Background/Purpose Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are a serological hallmark of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD), such as systemic lupus erythematosus (LES), Sjogren's syndrome, systemic sclerosis and mixed connective tissue disease. Indirect immunofluorescence using human epithelial cells (HEp-2) is the gold standard for ANA screening. The nuclear pattern dense fine speckled (DFS) is one of the most common found when ANA levels are increased. DFS70 antibodies have been detected in inflammatory and neoplastic diseases; in contrast they are rare in SARD. These findings lead to research about their clinical implications. The aims of this study are: understand the meaning of anti-DFS70 antibodies; recognize the relevance of these antibodies in the diagnosis of patients with increased ANA titers in the context of SARD and non-rheumatic pathology (NRP). Methods A retrospective observational study of consecutive patients observed during 2018 in a community hospital with anti-DFS70 antibodies positivity were performed. Sex, age, clinical and autoantibodies associations were recorded. Ethical approval was obtained and it was executed in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration. Results Of forty-seven patients 38 (80.9%) were females; mean of age was 51,57 years; 10 (21.3%) were diagnosed with SARD (among which 4 were LES, 5 rheumatoid arthritis and 1 had autoimmune thyroiditis); 10 (21.3%) NRP (2 with asthma, 1 allergic rhinitis, 1 sinusitis, 1 urticaria, 1 vitiligo, 2 neoplasia and 2 Gilbert's syndrome) and 27 (57.4%) had no pathology associated - 4 patients of them presented positive antibodies without SARD. Conclusions Although DFS70 antibodies are not specific for a particular condition, our study shows that they are a useful biomarker for differentiating between SARD and NRP when others antibodies are presented and it should be considered as a negative predictor for SARD if no other antibody is present. Whereby, DFS70 should be integrated into ANAs initial interpretation algorithm to avoid further studies.


ABSRACT: In this paper we look at what the critical tradition in education has to offer to the phenomenon of social media. Through an overview and evaluation of the approaches advocated by practitioners of critical literacy and critical media literacy, we illustrate the limitations of applying these frameworks to the fluid and densely interwoven spaces of social media. In particular we focus on the problematic nature of textual analysis and textual production as foundations for a critique of new media. By proposing a conceptual model that maps the inter-relationship between practice, identity and networks, we make a new contribution to the field, suggesting that this approach may provide a more fruitful analytical tool for educators. Drawing on the work of Greenhow and Robelia (2009), and particularly their notion of advantageous practice, we work towards a model for enabling children and young people to move from a consideration of what they do through social media to a view of what they might do. We suggest that this may be a more fruitful way of approaching social media, but one which remains faithful to the overall project of the critical tradition.


First published in February 2008, the research paper was written in response to the abolition of provocation as a partial defence to murder following the Victorian Law Reform Commission's review of defences to homicide. The Commission recommended that, rather than raising a partial defence to murder, provocation should simply be taken into account in the sentencing process along with the other relevant circumstances of an offence. However, the Commission left open the question of what approach sentencing courts should take in assessing provocation that is raised in mitigation of sentence under the new law. The research paper analyses how provocation might be considered in sentencing fatal and non-fatal offences against the person. The paper suggests a new approach to considering provocation as a mitigating factor in sentencing (summarised in Chapter 10). As demand for the research paper remains high, the Sentencing Advisory Council has decided to reprint it. The second edition has a number of additional features including a comprehensive legal index and an enlarged, back-page fold-out version of the key graph in the paper.


The expansion of the mammalian brain is associated with specific developmental processes; however, not much is known about how evolutionary changes participated in the acquisition of human brain traits during early developmental stages. Here we investigated whether enhancers active during the phylotypic stage show human-specific genomic divergence which could contribute to the evolutionary expansion of the forebrain. Notably, we identified an active enhancer containing a human accelerated region (HAR) located in the Chromosome 14q12, a region enriched with neurodevelopmental genes, such as Foxg1, Nkx2.1 and Nova1. Reporter analysis revealed that the human variant is active in the forebrain in transgenic mice and that it has stronger enhancer activity than the mouse or chimpanzee versions. Humanization of the mouse enhancer variant in transgenic mice and in mouse organoids resulted in an expansion of Foxg1 expressing domains in the forebrain early neural progenitors with a bias towards dorsal identities. Overall, our results suggest that human-specific mutations in critical regulatory elements controlling early brain development impact the expansion and patterning of the forebrain.


In their bipolar-coordinate analysis of circular-cylinder electrophoresis near a dielectric wall, Keh et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 231, 1991, pp. 211–228) found that, when an electric field is applied parallel to the wall, the translational and rotational electrophoretic mobilities increase monotonically as the ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ of the cylinder–wall separation to the cylinder radius decreases, eventually diverging as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{-1/2}$ when $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}\rightarrow 0$ . Considering the singular limit $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}\ll 1$ from the outset, we conduct here an asymptotic analysis of that electrokinetic problem, providing insight to the manner by which the intense electric field in the narrow gap is transformed into $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{-3/2})$ shear stresses; these stresses, in turn, overcome the large Stokes resistance so as to provide the large electrophoretic mobilities. In a companion problem, where the cylinder is exposed to a uniform current emanating from a nearby reactive electrode, the intense gap-scale electric field results in an $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{-2})$ pressure, giving rise in turn to a large repulsive force. In that problem we find that the cylinder velocity perpendicular to the wall approaches a finite limit as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}\rightarrow 0$ . We also discuss the role of 'dielectrophoretic' forces which are inevitable in the above semi-bounded configurations.


To investigate how substrate-induced strain affects the magnetic anisotropy and damping constant, FeCo films were deposited onto Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) (0 1 1)-orientated substrates by RF-magnetron sputtering. Interestingly, as the strain, which is controlled by an applied electric field, increases, the magnetic anisotropy is enhanced while the damping constant decreases sharply. The angular dependence of coercive force and magnetoelastic energy were obtained to analyze the mechanism of magnetization reversal under strain modulation. The nonvolatile strain-modulation was demonstrated by the application of different pulsed electric fields. The reversible magnetization processes and low magnetic damping constant can be modulated by the substrate-induced strain, which can contribute to the realization of low-loss strain-mediated spin-transfer-torque based magnetic devices.


Blood flow and blood–endothelium interactions correspond with the genesis of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, quantitative analysis of blood flow dynamics at the microcirculation level is of special interest. Regulatory mechanisms mediated by blow flow have been studied in detail using in vitro approaches. However, these mechanisms have not been fully validated in vivo due to technical limitations that arise when quantifying microhemodynamics with the required level of detail. Intravital microscopy combined with high-speed video recordings has been used for the analysis of blood flow in small blood vessels of chronic and acute experimental tissue preparations. This tool can be used to study the interaction between the flowing blood and the vessel walls of arterioles and venules with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution. Our objective was to develop a simple and robust cross-correlation algorithm for the automatic analysis of high-speed video recordings of microcirculatory blood flow. The algorithm was validated using in vitro and in vivo systems. Results indicate that the algorithm's ability to estimate the velocity of local red blood cells as a function of blood vessel radius is highly accurate. They thereby suggest that the algorithm could be used to explore dynamic changes in blood flow under different experimental conditions including a wide range of flow rates and hematocrit levels. The algorithm can also be used to measure volumetric flow rates, radial velocity profiles, wall shear rate, and wall shear stress. Several applications are presently explored, including the analysis of velocity profiles in the branches of arterial bifurcations. This work demonstrates the robustness of the cross-correlation technique in various flow conditions and elucidates its potential application for in vivo determination of blood flow dynamics in the microcirculation.


Background—Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) improves systolic function in heart failure patients with ventricular conduction delay by stimulating the left ventricle (LV) or both ventricles (biventricular, BV). Optimal LV site selection is of major clinical interest for CRT device implantation; however, the dependence of hemodynamics on LV stimulation site has not been established. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the hemodynamic response to CRT for 2 LV coronary vein sites: the free wall and anterior wall. Methods and Results—A total of 30 patients (mean NYHA class, 2.7; mean QRS interval, 152 ms; mean PR interval, 194 ms) enrolled in the PATH-CHF-II trial were studied. CRT was administered with LV and BV stimulation in VDD mode at 4 AV delays. LV stimulation was at the lateral free wall or anterior wall, whereas right ventricular stimulation was fixed near the apex. LV+dP/dtmax and aortic pulse pressure changes from baseline during CRT were compared for LV sites. Free wall sites with LV and BV stimulation yielded significantly larger LV+dP/dtmax (14% versus 6%, P <0.001 for LV; 12% versus 5%, P <0.001 for BV) and pulse pressure (8% versus 4%, P <0.001 for LV; 9% versus 5%, P <0.001 for BV) compared with anterior sites. In one third of patients, CRT at free wall sites increased LV+dP/dtmax, whereas it decreased at anterior sites over most AV delays. Conclusion—CRT with LV free wall stimulation produced significantly better LV systolic performance compared with anterior stimulation. Further studies are warranted to prove the clinical superiority of the LV free wall as a site for long-term CRT.


The Maronia Cu-Mo ± Re ± Au deposit is spatially related to a microgranite porphyry that intruded an Oligocene monzonite along the Mesozoic Circum-Rhodope belt in Thrace, NE Greece. The magmatic rocks and associated metallic mineralization show plastic and cataclastic features at the south-eastern margin of the deposit that implies emplacement at the ductile-brittle transition, adjacent to a shear zone at the footwall of the Maronia detachment fault. The conversion from ductile to brittle deformation caused a rapid upward magmatic fluid flow and increased the volume of water that interacted with the host rocks through high permeable zones, which produced extensive zones of potassic and sodic-calcic alteration. Potassic alteration is characterized by secondary biotite + K-feldspar (orthoclase) + magnetite + rutile + quartz ± apatite and commonly contains sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite). Sodic-calcic alteration consists of actinolite + sodic-calcic plagioclase (albite/oligoclase/andesine) + titanite + magnetite + chlorite + quartz ± calcite ± epidote-allanite. The high-oxidation state of the magmas and the hydrothermal fluid circulation were responsible for the metal and sulfur enrichments of the aqueous fluid phase, an increase in O2 gas content, the breakdown of the magmatic silicates and the production of the extensive potassic and sodic-calcic alterations. Brittle deformation also promoted the rapid upward fluid flow and caused interactions with the surrounding host rocks along the high temperature M-, EB-, A- and B-type veins.


During 5 days after intraperitoneal injection of 14C-phenazepam into albino rats, about 77% of the total radioactivity was excreted with urine and feces in both intact animals and in those premedicated with phenazepam for 15 days. The excretory processes are described by the first order equations. The rates of phenazepam total excretion are identical in single and repeated injections. At the same time, phenazepam injected into the animals at a single dose is predominantly excreted with urine, while in multiple administration it is excreted with feces. Excretion of phenazepam with urine acquires the biexponential features, provided it is injected in multiple doses.


The objective of this study was to assess the effect of five different dental products on surface microhardness of enamel exposed to chlorinated water in vitro. Sixty human sound premolar teeth, extracted for orthodontic reasons, were used and randomly divided into 6 groups (10 specimens each group: artificial saliva, 1,000 ppm fluoride toothpaste, CPP-ACP paste, CPP-ACP with 900 ppm fluoride paste, CPP toothpaste and tricalcium phosphate with 950 ppm fluoride paste. All specimens were immersed in chlorinated water at pH 5 for 24 hours and then remineralized by coating with a dental product from each group for 5 minutes and kept in artificial saliva at 37 degrees C for 6 hours. The surface microhardness of the enamel was measured with a Vickers hardness tester at baseline, after erosion by chlorinated water and after remineralization. Comparisons of the mean microhardness within each group were made a one-way repeated measures ANOVA and between groups using a one-way ANOVA and an LSD test at p < 0.05. The mean surface microhardness in all groups decreased significantly after eroding with chlorinated water and increased after remineralization. After remineralization, the mean surface microhardness of the artificial saliva group was significantly less than the other groups. Five different dental products (1,000 ppm fluoride toothpaste, CPP-ACP paste, CPP-ACP with 900 ppm fluoride paste, CPP toothpaste and tricalcium phosphate with 950 ppm fluoride paste) increased the hardness in vitro of eroded enamel caused by chlorinated water.


Purpose. To analyze the efficiency of conservative and surgical methods of treating uncomplicated fractures of the hand tubular bones.
Material and Methods. 470 patients with uncomplicated fractures of the hand metacarpals and finger phalanges treated. Among them closed reduction and immobilization with a plaster splint performed in 41 (8.7%) patients; osteosynthesis with wires – in 71 (15.1%) ones; extrafocal osteosynthesis – in 19 (4.1%) cases; external fixation of bone fragments with a plate performed in 2 (0.4%) patients; and osteosynthesis using clamping shape-memory staples including that combined with closed intramedullary and extrafocal osteosynthesis performed in 33 (71.7%) patients.
Results. Osteosynthesis performed after conservative treatment of patients with fractures of the hand middle and proximal phalanges of II-V fingers and those of the hand I-V metacarpals in 31.8% cases due to the secondary displacement of fragments. Osteosynthesis with external fixators and combined osteosynthesis using clamping shape-memory staples is the most efficient method in patients with uncomplicated fractures of the hand phalanges and metacarpals (92.9%).
Conclusion. The use of extrafocal and combined osteosynthesis with clamping shape-memory staples reduces the probability of fibrosis-inducing processes, secondary displacement of bone fragments, as well as the periods of rehabilitative treatment.


Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation elicit lasting changes in gene expression and likely mediate gene–environment interactions that shape brain development, behavior, and emotional health. Myriad environmental factors influence DNA methylation, including methyl donor content in the paternal diet, could influence methylation in offspring via changes in the paternal germ line. The present study examines the effects of paternal methyl donor dietary deficiency on offspring's emotional behaviors, including anxiety, social interaction, and depression-like behavior. We previously found that rats bred to display high levels of anxiety- and depression-like behavior exhibit diminished DNA methylation in the amygdala. We also observed that depleting dietary methyl donor content exacerbated the rats' already high levels of anxiety- and depression-like behavior. Here we sought to determine whether paternal dietary methyl donor depletion elicits intergenerational effects on first generation (F1) offspring's behavior (potentially triggering a similar increase in anxiety- and/or depression-like behavior). Thus, adult male rats prone to high anxiety/depression-like behavior, were fed either a methyl donor depleted (DEP) or control (CON) diet for 5 weeks prior to mating. They were paired with females and resultant F1 male offspring were subjected to a behavioral test battery in adulthood. F1-DEP offspring showed a similar behavioral profile to the F0 males, including greater depression-like behavior in the forced swim test (FST) and increased anxiety-like behavior in the open field test (OFT). Future work will interrogate molecular changes in the brains of F1 offspring that mediate these intergenerational effects of paternal methyl donor dietary content on offspring emotional behavior.


We propose a novel parametric macromodeling technique for admittance and impedance input-output representations parameterized by design variables such as geometrical layout or substrate features. It is able to build accurate multivariate macromodels that are stable and passive in the entire design space. An efficient combination of rational identification and interpolation schemes based on a class of positive interpolation operators, ensures overall stability and passivity of the parametric macromodel. Numerical examples validate the proposed approach on practical application cases.


Abstract. Volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOCs), such as methyl halides (CH3X; X = Br, Cl and I) and very short-lived halogenated substances (VSLS; CHBr3, CH2Br2, CHBrCl2, C2HCl3, CHCl3 and CHBr2Cl) are well known for their significant influence on ozone concentrations and oxidation capacity of the troposphere and stratosphere, and for their key role in aerosol formation. Insufficient characterization of the sources and emission rate of VHOCs limits our present ability to understand and assess their impact in both the troposphere and the stratosphere. Over the last two decades several natural terrestrial sources for VHOCs, including soil and vegetation, have been identified, but our knowledge about emission rates from these sources and their responses to changes in ambient conditions remains limited. Here we report measurements of the mixing ratios and the fluxes of several chlorinated and brominated VHOCs from different landforms and vegetated sites at the Dead Sea during different seasons. Fluxes were highly variable but were generally positive (emissive), corresponding with elevated mixing ratios for all of the VHOCs investigated in the four investigated site types – bare soil, coastal, cultivated and natural vegetated sites – except for fluxes of CH3I and C2HCl3 over the vegetated sites. In contrast to previous reports, we also observed emissions of brominated trihalomethanes, with net molar fluxes ordered as follows: CHBr2Cl > CHBr3 > CHBrCl2 > CHCl3. This finding can be explained by the enrichment of soil with Br. Correlation analysis, in agreement with recent studies, indicated common controls for the formation and emission of all the above trihalomethanes but also for CH2Br2. Also in line with previous reports, we observed elevated emissions of CHCl3 and C2HCl3 from mixtures of soil and different salt-deposited structures; the high correlations of flux with methyl halides, and particularly with CH3I, suggested that at least CH3I is also emitted via similar mechanisms or is subjected to similar controls. Overall, our results indicate elevate emission of VHOCs from bare soil under semi-arid conditions. Along with other recent studies, our findings point to the strong emission potential of a suite of VHOCs from saline soils and salt lakes, and call for additional studies of emission rates and mechanisms of VHOCs from saline soils and salt lakes.


A twisted nematic liquid-crystal television (LCTV) has been used together with Twyman?"Green type interferometers to measure and compensate the phase distortion of a wave front. The twisted nematic LCTV has been operated as a phase-only modulator, and its phase retardation ability has been doubled in these experiments. The phase function of a phase object has been measured in different arrangements of the experimental setup.


This article introduces readers to the concept of mobility and some recent ways in which it has been approached in geography. In doing so, it aims to encourage a meaningful engagement with the ideas and issues of mobility as well as an appreciation of the breadth of mobilities research. Although movement has long been a concern of geographers, in studies of transport, tourism and migration for example, the conceptual emphasis on mobility is a more recent and important development within the discipline. As such, this article demonstrates the centrality of movement and mobility to, not only, geography but also to some of society's most pressing challenges and to the mundane happenings of everyday life. This article begins by demonstrating this centrality of movement to contemporary life, before charting the conceptual development of the mobilities turn, and the need to understand mobility as relational. Relatable examples are used throughout to show mobilities in action and highlight the significance of ideas and issues of mobility for contemporary geography.


OBJECTIVES: The search for appropriate tools to assess communicational skills remains an ongoing challenge. The Calgary-Cambridge Observation Guide (CCOG) 28-item version can measure and compare performance in communication skills training. Our goal was to adapt this version of the CCOG for the Brazilian cultural context and perform a psychometric quality analysis of the instrument. METHODS: Experienced preceptors (35) assessed videos of five medical residents with a simulated patient using the translated guide. For the cultural adaptation, we followed the methodological norms on synthesis, retro-translation, committee review, and testing. We obtained validity evidence for the CCOG 28-item version using confirmatory factor analysis and the Many-Facet Rasch Model (MFRM). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis indicated an adequate level of goodness-of-fit. The MFRM reliability coefficient was high in all facets, namely assessors (0.90), stations (0.99), and items (0.98). The assessors had greater difficulty with attitudinal items, such as demonstration of respect, confidence, and empathy. CONCLUSIONS: The psychometric indicators of the tool were adequate, a good potential for reproducing its Brazilian version as well as acceptable reliability for its use.


Abstract Objectives to analyse the accuracy of grip strength and gait speed in identifying mortality; to compare the association between mortality and sarcopenia defined by the EWGSOP1 and EWGSOP2 using the best cut-off found in the present study and those recommended in the literature and to test whether slowness is better than these two definitions to identify the risk of death in older adults. Methods a longitudinal study was conducted involving 6,182 individuals aged 60 or older who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Sarcopenia was defined based on the EWGSOP1 and EWGSOP2 using different cut-off for low muscle strength (LMS). Mortality was analysed in a 14-year follow-up. Results compared with the LMS definitions in the literature (<32, <30, <27 and < 26 kg for men; <21, <20 and < 16 kg for women), the cut-off of <36 kg for men (sensitivity = 58.59%, specificity = 72.96%, area under the curve [AUC] = 0.66) and < 23 kg for women (sensitivity = 68.90%, specificity = 59.03%, AUC = 0.64) as well as a low gait speed (LGS) ≤0.8 m/s (sensitivity = 53.72%, specificity = 74.02%, AUC = 0.64) demonstrated the best accuracy for mortality. Using the cut-off found in the present study, probable sarcopenia [HR = 1.30 (95%CI: 1.16–1.46)], sarcopenia [HR = 1.48 (95%CI: 1.24–1.78)] and severe sarcopenia [HR = 1.78 (95%CI: 1.49–2.12)] according to EWGSOP2 were better predictors of mortality risk than EWGSOP1. LGS ≤0.8 m/s was a better mortality risk predictor only when LMS was defined by low cut-off. Conclusions using LMS <36 kg for men and < 23 kg for women and LGS ≤ 0.8 m/s, EWGSOP2 was the best predictor for mortality risk in older adults.


The evolutionary trajectories and genetic architectures underlying ecological divergence with gene flow are poorly understood. Sympatric timing types of the intertidal insect Clunio marinus (Diptera) from Roscoff (France) differ in lunar reproductive timing. One type reproduces at full moon, the other at new moon, controlled by a circalunar clock of yet unknown molecular nature. Lunar reproductive timing is a magic trait for a sympatric speciation process, as it is both ecologically relevant and entails assortative mating. Here we show that the difference in reproductive timing is controlled by at least four quantitative trait loci (QTL) on three different chromosomes. They are partly associated with complex inversions, but differentiation of the inversion haplotypes cannot explain the different phenotypes. The most differentiated locus in the entire genome, with QTL support, is the period locus, implying that this gene could not only be involved in circadian timing but also in lunar timing. Our data indicate that magic traits can be based on an oligogenic architecture and can be maintained by selection on several unlinked loci.


In the field of business and society, several complementary frameworks appear to be in competition for preeminence. Although debatable, the primary contenders appear to include (a) corporate social responsibility, (b) business ethics, (c) stakeholder management, (d) sustainability, and (e) corporate citizenship. Despite the prevalence of the five frameworks, difficulties remain in understanding what each construct really means, or should mean, and how each might relate to the others. To address the confusion, the authors propose three core concepts—value, balance, and accountability—that might be used to better integrate the five frameworks and potentially provide the basis for further discussion and theoretical development of the business and society field.


Gamification has been widely accepted in the HCI community in the last few years. However, the current debate is focused on its short-term consequences, such as effectiveness and usefulness, while its side-effects, long-term criticalities and systemic impacts are rarely raised. This workshop explores the gamification design space from a critical perspective, by using design fictions to help researchers reflect on the long-term consequences of their designs. Author


Although the number of branch plant closures in the west of Ireland increased significantly in the 1980s, there has been little investigation of the macro-economic forces and corporate strategies underlying closure. In this paper, branch plant closures are considered within a framework which emphasises these wider issues and distinguishes between motivation and selection, cessation and selective closures, and plant and area characteristics. It is shown that changes in the market and lack of competitiveness were the most common motives foreclosure, while the selection of the Irish plant for closure reflected a wide range of plant and area characteristics which must be viewed from a corporate perspective. In particular, important differences exist between large and small companies in terms of the reasons for closing plants in the west of Ireland.


Background We have reported a new effective protocols to generate insulin-producing cells (IPCs) form adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) in rats using the new cell culture system with 3D scaffold named "compound X"* and xeno-antigen free reagents (ESOT 2017). The aim of this study is to clarify effectiveness of our 3D-culture system and xeno-antigen free reagents on differentiation of human ADSCs (hADSCs) to functional IPCs. Methods 2x104 commercial human ADSCs (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, USA) plus 0.02mg of "compound X" per well were seed in 96-well U bottom plate, then our 2-step differentiation protocol for IPCs was applied using DMEM/F12 containing such as 1% human albumin instead of FBS and 1mM valproic acid. After the two-step differentiation finished (21 days), the cell morphology, dithizone (DTZ) and insulin staining, glucose stimulation test, were investigated. As a preliminary study, IPCs were transplanted under renal capsule in streptozotocin- induced diabetic nude mice. Results In 24 hours after seeding ADSCs, the ADSCs began to form a cluster and keep the shape during differentiation. The average diameter of differentiated cell clusters is 830 &mgr;m. The differentiated cell clusters showed the positive DTZ and insulin staining. The insulin secretion of 10 differentiated cell clusters was 533 pmol/L per 60 minutes when exposed to 2.2 mM glucose, and it increased to 1,887 pmol/L when stimulated by 25mM glucose. The stimulation index of differentiated group (3.3) was significantly higher than that of undifferentiated group. High glucose level in diabetic mice using IPCs from 300 IE but not 150 IE from hADSCs dropped to normal range and maintained it level up to sacrifice (7days after transplantation) (Figure 1). Conclusion Our new differentiation protocol from hADSCs to IPCs using our 3D-culture system and xeno-antigen free reagents is effective and promising for clinical transplantation targeted to Type-I DM patients. * The name of this compound can not be disclosed due to the intellectual property right. Figure. No caption available.


Numerous studies indicate a gap between evidence-based recommendations for care and clinical outcomes. Barriers reported by physicians include inefficiencies in data gathering. Information technology provides a potent solution to this problem. Diabetes registries are increasingly being utilized as a critical feature for population-based disease management. As an increasing number of organizations realize the need to choose among a plethora of different diabetes registry systems, we seek to identify important features in successful programs and address several of the critical features essential to an effective diabetes registry. A diabetes registry can be used to target high-risk patients, send reminders to patients, and provide physicians with feedback on their care, all important aspects of an optimal diabetes registry that can lead to significant improvements in clinical outcomes. As the healthcare system moves toward wider adoption of diabetes registries, key features of diabetes registry use are discussed.


Congenital hypoplastic anemia (CHA; syn: Diamond-Blackfan syndrome) is a rare disorder with one of two patients a year in the Netherlands. To get a better understanding of this disorder in the Netherlands we conducted a national retrospective study over a 25-year period (1963 till 1989). The medical reports of 19 patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for CHA were studied. Almost all patients were diagnosed during the first three months of life. Dysmaturity was found in 50% of the patients and in 25% physical anomalies were observed. In 17 patients the bone marrow showed a hypoplastic erythropoiesis, but in 2 patients erythropoiesis was quantitatively normal. All patients were treated with prednisone and 74% of them responded initially. Five of these patients (26%) had a complete remission and 4 of them (21%) are in remission on low dose prednisone maintenance-treatment. Remarkably one patient went only into remission at the age of 17 years. Nine patients (47%) are transfusion-dependent and one patient has a stable hemoglobin level of about 5.0 mmol/l without treatment. This study further shows that the chance of achieving a remission was positively correlated with an early start of prednisone treatment and negatively with the manifestation of symptoms on the first day of life.


We consider the Hamiltonian coupled-mode system that occur in nonlinear optics, photonics, and atomic physics. Spectral stability of gap solitons is determined by eigenvalues of the linearized coupled-mode system, which is equivalent to a four-by-four Dirac system with sign-indefinite metric. In the special class of symmetric nonlinear potentials, we construct a blockdiagonal representation of the linearized equations, when the spectral problem reduces to two coupled two-by-two Dirac systems. The block-diagonalization is used in numerical computations of eigenvalues that determine stability of gap solitons.


Hematomas of the posterior fossa are an uncommon complication of head injury. Almost invariably they occur after trauma of the occiput, and are associated with skull fracture. Their diagnosis and management have been greatly improved by CT scanning. In the present series ,the majority of patients had acute evolution indicating the potential hazard of conservative treatment. Our results (29% mortality) are similar to those previously reported in other series.


A CASE OF fatal, inadvertent, intraspinal placement of a Foley urinary catheter is presented. The patient suffered a severe craniofacial injury with life-threatening epistaxis requiring emergent tamponade with two Foley catheters plus gauze packing. There was an associated atlantooccipital dislocation. The mechanism of production is discussed, and guidelines to avoid this complication are outlined.


Objective The aim of this study is to determine the dose-response relationship between physical activity and anxiety symptoms. Methods We included data of 124,434 participants who had comprehensive health-screening examinations from January 1st, 2012, to December 31st, 2016, in Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul and Suwon, South Korea. We measured the level of physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form (IPAQ-SF) and estimated anxiety symptoms using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). BAI scores of 19 and above were defined as cases. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between physical activity and BAI-defined anxiety. Furthermore, we assessed whether sex differences might affect the relationship between physical activity and BAI-defined anxiety by stratifying our data. Results Compared with the sedentary group (0–600 METs-min/week), individuals achieving 600–6,000 METs-min/wk had a significantly lower risk of BAI-defined anxiety with a U-shaped relationship in general adults. After stratifying our data by sex, we found that optimal ranges of physical activity were 600–9,000 METs-min/wk for men, but 1,200–3,000 METs-min/wk for women. Conclusion We identified a U- or J-shaped association between physical activity and anxiety symptoms, suggesting an optimal dose and upper limit of physical activity for decreasing anxiety symptoms. Optimal levels and upper limits of physical activity for reducing anxiety symptoms were higher for men than for women.


Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr play an important role in disseminating breaking news about natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other events. They serve as sources of first-hand information to deliver instantaneous news to the masses, since millions of users visit these sites to post and read news items regularly. Hence, by exploring efficient mathematical techniques like Dempster–Shafer theory and Modified Dempster's rule of combination, we can process large amounts of data from these sites to extract useful information in a timely manner. In surveillance related applications, the objective of processing voluminous social network data is to predict events like revolutions and terrorist attacks before they unfold. By fusing the soft and often unreliable data from these sites with hard and more reliable data from sensors like radar and the Automatic Identification System (AIS), we can improve our event prediction capability. In this paper, we present a class of algorithms to fuse hard sensor data with soft social network data (tweets) in an effective manner. Preliminary results using are also presented.


Poly [(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyric acid] (PHB) is a prokaryote storage material for carbon and energy that accumulates in cells under unbalanced growth conditions. Because this class of biopolymers has plastic‐like properties, it has attracted considerable interest for biomedical applications and as a biodegradable commodity plastic. Current flow cytometric techniques to quantify intracellular PHB are based on Nile red. Here, an improved cytometric technique for cellular PHB quantification utilizing BODIPY 493/503 staining was developed. This technique was then automated using an automated flow cytometry system.


Faced with the urgent and grave threat of WMD terrorism, the international community has responded with a new approach of international legislation by adopting Security Council Resolution 1540. The traditional approach of multilateral treaties on WMD has primarily been aimed at the prevention of proliferation of such weapons to states and not to non-state actors. Another traditional approach of utilising anti-terrorism treaties has been a sort of patchwork, and thus provides no guarantee that a new treaty is made in a timely manner in response to a newly emerging type of terrorism. By contrast, the new approach of international legislation through Council resolutions makes it possible to enact rules that legally bind all UN members immediately and automatically without exception and are equivalent to those in a treaty instantly ratified by all UN members. Indeed, a new thinking is necessary to effectively respond to a new, urgent and grave threat to the international community. In that sense, Resolution 1540 is welcome. This does not, however, mean that everything is allowed if it is effective to deal with the present or imminent threat. Not only from the viewpoint of legitimacy, which guarantees the long-standing effectiveness, but also from that of the rule of law in the international community, it seems of fundamental importance to establish some kind of understanding that we discuss in this article, if international legislation by the Security Council is destined to become inevitable in the future and is to be better implemented.


A 3-month-old male infant was brought to Estie Health Center, a remote rural health clinic in South Gondar, unable to void urine following circumcision performed a few weeks earlier by a witch doctor. Much of the penile shaft, including the glans, had been removed and the urethra had been obliterated by scarring. Lack of transport prevented referral to a higher level of health facility, so appropriate measures were promptly taken at the health center. A pediatric NG-tube was inserted and attached to the urethra for 7 days to release the scarring. By that time, healing was complete and the infant was voiding urine comfortably. He was also given broad-spectrum antibiotics. The boy's long-term future, however, has been irrevocably and adversely affected by the partial amputation of his penis. Bleeding, tetanus, and sepsis are other common complications of unsafe male circumcision. Unsafe male circumcision most likely contributes significantly to the infant mortality rate. Rural communities must be taught about the dangers of male circumcision when it is performed unsafely by untrained personnel, while health workers in peripheral facilities should be trained to perform male circumcision in a standard, careful, and safe manner.


hot compresses. Clin Exp Ophthalmol 2007; 35: 706–12. 2. Jacobs PM, Thaller VT, Wong D. Intralesional corticosteroid therapy of chalazia: a comparison with incision and curettage. Br J Ophthalmol 1984; 68: 836–7. 3. Watson AP, Austin DJ. Treatment of chalazions with injection of a steroid suspension. Br J Ophthalmol 1984; 68: 833–5. 4. Ben Simon GJ, Huang L, Nakra T et al. Intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection for primary and recurrent chalazia: is it really effective? Ophthalmology 2005; 112: 913–7. 5. Sloas HA Jr, Starling JA, Galentine PG III et al. Treatment of chalazia with injectable triamcinolone. Ann Ophthalmol 1983; 15: 78–80.


A series of neutral osmium(VI)–oxo complexes having mesityl (mes) and cyanide ligands have been prepared and the crystal structures of [OsVI(py)2(CN)2(O)2](py = pyridine), [OsVI(tmen)(CN)2(O)2](tmen =N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine), [OsVI(mes)2(phen = 1,10-phenanthroline)] and [OsVI(mes)2(tmen)(O)2] determined. While [Os(mes)2(L–L)(O)2](L–L = chelating aromatic diimines and diamines) are non-emissive, the related [Os(L–L)(CN)2(O)2], complexes have long-lived and emissive excited states in solution at room temperature. The [Os(4,4′-Me2bipy)(CN)2(O)2](4,4′-Me2bipy = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine) complex has a E°(OsVI*–OsV) value of 1.77 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode and is capable of oxidizing alkenes to the corresponding epoxides upon irradiation with UV/VIS light at room temperature.


Functional connectivity analysis of fMRI data can reveal synchronized activity between anatomically distinct brain regions. Here, we exploit the characteristic connectivity graphs of task and resting epochs to perform classification between these conditions. Our approach is based on ensembles of decision trees, which combine powerful discriminative ability with interpretability of results. This makes it possible to extract discriminative graphs that represent a subset of the connections that distin-guish best between the experimental conditions. Our experimental results also show that the method can be applied for group-level brain decoding.


In the metal forming industry, elimination of internal defects is a prerequisite to avoid catastrophic failure of workpieces. The two different approaches used in the literature to study void closure, respectively at the process-scale and void-scale, present a certain number of limitations. In this paper, an alternative method is presented at a meso-scale. Simulations are performed using a representative volume element (RVE) with real void geometries generated from 3D images obtained using computed microtomography. Complex mechanical loadings are imposed using advanced boundary conditions coming from process numerical modeling. The simulations provide very accurate results to model void closure in real industrial conditions. Equivalent spherical and ellipsoidal voids are also generated and void volume evolution is compared to the case of real geometries. It is shown that the global tendency of void closure is well respected, even though the use of a sphere underestimates void closure, whereas an ellipsoid overestimates void closure, on the final stage. A sensitivity study to mechanical parameters shows that strain-rate has no major influence, while stress triaxiality ratio exhibits a strong influence on the closure of real void. Non-uniform boundary conditions also applied to demonstrate that most existing predictive models are unable to predict void closure in non-uniform mechanical loadings.


Partial and some few cases of complete spontaneous regression have been observed in cutaneous melanoma patients but little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved. The Melanoblastoma‐bearing Libechov Minipig (MeLiM) is a suitable animal model to study the phenomenon of spontaneous regression because MeLiM pigs exhibit naturally occurring melanomas which regress completely 6 months after birth. In this study, we used suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) to identify molecular determinants of melanoma regression within swine melanoma tissues and melanoma cell cultures. Several markers involved in cell‐adhesion, ‐communication, ‐motility, signal transduction, negative regulation of cell proliferation, transport and immune response were identified that correlated with melanoma regression whereas the main genes involved in melanin synthesis showed a strong downregulation. For the most differentially expressed genes, we validated the results obtained by SSH with qRT‐PCR and with immunohistochemistry for some of them (CD9, MITF, RARRES1). Most notable, for the first time in melanoma, we identified the retinoic acid responder 1 gene (RARRES1) as a main actor of the regression process in melanoma. This first gene expression study in swine melanoma regression, may contribute to the finding of new therapeutic targets for human melanoma treatment.


OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Criminology and Justice Policy in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University March 2019


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), tissue type plasminogen activator (t-PA), and endothelin-1 (ET-1) on the atherosclerosis progress in the maintenance hemodialysis patients.

METHODS
We enrolled 19 patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and 11 healthy people as control. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to their age above or below 40 years old (11 and 8 in each, respectively), whereas the subjects in control group were below 40 years old. All the clinical information of the research subjects was collected: including age, gender, time of hemodialysis, blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine (SCr). Immunohistochemistry and pathological image analysis were used to investigate the pathological changes, calcification and the expression of PAI-1, t-PA, and ET-1 on the blood vessel.

RESULTS
Compared with the age-matched healthy control group, there were higher blood vascular media thickness, blood vascular media thickness/diagmeter ratio, blood vascular media thickness area/vascular inter-wall area ratio (P<0.05) and more calcification (P<0.05) in the the internal iliac artery in the chronic renal failure MHD patients. All the results were similar when compared the above 40 years old group with the below 40 years old one in the chronic renal failure MHD patients. There were positive correlation of blood vascular media thickness with age and blood pressure (P<0.05). Expression of PAI-1, ET-1, t-PA on the internal iliac artery vessel was elevated in the chronic renal failure MHD patients compared with the health control (P<0.05). The level of PAI-1 or ET-1 was much higher in the above 40 years old group than the below 40 years old one in the chronic renal failure MHD patients, whereas there was no significant difference in the t-PA expression between the 2 groups (P<0.05). There were positive correlation of PAI-1 or ET-1 expression with age and blood pressure (P<0.05). There were positive correlation of PAI-1 or ET-1 expression with blood vascular media thickness and calcification (P<0.05 or P<0.01). There was no correlation of hemodialysis time with blood vascular media thickness, calcification, PAI-1, t-PA, or ET-1 expressions.

CONCLUSION
MHD patients accompany with atherosclerosis which is severer in the patients above 40 years old than the patients below 40 years old. The higher of the blood pressure, the severer of the atherosclerosis. Abnormal expression of PAI-1 plays an important role in the progress of the atherosclerosis in the chronic renal failure MHD patients, whereas t-PA has no function in this process. The level of PAI-1 and ET-1 would be helpful to evaluating the degree of atherosclerosis in the chronic renal failure MHD patients. Hemodialysis time may not be a potential accelerator for atherosclerosis progression.


Rituximab (RTX) is established for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. This systematic review of the literature since 2006 summarizes evidence for the use of RTX in the treatment of additional rheumatological diseases: antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis (AAV), hepatitis C virus-related cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, Henoch–Schönlein purpura, ankylosing spondylitis, and Raynaud's phenomenon. Data from randomized controlled trials are available only for AAV, confirming efficacy for remission induction, including in disease resistant to conventional treatment, and maintenance of remission. Further studies are required to confirm optimal maintenance regimens in AAV, important questions needing to be addressed including protocol administration versus treatment in response to clinical relapse and the importance of maintaining B-cell depletion. Sufficient data are available in other diseases to suggest RTX to be useful and that randomized controlled trials should be conducted.


Tensor decompositions are higher‐order analogues of matrix decompositions and have proven to be powerful tools for data analysis. In particular, we are interested in the canonical tensor decomposition, otherwise known as CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP), which expresses a tensor as the sum of component rank‐one tensors and is used in a multitude of applications such as chemometrics, signal processing, neuroscience and web analysis. The task of computing CP, however, can be difficult. The typical approach is based on alternating least‐squares (ALS) optimization, but it is not accurate in the case of overfactoring. High accuracy can be obtained by using nonlinear least‐squares (NLS) methods; the disadvantage is that NLS methods are much slower than ALS. In this paper, we propose the use of gradient‐based optimization methods. We discuss the mathematical calculation of the derivatives and show that they can be computed efficiently, at the same cost as one iteration of ALS. Computational experiments demonstrate that the gradient‐based optimization methods are more accurate than ALS and faster than NLS in terms of total computation time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective. Using comparative analysis, we examined the factors that influence the engagement of academic institutions in community disaster response. Methods. We identified colleges and universities located in counties affected by four Federal Emergency Management Agency-declared disasters (Kentucky ice storms, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, California wildfires, and the Columbia space shuttle disintegration) and performed key informant interviews with officials from public health, emergency management, and academic institutions in those counties. We used a comparative case study approach to explore particular resources provided by academic institutions, processes for engagement, and reasons for engagement or lack thereof in the community disaster response. Results. Academic institutions contribute a broad range of resources to community disaster response. Their involvement and the extent of their engagement is variable and influenced by (1) their resources, (2) preexisting relationships with public health and emergency management organizations, (3) the structure and organizational placement of the school's disaster planning and response office, and (4) perceptions of liability and lines of authority. Facilitators of engagement include (1) the availability of faculty expertise or special training programs, (2) academic staff presence on public health and emergency management planning boards, (3) faculty contracts and student practica, (4) incident command system or emergency operations training of academic staff, and (5) the existence of mutual aid or memoranda of agreements. Conclusion. While a range of relationships exist between academic institutions that engage with public health and emergency management agencies in community disaster response, recurrent win-win themes include co-appointed faculty and staff; field experience opportunities for students; and shared planning and training for academic, public health, and emergency management personnel.


Evidence suggests that anti-smoking programs that target school-aged children can be effective and that they can assist in reducing tobacco use among peers. This article presents an evaluation of a peer and school based mentoring program offered by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana in conjunction with local elementary schools. The program matches high school mentors with elementary school children believed to be at a high risk for smoking, as well as for alcohol and drug abuse. The results of the evaluation were mixed. Teachers and mentors praised the program. Participation in the program was also associated with a reduction in peer use of alcohol and tobacco. However, there was no significant difference between experimental and control groups with respect to how the grade school subjects recognized the harm that alcohol can produce for children. Further, there was no significant difference in how experimental and control groups viewed the damage to children that could be done by a combination of alcohol, tobacco, and street drugs. The mixed results demonstrate the program's promise and its potential usefulness as a strategy to prevent teen smoking. At the same time, the results underscore the complex interplay of factors that may contribute to the success or failure of such innovative programs.


A main challenge that service providers face when managing service systems is how to generate value and regulate congestion at the same time. To this end, classical queueing models suggest managers charge per-use fees and invest in capacity to speed up the service. However, in discretionary services, in which consumers value time in service and choose how long to stay, per-use fees result in suboptimal performance and speeding up does not apply. We study a queueing model of a service provider and rational consumers who are heterogenous in their requirements for service duration. Consumers incur disutility from waiting and choose whether to join and how long to spend in service. We consider time limits as a novel mechanism that may help in controlling congestion. Time limits put a cap on the maximum time that customers can spend in service. We analyze their effectiveness when combined with two price schemes: per-use fees and price rates. Time limits are effective because they reduce time in service and impact waiting times and joining behavior. Revenue maximizing firms and social planners who maximize social welfare benefit from implementing time limits in addition to price rates. Social planners who seek to maximize consumer welfare, however, focus on regulating congestion and should, therefore, offer the service for free but implement time limits if congestion levels are high. The attractiveness of time limits goes further. We show that time limits are not only a useful lever that works well when combined with simple price mechanisms, but they are in fact optimal when congestion is high. Service providers can achieve the first-best outcome and extract all customer surplus by coupling a time limit with an optimal price mechanism. The attractiveness of time limits stems from their ability to reduce not only the average time spent in service, but also its variance. This is highly effective in settings in which customers' service times impose externalities on others' waiting times. Thus, we conclude that providers of discretionary services should set time limits when congestion is an issue. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.


Chehade M, Magid MS, Mofidi S, Nowak-Wegrzyn A, Sampson HA, Sicherer SH. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2006;42:516–521 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY. To identify gross and/or histologic distinguishing features of antral and duodenal biopsy specimens as well as clinical response to various treatment regimens in the subset of patients with eosinophilic gastroenteritis (AEG) with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE). STUDY POPULATION. The experimental group consisted of 6 children with anemia and hypoalbuminemia and biopsy-proven AEG identified retrospectively from a series of 93 patients with AEG who were evaluated at Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, NY) over a 7.5-year period. METHODS. Two comparison groups were used in addition to the experimental group. The first included 6 randomly selected patients from the series of 93 patients with AEG without anemia and/or hypoalbuminemia. The second comparison group included 5 patients who presented with symptoms consistent with possible AEG yet normal gross findings and histology after endoscopy. Causes of eosinophilia other than AEG were ruled out. The diagnoses of AEG required the presence of >20 eosinophils per high-power field in antral biopsy specimens and >50 in the duodenum. Hematoxylin/eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining of tryptase were used for identification of eosinophils and mast cells, respectively. The cell count was taken from the high-power field with maximum infiltration. RESULTS. Various therapies were attempted in the experimental group including oral corticosteroids, cromolyn sodium, 6-mercaptopurine, food-elimination diets, and montelukast. They were, at best, partially or temporarily beneficial. All experimental patients received an exclusive amino acid–based formula diet at some point in their care; this formula was associated with rapid improvement of anemia and hypoalbuminemia as well as clinical symptoms. These patients eventually tolerated the addition of various foods to their diet. In duodenal biopsy specimens, mast cells were significantly increased in patients with AEG and PLE compared with those with AEG only, whereas eosinophil numbers were comparable. This was not seen in the antral samples. Eosinophilia was more prominent in the antrum of patients with AEG and PLE compared with those with AEG only. Patchy duodenal villous blunting was seen in 1 patient with AEG and PLE and 1 with AEG. CONCLUSIONS. As in the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis, amino acid–based formulas seem to be the most effective form of therapy. After improvement on an amino acid–based formula diet, many patients eventually tolerate expanded diets. Malabsorption and villous blunting do not seem to be the cause of hypoalbuminemia and anemia in those patients with AEG and PLE. Increased intestinal mast cells seen in the patients with AEG with PLE may be the source of the intestinal protein loss. REVIEWER COMMENTS. Although the sample size in this study was small, these data provide additional insight into the specific role of mast cells in patients with AEG and PLE.


CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts

Abstract #4127

Signalling by the human EGF (HER) receptor family can induce tumorigenicity and metastasis of cancer cells. Activation of these receptors has been associated with aggressive phenotypes and poor prognosis of breast cancer and other malignancies. Currently approved HER family targeted therapeutics are primarily directed against one member of the HER family. We have engineered a family of bispecific (HER1:HER3) heterodimers comprised of a human IgG1-Fc fragment fused with modified extracellular domains of HER1 and HER3. These compounds, termed Hermodulins, act as "ligand traps" and inhibit ligand-stimulated activity of all members of the HER family. In this study we have shown that Hermodulins can inhibit in vitro growth and motility in breast cancer cell lines, act synergistically with other HER-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibody therapeutics in tumor cell antiproliferation assays, and decrease the formation of osteolytic bone metastases in animal models.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 4127.


This paper builds on earlier works on vector-based discrete models for uncertainty in spatial databases. It extends these models so that they are also capable of modelling spatiotemporal data. The extension is based on the idea of time slices, which have been used in [1] to create a model for normal spatiotemporal data. The new extension deals with how to model spatial uncertainty in spatiotemporal data as well as how to model temporal uncertainty. The paper also looks at the problem of creating spatiotemporal objects from a set of observations when the times these observations were taken are uncertain. The resulting model increases the storage required as much for uncertain data as the model from [1] does for normal data.


A8 Cisplatin and carboplatin are widely used chemotherapeutic agents, particularly against head and neck, lung, and gynecological cancers; however, these cancers are also prone to resistance against platinating agents. O6-Benzylguanine (BG) has been shown to result in increased cytotoxicity, platinum damage, and apoptosis when used in conjunction with either cisplatin or carboplatin in head and neck cancer lines, while a structurally similar analog 9-methyl-BG (9-Me-BG) does not enhance platinum agent cytotoxicity. This enhancement in cytotoxicity by BG is also observed in ovarian and pancreatic cancer cell lines, but not in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. We have observed that regardless of the ability of BG to enhance cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity in a cell line, cells treated with BG + cisplatin accumulate more total platinum-DNA adducts than cells treated with cisplatin alone. Additionally, quantification of γH2AX formation, a measure of double-strand DNA breaks, indicates that H2AX phosphorylation occurs at higher levels in all cells treated with BG + cisplatin than in cells treated with cisplatin alone. Treatment of the SQ20b head and neck cancer cell line with 9-Me-BG + cisplatin causes a similar increase in DNA platination and in γH2AX formation as with BG + cisplatin treatment. This therefore indicates that an increase in platinum-induced DNA damage is not sufficient for the increase in cytotoxicity observed in head and neck, ovarian, and pancreatic carcinoma cell lines.
 We have previously shown through microarray analysis followed by validation through real-time PCR that BG + cisplatin treatment causes upregulation of several transcripts involved in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway of apoptosis. This upregulation occurs only with BG and not with 9-Me-BG, and also occurs only in cell lines in which cisplatin-induced apoptosis is enhanced by treatment with BG + cisplatin. Further analysis of the ER stress pathway has focused on determining whether activation of the ER stress pathway by BG + cisplatin results in significant levels of apoptosis. To this end, we have quantified levels of cleavage of the ER stress caspase (caspase 12), along with the more general caspase 3. In the SQ20b head and neck cell line, we observed significantly higher cleavage of caspase 12 in cells treated with BG + cisplatin than in cells treated with cisplatin alone. In the A549 lung cancer cell line, which does not show enhancement of cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity by BG, there is no increase in caspase 12 cleavage between cells treated with cisplatin alone and those treated with BG + cisplatin. Therefore, activation of apoptosis through the ER stress pathway appears to be necessary for enhancement of cisplatin cytotoxicity by BG. Further elucidation of the target for BG in the cell that potentiates cisplatin-induced ER stress will provide vital information for the design of future modulators of platinating agents.
 This work was supported by NIH CA81485.


INTRODUCTION
To facilitate diagnoses, this study determined the efficacy of commercial oral fluid collection devices for their ability to recover three human immunoglobulin isotypes; immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG, and IgM.

METHODS
The sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine antibody recovery from the following devices: (i) OraSure oral specimen collection device, (ii) saliva*sampler, (iii) ORALscreen collector, (iv) Dri-Angle, (v) no. 2 cotton roll, (vi) all-gauze sponges device, and (vii) DentaSwabs. For each isotype tested, the recovered eluate was compared with the concentration applied to the device. The performance of each device was determined at various antibody concentrations.

RESULTS
Recovery of IgA from the saliva*sampler, ORALscreen collector, Dri-Angle and cotton roll was comparable to that seeded onto the device. When compared with the seeded IgG concentration, the mean concentration of antibody recovered by each product differed by approximately +/- 9 ng/ml. The average amount of IgM recovered by the cotton roll and all-gauze sponges device was approximately 29 and 39 ng/ml, respectively, less (P < 0.0001) than that seeded on the device. For all isotypes tested, the amount of antibody recovered from the device was dependent on the initial seeding concentration.

CONCLUSION
Collectively, these data suggest that the product used for specimen collection can affect retrieval of antibodies and potentially confound patient diagnosis.


Introduction: From the Edges of Development Kum-Kum Bhavnani, John Foran, Priya Kurian and Debashish Munshi Part 1: Refusing Representations of Development 1. October 17, 1961 Moustafa Bayoumi 2. Ode to "Quasheba": Resistance Rituals Among Higgler Women in Jamaica Hume N. Johnson 3. Plural Economies and the Conditions for Refusal: Gendered Developments in Bangkok Ara Wilson 4. Dancing on the Edge: Women, Culture, and a Passion for Change Kum-Kum Bhavnani and Krista Bywater 5. Resisting Westernity and Refusing Development Molefi Kete Asante Part 2: Emergent Discourses of Development 6. From Roosevelt in Germany to Bush in Iraq: Development's Discourse of Liberation, Democracy, and Free Trade Josefina Saldana 7. Migrants, Genes, and Socio-Scientific Phobias: Charting the Fear of the "Third World" Tag in Discourses of Development in New Zealand Priya Kurian and Debashish Munshi 8. OFW Tales, or Globalization Discourses and Development Ming-Yan Lai 9. Erratic Hopes and Inconsistent Expectations for Mexican Rural Women: A Critique of Economic Thinking on Alternatives to Poverty Magadalena Villarreal 10. From Old to New Political Cultures of Opposition: Radical Social Change in an Era of Globalization John Foran Part 3: Fictions of Development 11. Mama Benz and the Taste of Money: A Critical View of a "Homespun" Rags-to-Riches Story of Post-Independence Africa Lena Khor 12. History, Development, and Transformation in Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless People: A Conversation Among Students of Development Erin Kennedy, Edwin Lopez, Moira O'Neil and Molly Talcott 13. Urduja through the Looking Glass: A Response to Colonial Trauma Tera Maxwell 14. Fictions of (Under)Development: Hunger Artists in the Global Economy Francoise Lionnet. Afterword Susanne Schech


The soundsystem in electronic music is an assemblage of deeply emotional and often overlooked collaboration between humans and machines. I believe that tracing the developmental histories of the performers in a soundsystem, both human and nonhuman, allows one to better understand the plurality of intersecting agencies present at these meeting places. Drawing from science and technology studies, I describe the histories of early American experimentalism and electronics, especially focusing on the U.S. State and military-industrial complex's key role in research and development since World War II. This context leads us to see how technologies are social participants, which reflect, recreate, and reshape the society in which they are produced. Actor-network analysis reveals the agencies of nonhuman actors, and the dynamics of energy and control moving through human-technological circuits. Finally, I attempt to apply actor-network theory, along with other sociological and musicological tools, to study compositions by Alvin Lucier and Pamela Z.


The purpose of this study was to examine self-management and educational interventions developed to support people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to identify which type of intervention seems to be most effective. The search was deliberately overinclusive to capture studies that evaluated educational and self-management interventions. The following databases were searched: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the National Research Register, and Cochrane. Twenty-three studies were included. Thirteen of these were randomized controlled trials. The content of the interventions reviewed varied widely. As expected, it is the three studies that have explicitly labeled themselves as self-management interventions that have incorporated the greatest number of self-management techniques. Two of these studies reported the greatest number of improved outcomes in relation to symptom reporting, psychological well-being, and healthcare resource use. There is clearly a role for information in IBD, but this review supports research in other conditions that shows that education cannot be assumed to lead to improvements in health and well-being. Much of the research in this area focuses on education rather than self-management. Where self-management techniques have been applied, the findings tend to be more promising. Gastroenterology nurses (or in the United Kingdom, IBD specialist nurses) may be best placed to facilitate self-management in this group.


ABSTRACT This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of youth organisations in enhancing the employability of young people through the development of different forms of capital: human, social and psychological. Instead of asking questions about who access extra-curricular activities that may provide young people with positional advantages in the labour market and the class biases that arise in access, the article explores whether the benefits obtained from participation vary by socio-economic background. We make use of the Youth organisations and employability (YOE) database, which contains data from over 1000 young people in more than 40 European countries on the effects of involvement in youth organisations on different forms of capital: human, social and psychological. We find positive effects of involvement on all three forms of capital. The analysis suggests that the characteristics of the involvement in youth organisations are better predictors of its outcomes than are personal characteristics, and find no significant effects of socio-economic background on the reported benefits of participation in our sample. Policy implications are derived from these findings, calling for greater policy support to increase opportunities for the involvement of young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds in youth organisations and for better informing young people of the benefits of sustained involvement with youth organisations.


Till date, the emphasis in dissolution has been only limited to calculating percent drug release as specified in different pharmacopoeias. But, now dissolution testing has become one of the most important tests in quality control of dosage forms. These in vitro dissolution studies can also be used to ensure acceptable in vivo performance. Therefore, it is desirable to develop dissolution testing that can assess the ability of a dosage form to release the drug completely and simultaneously indicate the drug's performance in vivo. The present review gives an insight about the various factors which must be taken into consideration to get perfect in vitro in vivo correlation.


The use of financial derivatives have been controversial in Islamic Finance. However, the commonly held openion is such derivatives are not Sharīʿah compliant, so should not be used in Islamic Finance. The use of Islamic derivatives in some jurisdiction and not in others on the one hand and the lesser clarity regarding their Sharīʿah basis on the other hand have created uncertainity and thus hindrance for the Islamic financial institutions in properly managing the associated risks. This study is an effort to address the issue and analyze the forwards, futures, options and swaps contracts, from Sharīʿah perspective and to hunt Sharīʿah compliant alternatives to fill this viable gap so that Islamic financial institutions do not find themselves in an unfavorable position. The study adopts qualitative research method to clarify and understand the relevant issues. The analysis shows that, in principle, the current application of derivative instruments in Islamic finance is not Sharīʿah compliant due to a number of forbidden elements. Islamic contracts that can be used as the basis or building block for developing derivatives confirming to the Sharīʿah principles include BaiʿSalam, Murābahah, Wakalah and Wa'ad based arrangements. Based on these Sharīʿah concepts, alternative to Short Selling, FX Forward Contract, Profit Rate Swap and Cross Currency Swap have been examined which will minimize the gape and will help IFIs in development and careful implementation of these structured products as per fundamentals of Islamic Finance, otherwise, it will result a serious breakdown and all the hope of the emerging industry will be lost.


The occurrence of Russell's viper (Daboia russelii Shaw and Nodder 1797) in Bangladesh is century old information and its rarity was known to the wildlife biologists till 2013 but its recent booming is also causing a major threat to human life in the area. Recently it has been reported from nine districts (Dinajpur, Chapai Nawabganj, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore, Pabna, Rajbari, Chuadanga and Patuakhali) and old records revealed 11 districts (Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Chapai Nawabganj, Rajshahi, Bogra, Jessore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat and Chittagong). Thus altogether 17 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh, of which Chapai Nawabganj and Rajshahi are most affected and 20 people died due to Russell's viper bite during 2013 to 2016. Its past and present distribution in Bangladesh and death toll of its bites have been discussed. Its booming causes have also been predicted and precautions have been recommended. Research on Russell's viper is deemed necessary due to reemergence in deadly manner.
Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 44(1): 15-22, June 2018


The research was carried out to investigate the synthesis of silver nano particles. The silver nano particles have wide tremendous application in the therapeutics, antimicrobials, diagnostics, catalysis, micro-electronics and high sensitivity biomolecular detection. Silver nano particles grow in a single-step method, at room temperature, and with no addition of external energy. The silver nanoparticles were synthesized from silver nitrate aqueous solution through a simple, ecofriendly and cost effective course using the leaf broth of the Oscimum sanctum, Azadirachta indica and Lawsonia Inermis (kadvi mehndi), therefore calling it green synthesis. The Synthesized AgNP was confirmed by sampling the aqueous component at different time intervals and the absorption maxima was scanned by UV-Vis spectrometry and Particle Size Distribution (PSD). Based on PSD, the particles were further characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope. Synthesized AgNP was confirmed at 531,540and 543 nm. Among the total percentage of size distribution, D-50 value, which is 50% size distribution, was taken into consideration, where the size of the nanoparticle was established to 0.135µm. Further research is going on with reference to the synthesized nanoparticles.


Voltage sags and swells in the medium and low voltage distribution grid are considered to be the most frequent type of power quality problems based on recent power quality studies. Their impact on sensitive loads is severe. Different solutions have been developed to protect sensitive loads against such disturbances but the DVR is considered to be the most efficient and effective solution. Its appeal includes lower cost, smaller size and its dynamic response to the disturbance This paper describes the effectiveness of using dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) in order to mitigate voltage sags and swells in low voltage distribution systems. A dynamic voltage restorer based on the dqo algorithm is discussed. The proposed control scheme is very effective to detect any disturbance in low voltage distribution systems. Simulation results using Matlab/Simulink are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


Based on the tenets of role congruity theory, the current study examined the unequal representation of men and women in athletic administration positions. A total of 158 female and 118 male (n = 276) athletic administrators evaluated a male or female candidate for an athletic director, compliance director, or life skills director position within athletics. Participants indicated no significant differences in masculine ratings of male or female candidates and significant differences in feminine ratings for female candidates in the life skills position. Male and female candidates were perceived as similar in potential and likely success in all positions. Finally, the female candidate was evaluated as significantly less likely to be offered the athletic director position when compared with the male candidate.


Inquiry into the causes and outcomes of transnational migration spans numerous disciplines, scales and methodological approaches. Fewer studies focus on immobility. Utilizing the Kazakh popula-tion of Mongolia as a case study, this paper considers how non-migrants view the economic and cultural costs of migrating. We posit that three factors, including local place attachments specific to Mongolia, access to information about life in Kazakhstan and the importance of maintaining social networks in Mongolia, contribute substantially to their decision to not migrate. Our findings suggest that the decision to not migrate can be very strategic for non-migrants in highly transnational contexts.


The explanation of reasons and degree of differentiation of wealth between countries remains an important issue in economics today. Theories of economic growth are focused principally on the identification of the long-term determinants of diversification of sources and economic growth, which in turn is associated with the notion of real convergence. Given the supply role of foreign capital that impacts on the economy, in the face of dynamic inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into developing countries' economies, it seems reasonable to include it in convergence process modelling, especially in the modelling of the convergence of productivity. The productivity of the economy is in fact determined by the size of the capital accumulation (both domestic and foreign), savings rate and a number of other conditions. The author hypothesized that the presence of FDI contributes to the acceleration of pace of real convergence between Visegrad countries and EU-15. In this study we estimate interactions between FDI and productivity at both national and NACE level in the years 2000–2014. We concider, in panel data form, among others, productivity in terms of gross value added per employee, degree of penetration of FDI in the economy of the host country. Results suggest conditional β -convergence of productivity existence however they vary across countries, sectors and time. The analysis provides recommendations regarding the arguments for the sectoral policy aimed at encouraging foreign capital to increase its involvement, focusing on reducing productivity gap between the developing and developed countries belonging to European Union.


Individuals in acoustic communities compete for the use of the sound resource for communication, a problem that can be studied as niche competition. The acoustic niche hypothesis presents a way to study the partitioning of the resource, but the studies have to take into account the three dimensions of this niche: time, acoustic frequency, and space. I used an Automated Digital Recording System to determine the partitioning of time and acoustic frequency of eight frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus from Puerto Rico. The calling activity was measured using a calling index. The community exhibited no temporal partitioning since most species called at the same time, between sunset and midnight. The species partitioned the acoustic frequency of their signals, which, in addition to the microhabitat partitioning, can provide some insight into how these species deal with the problem. This data also suggest that monitoring projects with this group should take place only before midnight to avoid false negatives.


There is a constant rise in cases of rhino-orbital mucormycosis in people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Generally, mucormycosis develops in immunosuppression or debilitating diseases. In cases having head and neck involvement, the mold enters the respiratory tract with further involvement of nose and sinuses and there is consecutive progression into orbital and intracranial structures. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an independent risk factor for both severe COVID-19 and mucormycosis. The clinical examination and direct smears are helpful for early diagnosis of the disease and timely intervention. For the better prevention and management of such opportunistic infections in COVID-19 patients, it is prudent to establish prophylactic treatment protocols along with rational use of corticosteroids. We here report a case of rhino-orbital mucormycosis infection caused by Rhizopus oryzae in a COVID-19 patient with DM.


The current work presents a new approach for designing business intelligence solutions. In the Era of Big Data, former and robust analytical concepts and utilities need to adapt themselves to the changed market circumstances. The main focus of this work is to address the acceleration of building process of a "data-centric" Business Intelligence (BI) solution besides preparing BI solutions for Big Data utilization. This research addresses the following goals: reducing the time spent during business intelligence solution's design phase; achieving flexibility of BI solution by adding new data sources; and preparing BI solution for utilizing Big Data concepts. This research proposes an extension of the existing Extract, Load and Transform (ELT) approach to the new one Extract, Load, Transform and Analyze (ELTA) supported by service-orientation concept. Additionally, the proposed model incorporates Service-Oriented Architecture concept as a mediator for the transformation phase. On one side, such incorporation brings flexibility to the BI solution and on the other side; it reduces the complexity of the whole system by moving some responsibilities to external authorities.


A reactor scale tokamak plasma will exhibit three areas of physics phenomenology not accessible by contemporary experimental facilities. These are: (1) instabilities generated by energetic alpha particles; (2) self-heating phenomena; and (3) reactor scale physics, which includes integration of diverse physics phenomena, each with its own scaling properties. In each area, selected examples are presented that demonstrate the importance and uniqueness of physics results from reactor scale facilities for both inductive and steady state reactor options. It is concluded that the physics learned in such investigations will be original physics not attainable with contemporary facilities. In principle, a reactor scale facility could have a good measure of flexibility to optimize the tokamak approach to magnetic fusion energy.


Objective To describe patterns of persistence and related primary care costs associated with first antihypertensive treatment. Design and setting Retrospective cohort study during 2000–2001, using information from 320 Italian general practitioners. Participants We studied 13 303 patients with newly diagnosed hypertension, who received a first single antihypertensive prescription within 3 months after diagnosis. Main outcome measures Persistence with first-line single treatment, categorized as follows: continuers: patients continuing the first-line medication for at least 1 year; combiners: patients receiving an additional antihypertensive drug and continuing the initial medication; switchers: patients changing from the first-line to another class of antihypertensive drug and discontinuing the initial treatment; discontinuers: patients stopping the first-line treatment without having another prescription until the end of the follow-up. Primary care costs were expressed as the cost of hypertension management per person-year of follow-up. Results In the study cohort, 19.8% were continuers, 22.1% were combiners, 15.4% were switchers, and 42.6% were discontinuers. Continuation was greatest with angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocking agents (25.2%), calcium channel blockers (23.9%) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (23.3%). Severe hypertension [hazards ratio 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.18 to 1.43] and severe health status (hazards ratio 1.22; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.30) increased the risk of discontinuation. The likelihood of needing an additional antihypertensive drug was associated with mild-to-severe baseline blood pressure, diabetes (hazards ratio 1.20; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.36), and familial history of cardiovascular disease (hazards ratio 1.24; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.39). Discontinuers accounted for 22.4% of the total primary care cost. Initial treatment with angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocking agents and β-blockers resulted in incremental primary care costs of &U20AC;145.2 and &U20AC;144.2, respectively, compared with diuretics. Combiners and switchers increased the primary care cost by &U20AC;140.1 and &U20AC;11.7, compared with continuers. Conclusion Persistence with first-line single antihypertensive drugs is extremely low during the first year of treatment. Potential cost saving should be possible by reducing the high frequency of discontinuation. Diuretics represent the least expensive therapeutic option, although further investigations in the long-term are needed to analyse the effects of persistence on therapeutic effectiveness and related costs.


Pandemic challenges demanded immediate solutions and continues improvement in solutions on field which motivated the entire world's research community to find an opportunity to provide speedy solutions to problems. Agile developments provide immediate improvements which functioned on the grounds of assorted health care units, medical facilities, pharmaceuticals and variants of COVID 19 cases. Agile developments proved its effectiveness for immediate solutions which take full advantage of aids to health and pharmaceutical organizations and also exploits worth rapport with health stakeholders. This springs a thirst for carrying out the study on agile developments and its effectiveness for health and pharmaceuticals so, the study focuses to design generic adaptive emergency agile model for Health care and pharmaceuticals to deal with Crisis pressure which will support COVID 19 medical research field.


BACKGROUND
Early infection of the thymus, an organ central to the ontogeny of the immune system, has been proposed as a cause of rapid progression in pediatric HIV disease.

OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that small thymic volume is associated with rapid disease progression in HIV-infected children.

DESIGN
Three pediatric radiologists established criteria for rating the size of the thymic profile on chest radiographs. All available baseline chest radiographs were reviewed in a random sequence, with radiologists blinded to study subjects' clinical status. A consensus was reached on whether the thymus was normal or small for age.

SETTING
A prospective multicenter study of the natural history of HIV-1 infection in children, the Pediatric Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Complications of Vertically Transmitted Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection (P2C2) Study.

PATIENTS
Fifty-eight HIV-infected children and 38 control children (uninfected but born to HIV-infected women) for whom chest radiographs in the first year of life were available.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Rapid progression of HIV disease, defined as CDC Clinical Category C (severely symptomatic) or Immunologic Category 3 (severe immunosuppression) by 1 year of age.

RESULTS
The mean age at the time of chest radiography was 3.5 months. Ten (17%) HIV-infected children had reduced thymic profile size, whereas no controls did (P = 0.006). Of the 58 (59%) HIV-infected children 34 were classified as rapid progressors, and 9 (26%) of them had reduced thymus size, compared with 1 (4%) of the non-rapid progressor children [odds ratio, 8.28; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0, 70.5; P = 0.035]. Baseline mean CD4+ count was 1642 (95% CI 1322 to 2009) cells/microl for those with normal thymus and 740 (95% CI 380 to 1275) cells/microl for those with reduced thymus (P = 0.007).

CONCLUSION
Early thymic involution is associated with rapidly progressive disease in HIV-infected children.


Purpose: Targeted therapies using a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor Sunitinib has been reported to reduce levels of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs). MDSCs and Tregs can diminish active immunization against tumor-associated antigens in cancer patients. High levels of Tregs (CD4+CD25high FoxP3+CD127-) have been reported in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with several types of cancer. Treg numbers are not significantly increased in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) compared to healthy donors; However, Treg suppressive function is enhanced in PCa patients suggesting that Treg function may play an important role in immune modulation. We investigated the number and suppressive function Tregs in PBMCs from patients with mCRPC pre- and post-treatment with PSA-TRICOM vaccine in terms of baseline patient characteristics and overall survival (OS). Experimental Design: PSA-TRICOM is a poxviral-based vaccine that expresses 3 T-cell costimulatory molecules and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Chemotherapy-naive patients with mCRPC were treated monthly with PSA-TRICOM and 23 patients were evaluated for OS as well as frequency and suppressive function of Tregs on day 0 and after 3 monthly vaccines (around day 85). Treg function from PBMC was determined by the suppression of CD4+CD25- T-cell proliferation by Tregs. Results: OS for all 23 patients was 8.5 to 50.2 mos. By day 85 post vaccination, 14 of 23 patients (61%) showed decreases in Treg function. We found a significant correlation between OS and a decrease in the suppressive function of Tregs in PBMCs post-vaccination (Spearman9s r = −0.454; P = 0.029). Of the 15 patients with an OS longer than the Halabi predicted survival (PS), 12 (80%) had decreased Treg function. Of 8 patients who had an OS less than the Halabi PS, 2 (25%) showed a decrease in Treg function by day 85. The Halabi nomogram is based on seven baseline disease characteristics: visceral disease, Gleason score, performance status, baseline PSA, LDH, alkaline phosphpatase, and hemoglobin. Patients with an OS greater than Halabi PS also had a significant increase in the effector:CTLA-4+ Treg ratio post-vaccination (P = 0.029 and P = 0.024, respectively). Conclusion: These data suggest a possible association between improved OS and a decrease in Treg function after treatment with PSA-TRICOM vaccine. Patients with an OS longer than Halabi PS appeared more likely to have decreased Treg function following vaccine. These results provide the rationale for the use of certain targeted therapies, such as Sunitinab, to facilitate the antitumor immunity in concert with prostate cancer vaccines such as PSA-TRICOM. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B51.


Increased leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion is a key early event in the development of retinopathy and atherogenesis in diabetic patients. We recently reported that raised activity of glycosylating enzyme [beta]1,6 acetylglucosaminyltransferase (core 2 GlcNAc-T) is responsible for increased leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and capillary occlusion in retinopathy. Here, we demonstrate that elevated glucose increases the activity of core 2 GlcNAc-T and adhesion of human leukocytes to retinal capillary endothelial cells, in a dose-dependent manner, through diabetes-activated serine/threonine protein kinase C beta2 (PKCbeta2)-dependent phosphorylation. This regulatory mechanism, involving phosphorylation of core 2 GlcNAc-T, is also present in polymorphonuclear leukocytes isolated from type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. Inhibition of PKCbeta2 activation with the specific inhibitor, LY379196, attenuated serine phosphorylation of core 2 GlcNAc-T and prevented increased leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion. Raised activity of core 2 GlcNAc-T was associated with a threefold increase in O-linked glycosylation of P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 on the surface of leukocytes of diabetic patients compared with age-matched control subjects. PKCbeta2-dependent phosphorylation of core 2 GlcNAc-T may thus represent a novel regulatory mechanism for activation of this key enzyme in mediating increased leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and capillary occlusion in diabetic retinopathy.


Peatlands are very vulnerable, and their existence must be maintained as stores of water and carbon stocks. Moreover, due to improper management, peatlands in Indonesia have degraded, resulting in various environmental problems such as fire, flooding, and subsidence. Drainage on peatlands that is not carried out properly causes the peat to dry out and even become vulnerable or flammable. The peat becoming dry on a large scale has the potential to increase subsidence and greenhouse gas emissions (such as CO2), which can contribute to local and global climate change. The management of peatlands in the cultivation area must pay attention to the unity of the peat area (landscape), including the existence of peat domes. The main parameters that need to be taken into account in land and water management in peat land are (1) Drainability Limits, (2) Subsidence, (3) Land Useful Life, (4) Adjacent Ecosystem Linkages, (5) Peatland Externalities, and (6) Priorities and Prevention of Massive and Disastrous Damage. Water management is one of the most important aspects in peatland management, which needs to be performed by water regulation so that the peat soil surface remains wet, preventing it from drought in the dry season and causing fires, and at the same time preventing flood disasters during the rainy season. Efforts to utilize excess water during the rainy season to cover the water deficit in the dry season need to be endeavoured to minimize wasted water.


Our objective is to make proposals for the design of a SIS SID-quality and meet the needs of different stakeholders of the university. This is where we join (which is poorly modeled by the concept of data marts in the current tools of the market), namely the modeling of data resources. Often the documents are deposited on the information system of an organization without classification, without indexing, with all the information on their content, their purpose, their technical requirements and practices. The method of describing the properties of a document is a binding step involves an author and a culture of destruction of documents. Few users perform document properties they file on a system design and information. Then it is naturally more difficult to retrieve these information gaps which usually take the form of voids, it is still necessary that the input fields are provided adequate and appropriately organized, arranged and explained. Indeed, it often happens for example on an intranet of an organization the drop zones are not conducive to give relevant information on the properties of materials downloaded. In the best case, the documents are managed by their own systems, accessible through their own search engine or by federated search engines. Why we try to answer the question: how to reproduce a set of metadata specific to multidimensional databases specific to the decision-oriented universities.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effectiveness of lumbar medial branch thermal radiofrequency neurotomy based on different selection criteria and procedural techniques.

DESIGN
Comprehensive systematic review.

METHODS
A comprehensive literature search was conducted, and all authors screened and evaluated the studies. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system was used to assess all eligible studies.

OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome measure assessed was the success rate of the procedure, defined by varying degrees of pain relief following neurotomy. Data are stratified by number of diagnostic blocks and degree of pain relief, as well as procedural technique with perpendicular or parallel placement of electrodes.

RESULTS
Results varied by selection criteria and procedural technique. At six months, 26% of patients selected via single medial branch block with 50% pain relief and treated via perpendicular technique achieved at least 50% pain relief; 49% of patients selected via dual medial branch blocks with 50% pain relief and treated via parallel technique achieved at least 50% pain relief. The most rigorous patient selection and technique-two diagnostic medial branch blocks with 100% pain relief and parallel electrode placement-resulted in 56% of patients experiencing 100% relief of pain at six months.

CONCLUSIONS
This comprehensive systematic review found differences in the effectiveness of lumbar medial branch radiofrequency neurotomy when studies were stratified by patient selection criteria and procedural technique. The best outcomes are achieved when patients are selected based on high degrees of pain relief from dual medial branch blocks with a technique employing parallel electrode placement.