[1] In this study, we compare modeled (MIT-CAM3) and observed (CARIBIC) sub-micrometer nucleation (N4–12, 4 ≤ d ≤ 12 nm) and Aitken mode (N12, d > 12 nm) particle number concentrations in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere (UT/LMS). Modeled and observed global median N4–12 and N12 agree fairly well (within a factor of two) indicating that the relatively simplified binary H2SO4-H2O nucleation parameterization applied in the model produces reasonable results in the UT/LMS. However, a comparison of the spatiotemporal distribution of sub-micrometer particles displays a number of discrepancies between MIT-CAM3 and CARIBIC data: N4–12is underestimated by the model in the tropics and overestimated in the extra-topics. N12 is in general overestimated by the model, in particular in the tropics and during summer months. The modeled seasonal variability of N4–12 is in poor agreement with CARIBIC data whereas it agrees rather well for N12. Modeled particle frequency distributions are in general narrower than the observed ones. The model biases indicate an insufficient diffusive mixing in MIT-CAM3 and a too large vertical transport of carbonaceous aerosols. The overestimated transport is most likely caused by the constant supersaturation threshold applied in the model for the activation of particles into cloud droplets. The annually constant SO2 emissions in the model may also partly explain the poor representation of the N4–12seasonal cycle. Comparing the MIT-CAM3 with CARIBIC data, it is also clear that care has to be taken regarding the representativeness of the measurement data and the time frequency of the model output.


This research paper's focus is to portray and analyse different ways of how participants of the educational system in the Republic of Croatia have reacted to the pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 Pupils' right to education, as one of their basic rights, was enabled by the Government of the Republic of Croatia's decision to organise distance learning The part of the system which encountered most challenges during transitioning to online education was in classes first to fourth due to the pupils, because of chronological age and digital and computer literacy level, requiring parents' assistance in order to successfully accomplish educational outcomes The involvement of parents, who because of child's impossibility to independently carry out duties, have taken on a role of a substitute teacher overnight which consequentially resulted in their overload The key element in distance learning is independence of pupils which is questionable in the chosen segment of the educational system In addition to independence of pupils, this paper distinguishes two other important factors: pupils' spatial-material-technical learning conditions necessary to undertake distance learning and cooperative relationship between parents (as substitute teachers) and "real" teachers which takes on a new dimension in the newly emerged situation The empirical research's goal was an inquiry intoparents' attitudes and experiences in three categories (independence of pupils, spatial-material-technical conditions and teachers' requirements) Research results show the existence of difference in parents' attitudes considering their structural characteristics (age, sex, educational status) Furthermore, research participants show mostly positive feedback information in relation to general attributes of distance learning, and results confirm the existence of differences in attitudes in questioned categories Based on research results we can conclude that distance learning asks of parents, whose children are pupils of classes first to fourth, for a new level of investment for which they require pedagogical support and guidance


Eight cases of [absence status] are reported, occurring in old patients (7 females, 1 male), mean age 75 years, without any known history of epilepsy. The main clinical feature was a fluctuating state of consciousness, during which the EEG showed diffuse spikes and polyspikes with a frontal predominance. These abnormalities disappeared after intravenous benzodiazepine administration, resulting in most cases in a spectacular clinical improvement. Five of our patients had a depressive history and were taking antidepressive or psychotropic drugs. Hyponatremia or hypokalemia probably secondary to diuretic medications, was present in 4 cases. No recurrence occurred with or without long-term anti-epileptic medication.


In this paper, a novel technique is proposed for energy efficient switching transmission scheme in a wireless sensor network (WSN). Distributed sensors can cooperate with the neighborhood and transmit their data to the data collector by choosing a proper transmission mode adaptively based on the channel conditions and distance among the sensors. The analytic performances of two MIMO transmission modes and SIMO can be accessed by investigating the statistical properties of a correlated virtual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel between the sensors and data collector. The energy efficiencies of two MIMO transmission modes namely spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity are also evaluated. Based on these result, a new energy efficient mode switching criterion between spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity and SIMO suitable to a WSN is derived.


The massification of higher education has led to a substantial increase in enrolments since 1993, and an astonishing 300% rise  in firstdegree completion among black students. Yet questions remain about the level and adequacy of students' preparation at school for such study. Drop-out rates of learners remain unacceptably high both at school and university level. Language ability is often identified as being one of several hurdles that prevent success, especially in higher education. At school there is an apparent misalignment between the aims of the current Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), and the subsequent instruction and assessment of students. CAPS requires that students should be prepared to handle academic discourse, yet no clear outline of what academic discourse entails is given.Consequently, many higher education institutions across the country require of students to write additional pre-admission or post-entry tests of language ability. In some cases the National Benchmark Test (NBT) is used to grant or deny access, or in others for placement of at-risk students on language development interventions, usually defined as "academic literacy" courses. The clear expectation is that  these tests will have some measure of predictive value, or at least be useful as regards minimising risk of failure. Ideally, it would then be advantageous if students who need to improve their academic literacy levels could be identified at an earlier stage than university entry, whilst they are still in school. To monitor and gauge the value of language assessments and courses, however, one would first need appropriate, adequate and defensible assessment instruments. This paper discusses the need for and the refinement of an academic literacy test for Grade 10 students as a first step towards measuring and then developing the required level of academic literacy before entry into higher education.


Suppression of high transverse momentum (pT ) charged hadrons can be measured by the nuclear modification factor, which compares binary collision scaled pT spectra from central heavy-ion collisions to a reference, either proton-proton (RAA) or peripheral heavy-ion collisions (RCP) by taking their ratio. At high sNN the nuclear modification factor at high pT is observed to be suppressed, i.e. less than unity. The complex array of processes that can modify particle spectra in nuclear collisions span cold nuclear matter effects, a strongly interacting medium, and an extended phase of hadronic re-scatterings. RHIC's broad range of collision systems and energies combined with model comparisons provide the tools to investigate the beam energy dependence of nuclear modification factors and help to disentangle the spectral modifications that are due to each of these contributions. Measurements of charged hadron RCP( sNN , pT) for sNN = 7.7 200GeV show a smooth transition from strong enhancement of high pT charged hadrons at low energies to strong suppression at high energies. AMPT and HIJING failed to reproduce the results from data. Further tuning of the models may yet facilitate the investigation of the relative contributions from jet quenching and Cronin enhancement.


This study reports on a comparison between a single ward and a two-ward system of acute in-patient care in a general hospital psychiatric unit. It looked at job satisfaction, levels of stress, absenteeism/sickness and work proficiency amongst the staff and also at patients' level of disturbed behaviour, length of stay and re-admission rates. It was found that a continuous-care ward was associated with a lower level of behavioural disturbance and was preferred by the majority of staff, with some increase in job satisfaction and a decrease in stress. The continuous-care ward was also associated with shorter admissions. However, those who progressed through a two-ward system were less likely to be re-admitted within 3 months. The implications of these results are discussed.


The article describes the methodological basis for the organization of management registration at the uni-versity on the basis of the quality management system, balanced scorecard and information technology. The author offers the version of the development of quality management system of education based on the information model with a system of indicators corresponding to the direction of the university and aimed at improving the quality of education. As a tool for the description of the management of the uni-versity the author used a process approach and software Business Studio.


A compact microstrip patch antenna with a slot fed by coaxial probe is presented in this paper. The slot which is circular in shape with triangular truncations results three narrow bands. The patch is designed on FR4 substrate of thickness 1.6 mm and relative permittivity of 4.4. The size of the proposed antenna is 35mm x 45mm x 1.6mm. Return loss comparison is done for different feed locations. The proposed antenna is suitable for WiMax, Wi-Fi and WLAN applications. The simulations are carried out using Finite Element Method based Ansfot High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS).


Telomerase is a telomere-specific DNA polymerase consisting of protein and RNA components, which is activated in germline cells and the majority of cancers and serves to counter the consequences of telomere shortening. Recently, it has been reported that telomerase activity level was correlated with the progression and prognosis of hematopoietic malignancies, thus, it is important to analyze telomerase activity. The protein component, hTERT, is believed to be the catalytic subunit of human telomerase and its expression at the mRNA level correlates well with telomerase activity in vitro. Current techniques for assaying telomerase activity detect only the mean activity in a sample and unable to isolate specific cell sub-populations. We developed immuno-fluorescence flow cytometry based assay to detect hTERT expression using a monoclonal antibody. This method allows sub-population of cells to be separated according to hTERT expression more easily, combining antibody against cell surface antigen. Expression level of hTERT in T cell leukemia cell line Jurkat and myeloma cell line RPMI8226, KMS12PE, KMS28PE, were very high and well correlated in between this method and real time quantitative PCR. Human mature granulocytes supposed to have no telomerase activity did not show any hTERT expression in this flow-cytometric assay. Immuno-histochemistry demonstrated the specific nuclear expression of hTERT. Bone marrow samples were obtained from 8 MDS patients (5 RA, 1 RAEB, 2 RAEB-t) and analyzed hTERT isolating MDS blast cells. In the blast population, cells expressing hTERT were 33.1% (21.4–40.3) in RA patient sample, while those in RAEB and RAEB-t patients sample were significantly higher at 75.1% (68.2–81.9). When CD34 positive hematopoietic stem cells were analyzed, the cells expressing hTERT were higher in RAEB and RAEB-t than in RA. Mature granulocyte population in bone marrow cells did not show any positivity. Our result suggests that hTERT expression and telomerase activity in the MDS blasts or CD34 positive stem cells were up-regulated during the disease progression and the high expression level of hTERT and telomerase activity were not due to the blast expansion. This technique allows us to easily analyze hTERT expression in hematopoietic malignancy even though the malignant cells were very small in bone marrow sample, e.g. MDS, MM or MGUS of which telomerase activity were supposed to be correlated with the disease progression and prognosis.


The Belle II experiment has started to take data in 2018, studying e+e- collisions at the KEK facility in Tsukuba (Japan), in a center of mass energy range of the Bottomonium states. The tracking system includes a combination of hit measurements coming from the vertex detector, made of pixel detectors and double-sided silicon strip detectors, and acentral drift chamber, inside a solenoid of 1.5 T magnetic field. Once the pattern recognition routines have identified the track candidates, hit measurements are fitted taking into account the different information coming from different detectors, the energy loss in the materials and the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field. Track fitting is performed by the generic track-fitting software GENFIT, which includes a Kalman filter improved by a deterministic annealing filter, in order to reject outlier hits coming from not correctly associated hits by the pattern recognition. Several mass hypotheses are used in the fit, in order to achieve the best track parameter estimation for each particle kind. This article presents the design of the track fitting in the Belle II software, showing results in terms of track parameter estimation as well as computing performances.


Most man-made objects are composed of a few basic geometric primitives (GPs) such as spheres, cylinders, planes, ellipsoids, or cones. Thus, the object recognition problem can be considered as one of geometric primitives extraction. Among the different geometric primitives, cylinders are the most frequently used GPs in real-world scenes. Therefore, cylinder detection and extraction are of great importance in 3D computer vision. Despite the rapid progress of cylinder detection algorithms, there are still two open problems in this area. First, a robust strategy is needed for the initial sample selection component of the cylinder extraction module. Second, detecting multiple cylinders simultaneously has not yet been investigated in depth. In this paper, a robust solution is provided to address these problems. The proposed solution is divided into three sub-modules. The first sub-module is a fast and accurate normal vector estimation algorithm from raw depth images. With the estimation method, a closed-form solution is provided for computing the normal vector at each point. The second sub-module benefits from the maximally stable extremal regions (MSER) feature detector to simultaneously detect cylinders present in the scene. Finally, the detected cylinders are extracted using the proposed cylinder extraction algorithm. Quantitative and qualitative results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the baseline algorithms in each of the following areas: normal estimation, cylinder detection, and cylinder extraction.


In these five essays Niall Rudd presents an eclectic set of comparisons between certain ancient authors and later English writers ranging from Chaucer to Pound. He shows how five English writers consciously used and adapted classical works, and in so doing he illuminates both the classical authors and their English imitators and admirers. Readable translations and summaries of the Latin sources make these stimulating studies accessible even to scholars and students with little or no Latin. The first essay compares Chaucer's treatment of Dido in The House of Fame and The Legend of Good Women with Virgil's presentation of Dido in the Aeneid, and Ovid's in Heroides 7. The second essay, comparing Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors with Plautus' Menaechmi, demonstrates how Shakespeare, weaving Roman farce into the framework of Hellenistic romance, developed both genres into something richer and more complex. The third essay on Pope's Epistle to Augustus shows his conversion of Horace's praise of Augustus into an anti-royalist attack on George II. In the fourth essay, Rudd discusses how much of Tennyson's Lucretius is invented and imported by Tennyson as a way of externalizing the inner conflicts he experienced in the age of doubt. The final essay, on Pound and Propertius, looks at Pound's representation of the Latin poet in Homage to Sextus Propertius, specifically in the areas of imperial politics, love, and language. In his preface Rudd writes: 'Everyone knows of the Classical Tradition - comprehending it is another matter.' This book brings it closer to our understanding.


Traditional and original methods of EEG analysis were used to study the brain electrical activity maturation in 156 children and adolescents from 7 to 17 years old who represented the native (Koryaks and Evenks) and newcomers' populations living in severe climatic and geographic conditions of the Russian North-East. New data revealing age-, sex- and ethnic-related features in quantitative EEG parameters are presented. Markers are obtained that characterize alterations in the structure of interaction between different EEG rhythms. The results demonstrate age-dependent transformation of this structure separated in time for both different cortical areas and different EEG frequency bands. These alterations show time lag from 2 to 3 years in children of native population compared to the newcomers. The revealed differences are assumed to reflect geno-phenotypical features of morpho-functional CNS development in children of the native and newcomers' population that depend on strong adaptation tension for extreme environmental conditions.


ABSTRACT To prepare new graduates with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to engage in effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in practice, healthcare professional programmes need to ensure their curriculum provides opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) and IPC. To strengthen IPE within an undergraduate curriculum and meet the professional requirements set out by regulatory bodies to prepare new graduate nurses to achieve IPC competencies, a curriculum initiative was developed to expand IPE across the four years of the Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) programme. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify published teaching-learning activities in undergraduate nursing programmes to inform the development and integration of IPE curricula. The literature included was identified by searching the following electronic databases: EMBASE and EBSCO (CINAHL, Medline, Education Research Complete, ERIC). The search was limited to articles with abstracts published between 2008 and 2016 in the English language. All ten studies that met inclusion criteria reported students' perceived interprofessional education as valuable in facilitating their achievement of IPC competencies. Interprofessional education is an approach for preparing nursing students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve IPC competencies and therefore, urgently needs to become more prevalent in nursing curricula. Educators can use a variety of IPE teaching-learning activities to support students' achievement of IPC competencies in order to prepare new practitioners to engage in effective IPC in a variety of healthcare milieus. Nurse educators are encouraged to intentionally integrate learning opportunities into current and future undergraduate nursing education to prepare collaborative ready graduate nurses.


In this work, the ferroelectric thin-film transistor (Fe-TFT) with polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) channel and HfZrO x gate dielectric is fabricated to study the characteristics of non-volatile memory (NVM). Significant threshold voltage (V TH) modulation can be achieved with low pulse voltages less than ±3.5 V and pulse widths within 1 μs. In order to achieve the NVM characteristics of low voltage and high speed operation, the impact of the program/erase (PRG/ERS) pulse voltage (V PRG/V ERS) and pulse width on endurance is a critical consideration. In the study of the pulse width effect on endurance, it can be observed that the V TH in PRG-state exhibits the wake-up effect at both short and long pulse widths. In addition, with the increase of pulse width, the V TH in the PRG-state exhibits significant fatigue effect and subthreshold swing (SS) degradation effect. For V TH in the ERS-state, the increase of the pulse width also exhibits the fatigue effect and the SS degradation effect, which is dominated by the SS degradation effect at long pulse widths. In the study of the pulse voltage effect on endurance, the increase of V PRG shows the imprint effect that the V TH in either PRG- or ERS-state reveals a decreasing trend. When the V ERS increases, the SS of the PRG- and ERS-states is degraded, and the fatigue effect of the PRG-state is enhanced. Moreover, the retention characteristics of poly-Si Fe-TFTs exhibit stable characteristics at both room temperature and 50 °C.


Peptide synthesis is a fundamental feature of life. However, it still remains unclear how the contemporary translation apparatus evolved from primitive prebiotic systems and at which stage of the evolution peptide synthesis emerged. Using simple molecular architectures, in which aminoacyl transfer of phenylalanine occurs either between two ends of a PNA stem loop structure, between two PNAs in a duplex, or between two PNAs assembled on a PNA template, we show that bona fide template instructed phenylalanine transfer can take place. Thus, we have identified conditions which allow template assisted intermolecular aminoacyl transfer using simple ester aminolysis chemistry primitively analogous to the ribosomal peptidyl transferase reaction in the absence of anchimeric assistance from ribose and ribosome catalysis. These results help define the minimum chemical boundary conditions for the translation process and also give insight into the possibilities for the prebiotic emergence of RNA-independent translation.


Computer Science Principles V10 by Clive W. Humphris Portable Learning, Reference and Revision Tools. Copyright by eptsoft limited 2017 All rights reserved. Acknowledgement Our thanks and appreciation goes to John D. Ransley MIEE from Whitbourne in Worcestershire for all his help and expert guidance in developing this eBook and app content. Introduction Now with interactive eBook content on your mobile device where you can insert your own values directly, view calculations and update graphics that reflect those changes! See the Table of Contents to explore and Additional Notes page at the rear of the eBook to download the Apps onto other devices.


Background. Human skin is needed for covering large body areas lost by trauma. The shortcomings of contemporary methods of skin storage are limited preservation time and high immunogenicity if allogeneic. Methods. We investigated whether long-lasting skin preservation in anhydrous sodium chloride (NaCl) may be the source of keratinocytes (KCs) for transplantation. Dehydrated skin fragments were preserved for a time frame from 1 week to 12 months. Then, skin fragments were rehydrated, and KCs were isolated. The viability of KCs was assessed in viability/cytotoxicity test. NaCl-preserved KCs were cultured for 7 days and transplanted to the dorsum of SCID mice. Results. The morphology of NaCl-preserved KCs was unaltered. KCs from all epidermal layers could be identified. All grafts were accepted by the recipients. Transplanted KCs: synthesized keratins 10 and 16 expressed antigens specific for stem cells and transient-amplifying cells, and remained HLA-I-positive. Moreover, they expressed the proliferative marker PCNA. Cells isolated from transplants remained viable and produced enzymes. Conclusions. Transplantation of KCs obtained from human skin and stored in anhydrous NaCl may be considered for the closure of extensive skin wounds. The originality of this method consists of an effective storage procedure and easy preparation of keratinocytes for transplantation.


When it comes to HIV/AIDS research, insiders and outsiders agree that this country, nicknamed the bear, has not lived up to its big and strong moniker. In addition to language barriers and other difficulties in accessing information, the country is still reeling from a brain drain that happened when the Soviet Union fell. But there are islands of talented investigators. One of them is the Biomedical Center, a privately run and modest institution in St. Petersburg. The center conducts studies on epidemiology, behavior, molecular characterizations of the virus, and basic vaccine questions. The two dozen investigators have helped clarify the rate of spread of HIV among injecting drug users and documented the transmission from IDUs into the broader population through heterosexual sex. It is the only Russian institution to have joined the U.S. National Institutes of Health9s HIV Prevention Trials Network, establishing an IDU cohort for future studies. And several center investigators have trained at Yale University and other top U.S. institutions.


The banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) is one of the most commercially important penaeid species in the world. Its numbers are declining in the wild, leading to a loss of broodstock for farmers of the shrimp and a need for more successful breeding programs. However, the molecular mechanism of the genes involved in this shrimp's ovarian maturation is still unclear. Consequently, we compared transcriptomic profiles of ovarian tissue from females in both the vitellogenic stage and the non-vitellogenic stage. Using RNA-Seq technology to prepare the transcriptome libraries, a total of 12,187,412 and 11,694,326 sequencing reads were acquired from the non-vitellogenic and vitellogenic stages respectively. The analysis of the differentially expressed genes identified 1,025 which were significantly differentially expressed between the two stages, of which 694 were up-regulated and 331 down-regulated. Four genes putatively involved in the ovarian maturation pathway were chosen for validation by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). The data from this study provided information about gene expression in ovarian tissue of the banana shrimp which could be useful for a better understanding of the regulation of this species' reproductive cycle.


The dopamine analog 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine (3,4-DHBA), a novel antitumor agent, was shown to inhibit directly DNA polymerase in cells of the deeply pigmented murine melanoma, S-91A, permeabilized to nucleotides by lysolecithin. In contrast, levodopa and dopamine did not inhibit DNA polymerase in permeabilized cells in the absence of exogenous tyrosinase. Analysis using isolated DNA polymerase showed that the inhibitory activity of the ortho dihydroxy compounds was totally dependent upon enzymatic activation. The enzymatic activation of the ortho derivative 3,4-DHBA by tyrosinase results in two reactive species: a semiquinone intermediate and a less reactive quinone. Inhibition of DNA polymerase by activated 3,4-DHBA was shown by dialysis and kinetic studies to involve an irreversible reaction which occurs at two inhibitor interaction sites as determined by a Hill plot analysis. Double-stranded DNA protected the enzyme from inhibition by 3,4-DHBA, suggesting that the inhibitory sites are at or near the template-initiator binding site.


Despite the prominence of the capability-for-suicide construct in suicide research, fundamental hypotheses about its nature and development remain largely untested. In this study, we tested the primary mechanism proposed to account for its development: habituation to painful or provocative events. More than a thousand adults were recruited worldwide from online suicide, self-injury, and mental health web forums and subsequently followed for 28 days. Analyses examined the experiences purported to have the strongest effects: suicidal and nonsuicidal-self-injurious behaviors. Capability was measured explicitly and implicitly. Multiple mediation was used to test whether changes in capability between baseline and 28-day follow-up were accounted for by exposure to self-injurious behaviors that occurred over the intervening time interval. Results failed to support the habituation hypothesis, at least as studied within the methodological constraints of this study. Post hoc power analyses indicated ample power to detect small effects. Results raise questions about the validity of the habituation hypothesis.


Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), composed of intracellular filamentous aggregates of hyperphosphorylated protein tau, are one of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tau phosphorylation is regulated by the equilibrium between activities of its protein kinases and phosphatases; unbalance of these activities is proposed to be a reasonable causative factor to the disease process. Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta) is one of the most important protein kinase in regulating tau phosphorylation; overexpression of active GSK3beta causes ADlike hyperphosphorylation of tau. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is the major phosphatase that dephosphorylates tau; it was demonstrated that highly conserved carboxyl-terminal sequence of PP2A C-subunit is a focal point for phosphatase regulation. This is the site of a reversible methyl esterification reaction that controls AB_{alpha}C heterotrimers formation. Here we demonstrate that GSK3beta and PP2A genes were upregulated by inhibiting methylation reactions through B vitamin deficiency. In this condition, methylated catalytic subunit PP2Ac was decreased, leading to reduced PP2A activity. By contrast, we observed GSK3beta protein increase and a modulation in phosphorylation sites that regulate GSK3beta activity. Therefore, one-carbon metabolism alteration seems to be a cause of deregulation of the equilibrium between GSK3beta and PP2A, leading to abnormal hyperphosphorylated tau.


As part of a general effort to identify new genes mapping to disease-associated regions of human chromosome 22, we have isolated heterogeneous nuclear RNA from somatic cell hybrids selected for their chromosome 22 content. Inter-Alu PCR amplification yielded a series of human DNA fragments which all detected evolutionarily-conserved sequences. The centromere-most gene fragment candidate, XEN61, was shown to lie centromeric to the chromosome 22 breakpoint in the X/22-33-11TG somatic cell hybrid. This region, which is still devoid of characterized genes, overlaps with the critical region for the cat eye syndrome (CES), a developmental disorder associated with chromosomal duplication within 22pter-q11.2. Gene dosage analysis performed on DNA from six CES patients consistently revealed the presence of four copies of XEN61. A fetal brain cDNA clone, 61EW, was identified with XEN61 and entirely sequenced. The deduced protein is the E subunit of vacuolar H(+)-ATPase. This 31 KDa component of a proton pump is essential in eukaryotic cells as it both controls acidification of the vacuolar system and provides it with its main protonmotive force. RT-PCR experiments using oligonucleotides designed from the 61EW cDNA sequence indicated that the corresponding messenger is widely transcribed.


In this study, the duration-of-load (DOL) effect on the rolling shear strength of cross laminated timber (CLT) was evaluated. A stress-based damage accumulation model is chosen to evaluate the DOL effect on the rolling shear strength of CLT. This model incorporates the established short-term rolling shear strength of material and predicts the time to failure under arbitrary loading history. The model was calibrated and verified based on the test data from low cycle trapezoidal fatigue tests (the damage accumulation tests). The long-term rolling shear behaviour of CLT can then be evaluated from this verified model. As the developed damage accumulation model is a probabilistic model, it can be incorporated into a time-reliability study. Therefore, a reliability assessment of the CLT products was performed considering short-term and snow loading cases. The reliability analysis results and factors reflecting the DOL effect on the rolling shear strength of CLT are compared and discussed. The results suggest that the DOL rolling shear strength adjustment factor for CLT is more severe than the general DOL adjustment factor for lumber; and, this difference should be considered in the introduction of CLT into the building codes for engineered wood design.


We have investigated PhIP-induced mutagenicity in various tissues (kidney, liver, large and small intestine) using a transgenic mouse model (MutaMouse). In addition to tissue specific mutagenesis, we measured the binding of [14C]PhIP to MutaMouse mice blood proteins (haemoglobin and albumin), to obtain a quantitative estimate of carcinogen exposure and activation and their relationship to mutagenesis. Short-term (4 days) treatment of MutaMouse mice with [14C]PhIP by oral gavage resulted in the dose-dependent accumulation of radiolabelled material bound to haemoglobin and serum albumin. PhIP, at the highest dose (20 mg/kg), caused a 5.9-fold increase in the mutation frequency in the large intestine, a 4.2-fold increase in the mutation frequency in the small intestine but only a marginal 1.6-fold increase in the liver. However, there was no significant increase in mutations in the kidney at this dose. In contrast, there were no significant differences in any of these tissues between the vehicle control and the two lower doses (2.0 and 0.2 mg/kg respectively). These results are discussed in relationship to those previously reported for PhIP at the Dlb-1 locus.


This paper looks at a clinical case in which a patient who engaged in sexual risk taking became infected with HIV in the course of his analysis. Health concerns and social stigma make contraction of HIV emotionally fraught for those infected and those close to them. Psychoanalysts working with people in this situation may find it difficult to sort through their own and their patients' reactions, including feelings of guilt and responsibility. The paper describes the complex developmental and clinical context of one such case and shows how psychoanalytic inquiry rooted in the patient's subjective world provided a context in which the meanings of his seroconversion could be understood. This understanding allowed for emotional changes that showed promise for the patient's capacity for continued self-care.


Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the healthcare system's capacities around the world. Due to the alarming situation, medical activities have been restricted to allocate resources to treat COVID-19-infected patients. However, medical emergencies still need urgent medical intervention. Considering the lack of reliable data regarding spinal surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study sought to analyze the pattern of spinal surgeries in KSA.
Methodology: A case series of patients who had urgent spine surgeries during COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Data on patients' demographics, COVID-19 test result, American Society of Anesthesia Score, SSS grade, diagnosis, and data related to surgery and postoperative findings were collected. All collected data were then processed and analyzed. Surgical outcomes based on source of admission were compared using Chi-square test.
Result: A total of 63 patients who underwent spine surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic were included. The mean age of the patients was 53 ± 18 years and males were predominant (59%). The positive COVID-19 patients were 3%. Almost half of the patients were classified into ASA II. The majority were categorized into grade B (65%) according to SSS. The frequently diagnosed condition was fracture (33%), followed by spinal stenosis (18%) and metastatic (10%), while the most mentioned location was lumbar (61%). Postoperative complications were found in 11% of the patients. The readmission rate within 30 days, unplanned return to OR and ICU admission were 19%, 13%, and 11%, respectively. While the mean duration between admission and surgery was 8 ± 20 days, the mean duration of length of stay was 20 ± 29 days. Further, a significant association was seen between the admission source and the surgical procedure performed and surgical indication.
Conclusion: It has been demonstrated that the surgical intervention was only provided to patients requiring immediate or urgent spinal management. However, the length of hospitalization and duration between hospital admission and surgery was substantially prolonged. Further studies are warranted to determine the factors leading to prolonged hospitalization and time between hospital admission and surgery.


In this paper magnetic indices were extracted from World Data Center (WDC) for geomagnetism forsix years (2008 to 2013). The indices extracted are  AuroralElectrojet (AE), Auroral Upper (AU), Auroral Lower (AL) and Auroral Oval (AO). The indices daily values measured at 24 hours Universal Time (UT) were averaged to monthly values. Time series statistical analysis was carried out on the monthly averaged data using SPSS version 16.0 with expert modeler, to determine the level, trend and seasonal  variations of the indices.From the results obtained after the statistical analysis, it can be seen that the indices have seasonal patterns of which AE, AL and AO as March but AU has July. Also from the values of the coefficient of determination, R 2 , it can also be concluded that AE and AL can be better predicted from the models than AU and AO. From the results obtained, simple seasonal model for AE, AL, and AO, and winter's additive for AU was determined. Using the values of R 2 , it can be seen that the models for AE and AL can be used to predict or make forecast of the behavior of the indices. It was also discovered that level (alpha) has more significant contributions in the behavior of the system than seasonal. Keywords : Magnetic indices, World Data Center, Auroral, Level, Trend, Season, Expert modeler.


BACKGROUND Lissencephaly (LIS) is a malformation of cortical development with broad gyri, shallow sulci and thickened cortex characterized by developmental delays and seizures. Currently, 20 genes have been implicated in LIS. However, GRP56-related LIS has never been reported. GRP56 is considered one of the causative genes for bilateral frontoparietal polymicrogyria. Here, we report a twin infant with LIS and review the relevant literature. The twins both carried the novel compound heterozygous GPR56 mutations. CASE SUMMARY A 5-mo-old female infant was hospitalized due to repeated convulsions for 1 d. The patient had a flat head deformity that manifested as developmental delays and a sudden onset of generalized tonic-clonic seizures at 5 mo without any causes. The electroencephalography was normal. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a simple brain structure with widened and thickened gyri and shallow sulci. The white matter of the brain was significantly reduced. Patchy long T1 and T2 signals could be seen around the ventricles, which were expanded, and the extracerebral space was widened. Genetic testing confirmed that the patient carried the GPR56 gene compound heterozygous mutations c.228delC (p.F76fs) and c.1820_1821delAT (p.H607fs). The unaffected father carried a heterozygous c.1820_1821delAT mutation, and the unaffected mother carried a heterozygous c.228delC mutation. The twin sister carried the same mutations as the proband. The patient was diagnosed with LIS. CONCLUSION This is the first case report of LIS that is likely caused by mutations of the GPR56 gene.


Introduction: Dengue is an arboviral disease affecting many tropical and subtropical regions. Statistics in Malaysia show that a cumulative of 57,627 number of DF cases with 94 cumulative number of deaths have occurred until July 8th 2020. Weather affects Aedes mosquito population and dengue incidence through the breeding behaviour
of mosquitoes. This study aims to evaluate the association of temperature and rainfall with Aedes mosquito population in the 17th College, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and also to evaluate the accuracy of mobile 'AedesTech' automated counting application. Methods: Aedes Mosquito Home system (AMHS) were placed at each level of Block A, B, C and D of 17th College, UPM. The eggs laid by Aedes mosquito on the tissues inside the ovitrap were counted manually and via 'AedesTech' automated counting application. Monthly temperature and rainfall data from November 2018 until April 2019 were obtained from Malaysian Meteorological Department. Results: Temperature was inversely correlated to Aedes mosquito eggs count and ovitrap index. Rainfall was directly correlated to Aedes
population as the number of mosquito eggs and ovitrap index were high in months recording high rainfall. The number of eggs count from 'AedesTech' Mobile App Version 5.9 (M=143) was significantly higher than the numbers from manual counting (M=35) indicating the 'AedesTech' auto-count is inaccurate. Conclusion: Temperature and
rainfall have an influence on the Aedes mosquito population in the 17th College, UPM. The 'AedesTech' Mobile App Version 5.9 has low accuracy and therefore needs to be upgraded.


In order to test the numerous variable biological parameters which may contribute to the efficiency of the immunomagnetic depletion method, experiments have been carried out with different Burkitt lymphoma cell lines. The Hoechst dye method, a sensitive assay able to detect 3 log elimination, and a liquid culture assay suitable for identifying an elimination greater than 4 logs, were used to measure malignant cell elimination. These assays showed that the separation of bone marrow mononuclear cells on Ficoll-hypaque, the use of beads in excess, and a double treatment of the samples are needed to obtain optimal depletion of malignant cells. Under these conditions, the immunomagnetic procedure is capable of depleting 1% tumour cell infiltration at the lower limit of detection of a very sensitive culture assay (i.e. greater than 4 log elimination).


The use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation is practiced worldwide and will increase in the future. The definition of water quality limits is a useful instrument for the assessment of water quality regarding its suitability for irrigation purposes and the performance of wastewater treatment steps. This study elaborates water quality objectives for a water reuse project in a setting where national guidelines do not exist. Internationally established guidelines are therefore applied to the local context. Additional limits for turbidity, total suspended solids, biochemical and chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus and potassium are suggested to meet the requirements of water reuse projects. Emphasis is put on water quality requirements prior to UV disinfection and nutrient requirements of cultivated crops. The presented values can be of assistance when monitoring reclaimed water quality. To facilitate the realization of water reuse projects, comprehensive and reliable information on the respective legislation, in particular water quality requirements prior to disinfection steps, should be provided as well as regarding the protection of the irrigation infrastructure.


Fistulas are one of the main complications of hydatid cysts. The case of female patient of 37 years old, came from a rural area, operated first for hepatic hydatid cyst two years ago, then she didn't receive any antiparasitic agents later. Addressed to us for the treatment of biliptysis. The clinical and radiological examination revealed a broncho-biliary fistula associated with a bilio-cutaneous fistula of hydatid origin. In order to restore the biliary tract flow, an Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with a sphincterotomy and the establishment of a biliary stent has been performed. The surgical treatment consists of a pulmonary and hepato-diaphragmatic disconnection with rather satisfying results. Rabiou S1*, Ouadnouni Y1,2 and Smahi M1,2 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Hassan II-Fez, Morocco 2Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Sidi Mohamed Ben abdellah University-Fez, Morocco Rabiou S, et al. Annals of Clinical Case Reports Surgery Remedy Publications LLC., | http://anncaserep.com/ 2016 | Volume 1 | Article 1165 2 or because of the caustic action of bile on the tracheobronchial tree [1-3]. Exceptionally, an anaphylactic shock can be the inaugural sign [4]. Thus, when facing patients presenting biliptysia, a thoracoabdominal CT scan must complete the assessement. It will allow thoroughly analyze the liver injury, and eventually identify a possible communication between the liver and the lung, and also to evaluate the damaged caused on the lung. The hepatobiliary ultrasound must look for an obstacle or a dilatation on the common bile duct [5]. It also allows us to find the liver hydatid cyst and determine its type [6]. The ERCP, is a major step in the preparation of surgery. It enables us to visualize the fistula and look for an obstruction on the biliary duct. It also permits its desobstruction in order to restore the biliary flow thus avoiding recurrence. In the case of our patient, the fact that we placed a biliary stent endoscopically, permitted the healing of the bilio cutaneous fistula. The surgical treatment consists of a pulmonary and hepato-diaphragmatic disconnection. Low thoracotomy is the approach adopted in this context as it allows the treatment of three levels (Thoracic, abdominal and hepatic). From this we concluded the important role of antiparasitic agents in the prevention of complications of non-operated hydatid cysts, as well as to prevent postoperative recurrence. Although the frequency appears in regression and increased from 16% to 2.5%, it is still a serious complication of hydatid cysts of the liver, due to the multiplicity of lesions that affect the same time the abdominal and thoracic level through the diaphragm. This is in most cases very old hydatid cysts localized in the liver dome. The best knowledge of hydatid disease and the availability of investigative increasingly accurate as abdominal ultrasound appear to have a role in the regression of this frequencies allowing early treatment of hydatid cysts of the liver, avoiding its evolution stage of complications. Figure 1: Percutaneous fisgulography showing liver hydatid cyst fistulized to the skin (Red arrow). Figure 2: Thoraco-abdominal CT Scan objectified a liver hydatid cyst communicating with the lung (yellow arrow).


This paper discusses the evolution of the Detector Control System (DCS) designed and implemented for the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (ECAL) of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as well as the operational experience acquired during the LHC physics data taking periods of 2010 and 2011. The current implementation in terms of functionality and planned hardware upgrades are presented. Furthermore, a project for reducing the longterm software maintenance, including a year-long detailed analysis of the existing applications, is put forward and the current outcomes which have informed the design decisions for the next CMS ECAL DCS software generation are described. The main goals for the new version are to minimize external dependencies enabling smooth migration to new hardware and software platforms and to maintain the existing functionality whilst substantially reducing support and maintenance effort through homogenization, simplification and standardization of the control system software.


#### Summary points

Presentation of acute leukaemia can be non-specific, and not always have the classic signs and symptoms of anaemia, bruising, bleeding, hepatosplenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy.

Diagnosis can be difficult, and delays can contribute to additional, sometimes life threatening problems during the period of initial treatment.

Relatively simple, inexpensive tests—a full blood count and examination of the blood film—will diagnose acute leukaemia in most cases.

Overall survival has risen from less than 5% in the 1960s to over 85% today.

Acute leukaemia is the commonest malignancy of childhood. In the United Kingdom, one in 2000 children develop the disorder, with around 450 new cases being diagnosed annually.1 However, most general practitioners will see a case of childhood leukaemia only once or twice in their careers2 and, since management generally takes place in tertiary referral centres, non-specialist paediatricians will encounter relatively few patients.

Compared with the 1970s, the outcome today for children with acute leukaemia has improved dramatically. Numerous high quality randomised controlled trials have shown that over 85% of children can now be cured.3 4 Goals for the future should focus on keeping treatment and side effects to a minimum for patients at low risk of recurrent disease, and improving the outcome for the small proportion of children at high risk of relapse.5

In this review, we summarise current knowledge about the presentation, diagnosis, and optimum management of children with acute leukaemia. We also suggest strategies for early diagnosis of the disease in primary care, which should minimise avoidable complications and allow for early supportive care.

Acute leukaemia arises from genetic mutations in blood progenitor cells. These mutations generate both an uncontrollable capacity for self-renewal and the developmental arrest of the progenitor cells at a particular point in their differentiation.6 The body is therefore overwhelmed by immature cells …


Perovskite powders of the types La0.5Ca0.5AlyM1–yO3–δ (y = 0–0.8), M = Fe, Cr, Mn, Co and LaxSr1–xMnyCo1–y (x = 0.5–1, y = 0–1) were prepared via a sol-gel route according to the modified Pechini method. Incineration of the resins was performed before final sintering at 1000 °C for 6 h. The phase composition of the samples was established by X-ray powder diffraction analysis, and the lattice parameters were calculated using Rietveld analysis. The shape and size of the particles were determined via scanning electron microscopy and the specific surface area of the powder perovskites was established by the BET method. The principal particles were ca. 100 nm in size and formed agglomerates larger than 1.0 μm. The composition of the perovskites was established by EDX analysis. Following this, the catalytic behavior was tested by means of total oxidation of propane. The catalytic performance was measured at atmospheric pressure with 3 g of catalyst in a fixed-bed quartz reactor (i.d. = 18 mm) under thermal-assisted and microwave-assisted conditions. Initial results show a strong dependence of the catalytic and heating behavior on the nature of the M-atom and its number of unpaired d-electrons as well as on the particle size and its specific surface area. No significant difference in the results could be detected from comparison of the two heating methods.


Light microscopy is a tool of paramount importance for biologists and has been constantly improved for the past four centuries. Despite many recent developments, microscopy techniques still require improvement, especially to reach better temporal and spectral resolutions. In particular, many high-end microscopes favor mostly spatial resolution, at the expense of the latter two types of resolution. In this thesis, we present methods based on the use of active illumination and computational algorithms to increase temporal and spectral resolutions of microscopes. Our methods aim to provide users with the flexibility to chose, within a single instrument, which type of resolution is to be favored based on the application at hand. More generally, our approach has fundamental implications on the signal sensing procedure, allowing, for example, to mitigate temporal aliasing in sequences of images. Our first method performs temporal super-resolution imaging of monochrome scenes using a hue-encoded shutter. By making use of an active multi-spectral illumination, temporal information is encoded in the hue of the acquisitions. We characterize the method showing a resolution improvement of 2.8 and an increase of frame-rate of a factor 3. We demonstrate the applicability of our method to bright-field transmission microscopy by applying the method to the beating heart of a zebrafish embryo. We then extend this method to fluorescence microscopy. We add a temporal regularization term to make the method robust to fluorescent labelings inhomogeneities. We present an application of the method to the beating heart of a fluorescently-labeled zebrafish that emits fluorescent light of two different colors. Implementing our method within a light-sheet microscope allows us to reconstruct 3D+time videos of the beating heart at twice the acquisition frame-rate. Our second method offers a way to perform temporal generalized sampling by computing simultaneous inner products with the sampled signal. Similarly to the first method, we take advantage of working with multiple illumination hues to compute as many simultaneous inner products, which we retrieve via an unmixing procedure. We use equivalent basic and dual B-splines representations to ensure having finite-length and positive pre-filters, as well as finite-support reconstruction functions. We show applications of our method to a fast rotating target, as well as to the beating heart of a zebrafish embryo, both in transmission and fluorescence microscopy.


Time courses of 13C labeling from alanine and ethanol in perfused mouse livers have been followed by NMR. The enrichment at specific carbons of glucose, glutamate, glutamine, aspartate, acetate, acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and lactate has been measured. The specific labeling of glutamate in the presence of labeled alanine and labeled or unlabeled ethanol shows that, under these conditions, alanine enters the tricarboxylic acid cycle almost exclusively through pyruvate carboxylation, whereas ethanol is the exclusive source of acetyl-CoA. In the absence of ethanol, the alanine label flows through both paths. By comparing the scrambling of 13C between C3 and C2 of glutamate it is possible to estimate the mitochondrial fumarase activity; the C6-to-C5 ratios in glucose give the additional scrambling by cytosolic fumarase activity. In addition, the C6-to-C1 and C5-to-C2 ratios in glucose show that there is about 15% flux through the pentose cycle. Finally, the C4-to-C2 ratios in glutamine and glutamate are unequal at any time (the glutamine labels reflect the label distribution in glutamate measured 1 hr earlier), providing a method for studying flow through glutamine synthetase in situ.


With the escalation of the IEEE 802.11 based wireless networks, voice over IP and analogous applications are also used over wireless networks. Recently, the wireless LAN systems are spaciously deployed for public Internet services. In public wireless LAN systems, reliable user authentication and mobility support are indispensable issues. When a mobile device budges out the range of one access point (AP) and endeavor to connect to new AP, it performs handoff. Contemporarily, PNC and SNC were proposed to propagate the MN context to the entire neighboring AP's on the wireless network with the help of neighbor graph. In this paper, we proposed a non-overlapping AP's caching scheme (NACS), which propagates the mobile node context to those AP's which do not overlap with the current AP. To capture the topology of non-overlapping AP's in the wireless network, non-overlapping graph (NOG) is generated at each AP. Simulation results shows that NACS reduces the signaling cost of propagating the MN context to the neighbor AP's in the wireless network.


This review of magnetic recording systems concentrates on developments in two particular areas: the video-tape recorder and the rigid disk drive. The consumer VCR represents the state of the art for analog in-contact recording, while the rigid disk drive exemplifies digital recording with rapid access. Various aspects of the mechanical configurations, track-following techniques, heads and media, and signal processing are discussed. More briefly the paper describes other digital systems on flexible media.


A recycled polyethylene was fed in a pilot plant bubbling fluidized bed gasifier, having a maximum feeding capacity of 60kg/h. The experimental runs were carried out under various operating conditions: the bed temperature was kept at about 850°C, the equivalence ratio varied between 0.2 and 0.35, the fluidizing velocity between 0.5 and 0.7m/s, quartz sand and olivine were used as bed material while air and steam were used as fluidizing reactants. The results confirm the flexibility of fluidized bed gasification process that can produce syngas of remarkable different composition by varying the operating conditions. Extremely interesting is the possibility to obtain a strong reduction of tar content by using a catalyst as active bed additive inside the gasifier itself during the process.


Predicting fracture behavior is important for well placement design and for optimizing multi-well development production. This requires the use of fracturing models that are calibrated to represent field measurements. However, because hydraulic fracture models include complex physics and uncertainties and have many variables defining these, the problem of calibrating modeling results with field responses is ill-posed. There are more model variables than can be changed than field observations to constrain these. It is always possible to find a calibrated model that reproduces the field data. However, the model is not unique and multiple matching solutions exist. The objective and scope of this work is to define a workflow for constraining these solutions and obtaining a more representative model for forecasting and optimization. We used field data from a multi-pad project in the Delaware play, with actual pump schedules, frac sequence, and time delays as used in the field, for all stages and all wells. We constructed a hydraulic fracturing model using high-confidence rock properties data and calibrated the model to field stimulation treatment data varying the two model variables with highest uncertainty: tectonic strain and average leak-off coefficient, while keeping all other model variables fixed. By reducing the number of adjusting model variables for calibration, we significantly lower the potential for over-fitting. Using an ultra-fast hydraulic fracturing simulator, we solved a global optimization problem to minimize the mismatch between the ISIPs and treatment pressures measured in the field and simulated by the model, for all the stages and all wells. This workflow helps us match the dominant ISIP trends in the field data and delivers higher confidence predictions in the regional stress. However, the uncertainty in the fracture geometry is still large. We also compared these results with traditional workflows that rely on selecting representative stages for calibration to field data. Results show that our workflow defines a better global optimum that best represents the behavior of all stages on all wells, and allows us to provide higher-confidence predictions of fracturing results for subsequent pads. We then used this higher confidence model to conduct sensitivity analysis for improving the well placement in subsequent pads and compared the results of the model predictions with the actual pad results.


Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is an important global burden, and the discovery of biomarkers for screening and monitoring is a current challenge. The present study aimed to determine the serum concentration of ROBO4 and CLEC14A in CRC patients and assess the clinical value of these diagnostic and progression biomarkers in CRC.Methods: Serum samples were collected from 32 patients with operable colorectal cancer and from 16 healthy individuals. Blood serum of CRC patients were tested at two time points (before and after surgery). Serum concentration of ROBO4 and CLEC14A were measured using ELISA tests.Results: The serum concentrations of ROBO4 and CLEC14A were significantly higher in CRC patients than non-cancer controls; the concentrations were already higher in TNM stage I + II CRC patients. The sensitivitiy and specificity of ROBO4 and CLEC14A in distiguishing cancer patients form controls ranged from 71.9–100% and from 84.5–100%, respectively. The serum ROBO4 concentration was associated with the TNM stage, depth of invasion, and lymph node and distant metastases. No significant relationship was observed between the CLEC14A concentration and the tumor site or the N and M stages. The level of ROBO4 was statistically lower 3 months after the surgery, compared to the level noted prior to the operation. The concentration of CLEC14A decreased in the postoperative period, compared to preoperative one; however, the decline was not statistically significant.Conclusion: Our preliminary study has provided evidence that ROOB4 and CLEC14A seem to be suitable biomarkers for clinical diagnostic purposes. However, ROOB4 appears to be more appropriate for assessment of CRC progression.


The present study outlines free vibration analysis of uniform and stepped beam subjected with single to multiple cracks using Finite Element Method (FEM) in MATLAB environment. The crack considered is transverse crack which open in nature. Due to the presence of crack, the total flexibility matrix is established by adding local additional flexibility matrix to the flexibility matrix of the corresponding intact beam element .The local additional flexibility matrix is obtained from Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics theory. An experimental study is carried out to check the accuracy of the numerical results. Mild steel specimens of square area of cross section are considered for the experiment and the experimental results are compared with numerical analysis using Finite Element Method (FEM) in MATLAB environment. The results obtained from experimental are checked for accuracy with the present analysis by plotting non-dimensional frequencies for first three modes as function of crack depth ratios for different locations of cracks.


In many of their sensation novels, Collins and Braddon used the detection process to explore a sense of disorientation and identity anxiety. The art of detection (one that attempts to control, and ultimately understand, the world and one's own place in it) is dramatically undermined in these novels by the revelation of self-division and incoherence. "If time, pains and money can do it, I will lay my hand on the thief who took the Moonstone." —I had left London, with those words on my lips. I had penetrated the secret which the quicksand had kept from every other living creature. And, on the unanswerable evidence of the paintstain, I had discovered Myself as the Thief. (Wilkie Collins, Moonstone 359) In many mid-Victorian sensation novels, and perhaps most famously in the excerpt above, a central character experiences a pivotal moment of (self-) revelation, a sudden point of discovery that overturns everything they thought they knew about themselves and their world. Franklin Blake's speechless bewilderment and horror on confronting the evidence of his own name in the paint-stained nightshirt, which seemingly identifies him as the perpetrator of the novel's crime, is echoed throughout the genre and points to the sensation novel's preoccupation with the themes of knowledge and identity. These dramatic moments—a kind of inversion of the Joycean epiphany1— anticipate the postmodern concept of the fragmented self and, at the same time, epitomize Victorian (self-)doubt and emerging ontological uncertainty in the wake of scientific advances and challenges to traditional religious Volume 26, Number 1 49 absolutes. I want to argue that these revelatory experiences foreground the essential nature of the detection process in many sensation novels by Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, that is, the pursuit of self-knowledge. For these characters, Henry James's famous description of sensation fiction as the "mysteries which are at our own doors" (594) becomes, quite literally, the mysteries of their own lives and identities. The aim of this essay is thus to examine the ways in which Collins and Braddon used crime, and in particular the detection process, to explore this sense of disorientation and identity anxiety. I will suggest that the act of detection is one that attempts to control and ultimately understand the world and one's own place in it but that, often in these novels, this very process of control is dramatically undermined by the revelation of self-division and incoherence. I will also examine how this process is inevitably gender determined, by discussing the differences between male and female detection, and suggest that, broadly speaking, there is a sense in which the male detective works to contain crime and preserve the status quo, whereas the female detective effectively disrupts convention. The detective novel is often perceived to be a conservative genre, which imposes order on chaos by solving, and thus eradicating, crime and ultimately offering a rational explanation for the world and its supposed mysteries. As Albert Hutter has described it, detective fiction details "the transformation of a fragmented and incomplete set of events into a more ordered and complete understanding" (175). In the crime plots of sensation fiction, particularly in novels by Collins and Braddon, the narrative trajectory is similarly toward the containment or expulsion of crime and therefore the threat of disruption to dominant values. However, there is also an evocation of personal disorientation—a threat to individual, cohesive identity—that, once evoked, fails to be completely eradicated by the conservative arc of the narrative and its conventional resolution. In the work of these authors, the apparent capitulation to convention, to dominant values and conservative ideologies, is often incomplete, inadequate, or ambiguous. The novels I discuss in this essay draw on a sense of ontological uncertainty and anxiety regarding identity, which collide with the detective plot's typical drive toward knowledge and explanation. In many detective novels of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the figure of the detective customarily solves crimes that are separate from himself or herself. In novels from the Golden Age of detective fiction in the first part of the twentieth century, detectives such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Roderick Alleyn function primarily as objective observers and, whether amateur or professional, generally remain detached from the invested emotional responses generated by the crime.2 In contrast, sensation novels during the mid-Victorian period present crime and its solution as an intrinsically personal event. In these novels, as in a great deal of later detective fiction, the detection process is a necessary quest, which


Antimicrobial finishings protect users from pathogenic and odor-generating microorganisms, which are of medical and hygiene concerns. Controlled release is a useful approach to obtain antimicrobial finishings in several materials because it provides a gradual and persistent antibiotic release from the surface into the surroundings. Such a property has been taken into account in this work, using chitin nano-whiskers (CNWs) as carriers of methylparaben to prepare durable antimicrobial cotton textiles. This durability has been endowed with fixing CNWs in a silicon oxide matrix. Antimicrobial activity has been determined using Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumanii and Salmonella choleraesuis. Treated textiles have shown antimicrobial activity with laundering durability up to 20 washing cycles. Methylparaben leaching from the textile has been assessed by liquid chromatography showing a methylparaben controlled release which could be responsible for the obtained antimicrobial laundry durability. Textile mechanical properties have not been altered by the finishing.


High-speed interconnects are increasingly becoming susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Hence, there is a growing need for fast simulation of interconnect lines in the presence of incident field coupling using circuit simulators such as SPICE. However, the presence of a large number of coupled lines in modern interconnect structures is a serious limiting factor in these simulations. In order to simultaneously address these difficulties, a new algorithm is presented in this paper for EMI analysis of large number of coupled interconnects. The new method exploits the recently developed waveform relaxation (WR) and transverse partitioning algorithms for fast EMI analysis. The same WR sources that are computed for multiconductor transmission line analysis are also employed for EMI analysis. The computational complexity of the proposed EMI analysis grows only linearly with the number of lines. In addition, the algorithm lends itself to parallel implementation leading to further reduction in CPU time.


The 1H-NMR spectrum of the complex in apolar so!vents reveals broad signals caused by the increased correlation time, whereas normal resonances of the constituents are restored in DMSO solutions. 13C-Spin-lattice relaxation time T1 measurements show that complexation does not affect the segmental motion of the acyl residues, whereas extreme signal broadening due to dipole-dipole interactions causes the silybin and polar head 13C-NMR signals of 2 to become undetectable.


Composite porous scaffolds have attracted extensive attention in the biomedical material field. The aim of this research was to prepare a novel tri-component composite porous scaffold and to evaluate its relevant properties. The porous scaffold was composed of chitosan (CS), silk fibroin (SF), and nanohydroxyapatite particles (nHA), which we named CS/SF/nHA scaffold and prepared via salt fractionation method combined with lyophilization. The porous structure was achieved using a porogen (salt), and the pore size was controlled by the size of porogen. To evaluate the characteristics of the tri-component scaffold, three bi-component scaffolds, CS/SF, CS/nHA, and SF/nHA, were simultaneously prepared for comparison. The scaffolds were subjected to morphological, micro-structural, and biodegradation analyses. Results demonstrated that all of the scaffolds had pore sizes of 100-300 μm and a porosity of 90.5-96.1%. The biodegradation characteristics of all scaffolds meet the requirements of good biomedical materials. The investigation of the mechanical properties showed that the tri-component scaffold has better properties than the bi-component scaffolds. The in vitro biocompatibility with osteoblast-like MG-63 cells showed that all the scaffolds are suitable for cell attachment and proliferation; however, the CS/SF/nHA composite porous scaffold is much more effective than the others.


Infection and reinfection of infants with human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) occur despite the presence of serum anti‐viral glycoprotein antibodies similar to those, which afford protection in animal models of infection. Antigenic variation of the viral glycoproteins between different genotypes of the virus which co‐circulate in the population may contribute to the ability of the virus to escape from antibody‐mediated protection. In this study, we have investigated whether human infants infected with HRSV produced antibody responses recognising the antigenic differences between different contemporary genotypes of virus. Acute and convalescent sera from 26 infants were analysed for antibody responses to the glycoproteins of the virus isolated from their respiratory tract and to representative viruses of homologous and heterologous genotypes. All infants developed antibodies with similar reactivity for viruses of all contemporary isolates and genotypes when measured in an immunofluorescence assay against unfixed virus infected cells. However, when antibody responses to the individual glycoproteins were measured in a surace plasmon resonance (SPR) assay, although all infants developed genotype cross‐reactive antibodies to the F glycoprotein, anti‐G antibodies were detectable in only half of the infants and in all cases these were genotype specific. Possession of no or only genotype specific antibodies to the G glycoprotein may contribute to the susceptibility of infants to reinfection. In both assays, reactivity of anti‐glycoprotein antibodies with the sub‐group A archetypal strain, A2, was markedly lower than with any contemporary virus tested indicating that this strain alone is unsuitable for accurate assessment of infant antibody responses. J. Med. Virol. 74:492–498, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this paper we consider the problem of load balancing over heterogeneous networks, i.e. networks whose nodes have different speeds. We assume that tasks are indivisible and with different weights. Our goal is that of minimizing the maximum execution time over nodes. We provide a gossip-based distributed algorithm whose convergence to a bounded set is guaranteed. We show that the convergence time of the proposed algorithm relies ultimately on the average meeting time between two agents performing a random walk on a graph.


The objective of this research is to quantitatively valuate the economic value of analysis model related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Due to the fact that the subject of this research, which is the Korean climate change mitigation and adaptation model, has not been actualized, a conjoint analysis applying stated preference data has utilized. As results, among the many attributes considered in this research, the value of the attribute related to reflecting Korea's current situation is analyzed to be largest in both greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation model and climate change adaptation model. Additionally, if all the considered functional aspects are assumed to be feasible, the economic value of the Korean GHG mitigation model is assumed to be 60.3 billion Korean won(KRW) and the Korean climate change adaptation model is assumed to be 51 billion KRW.


Schwannomas are benign neurogenic tumours, arising from Schwann cells in the nerve. These tumours are a rare occurrence; 25% are reported in the head and neck region in adults, are rare in the paediatric population, and have a male preponderance. Radiologic investigations can assist in the diagnosis, and surgical excision is the treatment of choice. We report a case of suprasternal schwannoma, which is a rare site of occurrence in the neck, in a 14-year-old male child. Complete resection of the tumour was performed. The patient was free of recurrence with no symptoms at six-month follow-up.


The expression of a multidrug-resistant (MDR) gene product, P-glycoprotein, was examined immunohistochemically in 41 transitional cell carcinomas (TCCs) of the urinary tract. In 23 of these, chemosensitivity to adriamycin (ADM) and vinblastine (VBL) was also assessed by a microtiter succinate dehydrogenase inhibition test and the correlation between the expression of P-glycoprotein and MDR phenotype was investigated. P-glycoprotein was detected in 13 (72.2%) of the 18 untreated TCCs of the upper urinary tract (UUT), 6 (31.6%) of the 19 untreated TCCs of the bladder, and all of the 4 TCCs treated with M-VAC chemotherapy, respectively. Fourteen (87.5%) of the 16 TCCs with a positive expression of P-glycoprotein were resistant to ADM and VBL, whereas all of the 4 TCCs sensitive to both drugs were negative in the expression of P-glycoprotein. The succinate dehydrogenase activity of TCCs with a positive expression of P-glycoprotein was significantly higher than that of TCCs with a negative expression of P-glycoprotein (P < 0.05). Thus, there was a good correlation between the expression of P-glycoprotein and MDR phenotype in the chemosensitivity test. These results suggest that intrinsic MDR exists in some TCCs of the urinary tract, particularly UUT, and that the immunohistochemical investigation of P-glycoprotein may be useful for predicting the MDR phenotype in TCCs of the urinary tract.


Technology has radically changed every aspect of human daily life. Even the way in which goods and services are consumed. The use of internet to meet needs is increasingly adopted by consumers and businesses.
Individuals through sharing services offer services to other individuals covering needs without the presence of natural shops.
The purpose of this master's thesis is to present an innovative business idea. The creation of a service sharing website. The services are going to be entirely for pets and the main service is pet hospitality.
While the number of pet owners is constantly increasing, the demand for services is increasing too, but there is not enough worldwide supply of hosting services. Especially through sharing between individuals.
The present work through the theoretical part will present the current situation in the field of pets, how the sharing services work and competition cases. Through the practical part will explore the characteristics needed for website design and creation, the business relative part and the creation of a template website.
The present study concluded that the idea is doable. Demand is higher than supply, especially in the Greek market. The resources required to create and continue the page are feasible. The creation of the platform have as a result improvement and development of living standards for people and pets.

This paper consists of two parts.
Theoretical part A:
Chapter One The data on pets, problems and existing hosting services
Chapter Two Research on the global sharing economy, its advantages, disadvantages and tactics. Following are data from business models, financial and the legal. Characteristics that need special attention to develop an innovation in the field. Coming up with statistics and examples of other businesses.
Chapter Three Presents all the essentials of competing companies abroad. The technical, functional and user-friendly features are recorded.
Practical part B:
Chapter Four Lists of the key features contained in at hosPETality.com and how the site design comes out.
Chapter Five Includes the complete business model of the idea. Important concepts such as strategy, initial team, competition analysis, market analysis and financial plan.
Chapter Six Concluding this chapter leads to the creation of the site and its evaluation by third parties.


Nineteen patients with essential hypertension on regular treatment with nifedipine tablets 20 mg twice daily and whose DBP was < 95 mmHg on at least two occasions two weeks apart were entered in a double-blind randomised crossover study of three weeks treatment with nifedipine coat core (new formulation) either as 30 mg one daily or as 60 mg once daily dose. BP and plasma nifedipine levels were measured at 24, two, four and six hours after dosing. The pattern of BP response to both doses was similar over the 24h period. However, a greater BP lowering effect was achieved with 60 mg compared with 30 mg. The BP lowering effect of both doses was less at 24h after the last dose compared with peak effect. Plasma nifedipine levels were significantly associated with the BP lowering effect in the group as a whole (i.e. the higher the nifedipine levels, the lower the BP) and were significantly less at 24 hours compared with peak. Nifedipine in the coat core formulation is effective in lowering BP in patients with essential hypertension. The 60 mg dose is more effective than the 30 mg dose and induces higher nifedipine levels which are associated with greater BP lowering effect. However, the maximum BP lowering effect is not maintained up to 24 hours.


Childbirth educators have become so enthralled with a specific method of teaching, namely LaMaze, that the development of other kinds of preparation seems to have been suppressed. Yet it is the educator's responsibility to direct couples to classes that me most appropriate for them. Our goal should be a good birth experience for every couple, with or without anesthesia. Various kinds of prepared childbirth classes should be available and publicized in every community.


Abstract This paper discusses how Jason Lutes's Berlin calls attention to comics' inherent dichotomy of words and images. By allegorizing two of its central characters, Kurt Severing and Marthe Müller, to represent the textual and pictorial narrative dimension in comics, Berlin critically reflects upon the limitations that arise from thinking in binaries when trying to determine how meaning is created on the comics page. This reading of Berlin as metafiction aims at dissolving this strict separation of written and pictorial codes and points to specific panel sequences that allow for such an interpretation of the comic


"This is the first cardiovascular competency statement to fully utilize the six domains structure promulgated by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education and adopted and endorsed by the American Board of Internal Medicine," claimed noted John Gordon Harold, MD, MACC, president of the ACC and chair of the writing committee. "It goes beyond medical knowledge and procedure performance, to include the important issues of leading an interdisciplinary team, working in a complex system, communicating effectively, engaging in continuous quality improvement at the individual and system levels, adhering to evidence-based medicine, and demonstrating the highest levels of 1 professionalism." In Cardiology, like all other fields the quality of the patient-doctor relationship affects health and recovery from illness, medical costs and outcomes. This treasurable relationship depends on responding to patients' emotions and involving them in decision 13,14 making. Competence has a relational function-communicating effectively with patients and colleagues. This helps avoiding 15 and handling conflict and facilitates teaching patients, students and colleagues. The assessment of competence is, now, not confined merely to evaluate performance of a skill rather it is assessed under all defined heads equally and rigorously. Core competency components for Percutaneous Coronary Interventions defined by ACCF includes medical knowledge of coronary anatomy, pathophysiology of myocardial ischemia, sound knowledge of radiation safety, procedure related complications and catheter related hardware. More importantly it includes all the following fields: professionalism, interpersonal skills and communication, systems-based practice practice-based learning and improvement 2,3 and patient care and procedures. Tools have been suggested to carry out assessment in all these domains and further 22 refinement is required. Similar core competency, spanned over all domains, must be defined in all fields of cardiology and training may be modulated to achieve these competencies. Evaluation tools must be robust and reliable to assess what is being assessed and help to enhance the competence of the doctors being evaluated.


Principles promoting the protection of subjects involved in biomedical research are interpreted differently within the scientific community. The purpose of this paper is to describe the attitudes of researchers working at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) regarding the ethical implications of studies involving human beings, with particular emphasis on aspects concerning informed consent (IC) and ethics committee (EC) review. In 2001, ISS researchers published a total of 733 articles, 93 (12.7%) of which were studies involving human beings. Nearly 2/3 (60/93) were epidemiological, while the remaining 35.5% were based on laboratory data. Half (47/93) reported physical or psychological interventions or treatments on study subjects. 40.9% of articles mentioned that informed consent had been obtained and only 12.9% that approval had been given by an ethics committee. The low proportion of articles on which a protocol had been submitted the EC was due in part to the type of studies, but also to the absence of an institutional EC prior to 2001. Ethical procedures were more present in laboratory than in epidemiologic studies (IC: 69.7% vs 25.0%, p < 0.001) (EC: 27.3% vs 5.0% p = 0.004). Those differences were more likely due to the less interventionist nature of the epidemiologic studies rather than in poor ethical awareness on the part of epidemiologists. Further efforts are needed to develop and enforce clear institutional policies regarding ethical procedures.


Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in the United States, with epidemiologic studies identifying poultry as a leading vehicle in human infection. Studies were conducted to determine rates of C. jejuni inactivation on poultry exposed to different cooling and freezing temperatures. A mixture of three strains of C. jejuni originally isolated from poultry was inoculated onto chicken wings at ca. 10(7) CFU/g. The results of the study revealed that the storage of wings at -20 and -30 degrees C for 72 h reduced the population of C. jejuni on wings by 1.3 and 1.8 log10 CFU/g, respectively. The results with regard to long-term freezing for 52 weeks revealed C. jejuni reductions of ca. 4 and 0.5 log10 CFU/g on wings held at -20 and -86 degrees C, respectively. Protocols were developed to superchill wings in Whirl-Pak bags with liquid nitrogen at -80, -120, -160, and -196 degrees C such that the internal portion of each wing quickly reached -3.3 degrees C but did not freeze. The results with regard to the superchilling of wings at different temperatures for 20 to 330 s (the time required for the wings to reach an internal temperature of -3.3 degrees C) revealed C. jejuni reductions of 0.5 log10 CFU/g for wings held at -80 degrees C, 0.8 log10 CFU/g for wings held at -120 degrees C, 0.6 log10 CFU/g for wings held at -160 degrees C, and 2.4 log10 CFU/g for wings held at -196 degrees C. The superchilling of wings to quickly cool meat to -3.3 degrees C (internal temperature) can substantially reduce C. jejuni populations at -196 degrees C when the wings are submerged in liquid nitrogen, but not at -80 to -160 degrees C when the wings are treated with vapor-state liquid nitrogen. The results of this study indicate that freezing conditions, including temperature and holding time, greatly influence the rate of inactivation of C. jejuni on poultry. The conditions used in the poultry industry to superchill poultry to a nonfrozen-state internal temperature are not likely to substantially reduce Campylobacter populations on fresh products.


Article history: Received: 07 February 2020 Accepted: 24 May 2020 Chloride-induced corrosion is a key factor in the premature corrosion of concrete structures exposed to a marine environment. Fick's second law of diffusion is the dominant equation to model diffusion of chloride ions. This equation is traditionally solved by Finite Element Method (FEM) and Finite Difference Method (FDM). Although these methods are robust and efficient, they may face some numerical issues due to discretization process. This study solves the Fick's equation using the Element-Free Galerkin (EFG) method as well as traditional FEM and FDM. The results of these numerical methods are compared together, and validated with the analytical solution in special cases. The results show that the EFG method predicts the service life of the concrete structures, more accurately than the other methods, and exhibits the lowest displacement error and energy error for a constant diffusion coefficient problem. FDM can be performed very efficiently for simple models, and the displacement errors produced by this method do not differ considerably from the EFG results. Therefore, FDM could compete with the EFG method in simple geometries. FEM can be used with a sufficient number of elements while the convergence of the results should be controlled. However, in complicated models, FEM and especially the EFG method are much more flexible than FDM.


The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is becoming an increasingly popular model for the study of vertebrate development. Indeed, the biology of the fish offers great advantages for such studies. The life cycle of the zebrafish is relatively short (2-3 months) and the embryos develop outside the mother, facilitating the visualization of any mutated phenotype. At present, more than 1000 embryonic mutations have been reported. However, until recently, there was no physical or genetic map for this organism. In an effort to generate such a map, we have produced and characterized a panel of zebrafish-mouse cell hybrids. We have used whole-cell fusion to transfer zebrafish chromosomes from two different zebrafish cell lines into mouse recipient cells, thus generating more than 100 hybrids. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction analysis, we have determined the zebrafish chromosome composition of these hybrids. Here we report that elements from the 25 linkage groups of the zebrafish genome are present in our hybrids. These hybrids could identify the chromosomal location of genes affected in zebrafish mutants.


Purpose
The purpose of this research note was to validate a simplified version of the Dutch nonword repetition task (NWR; Rispens & Baker, 2012). The NWR was shortened and scoring was transformed to correct/incorrect nonwords, resulting in the shortened NWR (NWR-S).

Method
NWR-S and NWR performance were compared in the previously published data set of Rispens and Baker (2012; N = 88), who compared NWR performance in 5 participant groups: specific language impairment (SLI), reading impairment (RI), both SLI and RI, one control group matched on chronological age, and one control group matched on language age.

Results
Analyses of variance showed that children with SLI + RI performed significantly worse than other participant groups in NWR-S, just as in NWR. Logistic regression analyses showed that both tasks can predict an SLI + RI outcome. NWR-S holds a sensitivity of 82.6% and a specificity of 95.4% in identifying children with SLI + RI. The sensitivity of the original NWR is 87.0% with a specificity of 87.7%.

Conclusions
As the original NWR, the NWR-S comprising a subset of 22 nonwords scored with a simplified scoring system can identify children with combined SLI and RI while saving a significant amount of the needed assessment time.

Supplemental Materials
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5150116.


The similarities and differences in seed bank structure across four locations in the North American deserts (Curlew Valley, Utah in the Great Basin; Rock Valley, Nevada in the Mojave Desert; Silverbell, Arizona in the Sonoran Desert; and Jornada, New Mexico in the Chihuahuan Desert) were compared using published data. Species composition at Curlew Valley was most distinctive among the four study sites. In all four sites, average seed size decreased in this order: shrub, herbaceous perennial, and annual species. Mean seed sizes were similar across the Curlew Valley, Rock Valley and Silverbell sites but much smaller at the Jornada site. Most species have small seeds, but the number of seeds varied greatly among these small-seeded species; i.e. seeds of these species could be highly abundant or very rare in the seed banks. In contrast, very few species have large seeds and the seeds of these species were always rare. The possible roles of underlying soil and climatic factors in structuring desert seed bank structure are discussed.


We study the collective decay rates of multi-dimensional quantum networks in which one-dimensional waveguides form an intersecting hyper-rectangular lattice, with qubits located at the lattice points. We introduce and motivate the \emph{dimensional reduction of poles} (DRoP) conjecture, which identifies all collective decay rates of such networks via a connection to waveguides with a one-dimensional topology (e.g. a linear chain of qubits). Using DRoP, we consider many-body effects such as superradiance, subradiance, and bound-states in continuum in multi-dimensional quantum networks. We find that, unlike one-dimensional linear chains, multi-dimensional quantum networks have superradiance in distinct levels, which we call multi-dimensional superradiance. Furthermore, we generalize the $N^{-3}$ scaling of subradiance in a linear chain to $d$-dimensional networks.


The effect ofmonosodiumglutamate (MSG) on health has been a matter of controversy since long period of time.Anumber of reports indicated that it has several adverse and negative health impacts. It has a constituent in commonly available fast foods and restaurant foods all across the world and is known for enhancing the palatability. Several reports have been published over a period of decades indicating its role in various physiological and biological manifestations. The current work is an attempt to asses the effect of this compound on the enzymatic activity of gastrointestinal enzyme in particular the alpha-amylase. The results showed that the MSG inhibits the enzyme in concentration dependent manner. The kinetic studies indicated that the low concentrations ofMSG inhibit the alpha-amylase in a noncompetitive manner and in the presence of higher concentrations it follows the mixed type of inhibition.


Our recent studies showed that schisantherin A (StA) is a promising candidate for PD treatment, but the pharmacokinetic profile of StA is largely unknown. The effects of different formulations on the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of StA were investigated by HPLC equipped with a vacuum degasser, a quaternary pump, a manual sampler, and an ultraviolet detector. The absolute bioavailability of StA in nanoemulsion formulation was significantly increased from 4.3% to 47.3%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of absolute bioavailability for StA in rats and successful increase of bioavailability of StA by nanoemulsion formulation. The pharmacokinetic profiles of StA could be significantly improved by a safe nanoemulsion formulation. This study provides a successful example of advanced delivery system for improving the bioavailability of potential central nervous system (CNS) drug candidate with poor solubility. This novel approach could be an effective alternative solution to overcome the shortcomings of conventional poor drug delivery of CNS drugs. The results of present study not only indicate that StA has potential to be developed as a promising oral therapeutic agent for the management of PD but also shed light on novel way to improve bioavailability of PD drugs.


Since several years it has been accepted that persistent infection with certain (so called-high risk: HR) types of Human papillomaviruses (HPV) represents a strong risk factor for cervical cancer. The most frequent HR HPV types 16 and 18 account for about 70% of this tumour, which is the second most frequent malignancy in women worldwide. Several studies in animal papillomavirus models revealed that protection against infection is conferred by neutralizing antibodies directed against conformational epitopes of the major structural protein L1. Such antibodies can most efficiently be induced by immunization with virus-like particles (VLP) that assemble spontaneously following expression of L1 in recombinant vectors. Large-scale production of HPV 16 and 18 VLPs proved to be successful facilitating, a few years ago, first clinical trials on safety and immunogenicity. In the meantime more than 25,000 women have been included into several efficacy trials which demonstrated protection against persistent infection with HPV 16 and 18 and against the development of precursor lesions to cervical cancer. Although the ultimate proof of success, i.e. reduction of cancer incidence still requires the immunization of large populations and many years of follow-up, the existing data are so persuasive that the responsible agencies in several countries permitted the licensing of the first HPV vaccine in 2006. Several questions such as the duration of protection, the need development of for post-exposure vaccination strategies and availability of such vaccine in low-budget countries are open and will be discussed.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of blocking nitric oxide production on cardiovascular function and survival in canine septic shock treated with or without a conventional vasopressor.

DESIGN
Randomized, controlled trial.

SETTING
An animal research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health.

SUBJECTS
Sixty purpose-bred beagles.

INTERVENTIONS
Fibrin clots containing Escherichia coli were surgically placed into the peritoneal cavity. N(omega)-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) 10 mg/kg followed by 0.5, 1.0, or 4.0 mg/kg/hr), epinephrine (1 microg/kg/min), both, or neither were infused for 24 hrs beginning 6 hrs after the onset of infection. All animals received fluid and antibiotic therapy.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Serum nitric oxide metabolites, nitrite and nitrate, increased with infection (p = .024) and decreased with L-NMMA (p = .004, all doses combined). Myocardial nitric oxide synthase activity was ranked as follows: nonsurvivors > survivors > noninfected controls (p < .01). Other tissues examined showed the same pattern. L-NMMA produced sustained increases in systemic vascular resistance index and mean arterial pressure 9 and 24 hrs after the onset of infection (p < or = .04). Left ventricular ejection fraction was depressed by septic shock (p = .01) and further decreased by L-NMMA (p = .02). However, control and L-NMMA cardiac index values were similar (p > .4), perhaps because L-NMMA increased pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (p = .02). From 9 to 24 hrs, epinephrine, in the absence or presence of L-NMMA, blunted recovery of cardiac index (p < .02) and had a diminishing vasopressor effect (p = .05). Neither L-NMMA nor epinephrine, individually or combined, significantly altered survival rates at the doses investigated (p > or = .69).

CONCLUSIONS
The tested doses showed that nitric oxide production was inhibited by L-NMMA in canine septic shock, but mortality and myocardial depression were unaffected. These results suggest that if L-NMMA has a beneficial effect on survival rates in septic shock, it is small.