This paper introduces a dynamic panel SIR (DP-SIR) model to investigate the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on the COVID-19 transmission dynamics with panel data from 9 countries across the globe. By constructing scenarios with different combinations of NPIs, our empirical findings suggest that countries may avoid the lockdown policy with imposing school closure, mask wearing and centralized quarantine to reach similar outcomes on controlling the COVID-19 infection. Our results also suggest that, as of April 4th, 2020, certain countries such as the U.S. and Singapore may require additional measures of NPIs in order to control disease transmissions more effectively, while other countries may cautiously consider to gradually lift some NPIs to mitigate the costs to the overall economy.


Background
COVID-19 has symptoms similar to several other respiratory and non-respiratory diseases, which makes differentiating them a challenging task and could lead to unnecessary use of realtime reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) resources.

Aims
The study aimed to assess self-reported symptoms as predictors for RT-PCR positivity in suspected COVID-19 cases.

Methods
This was a cross-sectional study. We retrospectively reviewed the database of COVID-19 care centres in the eastern district of Tripoli, Libya, from May to December 2020. Presenting symptoms and RT-PCR test data were extracted.

Results
Of the 4593 subjects, 923 (20.1%) had positive RT-PCR result. Sensitivity for COVID-19 disease diagnosis was very low (≤ 18.2%) for all symptoms, except for myalgia (82.1%). Specificity was high for all symptoms (90.7-99.8%), except for myalgia (11.0%). Loss of taste and smell had the highest positive likelihood ratio (LR) for RT-PCR positivity (LR+ = 3.59, 95% CI: 2.95-4.37). In the multiple logistic regression, three symptoms maintained significant contribution to RT-PCR positivity; these were loss of taste and smell (odds ratio (OR) = 3.90, 95% CI: 3.04-4.99), sore throat (OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.02-2.19), and myalgia (OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.49-0.85). Other significant predictors were history of contact with a COVID-19 case (OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.39-0.62), and being female (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.15-1.55).

Conclusion
The findings of this study do not support the use of self-reported symptoms for the confirmation of COVID-19 disease in suspected cases because of their poor diagnostic properties.


Proposed as neotype strains of their respective species are the following: Cellulomonas biazotea ATCC 486, C. cellasea ATCC 487, C. fimi ATCC 484, C. flavigena ATCC 482, C. gelida ATCC 488, C. subalbus ATCC 489, and C. uda ATCC 491. Deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid reassociation studies on these and three other reference strains of Cellulomonas clearly revealed seven distinct species: C. biazotea, C. flavigena, C. cellasea, C. fimi, C. gelida, C. uda, and C. cartalyticum. C. subalbus ATCC 489 is identical with C. gelida ATCC 488 on the basis of genetic evidence. These results are confirmed by physiological data. C. subalbus is therefore a junior synonym of C. gelida. The polysaccharide and amino acid composition of the cell wall, the electrophoretic mobility of the L-lactate dehydrogenase, and the utilization of certain sugars and organic acids were found to be useful characters in species differentiation. Although the deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid homology values within the genus Cellulomonas range between 20 and 100%, those between strains of Cellulomonas and strains of Arthrobacter, Corynebacterium, and Brevibacterium are lower than 8%. These data, supported by the high guanine plus cytosine content of the DNA, the ability to decompose cellulose, and the similarity in the peptidoglycan types, demonstrate the coherence of the members of the genus Cellulomonas and the validity of the inclusion of this genus in the family Corynebacteriaceae.


Tests of closed-end, internally pressurized, Zircaloy-4 tubing specimens were utilized to develop low strain creep characteristics as a function of time at temperatures in the range of 1475/sup 0/F to 2000/sup 0/F (802/sup 0/C to 1093/sup 0/C) and hoop stresses in the range of 250 to 2500 psi for use in loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) analyses. The strain rate above the start of the alpha to beta phase transformation region, approximately 1490/sup 0/F (810/sup 0/C), was found to be sensitive to the test procedure (stress-temperature history). This is believed to result from variations in the metallurgical structure. A prediction model is presented which provides a conservative upper bound to the low strain test data provided in this report and reported in the literature.


T Oriental Skylark Alauda gulgula (also sometimes known as Small Skylark, Lesser Skylark or Eastern Skylark) is found across a large area of southern Asia. Eleven races were recognised by Vaurie (1959), most of which are resident in tropical Asia, but A. g. inconspicua, which breeds west to central Asia and Iran, is migratory, though its winter quarters are not known. The species has not yet been reliably recorded in Europe, although there are several recent records for Israel (see final section, and Shirihai in prep.) and it is possible that the Oriental Skylark will eventually be found in western Europe, and perhaps even Britain and Ireland. The main confusion species is Skylark A. arvensis, especially the smaller races. Given good views, however, the careful observer should not find separating them a serious problem. This paper summarises the main identification features of Oriental Skylark and its distinction from Skylark and other larks.


ABSTRACT The  objective  of  this  research  was  to  study  the  elderly  self – care  patterns  and  factors  both  in  normal  and  illness  conditions  including  behavior  patterns,  determine  factors,  similarities.  Differences  between  the  studied  villages.  Selection  of  the  studied  villages  was conducted  by  purposively  sampling  of  2  villages  in  Kosumpisai  district  of  Mahasarakam  province  which  were  Yang  Noi  village,  165  households,  and  Nong  Sim  village,  152  households.  Data  collection  was  performed  in  1992  by  using  the  participant  observation  method,  key  informant  interview,  and  in  -  depth  interview. Results  indicated  that  the  elderly  self – care  patterns  in  illness  conditions  of  2  villages  were  similar.  The  symptomatic  treatment  and  care  of  those  illnesses  based  on  self  diagnosis  were  self  provided.  They  would  ignore  the  care  if  the  symptoms  were  assessed  to  be  neglectible.  If  the  symptoms  persisted,  they  would  buy  some  medicine  from  drug  stores  without  prescription.  If  not   recovered,  they  would  go  to the  village  health  office.  Hopital  or  private  clinic.  It  was  also  found  that  the  self – care  behavior  patterns  of  the  elderly  with  normal  condition  in  Yang  Noi  village  had  more  knowledge  of  health  practices  and  food  consumption  for  a  better  physical  fitness  than  those  in  Nong  Sim  village.  The  factors  determining  the  self – care  patterns  both  in  normal  and  illness  condition  of  the  elderly  from  the  two  villages  included  the  learning  experiences,  belief,  value  and  influences  of  modrn  medicine.  Results  also  indicated  that  factors  resulted  in  a  better  self – care  behavior  of  the  elderly  in  Nong  Sim  village  other  than  Yang  Noi  were  the  shorter  distance  to  urban  community  and  the  level  of  village  developments.


Bioenergy projects can lead to direct and indirect land use change (LUC), which can substantially affect greenhouse gas balances with both beneficial and adverse outcomes for bioenergy's contribution to climate change mitigation. The causes behind LUC are multiple, complex, interlinked, and change over time. This makes quantification uncertain and sensitive to many factors that can develop in different directions—including land use productivity, trade patterns, prices and elasticities, and use of by‐products associated with biofuels production. Quantifications reported so far vary substantially and do not support the ranking of bioenergy options with regard to LUC and associated emissions. There are however several options for mitigating these emissions, which can be implemented despite the uncertainties. Long‐rotation forest management is associated with carbon emissions and sequestration that are not in temporal balance with each other and this leads to mitigation trade‐offs between biomass extraction for energy use and the alternative to leave the biomass in the forest. Bioenergy's contribution to climate change mitigation needs to reflect a balance between near‐term targets and the long‐term objective to hold the increase in global temperature below 2°C (Copenhagen Accord). Although emissions from LUC can be significant in some circumstances, the reality of such emissions is not sufficient reason to exclude bioenergy from the list of worthwhile technologies for climate change mitigation. Policy measures to minimize the negative impacts of LUC should be based on a holistic perspective recognizing the multiple drivers and effects of LUC.


In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey brought an unprecedented amount of rainfall and catastrophic flooding to the Houston metropolitan area, as it stalled near the coast of Texas for several days after weakening to a tropical storm intensity. The present study examines the relationship between tropical cyclone rainfall totals over Texas and the track, residence time, rainfall intensity, and rainfall area coverage of past tropical cyclones that approached Texas after 1979. The most significant factor affecting rainfall totals over Texas is whether a tropical cyclone makes landfall on the central coast of Texas and travel inland. Another significant factor is the length of time a tropical cyclone resides near Texas. Rainfall intensity also contributes in part to rainfall totals over Texas, whereas contribution of rainfall area coverage is not significant. The track of a tropical cyclone traveling near Texas is controlled by the steering winds over Texas, while its residence time near Texas is related partly to the meandering of the subtropical jets. Rainfall rate depends on the intensity of tropical cyclone. No significant relationship between rainfall intensity and environmental moisture in the lower atmosphere is found in the present analysis. Furthermore, the extreme rainfall totals over Texas induced by Harvey can be attributed to the combined effect of extreme long-term stalling of Harvey near the central coast of Texas and the higher rainfall rate.


CONTEXT
Deficits in emotion processing are prominent in schizophrenia, and flat affect is resistant to treatment and portends poor outcome. Investigation of the underlying neural circuitry can elucidate affective dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the brain circuitry for facial emotion processing, dissecting response to task demands from effects of the appearance of facial expressions.

DESIGN
A facial emotion identification task was presented during high-field (4-T) magnetic resonance imaging. Blood oxygenation level-dependent changes were contrasted for task compared with a scrambled face baseline (blocked analysis) and for the appearance of each of the following 4 target expressions compared with neutral faces (event related): happy, sad, anger, and fear.

SETTING
Participants from the Schizophrenia Research Center underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

PARTICIPANTS
Patients with DSM-IV-defined schizophrenia (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 17) were recruited from the community.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The percentage of signal change for each contrast and performance and clinical symptom severity ratings.

RESULTS
Patients showed reduced limbic activation compared with controls for the emotion identification task. However, event-related analysis revealed that whereas in controls greater amygdala activation was associated with correct identifications of threat-related (anger and fear) expressions, patients showed the opposite effect of greater limbic activation, portending misidentifications. Furthermore, greater amygdala activation to the presentation of fearful faces was highly correlated with greater severity of flat affect.

CONCLUSIONS
Abnormal amygdala activation in schizophrenia in response to presentation of fearful faces is paradoxically associated with failure to recognize the emotion and with more severe flat affect. This finding suggests that flat affect in schizophrenia relates to overstimulation of the limbic system.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE We aimed to analyze the mortality, and emergency room and hospital admissions in a sample of alcohol dependent patients during the four years following their identification in a general hospital. PATIENTS AND METHOD 198 inpatients from a general hospital who where identified as alcohol dependent and referred during 1998 to the liaison-psychiatry service. RESULTS 30.8% had died, at a mean age of 57.5 (11.3). Deaths had a direct relationship to the illness responsible for the initial admission to hospital. 42.6% of patients had previous admissions, and 74% had been previously attended at emergency room departments. During the 4 years of follow up, there were new hospital admissions (54.6%), emergency room visits (72.7%) and repeated liaison-psychiatry consultations (20%). Previous admissions to hospital predicted future admissions. Acceptance of alcohol treatment did not reduce the mortality rates. Mortality correlated with age, it was increased in patients with cognitive deficits and was reduced in those with psychiatric co-morbidity. CONCLUSIONS Late detection of alcohol dependence leads to pour outcomes both in the treatment of alcohol dependence and the concomitant somatic diseases. Early detection strategies of hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption should be implemented in hospital settings.


The main purpose of the green buildings by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint of the building society, global as to ensure the sustainability of the building and the environment. These regulations and schemes are used to activate the green buildings were made on the basis of the relevant laws and regulations. Mainly in the research for the improvement of the domestic institutional assessment items, the analysis of the legislation was fundamentally focused on Scoring the incomplete state. The analysis based on the laws and regulations of the institution is the way to know the purpose and direction of the respective certification. This study was performed in the following order to target the new commercial buildings. First, the analysis of the geungeobeop G-SEED and BREEAM. Second, we analyze the content and method of building energy performance in the certification system. As a result, Green Building Act is broad in relation to the composition of the contents are building for the activation energy green building and EPI is dealt with in an abstract and presented the applicability of such documentary content of insulation and airtightness, efficient machine. In contrast, the UK has been directly limit the carbon footprint of buildings in the Building Regulations Part L and evaluate them in BREEAM. This analysis of the ways to reduce substantially the energy for domestic green building regulations should be addressed through the feed.


The homometallic hexameric ruthenium cluster of the formula [Ru(III)6(μ3-O)2(μ-OH)2((CH3)3CCO2)12(py)2] (1) (py = pyridine) is solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Magnetic susceptibility measurements performed on 1 suggest that the antiferromagnetic interaction between the Ru(III) centers is dominant, and this is supported by theoretical studies. Theoretical calculations based on density functional methods yield eight different exchange interaction values for 1: J1 = -737.6, J2 = +63.4, J3 = -187.6, J4 = +124.4, J5 = -376.4, J6 = -601.2, J7 = -657.0, and J8 = -800.6 cm(-1). Among all the computed J values, six are found to be antiferromagnetic. Four exchange values (J1, J6, J7 and J8) are computed to be extremely strong, with J8, mediated through one μ-hydroxo and a carboxylate bridge, being by far the largest exchange obtained for any transition-metal cluster. The origin of these strong interactions is the orientation of the magnetic orbitals in the Ru(III) centers, and the computed J values are rationalized by using molecular orbital and natural bond order analysis. Detailed NMR studies ((1)H, (13)C, HSQC, NOESY, and TOCSY) of 1 (in CDCl3) confirm the existence of the solid-state structure in solution. The observation of sharp NMR peaks and spin-lattice time relaxation (T1 relaxation) experiments support the existence of strong intramolecular antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between the metal centers. A broad absorption peak around 600-1000 nm in the visible to near-IR region is a characteristic signature of an intracluster charge-transfer transition. Cyclic voltammetry experiments show that there are three reversible one-electron redox couples at -0.865, +0.186, and +1.159 V with respect to the Ag/AgCl reference electrode, which corresponds to two metal-based one-electron oxidations and one reduction process.


Purpose
Self-harm can affect people of all ages, yet the high prevalence rate in adolescents and the potential risk factor of suicide in adults 60 years and above has meant research has tended to focus within these areas. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the experiences of self-harm in people from early adulthood to late middle age to gain greater insight and understanding in this underexplored area.

Design/methodology/approach
An online open-ended survey was used to collect the data from a UK user-led moderated online forum that supports people who self-harm.

Findings
Thematic data analysis indicates that feelings of shame and guilt were intensified, due to the double stigma participants face as adults that self-harm. Although most participants had seen a reduction in the frequency of their self-harm many experienced an increase in the severity of harm. In not fitting the assumed typical profile of someone that self-harm participants often struggled to gain formal support.

Research limitations/implications
This was a small-scale online survey; hence, it is not possible to generalise the findings to all adults who self-harm.

Practical implications
The findings from this research provide evidence that greater recognition needs to be given to the reality that self-harm can affect people of all ages. As a result, access to support needs to be widened as a means of supporting those who do not fit the typical profile of someone who self-harms.

Originality/value
This exploratory online study provides insights around the tensions and challenges facing adults that self-harm, which remains an under-researched and largely ignored area.


. As the world gradually recovers to normalcy from the huge impact brought by the most severe pandemic outbreak in the recent century, a vast number of societal problems have been revealed and aggravated in the past two years, including the economic crisis, global unemployment, intensified discrimination, and exacerbated social inequality. Among many of the issues mentioned, the unequal distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, caused by multiple factors such as the gap between countries' research and development ability, limited production capacity, etc., could be considered the priority that needs to be solved under the current situations to prevent the further possible damage caused by the epidemic. Though the World Health Organization (WHO), along with several other large international agencies, has proposed COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) to promote the equitable allocation of vaccines, there are still some potential issues that need to be further discussed. Therefore, this paper, theoretically, analyzes the problems and their potential causes in the current vaccine allocation scheme, and attempts to find an optimal method of distributing vaccines on the basis of existing COVAX, as well as improving governmental policies, and enhancing global cooperation. To this end, we specifically propose three points: 1) Improve the executive force based on the COVAX plan. 2) Implement the demand-driving allocation scheme. 3) Countries should enhance inter-governmental communication and cooperation to make vaccines more accessible, achieving the goal of herd immunity.


Foregrounding Orientalism as a system of thought that has produced constructed images and disfigured discourses about Europe's Other, this paper is primarily concerned with the practice of delineating landscape and manipulating the space of Fez in Edith Wharton's In Morocco. It starts with a rereading of Edward Said's model of analysis and then moves to an investigation into how this travel narrative displays, vulgarizes, and reproduces one of the strategies characteristic of colonial discourse: the mapping of the colonial space, specifically through the inscription of self and Other power relations, fueled up by a will to knowledge and control over new territories. It also attempts to read Wharton's narrative against Sara Mills' argument, which claims that it is gender rather than genre that is at the genesis of colonial heterogeneity.


The development of children's creativity is an important activity in order to develop the potential of children from an early age because, at this time the potential of children's creativity is at the peak of development to be sharpened and directed. The creative potential is very important for the development of children it is a creativity of the children in painting. Usually people will use conventional media to paint such as paintbrush, liquid dye and canvas but, as the time progressed painting can use an unconventional media that is waste. the painting technique used id mosaic technique. Problem in this research is whether there is difference of creativity of painting using waste media for early age children. This research aimed to know the  differences of creativity of painting using waste media for early age children.
The method used to collect data is by quantitative approach with the research subjects of children aged 5-6 years who are in class B1 and B2 Islamic Centre Kindergarten Brebes. The data collection technique in this research using painting creativity scale of early age children, while the data analysis using independent t-Test sample. The result of this research based on statistics, obtained the mean value 94,75 for experiment group and 86,13 for control group. The result of the research stated that there is a differences of creativity of painting through waste media. The creativity of painting through waste media is higher than without waste media with experimental group mean values of  94,75 and 86,13 for the control group.


The logistics of innovative health strategies have taken a new turn and emerging into a new and independent field in the management sphere. Hospital administration management hitherto confined to infrastructure has extended its arms into areas of clinical research, medical and health care, telemedicine and diagnostics. The effectiveness and efficiency of telemedicine and the implementation strategies of outsourcing medial prescriptions, medical history and clinical data can be strategically implemented in developing nations such as India so as to render a legally efficient policy keeping in view the cost-benefit analysis. The paper is an attempt to identify the strategic and innovative logistic application of telemedicine and clinical care applications in vogue and their effective use in the Indian context.


Bungowannah virus is a pestivirus known to cause reproductive losses in pigs. The virus has not been found in other species, nor is it known if it has the capacity to cause disease in other animals. Eight sheep, eight calves and seven pregnant cows were experimentally infected with Bungowannah virus. It was found that sheep and calves could be infected. Furthermore, it was shown that the virus is able to cross the bovine placenta and cause infection of the foetus. These findings demonstrate the potential for species other than pigs to become infected with Bungowannah virus and the need to prevent them from becoming infected.


Millipedes are soil invertebrates participating in the decomposition of leaf litter. Previous studies indicated that soil invertebrates were useful in the environmental pollution research dedicated to the content and accumulation of heavy metals. The aim of the present study was to compare the content of some elements in bodies of adult millipedes Glomeris hexasticha (Brandt, 1833) collected from a more polluted town called Jaworzno in Upper Silesia, Southern Poland, and from the less polluted Lublin area, Eastern Poland. The content of elements was determined with the ICP method on a VISTA MPX Varian spectrometer. The concentrations of elements in the millipedes from Jaworzno appeared in the following decreasing order: Ca, P, S, Mg, K, Na, Fe, Al, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb, B, Cr, Cd and Ni, compared to the Lublin area: Ca, P, K, Mg, S, Na, Fe, Al, Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb, B, Cr, Cd and Ni. It was confirmed that the elements such as Al, Zn, Mn, Cr, Cd and Ni in Glomeris hexasticha from Jaworzno were in higher concentrations than in specimens from the Lublin area. Reveresly, millipedes collected from the Lublin area contained higher concentrations of Ca, P, K, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu and B than those from Jaworzno. The results show that differences in the content and distribution of some elements at two locations with different levels of environmental pollution were clearly reflected in bodies of the millipede G. hexasticha.


Feed enrichment with valuable nutrients for animals is a priority for the agricultural industry of Kazakhstan. This paper presents the technology of grain processing into feed preparation using lactic acid bacteria. Enzymatically hydrolyzed grain was a growing medium for the growth of lactic acid bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus. Cultivation of L.plantarum and L.salivarius bacteria in the saccharified grain hydrolysate helped to increase the total protein content in preparations by 26-45% and the enrichment of the feed preparation with glucose, lactic acid, and vitamins. This technology of grain processing into the feed preparation would be useful in terms of deep processing of grain and obtaining feed preparations containing important nutrient ingredients.


Abstract
This book provides an international perspective on improving information to support transportation decision making. It comprises a selection of papers plus workshop syntheses from the 9th International Conference on Transport Survey Methods in Chile in November 2011. The conference was organized into 14 workshops with both paper presentations and discussions in the workshops forming the majority of the conference activity. The papers reported primarily on research pertaining to continuous improvement in transport survey methods — the backbone of the transportation data pipeline in most countries. But some papers also addressed the new ways in which innovation — notably technological innovation — is being applied to the capture and analysis of data to produce necessary information faster, better, and less expensively. The conference program built on a rich legacy of intellectual pursuits spanning the past two decades, and it is anticipated that the conference will continue into the future. Thus, the contents of this book represent a 5–10 year view through a moving window on the international state of the practice and concerns in transport survey methods.


The principle treatment for cervical esophageal cancer and hypopharyngeal cancer with esophageal invasion is radical total pharyngolaryngoesophagectomy (PLE), and it is necessary to totally reconstruct the defect of the resected organ. Stomach, small bowel, colon, a laryngotracheal flap and a pectoralis major musculocutaneous flap can all be used. We commonly use stomach because stomach has a rich blood supply and a low incidence of leakage. But in this present reported case, because previous radical subtotal gastrectomy with gastrojejunostomy had been done, we had to use colon for reconstruction. We use the left colon and left colic artery, and there were no complications. We report here on using the left colon and left colic artery to reconstruct a PLE defect for the first time in Korea. (J Korean Surg Soc 2007;73: 337-339)


Objectives Estimate survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the general population aged 60 and over and the effect of recommended treatments. Design Cohort study in the UK with routinely collected data between January 1987 and March 2011. Setting 310 general practices that contributed to The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. Participants 4 cohorts who reached the age of 60, 65, 70, or 75 years between 1987 and 2011 included 16 744, 43 528, 73 728, and 76 392 participants, respectively. Participants with a history of AMI were matched on sex, year of birth, and general practice to 3 controls each. Outcome measures The hazard of all-cause mortality associated with AMI was calculated by a multilevel Cox's proportional hazards regression, adjusted for sex, year of birth, socioeconomic status, angina, heart failure, other cardiovascular conditions, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, alcohol consumption, body mass index, smoking status, coronary revascularisation, prescription of β-blockers, ACE inhibitors, calcium-channel blockers, aspirin, or statins, and general practice. Results Compared with no history of AMI by age 60, 65, 70, or 75, having had 1 AMI was associated with an adjusted hazard of mortality of 1.80 (95% CI 1.60 to 2.02), 1.71 (1.59 to 1.84), 1.50 (1.42 to 1.59), or 1.45 (1.38 to 1.53), respectively, and having had multiple AMIs with a hazard of 1.92 (1.60 to 2.29), 1.87 (1.68 to 2.07), 1.66 (1.53 to 1.80), or 1.63 (1.51 to 1.76), respectively. Survival was better after statins (HR range across the 4 cohorts 0.74–0.81), β-blockers (0.79–0.85), or coronary revascularisation (in first 5 years) (0.72–0.80); unchanged after calcium-channel blockers (1.00–1.07); and worse after aspirin (1.05–1.10) or ACE inhibitors (1.10–1.25). Conclusions The hazard of death after AMI is less than reported by previous studies, and standard treatments of aspirin or ACE inhibitors prescription may be of little benefit or even cause harm.


Objective. To analyze and compare the effectiveness and drug survival in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as measured by 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) and Health Assessment Questionnaire–Disability Index (HAQ-DI), of tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) monotherapy, TNFi + leflunomide (LEF), TNFi + sulfasalazine (SSZ), TNFi + other conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD), and TNFi + methotrexate (MTX) therapy, in daily practice. Methods. Data were collected from the DREAM registry. Patients beginning their first TNFi treatment were included in the study: TNFi monotherapy (n = 320), TNFi + SSZ (n = 103), TNFi + LEF (n = 80), TNFi + other csDMARD (n = 99), TNFi + MTX alone (n = 919), TNFi + MTX + other csDMARD (n = 412). Treatment effectiveness was analyzed using DAS28 and HAQ-DI with linear mixed models and the TNFi drug survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression. All analyses have been corrected for confounders. Results. The patients who received TNFi + MTX had significantly better DAS28 and HAQ-DI values over time (both p < 0.001) and longer TNFi drug survival than TNFi monotherapy (p < 0.001). TNFi + SSZ and TNFi + other csDMARD had significantly better DAS28 values over time (p = 0.001) and longer drug survival (p = 0.001) versus TNFi monotherapy. TNFi + LEF was not significantly better compared to monotherapy. Adding other csDMARD to the TNFi + MTX combination provided no added value. Conclusion. Preferably, TNFi should be prescribed together with MTX. If this is not possible, we advise the use of other csDMARD.


After a long career, mostly in academia but also in tribal communities and in American mass society, this author's current endeavor is to reflect holistically upon the lessons today's older generations of Indigenous people might share with emerging Native scholars from lifetime experiences with "Indian self-determination." This paper will focus upon the use of journalistic principles intended to meet communications challenges Native people have faced as Indian Self-Determination has developed into a viable policy. The "nativization" of mass society's journalistic concepts has had great impact, raising hopes that useful understandings of the very human process of effective communications can be found as Native communities continue the struggle to maintain and strengthen tribal sovereignty into the future. In this paper, I hope to continue to develop my life-long fascination with the challenges of tribal communications created by the so-called Indian Self-Determination policies that began as I came of age in the 1970's. In doing so, I realize that tribal identity, sovereignty and self-governance did not really begin at that time, but from the perspective of many of my generation of Native people, the federal policy has resulted in both opportunities and confusing challenges for today's indigenous people, both as individuals and as self-governing and sovereign peoples. In some ways, the daunting challenges Native Nations face today are deeply rooted in human nature and development, in that the basic relationships between the individual and the tribal community remain a key element contributing to the complexity of tribal sovereignty today. It is no great revelation that communications between the many interested parties under the self-determination policy remain strained over many aspects of tribal sovereignty today. Poor communications remain a major part of the continuing struggles tribal peoples face, not only with the surrounding settler society that has dominated and threatened tribal identity and sovereignty in the past, but among members of tribal communities themselves. It is the purpose of this paper to examine some of ways in which Native people and their tribal governments have attempted to deal with the sometimes vast gulf of ignorance and misunderstanding that seem endemic in tribal self-determination. As a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, I hope my comments will spur some discussion about the overall impacts of Native journalism as I focus upon the communications environment of my own Nation in my analysis.


Objective: to study sensitivity of various enterobacterial species to the bactericidal action of the ZP2 synthetic GM-CSF active center peptide after long-term storage. In vitro experiments were carried out with archival archival test strains Escherichia coli K12 (GISK 240367) and E. coli (ATCC 25922), as well as 104 clinical isolates of E. coli (n = 22) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 82) obtained from patients with surgical pathology. The bactericidal effect of the ZP2 peptide (final concentration 10 μg/ml) on microorganisms was assessed by measuring optical density (OD) difference between experimental and control broth cultures after 20 min exposure of bacterial suspensions (5 × 108 CFU/ml) with the ZP2 peptide (in control – with distilled water), added with meat-peptone broth and incubated at 37 °C for 4 hours. The ZP2 peptide effect was presented as Bactericidal Activity Index (BAI, %). It was experimentally found that the archival E. coli test strains as well as most of examined clinical strains of E. coli and K. pneumoniae (95.5 and 97.6%, respectively) showed sensitivity to the bactericidal effect of the synthetic ZP2 peptide (at a final concentration of 10 μg/ml ) with BAI averaging 77.6±3.5 and 82.8±1.6% and its relatively wide variation range 45.8 ... 98.9 and 42.1 ... 99.8%, respectively. The 5-year storage of synthetic ZP2 peptide at 8 °C exerted bactericidal effect on antibiotic-resistant enterobacterial strains. The data obtained can be used to develop ZP2 peptide-based drugs aimed at combating pyo-inflammatory processes caused by antibiotic-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains.


A 15 vol. Pct SiCw/Al composite was fabricated by a squeeze cast route followed by hot extrusion in the extrusion ratio of 18:1 and cold rolling to 50%. Microstructural evolution in the cold rolled composite during annealing was studied using macrohardness measurement and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that, during cold rolling the plastic flow of the matrix was restricted by the whiskers around them along the rolling direction, which resulted in different microstructure from near whiskers to far away. The cold rolled composite exhibited different microstructural development on 1 h annealing at different temperatures. Under annealing at about 100℃, recovery reaction occurred obviously and the introduction of SiC whiskers resulted in enhanced recovery reaction. Under annealing above about 200℃, recrystallization (growth of nuclei by high-angle grain boundary migration) and extended recovery took place simultaneously. When annealing temperature was increased up to 500℃, recrystallization fully took place in the cold rolled microstructure. The starting temperature of recrystallization was about 200℃. Whiskers played a role in stimulating the nucleation of recrystallization.


Aerogels enable a wide range of potential applications owing to their ultralow density, superelasticity, high specific surface area, energy-absorbability and so on. However, it is usually difficult to precisely control their mechanical performance, which largely hinders their applications. Here, we prepared anisotropic graphene aerogels assembled with flakes having different sizes ranging from sub-micron to ∼80 μm by the freeze casting technique, using ice as a template to assembling graphene oxide (GO) sheets into 3-dimensional (3D) aerogels. We found that graphene flake size has a profound effect on the mechanical performance of the assembled graphene aerogels, particularly their strength, modulus and fatigue resistance under compression. Larger flakes had stronger interaction when assembled, which made them more resistant to slipping between adjacent flakes during deformation. As a result, the graphene aerogel with larger flake size showed both higher strength and fatigue resistance. Our research provides a new way of controlling the mechanical properties of graphene aerogel by only adjusting the intrinsic properties of the flakes, e.g., size, without crosslinking agent or co-assembly with other materials as in previous studies.


In this paper, we present a new load balancing algorithm for parallel virtual architectures based on mobile agents. The proposed model is based on a reference diagnostic test performed by the host agent at the deployment time of the parallel application. This diagnostic test allows evaluating the computation performance and the communication latency of each node of the distributed system. The parallel tasks to execute are assigned to the distributed virtual processing units (VPUs) according to the performance offered by each node. The VPUs, represented by mobile agents, are associated in a parallel virtual layer, according to the parallel architecture topology required by the application. This model can also use metadata, of the parallel tasks to be distributed, to estimate more accurately the required times to perform the current parallel task. This feature allows predicting the performance offered by the distributed system according to the selected configuration of the selected computational model. When the system detects unbalanced loads, during the execution of any iterative computation, the system determines the required migrations of the VPUs from overloaded to under loaded nodes in order to keep the distributed system in a perfect balanced stat. To describe the proposed approach, the established mathematical model and a SPMD parallel application example are presented to prove the effectiveness of the proposed model.


o-Nitroanisole is used as an intermediate for the preparation of o-anisidine and in the manufacture of azo dyes. Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies were conducted by administering o-nitroanisole (>99% pure) in the diet to groups of male and female F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice for 14 days, 13 weeks, and 2 years. Genetic toxicology studies were conducted in Salmonella typhimurium, Chinese hamster ovary cells, and mouse lymphoma cells. 14-DAY STUDIES: Groups of five male and five female F344 rats received diets containing 0, 583, 1,166, 2,332, 4,665, or 9,330 ppm o-nitroanisole. Mean body weight gains and final mean body weights of males in the 4,665 and 9,330 ppm groups were lower than those of the controls. Absolute liver weights were significantly increased in males receiving 1,166 ppm or more and in females receiving 583 ppm or more. Groups of five male and five female B6C3F1 mice received diets containing 0, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000 ppm o-nitroanisole. Mean body weight gains and final mean body weights of males that received 250 ppm and females that received 4,000 ppm were significantly lower than those of the controls. No other chemical-associated effects were observed. 13-WEEK STUDIES: Groups of 10 male and 10 female F344 rats received diets containing 0, 200, 600, 2,000, 6,000, or 18,000 ppm o-nitroanisole. Final mean body weights and feed consumption by male and female rats receiving 6,000 and 18,000 ppm were lower than those of the controls. Hemoglobin and hematocrit values were significantly lower and methemoglobin levels significantly higher in males in the 6,000 and 18,000 ppm groups than in controls. Absolute liver weights were significantly increased in females that received 200, 600, 2,000, and 6,000 ppm, absolute kidney weights were significantly increased in males that received 600, 2,000, and 6,000 ppm, and absolute spleen weights were significantly increased in males and females that received 6,000 and 18,000 ppm. Groups of 10 male and 10 female B6C3F1 mice received diets containing 0, 60, 200, 600, 2,000, or 6,000 ppm o-nitroanisole. Final mean body weight gains, final mean body weights, and feed consumption by male and female mice receiving 6,000 ppm were lower than those of the controls. Hemoglobin and hematocrit values in males and females that received 2,000 or 6,000 ppm were significantly lower than those in the controls. The absolute and relative liver weights of females in the 600 ppm group and relative liver weights of males and females in the 2,000 and 6,000 ppm groups were significantly greater than those of controls. Lesions associated with exposure to o-nitroanisole were present in the urinary bladder, spleen, kidney, liver, testis, and uterus of rats. Diffuse hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium of the urinary bladder occurred in all male and female rats that received 6,000 and 18,000 ppm. A transitional cell papilloma occurred in one male and transitional cell carcinomas occurred in two males and three females receiving 18,000 ppm. Congestion of the red pulp and capsular hyperplasia of the spleen and hepatocellular hypertrophy of the liver were present in males and females from the 18,000 ppm groups. Multifocal degeneration and necrosis of the renal tubule epithelium with infiltration of mononuclear inflammatory cells were present in male rats that received 600, 2,000, and 6,000 ppm. At the 18,000 ppm level, degeneration of the seminiferous epithelium accompanied by loss of spermatogenic cells and decreased numbers of spermatozoa were observed in the testes of male rats, while uterine atrophy was observed in female rats. Hepatocyte hypertrophy of the centrilobular and midzonal regions of liver lobules was present in mice that received 200 ppm and increased in severity at higher exposure levels. 2-YEAR STUDIES: The doses selected for the 2-year study of o-nitroanisole in rats were based on lower mean body weights, reduced feed consumption, and increased severity of regenerative anemia in male and female rats receiving 6,000 and 18,000 ppm during the 13-week study. Groups of 6roups of 60 male and 60 female F344 rats received diets containing 0, 222, 666, or 2,000 ppm o-nitroanisole. Groups of 60 male and 60 female B6C3F1 mice received diets containing 0, 666, 2,000, or 6,000 ppm o-nitroanisole. After 15 months, up to 10 animals from each group were evaluated for chemical-related lesions. Survival, Body Weights, Feed Consumption, and Clinical Findings: Survival of male rats receiving 2,000 ppm was significantly lower than that of the controls due to increased severity of nephropathy. Survival of 222 and 666 ppm male rats and all exposed female rats was similar to that of the controls. Survival of groups of exposed male and female mice was similar to that of the controls. The final mean body weight of male rats receiving 2,000 ppm was lower than that of the controls. Final mean body weights of male and female mice that received 2,000 and 6,000 ppm were lower than those of the controls. Feed consumption by male and female rats was similar to that by the controls. The only clinical finding in male or female mice attributable to chemical administration was discolored urine. Neoplasms and Nonneoplastic Lesions: The incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia was significantly increased in male rats that received 666 and 2,000 ppm and in female rats that received 2,000 ppm (males: 0 ppm, 26/50; 222 ppm, 25/50; 666 ppm, 42/50; 2,000 ppm, 34/50; females: 14/50, 11/50, 14/50, 26/50). Nephropathy occurred in all male rats; the severity increased with exposure level. Focal hyperplasia of the renal tubule epithelium was present in three males receiving 222 ppm and two males receiving 2,000 ppm. Renal tubule adenomas occurred in one male from each of the 222, 666, and 2,000 ppm groups, and renal tubule carcinomas occurred in two males from the 2,000 ppm group. Focal hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium of the urinary bladder was present in one female rat that received 222 ppm and two male rats and six female rats that received 2,000 ppm. A transitional cell papilloma occurred in the urinary bladder of one female rat from the 2,000 ppm group, and a transitional cell carcinoma occurred in another female from the 2,000 ppm group. The incidence of forestomach ulcers increased in male rats that received 2,000 ppm, and the incidence of focal hyperplasia of the forestomach increased with exposure level in male and female rats. In addition, squamous cell papillomas of the forestomach were present in one female receiving 222 ppm, one male receiving 666 ppm, and one male and one female receiving 2,000 ppm, while squamous cell carcinomas were present in one male receiving 666 ppm and one male and one female receiving 2,000 ppm. The incidences of pituitary gland adenomas in male rats and mammary gland fibroadenomas in female rats decreased with exposure level. The incidence of cellular alteration in the liver was significantly increased in exposed groups of male and female mice. The incidences of hepatocellular adenoma, hepatocellular adenoma or carcinoma (combined), and hepatocellular carcinoma or hepatoblastoma (combined) were significantly increased in male mice receiving 2,000 and 6,000 ppm. The incidences of hepatocellular adenoma or carcinoma were significantly increased in female mice that received 2,000 ppm. STOP-EXPOSURE STUDY: Groups of 60 male and 60 female F344 rats received diets containing 0, 6,000, or 18,000 ppm o-nitroanisole for 27 weeks and were then maintained on control feed without further chemical exposure for up to an additional 77 weeks. Up to 10 rats from each group were evaluated for the presence of chemical-related lesions at 3, 6, 9, and 15 months. Survival and Body Weights: Survival of exposed male and female rats was significantly lower than that of the controls as a result of moribund deaths associated with significantly increased incidences of urinary bladder neoplasms, primarily transitional cell carcinomas. All male rats that received 18,000 ppm were dead by week 48 and all females that received 18,000 ppm were dead by week 61. Mean body weights of exposed male and female rats were lower than those of the controls throughout the study. Neoplasms and Nonneoplastic Lesions: Hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium of the urinary bladder was present in nearly all exposed male and female rats examined at the interim evaluations. A transitional cell carcinoma was first observed at the 3-month interim evaluation in a male rat that received 18,000 ppm. At the 6- and 9-month interim evaluations, transitional cell papillomas or carcinomas were observed in both exposed groups of male rats. Transitional cell carcinomas were observed at the 6-month interim evaluation in females receiving 18,000 ppm and at the 9-month interim evaluation in females receiving 6,000 and 18,000 ppm. Adenomatous polyps of the large intestine were observed in a small number of exposed rats at the 6-, 9-, and 15-month interim evaluations. At the end of the study, the incidence of adenomatous polyps of the large intestine was significantly increased in all exposed groups and carcinomas of the large intestine were present in four males and two females from the 18,000 ppm groups. The incidence of hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium of the kidney pelvis was significantly increased in exposed male and female rats and transitional cell papillomas were present in three males and one female that received 18,000 ppm. Transitional cell carcinomas of the kidney were present in one male receiving 6,000 ppm and six males and one female receiving 18,000 ppm. Transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder were seen in nearly all exposed male and female rats. Of the males and females receiving 6,000 ppm which were without carcinomas, three males and one female had transitional cell papillomas. Generalized centrilobular hypertrophy, focal hepatocellular necrosis, multifocal hepatocellular cytopla


This note defines the Compressed X.509 Format (CXF), a compact format
for X.509 certificates and CRLs, and a way to translate between the
compact format and standard X.509 encoding. The translation consists
of the lossless compression algorithm DEFLATE with a particular
predefined dictionary. Protocol bindings for TLS and IKE are
designated. This format is useful in a constrained environment, where
bandwidth and/or storage is low, and it preserves interoperability
with standards-compliant X.509 certificates and the systems for
certificate processing, issuance, and management.


The presented study is part of a general framework consisting in designing an intuitive control strategy of a generic synthesis model simulating continuous interaction sounds such as scraping, sliding, rolling or rubbing. For that purpose, we need to identify perceptually relevant signal properties mediating the recognition of such sound categories. Some studies tend to suggest the existence of acoustic features related to velocity or periodic modulations but, to our knowledge, the auditory distinction between these interactions is still not well-known and no formal investigations have been conducted so far. This study aimed at presenting a perceptual evaluation method, with brings to the light the differences between these interaction sounds. Such sounds were synthesized based on existing models and a morphing procedure between these sound categories was used to create intermediate sounds. Then, sounds were evaluated by subjects in a categorization task. Analyses of data revealed characteristic signal morphologies associated to each interaction sound category, thereby useful for the design of intuitive control of the generic synthesis model.


Sucrose density fractionation of yeast membranes revealed two major and two minor peaks of 45Ca2+ transport activity which all co-migrate with marker enzymes of the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi and membranes associated with these compartments as well as with ATPase activity measured when all other known ATPase are inhibited. Co-migration of 45Ca2+ transport and ATPase activities was also found after removal of plasma membranes by concanavalin A treatment. SDS-PAGE at pH 6.3 shows the Ca(2+)-dependent formation of acyl phosphate polypeptides of about 110 and 200 kDa. It is concluded that several compartments or sub-compartments of yeast are equipped with Ca(2+)-ATPase(s). It is proposed that these compartments are derived from the protein secretory apparatus of yeast.


. In this paper we discuss and describe preliminary results of integrating two strands of planning research - that of using plan graphs to speed up planning, and that of using object representations to better represent planning domain models. To this end we have de-signed and implemented OCL-graph, a plan generator which builds and searches an object-centred plan graph, extended to deal with conditional effects.


Purpose
This paper aims to present a comprehensive framework that integrates the emerging trends of servitization and digitalization in manufacturing. The influence between digitalization and servitization is defined and quantified. Their contribution to firm performance is analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a theoretical model that captures the relationships between the analyzed variables. Drawing on the Spanish Business Strategy Survey, hypothesis testing is conducted using data on 828 Spanish industrial firms. Linear regression models are built to capture the effect of each variable on firm performance and the type of interaction between the variables.

Findings
Servitization and digitalization are positively related to firm performance. Digitalization positively mediates the relationship between servitization and firm performance. The mediating effect of digitalization contributes to differentiating between the direct and indirect effects of servitization on firm performance.

Practical implications
The paper provides a useful analysis framework for firms to evaluate servitization and digitalization as success strategies. It is proposed that firms must simultaneously commit to digital transformation and the incorporation of services to create value, especially in business-to-business settings. Servitization and digitalization interact to exert a greater influence on performance.

Originality/value
The paper contributes to the theory on service strategy by providing an analysis model that includes digitalization as a mediator of the relationship between servitization and firm performance. Digitalization may provide a mechanism to unlock the benefits of servitization and thereby enhance firm performance.


The frequency characteristics of the beam scanning with KTa<inf>1-x</inf>Nb<inf>x</inf>O<inf>3</inf> crystals are described. The scanning angle remains in the same up to 400 kHz. Our proposed new scanning model supports this high-speed beam scanning.


We studied the effects of oral-mucosal administration of murine interferon-alpha (Mu-IFN-alpha) on immune responses and infection with vaccinia virus (VV) in mice. When Mu-IFN-alpha was administered to sheep red blood cell (SRBC)-sensitized mice for 4 or 5 days, Mu-IFN-alpha significantly enhanced delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and antibody production, with maximum enhancement of each at 1 IU/body. To investigate the antiviral effect of oral-mucosal Mu-IFN-alpha, mice were infected with VV, and Mu-IFN-alpha was administered for 15 days. Pocks were observed in the tail skin of infected mice, and Mu-IFN-alpha at doses of 1, 10, and 100 IU/body significantly suppressed pock formation. Also, VV-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL) were observed in the spleen from the same mice at 7 days after infection, and Mu-IFN-alpha enhanced CTL activity at doses above 1 IU/body. These results suggest that the oral-mucosal Mu-IFN-alpha may have potentiating effects on cellular and humoral immune responses, which may contribute to its effects against VV.


It is aimed in this study to present the relationship between the entrepreneurial orientation (i.e. managerial methods, practices and decision-making styles in a business to make competitive conditions in its favor and to meet the strategic objectives), an antecedent of the corporate entrepreneurship (i.e. "all formal and informal activities to develop new products, services, technologies, strategies and administrative techniques) and financial / nonfinancial success in scope of organizational performance. With a literature review, an empirical study has been conducted on hotels businesses in Canakkale Region in Turkey with Pearson and Spearman Correlations as well as multiple linear regression analysis. The study reveals that there is a positive relationship between innovatiness and change in sales, net profit margin, and net profit level as well as between proactivity and change in sales, net profit margin, gross profit margin, net profit from operations and ability to fund growth. In addition, the competitive aggressiveness is in a similar relationship with change in sales, net profit margin, gross profit margin, and net profit level. Furthermore, the findings suggest that innovatiness and employee performance is positively related to each other as do proactivity, employee and customer performances in terms of nonfinancial performance.


ABSTRACT Health care transition is an expanding field of health care practice and research focused on facilitating adolescents and emerging adults with long-term conditions to transfer uninterruptedly from pediatric to adult health care services and to transition successfully into adulthood and beyond. There is a widespread need to develop and implement service models as approximately one million adolescents and emerging adults with long-term conditions transfer their care into the adult system and enter adulthood. The purpose of this article is to explore major issues associated with the current state of health care transition practice, research and ultimately policymaking and systems change. The prominent issues addressed in this article include the following. Defining clearly what constitutes models of health care transition practice as ambiguity exists with terminology used with concepts integral to health care transition. The indistinct meanings of health care transition terminology commonly used, such as transition, transfer, readiness, and preparation, need to be operationalized for widespread application. Furthermore, questions remain as to what goal-directed outcomes are expected within this field of practice and science.


High precision identification of feature points is an important technology and one of the bases of computer vision, image analysis and image processing. In the practical applications, the feature points can not be identified easily in various conditions of light illumination, visual angle, texture, and perspective projection. And in many cases, the size of feature point is small, the context is uncertain and the shape of feature point is different from each other. According to the properties of actual vision images, a novel method of feature point identification using multi-scale detecting technology is presented. In this thesis, an automatic circle feature point detection system is developed based on digital image processing techniques, in which, the feature points are detected in two scales. In large-scale recognition, the image pre-processing is carried out to reduce the impact of image noise, and the feature points with various shape deformation can be found out. And then, the founded points are checked along with small scale detecting. The relationship of the points and their mappings in three dimensional space is obtained and used to judge if the point is a real feature point one by one. Thus the deformed feature points in various perspective projection conditions can be recognized correctly. Experimental results show that this approach for feature points identification is not only fast but also robust. The proposed technology is a kind of useful method for contour extraction and feature points identification in the fields of computer vision and image analysis.


There is a scarcity of experimental studies on peripheral nerve regeneration using placental extract (PE). This study aimed to investigate the effects of topical PE application on recovery after crush injury to the rat facial nerve using functional, electrophysiological, and morphological evaluations. The viability of the RSC96 Schwann cells treated with PE (0.5~4 mg/ml) increased significantly. Immunoblot test revealed that PE application enhanced the migration of RSC96 cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that PE increased the expression of neurotropic genes. The recovery from vibrissa fibrillation in the PE-treated group was superior to that in the control group. The threshold of action potential was also significantly lower in the PE group. Histopathological examination showed that crushed facial nerves treated with PE exhibited larger axons. The surrounding myelin sheaths were more distinct and thicker in the PE-treated group. Hence, PE may be considered a topical therapeutic agent for treating traumatic facial nerve paralysis.


-A new series of polymer derived from bischalconediol with some diacids was synthesized by polycondensation reaction using 3, 3'(1, 4-phenylene)bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one) with terephthalic acid, succinic acid and glutaric acid. The diacids are converted to their respective diacid chlorides, which are then used to esterify the phenolic moiety of the bischalcone diols. The polyesters obtained were characterized by using IR and the polymer-solvent dipolar interaction was studied by dissolving in various solvents. The UV spectral studies showed the existence of conjugated system due to the transition in the π→π* region. Further the decrease in the absorbance upon irradiation shows that the double bonds present in the molecule undergoes photocycloaddition reaction. The thermal behaviour of the polymer were studied using DSC thermograms. The anti bacterial activity was also studied and the polymers have shown good antibacterial activity. Keyword:-Liquid crystalline polymers, polyester synthesis, polycondensation.


The solubility of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) in water, methanol, and ethanol solutions was measured over the temperature range of (278.2 to 328.2) K. The solubility of PCA in methanol and ethanol is higher than that in water and increases with increasing temperature in the three solvents. All measurements were correlated with the Apelblat equation. The equation was found to provide an accurate representation of the experimental data.


This project is motivated by the need to study the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) on leadership styles in organizations. Having observed the importance of strong and strategic leadership to the success of an organization, there is a need to appraise the impact of EI in the workplace. The objectives of the study are to examine the impact of EI on leadership styles, to identify the impact of the adopted leadership styles on the productivity of the team, to study the various challenges associated with motivating employees, to assess the facilities put in place to monitor employee satisfaction and to evaluate the level of EI within the research sample. Two research hypotheses were formulated in line with the objectives of the study. The survey study method which allows a researcher to use questionnaire or direct interview to gather relevant data was adopted for the study with a sample size of 97. A structured questionnaire was administered and was the main instrument used for data collection. The data collected was subjected to face validity test. The ANOVA and chi – square (x2) techniques were used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that: the EI level of leaders is a critical success factor for enhanced team performance.
The study showed that a team leader's EI affects team level emotional competence and team performance through the development of emotionally competent group norms (EGCNs). This study also supports the assertion that the EGCN affect team performance. Majority of the respondents agree that EI influences the success with which leaders interact with colleagues, the strategies they use to manage conflict and stress and overall job performance.


Anti‐inflammatory agents are used routinely in clinical islet transplantation in an attempt to promote islet engraftment. Infliximab, and more recently etanercept, is being used to neutralize tumor necrosis factor alpha, but this tenet is based on limited preclinical data. One group has promoted the potential of combined etanercept with an IL‐1 receptor antagonist, anakinra in a small clinical study, but without strong preclinical data to justify this approach. We therefore sought to evaluate the impact of combined anakinra and etanercept in a marginal islet mass transplant model using human islets in immunodeficient mice. The combination of anakinra and etanercept led to remarkable improvement in islet engraftment (control 36.4%; anakinra 53.9%; etanercept 45.45%; anakinra and etanercept 87.5% euglycemia, p < 0.05 by log‐rank) compared to single‐drug treated mice or controls. This translated into enhanced metabolic function (area under curve glucose tolerance), improved graft insulin content and marked reduction in beta‐cell specific apoptotis (0.67% anakinra + etanercept vs. 23.5% control, p < 0.001). These results therefore strongly justify the combined short‐term use of anakinra and etanercept in human islet transplantation.


The rs10830963 variant of the Melatonin Receptor 1B (MTNR1B) gene is associated with the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We hypothesized that carrying the rs10830963/G risk allele had effect on antenatal insulin therapy (AIT) initiation in GDM in a body mass index (BMI)-dependent manner. Design: In this post hoc analysis the MTNR1B rs10830963 genotype and the clinical data of 211 Caucasian GDM patients were assessed. As a first step, a pre-pregnancy BMI threshold was determined where the effect of MTNR1B rs10830963/G allele carrying on AIT initiation was the most significant using logistic regression. Maternal age adjusted real-life odds ratios (OR) values were calculated. The chi-square test was also used to calculate the p value and 10.000 bootstrap simulations were performed in each case to re-assess the statistical power and the OR. Carrying the MTNR1B rs10830963/G allele increased the odds of AIT initiation (OR = 5.2, p = 0.02 [χ2 test], statistical power = 0.53) in GDM patients with pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 29 kg/m2. The statistical power reached 0.77, when the pre-pregnancy BMI cutoff of 27 kg/m2 was used and the genetic effect on AIT initiation was still significant, but only using the logistic regression model. Carrying the MTNR1B rs10830963/G risk allele—in interaction with pre-pregnancy BMI—is likely be considered as a candidate pharmacogenetic marker of antenatal insulin therapy initiation and should be further assessed in precision medicine trials in GDM.


Laser driven wakefield accelerators produce accelerating fields thousands of times those achievable in conventional radio-frequency accelerators, offering compactness and ultrafast bunches to potentially extend the frontiers of high energy physics and enable laboratory scale ultrafast radiation sources. Realization of this potential requires understanding of accelerator physics to advance beam performance and stability, and particle simulations model the highly nonlinear, kinetic physics required. One-to-one simulations of experiments provide new insight for optimization and development of 100 MeV to GeV and beyond laser accelerator stages, and on production of reproducible and controllable low energy spread beams with improved emittance (focusability) and energy through control of injection.


The word moonshine refers to unexpected relations between the two distinct mathematical structures: finite group representations and modular objects. It is believed that the key to understanding moonshine is through physical theories with special symmetries. Recent years have seen a varieties of new ways in which finite group representations and modular objects can be connected to each other, and these developments have brought promises and also puzzles into the string theory community.
These lecture notes aim to bring graduate students in theoretical physics and mathematical physics to the forefront of this active research area. In Part II of this note, we review the various cases of moonshine connections, ranging from the classical monstrous moonshine established in the last century to the most recent findings. In Part III, we discuss the relation between the moonshine connections and physics, especially string theory. After briefly reviewing a recent physical realisation of monstrous moonshine, we will describe in some details the mystery of the physical aspects of umbral moonshine, and also mention some other setups where string theory black holes can be connected to moonshine.
To make the exposition self-contained, we also provide the relevant background knowledge in Part I, including sections on finite groups, modular objects, and two-dimensional conformal field theories. This part occupies half of the pages of this set of notes and can be skipped by readers who are already familiar with the relevant concepts and techniques.


House and Senate conferees on the FY2003 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4546) are currently considering provisions that would lift the longstanding prohibition on concurrent receipt (simultaneous payment) of Department of Defense (DoD) retired pay and Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) disability benefits. The House-passed bill would phase in partial concurrent receipt by providing both retirement and VA benefits for those with disabilities of 60 percent or above by FY2007. The Senate-passed bill provides full concurrent receipt for military retirees with any disability rating in FY2003.


Prior research indicates that anxiety and emotion regulation are related to sleep quality. This study extends the body of research by investigating how people in different gender groups are affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) anxiety and emotion regulation in terms of sleep quality. The present study examined gender as a potential moderating variable on the associations of Covid-19 anxiety and emotion regulation with sleep quality. University students were recruited via e-mail to participate in a brief online survey. Data were collected using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Fear of COVID-19, and Emotion Management Skills Scale. The current study used SPSS PROCESS, an SPSS macro developed by Hayes. Results indicated that Covid-19 anxiety was related to poor sleep quality and emotion regulation was related to good sleep quality. Gender was a significant moderator for the relationship between Covid-19 anxiety and sleep quality, but not emotion regulation and sleep quality. The female gender presented a positive association between Covid-19 anxiety and poor sleep quality in comparison to the male gender. The relationship between emotion regulation and good sleep quality was found to be significant and positive for both genders. In the pandemic, Covid-19 anxiety should be reduced and people should have skills to manage their emotions. Otherwise, they will experience serious sleep problems.


During quarrying, waste stone cake is discharged as industrial waste. In this study, we attempted to convert waste sandstone cake to zeolitic materials using alkali fusion method. By varying the experimental conditions different types of the product were obtained, e. g. zeolite-X, zeolite-P, hydroxysodalite, tobermorite, and nepheline. The siliceous minerals in the cake were transformed into soluble phases, while calcite remains in the solid after 24-agitation following alkali fusion. The optimum condition of zeolite-X synthesis in the product is that the mixed ratio of NaOH to the cake is 1.6, fusion temperature is 600°C, and heating time at 80°C is less than 12 h. The results of the sorption experiments suggest that the product can be applied in environmental field such as the removal of pollutant.


Traveler information has the potential to reduce travel times and improve their reliability. Studies have verified that driver overreaction from the dissemination of information can be eliminated through prediction-based route guidance that uses short-term forecasts of network state. Critical off-line tests of advanced dynamic traffic assignment–based prediction systems have been limited, since the system being evaluated has also been used as the test bed. This paper outlines a detailed simulation-based laboratory for the objective and independent evaluation of advanced traveler information systems, a laboratory with the flexibility to analyze the impacts of various design parameters and modeling errors on the quality of the generated guidance. MITSIMLab, a system for the evaluation of advanced traffic management systems, is integrated with Dynamic Network Assignment for the Management of Information to Travelers (DynaMIT), a simulation-based decision support system designed to generate prediction-based route guidance. Evaluation criteria and requirements for the closed-loop integration of MITSIMLab and DynaMIT are discussed. Detailed case studies demonstrating the evaluation methodology and sensitivity of DynaMIT's guidance are presented.


SMEs play a crucial role in modern societies; being regarded as the foundation of a global competitive economy. Entire economic concepts evolved based on the SMEs sector evolution like entrepreneurship, innovation, competitiveness, etc. The current paper is aimed at presenting the current state and role of the SME sector in Romanian economy, in light of the challenges imposed by the global financial and economic crisis and the reaction measures taken (or not taken) by the Romanian authorities.


A spinning-drop technique was used to study the thermal variation in the surface tension at a liquid crystal-isotropic liquid interface. A polymesomorphic liquid crystal with nematic and smectic A phases bounded by an isotropic liquid (glycerine) was used for the present study. The surface tension-temperature characteristics, unlike the monotonically decreasing dependence found in most isotropic liquids, showed regions with a positive slope for both the smectic A and the nematic phases. A sharp increase in slope of the surface tension-temperature characteristic was observed near the smectic A-nematic and nematic-isotropic transition temperatures, indicating that excess surface order is developing near these transitions. The observed results are in compliance with the available theoretical predictions.


A previously healthy 21-year-old woman presented with syncope and arrhythmia. A computed tomographic coronary angiogram was solely remarkable for an anterior mediastinal mass. Mediastinal magnetic resonance imaging of the reported mass revealed mildly prominent thymic tissue for age, with no suppression on out-of-phase chemical shift magnetic resonance imaging. Thymoma and lymphoma could not be excluded. After diagnosis and stabilization of her arrhythmia, the patient underwent median sternotomy and radical thymectomy, with pathology revealing normal thymus. This case suggests that nonsuppression of mildly prominent, homogenous thymic soft tissue in young women may not be sufficient to warrant diagnostic intervention and instead may warrant close follow-up.


Aurora kinase-A (referred to as Aurora-A) identified as a sereine/threonine kinase induces mitotic progression process including centrosome amplification, bipolar spindle formation and chromosome segregation through modulation of activity and localization of its interacting proteins during cell division. Beside its essential roles in mitosis, cancer profiling studies have revealed that Aurora-A function is implicated in tumor relevant signaling pathways and overexpressed in many human tumors. The findings showed highly frequent overexpression of Aurora-A in human breast ductal carcinoma in situ and primary invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Moreover, the Aurora-A overexpression correlates with poor prognosis in breast carcinoma, deregulated overexpression of Aurora-A associates with centrosome anomalies and chromosome instability in rodent models of mammary caricinogenesis. However, published studies in several transgenic mouse models attempting to address the role of Aurora-A in tumorigenesis and genomic instability have raised conflicting results. In this report we targeted expression of Aurora-A transgene in an inducible mouse model in which expression of Aurora-A was restricted to mammary epithelium during multiple pregnancy and lactation cycles under the activity of β-lactoglobulin promotor. The results demonstrate that overexpression of Aurora-A could induce tumorigenesis in mouse mammary epithelium. The tumor incidence was 70% of Aurora-A transgenic mice at 16 months of age. Of note, overexpression of Aurora-A led to genomic instability. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array analyses revealed loss of Trim12a, Trim12c, Trim30b, Trim30d, Trim30e, Cdkn2d, Pten, Cep55 and gain of Adam6. Notably, Aurora-A overexpression caused nuclear accumulation of cyclin D1, activation of AKT, overexpression of TPX2 and PLK1and loss of ERα expression in tumors. Our findings indicated that prolonged Aurora-A expression in mammary epithelium leads to mammary adenocarcinomas with genomic instability. Aurora-A driven adenocarcinoma reveals deregulation of critical tumor relevant genetic pathways involving both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. These transgenic mouse model findings indicate that Aurora-A may be an important therapeutic target for mammary cancer. Keywords: Aurora-A, carcinogenesis. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-04-05.


SETTING
The Singapore Tuberculosis Control Unit.

OBJECTIVES
1) To identify any demographic, social, disease or treatment-related characteristics which may be predictive of patients defaulting from treatment; 2) to assess the effectiveness of home visits as a means of defaulter recall; 3) to ascertain outcome in these patients.

DESIGN
A retrospective, case-controlled study of TB treatment defaulters, defined as patients who missed their scheduled appointments and required a home visit to recall for treatment. Controls were randomly selected, non-defaulting patients who started treatment on the same dates as the defaulters.

RESULTS
Forty-four patients required home visits in 1996. Compared to controls, defaulters were more likely to be non-Chinese, and to live on their own or with friends. There was no significant association of defaulting with age, sex, marital or employment status, disease characteristics, or treatment-related factors. Seventy per cent defaulted during the continuation phase of treatment. Home visits did not result in contact with the patient (or any other person) 41% of the time. Although 48% of the defaulters remained lost to follow-up at the time of the survey, all but one of the sputum-positive patients had bacteriologically converted by the time of default.

CONCLUSION
Non-Chinese ethnicity and lack of family support were found to be factors strongly predictive of default. Age, sex, marital and employment status, treatment-related factors and disease characteristics were not significant in distinguishing those at risk for defaulting.


Background/Objective: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among males in the United States. Compared to European American males, African American (AA) males are at increased risk for PCa and tend to have a more aggressive form of the disease. Recent laboratory studies have suggested deficiencies in vitamin D to be related with PCa risk. Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] are considered the best indicators of an individual9s overall vitamin D status. However, vitamin D metabolism and physiology are modified by genetic and environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation (UVR), skin color, diet, body mass index (BMI) and genes involved in vitamin D synthesis. The goal of this project is to study modifiers of serum 25(OH)D levels in order to improve our understanding of the role vitamin D plays on prostate cancer susceptibility in African Americans. Methods: This case-control study consisted of AA men (N=250) accrued from a university hospital in Washington, DC. Serum levels of 25(OH)D and prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels were assessed. BMI was calculated as weight/height2 (kg/m2). Study participants completed UVR exposure and food frequency questionnaires. Skin color was measured using a reflectance meter. Logistic regression models were used to test for associations between 25(OH)D levels and PCa risk, adjusting for ancestry, age, skin pigmentation, dietary vitamin D, supplemental vitamin D, sun exposure, and other lifestyle factors. In addition, we used linear regression models to explore determinants of serum 25(OH)D levels, including dietary vitamin D intake, ancestry, skin pigmentation and UVR exposure. Results: There were no significant baseline differences between cases and controls for serum 25(OH)D levels, dietary vitamin D and daily servings of dairy products. Baseline differences were found for age (p Conclusion: Supplemental vitamin D and UVR exposure were modifiers of serum 25(OH)D levels. However, we did not observe any significant difference in serum 25(OH)D levels between AA PCa cases and controls. This is likely due to factors such as diet, skin color, BMI and UVR exposure which strongly could influence vitamin D levels and function. Understanding the role of vitamin D in PCa risk may help to explain the higher incidence of PCa among AA males. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(12 Suppl):A78.


: Of the 1,018 patients with purulent bacterial meningitis, hospitalized at the 2nd Clinical Infectious Hospital in Moscow during the period of 1980-1987, the diagnosis was confirmed in 54.7%; of these, meningitis of pneumococcal etiology was established in 44.8% and meningitis caused by H. influenzae, type b, in 23.8% of the patients. In meningitis of pneumococcal etiology high risk groups included mainly adults, especially those over 50 years, and children under 3 years of age. In meningitis of H. influenzae etiology high risk groups included mainly young children under 2 years of age. Meningitis of pneumococcal etiology was characterized by considerable death rate (on the average, 20%), while in meningitis of H. influenzae etiology death rate was 3 times lower. Pneumococci of serotypes 1, 3, 6, and 19 were found to be of the highest etiological importance for adults and pneumococci of serotypes 19, 6, 12, and 1, for children. In recent years greater etiological role of serotype 42 in adults was noted. The study of the spread of meningitides of different etiology is a high-priority task for this country.


This research presents a nonlinear adaptive fuzzy control method as an analytical design and a simple control structure for the trajectory tracking problem in wheeled mobile robots with skew symmetrical property. For this trajectory tracking problem in wheeled mobile robots, it is not easy to find an analytical adaptive fuzzy control solution due to the complicated error dynamics between the controlled wheeled mobile robots and desired trajectories. For deriving the analytical adaptive fuzzy control law of this trajectory tracking problem, a filter link is firstly adopted to find the solvable error dynamics, then the research is based on the skew symmetrical property of the transformed error dynamics. This proposed nonlinear adaptive fuzzy control solution has the advantages of low computational resource consumption and elimination of modeling uncertainties. From the results for tracking two simulation scenarios (an S type trajectory and a square trajectory), the proposed nonlinear adaptive fuzzy control method demonstrates a satisfactory trajectory tracking performance for the trajectory tracking problem in wheeled mobile robots with huge modeling uncertainties and outperforms the existing H2 control method.


Markov reward models have been employed to obtain performability measures of computer and communication systems. In these models, a continuous time Markov chain is used to represent changes in the system structure, usually caused by faults and repairs of its components, and reward rates are assigned to states of the model to indicate some measure of accomplishment at each structure. A procedure to calculate numerically the distribution of the reward accumulated over a finite observation period is presented. The development is based solely on probabilistic arguments, and the final recursion is quite simple. The algorithm has a low computational cost in terms of model parameters. In fact, the number of operations is linear in a parameter that is smaller than the number of rewards, while the storage required is independent of the number of rewards. We also consider the calculation of the distribution of cumulative reward for models in which impulse based rewards are associated with transitions.


Aim: We aimed to assess the gout management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We assessed medication use, healthcare utilization, gout-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) on the Gout Impact Scale (GIS), psychological distress using the patient health questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), and resilience in people with self-reported physician-diagnosed gout during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-sectional Internet survey. Results: Among the 122 survey respondents with physician-diagnosed gout, 82% were prescribed urate-lowering therapy (ULT) and 66% were taking ULT daily; mean age was 54.2 years [standard deviation (SD), 13.8], 65% were male, and 79% were White. More regular use of gout medication was reported during the COVID-19 pandemic: allopurinol, 44%; colchicine, 37%; non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 36%. Gout flares were common: 63% had ⩾1 gout flare monthly; 11% went to emergency room/urgent care; and 2% were hospitalized with gout flares. Between 41% and 56% of respondents reported more difficulty with gout management and related functional status related to COVID-19; 17–37% had difficulty with healthcare access for gout. HRQOL deficits were evident for gout concern overall, 79.4 (SD, 25); unmet gout treatment need, 64.5 (SD, 27.1); and gout concern during flare, 67.3 (SD, 27.1); but less so for gout medication side effects, 48.9 (SD, 27.4). Psychological distress was moderate in 19% and severe in 15% (mild, 22%; normal, 45%). Resilience score on Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC2) was 5.6 (SD, 1.8; range 0–8). Compared with no/mild psychological distress, moderate–severe psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly associated with more difficulty getting gout medication filled (p = 0.02), flares treated (p = 0.005), and receiving gout education (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Healthcare gaps, psychological distress, and HRQoL deficits were commonly reported by people with gout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions to address these challenges for people with gout during the COVID-19 pandemic are needed.


Abstract  Left posterolateral thoracotomy approach for reoperative coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a useful alternative to median sternotomy. We describe use of a left posterolateral thoracotomy and hypothermic fibrillation for reoperative CABG in a patient with patent bilateral internal thoracic artery grafts. (J Card Surg 2011;26:34‐36)


This collection blends theoretical writing with techniques of fiction, autobiography, poetry and artwork. Encompassing high and popular culture, it addresses the questions: how are women represented and how do women represent themselves? The authors look at a range of media from paintings and family photography, through opera, film and TV, to novels and poetry. The traditional boundaries between the "creative" and the "critical" are challenged through a new combination of artistic, poetic and critical voices. The first section deals with "The Politics of Spectatorship", with essays on Frida Kahlo, the Impressionists, Surrealism and family snapshots. The second section, entitled "Politics/production/performance" looks at the popular film, "Thelma and Louise", natural history programmes and opera. The last section argues for feminist interventions at all levels of cultural production.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Prostate cancer exhibits the greatest disparity in mortality between African American (AA) and European American (EA) men of any cancer in the US. The reasons for this disparity include access to care, screening patterns, and behavior. Biological differences may lead some AA men to have biologically aggressive tumors. Using the Study of Clinical Outcomes, Risk, and Ethnicity (SCORE) study, we identified prostate tumor tissues from men undergoing prostatectomy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania between 1991-2008. Immunohistochemistry was undertaken on the FFPE tumors of 45 EA and 55 AA men (mean age: 59.1 years, range: 41-71). No statistically significant difference in marker phenotypes was observed for prevalence of TMPRSS2/ERG fusion proteins, or in staining intensity for PSMA or Rb. We observed statistically significant differences in marker phenotype for RACEMASE (EA Mean: 188.1 vs. AA Mean: 144.7, p = 0.004), c-myc (EA Mean: 54.7 vs. AA Mean: 21.6, p = 0.005), and AR (EA Mean: 192.1 vs. AA Mean: 136.5, p = 0.002). These data suggest that markers that have been reported to be associated with tumor aggressiveness differ between EA and AA men.

We further evaluated whether these markers were associated with clinical outcome as measured by biochemical (PSA) failure (BF) after radical prostatectomy (RP). We observed 41 BF with a mean follow up of 32.6 months post-RP, compared with 68 non-BF with a mean follow up of 53.7 months post-RP. After adjusting for pathology tumor grade, only the presence of a TMPRSS2-ERG fusion protein was significantly associated with BF. We observed a significant interaction (p = 0.031) by race suggesting TMPRSS2-ERG fusions were less likely to be associated with BF in AA than in EA. These data suggest that TMPRSS2-ERG fusions may not be important predictors of prostate cancer outcomes in AA men as has been suggested in EA men.

*These authors contributed equally to the work.

Citation Format: Priti Lal*, Kosj Yamoah*, Amy Ziober, Amy Walker, Wenting Zhou, Elaine Spangler, Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, Michael Feldman, Timothy R. Rebbeck. Racial differences in the distribution of prostate tumor biomarkers and treatment failure: The SCORE study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4608. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4608


This paper presents the architecture of a test bed for indoor localization based on pulse Ultra-Wideband radio technology, mainly considering the localization of first responders as a target application. A modular design approach has been employed, therefore enabling comparison of different solutions and implementation of sensor fusion techniques for localization. The realized test bed provides range estimates based on the round-trip time of radio pulses, which is accurately measured by a time-to-digital converter without the need for nano-second-level clock synchronization. Furthermore, support for digital control and processing of the acquired raw data is provided by a field programmable gate array, allowing for flexibility and reconfigurability. Results of a preliminary characterization of the test bed are presented.


An ELISA method has been developed for the diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum infection in man. Parasites from in vitro cultures of P. falciparum were used as source of antigen for the solid phase and the source of specific antibody was immune Gambian sera; binding of antibody in antigen-coated wells was registered by means of alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-human IgG. Parasites were detected on the basis of inhibition of antibody-binding. The test was applied to the detection of parasites in human red blood cells (RBC) from in vitro cultures of P. falciparum and in RBC from infected Gambians; RBC from 100 Geneva blood donors served as normal, uninfected controls. In titration experiments, the degree of antibody-binding inhibition correlated with the number of parasites in the test RBC. Parasites were detected at a level of 8 parasites/10(6) RBC. Samples of RBC were tested from 126 Gambians with microscopically proven infection; significant antibody-binding inhibition was found in 86% of these cases, where parasitaemia ranged from 10 to 125 000/mul of blood. The presence of high-titre antibody in the test preparations was found to reduce the sensitivity of parasite detection in infected RBC from in vitro cultures mixed with equal volumes of different antibody-containing sera. The sensitivity was restored in most cases by recovering the RBC by centrifugation before testing. In a preliminary experiment, there was no significant difference in antibody-binding inhibition using fresh infected RBC and RBC dried on filter-paper and recovered by elution, although there was greater variation in the latter samples.


The ability of cells to undergo apoptosis in response to cellular stresses functions as a safeguard against tumorigenesis. Consequently, compromised apoptotic signaling must precede tumor development. To design effective therapies for cancer treatment, the underlying mechanisms that govern cell survival need to be understood. The anti-apoptotic proteins of the Bcl-2 family are key regulators of cell survival and are frequently overexpressed in malignancies, leading to increased cancer cell survival. Bcl-w, the closest anti-apoptotic relative to Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, is essential for spermatogenesis, but was considered dispensable for other cell types. However, we recently uncovered a significant role for Bcl-w in B-cell survival and lymphomagenesis. Specifically, loss of Bcl-w conferred sensitivity to growth factor deprivation-induced B-cell apoptosis. In addition, apoptosis triggered by hyperproliferative signals from the Myc oncogene was accentuated by loss of Bcl-w. Consequences of elevated apoptosis were observed in vivo, as Bcl-w loss profoundly delayed Myc-mediated B-cell lymphoma development. We also determined Myc regulates Bcl-w expression through its transcriptional regulation of the miR-15 family. Importantly, evaluation of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) patient samples revealed BCL-W overexpression was highly selected for, and that targeting BCL-W using multiple methods induced apoptosis of BL cells. In addition, overexpression of BCL-W in BL cell lines conferred resistance to the BH3-mimetics ABT-737 and ABT-263 that inhibit anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members. Furthermore, BCL-W was overexpressed in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and correlated with decreased patient survival. Analysis of multiple data sets of other aggressive and indolent B-cell lymphomas showed that BCL-W was frequently overexpressed in them as well. Collectively, our data indicate that BCL-W is an understudied contributor to B-cell lymphoma development and survival that appears to be as important as BCL-2 to B-cell lymphomas. In addition, BCL-W is a predictive biomarker that could improve prognostication and the development of more effective treatment strategies for B-cell lymphomas. Citation Format: Clare M. Adams, Ramkrishna Mitra, Jerald Z. Gong, Annette S. Kim, John K. Choi, Christine M. Eischen. BCL-W significantly contributes to B-cell lymphoma survival and development [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second AACR Conference on Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies; May 6-9, 2017; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2017;23(24_Suppl):Abstract nr 02.


The false flower mantid is the common name for the Mantodea species Harpagomantis tricolor (Linnaeus, 1758). This species uses camouflage as a defense mechanism. Limited information (Kaltenbach 1996, 1998) exists on its distribution in southern Africa or about its life history. This species, and Mantodea to an extent, are not usually included in biodiversity studies from this region. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of this species in southern Africa based on museum collection records and to study the biology of Harpagomantis tricolor under captive breeding conditions. The distribution of Harpagomantis and its morphological variety, i.e., discolor, were determined utilising the historical insect collection records of seven national museums throughout South Africa. Field collected H. tricolor males and females were mated and reared under laboratory conditions to record their life history parameters of nymphal duration, oothecae structure, size and incubation duration, adult longevity, and sex ratio. The results of this study indicate that the mean duration of the lifecycle of H. tricolor is 191.33 ± 37.96 days. All but three H. tricolor individuals had five nymphal instars, and the mean duration of the nymphal stage was 140.20 ± 31.03 days. The mean duration of copulation was six hours, while the average incubation period of oothecae was 144.71 ± 9.33 days. These results indicate that oothecae of H. tricolor probably overwinter under field conditions and that males of this species have evolved various mechanisms to increase the likelihood of ensuring their own genetic offspring. This study bridges the gap in rudimental research in which Mantodea, in general, has been overlooked and establishes a basis on which ecological interactions, habitat preferences, and imminent threats to H. tricolor can be established.