Tetanus is a potentially life-threatening infection characterized by muscle spasms. Cephalic tetanus is limited to muscles and nerves in the head and can occur after trauma to this area. Because of the rarity of cephalic tetanus clinicians may be unfamiliar with the clinical presentation unsuspecting of the diagnosis.


Purpose To report long-term outcomes of endovascular therapy (EVT) for aortoiliac bifurcation lesions. Methods Patients enrolled in the multicenter REtrospective AnaLysis of Aorto-Iliac stenting (REAL-AI) registry in Japan were pooled. Of 2096 patients who underwent EVT for de novo aortoiliac disease between January 2005 and December 2009, 190 patients (148 men; mean age 70±9 years) had aortoiliac bifurcation lesions that were treated with stents, whose configuration (single, V, or kissing) and type (balloon-expandable or self-expanding) were subjected to regression analysis to determine any impact on primary patency along with other demographic, clinical, and lesion characteristics, including Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus II C/D classification. The primary endpoints were restenosis and target lesion revascularization (TLR). Secondary endpoints were all-cause death, major cardiovascular events, and major cardiovascular + limb events. Results The overall complication rate was 6.3%, and 1- and 5-year primary patency rates were 87% and 73%, respectively. Over a mean follow-up of 31±15 months, there were 36 (19.0%) restenoses, 22 (11.6%) TLRs, and 4 (2.1%) reocclusions; stent fracture (2, 1.1%) and major amputation (2, 1.1%) were rare. Only female gender [adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) 4.26, 95% CI 1.89 to 9.71, p<0.001] and residual diameter stenosis (AHR 1.04, 96% CI 1.01 to 1.06, p=0.01) were independent predictors of primary patency. Conclusion Stenting for aortoiliac bifurcation lesions was found to be safe and effective. Neither stent configuration nor type appeared to affect vessel patency in true bifurcation lesions.


In this paper, we suggest a method to design a small antenna system apt for the attachment to the drone with multi-propellers. Since each of multi-propellers is part of a branch connected to the center of the drone, a flat radial power divider is designed to feed antennas adhering to the propellers, instead of the Wilkinson power divider. For the frequency of 2.4 GHz to build a wireless link between the quadcopter and the ground, the 4-way radial power divider and 4 antennas are designed for the same frequency and light weight.


A comparison between 51.84-Gb/s vestigial sideband 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) and ON–OFF keying (OOK) signals at a transmission distance of 80 km is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. An electro-absorption modulated laser-based intensity-modulation and direct-detection 80-km transmission is achieved using both modulation formats without dispersion compensating fiber. The relative frequency between single sideband filter and signal is adjusted to find an optimized condition for both carrier to signal power ratio and sideband suppression ratio. The experimental results show that with linear equalization and without bandwidth limitation, the OOK signal has a 4-dB better sensitivity compared with PAM4 after 80-km standard single-mode fiber transmission.


The conflict in Chechnya, going through its low- and high-intensity phases, has been doggedly accompanying Russia's development. In the last decade, the Chechen war was widely covered, both in Russia and in the West. While most books look at the causes of the war, explain its zigzag course, and condemn the brutalities and crimes associated with it, this book is different. Its focus lies beyond the Caucasus battlefield. In Russia's Restless Frontier , Dmitri Trenin and Aleksei Malashenko examine the implications of the war with Chechnya for Russia's post-Soviet evolution. Considering Chechnya's impact on Russia's military, domestic politics, foreign policy, and ethnic relations, the authors contend that the Chechen factor must be addressed before Russia can continue its development.


Background: Awareness of anatomical variations of the median nerve at wrist is important in repair of traumatic injuries and treatments of compression syndrome because in these situations precise dissection of the nerve is mandatory and such variations are not infrequent. Materials and Methods: In this study, 52 hands of 52 fresh cadavers were dissected and median nerve anatomy along with the presence of persistent median artery (PMA) was noted. Results: A total of 26 hands (50%) had the deviation from the standard text book anatomy of the median nerve. There was early division of the median nerve into the medial and lateral branches in 11.53% hands. There was early branching of the 2nd common digital nerve in 9.6% hands. The transligamentous motor branch to the thenar muscle was most prevalent (42.3% hands). The single motor branch to the thenar muscles was found in the majority of hands (84.6%). The PMA was present in 11.53% hands and it was associated with variations in the median nerve anatomy in all cases. Conclusions: This study shows a high percentage of deviation from standard anatomy as well as a high percentage of transligamentous thenar muscle motor branch. The presence of PMA was associated with variations in the median nerve anatomy in all cases. Therefore if PMA is present there are very high chances of associated median nerve anomalies.


Using MHD numerical simulations in a three-dimensional spherical geometry, we model the loss of confinement and eruption of a flux rope emerging quasi-statically into a preexisting coronal arcade field. Our numerical experiments investigated two distinct mechanisms that led to the eruption of the flux rope. In one case, the overlying arcade field declines with height slowly such that the emerging flux rope remains confined until its self-relative magnetic helicity normalized by the square of the rope's flux reaches -1.4 and the flux rope becomes significantly kinked. The kinking motion causes rotation of the tube to an orientation that makes it easier for it to rupture through the arcade field, leading to an eruption. In the second case, the overlying field declines more rapidly with height, and the emerging flux rope is found to lose equilibrium and erupt via the torus instability when its self-relative magnetic helicity normalized by the square of its flux is only approximately -0.63, before it becomes kinked. The values of the total relative magnetic helicity of the entire coronal magnetic field (including both the flux rope and the arcade field) normalized by the square of the total magnetic flux are, on the other hand, of similar magnitudes for the two cases when the eruption takes place. We compare and contrast the eruptive properties and the posteruption states resulting from the two cases.


Purpose Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implant is an aqueous shunt device used to control intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Implant failure results from impervious encapsulation of the shunt plate causing increased hydraulic resistance and raised intraocular pressure. We hypothesized that deregulation of fibrosis pathway contributes to capsular resistance. We tested this by studying fibrosis related gene expression in failed AGV implants. Methods Differential gene expression was examined in failed AGV capsules and compared to normal control tenon. Following total RNA extraction, 84 key genes in fibrosis pathway were examined by real-time PCR using RT2 Profiler PCR Array. Relative gene expression was calculated using ΔΔCt method. Gene specific TaqMan assays were used to validate select genes with ≥2 fold differential expression in the array expression profile. Results We observed differential expression in several genes in the fibrosis pathway. Almost half (39/84) of examined genes showed ≥2 fold differential expression in majority of capsules examined on the array. TaqMan assays for select genes including CCN2 (CTGF), THBS1, SERPINE1, THBS2, COL3A1, MMP3, and IL1A in an increased validation sample set showed significant changes in expression (p value from <0.001 to 0.022) at a high frequency in concurrence with our array results. Conclusions Pathway-focused analyses identified candidate genes with altered expression providing molecular evidence for deregulation of the fibrosis pathway in AGV failure.


n the era of globalization, business environment becomes highly dynamic with high risk and uncertainty. This uncertainty decreases market share and increases organizational inefficiency. The increasing attention on human resource management (HRM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a comparatively recent phenomenon. HR-researchers have largely ignored the SMEs, even though smaller companies could be fruitful subjects for empirical investigation because of their numbers, the growth-rates and not least diversity in the qualitative aspects of management practices. Thereby HRM in SME's has been a white spot on the map, and this despite the characteristic Pakistan industrial structure, i.e. the large proportion of SMEs; the long tradition for a rather institutionalized and well unorganized labor market, which could provide a basis for a more professional approach to human resources, and finally the supposed very good basis for future competitiveness, due to the values characterizing employees as well as managers in Pakistani companies, i.e. democratic management style,( A Democratic Management Style has moderate approach to a situation whether at work or in a social places. The way things are get done is to seek opinion from your staffs as opposed to giving a direct instruction.


The current imaging technique and clinical application of MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is reviewed. MRCP has evolved into a feasible method of non-invasively evaluating the pancreaticobiliary system and has considerable clinical utility. If endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is incomplete or has failed, or in patients with biliary and gastrointestinal surgical procedures, MRCP is a useful alternative modality. In the near future, MRCP may supplant diagnostic ERCP such that ERCP is reserved primarily for therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, when MRCP is performed in conjunction with abdominal MR and MR angiography, the 'all-in-one' examination can evaluate the solid organs and vessels of the abdomen as well as the ductal systems.


Deciduous and permanent teeth extracted from juveniles for orthodontic purposes have been analysed using alpha-sensitive plastic track detectors for the spatial distribution of total alpha-activity and naturally occurring 210Pb-supported 210Po and 226Ra. The distribution of these radionuclides is non-uniform, with 210Po being primarily associated with outer enamel and 226Ra with the pulp. The observations suggest that 210Pb/210Po concentrates at the interface of enamel with saliva or blood, by means of unidirectional ionic exchange with calcium. In contrast, 226Ra concentrates in the predentine band at the interface with pulp and with systemic blood circulation, where its uptake is permitted by the incomplete calcification in this band. Activity concentration was measured in 900 teeth. Total concentration on the outer enamel surface of deciduous teeth, permanent teeth from children < or = 10 years and permanent teeth from children > 10 years give respective mean values of 8.63 +/- 0.26, 5.76 +/- 0.48 and 7.00 +/- 0.15 Bq kg-1. 226Ra concentration on the corresponding longitudinal sections comprising pulp, dentine and annular enamel give respective mean values of 0.715 +/- 0.055, 0.418 +/- 0.083 and 0.514 +/- 0.029 Bq kg-1. Mean activity concentration in 32 foetal teeth was 2.05 +/- 0.31 Bq kg-1. The results form the basis of more detailed studies of (1) age-dependent uptake of alpha-radionuclides in teeth and their microdistribution, and (2) the geographical variation in activity concentration with respect to environmental factors such as domestic radon exposure.


Antisocial behaviour among adolescent suicide victims (44 males, 9 females) was investigated in a nationwide psychological autopsy study of suicides in Finland. The data were collected through interviews of the victims' relatives and attending health care personnel, and from official records. Antisocial behaviour was reported among 43% of the victims. Separation from parents, parental alcohol abuse and parental violence were common among male victims with antisocial behaviour. Their psychosocial adjustment was poor, and they had experienced severe stressors. Depressive disorders were common among all suicides, but male victims with antisocial behaviour had more often alcohol abuse and comorbid mental disorders compared with victims without antisocial behaviour. The results indicate a strong relatedness between adolescent suicide and antisocial behaviour. Recognition and treatment of manifest mental symptoms and evaluation of suicide risk among adolescents with antisocial behaviour and substance abuse is emphasized. Antisocial symptoms with relatively short duration and not severe enough to meet the criteria for actual antisocial disorders also need to be taken into account.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality, pathological features of which are pulmonary inflammation and irreversible airflow obstruction. Current therapies for COPD are aimed at improvement of clinical symptoms and reduction of inflammation in the respiratory systems. There is a pressing need for the development of new COPD medication, particularly as no existing treatment has been shown to reduce disease progression. In spite of a better understanding of the underlying disease process, there have been limited advances in the drug therapy of COPD, in contrast to the enormous advances in asthma management. Several new therapeutic targets and strategies have been proposed, and new drug candidates, including bronchodilators, protease inhibitors anti-inflammatory drugs and mediator antagonists, are now in clinical development for COPD treatment. New dry powder inhaler (DPI) systems for inhaled COPD therapy have also been developed to maximize drug concentrations in the airway systems, while minimizing systemic exposure and associated toxicity. This article aims to review recent developments in COPD drugs and the delivery systems for inhalation therapy, with particular emphasis on device options and formulations of DPI systems.


In RF cavities, built at BINP for electron-positron storage rings, special tuners are provided for higher order modes (HOMs). The HOM tuners effect on different modes in different ways. Electrical characteristics and tuning curves of cavity modes are measured. Using these experimental data, the beam-cavity interaction at higher order modes is analyzed for different HOM tuner positions. There are combinations of HOM tuner positions, at which the cavity caused beam instabilities may occur, and there are combinations, at which they may not. The last ones are recommendedfor routine cavity operation.


This study evaluates the impact of Fadama III project in Gombe State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 beneficiaries and 120 non beneficiaries of Fadama III project. Data were collected using structural questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage change was used to estimate the changes between each period of evaluation) and combination of propensity score matching (PSM) and double difference (DD) estimator to determine average treatment effect (ATE) on project beneficiaries. The result shows that, the value of productive assets increase by 50.18%. The result further shows that income of beneficiaries increased by 51.21% (baseline-midline) and 95.84% (baseline-midline) meaning that Fadama project III has superseded it target of 40% of 75% of all beneficiaries. The overall result indicated that there was a substantial increase in the productivities of both the crop and livestock sub-sectors which increase male and female houselod income by 61% and 33% respectively. Fadama III beneficiaries' access to extension advisory services contributed to agricultural productivity and income by 10% at baseline, 44% at midline compared to 58% increase contribution in the endline evaluation. Therefore it can be concluded that Fadama III project impacted positively both the intermediate and ultimate target of the project have been adequately met. There is the need for the policy makers/ authorities to consider community-driven development approach for Fadama III project meant to benefit the rural communities more.


The presented investigation theoretically studies the physical characteristics of a two-dimensional incompressible hybrid nanofluid in a non-uniform annulus where the boundaries are flexible. A mixed convective peristaltic mechanism is implemented to model blood-based nanofluids using two different nanoparticles (Ag + Al2O3). Convective boundary conditions are employed and different forms of nanoparticles are discussed (bricks, cylinders and platelets). The problem is shortened by engaging a lubrication method. Exact expressions for the temperature of cumulative heat source/sink standards, hemodynamic velocity, pressure gradient and streamlines of different shapes of nanoparticles are obtained. Special cases of pure blood and the Al2O3 nanofluid of our model are derived. A comparison is set between nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids from which we observed variations in heat transfer rate in different regions due to the oscillatory nature of the waves. The current model has the potential to be useful for applications related to the metabolic structures that play a vital role in heat sources inside the human body.


We assessed depression, anxiety and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in 137 cases of landmine injury in Ilam province, using the Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale (HADS) and the Short Form Health Survey (SF36) questionnaires. We also compared their scores with an uninjured control group (n = 360). Most of the injured were male (93.4%) and illiterate (54.7%) with some irreversible sequelae (86.9%). Overall, 69.3% of the injured participants scored high for both anxiety and depression. The level of anxiety and depression was significantly higher in older cases, those not completely recovered compared with recovered cases and those with amputation compared with those without amputation. The injured also had significantly lower mean scores in all HRQOL components than the control group. Landmine injured should be monitored for early identification and treatment of depression and anxiety.


Cryopreservation is the best method of storing germplasm efficiently and safely, particularly for the maintenance of vegetatively propagated material. In IPK cryopreservation is used for potato, garlic, mint and yam. IPK collaborates with other cryobanks and research groups (ECPGR, COST, EURALLIVEG) and finds considerable differences in the adoption of cryopreservation between crops and their host institutes, depending on crop, local and historical circumstances. A better understanding of the long-term benefits of cryopreservation and its further integration into general genebank management is therefore needed. Recommended approaches include: comparative validation of methods between different laboratories, detailed comparisons of crop-based methods, economical analyses, efficient integration strategies of cryobanks by genebanks; including safe duplication of cryopreserved resources for the limitation of risk of loss Importantly, there has been recent progress in the development of quality management systems. Cryopreservation is, however, characterized by high expectations. Therefore, to ensure its sustainable and practicable use, basic knowledge of storage protocols must be combined with increased awareness of the rationales required to validate, implement and apply cryobanking technologies in working genebanks.


The utility of chemically synthesized deoxyoligonucleotides as hybridization probes for the detection of tRNA genes has been examined. Chloroplast tRNA genes were chosen for this study. Deoxyoligonucleotides complementary to highly conserved regions of chloroplast tRNA genes of both higher plants and Euglena gracilis were chemically synthesized. These synthetic probes have been used to detect tRNA genes by Southern hybridizations to restriction fragments of chloroplast DNAs. This new method of tRNA gene mapping and the oligonucleotides synthesized may be of general application to many chloroplast genomes. This is illustrated by the detection of known and unknown tRNA genes of Euglena gracilis and spinach, and unknown tRNA genes of maize and cucumber chloroplast DNAs. The precise locus and polarity of the Euglena gracilis chloroplast tRNAPhe gene has been determined. We also describe experiments which relate to the effects of the time of hybridization, the stringency of washing, and of base pair mismatches on the hybridization signal.


Peter Hauge: J.A. Scheibe and Copenhagen Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708−1776), a German composer and theorist, settled in Denmark in 1740 employed as Christian VI's new chapel master. He is, in particular, known for his periodical Critischer Musikus published during the years 1737−40 in which he includes a famous critique of J.S. Bach's musical style. Though Scheibe was indeed a highly productive and popular composer in his day his works are rather unknown and the majority of them are only available in manuscript in the collections of The Royal Library, among other places. The first part of the article deals with Scheibe's connections with members of the the circle of intellectual immigrants that settled in Copenhagen during the eighteenth century, which included J.E. Schlegel, F.G. Klopstock, H.W. Gerstenberg, J.A. Cramer and J.B. Basedow. The subjects in which they showed a great interest were for instance the relationship between text and music, but also subjects such as education, history (Scandinavian), language, religion and philology were given due attention. The second part of the article discusses the problems involved in establishing a complete list of Scheibe's works, in particular his compositions. For instance, should the list only include works that have survived or should it also include those which are referred to in contemporary sources such as newspapers, journals and published booklets but have since been lost? And how may such a list reflect Scheibe's importance for the musical environment in Copenhagen during the second half of the eighteenth century?


Hard rock roadways with small cross-sections account for a great percentage in coal mines of China,but the used rate of drilling and blasting is always very low.In order to improve the blasting rate and reduce the cost of the project,based on the rock blasting mechanism,some main factors such as the area of the workings,the physical mechanic property of rocks,the hole cutting mode,the loaded constitution,and the equipment level of coal mines were studied.According to the mechanical parameters of rocks around the roadway and the equipment level of these coal mines,the blasting parameters were optimized and used in practice,obtaining a good effect.The research results show that optimizing the blasting parameters is of practical significance for insuring the feasibility of the project,increasing the use rate of blast holes,reducing the cost of the project,and improving the technological level of the coal mine.


Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are prone to advanced atherosclerosis, microvascular disease, and tissue fibrosis. Despite the increased risk for arrhythmias, little is known about cardiac repolarization abnormalities in DM. We aimed to determine whether abnormal T-wave morphology markers are common among patients with DM and no known cardiac disease. Patients were recruited and classified as having DM or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) according to accepted guidelines. Total cosine R to T (TCRT) and T-wave morphology dispersion (TMD) were computed with custom-designed software for randomly selected and averaged beats. Among 124 patients recruited; 47 were diagnosed with DM and 3 IFG. DM patients and the control group had similar clinical characteristics, other than statins and anti-diabetic drugs, which were more common among DM patients. Patients with DM/IFG had decreased TCRT values computed from a random beat (0.06 ± 0.10 vs. 0.43 ± 0.07, p < 0.01) and an average beat (0.08 ± 0.09 vs. 0.44 ± 0.06, p < 0.01), when compared with the control group. TMD parameters did not differ. In conclusion, TCRT is reduced in patients with DM and no known cardiac diseases. Further research is required to investigate whether repolarization-associated changes in DM are the consequence of subclinical atherosclerosis, diabetic cardiomyopathy, or a combination of the two.


In this paper, we assess the physical-layer secrecy performance of the amplify-and-forward compressed sensing (AF-CS) framework when malicious eavesdropping nodes are listening. In particular, we investigate the robustness of the AF-CS scheme in the presence of a group of coordinated eavesdropping nodes under the assumption that they have corrupted channel state information. In order to fulfil this assumption, we propose a channel estimation technique based on pseudorandom pilots. This technique introduces extra uncertainty only in the channel estimation of the eavesdroppers. Our simulation results evaluate the physical-layer protection as a function of the total number of coordinated eavesdroppers and the level of channel estimation distortion of the eavesdroppers. We demonstrate that a small number of eavesdroppers (small being defined later on) has a zero probability of recovering the intended signal. We also show that a very large number of eavesdropping nodes are required to perfectly recover the signal in comparison with other distributed compressed sensing schemes in the literature.


A nonexperimental, causal-comparative research study examined if potential differences exist between secondary-level gifted and non-gifted students' perceptions of course quality in Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) courses. While research in gifted education has examined students' perceptions of advanced coursework and the impact of acceleration on academic growth and motivation, no research to date has examined secondary gifted students' perceptions of AICE course quality. Current research on the AICE program has focused on the program's influence as a predictive model for university matriculation and achievement, most often using grade point average. Student participants attend a local publicschool high school located in a rural, Title 1 district located in northeast Florida and are enrolled in AICE courses in Grades 11 and 12. The gifted student participants are identified as gifted by the Florida Department of Education classification criteria. Since a lack in resources often forces rural schools to offer less accelerated educational options, a need to justify the use of such programs as viable and impactful for student learning exists along with a need to increase research concerning the AICE program as an appropriate acceleration resource. Researching students' perceptions can offer additional support for advanced secondary programs. The Student Perceptions of Course Quality Survey, a 38-question Likert scale, was used to measure student perceptions. The study used a multivariate analysis of variance to determine if there are differences between the two independent variables and to determine if potential differences exist for each of the subscale aspects for the independent variable groups—appeal, challenge, choice, meaningfulness, and academic self-efficacy. The results indicated that no statically significant differences exist between the two student populations.


We report the cytogenetic analysis of a choroid plexus papilloma, a benign tumor, with a modal number of 56 chromosomes. In our review of the few reported karyotypes of choroid plexus tumors, we found no predictive relationship between the karyotype and the pathologic diagnosis or outcome. Genes Chromosom Cancer 10:282–285 (1994). © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Purinergic receptors play a central role in the renal pathophysiology of angiotensin II-induced hypertension, since elevated ATP chronically activates P2X7 receptors in this model. The changes induced by the P2X antagonist Brilliant blue G (BBG) in glomerular hemodynamics and in tubulointerstitial inflammation resulting from angiotensin II infusion were studied. Rats received angiotensin II (435 ng kg−1 min−1, 2 weeks) alone or in combination with BBG (50 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally). BBG did not modify hypertension (214.5 ± 1.4 vs. 212.7 ± 0.5 mmHg), but restored to near normal values afferent (7.03 ± 1.00 to 2.97 ± 0.27 dyn.s.cm−5) and efferent (2.62 ± 0.03 to 1.29 ± 0.09 dyn.s.cm−5) arteriolar resistances, glomerular plasma flow (79.23 ± 3.15 to 134.30 ± 1.11 nL/min), ultrafiltration coefficient (0.020 ± 0.002 to 0.036 ± 0.003 nL/min/mmHg) and single nephron glomerular filtration rate (22.28 ± 2.04 to 34.46 ± 1.54 nL/min). Angiotensin II induced overexpression of P2X7 receptors in renal tubular cells and in infiltrating T and B lymphocytes and macrophages. All inflammatory cells were increased by angiotensin II infusion and reduced by 20% to 50% (p < 0.05) by BBG administration. Increased IL-2, IL-6, TNFα, IL-1β, IL-18 and overexpression of NLRP3 inflammasome were induced by angiotensin II and suppressed by BBG. These studies suggest that P2X7 receptor-mediated renal vasoconstriction, tubulointerstitial inflammation and activation of NLRP3 inflammasome are associated with angiotensin II-induced hypertension.


Several methods can be used in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to reduce stress and optimize the quality of life during this period of hospitalization. Among these, music could play an important role. We investigated the effect of different kinds of music therapies on the brain activity of very preterm infants using amplitude-integrated EEG. Sixty-four patients were included and randomly assigned to three different groups: live music group, recorded music group, and control group. In both intervention groups, music was started after the appearance of the first quiet-sleep phase, with a subsequent duration of 20 min. Changes between the first and second quiet-sleep epochs were analyzed using the amplitude-integrated EEG. When looking at single parameters of the amplitude-integrated EEG trace, no differences could be found between the groups when comparing their first and second quiet-sleep phase regarding the parameters of change from baseline, quality of the quiet-sleep epoch, and duration. However, when looking at the total cyclicity score of the second quiet-sleep phase, a difference between both intervention groups and the control group could be found (live music therapy vs. control, p = 0.003; recorded music therapy vs. control, p = 0.006). Improvement within the first and second quiet-sleep epochs were detected in both music groups, but not in the control group. We concluded that our study added evidence of the beneficial effect of music on the amplitude-integrated EEG activity in preterm infants.


Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is an important mycotoxin frequently found in milk and dairy products. Dairy products and colostrum may be contaminated by aflatoxin M1 when dairy cattle have fed with aflatoxin B1-contaminated feeds. This study was undertaken in a dairy farm around Tehran province to determine the presence and level of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in spray dried and lyophilized colostrum samples. In this study, 25 spray dried and lyophilized colostrum samples were analyzed using competitive ELISA for determining the presence and levels of AFM1. AFM1 was found in 76% of the colostrum samples. The range of contamination level was 16 ng/l to 1176 ng/l, (mean value was 213.37 ng /l). Ninety two percent of the contaminated samples exceeded the maximum acceptable levels (50 ng/l, EU standard) and 8% exceeded 500 ng/l. Due to human health hazard and high occurrence of AFM1 in colostrum samples, monitoring programs should be more extensive and frequent in Iran.


The Forensic Expertise is responsible for preserving and analyzing the traces left in certain place,
in reason of to a criminal practice. It's essential, because that traces could be the only have
elements for the solution of the crime practiced, with identification of the agent and the details of
the execution of that crime. Intended-it to demonstrate the importance of the Expertise Forensic,
in the investigation and elucidation of crimes, analyzing your relevance and, highlighting the
responsibility and attributions, of the technical expert report , as well as discussing the larger
interests of the community, with a resolution of crimes, preventing the impunity. The research
applied was the legal deductive with the analysis of the doctrine, national legislation and
jurisprudence pertaining to the subject. It's concluded that the realization of Forensic Expertise
provides grants for a fair trial, thus guaranteeing justice, peace and social order


This article presents a unified framework for analyzing two factors that have been independently studied as determinants of unit values in international trade: product differentiation by quality (which suggests that unit values should be positively correlated with exporters' per capita income) and pricing-to-market (which suggests they should be positively correlated with importers' per capita income). No previous work has considered both exporter and importer income effects and allowed these effects to vary by product. On a large sample of bilateral unit values for 2005, we find that about 56% of all Harmonized System (HS)-6 products demonstrate both significant exporter-income effects and importer-income effects, with the former predominating in prevalence and magnitude. Distance-related effects appearing directly in prices appear significantly larger than one would expect as a result of shipping margins.


An investigation has been made to predict the effects of fore body and after body chitin and chitosan are natural polymers that have many advantages, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, healing acceleration, non-toxicity, and antiinfection properties. However, the use of pure chitosan films in many applications is limited due to their poor tensile strength and elasticity. Nevertheless, creating biocompatible and biodegradable high-strength composites is of interest to researchers. In this study, chitosan films were reinforced by the addition of chitin fibres and chitin whiskers with 25 wt.% and 35 wt.% concentration. Chitosan films were prepared by solution casting. The physical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties of the synthesized composite films were investigated. Experimental results showed that 25 wt.% chitin whiskers enhanced the yield strength, fracture strength, and Young`s modulus of the composites relative to pure chitosan. The thermal degradation temperature of chitosan was improved by adding chitin fibres and chitin whiskers to chitosan composites, which indicated that the composite thin films could be used in thermal applications. Thus, chitin fibre and chitin whisker chitosan composites are promising materials to replace synthetic plastic polymers.


Purpose of review In recent years, botulinum toxin has been investigated for the treatment of various types of lower urinary tract dysfunctions. This review discusses recently published data related to the therapeutic applications of botulinum toxin in overactive bladder as well as the effects of repeated doses, cross-reactivity between different serotypes, and side effects of the toxin injection into the detrusor muscle. Recent findings Botulinum toxin A has been employed initially in the treatment of neurogenic detrusor overactivity in spinal cord injured patients. Since then, several reports, including a large multicenter study, have confirmed the therapeutic effects of this neurotoxin. The application of botulinum toxin A was extended to the treatment of idiopathic detrusor overactivity and similar results were obtained. Repeated injections of botulinum toxin A had the same sustained benefit. Recently, botulinum toxin B was investigated for the treatments of both neurogenic and idiopathic detrusor overactivity as well as for the management of botulinum toxin A resistant cases. Summary Although intradetrusal injection of botulinum toxin is not yet an approved treatment for overactive bladder, available data suggest that botulinum toxin can be a therapeutic option in patients with neurogenic and nonneurogenic detrusor overactivity who are refractory to anticholinergic medications. There is a need, however, for further investigation to determine the optimal conditions for these applications. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the therapeutic effects of botulinum toxin is under way.


The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of water extract of Artemisia ordosica (WEAO) on growth performance, antioxidant capability and immune response in weanling piglets. Seventy-two 28-day-old weanling piglets were randomly allocated into four treatments with six replicate pens per treatment and three piglets per pen (n = 18). These four treatment diets were formulated by adding 0, 250, 500 and 750 mg/kg WEAO to the basal diet. The experiment lasted for 28 days. Body weight and feed intake were measured. Blood samples were collected to determine immune and antioxidative parameters. The experimental results showed that WEAO supplementation improved the apparent nutrient digestibility of piglets in a linear or quadratic dose-dependent manner. In addition, dietary WEAO quadratically increased serum concentrations of cytokines interleukin (IL)-1, IL-4, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, soluble surface antigen CD8 (sCD8), immunoglobulins (Ig)-A and linearly increased serum concentrations of IL-2, IL-6, IgG, IgM. Furthermore, dietary WEAO linearly or quadratically decreased serum concentrations of malondialdehyde but quadratically increased activities of antioxidant enzymes and total antioxidative capacity. These results suggested that WEAO may prove useful as a natural phytogenic feed additive with antioxidative potential and could be incorporated into diets of piglets.


An f/6.8 scanning spectrometer with a photomultiplier output was used to monitor the presence of particles sputtered from a target surface by ion bombardment. The ion source was a conventional duoplasmatron providing a high density, high energy ion beam. The density of sputtered particles available for analysis was of the order of 108 cm−3. A fraction of these particles was electronically excited by a high density, low energy electron beam, and the emission spectra characteristic of the target material were recorded with either an electrometer or a phase sensitive detector. Some intense atomic copper lines were easily observed when a Cu target was bombarded with 5000 eV Ar+ ions. The intensities of these lines have been analyzed to obtain the sputtering yield and some relative excitation functions for copper. A comparison between the conventional mass spectrometric technique and the present scheme is presented.


Tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside (THSG) is one of the active ingredients of Polygonum multiflorum. It has been shown to exert a variety of pharmacological effects, including antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-atherosclerosis. Because of its prominent anti-inflammatory effect, we explored whether THSG had analgesic effect. In this study, we used a model of chronic inflammatory pain caused by injecting complete Freund's adjuvant into the hind paw of mice. We found THSG relieved swelling and pain in the hind paw of mice on a dose-dependent manner. In the anterior cingulate cortex, THSG suppressed the upregulation of GluN2B-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and the downregulation of GluN2A-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors caused by chronic inflammation. In addition, THSG increased Bcl-2 and decreased Bax and Caspase-3 expression by protecting neuronal survival. Furthermore, THSG inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 and the increase of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α). Immunohistochemical staining revealed that THSG blocked the activation of microglia and reduced the release of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that THSG had a certain effect on alleviating complete Freund's adjuvant-induced chronic inflammatory pain.


ABSTRACT The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Library Information Technology Arcade (Info Tech Arcade) has facilitated research and teaching on campus, assisted faculty with their information technology needs, consulted on library Web sites for various organizations city-wide, and hosted servers for a dozen institutions in the nation. With a small budget, a wide-ranging collection of equipment and software, and staffed by three librarians, the Info Tech Arcade provides expertise in information content as well as technology skills development. Through seminars, open hours in our multimedia teachers' lab, office visits, Web consulting, and server hosting, it reaches out to UIC faculty, citizens of Chicago, and beyond.


Rats treated with phenobarbitone, phenaglycodol, glutethimide, nikethamide, meprobamate, chlorbutol and chlorpromazine showed an increased metabolism of pentobarbitone and, at the same time, a diminished sleeping-time after pentobarbitone. This effect developed 24 hr after treatment, the maximum increase in metabolism occurring after about 48 hr. The increased pentobarbitone metabolism was inhibited by ethionine injected shortly before treatment. Using a liver slice preparation, increased pentobarbitone metabolism was also observed in vitro. These results are in accord with the view that the capacity of compounds to increase pentobarbitone metabolism may be related to their ability to act directly on microsomal enzyme systems.


This paper presents a general class of passive macromodeling algorithm for multiport distributed interconnects. A new theorem is described that specifies sufficient conditions for matrix-rational approximation of exponential functions in order to generate a passive macromodel. A proof is given showing that the currently existing passive matrix-rational approximation of exponential functions is a subclass of the generic approach presented in this paper. In addition, a technique to obtain a compact passive macromodel with predetermined coefficients, based on near-optimal approximation, is presented. The proposed model can be easily incorporated with recently developed passive model-reduction techniques.


In keratinizing epithelia one of the earliest changes in the process of terminal differentiation is cessation of replication or withdrawal from the cell cycle. In this report, we measured the loss of colony-forming ability, and confirmed that withdrawal from the cell cycle is a specific event that occurs during maturation of the keratinocyte in culture. In addition, the rate of withdrawal was assayed by labeling cultures for 24 h with [14C]dThd and then measuring the fraction of labeled cells that undergo repeated cycles of DNA synthesis. These additional cycles of replication were measured by feeding BrdUrd to the cultures and quantitating the distribution of 14C-labeled DNA in unsubstituted and BrdUrd-substituted DNA in CsCl density gradients. The results show that the fraction of 14C-labeled DNA undergoing replication decreases exponentially by 23% every 24 h. This cessation of replication could not be explained by a reduced level of replication in the entire culture since during each day of the experiment about 8% of the total DNA underwent replication. The exponential decrease in replication of 14C-labeled DNA represents withdrawal from the cell cycle. Since the doubling time for keratinocytes is approximately 24 h, these results suggest that following each cycle of replication, there is a probability of 0.23 that postreplicated cells will withdraw from the cell cycle.


OBJECTIVE
Rickettsia conorii is responsible for the Mediterranean Spotted Fever. Recently, new rickettsial species have been recognized in Europe and implicated in human diseases. Clinical features often differ greatly from each other, but non-severe liver involvement is frequently observed during any rickettsial infection.

CASE REPORT
We describe the unique case of a patient presented with significant high aminotransferase levels due to the first human R. aeschlimannii infection ever detected in Italy. The hypothesis of rickettsiosis was made on the basis of a comprehensive medical history and was confirmed by serological tests. Molecular analyses made on a sample of hepatic tissue revealed the presence of a rickettsial species never found before in human liver.

CONCLUSIONS
A brief review of the literature is reported to highlight how relevant this case is and to remind that rickettsioses should be in the differential diagnoses of acute hepatitis, considering mostly the recent spread of new rickettsial species.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Colorectal carcinoma is one of the most common cancers in the western world, being the third most common cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The outcome of patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma (mCRC) following first line therapy, especially with a Kras mutation is poor with median survival of less than one year. The purpose of this study was to identify therapeutically actionable somatic events in mCRC patient samples, so as to obtain select targeted treatment strategies for individual patients. Fresh frozen needle biopsies of liver metastases were collected from three mCRC patients along with whole blood for the extraction of constitutional DNA. All patients had greater than 2 prior regimens and had known K-ras mutations. Whole genome sequencing was performed using Illumina paired-end chemistry on HiSeq2000 sequencing system, which yielded coverage of greater than 30X for both the normal and tumor samples. Somatic genomic alterations (point mutations and indels, copy number alterations, translocations and rearrangements) were analyzed using our custom pipeline for paired analysis. We found that all 3 tumor samples had KRAS mutations, while 2 samples had mutations in the APC gene and the PIK3CA gene. Other genes with therapeutic implications in single tumor samples were INPPL1, INPP4B and SMAD4. No EGFR amplifications were detected in our sample set. Pathway analysis revealed K-RAS regulation and apoptosis and survival pathways in these tumor samples. Analysis of paired-end data from these three tumors did not reveal the presence of translocations at the recently discovered TCF7L2 locus (Bass et al, Nature Genetics, 2011). The concomitant mutations in MAPK (KRAS) and PI3K (PIK3CA, INPPL1, INPP4B) pathways suggest that combination therapies might be required for effective treatment of these tumors. By harnessing the power of Next-Gen Sequencing, our study has revealed a series of therapeutically actionable events in mCRC that might provide insights into treating these difficult to treat advanced tumors.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5072. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5072


We previously demonstrated that retroviral delivery of antigen-IgG fusion proteins in B cells ex vivo rendered these cells tolerogenic. Such B cells, upon adoptive transfer, could block or reverse the adverse immune responses in rodent models of multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and hemophilia. In order to create a non-viral delivery system taking advantage of the tolerogenicity of IgG fusion proteins directed into B cells, we have prepared a fusion comprising anti-human CD20 single chain variable fragment and with target T-cell epitope on a human IgG4 scaffold. We term this fusion a B-cell-specific antigen IgG tolerogen (BAIT). As an example, the BAIT fusion containing a DR1 restricted T cell epitope FVIII2191-2210 (BAIT-FVIII2191) was prepared in a CHO cell expression system via stable transfection. Ex vivo analyses demonstrated that biotinylated BAIT-FVIII2191 could be specifically taken up by CD20+ve B cells from human PBMC. In this report, we will evaluate the presentation of B-cell directed BAIT-FVIII2191 to FVIII2191-2210 specific human T cells, and then test in vivo using DR1-transgenic FVIII KO mice. The results obtained from these studies will facilitate the translation of our successful B-cell gene therapy approach into a novel protein therapeutic for adverse immune responses, such as anti-FVIII inhibitor development in hemophilia A.


I am writing this letter in January, a month that is known in the UK for being a difficult time for mental health; there is a low feeling following the festive period, with many having debt problems, the days are short and it is dark at 4 pm. The third Monday in January has even been dubbed 'Blue Monday', a term attributed to a psychologist (Cliff Arnall) and now well-known following adoption as a marketing tool by holiday companies. All this offers some context to the thought and preparation that I and my fellow Trustees are currently giving to the IHPE Conference 2019 – 'Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing: Current Evidence and Practice' (Wednesday 15th May, Coventry University). In the UK and other western countries, mental health promotion, as part of the health and wellbeing agenda, has had increased attention in recent years. An holistic approach to health recognises the impact poor mental health has on physical well-being, and people experiencing physical disease (whether acute or chronic) may in addition experience poor mental health. It is perhaps not surprising that anyone suffering from depression or any other mental health issue is less likely to make healthy choices in other areas of their lives. Similarly, many people faced with life-threatening or life-limiting diseases find mental health problems as much of a challenge as their physical problems; depression following stroke is a regular occurrence. Indeed, mental health problems are common in the general population, but are less likely to be admitted to or talked about than physical disease. For example, in England, it is estimated that one in six people will have experienced a common mental disorder – depression or anxiety for example – in the past week and women are more likely to have experienced this than men (Baker, 2018). Mental health problems affect people of all ages and backgrounds, and so mental health promotion should apply across the life course too. A decade ago Foresight (2008) – the UK government's futures think-tank – published a report which considered how to improve everyone's mental capital and mental wellbeing throughout life. The report highlighted a lack of parity with physical health in allocation of resources and the esteem attributed to mental health. It noted the stigma attached to mental health and stated that improvement was dependant on three actions:


The concept of quality of service-that is, the network capability to provide a nondefault service to a subset of the aggregate traffic-has now entered the IP lexicon. The author surveys the history of this development from the Internet's original passenger-class-only, best-effort protocol suite. He concludes with a review of the current Internet Engineering Task Force's efforts in the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) working group.


This study aimed to explain the development stages of an online coding application engine (SIGUN) according to the R2D2 instructional design model to support and develop cultural transfer in social sciences education and popularize the national culture. During the definition phase of R2D2, analyzes of needs, learner, task and content were made. In needs analysis, it was decided to develop a coding application that transfers national culture instead of transnational culture in coding education. In the analysis of learners, the coding skills of the students at different grades were examined through samples, and it was decided that SIGUN should be editable according to their developmental characteristics. It was planned to assign tasks to learners in task analysis and to fictionalize the tasks in the prototype through Dede Korkut stories in content analysis. In the design and development phase of R2D2, it was decided to create an online system choosing media and equipment. Subsequently, the design and development process of SIGUN was started creating a draft graphic design interface through determining the development environments. In this sense, a web-based coding engine was developed with various coding languages. The rapid prototype was analyzed for process evaluation as being equipped with national culture elements and thus, the final version was created. Due to its dynamic structure, SIGUNwas can be adapted for different developmental stages of children and popularized while transferring abstract and concrete cultural elements with animations.


The effect of high oil pressure upon the electrical strength of cable insulation has been subjected to a series of tests which are reported in this paper. These tests show that an increase in pressure will result in an increase in the breakdown voltage, the magnitude depending upon the time duration of the test. Although in the long time tests breakdown voltage was doubled by pressure increased from 1 to 6 atmospheres, no improvement was secured with impulse tests by a pressure increase up to 11 atmospheres.


Abstract. The ambiguity of geophysical inversions, which is based on a
single geophysical method, is a long-standing problem in geophysical
exploration. Therefore, multi-method geophysical prospecting has become a
popular topic. In multi-method geophysical prospecting, the joint inversion
of seismic and electric data has been extensively researched for decades.
However, the methods used for hybrid seismic–electric data acquisition that
form the base for multi-method geophysical prospecting techniques have not
yet been explored in detail. In this work, we developed a distributed,
high-precision, hybrid seismic–electrical data acquisition system using
advanced Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology. The system was
equipped with a hybrid data acquisition board, a high-performance embedded
motherboard based on field-programmable gate array, an advanced RISC
machine, and host software. The data acquisition board used an ADS1278
24 bit analog-to-digital converter and FPGA-based digital filtering
techniques to perform high-precision data acquisition. The equivalent input
noise of the data acquisition board was only 0.5 µV with a sampling
rate of 1000 samples per second and front-end gain of 40 dB. The multiple
data acquisition stations of our system were synchronized using
oven-controlled crystal oscillators and global positioning system
technologies. Consequently, the clock frequency error of the system was less
than 10−9 Hz at 1 Hz after calibration, and the synchronization accuracy
of the data acquisition stations was ±200 ns. The use of
sophisticated NB-IoT technologies allowed the long-distance wireless
communication between the control center and the data acquisition stations. In
validation experiments, it was found that our system was operationally
stable and reliable, produced highly accurate data, and it was functionally
flexible and convenient. Furthermore, using this system, it is also possible
to monitor the real-time quality of data acquisition processes. We believe
that the results obtained in this study will drive the advancement of
prospective integrated seismic–electrical technologies and promote the use
of IoT technologies in geophysical instrumentation.


Material anisotropy implies that many film properties are affected by crystallographic orientation in the growth direction (out-of-plane texture) and / or in the plane of growth (in-plane texture). Physical vapor deposited (PVD) Ti and Al-alloy films deposited on silicon dioxide substrates typically exhibit strong fiber textures in the growth direction with little in-plane-texture observed. The strength of these fiber textures has been found to vary substantially depending on the details of the deposition process(es) and, to a lesser degree, on any post-deposition anneals. In this paper the role of the substrate surface roughness in defining film texture is reported. It was found that the substrate surface roughness determines the overlying film crystallographic orientation for Ti and Ti/AlCu films deposited on various oxides. Furthermore, it was found that the texture of the initial metal "seed" layer defines the texture in subsequently deposited films (texture inheritance). Modifications to the oxide surface which decrease the surface roughness lead to an improved crystallographic texture in Ti, AlCu, Ti/AlCu and Ti/TiN/AlCu films. Film orientation was determined from crystallographic pole figures measured using x-ray diffraction (XRD). The oxide surface roughness was measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and glancing incidence x-ray reflectivity (GIXR).


The study investigated language functions in the maiden coup speeches of General Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi, General Yakubu Gowon and General Murtala Muhammed. The data were drawn from the coup political speeches of the three military political rules above. The speeches were analysed following Gutwinski's model of analysis of lexical connective items and Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. In order to ensure accuracy and objectivity, there were statistical calculations expressed in Relative Frequency Percentages. Based on item-by-item analysis in the speeches, the content lexical items in the speeches were extracted and classified into the sense relations of Collocation, Hyponymy, Antonymy, Synonymy and Repetition. Thereafter, the Overall Relative Frequency Percentages ORFPS (Overall Relative Frequency Percentages) of all the lexical items in the speeches were obtained. Equally, the Relative Frequency Percentages RFPS (Relative Frequency Percentages) of each of the meaning relations were calculated. It was discovered from the study that the three military political leaders employed all the lexical relations, of synonym, hyponym repetition and collocation to enhance and achieve their political ideological orientations, while collocation was used to enhance directness, military authority and orientation. The study generally shows interconnecting relationships of lexemes and political ideology in military coup political discourse.


There is a high prevalence of dysphagia among patients with neuromuscular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases, and its consequences can be profound. However, the correlation between dysarthria and oral-oropharyngeal dysphagia remains unclear. We conducted a literature review to define the clinical presentation of both dysarthria and dysphagia in patients with neuromuscular and cerebrovascular diseases. We performed a systematic PubMed search of the English-language literature since 1995. Objective and subjective outcomes instruments were identified for both dysarthria and dysphagia. Studies that included the incidence of concomitant presentations were included. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Of the 1,056 articles we reviewed, we selected 24 for analysis. We found that dysarthria and dysphagia were common among patients with neuromuscular and cerebrovascular diseases. Overall, there was a higher prevalence of dysarthria than dysphagia. Of those patients with dysphagia, some reports found that 76 to 90% of patients with neuromuscular disease also had dysarthria. Dysarthria is a strong clinical clue to the presence of dysphagia. Existing subjective questionnaires may not reveal the presence of oropharyngeal dysphagia; objective measures are obviously more revealing. Further studies to correlate the degree of dysarthria and the severity of oral-oropharyngeal dysphagia are warranted.


A 30-mer oligonucleotide probe encoding the "A box" and anticodon loop regions of a human glycine tRNA gene was used to isolate a 581bp DNA fragment from a bovine genomic DNA library. Although the cross-hybridizing segment of DNA was found not to encode any tRNA gene or pseudogene, a region with homology to the "C-element" of the "BOV-tA" type Alulike artiodactyl retroposons was identified. This cross-hybridization was determined to be the result of conserved RNA polymerase III promoter elements in the probe portion of the tRNA gene and these repetitive elements. A microsatellite repeat (TC) was also found associated with this element. Future screening for bovine tRNA genes will require the use of a) longer probes and higher stringency hybridization conditions or b) the simultaneous screening with probes from the 5' and 3' ends of the gene which avoid the conserved Pol III promoter boxes.


We report the experience of the validation team of a railway signalling company when addressing the problem of testing an equipment configuration tool. The two contrasting issues that add to the complexity of the task are: the tool includes a Graphical User Interface built on standard windowing systems, and the configuration produced by the tool, when loaded on the equipment, has a potential impact on the safety of the overall signalling system. This has required a particular care in the choice of testing techniques and of test case selection strategies, however confronting with actual cost and feasibility constraints.


In this research, I examine the ratchet principle in the self-evaluation setting using the data from Korean government R&D programs. I find that self-set targets also ratchet because a subordinate anticipates that the self-set targets will be evaluated by external evaluators later on. I also find that qualitative measures interact with quantitative measures in the target setting process. Specifically, I show that when actual performance exceeds the target, the increase in the quantitative target in the next year becomes smaller as the current qualitative performance is higher. It indicates that subordinates are likely to ease the quantitative target to offset the disadvantage from higher expectation for qualitative performance. Finally, to test how much ratcheting occurs, I compare self-set targets with theoretical targets. I find that subordinates set actual targets lower than theoretical targets. It implies that they tend to create slack into their targets.


Traveling Wave Tubes (TWTs) are used in a number of high power transmitters where there are many tubes operating in close proximity. One example is the ALTAIR radar which features a transmitter equipped with 32 L- 4920 UHF TWTs arranged in 4 groups of 8 tubes. The radar was experiencing out of band non harmonic spurious oscillations in some TWTs and catastrophic TWT failures which resulted in melting the helix at the output end of the tube, on others. The PARCS radar uses the same TWT and there were no similar TWT failures in that transmitter. This paper will describe root cause failure analysis, steps taken to eliminate the cause and the physics of the problem in both empirical and analytical terms.


In this short note we construct the DLCQ description of the flux seven-branes in type IIA string theory and discuss its basic properties. The matrix model involves dipole fields. We explain the relation of this nonlocal matrix model to various orbifolds. We also give a spacetime interpretation of the Seiberg-Witten-like map, proposed in a different context first by Bergman and Ganor, that converts this matrix model to a local, highly nonlinear theory.


Index terms are an important component in considering a scientific topic. In a real sense, the indexing terms represent the vocabulary and language of the topic. Study of these critical terms has employed human and machine techniques. Computerized indexing systems can accurately and completely recognize terms, but the different strategies for organizing and evaluating the concepts (i.e., informative terms) and related issues may not be effective in accomplishing the desired descriptive actions. This paper explored the results of two computer supported approaches in indexing scientific documents against a background of simple random generation of informative terms in varying sized text blocks. One method (RefViz) is based on the Latent Semantic Indexing with Multidimensional Scaling (LSI,MDS) approach. This system identifies potential indexing terms from the natural language text. The terms are stripped from the text, organized using statistical criteria and are used to classify documents based on assigned 'meanings' or themes. These themes are based on frequency and correlation and each document is assigned one. The second (Idea Analysis) also uses the natural language text. In this system, the terms are identified within the authors' sentences and couplets extracted. A single document may be represented by 100 or more term couplets representing the authors' thoughts. Both systems are superior to random sampling. The results suggested that indexing based on the authors' thoughts may be better than indexing based on statistical criteria.


The objective of this problem is to study ant foraging lines in one and two dimensions in order to understand their dynamics and examine the fitness of ant colonies. A simple model to describe ant traffic is formulated using conservation laws and a behavioral model. In this work, the behavioral model assumes that the concentration of pheromones is simply proportional to the density of ants. This leads to a hyperbolic system for the density and velocity of ants. The system is reduced to a system of second order PDEs which is analyzed using Fourier series. The Fourier analysis predicts the existence of phase speeds in the ants' motion which can be verified experimentally. The group divided into two teams in order to study the one-dimensional and the twodimensional cases separately. The two-dimensional analysis was done numerically using a stochastic model and simulated using cellular automata. This simulation provided qualitative information to study the formation of foraging lines. In particular, this model shows the importance of large populations. Also, additional constraints on the model were considered in order to make it more realistic. For the one-dimensional analysis, the first goal was to find representative Froude numbers for the ants' movement from the experimental data. The full hyperbolic system was analyzed and its characteristic speeds identified. Numerical solutions of the problem were obtained using both a Lax-Friedrichs and a Lax-Wendroff scheme.


We present a combination of theory and experiment designed to elucidate the properties of gold nanoshells. Wet chemistry methods are used to prepare the nanoshells, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis is used to characterize the shell structure, demonstrating the presence of pinholes in the shells. Both Mie theory and the discrete dipole approximation (a numerical method) are used to characterize the electrodynamics of the shell structures, including both perfect and pinhole defected shells. The calculations show that 2−5 nm pinholes have only a small effect on the extinction spectra; however, they lead to local electric fields that are enhanced by a factor of 3−4 close to the plasmon maximum. This makes metal nanoshells (with holes) attractive materials for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy applications.


The design fatigue curves applied for safety class 1 components in NPP's are based on an experimentally determined strain-life fatigue data, the resulting ε-N reference curves and transferability margins. To account for detrimental effects of coolant water environment, penalty factors (Fen) are obtained by comparing fatigue lives in air and environment. To avoid bias in comparison, the same fatigue testing procedures according to ASTM E606 would be preferred in both environments. However, modified EAF test procedures were developed when direct control of strain in the specimen gauge section was not possible.
 This paper introduces and discusses commonly used experimental approaches for conducting (directly or remotely) strain-controlled fatigue tests in simulated LWR coolant water environments. At or near gauge section remotely controlled and tubular specimens have been successfully used to determine penalty factors for fatigue usage in environment, but variation and uncertainties related to experimental methods used for collecting the data cannot be completely excluded. The challenges and solutions adopted during latest 20 years in Finland are explained.


This thesis is devoted to some selected applications of the Josephson junction oscillator. The initial work was performed using low-Tc Nb/PbBi tunnel junctions, while the later parts were done using the recently developed high-Tc YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) Josephson junctions. The latter junctions have raised the hope for Josephson oscillator applications with substantially increased operation frequencies and temperatures. In the first part of this thesis the use of inductor-resistor (LR) shunted tunnel junctions in arrays of phase locked Josephson junction oscillators was investigated. The LR shunt is designed to resonate out the intrinsic tunnel junction capacitance at the operation frequency. We show that LR shunted tunnel junctions have important advantages compared to the commonly used resistively shunted tunnel junctions; i.e. narrower linewidths, higher impedance of the junctions and that they can be optimized also at frequencies higher than about 100 GHz. Design rules for stable, non-chaotic oscillations with optimized output power were developed. Measurements on a non- optimized circuit show that oscillator arrays of LR shunted tunnel junctions can generate substantial power, ~10 nW to a 300 .OMEGA. load at 390 GHz from a 10 junction array. In the second part the phase locking of YBCO Josephson junctions was clearly demonstrated for the first time. Mutual phase locking of two junctions was observed at frequencies between 0.2 and 1 THz, and was only limited by the bandwidth of the coupling circuit. The locking was in good agreement with simulations based on the resistively shunted junction model. The interaction of a single Josephson junction with a 5 junction oscillator array was also measured at frequencies up to about 350 GHz, but was substantially reduced by the high losses of the coupling circuit. The YBCO Josephson junctions were found to be interesting candidates for microwave generation at frequencies approaching 1 THz and oscillator arrays to be mainly limited by the high losses of the coupling circuits at these frequencies. In the third part the interaction of YBCO Josephson junctions with integrated resonators were studied for the first time. Using a novel method, Josephson Broadband Spectroscopy (JOBS), the high frequency properties of the resonators were measured with a bandwidth of up to 1 THz and in the temperature range 4-77 K. The YBCO surface resistance (9 m.OMEGA. at 4 K and 100 GHz) was found to scale as f2 and had a temperature dependence in good agreement with the two-fluid model, modified with 18% non-pairing charge carriers. The YBCO London penetration depth was frequency independent (460 nm at 4 K) and had a temperature dependence in agreement with the two-fluid model.


ABSTRACT Bacteria play an important role in the initiation and progression of periodontal diseases and are part of a biofilm, which can contain over 100 different species. The aim of the present study was to show the potential of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) as a tool for the detection of clinically relevant species and to compare the results of detection by DGGE with those by PCR and culturing. Hybridization of the bands from the DGGE profiles with species-specific probes was developed to confirm the band positions in the marker obtained with reference strains. The sensitivities of DGGE compared to those of cultivation for the detection of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Tannerella forsythensis were 100, 100, 88, and 100%, respectively; and the sensitivities of DGGE compared to those of PCR were 100, 90, 88, and 96%, respectively. DGGE as a diagnostic tool could easily be extended to other species, as shown for Treponema denticola, which could be detected in 48% of the samples. Three different groups of A. actinomycetemcomitans serotypes could be distinguished by DGGE (i.e., a group comprising serotypes a, d, e, and f; a group comprising serotype b; and a group comprising serotype c). Amplicons from P. gingivalis and T. denticola migrated to the same position in the gel, and P. intermedia produced multiple bands. In the present study we show that the DGGE profiles represent clinically relevant species which can be detected by hybridization with species-specific probes. With DGGE, large numbers of samples can be analyzed for different species simultaneously, and DGGE may be a good alternative in periodontal microbial diagnostics.


Brownish yellow is one of the characteristics of bore well water which indicates a high concentration of iron (Fe) that will affect human health and damage the aesthetic value. This study aims to purify the bore well water by reducing the concentration of Fe metal by adsorption of chicken bone activated carbon (CBAC) and implementing the results of research on the material of colloidal adsorption properties at Pekanbaru Telkom Vocational High School. CBAC is made through 3 steps namely dehydration at 50oC, carbonization at 400oC and activation with HCl, formic acid and NaOH pa. Each 1 gram of CBAC is mixed with the volume varied by 5; 10; 15; 20 and 25 ml. Measurements of Fe metal concentrations were carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) and the data obtained were then analyzed descriptively through tables and graphs. Maximum adsorption of CBAC was obtained in 20 ml of bore well water with a percentage reduction 99.92%. All results of treatment meet Fe metal quality standards as stipulated in Republic of Indonesia Minister of Health Regulation No. 416 of 1990. Analysis of student response questionnaires based on questionnaire analysis techniques obtained a cumulative value of 88.62% (very good).


American cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon ) extract has been previously shown to affect cell cycle, apoptosis, and proliferative ability in prostate cancer cells in vitro . The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their modulators the insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) may play roles in these events. IGFBPs act by regulating IGF action but also exhibit many IGF-independent activities. IGFBP expression in response to cranberry extract [50 & 100 ug/mL for 3 and 24 hours] was determined via Western blot analysis in DU145 and in PC3 androgen-refractory human prostate cancer cells. Cranberry extract treatment decreased the expression levels of both IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-5 and increased the expression levels of IGFBP-4. IGFBP-3 protein expression levels were apparently unaffected by cranberry extract suggesting that IGFBP-3 is likely not involved in this cellular response to cranberry extract. A reduction in IGFBP-2/-5 expression suggests a reduction in IGF through loss of IGF-stabilization by the IGFBPs suggesting an inhibition of the cell cycle due to this restriction in IGF. Increases in IGFBP-4 levels in response to cranberry would also inhibit IGFs and thereby inhibit cellular growth and proliferation. Increased IGFBP-2/-5 expression has been associated with progression from androgen-sensitivity to androgen-insensitivity in prostate cancer cells. Decreased IGFBP-2/-5 expression levels in response to cranberry extract could counteract this progression in vitro . [funded by The Cranberry Institute (Wisconsin Board) and Jeanne & J.-Louis Levesque Foundation]

Citation Format: Robert Hurta, Brendan McKeown, Ravi Boddeti, Catherine Neto. Modulation of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins expression in human prostate cancer cells in vitro by american cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon ) extract. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Third AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; Sep 18-22, 2013; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(19 Suppl):Abstract nr B22.


Previous analyses of diversity techniques are extended to include the performance of an optimum (maximal-ratio) combiner in the case of nonindependent signal fading fluctuations, for an arbitrary number of diversity branches. The analysis includes the general possibility of correlations among the quadrature components of the various signals. Some computational simplifications for certain cases of physical interest are given, as well as a specific application to two problems in digital communications.


This background paper surveys international experience in the development and use of mechanisms to establish and manage connectivity conservation. Specifically it seeks to provide an understanding of the range of mechanisms including laws, regulations, andother regulatory instruments and agreements which have been used in other countries to support connectivity conservation. The information in this background paper will enable practitioners in Viet Nam to understand what other countries have learned fromexperience with connectivity conservation and to adapt approaches to the national context. This review draws upon examples and case studies from the literature and from the knowledge of experts in IUCN's technical networks.


3292 Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen, PSMA is a type II transmembrane glycoprotein, overexpressed in prostate carcinoma. PSMA is negatively regulated by androgen. PSMA is a unique cell surface marker for imaging of hormone refractory carcinomas and metastatic foci. PSMA has two important enzymatic function, namely, folate hydrolase and NAALADase. Folate hydrolase function of PSMA is required to cleave terminal gamma-linked glutamates from poly-gamma-glutamated folates and NAALADase activity, where it cleaves the terminal glutamate from neuro-dipeptidase, N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate. Apart from its enzymatic function, PSMA also exhibits an endocytic function, where it spontaneously recycles through endocytic vesicles or it can internalize with its own monoclonal antibody. It is not known at this moment, whether PSMA has its own natural ligand. It is not clear whether PSMA has any role in the invasion of prostate cancer cells through extracellular matrix, i.e., in metastasis. For that purpose, we have tried to use PSMA overexpressed cell line PC3-PIP (PC3 cells derived, over-expressing PSMA), as well as other prostate cancer cell lines, which express PSMA endogenously (e.g., LNCaP, C4-2, CWR22, MDAPCa2b etc.), showed reduction in invasion capability compared to PC3, DU145 cells (which do not express PSMA normally) indicates that PSMA has anti-metastatic role, in prostate cancer cell invasion. To rule out the possibility that this reduction in the invasion capability of PSMA expressing cells are due to PSMA expression, not due to intrinsic properties of different prostate cancer cell lines, the PSMA expressing PC3-PIP cells were tested against PC3-FLU cells. We found that PC3-PIP cells expressing PSMA showed about 5-fold reduction in the invasion capability compared to PC3-FLU cells mediated inhibition of invasion. Same observation holds true for other PSMA over-expressing cell lines. We have also observed that different kinds of sugar residues have significant effect on the prostate cancer cells ability to invade though extracellular matrix. We have tried to dissect different biological functions of PSMA whether that has any role in the metastatic progression of prostate cancer cells. We have studied role of sugar modifications as well as the function of internalization motif on the invasion of PSMA expressing prostate cancer cells. We have found that altering sugar residues at various attachment sites has dramatic effect on this novel function of PSMA. Further work is being carried out in which we have knocked off the expression of PSMA in prostate cancer cell lines by RNAi method and analyzing their invasion properties. These interesting findings will be discussed.


Scene text editing (STE), which converts a text in a scene image into the desired text while preserving an original style, is a challenging task due to a complex intervention between text and style. In this paper, we propose a novel STE model, referred to as RewriteNet, that decomposes text images into content and style features and re-writes a text in the original image. Specifically, RewriteNet implicitly distinguishes the content from the style by intro-ducing scene text recognition. Additionally, independent of the exact supervisions with synthetic examples, we propose a self-supervised training scheme for unlabeled real-world images, which bridges the domain gap between synthetic and real data. Our experiments present that RewriteNet achieves better generation performances than other comparisons. Further analysis proves the feature decomposition of RewriteNet and demonstrates the reliability and robustness through diverse experiments. Our implementation is publicly available at https://github.com/clova ai/rewritenet


Abstract The interest in retrial queueing systems mainly lies in their application to telephone systems. This paper studies multiserver retrial queueing systems with n servers. The arrival process is a quite general point process. An arriving customer occupies one of the free servers. If upon arrival all servers are busy, then the customer waits for his service in orbit, and after a random time retries in order to occupy a server. The orbit has one waiting space only, and an arriving customer, who finds all servers busy and the waiting space occupied, is lost from the system. Time intervals between possible retrials are assumed to have arbitrary distribution (the retrial scheme is explained more precisely in the paper). The paper provides analysis of this system. Specifically the paper studies the optimal number of servers to decrease the loss proportion to a given value. The representation obtained for the loss proportion enables us to solve the problem numerically. The algorithm for numerical solution includes effective simulation, which meets the challenge of a rare events problem in simulation.


Biochemical studies of integral membrane proteins are often hampered by low purification yields and technical limitations such as aggregation causing in vitro manipulations to be challenging. The ability of controlling proteins in live cells bypasses these limitations while broadening the scope of accessible questions owing to the proteins being in their native environment. Here we take advantage of the intein biorthogonality to mammalian systems, site specificity, fast kinetics, and auto‐processing nature as an attractive option for modifying surface proteins. Using EGFR as a model, we demonstrate that the split‐intein pair AvaN/NpuC can be used to efficiently and specifically modify target membrane proteins with a synthetic adduct for downstream live cell application.


This paper addresses the time-series modelling of high dimensional data. Currently, the hidden Markov model (HMM) is the most popular and successful model especially in speech recognition. However, there are well known shortcomings in HMMs particularly in the modelling of the correlation between successive observation vectors; that is, inter-frame correlation. Standard diagonal covariance matrix HMMs also lack the modelling of the spatial correlation in the feature vectors; that is, intra-frame correlation. Several other time-series models have been proposed recently especially in the segment model framework to address the inter-frame correlation problem such as Gauss-Markov and dynamical system segment models. The lack of intra-frame correlation has been compensated for with transform schemes such as semi-tied full covariance matrices (STC). All these models can be regarded as belonging to the broad class of generalised linear Gaussian models. Linear Gaussian models (LGM) are popular as many forms may be trained efficiently using the expectation maximisation algorithm. In this paper, several LGMs and generalised LGMs are reviewed. The models can be roughly cat-egorised into four combinations according to two different state evolution and two different observation processes. The state evolution process can be based on a discrete finite state machine such as in the HMMs or a linear first-order Gauss-Markov process such as in the traditional linear dynamical systems. The observation process can be represented as a factor analysis model or a linear discriminant analysis model. General HMMs and schemes proposed to improve their performance such as STC can be regarded as special cases in this framework.


ABSTRACT Clostridium acetobutylicum naturally produces acetone as well as butanol and ethanol. Since acetone cannot be used as a biofuel, its production needs to be minimized or suppressed by cell or bioreactor engineering. Thus, there have been attempts to disrupt or inactivate the acetone formation pathway. Here we present another approach, namely, converting acetone to isopropanol by metabolic engineering. Since isopropanol can be used as a fuel additive, the mixture of isopropanol, butanol, and ethanol (IBE) produced by engineered C. acetobutylicum can be directly used as a biofuel. IBE production is achieved by the expression of a primary/secondary alcohol dehydrogenase gene from Clostridium beijerinckii NRRL B-593 (i.e., adh B-593) in C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824. To increase the total alcohol titer, a synthetic acetone operon (act operon; adc-ctfA-ctfB) was constructed and expressed to increase the flux toward isopropanol formation. When this engineering strategy was applied to the PJC4BK strain lacking in the buk gene (encoding butyrate kinase), a significantly higher titer and yield of IBE could be achieved. The resulting PJC4BK(pIPA3-Cm2) strain produced 20.4 g/liter of total alcohol. Fermentation could be prolonged by in situ removal of solvents by gas stripping, and 35.6 g/liter of the IBE mixture could be produced in 45 h.


Introduction Achilles tendinopathy (AT) is a common and disabling musculoskeletal condition. First-line management involving Achilles tendon loading exercise with, or without, other modalities may not resolve the problem in up to 44% of cases. Many people receive injections. Yet there are no injection treatments with demonstrated long-term efficacy. The aim of the trial is to examine the 12-month efficacy of high-volume injection (HVI) with corticosteroid and HVI without corticosteroid versus sham injection among individuals with AT. Methods and analysis The trial is a three-arm, parallel group, double-blind, superiority randomised controlled trial that will assess the efficacy of HVI with and without corticosteroid versus sham up to 12 months. We will block-randomise 192 participants to one of the three groups with a 1:1:1 ratio, and both participants and outcome assessors will be blinded to treatment allocation. All participants will receive an identical evidence-based education and exercise intervention. The primary outcome measure will be the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment – Achilles (VISA-A) at 12 months post-randomisation, a validated, reliable and disease-specific measure of pain and function. Choice of secondary outcomes was informed by core outcome domains for tendinopathy. Data will be analysed using the intention-to-treat principle. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was obtained via the Monash University Human Ethics Committee (no: 13138). The study is expected to be completed in 2024 and disseminated via peer review publication and conference presentations. Trial registration number Australia and New Zealand Clinical trials registry (ACTRN12619001455156)


Phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation is the international standard operation procedure for cataract and has been generalized worldwide. However, lens capsule opacification, one of the common complications after cataract surgery, impacts the recovery of patients' visual function to a large extent. Lens capsule opacification has two types, anterior capsule opacification (ACO) and posterior capsule opacification (PCO), according to the location. There is not an accepted approach to treat ACO. Nd : YAG laser capsulotomy, the common treatment of PCO, can effectively improve the vision, but may cause a series of complications and is inappropriate for children who are too young to cooperate with this treatment. It is generally known that the responses of lens epithelial cells (LECs) after cataract surgery, including cell proliferation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), play a key role in the pathogenesis of lens capsule opacification. Scholars found that substantial drugs can reduce the occurrence of lens capsule opacification by inhibiting, clearing, or killing LECs, and made great efforts as well as innovations on the exploration of drug species or modes of administration. This article is a systematic interpretation and elaboration about how to prevent lens capsule opacification after cataract surgery via different drugs.


The authors describe a polyphase IIR decimation filter design methodology for oversampled A/D converters by formulating a general nonlinear programming problem that optimizes magnitude response under certain phase linearity constraints. It provides the flexibility of maximizing the signal-to-noise (SNR) when quantization noise with an arbitrary spectral density is presented. A numerical method, the samples-sum-estimation (SSE) method, is introduced to simplify the objective function. Examples show that the proposed design enjoys at least a factor of two reduction in the multiplication rate when compared with conventional FIR filters. This implementation becomes more attractive for applications in modulators with multibit output such as the MASH modulator as well as Sigma - Delta modulators with a multibit internal quantizer. The proposed design achieves a SNR of less than 1 dB from that obtained with an ideal low-pass filter at different decimation ratios while the group delay displays an approximately constant value. >


The ion irradiation of the Rh(110) surface results in the self-organised formation of various nano-structured morphologies like ripples, mounds, pyramids which have been thoroughly studied as a function of the incidence angle and of the impact energy of the impinging ions. A study of the evolution of the surface ripples at various impact energies above the hot-spot threshold, has been rationalized in terms of a contribution due to an ion-induced surface diffusion mechanism. In the very low ion incidence regime, where the formation of hot spots following ion impact is inhibited, the formation of a rhomboidal pyramid pattern is singled out and attributed to the predominant reorganization of surface adatom and vacancies produced in the topmost surface layers. The metastable rhomboidal pyramid pattern, was recently proven to have extraordinary chemical reactivity since it is endowed with a very high density of undercoordinated step sites runnin along the very open azimuthal direction.


Recent advances in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) usually come with the expense of considerable computational overhead and memory footprint. Network compression aims to alleviate this issue by training compact models with comparable performance. However, existing compression techniques either entail dedicated expert design or compromise with a moderate performance drop. To this end, we propose a model-agnostic structured sparsification method for efficient network compression. The proposed method automatically induces structurally sparse representations of the convolutional weights, thereby facilitating the implementation of the compressed model with the highly-optimized group convolution. We further address the problem of inter-group communication with a learnable channel shuffle mechanism. The proposed approach is model-agnostic and highly compressible with a negligible performance drop. Extensive experimental results and analysis demonstrate that our approach performs favorably against the state-of-the-art network pruning methods. The code will be publicly available after the review process.


Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) form a family of rare mesenchymal neoplasms that typically display myomelanocytic differentiation. Upregulation of mTOR signaling due the inactivation of TSC1/2 (Tuberous Sclerosis 1 and 2) is believed to be a key oncogenic driver in this disease. Recently, a subgroup of PEComas harboring TFE3 (Transcription Factor E3) rearrangements and presenting with a distinctive morphology has been identified. TSC1/2 and TFE3 aberrations are deemed to be mutually exclusive in PEComa, with two different pathogenic mechanisms assumed to lead to tumorigenesis. Here, we challenge this dichotomy by presenting a case of a clinically aggressive TCS1‐mutated PEComa displaying a TFE3‐altered phenotype. FISH analysis was suggestive of a TFE3 inversion; however, RNA and whole genome sequencing was ultimately unable to identify a fusion involving the gene. However, a copy number increase of the chromosomal region encompassing TFE3 was detected and transcriptome analysis confirmed upregulation of TFE3, which was also seen at the protein level. Therefore, we believe that the TSC1/2‐mTOR pathway and TFE3 overexpression can simultaneously contribute to tumorigenesis in PEComa. Our comprehensive genetic analyses add to the understanding of the complex pathogenic mechanisms underlying PEComa and harbor insights for clinical treatment options.


To investigate the efficacy and safety of tolvaptan (TLV) in patients with syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) at Kyoto-Katsura Hospital, a retrospective chart review of TLV dosage, duration, change in serum sodium concentration from baseline to Day 14 after the initial TLV administration, and side effects was performed. In 27 patients (mean age: 75.4 years), the main causes of SIADH were drugs (33.3 % ) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (33.3 % ). Patients administered TLV received a mean starting dose of 3.97 mg (SD 1.45) and mean daily dose of 4.10 mg (SD 1.65). The maximum TLV dosage did not exceed 7.5 mg. The treatment duration of TLV required for serum sodium improvement (Na ≥ 135 mEq/L) was 5.91 days (SD 3.33) in all patients. TLV was administrated for 13.44 days (SD 1.57) to maintain the serum sodium in SCLC patients. Concomitant sodium load (≥ 100 mEq orally or intravenously) did not significantly affect the duration of improvement in hyponatremia [sodium load vs load-free: 7.1 days (SD 3.4) vs 5.3 days (SD 3.1), P = 0.24]. The side effects were dry mouth (11.1 % ) and hypernatremia (3.7 % ). In conclusion, we confirmed the effectiveness and safety of TLV for hyponatremia of SIADH at low doses for 14 days. TLV may improve the quality of life in patients with loaded sodium intake, and could be used in the longer run to treat SCLC with a permanent antidiuretic hormone production.


In a previous rapid realist review (RRR) of international literature insight was provided into how, why, and under what circumstances person-centred care (PCC) in primary care works (or not) among others for people with low health literacy skills and for people with a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic background, by establishing a middle-range programme theory (PT), which describes the relationship between context items, mechanisms, and outcomes. Since the application of PCC in primary care in the Dutch setting is expected to differ from other countries, the objective of this study is to validate the items (face validity) resulting from the RRR for the Dutch setting by assessing consensus on the relevance of items. Four focus group discussions with patient representatives and patients with limited health literacy skills (n = 14), and primary care professionals (n = 11) were held partly combined with a Delphi-study. Items were added to refine the middle-range PT for the Dutch primary care setting. These items indicated that in order to optimally align care to the patient tailored supporting material that is developed together with the target group is important, next to providing tailored communication. Healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients need to have a shared vision and set up goals and action plans together. HCPs should stimulate patient's self-efficacy, need to be aware of the patient's (social) circumstances and work in a culturally sensitive way. Better integration between information and communications technology systems, flexible payment models, and patients access to documents, and recorded consultations should be in place. This may result in better alignment of care to the needs of patients, improved accessibility to care, improved patient's self-efficacy, and improved health-related quality of life. On the long-term higher cost-effectiveness and a higher quality of healthcare can be realised. In conclusion, this study shows that for PCC to be effective in Dutch primary care, the PT based on international literature was refined by leaving out items and adding new items for which insufficient or sufficient consensus, respectively, was found.


Article info The aim of the article is to indicate key issues and formulate requirements for a new conceptualisation and operationalisation of selfimage congruity and its role in explaining consumer behaviour. A special emphasis is put on the need to select a proper theoretical domain, advantages of applying typical brand user image as a point of reference in social comparisons and relevance of the undesirable image as a potential source of avoidance behaviour. The analysis of self-congruity methodology points to a need to identify relevant dimensions in self-imagecongruity, provide a broader generalisation of results and development of researchprocedures for psychological realism in congruity measurement.