus and Typhlodromus Anthoseius recki exhibited efficient numerical responses to spider mite populations from early August to early September. However, in Bursa, Sorenson's coefficient confirmed that there were positive predator–prey associations among spider mites and these predacious mites. Although this weed is a source of predacious species when it is located in the vicinity of tomato fields, D. stramonium may play a role as a reservoir plant for phytophagous mites and permit increasing pest population in areas used for the cultivation of solanaceous vegetables due to predators' delayed response to spider mite populations.


The article discusses the experience, understanding and practical implementation of justice among Jesuit secondary school students in Lithuania. A model of the notion of justice in Jesuit schools is proposed on the basis of the analysis of literature and of Jesuit normative documents. The model is a part of the community aspect of the three basic values of Jesuit schools. Justice is examined through the elements of the Ignatian pedagogical paradigms: experience, reflection and action. It has beeen determined that, in the area of justice, reflection is dominant, follwed by experience and action. It can be said that the values of justice do not unequivocally include all the dynamic of the Ignatian paradigm. The article demonstrates that truth as the foundation of human existence is understood very well by the students, but the application of truth is mediocre. The reason is that the experience of Jesuit secondary school students is not ample: personal truth is important to them, the I-thou relationship, but without the category we. The principle of justice in daily life is most often applied passively – students do not participate in an unjust act, but take no steps to stop unacceptable behavior. The conclusion is that the most painful experience of injustice at school as experienced by students is betrayal by friends and unjust evaluation by teachers. The students indicate lies and betrayal as the greatest violation of justice.


Poor bioavailability of inorganic trace elements used in broiler nutrition and their subsequent release into the environment via poultry excereta is major cause of biological and environmental concern. Hence, the need to explore the use of Chelated trace minerals in broiler diets. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of supplemental inorganic and chelated Cu, Zn and Mn on haematology and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens. A 42day feeding trial was conducted using a total of 300 Arbor acre broiler chickens. The birds were allocated to five dietary groups. Each group had six replicates containing 10 birds. The treatments were control (basal diet), 100% inorganic trace minerals (ITMs) supplemental level (15, 100, 100 mg/kg for Cu, Zn, Mn respectively), 50% ITMs supplemental level (7.5, 50, 50 mg/kg of Cu, Zn, Mn), 50% Chelated trace minerals (CTMs) supplemental level (7.5, 50, 50 mg/kg of Cu, Zn, Mn) and 25% CTM supplemental level (3.75, 25, 25 mg/kg of Cu, Zn, 6 3 Mn, in that order). A lower (p<0.05) white blood cell count (11.07x10 /mm ) and an improved 6 3 (p<0.05) red blood cell count (13x10 /mm ) was observed for the group fed 50% CTM supplemental level. The group fed 50% supplemental level of CTM had the highest (p<0.05) total protein (73.2 g/L), albumin (41.20 g/L) and globulin (32 g/L) in serum as compared to the other groups. The serum Cu, Zn and Mn were significantly higher (p<0.05) for the group fed 25% supplemental diet of CTM. It can be concluded that trace minerals supplementation increased serum trace minerals of broiler chicken.


Background: Cesarean deliveries represent a large percentage of deliveries worldwide. Patients undergoing repeat cesarean deliveries are known to have increased risks for surgical complications. However, little is known regarding potential differences in pain. We sought to compare postoperative opioid consumption and pain scores in opioid naïve patients undergoing primary versus repeat non-emergent cesarean delivery. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Patient inclusion criteria included: having a non-emergent cesarean delivery, receiving a spinal procedure for surgical anesthesia without general anesthesia, and following the same postoperative pain management protocols. Exclusion criteria included: history of opioid tolerance, illicit drug use, or prior, non-obstetric, major abdominal surgery. The primary outcome marker was total morphine equivalents consumed 0–72 h post-procedure compared between the primary versus repeat cesarean delivery groups. Secondary outcome markers were opioid consumption and pain scores in 24-h period increments for the first 72 h postoperatively. Results: 1617 patients were screened. 217 primary and 377 repeat cesarean deliveries met criteria for comparison. Reduced opioid consumption was demonstrated for the total opioid consumption 0–72 h for the repeat cesarean delivery group (median = 35) compared to the primary cesarean delivery group (median = 58), p = 0.0005. When divided into 24-h periods, differences were demonstrated for the 24–48 and 48–72 h periods but not the 0–24 h period. Pain scores did not differ statistically. Conclusion: Opioid naïve obstetric patients who undergo non-emergent repeat cesarean delivery demonstrate lower opioid consumption in the postoperative period. Providers should be aware of this potential difference in order to better educate patients and provide adequate pain management. Highlights: The study reviewed differences in opioid consumption between primary and repeat cesarean deliveries. All patients received the same protocol for spinal dosage and pain management. Repeat cesarean deliveries were associated with lower opioid consumption.


This article investigates how the fragmentation of work time influences subjective time pressure, and how this relationship varies across gender and parenthood status. This is an important question that has been neglected by previous studies. Using the latest UK time-use data ( N = 620) from 2020 to 2021 and Ordinary Least Squares regressions, the study finds that work time fragmentation generally predicts more subjective time pressure. Specifically, work time fragmentation is found to increase subjective time pressure more among women without children than mothers. However, this effect is inverted among men, as the fragmentation of work time predicts more subjective time pressure among fathers but not among men without children. These findings provide a nuanced understanding of the adverse consequences of 'role switching' and 'work schedule instability' and their interaction with gender and parenthood. Accordingly, future research should consider work time fragmentation as a vital indicator of job and life quality.


In this paper, the electromagnetic scattering of three-dimensional (3D) dielectric bodies is investigated by using the mixed technique of method of moments (MoM), conjugate gradient method (CGM) and fast Fourier transform (FFT). Pulse basis functions and a Dirac /spl delta/ function are used for expansion and testing purposes to discretize the electric field integral equation (EFIE). CGM and FFT techniques are used for reducing storage and CPU time, therefore electrically large bodies can be handled simply and effectively. The numerical results are validated by comparing the radar cross section (RCS) of dielectric spheres with those obtained using analytical method or results given in other papers.


The hydrogen bond is commonly considered to lie within the domain of organic or biological chemistry, involving interactions of a hydrogen atom with two electronegative p-block elements. However, recent work, particularly in the past decade, has highlighted the role of metal centres in hydrogen bonding, the inorganic and organometallic sides of hydrogen bonding. This Perspective provides a personal view of the varied roles that metals, particularly transition metals, can play in hydrogen bonding and the potential importance and applications of metal involvement. It draws upon work in this area conducted in my research group over the past decade as well as related work from the literature.


Redescription of Colobomycter pholeter Vaughn, a small amniote from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma, provides evidence that it is not a mammal-like reptile. Osteological features used to associate Colobomycter with the family Eothyrididae are also present in protorothyridids. Colobomycter has a large sheet-like jugal in the temporal region, precluding the presence of a pelycosaurian lateral temporal opening. Derived osteological features shared with members of the family Protorothyrididae suggest that Colobomycter might be a member of that family, but this assignment must remain tentative because of the fragmentary nature of the known specimens.


The article analyzes sociological work produced during the 1960s and 1970s on Messianic and rural religious movements, specifically encompassing the episodes of Contestado, Juazeiro, and Canudos. It begins with these authors' characterizations of the social formations within which the movements emerged and with a discussion of coronelismo. It next examines how the notion of Popular Catholicism fits into these studies and what importance is attached to it. Lastly, it explores these authors' evaluations of the degree and nature of social rupture which is occasioned by these religious movements, and goes on to identify links between such evaluations and two kinds of questions: the distinction between religious and secular protests and the relationship between religion and social class.


This substantial volume (699) pages deals in great depth with the theoretical aspects of industrial ventilation and contaminant control. It certainly gives very little succour to the casual reader seeking qualitative guidance on the key aspects of this increasingly important field of engineering. The emphasis of the book is on a rigorous and thorough treatment of the subject areas discussed: these range from the relationships between air contaminants and health risks, through to the computational prediction of pollutant concentrations: in total, 10 chapters of well-laid-out, thoughtfully written text with good-quality figures. The author is to be applauded for presenting a table of nomenclature at the end of each chapter. This practice is of great assistance when working through some of the rather complex mathematical derivations presented in the book. Despite warning the reader that 'Copious appendices ... foster habits of lazy scholarship', the author presents no fewer than 18 appendices of useful information. An IBM-PC compatible disk is supplied with the book, containing BASIC programs relating to various areas of the text. In the preface, the author encourages readers to copy and modify these programs. One hopes that engagement in this activity will not provide too much of a diversion from the reading of the book itself. In terms of readership, it is suspected that the level of some of the material presented in this volume might be a trifle high for the majority of British engineering undergraduates; in any case, the UK selling price of £97.35 is so high as to thwart the author's aspirations for its use as it textbook. Despite this, it is beyond dispute that a book with such depth and breadth of content would make a very useful addition to any engineering library.


Does technological change fuel political disruption? Drawing on fine-grained labor market data from Germany, this paper examines how technological change affects regional electorates. We first show that the well-known decline in manufacturing and routine jobs in regions with higher robot adoption or investment in information and communication technology (ICT) was more than compensated by parallel employment growth in the service sector and cognitive non-routine occupations. This change in the regional composition of the workforce has important political implications: Workers trained for these new sectors typically hold progressive political values and support progressive pro-system parties. Overall, this composition effect dominates the politically perilous direct effect of automation-induced substitution. As a result, technology-adopting regions are unlikely to turn into populist-authoritarian strongholds.


Synthesis of zeolite Y membranes from submicrometer (>100 nm) and nano seed (<100 nm) crystals on alumina supports was examined and the separation characteristics of these membranes for CO(2) and N(2) were studied. Two secondary growth solutions were examined, one for a rapid growth (hours) and one for a slower growth process (days). Membranes formed from the rapid growth solution resulted in 2-2.5 microm thickness, while for the slower growth solution, a dense membrane of 350-600 nm thickness was formed, covered by a 25 microm porous zeolite layer. With the nano seeds as the seeding layer, no membrane was formed. A mechanism involving seed dissolution to initiate membrane formation is concluded. The separation characteristics of membranes for CO(2)/N(2) separation were similar, with very high selectivities for separation (alpha(CO(2),N(2)) > 500). The thicker membrane had lower permeance. By investigating both single gas and mixed gas permeances, strong evidence for a percolative type separation process is obtained.


Incubation of endothelins (ETs) with bovine kidney neutral endopeptidase (NEP) resulted in a selective two-step degradation with loss of biochemical activity. The Km of the enzyme indicated high-affinity binding, and hydrolysis was completely inhibited by phosphoramidon. The first step was nicking of the Ser5-Leu6 bond, followed by cleavage at the amino side of Ile19. The nicked peptide exhibited biochemical activities comparable to those of the intact peptide--i.e., binding to the ET receptor, induction of inositol phospholipid hydrolysis, and toxicity. The twice-cleaved product was inactive. The sarafotoxins (SRTXs) were more resistant than the ETs to NEP: for example, the half-time for ET-1 was approximately 1 hr, while it was approximately 4 hr for SRTX-b and even higher for SRTX-c. These in vitro findings may indicate a regulatory role of NEP (or similar enzymes) in the physiological inactivation of ETs. They might also help to explain why under certain physiological conditions ETs may be less toxic than SRTXs.


Change management in the field of training and certification of academic personnel implies a reliable information support in the form of statistical and sociological data that enable the monitoring of the effectiveness of the institution of doctoral education. The current system for monitoring the activities of doctoral schools does not fully meet these requirements, thus making it difficult to assess objectively the implementation of doctoral education's main function – the training of researchers and faculty for higher education. The article attempts to fill this information lacuna by presenting an analysis of the database created by the authors which contains information about the defense of dissertations and research results of PhD students who graduated in 2013 from nine Russian universities over the five-year period after their graduation (N = 1178). Information on the results of each graduate's research activities was obtained from open sources: the portal of the Higher Attestation Commission, the electronic catalog of the Russian State Library, Scopus and eLibrary.ru databases, as well as the database of the Industrial Property Institute. As a result of our research, it was established that the actual timeframe of doctoral students' advancement to their academic degree is determined by discipline-related factors. In the sample as a whole, the share of persons who defended their dissertations was 45% of the total number of graduates, which is 1.7 times higher than the share of graduates who defended their dissertations in the course of their studies at the doctoral school. Approximately 90% of graduates defend their dissertations no later than two years after graduation from the doctoral school. The quantitative data of doctoral school graduates' retention in the academic field are given, with the breakdown by discipline. On average, more than 60% of Candidate of Sciences degree holders continue their careers in academic positions. The obtained data on Russian doctoral school graduates are in good agreement with the results of monitoring doctoral programs' graduates in Europe and the USA. The results of this work make it possible to take a fresh look at the methodology for diagnosing the effectiveness of university doctoral schools.


In this paper we have examined the role that element S, a DNA sequence motif found approximately 215 bp upstream of the Dopa decarboxylase (Ddc) gene, might play in regulating Ddc expression. Nearly identical versions of the element are present upstream of four other Drosophila genes. For two of these, the element appears to be an important component of the upstream regulatory region, since mutations in it reduce expression of the downstream gene. Because an element S polymorphism differentiates the Ddc+ allele of an inbred laboratory strain from the Ddc+4 allele present in a strain isolated from the wild, we decided to test the activity of both forms. Oligonucleotides containing Ddc+ or Ddc+4 versions of element S were synthesized and their ability to drive the expression of an heterologous (Adh) reporter gene at the second molt was examined. Transgenic larvae carrying the element S-Adh fusion constructs consistently exhibited Adh levels that were elevated 1.5-fold above those seen in control organisms. We have also determined the effects of element S in white prepupae and once again, ADH expression levels were significantly above controls in both groups of transformants carrying the element S construct. The results point to a functional role for element S. Since reporter gene expression in third instar larvae was restricted to tissues where ADH is normally found, we conclude that element S is not involved in directing the tissue specificity of Ddc expression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In the canonical persuasion model, comparative statics has been an open question. We answer it, delineating which shifts of the sender's interim payoff lead her optimally to choose a more informative signal. Our first theorem identifies a coarse notion of 'increased convexity' that we show characterises those shifts of the sender's interim payoff that lead her optimally to choose no less informative signals. To strengthen this conclusion to 'more informative' requires further assumptions: our second theorem identifies the necessary and sufficient condition on the sender's interim payoff, which strictly generalises the 'S' shape commonly imposed in the literature. We identify conditions under which increased alignment of interests between sender and receiver lead to comparative statics, and study applications.


The purpose of this work is to study the effects of disorders on domain wall dynamics in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy ultra-thin ferromagnetic materials. It is done, firstly, by experimental study of domain wall dynamics in Ta/CoFeB/MgO material where distributions and strengths of pinning points are controlled by light ion irradiation and secondly, by micromagnetic study of the dynamics and morphology of a bubble domain in a disorder induced PMA material with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. By studying the effects of He+ ion irradiation on domain wall dynamics, it is found that irradiation influences the distribution of pinning points as well as their strengths, thereby influencing the velocities of domain walls. The velocities are found to be lowest for non-irradiated samples, then it is observed to increase with irradiation and then decrease at higher irradiations suggesting that there is an optimum irradiation where velocity should be maximum. On the other hand, by studying the dynamics of bubble domain using micromagnetic simulations in ultra-thin films with disorder and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, it is found, as expected that magnetic bubbles expand asymmetrically along the axis of the in-plane field under the simultaneous application of out-ofplane and in-plane fields. Remarkably, the shape of the bubble was found to have a ripple-like part which caused a kink-like (steep decrease) feature in the velocity versus in-plane field curve. It is shown that these ripples originate due to the nucleation and interaction of vertical Bloch lines. Furthermore, it is also shown that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction field is not constant, in contradiction with the results of experiments, but rather depends on the in-plane field.


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Background Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a heterogeneous disease whose myriad manifestations result from accumulation of Langerhans cells in a variety of organs most commonly including skin, bone, central nervous system, liver, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. The disease can affect people of any age. Treatment is primarily driven by disease extent and organ involvement and can range from focused radiation or surgery to multi-agent chemotherapy. There is a relatively high recurrence rate following complete remissions with conventional chemotherapy. In the first-time-in-human (FTIH) study of the oral pan-AKT inhibitor afuresertib (GSK2110183), in patients with hematologic malignancies, a patient with refractory multi-system LCH experienced a prolonged period (> 3 years) of clinical benefit on 125mg oral once daily afuresertib. This observation led to the evaluation of the use of afuresertib in patients with LCH.

Methods This single-arm, open-label trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of afuresertib, administered at 125 mg once daily, in adults and adolescents with relapsed/refractory LCH and adults with treatment-naive LCH. Secondary objectives included pharmacokinetics. Diagnosis of LCH was confirmed by pathology review of archival tissue. The Histiocyte Society criteria were used for response evaluation at three and six months with safety and pharmacokinetic assessments performed at pre-specified intervals. BRAF status from archival tissue was evaluated by Sanger sequencing.

Results 17 patients (16 adults, 10 females) were enrolled; median age was 38 years (15-75). 3/17 patients had isolated pulmonary disease, 1/17 had single-system multifocal-bone disease, 1/17 had single-system skin disease, and 12/17 had multi-system disease. Seven patients were treatment-naive; 10 had relapsed/refractory disease, including the one adolescent. The most frequent (>20% of patients) adverse events (AEs), regardless of causality, were nausea (59%), fatigue (59%), upper respiratory infection (47%), diarrhea (47%), dyspepsia (35%), bone pain (39%), asthenia (24%), memory impairment (24%), decreased appetite (24%) and vomiting (24%). Most AEs were Grade 1 or 2 in severity; no Grade 4 AEs were reported and no Grade 3 AEs occurring in more than 1 subject were reported. 6/17 (35%) had afuresertib dose modifications (interruption or reduction). Afuresertib plasma concentrations in the adult patients were similar to values seen in adult patients with other hematologic malignancies in the FTIH study. Following a single dose, the concentration-time profile in the adolescent patient was similar to adults in the FTIH study (Tmax = 3h: Cmax 229 ng/ml: AUC24 = 3893 ng*h/mL). 15 patients had archival tissues collected for BRAF testing; 13 had DNA suitable for analysis. 2/13 was BRAF V600E mutant and 11/13 were BRAF wild type. Upon evaluation of the all-treated patient population, 5/17 (29%) patients were reported as better at the three and/or six month disease assessment. Among the 5 responders, three were treatment-naive and two had relapsed/refractory disease. The median duration on study for all patients was 214 (44-426) days. For the 5 patients who responded, the median duration on study was 372 (255-426) days.

Conclusion The pharmacokinetic and safety profile of afuresertib in patients with LCH was consistent with that observed in patients with other hematologic malignancies evaluated in the FTIH study. Afuresertib was active in patients with both treatment-naive and relapsed/refractory disease. Additional evaluation, including molecular profiling, may be warranted alone or in combination with BRAF inhibitors or established therapies for LCH to determine the optimal population of patients with LCH who might benefit from afuresertib

Disclosures: Vassallo: GlaxoSmithKline: Research Funding. Oliff: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment. Morris: GlaxoSMithKline: Employment. Reedy: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment. Portnoy: GlaxoSmithKline: Stock, prior employee Other. Smith: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment, Equity Ownership. Noble: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment, stock Other. Murnane: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment, stock Other. Szabo: GlaxoSmithKline: Employment. Heaney: Novartis: Research Funding; Sanofi-Aventis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Onconova: Research Funding; Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding.

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Using the Wolff and geometric cluster Monte Carlo methods, we investigate the tricritical Blume-Capel model in three dimensions. Since these simulations conserve the number of vacancies and thus effectively introduce a constraint, we generalize the Fisher renormalization for constrained critical behavior to tricritical systems. We observe that, indeed, the tricritical behavior is significantly modified under this constraint. For instance, at tricriticality, the specific heat has only a finite cusp and the Binder ratio assumes a different value from that in unconstrained systems. Since 3 is the upper tricritical dimensionality of Ising systems, we expect that the mean-field theory correctly predicts a number of universal parameters in three dimensions. Therefore, we calculate the partition sum of the mean-field tricritical Blume-Capel model, and accordingly obtain the exact value of the Binder ratio. Under the constraint, we show that this mean-field tricritical system reduces to the mean-field critical Ising model. However, our three-dimensional data do not agree with this mean-field prediction. Instead, they are successfully explained by the generalized Fisher renormalization mechanism.


Clustering spatial data is a well-known problem that has been extensively studied. Although many methods have been proposed in the literature, but few have handled the spatial constraints properly, which may have significant consequences on the effectiveness of the clustering. Taking into account these constraints during the clustering process is costly and the modeling of the constraints is paramount for good performance. In this paper, we investigate the problem of clustering in the presence of constraints such as physical obstacles and facilitator, and introduce a new approach named DBOF which model the obstacle using polygons, and model the facilitator using the especial graphical structure with nodes of crossing points, Both theory analysis and experimental results confirm that DBOF can cluster data objects efficiently while considering all physical constraints and its complexity is linear with the difficulty of constraints.


Abstract The effects of gravistimulation direction on tuber formation and amyloplast distribution in the tuber tips of Chinese yam were investigated. Tubers placed vertically for either 2 or 14 d elongated in the direction of gravity vector. The subapical parts of tubers that were positioned horizontally for 2 d curved slightly toward the gravity direction, and such tubers elongated downward after 14 d. In tubers that were inversed for 14 d, the tips bent and eventually elongated in the direction of the gravity vector. These results indicated that the subapical part of the tuber was the initial site of curvature in response to gravistimulation. Microscopy and measurement of amyloplast sedimentation ratios showed that many amyloplasts sedimented downward in each tip cell of tubers that were placed vertically, inversely or horizontally. The results indicated that amyloplast sedimentation direction corresponded with the eventual direction of tuber elongation under different gravistimulation orientations. Tubers rotated at 90° intervals every day for 14 d did not have an elongating shape and grew multiple tips at different angles. In the rotated tubers, amyloplasts dispersed within the tip cells. These results showed that proper sedimentation of amyloplasts would be essential for the normal elongation and formation of tubers. The results of this study supported the possibility that sedimentable amyloplasts in the tuber tip were involved in gravity sensing and tuber formation.


Here we consider the black hole solutions which were obtained by Chan and Mann.1 These solutions represent static charged black holes with a dilaton field. Then we compute the corrections to the horizons and Hawking temperature of these black holes. These corrections stem from the space non-commutativity. We show that in a non-commutative case, temperature of extreme black hole, in contrast to that of the commutative case, is not zero.


ABSTRACT The association of a hemolytic phenotype with the carriage of the α-hemolysin gene (hlyA) and/or the silent hemolysin gene (sheA or clyA) among 540 extraintestinal clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and 110 fecal isolates from healthy individuals was investigated. Though HlyA is an important virulence factor in extraintestinal E. coli infection, the role of SheA is not completely clarified. Two hemolytic sheA+E. coli strains that lacked hlyA and possessed no other hemolysin genes were identified. No hlyA+sheA+ strains were identified, suggesting that there is possible incompatibility between hlyA and sheA in the chromosome of E. coli.


The multimedia era has started. The migration of computer (packet oriented) and telephony (circuit switched) networks in combination with an explosive development of new services, creates a mass market for public broadband communication. There are no reasons foreseen why these kinds of services should not go mobile. Future customers will not treat a mobile access differently than a fixed access to the network. The different types of services together with the demand of broadband mobile communication requires a new air interface. Limitations in the existing systems (flexibility and bit-rate) gives that they are not serious competitirs.


ABSTRACT We report the first complete genome sequence of a lineage III peste des petits ruminants virus (KN5/2011) using RNA extracted from goat lung tissue collected in Kenya in 2011. The genome shows the highest nucleotide sequence identity with lineage II peste des petits ruminants viruses (PPRVs) (86.1 to 87.2%) and the lowest with lineage IV PPRVs (82.5 to 83.8%).


Notation systems are used in almost all fields, especially for the communication and expression of ideas. This paper proposes and discusses a notation system for Gametrak-based computer music instruments. The notation system's design is informed both by Western music notation and dance notation, as well as common mappings used in laptop orchestras. It is designed to be soundagnostic, primarily instructing the performer in their motions. While the discussion of such a notation system may be particularly timely due to the growing commercially-available 3D motion tracking controllers, the notation system may prove especially useful in the context of Gametrak and laptop orchestra, for which score-based representation can help clarify performer interaction and serve as a teaching tool in documenting prior work.


The authors present results of experimental tests performed to evaluate the self-extinction capability of arcs across rod gaps of insulators for insulated shield wire lines used in a novel medium voltage (MV) distribution system. The studies relate to the construction of a pilot line in Ghana for experimental application of a new principle for power supply to isolated villages, with low power absorption (50 to 200 kW), located along HV lines (161 to 220 kV), at a distance of up to 100 km from the closest HV/MV station at one end of the line. Research performed on two different 161 kV line configurations, without any fault on the HV line, is summarized. The secondary arc currents, induced mainly by the capacitive coupling with the phase conductors of the 161 kV line, for shield-wire lengths of around 100 km, are found to be about 2.5 Ap and 3.4 Ap for lines with one or two shield wires, respectively. The recovery voltage, namely that which occurs across the spark gaps after arc extinction, may attain 11.4 kVp and 17 kVp, again in the case of one or two shield wires. Tests have shown that the suspension insulators with protective arcing horns ensure extinction of the secondary arc.<<ETX>>


The Region of Latium has been operating an Outpatient Care Information System (SIAS) since 1997 to monitor the supply of outpatient care in a territory with a population of over five million. The present work has the aim of describing the outpatient care in the region, in terms of number of facilities involved by category (public and private, operating in the regional public health system) and volume of procedures rendered to residents in 2001. Of the 971 outpatient facilities operating in hospitals and elsewhere--37% state managed and 67% private--distributed in a non-uniform manner throughout the region, the majority is concentrated in the city of Rome, which by itself accounts for 49% of its total amount of facilities, and in a lesser measure in the other provincial capitals (Viterbo, Rieti, Frosinone, Latina). In 2001, 71 million procedures were performed, comprising 17 million prescriptions, for an economic value of over 400 million Euros. The three specialties of greatest use were Lab Analysis, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, and Radiology, making up 88% of the total outpatient procedures performed within the precinct of the regional health service, in respective measures of 57%, 27%, and 4%. It is noted that the public facilities are prevalently polyspecialistic while a great number of private facilities are monospecialistic and perform procedures almost exclusively (96%) in the three specialties of greatest use. The other specialties which receive notable use are Cardiology, Eye Care, Orthopedics and Neurology. In general, the greater the number of facilities there are in either the public or private sector, the greater the level of activity in terms of procedures performed, with the exception of the area of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation where the correlation is inversely proportioned; in fact, for this specialty the public facilities, which are represented in a much greater number throughout the region, supply only 7% of the volume of activity.


The results of the cytogenetic study of three families that have children affected by Down's syndrome are presented. The karyotype of case 1 was 48,XY,+21,22s+,+mar; the marker chromosome had been produced "de novo". Case 2 was: 47,X,t(Xq21q), +t(21qXq); the abnormality had been produced "de novo". Case 3 was carrier of a homogeneous trisomy 21 (47,XY,+21), where the mother was carrier of a balanced translocation 13q14q. CBG, GTG, Ag-NOR, QFQ and FPG banding techniques were used to determine the origin and importance of these anomalies.


Presented work is primarily oriented on the experimental verification of the influence of fatigue on the psychological condition of the flying personnel, using psychological and performance tests. For the evaluation of a pilot performance, the 24 hours experiment was conducted. In total, eight subjects participated in the experimental measurements. Eight participants went through several tests, including simulator flights, to investigate the effects of the fatigue on the results of psychological measurements. Measurements included workload evaluation, using NASA task load evaluation concept and performance testing, using the so-called OR-test. Significant statistical differences between measurements performed during 24 hours were not found in the case of NASA task load Scores. In the case of OR-test, Friedman ANOVA and subsequent post-hoc analysis show that the greatest decrease in performance was observed in approximately 22 hours of wakefulness, i.e. approximately in half of the measuring process. The concept of 24-hour measurements for the quantification of fatigue is not commonly used yet as well as objectivization using performance testing. As the apparent effect of fatigue is mainly on performance testing results, it can be argued that this work could serve as a basis for further studies on fatigue. Also, it could serve as a support for introducing new pilots' psychological testing procedures in the future, which could contribute to current efforts to improve aviation safety.


This thesis describes my research journey as it evolved from designing a mobile health application, to the production of Interplay, an educational play about the internet. The research was part of an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) project based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A key aim of my research was to make a positive contribution to the Siyakhula Living Lab, a large collaborative ICT4D venture between Rhodes University, the University of Fort Hare, industry partners, government and community members. Participatory action research and participatory design provided the methodological foundations for the three cycles of research that took place over three years between 2009 and 2012. The research involved a series of stakeholder interviews, fieldwork, introductory workshops and the design and development of an educational play. Methods used and findings throughout the research journey are detailed, from the first cycle trying to understand the local and project context with the hope of making a positive contribution, through to the final cycle involving the premiere performances of the educational play, Interplay. This thesis advocates the greater use of culturally tailored methods in ICT4D. Research findings support using participatory methodologies and culturally tailored methods to increase the chances of making a positive impact in ICT4D projects and to reduce the risk of harm to participants and their communities. The major contributions of this thesis are methodological. In particular it: 1. Demonstrates the value of conducting stakeholder interviews in an ICT4D project, 2. Demonstrates the role of social relationships in enabling active participation in an ICT4D project, 3. Demonstrates how cultural factors influenced the choice and use of methods in an ICT4D project, and


Ficoll-Hypaque-separated subpopulations of human peripheral blood T and B lymphocytes were exposed to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, or 5.0 Gy of gamma rays. Three parameters were examined: Survival, as measured by trypan blue dye exclusion in unstimulated cultures five days after irradiation; mitotic index, measured in phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated cultures 48 and 72 hours after irradiation; and chromosome aberration frequency, measured 48 or 60 hours after irradiation. Survival curves of T, B, and null cells are biphasic; the Do values for the radiosensitive populations of all three cell types are close to 0.6 Gy but are different for the radioresistant populations: 2.7 Gy for B cells, 4.77 Gy for T cells, and 6.03 Gy for null cells. B cells, as well as T cells, are stimulated to divide by PHA, and B cells comprise at least 10% of the mitotic figures seen in unirradiated cultures at 48 hours. The proportion of B lymphocytes in mitosis at any particular time after PHA stimulation decreases with increasing radiation dose, which reflects a higher mitotic radiosensitivity of B than of T cells. No significant difference, however, in chromosome aberration frequency was found between T and B cells.


Cognitive changes associated with cancer and cancer treatments have become an increasing concern. Using breast cancer as the prototype, we reviewed the research from neuropsychological, imaging, genetic, and animal studies that have examined pre- and post-treatment cognitive change. An impressive body of research supports the contention that a subgroup of patients is vulnerable to post-treatment cognitive problems. We also propose that models of aging may be a useful conceptual framework for guiding research in this area and suggest that a useful perspective may be viewing cognitive change in patients with cancer within the context of factors that influence the trajectory of normal aging.


INTRODUCTION: Balanophora latisepala (BL) is a chlorophyll-free and obligate parasitic plant found across mountainous areas of An Giang, Vietnam. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of extracts from BL, herbs mentioned in many traditional medicines in the treatment of diabetes, on laboratory mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of BL aqueous, methanol, and ethanol extracts on the blood glucose levels, hematological indices, liver enzymes, and pancreatic tissue structure of normal, glucose-tolerant mice, and diabetic mice treated with streptozotocin (STZ) were assessed. Mice were orally administered extracts at a concentration of 500 mg/kg. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The aqueous and ethanol extracts did not affect the blood glucose levels of healthy and glucose-tolerant mice (P > 0.05). The methanol extract reduced the blood glucose of healthy mice (P < 0.05) but did not affect the blood glucose of glucose-tolerant mice 3 h after administration (P > 0.05). When taking the methanol and ethanol extracts, the diabetic mice experienced a 45.67% and a 40.33% decrease in blood glucose levels after 21 days of research, respectively. Aqueous extract and gliclazide (10 mg/kg) showed no effect on reducing blood glucose levels in diabetic mice over the 21 days of the study. Both methanol and ethanol extracts were effective in regulating liver enzyme levels in diabetic mice. In both untreated and treated diabetic mice, pancreatic islet structures were degraded with the appearance of gaps resulting from β-cell degeneration. CONCLUSION: This implies that ethanol extracts have potential applications in regulating blood glucose levels.


Polarization from active galactic nuclei is interpreted as a signpost of the role of magnetic fields in the launch and collimation of their relativistic radio jets. Here, we report the detection of a clear polarization signal from ALMA observations of the gravitationally lensed quasar PKS 1830−211 at submillimeter wavelengths (Band 9, 650 GHz). Applying a differential-polarimetry technique to the two compact lensed images of the quasar, we estimate a fractional polarization of ∼5% for one lensed image, while the other appears nearly unpolarized, which implies that the polarization activity varies on a timescale of a few weeks. With additional ALMA Band 7 and 8 (between 300–500 GHz) concomitant data, we constrain a Faraday rotation of a few 105 rad m−2. We also observe flux-density variability of ≲10% within one hour in Band 9. This work illustrates that a differential analysis can extract high-accuracy information (flux-density ratio and polarimetry) free of calibration issues from resolved sources in the submillimeter domain.


A nesting feature in the Fermi surface of ordered, equiatomic NiTi is reported, and related to observed "premartensitic" phenomena. The shape-memory effect exhibited by NiTi alloys is associated with the marten sitic transformation which occurs near room temperature. The high temperature phase has the CsCl (B2) structure, while the low-temperature martensitic phase is thought to be mono clinic.^ As temperature is lowered, the martensitic transformation in the equiatomic alloy is preceded by a "premartensitic" or "intermediate", R phase.^ X-ray, electron, and neutron scattering^ indicate the development of superlattice peaks near Qg = (^, j,0)27r/a in the R phase.Earlier inelastic-neutron-scattering results suggested an anomaly near this wave vector,and more recent results^""® indicate that a transverse phonon with wave vector Qq in the CsCl structure goes soft continuously as the temperature is lowered. A calculation of the phonon spectrum^®


What should child psychiatry care workers do when a child spontaneously embraces or kisses them? This questioning goes far beyond the fact of kissing and raises the question of the nature of the healthcare relationship and environment. While theoretical knowledge is necessary, it is not sufficient for achieving phronesis or "practical wisdom".


BACKGROUND
All definitions of consanguinity encompass the basic concept of close blood relation. Highest rates of consanguineous unions are observed for North and Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East, and west, central and south Asia, where 20-50% marriages are consanguineous. In Pakistan, we can hardly find any rigorous research on the pregnancy outcomes of consanguinity except those conducted by Allan Bittles. This study was conducted with the objective to measure statistically if there existed any association of consanguinity with pregnancy outcomes in the form of stillbirths, abortion and Rh-incompatibility.

METHODS
This cross sectional analytical study was conducted at the Obstetrics department of Combined Military Hospital Quetta, Pakistan from 1st November 2017 to 28th February 2018. All pregnant women visiting Out Patient Department were included. Women unwilling to participate or needing emergency intervention were excluded. Sample size, i.e., 384 was calculated using online OpenEpi calculator and simple random sampling technique was applied. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to extract retrospective information. Descriptive statistics, 95% Confidence Intervals, Chi-Square test and Contingency Coefficient were calculated using SPSS Version 20. Results were regarded significant at p<0.05.

RESULTS
Out of 384 study participants, 188 (48.9% with 95% CI:43.9- 53.9%) were married to first cousins. Mean±SD age of the study participants was 27.5±4.8 years. Difference between stillbirth, and abortion among consanguineous unions and nonconsanguineous unions was significant while that of Rh-incompatibility was non-significant..

CONCLUSIONS
Large population based studies are needed before declaring consanguinity as a health problem in our setting.


The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the impact of the author's Concept and the corresponding educational and methodological support on the technological development of the pedagogical process (based on teaching Fine Arts to pre-schoolers). Quantitative research methods like surveys, interviews, questionnaires, tests, tutor observation check-lists, students' and learners' performance records experiment were utilised. Three knowledge field and measurement and evaluation experts were involved to assess the validity of the instruments. The Internal reliability of the questionnaire was validated through running the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 that resulted in a reliability coefficient, which was 0.72 and indicated internal reliability. The variables to this experiment were the students' creativity, learning performance, computer skills, motivation of the professional growth and preschool learners' creative and cognitive thinking and communication skills. It has been found that there was the dynamics in the variables of both student-teachers and children. The mean values for the CG students increased by 0.65 points on average in every variable after the participating in the experiment and the mean figures for children improved by 0.70 points on average as well which proved that the designed model had been efficient in upgrading the pedagogical process at preschools and developing students' future job-related competencies like creating an interactive technology-mediated and game-based learning environment in Fine Arts which could encourage children's initiative, creativity curiosity (autonomous cognitive activity) and collaboration along with creation of an emotionally significant situation for autonomous activity of both an individual and a group in which a child's right to their own evaluation, opinion are welcomed. The results met objectives of this study, boosted previous knowledge, and filled the research gaps. After the treatment, there was a 10-12% improvement in learning performance, 7-9% in the EG students' creativity, 8-10% in computer skills, and 10-11% in motivation of the professional growth and 8-10% in preschool learners' creative and cognitive thinking and communication skills. The course and methodical complexes for Arts and Design can be recommended for use in the pedagogical process of preschool groups and classes of the Republic of Kazakhstan.


We address the existence of surface solitons at an interface in a defocusing cubic medium with an imprinted one-dimensional (1D) composite Bessel optical lattice. This setting is composed of two Bessel lattices with different orders and different modulation depths, separated beside both sides of an interface. Stability analysis and numerical propagation simulations prove that solitons supported by the model are dynamically stable in the entire domain of their existence. The order of lattice determines the shape of soliton, and the amplitude of soliton depends on the lattice modulation depth. The experimental realization of the scheme is also proposed. Our results may provide another effective way of controlling the shapes of surface solitons and thus their evolutions by introducing a new freedom degree.


Background: There is no practical consensus on managing cholesterol in patients with rotator cuff repair despite hyperlipidemia and statin therapy being well-known factors in rotator cuff healing. The 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score is a commonly used guideline to determine statin administration for hyperlipidemia. Purpose: To identify the relationship between retear and preoperative factors, including 10-year ASCVD risk score and statin administration status, and to compare clinical outcomes and retear rates between patients who are taking and not taking statins. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: This study enrolled 182 patients with a symptomatic full-thickness rotator cuff tear who underwent arthroscopic repair. Serum lipid profile, 10-year ASCVD risk score, statin eligibility, and statin administration status were assessed. Patients were categorized into 2 groups based on magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate cuff integrity at postoperative 6 months: a healed group and a retear group. Radiographic and intraoperative factors related to retear were analyzed. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate factors related to rotator cuff retear. For the subgroup analysis, patients eligible for statin therapy were divided into 2 subgroups according to administration status. Results: There were 149 (81.9%) patients in the healed group and 33 (18.1%) in the retear group. In the multiple regression analysis, missed statin therapy, 10-year ASCVD risk score, and fatty infiltration of the infraspinatus muscle were the independent factors related to retear. The cutoff value for 10-year ASCVD risk score was 11.85%, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and a specificity of 0.62. In the subgroup analysis of 104 patients eligible for statin therapy, 66 (63.5%; group 1) received statin therapy and 38 (36.5%; group 2) missed it. Group 2 showed a significantly higher retear rate than group 1 (36.8% vs 13.6%; P = .006). Conclusion: Missed statin therapy, 10-year ASCVD risk score, and fatty infiltration of the infraspinatus were the independent factors associated with rotator cuff retear. Patients who missed statin therapy showed a higher retear rate than patients receiving statin therapy. Optimal statin therapy for patients who undergo arthroscopic rotator cuff repair might improve repair integrity.


The influence of certain equilibrium flows on the stability of tearing modes in the reversed-field pinch is investigated. By solving the linearized magnetohydrodynamic equations in cylindrical geometry, the tearing mode stability factor Δ' is calculated for a variety of axial flow profiles which have nonzero shear away from the rational surface, including flows localized entirely in the external, ideal region of the tearing mode. It is found that both m = 1 and m = 0 modes are destabilized by an axial flow localized near the edge of the plasma. This is the kind of flow that might be generated by any physical process creating an edge-localized radial electric field. A global flow profile with shear over the middle region of the plasma, simulating the differential rotation of core and edge modes observed in some reversed-field pinch discharges, is found to have a destabilizing effect on the m = 1 mode, while leaving the stability parameter of the m = 0 mode practically unchanged. The possible connection of these results with features of the spontaneous enhanced confinement regime in the Madison Symmetric Torus is discussed.


The cyclin D:CDK-4/6:Rb axis is dysregulated in a number of different cancers and is implicated in resistance to hormonal therapy in breast cancer. Pharmacologically targeting cyclin dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4 and 6) has proven to be a successful therapeutic approach in ER+ breast cancer (BC). This study aimed to identify the molecular subtypes of BC that are sensitive to the novel CDK4 and 6 inhibitor, abemaciclib, and identify the best combination strategies for the clinical development. Growth inhibition activity of abemaciclib was assessed in a panel of 46 BC cell lines molecularly characterized by genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiling. IC50 values were determined from direct cell counts using a Z1-particle counter. In vivo activity of abemaciclib was assessed in cell line xenograft models of ER+ and HER2+/ER+ BCs. For ER+ BC, mice were treated daily with clinically achievable doses of abemaciclib (50-75 mg/kg) as a single agent or in combination with tamoxifen or fulvestrant. Combinations with trastuzumab, docetaxel and tamoxifen were assessed in the HER2+/ER+ xenografts. Sensitivity to abemaciclib was observed predominately in multiple luminal BC cell lines and a small subset of triple negative cell lines that had intact Rb signaling. Activating mutations in PIK3CA also marked for abemaciclib sensitivity. Abemaciclib potentiated the anti-proliferative effects of cytotoxic/anti-mitotic agents when given simultaneously or 48 hours prior to treatment in vitro. Significant tumor growth inhibition (TGI) was observed with single agent abemaciclib in the ER+ BC cell line xenografts. In ZR751 xenografts, the addition of either tamoxifen or fulvestrant to abemaciclib induced complete inhibition of tumor growth for the 12 weeks of treatment. In the MCF7 model, treatment was withdrawn after five weeks, which triggered tumor regrowth in each of the single agent arms. However, complete responses were maintained in the combination arms for a further six weeks post drug withdrawal. In HER2 amplified xenografts, abemaciclib single agent treatment induced significant TGI in trastuzumab sensitive and resistant xenografts, and combination with trastuzumab further increased this anti-tumor effect. The addition of tamoxifen to this combination induced a further increment in TGI. Consistent with the in vitro findings, the combination of abemaciclib and the anti-mitotic agent docetaxel was not antagonistic in vivo, and the addition of docetaxel to the triple combination of abemaciclib, trastuzumab, and tamoxifen induced the most efficacy of any of the treatment arms tested. Combinations were well tolerated in animals. These data highlight the potential of abemaciclib to have single agent activity in addition to combined activity with anti-mitotic or targeted therapies for breast cancer. Citation Format: Neil A. O'Brien, Dylan Conklin, Tong Luo, Ondrej Kalous, Erika von Euw, Sara A. Hurvitz, Richard P. Beckmann, Colleen Mockbee, Dennis J. Slamon. Preclinical activity of abemaciclib as a single agent or in combination with anti-mitotic or targeted therapies for breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2828.


Background. Treatment of blood malignancies is often accompanied by the hematological toxicity. Thrombocytopenia is one of the most common phenomena, which can be caused by pseudothrombocytopenia, production deficiency or increased destruction of platelets, their pathological distribution or aggregation.
Objective. To determine the features of hematological toxicity in the treatment of malignant blood diseases.
Materials and methods. Analysis of literature data and recommendations on this topic.
Results and discussion. Diagnosis of thrombocytopenia involves a detailed study of a peripheral blood smear to assess the morphology of all cells, as well as additional studies (determination of lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer, fibrinogen, etc.; aspiration and bone marrow biopsy; virological and bacteriological studies; clinical examination). The main causes of thrombocytopenia in cancer patients are chemotherapy (ChT) and radiation therapy (RT), however, the diagnosis should take into account all possible nosological options. The assessment should be performed if the platelet count is <100,000/μl. The normal lifespan of platelets is 8-10 days, so after many types of ChT thrombocytopenia develops about 7th days after treatment, reaches a maximum of 14th days and ends in 28-35th days. After RT thrombocytopenia usually starts in 7-10th days after its termination and is present during 30-60 days. Before treating thrombocytopenia, the need for ChT should be re-evaluated and the risk of bleeding assessed, and the ChT regimen should be changed if possible. If the risk of bleeding is high or the platelet count is critically low, platelet transfusion is prescribed, however, it has recently been found that absolute platelet count is not a predictor of bleeding risk in this patient population (PLADO study). In addition, platelet transfusion is limited in resources and costly, and is accompanied by the risk of side effects (acute lung damage due to transfusion, fever, bacterial sepsis, development of transfusion intolerance). This became the basis for the search for alternative treatment options. Recombinant interleukin-11 (oprelvekin) reduces the need for platelet transfusion from 96 to 70 % of patients on ChT. However, although this drug is FDA-approved, it is characterized by a large number of side effects. In turn, thrombopoietin receptor agonists (subcutaneous romiplostin, oral eltrombopag) bind to the corresponding receptors and increase the number of platelets in the blood. The effectiveness of treatment is within 70 %. Emaplag ("Yuria-Pharm") is the first and only eltrombopag in Ukraine. Emaplag is indicated for the treatment of thrombocytopenia caused by ChT in patients with solid tumors, patients with platelet counts <50×109/L, and in cases where the physician decides to increase platelet count. With regard to anemias, their main causes in cancer patients are the factors of the underlying disease (bone marrow infiltration, infectious processes), the impact of ChT or RT, other causes (malnutrition, bleeding, renal dysfunction). Examination of patients with anemia should include history taking, evaluation of blood smear and iron metabolism, exclusion of occult gastrointestinal bleeding and renal failure, Coombs' test, determination of endogenous erythropoietin. Treatment options for ChT-induced anemia include blood transfusions and the use of erythropoietins (epoetins α and β, darbepoetin) with or without iron supplements (oral or intravenous). The advantages of using erythropoietin include reducing the need for transfusion of erythrocyte mass, a gradual increase in hemoglobin, increasing quality of life. However, erythropoietins are not recommended for use in cancer patients who do not receive ChT or receive RT, because in these cases, their use is associated with an increased mortality risk. Because in some patient groups erythropoietins accelerate tumor growth or reduce survival, the patient must give a written informed consent for their use. Given these data, it is advisable to prescribe intravenous iron, as it allows not only to quickly increase hemoglobin and improve quality of life, but also to reduce the dosage of erythropoietins. Iron carboxymaltose if the most modern parenteral iron preparation. It is characterized by low toxicity and high stability.
Conclusions. 1. Thromboconcentrate transfusion is a fast and effective way to correct thrombocytopenia, which has a number of disadvantages. 2. Thrombopoietin receptor agonists (eltrombopag) make it possible to increase the effectiveness of treatment without interrupting the planned therapy. 3. In the presence of anemia, all possible causes should be corrected before prescribing erythropoietins. 4. If the anemia is caused by ChT, the patient needs to take erythropoietins. 5. Addition of intravenous iron preparations to erythropoietin therapy significantly increases the effectiveness of treatment.


The dynamics of reaction coordinates during barrier-crossing are key to understanding activated processes in complex systems such as proteins. The default assumption from Kramers' physical intuition is that of a diffusion process. However, the dynamics of barrier-crossing in natural complex molecules are largely unexplored. Here we investigate the transition dynamics of alanine dipeptide isomerization, the simplest complex system with a large number of non-reaction coordinates that can serve as an adequate thermal bath feeding energy into the reaction coordinates. We separate conformations along the time axis and construct the dynamic probability surface of reaction. We quantify its topological structure and rotational flux using persistent homology and differential form. Our results uncovered a region with a strong reactive vortex in the configuration-time space, where the highest probability peak and the transition state ensemble are located. This reactive region contains strong rotational fluxes: Most reactive trajectories swirl multiple times around this region in the subspace of the two most important reaction coordinates. Furthermore, the rotational fluxes result from cooperative movement along the isocommitter surfaces and orthogonal barrier-crossing. Overall, our findings offer a first glimpse into the reactive vortex regions that characterize the non-diffusive dynamics of barrier-crossing of a naturally occurring activation process.


The smart grid is a complicated system consisting of communication network and power grid components. There are various powerful simulation tools for communication networks, as well as power systems. However, co-simulation tools are required to reproduce the interaction between cyber-physical components. We conducted a survey overview of various cosimulation tools and their characteristics applicable to smart grid research. We determined that the combination of FCNS, GridLAB-D and ns-3 is a promising direction for smart grid study, improving co-simulation speed by 20%. By applying these tools and the IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder Model, we conducted a case study on the impact of security threats on smart grid demand/response and dynamic pricing applications. The impact of fake data injection and jamming attacks are obvious as a result of our simulation. The findings support related research in the field and can be used for cybersecurity training.


AIM/OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to undertake analyses of treatment data for the Personal Dental Services (PDS) of Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Primary Care Trusts and relate the analyses to the PDS goals of supporting practitioners deliver appropriate quality dental care and ensuring that appropriate quality safety net services are available for all residents.

METHOD
Analyses of treatment data provided by the Dental Practice Board were undertaken for the post-PDS period (February 1999-March 2003, based on data availability). Analyses of the clinic notes for 1500 patients were also undertaken for the 1 year pre-PDS period (October 1997-September 1998) and post-introduction of the PDS (October 1998-June 2003). Two sets of analyses were undertaken to evaluate trends in treatment claims for the Dental Practice Board data, absolute numbers of each type of treatment claimed each month and change in numbers of types of treatments claimed over time. The clinic notes were used to undertake post-PDS, pre-PDS comparisons of the number of treatment items and grouped treatment item categories undertaken and the number of courses and percentages of private treatment items provided. The following sociodemographic characteristics of the patients were also analysed, age, gender, exemption status and attendance status.

RESULTS
Overall it was identified that the percentage reduction in the number of treatment items undertaken was 13% (95% CI -19%, -7%), post- as compared to the pre-PDS introduction period. On an annual basis it was identified that the percentage reduction in the number of treatment items undertaken per year per patient post-PDS was 4% (95% CI -6%, -2%). There were significant variations in the impact of the PDS on the number of treatment items undertaken for different types of patients. A limited number of treatment types changed significantly post- as compared to pre-PDS. The proportion of exempt patients treated did not increase post-PDS.

CONCLUSIONS
It is possible that a less invasive style of dental treatment was provided during the course of the PDS, however, there was only limited evidence to indicate that dentists practice style changed based on types of treatment categories provided. The PDS provided a limited safety net service for local residents. In setting program goals the nature of quality dental practice requires definition and evaluation should be undertaken on a prospective basis.


Abstract Background The foothills and shortgrass prairie ecosystems of Colorado, United States, have undergone substantial and sustained anthropogenic habitat change over the past two centuries. Riparian systems have been dramatically altered by agriculture, hydrological engineering, urbanisation and the introduction of non-native invasive species. In 2016, Denver Botanic Gardens began a restoration effort of Deer Creek which seeks to modify the hydrology of the creek by mimicking the effects of beaver dams with artificial structures. The site, owned by the US Army Core of Engineers and managed by Denver Botanic Gardens, had been the subject of previous botanical surveys. With the initiation of the restoration project, permanent transects were established along the stream and are sampled for ground vegetation richness and abundance, canopy cover, soil and stream conditions and aquatic macroinvertebrate community makeup on an annual basis. To provide a means for tracking any post-intervention changes in the riparian ecosystem, this resource reports all recorded occurrences and measurements, along with methodologies and motivations from past and current surveys in the form of a sampling event dataset. New information The current project and past surveys document 382 plant taxa and 157 aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa. A total of 16304 occurrences and 7422 measurements are included in the resource. Occurrence and measurement data taken from transects provide a means to measure species abundance, ground cover and other biotic and abiotic characteristics relevant to assessing the effects of hydrological restoration on riparian plant communities.


A method for subcellular fractionation of Hymenolepis diminuta using whole worm homogenization and differential centrifugation is presented. Different fractions obtained in this study were screened for the presence of enzymes that serve as markers for plasma membrane, brush border, mitochondria, Golgi complex, endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisomes, lysosomes and cytosol. The purity of fractions was also monitored by transmission electron microscopy. The purity of fractions, particularly the brush border membranes, are compared to those obtained by previous methods for H. diminuta or other tissues.


BACKGROUND
Prenatal alcohol exposure may be a risk factor for the development of alcohol problems in humans.

METHODS
We use data beginning with interviews of women in prenatal care at midpregnancy to predict alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in their offspring now aged 21 years. Maternal drinking during pregnancy was assessed from November 4, 1974, through October 2, 1975, along with measures of maternal smoking, use of caffeine and other drugs, and demographic factors. Family history of alcohol problems was assessed from interviews with parents when offspring were 14 years of age and updated when offspring were 21 years of age. Measures of parental use of alcohol and other drugs and many aspects of the family environment were assessed at 7 different ages, prenatally through 21 years. Young adult offspring (age, 21 years [N = 433]) provided self-reports of drinking quantity and frequency and completed the Alcohol Dependence Scale as a measure of alcohol-related problems and dependence.

RESULTS
Univariate, partial least squares, and regression analyses indicate that prenatal alcohol exposure is significantly associated with alcohol problems at 21 years of age. The relationship persists independent of the effects of family history of alcohol problems, nicotine exposure, other prenatal exposures, and postnatal environmental factors including parental use of other drugs. Prenatal nicotine exposure was not associated with alcohol problems by offspring at 21 years of age.

CONCLUSIONS
Prenatal alcohol exposure is a risk factor for the development of drinking problems in humans. Potential mechanisms for the role of fetal exposure and the development of alcohol problems deserve study.


Purpose To report novel transforming growth factor beta-induced (TGFBI) mutations responsible for lattice corneal dystrophy (LCD), the associated genotype-phenotype correlation, and structural changes in the mutant proteins in three Chinese families. Methods Three unrelated Chinese families were diagnosed as Type I LCD. Mutations in TGFBI were detected by sequencing all of the 17 exons and splice sites of the gene. Phenotype, including corneal erosions, and opacification in the families were compared. Structural changes of the mutant proteins were modeled. One hundred healthy volunteers were recruited as controls for sequence analysis of TGFBI. Results Two novel mutations, c.(1702G>C and 1706T>A; p.Arg514Pro and Phe515Leu) in TGFBI were identified in Family 1. Two known hotspot mutations, c. 531C>T (p. Arg124Cys) and c.1876A>G (p.His572Arg), were revealed in Family 2 and Family 3, respectively. Sequence analysis in the 100 healthy control subjects, the unaffected members in Family 1, and evolutionary alignment showed that the novel mutations occurred in the conserved amino acids. Structural modeling revealed changes in the 2nd structure of the mutant proteins, but did not detect gross structural changes. Mutations c.(1702G>C and 1706T>A; p.Arg514Pro and Phe515Leu) and the c. 531C>T (p. Arg124Cys) were present in the corneas with sever opacification. Conclusions The novel mutations c.(1702G>C and 1706T>A; p.Arg514Pro and Phe515Leu), c. 531C>T (p. Arg124Cys), c.1876A>G (p.His572Arg) in TGFBI were responsible for LCD in the 3 families. Mutations c.(1702G>C and 1706T>A) (p.Arg514Pro and Phe515Leu) and the c. 531C>T (p. Arg124Cys) were associated with more severe LCD phenotypes in the families. These results provide more data for molecular diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.