Polylactide (PLA) crystallizes to form extended-chain crystals in a Langmuir monolayer because crystallization is accelerated on the water surface. This is a unique situation where chain packing can be analyzed by simply measuring the lamellar thickness. Herein, star-shaped poly(l-lactide)s (PLLAs) with 2-12 arms were synthesized through the polymerization of l-lactide with various polyols as initiators, and their crystallization behavior in a monolayer was studied via atomic force microscopy. The PLLAs comprising 2-4 arms crystallized with all arms aligned in the same direction and being folded at the central polyol unit. Meanwhile, the PLLAs comprising 6 and 12 arms crystallized with both halves of the arms extended from the center to the opposite directions, most likely due to the steric hindrance of the crowded arms. Considering that the PLLAs crystallized from a once-formed condensed amorphous state during compression, they have a strong tendency to crystallize with the arms aligned in the same direction. The crystallization rate of star-shaped PLAs is known to reduce compared with that of a linear PLA even if the number of arms is as few as 2. This should be closely related to the unique crystallization behavior of the star-shaped PLLAs with the arms aligned in the same direction.


This paper derives a new effect of trade liberalisation on the quality of the environment. We show that in the presence of heterogeneous firms the aggregate volume of emissions is influenced not only by the long-established scale effect, but also by a reallocation effect resulting from an increase in the relative size of more productive firms. We show how the relative importance of these effects, and hence the overall effect of trade liberalisation on the environment, is affected by the emission-intensity at the firm level: Aggregate emissions decrease when trade is liberalised if and only if firm-specific emission intensity decreases strongly with increasing firm productivity.


This paper presents results from an analytical and experimental study of the effect of temperature and geometrical variations on the Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness in glass-cloth/epoxy laminates. The end-notched flexure (ENF) test geometry was used for Mode II experiments, which were performed at room temperature (R.T.), liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K), and liquid helium temperature (4 K). The fracture surfaces were also examined by scanning electron microscopy to verify the fracture mechanisms. A finite element model was further used to perform the delamination crack analysis. Critical load levels, and the geometric and material properties of the test specimens were input data for the analysis, which evaluated the Mode II energy release rate at onset of delamination crack propagation. The results of the finite element analysis are used to supplement the experimental data.


Abstract. The genus Jania J.V.Lamour. (Corallinaceae, Corallinophycidae, Rhodophyta) is represented by five species (one with two varieties) in south-eastern Australia. Descriptions and detailed morphoanatomical accounts of these taxa are provided, along with keys, information on distribution, nomenclature and habitat, and brief biogeographic comparisons within Australia. Relevant type material is illustrated in detail. A list of 79 morphoanatomical characters and character states used by previous authors (since 1928) to delimit or identify species of Jania was compiled. Of these, nine were useful for delimiting species occurring in south-eastern Australia. Most can be delimited using a single diagnostic character, but Jania pedunculata J.V.Lamour. is highly variable and is distinguished from J. crassa J.V.Lamour. by using several overlapping characters. Twelve additional names have been recorded for south-eastern Australia. The types of seven of these were examined during the present study or in recent publications. Types of five entities could not be examined, because type material had not been designated or was not available for examination or the name was not validly published. Information on misidentified specimens, heterotypic synonyms, rejected names and unverified records for the region is also provided.


This article develops a theoretical framework to link dynamical and population genetic models of persistent viral infection. This linkage is useful because, while the dynamical and population genetic theories have developed independently, the biological processes they describe are completely interrelated. Parameters of the dynamical models are important determinants of evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift. We develop analytical methods, based on coupled differential equations and Markov chain theory, to predict the accumulation of genetic diversity within the viral population as a function of dynamical parameters. These methods are first applied to the standard model of viral dynamics and then generalized to consider the infection of multiple host cell types by the viral population. Each cell type is characterized by specific parameter values. Inclusion of multiple cell types increases the likelihood of persistent infection and can increase the amount of genetic diversity within the viral population. However, the overall rate of gene sequence evolution may actually be reduced.


This paper describes an iterative algorithm for registration of 3D LADAR data. The proposed approach is iconic in nature with suitable modifications to deal with false/spurious matches, occlusions and outliers. Experimental results using data obtained from field trials on an eXperimental Unmanned Vehicle (XUV) are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach. The paper also details ongoing research efforts to determine the feasibility of employing the algorithm for real-time autonomous navigation.


Despite media hype and pressure from software vendors, corporate IT departments have yet
to consider the concept of a truly mobile enterprise. According to Forrester Research, 36
percent of companies surveyed reported that uncertainty about the appropriate mobile
device has kept them from implementing a corporate solution. Other concerns, such as
network problems, lack of industry, corporate standards, device utility and learning issues
also include in the list. However, the widespread adoption of mobile devices and
applications has confirmed that the many tools now available are fully up to complete the
task. In this article will be discussed an approach to evaluate the mobile strategy readiness
of a corporation and how making content mobile.


The main object under consideration is a class $\Phi_n\backslash\Phi_{n+1}$ of radial positive definite functions on $\R^n$ which do not admit \emph{radial positive definite continuation} on $\R^{n+1}$. We find certain necessary and sufficient conditions for the Schoenberg representation measure $\nu_n$ of $f\in \Phi_n$ in order that the inclusion $f\in \Phi_{n+k}$, $k\in\N$, holds. We show that the class $\Phi_n\backslash\Phi_{n+k}$ is rich enough by giving a number of examples. In particular, we give a direct proof of $\Omega_n\in\Phi_n\backslash\Phi_{n+1}$, which avoids Schoenberg's theorem, $\Omega_n$ is the Schoenberg kernel. We show that $\Omega_n(a\cdot)\Omega_n(b\cdot)\in\Phi_n\backslash\Phi_{n+1}$, for $a\not=b$. Moreover, for the square of this function we prove surprisingly much stronger result: $\Omega_n^2(a\cdot)\in\Phi_{2n-1}\backslash\Phi_{2n}$. We also show that any $f\in\Phi_n\backslash\Phi_{n+1}$, $n\ge2$, has infinitely many negative squares. The latter means that for an arbitrary positive integer $N$ there is a finite Schoenberg matrix $\kS_X(f) := \|f(|x_i-x_j|_{n+1})\|_{i,j=1}^{m}$, $X := \{x_j\}_{j=1}^m \subset\R^{n+1}$, which has at least $N$ negative eigenvalues.


This chapter will explore some of the mental health needs and issues for black and other minority ethnic (BME) people in prison and secure mental health settings and will identify some of the key challenges facing therapists working with BME patients in these contexts. It puts forward the idea that the capacity to be curious and thoughtful about the experience and meaning of race, for both the patient and therapist, is critical to therapeutic effectiveness. Equally important is the ability to think about and work with the tensions, conflicts and issues within the triangular relationship of patient, therapist and forensic system.


The Rafidian artist discussed the headdresses of his idols with a varied scholarly momentum, so each idol had its own cover as this door of diversity contributed to the enrichment of Rafidian thought and full knowledge of their ideas and beliefs consistent with their multiple symbolic connections such as architecture, for example. The previous one, if not its entirety.A research such as this (the discursive connections to the head-covers of the deities of the Mesopotamian civilization) aims to clarify the confusion that occurs through four chapters: The first chapter included: the research problem, the importance of research and the need for it, the objectives of the research, the temporal, spatial and objective limits of research, and the definition of terms. As for the second chapter, where the theoretical framework was depicted in three topics, the first section included (the religious method of the Mesopotamian civilization), the second study was concerned with the study of (the rhetorical links to the deities of the Mesopotamian civilization) and the third on (the structural structure of the head covers of the Mesopotamian gods) and included the third chapter where the research procedures The application side according to the descriptive and analytical approach, and the fourth chapter included the following axes: results, conclusion, recommendations, and suggestions.


Experienced leaders of psychotherapy groups are surprisingly inaccurate in their judgments about their members' perceptions of positive bonding relationships with the leader and other group members. The practical implication is worrisome: the lower the leader's degree of accuracy, the worse the member therapeutic outcomes tend to be. A promising approach to improving leaders' appraisals of their members' perceptions of positive bonding relationships is to provide them, after each session, feedback about their own and their members' bonding relationship perceptions. Profiling trajectories of leaders' and members' perceptions over time yields rich "stories" of relationship development, that if strategically packaged into brief, concise, and vivid reports, and delivered as a formal "group member feedback" intervention, would direct leaders' attention to those emerging, but easily overlooked, countertherapeutic relationships, requiring immediate, well-informed targeted interventions. To increase the utility of such reports, training leaders use intuitively appealing, but structured heuristics ("interpersonal-fit-with-the-group" and "intrapersonal-split-relationships"), accelerate leaders' recognition of patterns in perceptions as they change over time, and free up their cognitive resources for determining whether to intervene into the group process at the appropriate level: intraindividual, interpersonal, or group-as-a-whole. To illustrate the use of these heuristics, we present two hypothetical cases, with visual displays of congruent and discrepant perceptions of bonding relationship perceptions between members over time, and make tentative recommendations about where and when leaders might intervene to achieve optimal impact. (PsycINFO Database Record


Reinforced concrete bridge piers are extremely vulnerable to damage during long-duration ground excitations or main shock-aftershock type earthquakes due to accumulated damage caused by a great number of reversed excursions in elastic-plastic range. However, few studies on fatigue damage of piers can be found in literature. Low-cyclic loading tests of four identical RC bridge piers with high-strength rebar HRB600E (yield strength about 600 MPa) were carried out in this study. One of specimens was taken as the benchmark and was subjected to a conventional load protocol, and the rest was subjected to one, two and three times yield displacement, respectively. The research results showed that the fatigue strength of RC bridge piers tended to drop drastically at about ten cycles and then slowed down gently. It was found that strength degradation rate increased significantly with the displacement amplitude for fatigue tests while the fatigue life decreased dramatically with the displacement amplitude. In particular, when the cyclic loading displacement exceeded 2 times the yield displacement, the fatigue life dropped dramatically. Based on the experimental data, an exponential-type damage model was proposed with the peak lateral force at the first cycle as the coefficient, the cycle count as the base and factor of the loading displacement amplitude as the exponent, which could accurately predict the degraded lateral force of the bridge piers at different constant drifts. An accumulative fatigue damage index was established to evaluate the damage level of bridge piers.


Nomograms are generated to determine the top and bottom boundaries of a geological
structure using the residual gravity anomalies of a vertical cylinder. The nomograms are estimated
using the corresponding axis values (x3/4 and x1/4) of the ¾ gmax and ¼ gmax , which are determined
from the residual gravity anomaly. In addition, a small computer code based on equations
representing the nomograms provides simple and fast interpretation. The amplitude coefficient can be
easily determined due to the top and bottom depths of the vertical cylinder are known from the
interpretation of the residual gravity anomaly. The validity of the method is approved with synthetic
data sets and then applied to observed data set.


Older people in an institution live in a sedentary lifestyle.  They lose their autonomy, seldom engage in activities and did not have a meaningful social relationship.  These issues lead to decreased in quality of life (QoL).  The aim of this randomised trial is to determine the effectiveness of a lifestyle redesign programme, i.e. the Lively Later Life Programme (3LP) on QoL.  Eighty-two older people who fit the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to the 3LP group and the control group.  At the end of six months, there is a significant change in physical, psychological and social domains of QoL. Keywords: Older people; quality of life; activities; lifestyle. 2398-4279 © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.


Background: Severe sepsis is not clinically apparent during the first 24 hours of hospitalization in most children with cancer and febrile neutropenia (FN), delaying targeted interventions that could impact mortality. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate biomarkers obtained within 24 hours of hospitalization as predictors of severe sepsis before it becomes clinically evident. Methods: Children with cancer, admitted with FN at high risk for an invasive bacterial infection in 6 public hospitals in Santiago, Chile, were monitored throughout their clinical course for occurrence of severe sepsis. Clinical, demographic and 6 biomarkers [eg, blood urea nitrogen, serum glucose, lactic dehydrogenase, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-8, and procalcitonin] were obtained at the time of admission and after 24 hours. Biomarkers independently associated with severe sepsis diagnosed after the first 24 hours of hospitalization were identified by logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 601 high risk FN episodes were enrolled between June 2004 and October 2006; 151 (25%) developed severe sepsis of which 116 (77%) were not clinically apparent during the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Risk factors for severe sepsis were age ≥12 years [odds ratio (OR): 3.85; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.41–6.15], admission CRP ≥90 mg/L (OR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.32–3.14), admission IL-8 ≥200 pg/mL (OR: 2.39; 95% CI: 1.51–3.78), 24-hour CRP ≥100 mg/L (OR: 3.06; 95% CI: 1.94–4.85), and 24-hour IL-8 ≥300 pg/mL (OR: 3.13; 95% CI 1.92–5.08). Conclusions: Age ≥12 years and admission or 24-hour values of CRP ≥90/100 mg/L and IL-8 ≥200/300 pg/mL are predictors of sepsis not clinically apparent during the first 24 hours of hospitalization.


The boundary-layer flow over a heated horizontal plane boundary is analysed. Temperature variations along the boundary induce a pressure gradient that drives the flow. From consideration of an exact solution it is shown that no steady boundary-layer solution exists at a point where the temperature is a maximum. This is confirmed from the unsteady flow development that, at such a point, reveals a singular behaviour at a finite time. Steady, spatially periodic flows are considered for which it is shown that the boundary-layer solution terminates in a collision at points where the temperature is a maximum.


OBJECTIVE
Evaluation of risk factors of fetal macrosomia and assess possible consequences of high birth weight at parturition and the newborn state.

DESIGN
A retrospective epidemiological cohort study.

SETTING
Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Olomouc.

METHODS
Evaluation of 26 789 maternal and newborn records of the singleton pregnancy with birth weight of 2500 g and above in the time interval from 1. 1. 1993 to 12. 31. 2010 at University Hospital in Olomouc. The study was excluded multiple pregnancies and low birth weight children. Compare the neonate weighing 4000 g or more with a control group of infants 2500-3999 g.

RESULTS
The prevalence of macrosomia in the selected set of 26 789 pregnant women was 10.3%(2747 newborns). Significant and multivariate analysis identified the independent risk of: 1. gestational age over 40 weeks 18.3% vs. 8.3% (RR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.29, P = 0.00000000), 2. male sex 13.5% vs. 6.8% (RR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.84 to 2.14, P = 0.00000000), 3. diabetes mellitus, 16.7% vs. 10.1% (RR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.98, P = 0.00000000), 4. weight gain over 19 kg (x + SD) 19.2% vs. 9.3% (RR = 2.05, 95% CI 1.87 to 2.24, P = 0.00000000), 5. multiparity 12.5% vs. 7.9% (RR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.47 to 1.71,P = 0.00000000), 6. BMI over 22.4 (cutoff) 14.6% vs. 7.2% (RR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.88 to 2.20,P = 0.00000000), 7. obesity (BMI over 30 kg/m2) 19.5% vs. 9.8% (RR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.70 to 2.15,P = 0.00000000), 8. weight gain over 14 kg (cutoff) 14.3% vs. 8.3% (RR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.65 to 1.93, P = 0.00000000), 9. marital status - married 10.8% vs. 8.8% (RR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.33,P = 0.00000271). Independent protective factor in relation to macrosomia was low maternal education (basic school) 7.0% vs. 10.5% (RR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.77, P = 0.00000010). Maternal age or other factors evaluated showed not to be independent risk factors. Operative delivery of a large babies were significantly more common compared with the control group, 27.3% vs. 22.1% (RR 1.24, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.32, P = 0.00000000). Caesarean section 20.8% vs. 16.6% (RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.36,P = 0.00000003), vacuum extraction 4.4% vs. 3.4% (RR = 1.30; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.57, P = 0.00622233).The frequency of forceps deliveries in both groups compared was the same, 2.1% (RR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.33, P = 0.95676855). Fetal macrosomia was not a major cause of rising invasive methods in obstetrics, which occurred in recent years. Evaluation of the newborn health status in both weight classes had not significant differences.

CONCLUSION
There was no significant change in the prevalence of births of large babies over the study period. Gestational age over 40 weeks, male sex, parity, physique, higher maternal weight gain and diabetes mellitus are independent risk factors of high birthweight births. The increase in operative births in recent years is comparable in both groups.


Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.
Patients, in particular young women, after surgical removal of the tumor have a
poorer quality of life and psychological problems. Plastic surgery procedures
for breast reconstruction, including autologous fat grafting, concur to reduce cosmetic and psychological problems. The
maintenance of the transplanted fat is partially due to the presence of
resident adipose derived-stem cells (ASCs). The latter can be isolated by
digestion and centrifugation from the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of subcutaneous
adipose tissue. Intraoperatory SVF/ASC enrichment has been proposed to stabilize
and optimalize autologous fat engraftment for breast reconstructive surgery
after mastectomy, but the safety of these procedures is still uncertain. Although
the literature offers contrasting opinions concerning the effects of ASCs on cancer
growth according to the tumor type, at the present time ASC implementation for
regenerative medicine therapies should be carefully considered in patients previously
treated for breast cancer. At the present, reconstructive therapy utilizing ASC-enriched fat grafting
should be postponed until there is no evidence of active disease.


BACKGROUND Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is the most common precancerous lesion, prevalent mostly in South East Asia. The habit of betel nut or gutkha chewing is the main cause for this. There is a direct association between gutkha chewing habit and development of OSMF, the reason being exaggerated forces on the masseter muscle due to vigorous chewing for prolonged period of time. So, the present study was done to evaluate the thickness of masseter muscle in OSMF patients. METHODS A total of 25 subjects were included in the study from January 2015 to December 2017. 25 OSMF patients belonging to the age group of 25-50 years who attended the outpatient department of Veer Surendra Sai Medical College and Hospital, Burla, with masseteric hypertrophy and betelnut or gutkha chewing habit for more than 5 years, were included in the study. The computed tomography (CT) scans were obtained using Siemens Somatom Sensation 4-slice CT scanner. During the scanning period, the patients were asked to keep their mouth gently closed and relaxed. Axial sections of the CT scans were assessed for masseter muscles. The thickness of the muscle was calculated using image-analysing software and the measurements made were in millimeter (mm). Tabulation was done and statistical analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS The thickness of masseter muscle of right side was found to be more than the left side in all patients except for one patient and the outcome was statistically significant with one tailed p value < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS The duration and frequency of the habit were found to be directly proportional to masseter muscle thickness and also with the clinical progression of the disease. Similarly, we also concluded from our study that there exists an association of masseter muscle hypertrophy with OSMF, and CT scan meas KEYWORDS OSMF, Masseter Muscle, CT Scan


Organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) were measured in samples collected from monitoring wells located along a 4.5-km transect of a plume of groundwater contaminated by 60 years of continuous rapid infiltration disposal of wastewater treatment plant effluent. Fifteen percent of the 212 OWCs analyzed were detected, including the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SX), the nonionic surfactant degradation product 4-nonylphenol (NP), the solvent tetrachloroethene (PCE), and the disinfectant 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB). Comparison of the 2005 sampling results to data collected from the same wells in 1985 indicates that PCE and DCB are transported more rapidly in the aquiferthan NP, consistent with predictions based on compound hydrophobicity. Natural gradient in situ tracer experiments were conducted to evaluate the subsurface behavior of SX, NP, and the female sex hormone 17beta-estradiol (E2) in two oxic zones in the aquifer: (1) a downgradient transition zone at the interface between the contamination plume and the overlying uncontaminated groundwater and (2) a contaminated zone located beneath the infiltration beds, which have not been loaded for 10 years. In both zones, breakthrough curves for the conservative tracer bromide (Br-) and SX were nearly coincident, whereas NP and E2 were retarded relative to Br- and showed mass loss. Retardation was greater in the contaminated zone than in the transition zone. Attenuation of NP and E2 in the aquifer was attributed to biotransformation, and oxic laboratory microcosm experiments using sediments from the transition and contaminated zones show that uniform-ring-labeled 14C 4-normal-NP was biodegraded more rapidly 130-60% recovered as 14CO2 in 13 days) than 4-14C E2 (20-90% recovered as 14CO2 in 54 days). There was little difference in mineralization potential between sites.


This study was conducted to compare lipid and fatty acid composition of cod, haddock and halibut. Three groups of cod (276 g ± 61 g), haddock (538 g ± 83 g) and halibut (3704 g ± 221 g) were maintained with commercial feeds mainly based on fish meal and marine fish oil for 12 weeks prior to sampling. The fatty acid compositions of muscle and liver were determined by GC/FID after derivatization of extracted lipids into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). Lipids were also fractionated into neutral and polar lipids using Waters silica Sep-Pak ® . The phospholipid fraction was further separated by high-performa nce thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and the FAME profile was obtained. Results of the present study showed that cod and haddock were lean fish and their total muscle lipid contents were 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, with phospholipid constituting 83.6% and 87.5% of the total muscle lipid, respectively. Halibut was a medium-fat fish and its muscle lipid content was 8%, with 84% of the total muscle lipid being neu- tral lipid. Total liver lipid contents of cod, haddock and halibut were 36.9%, 67.2% and 30.7%, respectively, of which the neutral lipids accounted for the major fraction (88.1%−97.1%). Polyunsaturated fatty acids were the most abundant in cod and haddock muscle neutral lipid. Monounsaturated fatty acid level was the highest in halibut muscle neutral lipid. Fatty acid compositions of phospholipid were relatively constant. In summary, the liver of cod and haddock as lean fish was the main lipid reserve organ, and structural phospholipid is the major lipid form in flesh. However, as a medium-fat fish, halibut stored lipid in both their liver and muscle.


This paper analyze the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on the production recovery dynamics in the establishments that locate in not only the area of distress but also the area of non-distress using monthly establishment-level data "Current Survey of Production" and yearly firm-level data "Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities". As a result of hazard analysis that thought of production recovery to the pre-quake level as "hazard", it revealed that the location of establishment and its headquarters had no impact on its speed of production recovery. When without controlling the firm characteristics, the estimation results show that the establishments located further away from a seismic center of the earthquake recover their production faster, but the results are not supported once the characteristics of its headquarters were controlled. In addition, the establishment belonging to the firm that had higher R&D intensity, more employment in its headquarters, and higher ratio of current assets recovered its production faster. Moreover, the establishments located in Miyagi prefecture, or Tokyo prefecture seemed to recover their production faster than these in other prefecture. These results implies that the establishment not only belonging to its headquarters with a solid production capacity but also in the area with industry agglomeration recover its production to the pre-quake level faster.


Though expansion of the main grid is the principal vehicle for electrification, wind and solar home systems and community-level independent grids are frequently better suited to serve remote, rural communities in an economic and efficient manner. According to present statistics solar and wind home power systems are commonly used for off-grid electrification and solar home systems are much popular in the country. More recently a small wind power system was installed at Gurugoda Village in Northwest region of Sri Lanka. This system was installed to supply electricity for 13 houses. Focal point of this study is analyzing the wind power system with considering available wind resources and electric energy demand. This wind/battery system was analyzed by making energy balance calculations for each of the 8,760 hours in a year simulating the operation of the system. For each hour, the electric demand is compared with the energy that the system can supply, and the flows of energy from each components of the system are calculated. For systems that include batteries, for each hour the simulation process can decide how to charge or discharge the batteries. Time series wind resource data, power curve of wind turbine, battery efficiency, demand pattern and demand variation were considered for this simulation. According to the results of this study, from May to October there is a good wind potential and electric production of wind turbine is sufficient to fulfill the demand. However, there may be an electric supply shortage in February, April and November.


Objective: To explore the perceptions of final year medical students about efficacy of traditional teaching methods and Case based learning (CBL) and to evaluate the effect of CBL on students' performance and satisfaction level during their clinical rotation in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department. Study Design: Sequential mixed method study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi from January 2013 to June 2013. Participants and Methods: Students expressed their perceptions on a Likert scale in a questionnaire. It was triangulated with data collected from 4 focus group discussions (FGD). Students for FGD were selected using purposive sampling. Students' performance in OSPE and long case was compared with another group who was taught with traditional methods. Quantitative data was analyzed by SPSS version 17. For qualitative data, themes and patterns were identified using content analysis technique. Results: Of 141 students, 134 returned completed forms giving a response rate of 95%.Gender distribution was similar in both the groups. There was no statistically significant difference in performance assessment. Strong preference for CBL was expressed by 97% as it improved their confidence (83%), clinical and presentation skills (91& 80%), attitude and student teacher relationship (68 & 77%), strengthened link between theory and practice (90%), and integrated basic and clinical knowledge (92%). Seventy six percent stated that all teaching should be CBL. Qualitative data from SGD strongly supported these views. Conclusion: Although test performance was similar in both the groups, students expressed strong preference for CBL as compared to traditional methods


Faculty teaching computer science courses-to majors and nonmajors alike-may have little chance to evaluate the historical material found in the texts assigned to their students. There are problems, however, in the presentations of the history of the field in many current texts, problems of which faculty are not always aware. Clarification of some of the problematic historical material found in current texts is presented, and some suggestions are offered for additional topics that should be included in the history component of the computer science curriculum. The examples are gleaned from several texts that have been otherwise valuable and effective in the presentation of computer science material; indeed, their continued presence and wide usage attest to the quality of their presentation. But the history of the field deserves the same careful treatment in these texts as do other aspects of computer science.


The aim of the most recently-completed Accelerated Loading Facility (ALF) trial conducted in Australia between November 1989 and March 1991 was to improve the methods for predicting the fatigue life of bound materials by determining the fatigue characteristics of asphalt and cement-treated crushed rock in situ, and to compare the field behaviour with predictions based on field performance. The trial was proposed by VIC ROADS, the Victorian State Road Authority, and carried out as a joint program with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB).


Introduction: Impairment in kidney function leads to disturbed thyroid physiology. All levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis may be involved, including alterations in hormone production, distribution, and excretion, and even CKD progress with hypothyroidism. Aim of Work: To assess the prevalence of hypothyroidism among chronic kidney disease patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted in the nephrology department of security forces hospital from January 2015 to February 2018. Biochemical tests (includes blood urea, serum creatinine, PTH, total T4, TSH) were carried out to all participants. Results: Out of 255 CKD patients in the present study, 166 patients had no hypothyroidism, 43 had subclinical hypothyroidism, and 46 had hypothyroidism. The percentage of hypothyroidism among CKD patients was 34.9%, including dialysis patients and 17.66% after exclusion. Out of 24 peritoneal dialysis patients in the current study (P = 0.03), 7 had subclinical hypothyroidism and another 7 had hypothyroidism. In addition, out of 139 hemodialysis patients (P = 0.02), 20 patients had subclinical hypothyroidism and 18 had hypothyroidism. The majority (67.36%) of CKD patients were in CKD stage 5 and had no hypothyroidism (45.10%). Only 29 (11.37%) patients in CKD stage 5 had hypothyroidism and 28 (10.89%) patients had subclinical hypothyroidism. T4 was higher in nondialysis patients, whereas TSH and PTH were higher in dialysis patients. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypothyroidism among chronic kidney disease patients was high and increased with the decrease in estimated GFR.


Computer systems increasingly rely on adaptive dynamic management of their operations to balance power and performance goals. Such dynamic adjustments rely heavily on the system's ability to observe and predict workload behavior and system responses. The authors characterize the workload behavior of full benchmarks running on server-class systems using hardware performance counters. Based on these characterizations, they developed a set of long-term value, gradient, and duration prediction techniques that can help systems to provision resources.


Graduate studies in behavior analysis in the eighties and nineties were different in many ways from the studies that are accessible today. The landscape has changed in many important ways and this has been caused partly due to variables like increased demand for behavior analysts in the work market, changes in technology that allow distance education and training, and the growth of behavior analysis internationally. Although the changes made possible by these variables have been positive, questions have arisen about some negative sides. This article takes a look at how the field has changed in the last dozen years and asks questions about the changing education of behavior analysts. The short and long term possible consequences of these changes are evaluated. The formation of a gap between passed and new generations of behavior analysts is recognized and discussed.


The palatability of 35 non-encrusting, subtidal macroalgal species collected from the vicinity of Palmer Station, Antarctica (64° 46' S, 64° 03' W), was determined in laboratory bioassays utilizing sympatric sea stars and fish known to consume macroalgae in nature. Overall, 63% of the macroalgal species offered to sea stars and 83% of the macroalgal species offered to fish in thallus bioassays were significantly unpalatable. This included all of the ecologically dominant, overstory brown macroalgae in the region. When organic extracts of unpalatable macroalgal species were incorporated into artificial foods, 76% of the species unpalatable as thallus to sea stars were also unpalatable to them as extract, and 53% of the species unpalatable as thallus to fish were also unpalatable to them as extract. If either sea stars or fish rejected thallus of a macroalgal species, palatability of organic extracts of that species to herbivorous amphipods was determined: 63% of such algal species were unpalatable as extract to the amphipods. It was concluded that antarctic macroalgae are commonly unpalatable to sympatric consumers and that much of this unpalatability is the result of chemical defenses. As a whole, neither thallus toughness nor a variety of nutritional quality parameters appeared to be related to macroalgal palatability. We also tested the hypothesis that nitrogen-containing metabolites should be common in macroalgae from nitrogen-replete, carbon-limited environments such as the coastal waters of Antarctica. Macroalgal acid extracts targeting nitrogenous secondary metabolites were subjected to thin-layer chromatography analysis; no such compounds were detected.


BACKGROUND
Treatment of infrabony pockets with guided tissue regeneration (GTR) methods using absorbable membranes supported by bone substitutes has gained wide acceptance. Our objective is to observe the clinical variations obtained with the use of these materials in a prospective clinical study.

METHODS
Nine patients were treated with GTR at nine infrabony pockets using a double layered collagen membrane and deproteinized cancellous bovine bone associated with root conditioning by application of tetracycline-HCl. The nine patients included in this study had adult periodontitis, were non-smokers and responded well to initial therapy. The sites evaluated had probing pocket depths of at least 5 mm and an angular defect of at least 2 mm. The clinical parameters considered were probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and gingival recession (REC). Some indexes were also evaluated: the modified Quigley and Hein's Plaque index (PI), O'Leary's bleeding index (FMBS) and the Löe and Sillness gingival index (GI). These parameters were measured one week before surgery and at the control visit after an average of 22.9 months. After the removal of the sutures on the eighth day the patients received professional oral hygene every four months at their private dentists' offices. The baseline and the final measurements were compared with the Student OtO-test to verify the statistical significance of this case series.

RESULTS
The mean values of PI, FMBS and GI remained unvaried (p>0.05). Results showed an average decrease in PPD of 4.0+/-2.7 mm (p=0.0002), an average increase of CAL of 4.1+/-2.1 mm (p=0.0001) and an average decrease in recession of 0.2+/-1.2 mm (p=0.594). The value of statistical significance was set at p=0.05.

CONCLUSIONS
We can conclude that the materials used in this study behaved well clinically and that the surgical technique described has given results that, within the limits of the number of cases reported, has modified the PPD and CAL in a significant manner.


OBJECT
The authors conducted a study to review outcomes and management in patients in whom intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) develops during left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy.

METHODS
This retrospective cohort study included all adult patients (18 years of age or older) at a single institution who underwent placement of an LVAD between January 1, 2003, and March 1, 2012. The authors conducted a detailed medical chart review, and data were abstracted to assess outcomes in patients in whom ICH developed compared to those in patients in whom ICH did not develop; to compare management of antiplatelet agents and anticoagulation with outcomes; to describe surgical management employed and outcomes achieved; to compare subtypes of ICH (intraparenchymal, subdural, and subarachnoid hemorrhage) and their outcomes; and to determine any predictors of outcome.

RESULTS
During the study period, 330 LVADs were placed and 36 patients developed an ICH (traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage in 10, traumatic subdural hematoma in 8, spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage in 1, and spontaneous intraparenchymal hemorrhage in 17). All patients were treated with aspirin and warfarin at the time of presentation. With suspension of these agents, no thromboembolic events or pump failures were seen and no delayed rehemorrhages occurred after resuming these medications. Intraparenchymal hemorrhages had the worst outcomes, with a 30-day mortality rate in 59% compared with a 30-day mortality rate of 0% in patients with traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhages and 13% in those with traumatic subdural hematomas. Five patients with intraparenchymal hemorrhages were managed with surgical intervention, 4 of whom died within 60 days. The only factor found to be predictive of outcome was initial Glasgow Coma Scale score. No patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 11 survived beyond 30 days. Overall, the development of an ICH significantly reduced survival compared with the natural history of patients on LVAD therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors' data suggest that withholding aspirin for 1 week and warfarin for 10 days is sufficient to reduce the risk of hemorrhage expansion or rehemorrhage while minimizing the risk of thromboembolic events and pump failure. Patients with intraparenchymal hemorrhage have poor outcomes, whereas patients with traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage or subdural hematoma have better outcomes.


We propose a MEMS device which integrates a dielectrophoretic blood separation technique with a cytometer and pump for use in low cost blood analysis. Our technical analysis focuses on fluid flow, blood modeling for electrical systems and the dielectrophoresis and cytometry methods. Simulation results of the flow, separation and cytometry are presented.


SUMMARY Chronic residential exposure to formaldehyde constitutes a human health risk. In this paper we examine the relationship between ventilation rates and indoor concentrations of formaldehyde (Cin) in existing homes. We analyzed data from the Relationship of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal Air (RIOPA) study, where 303 non-smoking residences were monitored. The factors we considered in our analysis include house air exchange rate (AER), volume, indoor temperature, building type and age. In this sample of homes, Cin showed limited dependence on any of the studied factors. It is possible that the effectiveness of AER in reducing Cin is lessened by a positive relationship between formaldehyde emission rates and ventilation rates. Furthermore, this effectiveness appears to decline with time as the equilibrium concentration in emitting materials decreases. Consequently, strategies to lower population chronic exposures to formaldehyde will likely require lowering the formaldehyde content of building materials.


This dissertation investigates kanshi poems written by three Japanese women: Ema Saiko (1787-1861), Hara Saihin (1798-1859), and Takahashi Gyokusho (1802-1868). These three women from the late Edo period cultivated excellent literacy in classical Chinese and established their reputations as scholars and poets. However, their works in Chinese have been underestimated in modern scholarship. The goal of my dissertation is to re-situate these highly literary women more accurately in the discourse of "Japanese literature," while challenging established ideas about "women's literature" and "Edo literature." The introductory chapter argues against the dismissal of Edo-period women kanshi writers. Firstly, it examines the general underestimation of women writers from the Edo period and the dismissal of works written in Chinese from the category of "Japanese literature." Secondly, it investigates the late Edo-period cultural and ideological background, which supported the emergence of women kanshi writers. The next three chapters explore works of each poet. Saihin was a vigorous scholar and poet from Kyushu. She lived in Edo for twenty years, determined to make herself a successful Confucian scholar. I illuminate her complex gender identification, as presented in her poems, while describing her astounding aspirations. Ema Saiko, a scholar-painter and poet, is known for her feminine style in the genre of kanshi. While I examine her conscious use of "feminine expressions," I also present the diversity of her poetic subjects. Takahashi Gyokusho from Sendai established herself as an educator and poet in Edo. She often hosted fund-raising literary parties, and published two anthologies during her lifetime. A comparison of Gyokusho and Saihin, two female scholars who lived in Edo, elucidates how affiliations with different poetic societies affected their careers and poetry. The relative prominence of women kanshi writers in the late Edo period becomes clear through this study. The kanshi writers were, indeed, precursors of early modern Japanese women educators and writers. This dissertation bridges the literary effort by women of the Edo and Meiji periods, while contributing to a revision of the history of women's literature in Japan and correcting a distorted image of the literary environment for women of the Edo period.


After Malaria, schistosomiasis remains the most important tropical disease in large parts of the world. It affects mainly the colon and the urinary tract. The hepatic involvement is significantly frequent, particularly by the mansoni species. Still one of the extremely rare locations is the gallbladder. Our case is about a 51 year old woman from Tunisia, which is no longer considered an endemic country, with no particular medical history, underwent surgery for symptomatic cholelithiasis. She had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Post operative period was uneventful. Histology of the gallbladder showed fibrosis in the mucosa and schistosomal ova in the wall. As a conclusion we can see that due to the lack of specific clinical and radiological signs, the diagnosis of gallbladder schistosomiasis is established only after the histological examination.


Abstract. 1. This article focuses on two recent Belgian Laws regarding the protection of mentally handicapped persons. The first one, of June 26,1990 deals with the involuntary hospitalization of mentally handicapped persons. A year later, the Law of July 18, 1991 regulates the protection of property of adults who are unable to look afther their own affairs. These legislative initiatives attempt to bring the Belgian law in these particular matters in accordance with the idea of recognizing and protecting the human rights of mentally handicapped persons. This has been a general international trend in mental health law. A number of international declarations and conventions, and the European Court on Human Rights, play a major role in this process. Several countries have adapted their legislation to this new perspective.
2. In the first paragraph this international perspective is briefly described, firstly in the field of involuntary hospitalization. One finds that the emphasis on human rights strongly influences the procedure of hospitalization as well as the internal legal position of the patient. Where the concept of involuntary placement used to be considered as a measure for the patient's own well-being in order to protect him against himself, it now is looked at from the perspective of a deprivation of freedom, which is only justified if it is strictly necessary. Recognizing the patient's right to an appriopriate treatment and care during his hospitalization, several countries have developed a coherent set of rules organizing and safeguarding the internal legal position of the involuntarily hospitalized patient. Secondly, the international evolution regarding guardianship over adults is discussed. Here, the trend clearly is that the law must offer a graded system of care, limiting the capacity of the mentally handicapped person only if and to the extent that it seems necessary to protect him. The least restrictive alternative must be applied. Legal control through the courts with strict procedural guarantees is essential, as is a periodic review of the necessity of the measure, and time limits.
3. In the second paragraph, the new Belgian law regarding involuntary placement is analyzed. Although this law follows the general international trend of emphasizing the patient's human rights and provides for several procedural safeguards in compliance with international documents and the case law of the European Court on Human Rights, it has been widely criticized, mainly because of the complex and often unclear procedure it entails. Moreover, unlike several foreign laws in this field, the Belgian law does not deal coherently with the internal legal position of the patient. It only regulates the involuntary hospitalization, without explicitly guaranteeing the patient's right to an appropriate treatment or his right to refuse treatment.
4. The third paragraph deals with the Belgian law of 1991 concerning the protection of property of adults who are unable to look after their own affairs. According to this law, which has been integrated into the Belgian civil code as article 488bis, a provisional administrator may be appointed for every adult person who is not able because of his health to manage his property, and who has no legal representative. The law complies with the international trend towards a graded system of care. It delivers to the justice of the peace a flexible instrument which he can apply to achieve the most equitable result according to the specific circumstances of each case. However, it is regrettable that the Belgian legislature limited itself to a partial reform and did not take this chan


Virtual communities, like all communities, require ongoing community maintenance activities. This paper presents an empirical study examining how a wiki repository was used to help overcome some of the community maintenance challenges common to help-based email list discussions. Specifically, we found that inclusion of off-topic but related content on the wiki enabled list members to keep the discussion on-topic while still addressing the needs of members. Offloading of repetitive and potentially contentious "holy war" debates to the wiki encouraged list members to summarize their arguments into a meaningful information product. The community's use of the wiki in helping answer frequently asked questions helped attract new members and helped them gain the knowledge they needed to comfortably contribute to the email list. It also helped active participants answer questions more efficiently and effectively by supporting the reuse of information. Finally, the wiki supported peripheral participation by new and former members. This study demonstrates that the architecture of information collections and information flows in an online community has a significant impact on the social processes related to community maintenance.


ABSTRACT Macroautophagy is a highly conserved eukaryotic cellular pathway involving the engulfment of macromolecules, organelles, and invading microbes by a double-membrane compartment and subsequent lysosomal degradation. The mechanisms that regulate macroautophagy, and the interaction of its components with other cellular pathways, have remained unclear. Here, we performed proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID) on 39 core human macroautophagy proteins, identifying over 700 unique high confidence proximity interactors with new putative connections between macroautophagic and essential cellular processes. Of note, we identify members of the OSBPL (oxysterol binding protein like) family as Atg8-family protein interactors. We subsequently conducted comprehensive screens of the OSBPL family for LC3B-binding and roles in xenophagy and aggrephagy. OSBPL7 and OSBPL11 emerged as novel lipid transfer proteins required for macroautophagy of selective cargo. Altogether, our proximity interaction map provides a valuable resource for the study of autophagy and highlights the critical role of membrane contact site proteins in the pathway. Abbreviations BioID: proximity-dependent biotin identification; GO: gene ontology; OSBPL: oxysterol binding protein like; VAPA: VAMP associated protein A; VAPB: VAMP associated protein B and C


If the Coronavirus pandemic contains any silver lining for primary care doctors, it may be to speed the adoption of telemedicine and other alternatives to in-person patient visits.


Giant coronary artery aneurysms caused by Kawasaki disease are not common; however, they are one of the most serious complications and can be fatal. Here, we describe a 5-year-old girl with Kawasaki disease who initially had normal coronary arteries. Despite intravenous immunoglobulin, she developed progressive giant coronary artery aneurysms. Echocardiography is a non-invasive tool for imaging the condition but it does have some limitations, whereas selective coronary angiography is the gold standard. However, multidetector CT may be a better non-invasive tool, alternate to invasive catheterized selective coronary angiography, in the long-term follow-up of patients with a giant coronary aneurysm.


Implementation and characterization of a micromachined acoustic sensor with integrated optoelectronic readout is described. The mechanical part of the sensor is surface micromachined on a quartz substrate and consists of an aluminum membrane which is electrostatically actuated by a back electrode shaped in the form of a diffraction grating. Optical detection is performed by measuring the reflected diffraction orders when the grating is illuminated through the quartz substrate. This scheme provides interferometric displacement detection sensitivity as well as a compact optical interconnect to a custom designed silicon photodetector array fabricated with n-well CMOS technology. The array also contains optical apertures formed by post-CMOS deep reactive ion etching for backside illumination. A compact hybrid packaged sensor array is formed by bonding the silicon photodetector array to the quartz substrate, resulting in an integrated acoustic sensor volume of 2.5 mm/sup 3/. Experimental characterization has been performed on integrated sensors with 200-mm-diameter, 1-mm-thick aluminum membranes. The results show a minimum detectable membrane displacement of 2.08/spl times/10/sup -4/ /spl Aring///spl radic/Hz at 20 kHz and 1.35/spl times/10/sup -4/ /spl Aring///spl radic/Hz at 100 kHz with 61-mW laser power detected on the integrated photodetector. Operation of the device with a pulsed vertical cavity surface emitting laser as the light source and differential detection of diffraction orders for noise reduction are demonstrated to show the potential for low-power, low-cost micromachined acoustic sensors.


In this paper atomic force microscopy-studies are reported suggesting the existence of vicinal faces on the (100) plane of artificially grown goethite. Goethite crystals are commonly regarded to have boundary planes of (100), (010) and (001) faces. In contradiction to these theoretical models TEM and SEM images exhibit (110) and (021) faces to be dominating. These goethite particles consist of many crystallographic coherent domains so that the existence of dislocations on the surfaces has to be assumed. These sites on the surfaces may serve as a nucleation site for the formation of steps. The vicinal faces on the (100) face found with the AFM are (021) faces. They influence the growth velocity of the (100) face to such a degree, that this face vanishes and only (110) faces remain as stable boundary surfaces. The (021) faces are also stable, but have the highest growth rate among the faces considered.


This paper presents the design of a FPGA-based digital counter for the measurement of the oscillation frequency of Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensors. This work is part of a bigger project focused on the development of a standalone QCM system for the analysis and characterization of organic coatings. The method used to implement the digital counter is the direct frequency measurement. Therefore, special attention is paid in the design of the time-base generator. Measurement errors due to the drift of the system oscillator are discussed, and several solutions are proposed taking advantage of the embedded DLL circuits available in the FPGAs. The designed digital counter is implemented and tested using the Xilinxpsilas Spartan XC3S200 FPGA.


Toxic heavy metal/oxyanion contamination has increased severely through the last decades. In this study, 169 native haloarchaeal strains were isolated from different saline and hypersaline econiches of Iran. After providing pure culture and performing morphological, physiological, and biochemical tests, haloarchaea resistance toward arsenate, selenite, chromate, cadmium, zinc, lead, copper, and mercury were surveyed using an agar dilution method. On the basis of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), the least toxicities were found with selenite and arsenate, while the haloarchaeal strains revealed the highest sensitivity for mercury. On the other hand, the majority of haloarchaeal strains exhibited similar responses to chromate and zinc, whereas the resistance level of the isolates to lead, cadmium, and copper was very heterogeneous. 16 S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence analysis revealed that most haloarchaeal strains belong to the Halorubrum and Natrinema genera. The obtained results from this study showed that among the identified isolates, Halococcus morrhuae strain 498 had an exceptional resistance toward selenite and cadmium (64 and 16 mM, respectively). Also, Halovarius luteus strain DA5 exhibited a remarkable tolerance against copper (32 mM). Moreover, strain Salt5, identified as Haloarcula sp., was the only strain that could tolerate all eight tested heavy metals/oxyanions and had a significant tolerance of mercury (1.5 mM).


The bolus delivery method is designed to deliver a dose to the desired location in the lung, and it has the advantage of fewer side effects and a more efficient way of delivery. Based upon the lung deposition model developed for continuously inhaling aerosols of constant concentration, a mathematical model of aerosol bolus deposition is proposed. The calculated results show that the recovery depends on the bolus penetration depth, flow rate, particle size, breath holding time and bolus volume. Three sets of published experimental data with different controlling factors (particle size, flow rate and breath holding time) are adopted to make the quantitative comparisons with the calculated results. The predictions and data for the low intrinsic motion particles (∼1 μm) have good agreement, as do the coarse particles in the shallow airways region. For females, the recovery was found to be consistently lower than that for males.


Commercial dengue virus (DENV) nonstructural-1 (NS1) Ag detection immunoassays often perform poorly, particularly in secondary DENV infection. To develop a highly sensitive NS1 ELISA, we generated a large repertoire of anti-DENV NS1 mouse mAbs (n = 95) that falls into 36 mAb classes based on binding specificities. The identified mAb pair, capable of efficiently detecting NS1 from four DENV serotypes in an immunoassay, was selected based on multiparametric analysis. The selected mAbs have subnanomolar affinities for NS1 with recognition sites outside the immunodominant wing domain. The assay was converted to an ELISA kit, which showed higher analytical sensitivity (3-fold to 83-fold) for NS1 from four DENV serotypes than commercial Platelia NS1 ELISA (Bio-Rad Laboratories). Compared to RT-PCR, the developed NS1 ELISA showed 78.57% (66 of 84) sensitivity, whereas Platelia NS1 ELISA showed a sensitivity of 60.71% (51 of 84). In a subgroup of RT-PCR–positive secondary dengue samples, our ELISA showed a sensitivity of 70.18% (40 of 57), whereas Platelia ELISA detected only 47.37% (27 of 57) samples. Furthermore, unlike Platelia ELISA, our test equally detected NS1 from four serotypes; Platelia ELISA performed poorly for the DENV-2 serotype, in which only 8 of 21 (38.10%) samples were detected compared with 17 of 21 (80.95%) in our ELISA. Moreover, our ELISA showed 100% specificity in 342 challenging dengue-negative samples. The large and diverse mAb repertoire generated against DENV NS1 and the appropriate selection of mAbs allowed us to establish an ELISA that can efficiently detect NS1 Ag even in secondary dengue and without serotype level bias. Key Points We generated a large repertoire of anti-DENV NS1 mouse mAbs. We identified high-affinity mAbs with recognition sites outside the wing domain. We developed a highly sensitive NS1 Ag ELISA for dengue diagnosis.


Photopheresis is being used with increasing frequency as therapy for patients with neoplastic and dermatologic diseases and is being evaluated as therapy for patients with AIDS. We describe a patient with advanced cutaneous T cell lymphoma who developed pulmonary and cutaneous cryptococcosis after receiving therapy with photopheresis and biweekly methotrexate. We consider the potential roles of cutaneous T cell lymphoma, methotrexate, and photopheresis as predisposing factors in the development of serious cryptococcal infections.


This is a white paper submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. The Exoplanets in our Backyard meeting was born out of a recognition of the value and potential of interdisciplinary, cross-divisional exoplanet and solar system research, and to encourage and grow the community of researchers working at this intersection. This first-ever inter-assessment group (AG) meeting (organized by members of the Venus Exploration, Outer Planets, and Exoplanet AGs, or VEXAG, OPAG, and ExoPAG, respectively), successfully brought together solar system and exoplanetary scientists from different backgrounds and NASA divisions, fostered communication between researchers whose paths had never crossed at a meeting before, and spurred new collaborations. The meeting was held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX on February 5-8, 2020 immediately following the OPAG meeting hosted at the same location. The meeting was attended by approximately 110 scientists on site, and 20-30 online participants. The success of this meeting should be capitalized upon and its momentum carried forward to promote fruitful scientific and programmatic discussion, partnerships, and research going forward. This white paper summarizes the meeting, and discusses the findings and action items that resulted.


The use of medications that have significant adverse implications for oral health and the safe delivery of dental care is increasing. Medication use in general is expected to rise as the population ages, as will the number of dentate patients in the over-65 age group. Adverse drug reactions, the most common of which is xerostomia, or dry mouth, may have direct effects on oro-dental structures.


Over the last several years, the Honduran government has been aggressively advancing a "model cities" project that it argues will provide options for its citizens to escape the extreme violence in their country without migrating to the U.S. The model cities, which are formally called "Zones for Employment and Economic Development" ("ZEDEs"), purport to be autonomously governed areas that will attract foreign investment and compete for residents by establishing safer communities and better managed institutions governed by the rule of law.The ZEDEs trace their origin to a concept formulated by development economist Paul Romer, who proposed the idea of "charter cities." Within charter cities, beneficial public-policy reforms could be enacted with assistance from developed-country governments. The cities would simultaneously provide residents from the surrounding areas with expanded opportunities and enable successful reforms to be replicated throughout the surrounding region –– much as China used special economic zones like Shenzhen to pilot economic reforms three decades ago.The model cities project understandably has its critics. Various Honduran civil society organizations have opposed the project from the beginning. Paul Romer himself backed out when he believed Honduras was acting in an nontransparent manner. Weeks later the Honduran Supreme Court struck down the project as unconstitutional.Honduras' government has been undeterred, however. The Honduran Congress fired four of the Supreme Court justices who struck down the project –– an act that itself exemplifies the very rule-of-law issues that the idea is designed to address. It passed a new, but only slightly revised, model cities law and contracted the South Korean government and Posco Plantec, an engineering firm, to conduct site-selection and feasibility studies. It then appointed a 21-member committee to govern the first ZEDE, composed of prominent right-leaning and libertarian members from around the world. Finally, in May 2014, the new law survived constitutional attack, receiving approval from the reconstituted Supreme Court.This paper analyzes both Paul Romer's Charter Cities concept and the ZEDE laws and argues that the ZEDE laws are indeed constitutional under Honduran law. As long as ZEDEs are subject to Congress, have some measure of popular rule, and appropriately regulate foreign ownership of land, nothing in the Honduran constitution necessarily conflicts with them. However, the model cities may not prove to be a lasting or effective solution for Honduras' problems. First, nothing in the ZEDE law prevents a future Honduran Congress from exercising its powers within the ZEDEs, undercutting the project's goal of autonomy. Second, unlike Romer's charter cities, the ZEDE law does not require the ZEDEs to be democratically governed or subject to any other adequate mechanism ensuring that they will be accountable. These factors may weaken both the perceived legitimacy of the ZEDEs and their effectiveness at addressing the needs of the Honduran people.Nevertheless, since the legal questions surrounding the ZEDEs are substantially similar as those that would confront any other implementation of Romer's charter cities concept, the analysis in this paper provides insight into the legality the charter cities concept more broadly. If Romer's idea is implemented in other countries with similar constitutional provisions as Honduras, many of the same legal questions will be raised, making the ZEDE decision an important test case.


Disseminated candidiasis, a devastating disease with high morbidity and mortality in immunosuppressed patients, is difficult to diagnose because of the protean nature of symptoms and the lack of rapid and reliable laboratory diagnostic procedures. The subject of this review is the status of gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric techniques for the determination of D-arabinitol, a unique metabolite of pathogenic Candida species, in serum and urine. The enantiomers are separated by chiral chromatography followed by specific and sensitive detection using chemical ionization and selected ion monitoring. Using D/L-arabinitol ratios, instead of individual concentrations, eliminates the need for knowing the volume of samples and for calibration curves. A new filter paper technique requires only an unmeasured drop of whole blood (venous or finger/heel puncture) or urine; paper spots are mailable. Parallel determinations of D/L-arabinitol ratios in serum and urine in normal subjects and cancer patients with both normal and increased D/L-arabinitol ratios revealed constant (1.2-1.3 range) ratios of serum D/L-arabinitol/urine D/L-arabinitol for all populations studied. Analyzing two body fluids taken at the same time increases reliability by reducing false positives.


ABSTRACT Although chemotherapy remains the standard of care for patients with advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) because of the modest improvement in survival and quality of life, its efficacy is at least modest and there is evidence that has already reached a plateau. The development of biological agents represents an opportunity in the treatment of advanced NSCLC either in combination with cytotoxic drugs or as a single-agent therapy, both in first- or second-line setting. Furthermore, on the basis of the established activity of some of these agents in NSCLC coupled with a reasonable toxicity profile, these drugs have recently been considered also for maintenance therapy. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) could be considered as one of the most relevant targets for cancer treatment: growth of human tumours is frequently related to aberrant cellular signalling by inappropriate activation of receptor tyrosine kinase via mutation, over expression or ectopic ligand production. Strategies to block such pathway include tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and monoclonal antibodies. Erlotinib and gefitinib are two EGFR-TKIs active against NSCLC. Activating mutations in EGFR were initially described in 2004, when researchers found a very clear association between the presence of an EGFR-activating mutation and radiographic response to gefitinib. In contrast, patients without EGFR mutations had a very low likelihood of responding to gefitinib or erlotinib. The L858R mutation in exon 21 and a deletion of a conserved sequence in exon 19 represent the most commonly observed EGFR mutations. Experimental data indicate the oncogenic potential of EGFR mutations: for instance, the L858R mutation in exon 21, the G719S mutation in exon 18 and the insertion in exon 20 confer ligand-independent cellular transformation. Prospective and retrospective trials confirmed that the response rate to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients with EGFR mutations is up to 80% consistently associated with a significant improvement in time to progressive disease and patients with EGFR-mutated tumours have significantly longer survival than those with EGFR wild-type tumours. The same evidence does not apply to the monoclonal antibody cetuximab, which efficacy in NSCLC was recently demonstrated in one phase III study. The good tolerability profile of EGFR inhibitors make these agents suitable for maintenance setting, while sequencing of EGFR-TKIs and chemotherapy seems to be preferred.


Owing to the economic, well control and drilling efficiency problems it propagates, preventing or curing lost circulation has evolved into a critical issue for the industry. Accordingly, a less expensive drilling fluid system often is selected for a particular interval because it will mitigate the economic ramifications of downhole losses. Conversely, fluid systems are also chosen solely for their capacity to minimize losses downhole. Regardless of the application, special analyses are required to not only determine specific preventative measures for drilling fluid loss, but also for devising an appropriate treatment program to cure losses should they occur. Recently, specialized and chemically activated cross-linked pills (CACP) designed to stop whole mud loss have been developed and have shown significant advantages over conventional loss circulation methods. This paper describes the development and application of the specialized cross-linked pills for controlling downhole mud loss. The authors will detail the laboratory methods used to formulated appropriate formulations, the placement procedures, and the successful field applications of this latest generation lost circulation control mechanism. As detailed in the paper, formulations of the new cross-linked pills normally are tailored to specific downhole conditions of temperature and pressure to create a barrier between the loss zone and the wellbore. Further, they have been specially formulated to enable pumping through narrow drill pipe, coil, or mud motor dimensions and to set in a specific time frame. Chemical activators or retarders to control setting times achieve this. These pills also contain controlled concentrations of particulate sealing agents that can be used selectively to either to bridge the loss zone at the formation face or allow deeper penetration into the fracture.


Sagittal otolith shape analysis is one of the most widespread techniques worldwide to discriminate fish stock units, as this proxy integrates both environmental and genetic factors. All previous otolith shape studies have been carried out using two-dimensional (2D) images, a partial representation of the whole shape of the otolith. However, prior to the identification of stock unit boundaries, the influence of other potential drivers controlling the otolith shape must be analysed to limit their bias. In this study, the presence of asymmetry in otolith shape depending on the inner ear side (i.e., left versus right inner ears) was tested by comparing the approaches of 2D and three-dimensional (3D) sagittal otolith shape analyses. Eighty-two red mullet adults (Mullus barbatus) from three locations in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea were studied. Fourier harmonic descriptors computed from 2D outlines and spherical harmonic descriptors computed from 3D meshes were used to evaluate otolith shape variation. The results of a multivariate mixed-effects model from 2D images showed that there was no asymmetry effect of inner ear side on the otolith shape in any location. There was, however, a significant geographical effect for the 2D otolith shape between the Adriatic Sea and the Levantine Sea. In contrast, 3D information showed that both side effects and geographical differences were significant. This is the first study comparing 2D and 3D data showing different results on the same sample of red mullet. These results demonstrate the importance of 3D otolith shape analysis for stock discrimination.


Corporate governance in developing countries is becoming noticeable in the extant literature. In this chapter, we review the development of the corporate governance discourse in Nigeria, paying attention to the challenges of promoting good governance standards through reforms. Relying on institutional theory as against the widely-engaged agency framework, we account for the institutional determinants of corporate governance reforms in Nigeria. We analyse the intricacies of the institutional context in developing countries and their complementarity (or deviance) with the prevailing corporate governance regulatory system.


Heterogeneous MPSoC design where flexible programmable cores are combined with optimized HW co-processors is a quite complex and challenging task. In this paper, we present a system- level design flow that uses a single functional reference for modeling both HW and SW. The models follow an interface- centric design approach based on the TTL interface (Task Transaction Level). TTL models are applied at all three abstraction levels of the design flow: functional, architecture and implementation level. The TTL model at the functional level serves as the functional reference. HW implementations are generated from refined TTL models by behavioral synthesis tooling. Likewise, SW implementations are supported by source code transformations. Both the HW and SW implementations are verified against the functional reference. Details of the complete flow are presented in the paper through an MP3 case study.


Abstract Background With the Dutch population aging, the number of individuals 75 years old or more needing dialysis is growing. This analysis assessed the cost-effectiveness of adding nurse-assisted peritoneal dialysis (aPD) to the usual care pathway in frail Dutch end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Methods The current Dutch treatment pathway (conservative management, CM: 40% and PD in nursing home, nhPD: 60%) was compared in a decision-tree model with a new approach where the proportion of patients on dialysis would increase to 80% (i.e. CM: 20%; nhPD: 20%; and aPD: 60%). In-center hemodialysis was added in a secondary analysis. Inputs included survival (from literature), utility (from literature), and costs (2009 official tariffs). A healthcare payer's perspective was used with a 5-year horizon. Results The new approach was almost cost neutral in the primary analysis (despite more patients on dialysis) and dominant (more effective and less expensive) in the secondary analysis. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was only €52/QALY. In the sensitivity analyses (primary and secondary analyses), the new approach was either dominant or cost-effective in approximately 75% of the simulations. Conclusions Despite the investment required, offering aPD to frail elderly ESRD patients is a cost-effective alternative to the current pathway for Dutch healthcare payers.


The determination of dissociation constands (Kd) by competitive ligand binding in partial filling capillary electrophoresis is demonstrated. Two different strategies were applied, one of which only uses a single reporter ligand and a more elaborated one which suppresses systemic disturbances by using a racemic mixture as reporter. The dissociation constants obtained by both alternatives were virtually identical and in good agreement with those previously reported.


Observation of the electroweak gauge bosons via their decays to electrons and muons provide an important test of the Standard Model of particle physics. Inclusive W and Z boson cross section measurements provide checks of Next-to-Next-to-Leading-Order perturbative QCD calculations, while differential and double-differential Drell-Yan cross section investigate both QCD and PDF constraints. The measurement of the associated production of jets and vector bosons allows for stringent constraints of perturbative QCD calculations and is sensitive to the presence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Measurements of jet production rates in association with W, Z/γ ∗ , in proton-proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV center-of-mass energy are presented, using data collected with the ATLAS and CMS detector. Measurements include inclusive jet multiplicity, differential jet cross sections, as well as associated charm- and bottom-quark jet production.


The Department of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Luneburg has appointed the 'Doctor honoris causa' to Professor J. F. Volrad Deneke on 7.5.1996. The Laudatio is published in this FFB-Discussion Paper. An appreciation of Professor J. F. Volrad Deneke's scientific services of an individual in societal response would not do justice to his enhancing approach without hints to his non-scientific vitae. Thus, in this Laudatio Deneke's vitae is firstly characterized before his scientific work. The Professions (Freie Berufe) are the nucleus of Deneke's elucidation with the society, the economy and the government and are discussed with Deneke's concept. The scientific focus then is sketched by Deneke's research and teaching with his contributions to the Sociology of Professions, Health and Social Policy, History of Medicine, Medical Journalism, Medical Sociology as well as Economic and Social Sciences, and Economic Policy.


Contextual cuing is the enhancement of visual search when the configuration of distractors has been experienced previously. It has been suggested that contextual cuing relies on associative learning between the distractor locations and the target position. Four experiments examined the effect of pre-exposing configurations of consistent distractors on subsequent contextual cuing. The findings demonstrate a facilitation of subsequent cuing for pre-exposed configurations compared to novel configurations that have not been pre-exposed. This facilitation suggests that learning of repeated visual search patterns involves acquisition of not just distractor-target associations but also associations between distractors within the search context, an effect that is not captured by the Brady and Chun (2007) connectionist model of contextual cuing. We propose a new connectionist model of contextual cuing that learns associations between repeated distractor stimuli, enabling it to predict an effect of pre-exposure on contextual cuing.


RATIONALE: To determine the impact of asthma severity on the total cost of asthma treatment for patients in the Valencia region public-health system. METHODS: This open-label, multicentre, observational study involved retrospective collection of clinical and socio-demographic data (NCT01114906). Healthcare resource use during the previous 12 months was assessed from patients' clinical histories, using specialist and primary care records. Population and prevalence data were used to establish the number of participating centres and patients recruited in the three provinces of the Valencia region (conditioned randomised selection). Local source costs were updated to 2012 prices. RESULTS: 261 patients (females 69.7%; age [mean ± standard deviation] 47.2 ± 18.3 years) were recruited from the Allergology and Pulmonology Units of four hospitals in Alicante, Castellon and Valencia. The average cost per patient was €1423 (95% CI: 1261–1585). Pharmacological treatment (54%) and medical visits/hospital admissions (33%) were responsible for the greatest proportion of the total costs. The average costs per patient with intermittent, mild, moderate and severe asthma were €780 (95% CI: 616–944), €1030 (95% CI: 880–1180), €1747 (95% CI: 1444–2050) and €3111 (95% CI: 2300–3922), respectively. Asthma severity had a significant influence on costs related to treatment (p CONCLUSIONS: Asthma severity and control are the main determinants of costs for patients with asthma in the Valencia region. Therapy optimisation is key to achieving improved asthma management and to reduce the cost burden to the public health system.


This article analyses the circumstances that resulted in the situation when the review ofJ. A. H. Ulrich's eleutheriology, which would be published today as a work co-authored by I. Kant and Chr. J. Kraus, was first published under the name of the philosopher's friend and student and later in collections of Kant's works.It is shown that the review criticises the naturalism of Unlrich's theory of freedom and stresses the major reason behind its failure, namely, that its author did not distinguish between the theoretical and practical functions of consciousness. This circumstance complicates that understanding of that the same act can belong to natural determination in one aspect and free determination in another.It is stressed that the review's methodology is presented in the analysis of the third antinomy of pure reason in "Chapter II: The antinomy of pure reason" of "Book II: Of the dialectical conclusions of pure reason" and that Kant based his solution to the antinomy on the whole system as a comprehensive philosophical theory.


Ascospherosis or chalkbrood is an infectious disease of honey bees (Apis mellifera) caused by the fungus Ascosphaera apis that results in the death of larvae. In severe cases it can cause a decrease Rev Mex Cienc Pecu 2020;11(2): 468-478 469 of the population of adult bees and in the productivity of the colony. This is the first study performed in Mexico with the objective of determining the prevalence of A. apis in honeybee colonies in a beekeeping region. It was carried out in nine municipalities of southern Jalisco, distributed in two climatic zones (sub-humid and subhumid temperate warm), and the relationship of the fungus with factors such as height above sea level, precipitations and temperature was analyzed. Samples of bees were collected from 365 breeding colonies, of which 74.1 % were proven chalkbrood-positive by microscopic analysis. 75.6 % of the colonies in the warm area and 72.2 % of those of the temperate area were A. apis-positive and were not significantly different in terms of the prevalence of chalkbrood (P>0.05). The logistic regression analysis indicated that the increase in rainfall also significantly increases the number of colonies infected with A. apis (odds= 3.53; P<0.01). There was a significant correlation between the rainfall and the proportion of ascospherosis-positive cases (r= 0.87, P= 0.003). The other studied factors had no significant relationship with cases of ascospherosis. Due to the high percentages of colonies infected with A. apis found in this study, further research should be considered in order to determine the causes of the high prevalence of this fungus in honey bee colonies in the state of Jalisco.


Apache Spark is a popular open-source distributed data processing framework that can efficiently process massive amounts of data. It provides more than 180 configuration parameters for users to manually select the appropriate parameter values according to their own experience. However, due to the large number of parameters and the inherent correlation between them, manual tuning is very tedious. To solve the problem of tuning through personal experience, we designed and implemented a reinforcement-learning-based Spark configuration parameter optimizer. First, we trained a Spark application performance prediction model with deep neural networks, and verified the accuracy and effectiveness of the model from multiple perspectives. Second, in order to improve the search efficiency of better configuration parameters, we improved the Q-learning algorithm, and automatically set start and end states in each iteration of training, which effectively improves the agent's poor performance in exploring better configuration parameters. Lastly, comparing our proposed configuration with the default configuration as the baseline, experimental results show that the optimized configuration gained an average performance improvement of 47%, 43%, 31%, and 45% for four different types of Spark applications, which indicates that our Spark configuration parameter optimizer could efficiently find the better configuration parameters and improve the performance of various Spark applications.


In families that included two or more siblings with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder male-male pairs were found to share alleles at the androgen receptor (AR) gene (in Xq11.2-q12) above chance expectation (p < 0.003); female-female and mixed sex pairs showed no such tendency. The findings are compatible with X-Y linkage or with an X-linked contribution to liability in males.


Synthetic data is a promising approach for industrial computer vision
 because it can enable highly autonomous production processes. However, this
 potential is not fulfilled by current software for synthetic data
 generation, which usually requires a programmer to create new datasets. To
 overcome this, we are proposing a framework for more autonomous synthetic
 data generation, formalizing user roles relevant to such systems. A central
 aspect of our framework is that domain experts can easily influence the
 generation of synthetic data by entering knowledge via user interfaces. To
 get a better idea of what such knowledge could be, we have systematically
 collected examples of knowledge types for synthetic data generation in
 production and combined them into a taxonomy with almost 300 nodes. Using
 this taxonomy as the basis for analyses, we derive six implications for our
 framework, such as knowledge being not only passed on by domain experts but
 also by the designer of the user interfaces and generation algorithms. We
 plan to incorporate these findings to further refine and implement our
 framework in future research.


Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy. Opium addiction is the most prevalent addiction in Iranian society. During the last two decades "congress 60" a nongovernmental organization, has been performed a taper off treatment of opium associated with a package of psychological treatment group classes. Present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of taper off method in opium addiction in Iran, during more than 20 years as well as the effects of the treatment method on addiction associated cognitive dysfunctions. In present study the taper off treatment method of opium addiction called Dezhakam step time (DST) were assessed. We used data collected via the congress 60 non-governmental organization in Iran dedicated to addiction treatment with DST method, since Jan 2018 until December 2020. In addition, executive functions including memory and decision making were analyzed in a large sample size from addicted subjects which were successfully treated with DST method in Congress 60. Results showed high number of successful treatment of opium addiction and very low number of substance abuse relapse. Also, signi�cant improvements in memory and decision making were determined in addicts after therapy and these improvements were correlated with duration of individuals' membership in congress 60. Findings revealed the effectiveness of taper off method in treatment of opium addiction as well as improvement in cognitive functions in opium dependent persons. Findings of the study may help to a better understanding from a novel method of opium addiction treatment called DST and its effects on neuropsychological mechanisms and brain functions of opium dependents.


We study channel-aware decision fusion over a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel in the largearray regime at the decision-fusion center (DFC). Inhomogeneous large-scale fading between the sensors and the DFC is consider in addition to the small-scale fading, and pilot-based channel estimation is performed at the DFC. Linear processing techniques are analyzed in order to design low-complexity alternatives to the optimum log-likelihood ratio test (LLRT). Performance evaluation based on Monte Carlo simulations are presented.


Though the Backlund transformation on time-like surfaces with constant mean curvature surfaces in R2,1 has been obtained, it is not easy to obtain corresponding surfaces because the procedure of solving the related integrable system cannot be avoided when the Backlund transformation is used. For sake of this, in this article, some special work is done to reform the Backlund transformation to a recursion formula, by which we can construct time-like surfaces with constant mean curvature form known ones just by quadrature procedure.


1. There was a seasonal variation in the strength of the effect which extracts of the pericardial organs of Squilla mantis exert on the animal9s heart. The extract was most effective in the spring and summer. 2. An investigation was made of the way in which the pericardial organ extract acts at a cellular level to increase the amplitude and frequency of the heart beat. 3. The extract did not affect the rate of impulse firing within the ganglionic nerve trunk burst. It increased the ratio of the number of impulses per burst: burst interval. 4. It initiated burst firing in complete g.n.t.9s which had become quiescent, and in those which had previously given only one impulse in response to an applied stimulus. 5. The junction potentials recorded intracellularly from Squilla heart muscle increased in height on adding pericardial extract. Some of this increase resulted from facilitation of the junction potentials at the increased heart rate, but 10-20% of the increase was rate-independent. 6. These results suggest that the extract acts at a minimum of two primary sites within the heart.


In this paper, we analyze, for the first time, the eminent role of optical transparent networking in personal networks. We show how an optical access network mitigates many issues with respect to connectivity and mobility management. A concrete personal network user-scenario deduces requirements for such an architecture. A combination of passive optical network, optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA), and radio-over-fiber exhibits minimal cost and complexity because of centralized network control and management, resource sharing, and simplified network nodes. We enable transparent peer-to-peer communication between optical networking units in the OCDMA passive optical network subnet of the central office. We use, for the first time, simultaneously optical code-sense medium access control and optical code packet switching for contention resolution.


Objective To identify the genetic mechanisms of immunosuppression-related genes implicated in ischemic stroke. Background A better understanding of immune-related genes (IGs) involved in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke may help identify drug targets beneficial for immunomodulatory approaches and reducing stroke-induced immunosuppression complications. Methods Two datasets related to ischemic stroke were downloaded from the GEO database. Immunosuppression-associated genes were obtained from three databases (i.e., DisGeNET, HisgAtlas, and Drugbank). The CIBERSORT algorithm was used to calculate the mean proportions of 22 immune-infiltrating cells in the stroke samples. Differential gene expression analysis was performed to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in stroke. Immunosuppression-related crosstalk genes were identified as the overlapping genes between ischemic stroke-DEGs and IGs. Feature selection was performed using the Boruta algorithm and a classifier model was constructed to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the obtained immunosuppression-related crosstalk genes. Functional enrichment analysis, gene-transcriptional factor and gene-drug interaction networks were constructed. Results Twenty two immune cell subsets were identified in stroke, where resting CD4 T memory cells were significantly downregulated while M0 macrophages were significantly upregulated. By overlapping the 54 crosstalk genes obtained by feature selection with ischemic stroke-related genes obtained from the DisGenet database, 17 potentially most valuable immunosuppression-related crosstalk genes were obtained, ARG1, CD36, FCN1, GRN, IL7R, JAK2, MAFB, MMP9, PTEN, STAT3, STAT5A, THBS1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR7, TNFSF10, and VASP. Regulatory transcriptional factors targeting key immunosuppression-related crosstalk genes in stroke included STAT3, SPI1, CEPBD, SP1, TP53, NFIL3, STAT1, HIF1A, and JUN. In addition, signaling pathways enriched by the crosstalk genes, including PD-L1 expression and PD-1 checkpoint pathway, NF-kappa B signaling, IL-17 signaling, TNF signaling, and NOD-like receptor signaling, were also identified. Conclusion Putative crosstalk genes that link immunosuppression and ischemic stroke were identified using bioinformatics analysis and machine learning approaches. These may be regarded as potential therapeutic targets for ischemic stroke.


The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C19H19NOS6, contains two independent molecules with different conformations of the ethyl groups. The dihedral angles between the pyrrole and benzene rings are 14.19 (14) and 16.29 (17)° in the two molecules. In the absence of short intermolecular contacts, in the crystal, the molecules are packed with their long axes parallel to [10].


The P content of swine manure can be reduced through the addition of feed supplements or the use of selected corn hybrids. This study was conducted to compare interrill runoff losses of P and N from three soils following the application of swine manure obtained from selected diets. The soils used in this investigation included a Hersh sandy loam, Pierre silty clay, and Sharpsburg silt loam. Simulated rainfall was applied during both initial and wet runs to a soil pan on which swine manure produced from low phytate corn (LPC), phytase added to the diet (PHY), or a traditional corn diet (TCD) was added. Additional experimental treatments included inorganic fertilizer and an untreated check. For the initial rainfall simulation run, concentrations of dissolved P, bioavailable P, and Total P were greater for the fertilizer treatment than any of the manure treatments. Use of manure from a LPC diet generally did not result in a reduction in N and P concentrations in runoff when compared with the TCD. Concentrations and total amounts of nutrients transported in runoff were affected by soil type. Changing the TCD to LPC and PHY diets to reduce the P content of manure did not significantly affect the total amounts of DP, BAP, or Total P transported in runoff, when simulated rainfall was applied soon after manure application.


Calophyllum brasiliense , a Neotropical species, hosts seven galling Cecidomyiidae reported only for Brazil. Our hypothesis is the distribution of the galling insects associated with C. brasiliense is similar to that of the host plant. We checked gall occurrence by field sampling and by searching data in literature and herbaria. Current results indicate that the occurrence of galling Cecidomyiidae associated with C. brasiliense extends to 13 Brazilian states, as well as to 11 countries of Neotropical America.


Co-processing of various alternative fuels in cement kilns has become meanwhile more or less state-of-the art in many areas of the world. It has become more established and accepted by the industry as prices for primary fuels are steadily increasing. Another reason is the global goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO2). To successfully fulfill individual production targets, process related influences resulting from burning alternative fuels and best available technology have to be well balanced. A goal- oriented process engineering with proven Calcinerand Burner technology and adequate Bypass solutions is necessary to achieve highest possible replacement of fossil fuels combined with "trouble-free" process conditions. Norwegian Cement producer started already in the eighties utilizing alternative fuels motivated by environmental, economical and societal benefits at the Brevik plant. The portion of alternative fuels has steadily increased with different steps of kiln modification. Starting first with calciner and riser duct firing of secondary fuels up to a certain point where combustion- and flow-related limitations occurred. In the next modification step a combustion chamber was installed to an extended calciner for sufficient residence time. Together with the installation of the chlorine bypass system the process goals as total substitution rate of 60% maintaining the clinker production capacity and elimination of operational problems could be achieved. After 4 years of successful operation with several improvement measures, alternative fuel firing is further optimized, especially at the kiln main burner in order to achieve highest possible substitution rates at most economic production conditions in the permissible framework of increasing emission regulations.