A patient with an interesting and unusual complication of tabes dorsalis came under our observation, and because very few similar cases have found their way into the literature, and most of these are of some antiquity, it was thought worthwhile to record and discuss this patient's condition. It has often been stated that tabes dorsalis may mask serious visceral disease. Power and Murphy (1908-10) have drawn attention to this and Wilson (ed. Bruce, 1940) mentions that tabes " can disrupt nervous pathways so as to produce a visceral analgesia capable of masking serious abdominal disease ". Hanser (1919) published a case of perforated small intestinal ulcer, where a peritonitis of several days' duration was found at autopsy, the patient, a tabetic, having had no sign or symptom (pain, vomiting, tenderness, or rigidity) pointing to this catastrophe. Conner (1910) published a similar case, which was one of perforation of an appendix abscess in a tabetic. Again there was no pain, tenderness, or rigidity; but fever, vomiting, and a rise in pulse rate were recorded. The author regretted that the splanchnic nerves were not sectioned although the spinal cord was examined. Sternberg (1929) described cases of painless pneumonia and pleurisy, and reviewed the occurrence of analgesia in other organs in tabes. Roux (1900) dissected the splanchnic nerves from tabetics and from normal patients and attempted to show that these nerves were abnormal in tabes. He made fibre counts and found a numerical difference in the fine fibres. He carried out some experiments to demonstrate analgesia of the stomach in tabes. It was found that pain, accompanying a gastric lesion in those cases with analgesia, radiated to the sides and not to the centre of the abdomen. His work had the support of Dejerine, although Lehmann (1924), who reviewed the occurrence of visceral analgesia in tabes, criticised this work for


In this review, previous studies regarding the effects of cigarette smoking on parameters of physical fitness such as endurance performance, muscle strength, step test score, body mass index, blood pressure, serum lipoprotein profile, etc., have been summarized with a special reference to the quality of life for middle-aged and elder men, including the result of recent studies by the present authors. Additionally the hypothesized mechanisms of cigarette smoking to atherosclerosis have been shown. It is concluded mainly from our recent studies that: 1) the smoking has an effect to impair not only the aerobic power, but also the anaerobic power, 2) the abstention from chronic smoking would be expected to improve the parameters of physical fitness, and 3) even though the duration from the onset of smoking is less than one year, i.e., a relatively short-term smoking habit, the smoking has a serious damage to the several parameters of physical fitness.


Background Complex implant treatments have steadily increased within implant prosthodontics. Based on the lower implant mobility, implant impressions need high accuracy in the model transfer to receive a high passive fit within the final prosthodontic restoration. To analyze the accurate 3-dimensional (3D) inter-implant-positions, a reference point is indispensable. However, there is no reference in the patients mouth, so the aim of the present study was to develop a new method based on a custom-made-measuring-aid (CMA) to assess the inter implant dimensions (InID) in patients. Material and Methods Initially an implant master model (IMM/patient equivalent) was digitized by computed tomography. A CMA was fixed on the impression posts and the inter implant dimensions (InID) were recorded with a coordinate measurement machine (CMM). For comparison to conventional and digital impression techniques, 10 impressions per technique were taken. InIDs for the IMM, the CMA and the two impression techniques were compared. To give a proof of principle, the new 3D-method was applied to three patients as pilot cases. Results for trueness and precision were analyzed by pairwise comparisons (p< .05). All data were subjected to univariate ANOVA. Results Mean deviation for InID ranged from 10.3±18μm(CMA) to 41.7±36μm(conventional). There were partially significant differences for InID between the CMA and the different impression techniques. There were no significant differences for InID within the CMA. The InID in the in-vivo evaluation ranged from 42.3μm to 376.7μm(digital) and from 58.3μm to 274.0μm(conventional). There were partially significant differences between the techniques. Conclusions Within the limits of this study, with the developed method using a CMA it is possible to assess the true 3D-InID with a decisive higher accuracy than possible with a conventional or digital implant impression. Overall, the CMA in this study generated results that were deemed clinically useful for the investigated inter implant positions. Key words:Dental Implants, Dimensional Measurement Accuracy, Dental Impression Technique, Intraoral Scanner.


Within the context of studies on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), earlier research has sought to understand how Health Information Systems (HIS) can achieve success in developing countries. In Brazil, in addition to these studies, research under the guise of Information and Information Technology in Health (IITH), developed within the context of the Brazilian Sanitary Movement, has also investigated how HIS can contribute to the development of health practices. IITH research seeks to understand how Health Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can enable the development of a democratic arena to improve health practices management in Brazil. This paper reviews the IITH literature in order to link its proposals with studies of HIS developed within the ICT4D realm. Thus, it was perceived that both theoretical approaches can be compared under six dimensions of analysis, namely: a) the need for a political approach to HIS analysis; b) the importance of integration standards for health information; c) the quest for research methods based on practical research; d) the need for a holistic approach to understand HIS implementation and use; e) the importance of local context settings; and f) the influence of technical artifacts on HIS. For each dimension, IITH and ICT4D contributions are compared and it is noted how similar they are in reality, as well as how they can learn and benefit from each other.


A novel MOS varactor design is compared to standard MOS varactors and its influence on the tuning range, phase noise, and pushing of a CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) for UMTS is presented. Three fully integrated CMOS VCOs have been fabricated in standard 0.25-/spl mu/m technology, two with different versions of a novel device, and one with a conventional nMOSFET as the tuning element. All of the fully integrated VCOs fulfill UNITS tuning and phase noise specifications with a power consumption of only 7.5 mW at a 2.5-V power supply. The new varactors outperform the nMOSFET by increasing the frequency tuning from /spl plusmn/7% to /spl plusmn/11% or /spl plusmn/13%, while the measured phase noise of all three VCOs is -117 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset from a 4-GHz carrier.


The loss of bond between aggregates and asphalt binder that generally begins at the bottom of the HMA layer and progresses upward is known to be stripping of pavement. Stripping has been existent since the advent of paving technology. It causes functional weakening of pavements leading to costly repairs. Adhesion of bitumen onto aggregate is explained based on theories like mechanistic tenacity, molecular orientation, chemical reaction, and thermodynamic balance of interfacial forces. Stripping is elucidated using several mechanisms namely, displacement, detachment, spontaneous emulsification, bitumen film rupture, water pore pressure, hydraulic scouring, chemical disbonding, microbial activity, osmosis; and blistering and pitting. Chemical composition of aggregates is also an important factor of the occurrence. In this paper we have discussed the mechanism of stripping, causes of stripping and finally the solution. Different Anti strip additives may minimize the severity of stripping based on their properties and workability. The goal of this paper is to introduce the readers with different anti strip additives and their workability in a simple way.


Transient absorption spectroscopy has been used to elucidate the nature of the S1 intermediate state populated following excitation of cob(III)alamin (Cbl(III)) compounds. This state is sensitive both to axial ligation and to solvent polarity. The excited-state lifetime as a function of temperature and solvent environment is used to separate the dynamic and electrostatic influence of the solvent. Two distinct types of excited states are identified, both assigned to pi3d configurations. The spectra of both types of excited states are characterized by a red absorption band (ca. 600 nm) assigned to Co 3d --> 3d or Co 3d --> corrin pi* transitions and by visible absorption bands similar to the corrin pi-->pi* transitions observed for ground state Cbl(III) compounds. The excited state observed following excitation of nonalkyl Cbl(III) compounds has an excited-state spectrum characteristic of Cbl(III) molecules with a weakened bond to the axial ligand (Type I). A similar excited-state spectrum is observed for adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) in water and ethylene glycol. The excited-state spectrum of methyl, ethyl, and n-propylcobalamin is characteristic of a Cbl(III) species with a sigma-donating alkyl anion ligand (Type II). This Type II excited-state spectrum is also observed for AdoCbl bound to glutamate mutase. The results are discussed in the context of theoretical calculations of Cbl(III) species reported in the literature and highlight the need for additional calculations exploring the influence of the alkyl ligand on the electronic structure of cobalamins.


Acute otitis media is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide in spite of the widespread vaccination. The present study was conducted to explore the effects of fisetin on mouse acute otitis media models. The animal models were established by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection into the middle ear of mice via the tympanic membrane. Fisetin was administered to mice for ten days through intragastric administration immediate after LPS application. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed and the pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-6 and VEGF, were measured through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and RT-qPCR analysis. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway was detected by immunoblotting assays. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated levels were determined through assessment of anti-oxidants, and TXNIP/MAPKs signaling pathways were explored to reveal the possible molecular mechanism for acute otitis media progression and the function of fisetin. Fisetin reduced mucosal thickness caused by LPS. In fisetin-treated animals, pro-inflammatory cytokine release was downregulated accompanied with TLR4/NF-κB inactivation. ROS production was significantly decreased in comparison to the LPS-treated group. The TXNIP/MAPKs signaling pathway was inactivated for fisetin treatment in LPS-induced mice with acute otitis media. The above results indicated that fisetin improved acute otitis media through inflammation and ROS suppression via inactivating TLR4/NF-κB and TXNIP/MAPKs signaling pathways.


Severe PM2.5 air pollution in China and the First Grand National Standard (FGNS), implemented in 2016 (annual PM2.5 concentration target of less than 35 µg m−3), necessitate urgent reduction strategies. This study applied the nested‐grid version of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) chemical transport model (GEOS‐Chem) to quantify 2000–2050 changes in PM2.5 air quality and related direct radiative forcing (DRF) in China, based on future emission changes under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios of RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5. In the near term (2000–2030), a projected maximum increase in PM2.5 concentrations of 10–15 µg m−3 is found over east China under RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 and less than 5 µg m−3 under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5. In the long term (2000–2050), PM2.5 pollution clearly improves, and the largest decrease in PM2.5 concentrations of 15–30 µg m−3 is over east China under all RCPs except RCP6.0. Focusing particularly on highly polluted regions, we find that Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei (BTH) wintertime PM2.5 concentrations meeting the FGNS occur after 2040 under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, and summertime PM2.5 concentrations reach this goal by 2030 under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5. In Sichuan Basin (SCB), wintertime PM2.5 concentrations below the FGNS occur only in 2050 under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5, although future summertime PM2.5 will be well controlled. The difficulty in controlling future PM2.5 concentrations relates to unmitigated high levels of nitrate, although NOx and SO2 emissions show substantial reductions during 2020–2040. The changes in aerosol concentrations lead to positive aerosol DRF over east China (20°–45°N, 100°–125°E) by 1.22, 1.88, and 0.66 W m−2 in 2050 relative to 2000 under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, respectively. When considering both health and climate effects of PM2.5 over China, for example, PM2.5 concentrations averaged over east China under RCP4.5 (RCP2.6) decrease by 54% (43%) in 2050 relative to 2000, but at the cost of warming with DRF of 1.88 (1.22) W m−2. Our results indicate that it will be possible to mitigate future PM2.5 pollution in China, but it will likely take two decades for polluted regions such as BTH and SCB to meet the FGNS, based on all RCP scenarios. At the same time, the consequent warming effects from reduced aerosols are also significant and inevitable.


Objective Urinary tract infection (UTI), one of the most common bacterial infections occurring during infancy and early childhood, is frequently associated with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Although several guidelines recommend performing ultrasonography as a screening test, its utility is not adequate and appropriate screening tests are strongly desirable. In this study, we evaluate the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a screening test for VUR in children with UTI. Methods We prospectively studied 108 patients with suspected UTI between April 2014 and March 2016. UTI was diagnosed on the basis of diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) and urine culture findings. We measured ureteral dilatation using MRI in 96 patients with UTI and assessed the relationship between ureteral dilatation in MRI and VUR in 46 patients who underwent voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). Results Among 108 patients, 88 and 8 were diagnosed with upper and lower UTI, respectively. Among 46 patients who underwent VCUG, 23 had VUR (14 low grade and 9 high grade). Patients with ureteral dilatation detected on MRI had VUR more frequently than those without ureteral dilatation (any grades VUR, 71% vs. 32%; P = 0.02; high-grade VUR, 38% vs. 2%, P = 0.007). Overall, ureteral dilatation findings on MRI achieved sensitivity 65.2% and specificity 73.9% as a screening test for VUR. In addition, DW-MRI achieved sensitivity 100% and specificity 81.8% in the diagnosis of upper UTI. Conclusion These findings suggested that MRI is a valuable tool for screening of VUR as well as diagnosis of upper UTI.


In many semi-arid, snow-fed river systems, climate change is shifting the timing and quantity of streamflow, while changing water use priorities introduce additional demands on water supplies. These dynamics challenge water security across the globe. Water markets – economic instruments used to reallocate water via voluntary trade – may be used to adapt to these changes, though their implementation remains limited. To understand how water markets may enhance water security in the western United States, we assess diverse actors' perceptions of water allocation institutions broadly, as well as their preferences for different water market designs, in the empirical context of the Walker River Basin. This 4,200-square mile watershed, located on the California-Nevada border, exemplifies many key regional water management challenges. Through an analysis of 30 in-depth interviews, we find that actors across sectors desire changes to traditional water allocation institutions, preferably at the local level, and view markets as an acceptable tool for reallocation. Despite identified legal and social challenges, markets that facilitate temporary water trading are generally preferred. While limited to the context of a single basin, these findings provide lessons for designing water markets to enhance water security in basins regionally and beyond.


It has been shown clinically that the healing processes encountered at the site of a subperiosteal implant which is implanted as a sustainer for dentures is greatly dependent on the method of fixation. The inflammatory reactions around the abutments are less pronounced and epithelial attachment enhanced if a absolute rigid fixation exists between the implant material and the mandible. In order to study the stability of a scaffolding implant material under different conditions, measurements were undertaken on isolated cadaver mandibles. The dynamic forces acting on the fixed implant in an axial and transversal direction were recorded using a specially designed string gauge. The effects on the static forces of fixation were registered and evaluated. It could be demonstrated that the forces of fixation which were achieved by applying the general principles of compression osteosynthesis surpassed many times the shearing forces encountered at the time of functional stress. Conclusions are drawn regarding a possible improvement of fixation techniques used in such subperiosteal implants.


The degradation of cellular proteins in fibroblasts, both those of rapid and those of slow turnover rates, was inhibited by low concentrations of chloroquine or neutral red in the medium. Cells inhibited by chloroquine can be inhibited further by fluoride. Chloroquine was taken up by the fibroblasts and the concentration in the cells reached several hundred times that in the medium. Isopycnic fractionation studies showed that within the cells the chloroquine was concentrated in the lysosomes, and that these chloroquine-containing lysosomes had a lower equilibrium density than the lysosomes of untreated cells. Chloroquine, at concentrations attained inside the lysosomes, inhibited cathepsin B1 but not cathepsin D. It is concluded that chloroquine impairs the breakdown of cellular proteins after these have entered the lysosome system, probably through inhibition of cathepsin B1.


OBJECTIVES
The relationship between alcoholism and suicidal behaviour has long been recognized. The present study examined the lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts in alcoholic patients and the impact of comorbidity, namely with depressive anxiety disorders and antisocial personnalit disorder in alcoholic patients who attempted suicide.

METHODS
In a cross-sectional design including outpatients referring for alcohol dependance according to DSM III-R criteria, we used a specific standardized and structured interview allowing DSM III-R diagnoses.

RESULTS
We include 507 patients (343 males of 164 females). The mean age at the intake of the study was 43.2 (SD:9.6) years without difference between males and females. 129 patients (25.4%) had attempted suicide during their lifetime. The proportion of female was found higher than males among suicide attempters (41.9 vs 29.3%; p < or = 0.001). Age of onset of alcoholism was found younger in suicide attempters than non (p < or = 0.01), either in males and females. Moreover, we found that alcoholic suicide attempters more often reported family histories of alcoholism than did nonattempters. As regard lifetime comorbidity, major depression and drugs misuse were found more frequent in alcoholics who attempted suicide (p < or = 0.001). Moreover, we found a higher prevalence for Panic Disorder and Social Phobia in male suicide attempters.


This book examines intimacy in the form of sexual encounters, dating, marriage, and family that involve US service members and local residents. The book analyzes the stories of individual U.S. service members and their Okinawan spouses and family members against the backdrop of Okinawan history, political and economic entanglements with Japan and the United States, and a longstanding anti-base movement. The narratives highlight the simultaneously repressive and creative power of military "fencelines," sites of symbolic negotiation and struggle involving gender, race, and class that divide the social landscape in communities that host US bases. The book anchors the global U.S. military complex and US–Japan security alliance in intimate everyday experiences and emotions, illuminating important aspects of the lived experiences of war and imperialism.


We believe that a radical reformation of the role of science in policing will be necessary if policing is to become an arena of evidence-based policies. We also think that the advancement of science in policing is essential if police are to retain public support and legitimacy, cope with recessionary budget reductions, and if the policing industry is to alleviate the problems that have become a part of the policing task. In this paper, we outline a proposal for a new paradigm that changes the relationship between science and policing. This paradigm demands that the police adopt and advance evidence-based policy and that universities become active participants in the everyday world of police practice. But it also calls for a shift in ownership of police science from the universities to police agencies. Such ownership would facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices and policies in policing and would change the fundamental relationship between research and practice. It would also increase the prestige and credibility of police science in the universities. We think that bringing the universities into police centers and having the police take ownership of police science will improve policing and ensure its survival in a competitive world of provision of public services.


BACKGROUND
Eribulin mesylate is the latest addition in the armamentarium of management of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with a unique mechanism of action. Although the multicentric EMBRACE trial suggests significant overall survival benefit from this novel drug, its effectiveness in Indian population is yet to be evaluated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Presented here is a single center experience of eight patients who were administered eribulin for MBC. Patients had received a median of 3 prior chemotherapies before eribulin administration. The median dose of eribulin therapy was 5 cycles (range: 2-6 cycles).

RESULTS
The objective response rate was 75% (CR in one and PR in five out of eight patients). Response was seen across all subtypes of patients. Eribulin was well tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported.

CONCLUSION
Eribulin conferred good response rates with satisfactory tolerability profile in Indian patients. Its use in earlier lines and in combination with other drugs may achieve deeper and longer responses.


Production of peaches (Prunus persica) in southwestern Idaho and other states in the intermountain western United States has increased during recent years, requiring information on the performance of modern cultivars in the region. Thus, a long-term project was conducted to investigate bloom date, harvest date, cumulative growing degree-days, fruit quality, and yield of various yellow- and white-fleshed peaches under conditions of southwestern Idaho during 2003 to 2007. The analysis of average response over these years indicated that 'Snow Giant', 'Jupiter', 'Yuko King', 'Burpeach Six', 'Fairtime', 'Coral Star', 'July Sun', and 'Zee Lady' bloomed earlier (5–7 Apr.), while 'Sierra Gem', 'Fancy Lady', and 'Red Star' bloomed later (11–12 Apr.) than other cultivars. 'Crimson Lady', 'May Sun', and 'Sierra Gem' were the earliest cultivars, had smaller fruit, and on average were harvested on 11, 13, and 24 July and needed 94, 96, and 103 days from full bloom to harvest, respectively. 'Opal Moncav', 'August Flame', 'August Lady', 'Ryan Sun', 'September Snow', 'Yukon King', and 'Fairtime' were harvested during the second half of September. The periods between bloom and harvest for these cultivars on average were 160, 163, 163, 168, 171, 173, and 177 days, respectively, and these cultivars often had greater soluble solids concentrations than other cultivars. 'PF12B' and 'PF15A' were "mid-season," but 'PF 20–007' and 'PF 24–007' were "late-season" cultivars. 'PF12B', 'PF15A', 'PF 20–007', 'Star Fire', 'Burapeach Six', 'Coral Star', 'All Star', and 'Zee Lady' had higher yield than many of the other cultivars. While the "early-season" cultivars can be planted for regional and local market, the "mid-season" and "late-season" peaches are excellent choices for marketing during September and early October when production of the similar cultivars are already completed in warmer regions. Overall, 'Sweet Dream', 'August Lady', 'Zee Lady', 'August Flame', 'Snow Giant', 'Saturn', 'Jupiter', and 'PF24–007' showed satisfactory to great performance in this long-term evaluation.


Background/ Objective Studies, including various meta-analyses, on the effect of Protein Diet Restriction on Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) have reported conflicting results. In this paper, we have provided an update on the evidence available on this topic. We have investigated the reasons why the effect has been inconsistent across studies. We have also compared the effect on GFR in various subgroups including type 1 diabetics, type 2 diabetics and non-diabetics. Method We searched for Randomized Controlled Trials on this intervention from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and other information sources. The PRISMA guidelines, as well as recommended meta-analysis practices were followed in the selection process, analysis and reporting of our findings. The effect estimate used was the change in mean GFR. Heterogeneity across the considered studies was explored using both subgroup analyses and meta-regression. Quality assessment was done using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and sensitivity analyses. Results 15 randomized controlled trials, including 1965 subjects, were analyzed. The pooled effect size, as assessed using random-effects model, for all the 15 studies was -0.95 ml/min/1.73m2/year (95% CI: -1.79, -0.11), with a significant p value of 0.03. The combined effect estimate for the non-diabetic and type 1 diabetic studies was -1.50 ml/min/1.73m2/year (95% CI: -2.73, -0.26) with p value of 0.02. The effect estimate for the type 2 diabetic group was -0.17 ml/min/1.73m2/year (95% CI: -1.88, 1.55) with p value of 0.85. There was significant heterogeneity across the included studies (I2 = 74%, p value for Q < 0.0001), explained by major variations in the percentage of type 2 diabetic subjects, the number of subjects and overall compliance level to diet prescribed. Conclusion Our findings suggest that protein diet restriction slows chronic renal disease progression in non-diabetic and in type 1 diabetic patients, but not in type 2 diabetic patients.


Biphasic, non-sigmoidal dose-response relationships are frequently observed in biochemistry and pharmacology, but they are not always analyzed with appropriate statistical methods. Here, we examine curve fitting methods for "hormetic" dose-response relationships where low and high doses of an effector produce opposite responses. We provide the full dataset used for modeling, and we provide the code for analyzing the dataset in SAS using two established mathematical models of hormesis, the Brain-Cousens model and the Cedergreen model. We show how to obtain and interpret curve parameters such as the ED50 that arise from modeling, and we discuss how curve parameters might change in a predictable manner when the conditions of the dose-response assay are altered. In addition to modeling the raw dataset that we provide, we also model the dataset after applying common normalization techniques, and we indicate how this affects the parameters that are associated with the fit curves. The Brain-Cousens and Cedergreen models that we used for curve fitting were similarly effective at capturing quantitative information about the biphasic dose-response relationships.


Two unconventional sperm models (all motile) have been studied. The first one has only the outer arm on the doublets (the gall midge, Diplolaboncus); the second one, has only a well-developed inner arm (the eel, Anguilla). Both are devoid of central tubules and radial spokes. The gall midge sperm yields a single electrophoretic band migrating similarly to the sea urchin dynein band A; a major high- molecular-weight band is obtained from eel sperm which co-migrates with the sea urchin dynein band B. The present picture is consistent with the localization of dynein in the axoneme--namely, of an A-like band in the outer arm, and of the B band in the inner arm. Moreover, the D band is present only in the eel, where gamma-links are present. ATPase activity was localized histochemically and found to be associated with both inner and outer arms, as well as with the gamma-links.


Education for Sustainability (EfS) is increasingly being recognised as an essential dimension of quality education in the 21 Century. However, it is common for EfS to be framed around a narrative of multiple points of global crisis. This stems from an awareness that our children today are growing up in the midst of manifold threats to wellbeing, in both human and environmental terms, as articulated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Whilst recognising this problem-based and challenge-led imperative for EfS, our chapter argues for the importance of an alternative starting point in the early years. EfS, we propose, needs to be appropriately scaled to the lifeworlds of our children and to be agency-based and appreciation-led. The early years practitioner has a vital and exciting role to play in helping to nurture in young citizens ways of being that enable them to participate in the creation of more sustainable futures in their everyday lives. This needs to be contextualised in a sense of wonder and awe at the beauty of the natural world of which they are a part. This chapter will therefore present an approach to EfS that seeks to highlight the importance of providing a pedagogy of hope; with compassion and creativity at its heart. In so doing we draw from a case study of a pioneering primary school that is seeking to embody such an approach and that is highlighting the leading role early years practitioners can play in this vital area of educational reform.


Abstract: A new anguillid eel species, Anguilla luzonensis, was recently discovered on Luzon Island of the northern Philippines, but little is known about its life history. DNA identification was used to determine that five leptocephali of this species (29.2–51.2 mm) were collected offshore in the western North Pacific (13°–17.5° N, 125°–141° E) in April, June, and July between 2002 and 2009. One leptocephalus was caught west of Luzon and four were close to the spawning areas of Anguilla japonica and Anguilla marmorata. Otolith microstructure showed that the leptocephali were up to 103–138 days old. Glass eels from northern Luzon in previous studies that were thought to be Anguilla celebesensis now appear likely to have been A. luzonensis, and they were estimated by otolith analysis to have long larval durations similar to those of A. marmorata. Estimated hatching dates of these glass eels and the A. luzonensis leptocephali were both in the February to May season. Offshore presence of leptocephali of A. luzonensis and direction of ocean currents suggest that this species migrates offshore to spawn in the North Equatorial Current.


The goal of this research was to develop a digital system that could allow managing electronic medical records (EMRs) codified under specifications of the Health Level 7/Clinical Document Architecture (HL7/CDA) international standard, and saving them in a portable digital storage device called iButton ® . To this end, an USB-based hardware interface for reading and storing EMRs in iButtons was designed and implemented. In addition, a software application for invoking read/ write operations on stored EMRs and showing their content on a graphical user interface was also developed, following the Extreme Programming (XP) software development methodology and using Visual Basic .NET as programming language. Tests conducted on the hardware interface showed that it was able to recognize any iButton type, reading and writing data on them as well. Moreover, the system helped in creating empty EMRs in conformance with the HL7/CDA standard, adding and viewing information, and updating it in the iButton. This system offers an easy way for managing and visualizing medical records codified in HL7/CDA, and allows patients to take their updated medical history with them everywhere.


Introduction: There are various criteria based on which society has been divided into different classes. Different ways have been adopted by vari-ous social scientists for determin-ing the social status of individuals or groups. These criteria are occu-pation, wealth, birth, race, religion, education etc. but just one criterion is not sufficient to classify strata. Some of the commonly used socio-economic status (SES) scales are Kuppuswamy, B.G Prasad and Uday Pareek scales. Since these be-ing commonly used SES the pre-sent article intends to provide an update


Atherosclerosis and related diseases have emerged as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world and, therefore, as a problem of public health. Free radicals and reactive oxygen species have been suggested to be part of the pathophysiology of these diseases. It is well known that physical activity plays an important role as a public health measure by reducing the risk of developing atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular events in the general population. It is also known that physical activity increases in some tissues, the reactive oxygen species production. In this review the atherosclerosis-oxidative stress-physical activity relationship is focused on the apparent paradox by which physical activity reduces atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk in parallel with the activation of an apparently damaging mechanism which is an increased oxidative stress. A hypothesis including the experimental and clinical evidence is presented to explain the aforementioned paradox.


Reconstructing visual stimuli from human brain activities provides a promising opportunity to advance our understanding of the brain's visual system and its connection with computer vision models. Although deep generative models have been employed for this task, the challenge of generating high-quality images with accurate semantics persists due to the intricate underlying representations of brain signals and the limited availability of parallel data. In this paper, we propose a two-phase framework named Contrast and Diffuse (CnD) to decode realistic images from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings. In the first phase, we acquire representations of fMRI data through self-supervised contrastive learning. In the second phase, the encoded fMRI representations condition the diffusion model to reconstruct visual stimulus through our proposed concept-aware conditioning method. Experimental results show that CnD reconstructs highly plausible images on challenging benchmarks. We also provide a quantitative interpretation of the connection between the latent diffusion model (LDM) components and the human brain's visual system. In summary, we present an effective approach for reconstructing visual stimuli based on human brain activity and offer a novel framework to understand the relationship between the diffusion model and the human brain visual system.


Heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with positive physiological and psychological effects. HRV is affected by breathing parameters, yet debate remains regarding the best breathing interventions for strengthening HRV. The objective of the current study was to test whether the inclusion of a postexhalation rest period was effective at increasing HRV, while controlling for breathing rate. A within-subject crossover design was used with 40 participants who were assigned randomly to a breathing pattern including a postexhalation rest period or a breathing pattern that omitted the postexhalation rest period. Participants completed training on each breathing pattern, practiced for 6 min, and sat quietly during a 5-min washout period between practices. Participants were given instructions for diaphragmatic breathing at a pace of six breaths/minute with or without a postexhalation rest period. Recordings of heart rate, breathing rate, HF-HRV, RMSSD, LF-HRV, and SDNN were collected before and during each of the breathing trials. HRV indices were derived from Lead 1 ECG recordings. Pairwise contrasts showed that inclusion of a postexhalation rest period significantly decreased heart rate (p < .001) and increased HF-HRV (p < .05). No differences were found for breathing rates (p > .05), RMSSD (p > .05), and SDNN (p > .05). Results indicated that omission of the postexhalation rest period resulted in higher LF-HRV (p < .05). A postexhalation rest period improves HF-HRV, commonly associated with self-regulatory control, yet the importance of a postexhalation rest period requires further exploration.


Due to its multivariate and multipurpose use and reuse, data's worth is dramatically increasing, leading to an era characterized by the generation of data marketplaces towards accessing, selling, sharing, and trading data and data assets. However, most market vendors still follow a centralized monolithic cloud model for controlling most of the market for data services. Also, this strategy is incompatible with European objectives for cloud computing and the data economy, lacking data sovereignty and cross-cloud interoperability principles. Towards these limitations, the FAME project is introduced as a joint effort in the fields of data management, data technologies, data economy, and digital finance to develop, deploy and launch to the global market a unique, trustworthy, energy efficient, and secure federated data marketplace for Embedded Finance (EmFi). This marketplace is envisioned to alleviate the proclaimed limitations of centralized cloud data marketplaces towards demonstrating the full potential of the data economy. Security, interoperability, decentralized and regulatory compliant data exchange, data assets' trading and pricing, as well as integration of trusted and energy efficient analytics are among the core functionalities of FAME, which aims to act as a single-entry point data marketplace for the EmFi domain. FAME will be evaluated upon different real-world use cases covering the financial industry, building a vibrant community of EmFi stakeholders around the envisioned marketplace.


The aim of this study was to explore individual amino acid-stimulated GLP-1 responses and the underlying stimulatory mechanisms, as well as to identify the amino acid-sensing-receptors involved in amino acid-stimulated GLP-1 release. Experiments were primarily based on isolated perfused rat small intestines, which have intact epithelial polarization allowing discrimination between luminal and basolateral mechanisms as well as quantitative studies of intestinal absorption and hormone secretion. Expression analysis of amino acid sensors on isolated murine GLP-1 secreting L-cells was assessed by qPCR. We found that L-valine powerfully stimulated GLP-1 secretion but only from the luminal side (2.9-fold increase). When administered from the vascular side, L-arginine and the aromatic amino acids stimulated GLP-1 secretion equally (2.6-2.9 fold increases). Expression analysis revealed that Casr expression was enriched in murine GLP-1 secreting L-cells, whereas Gpr35, Gprc6a, Gpr142, Gpr93 (Lpar5) and the umami taste receptor subunits Tas1r3 and Tas1r1 were not. Consistently, activation of GPR35, GPR93, GPR142 and the umami taste receptor with specific agonists or allosteric modulators did not increase GLP-1 secretion (P>0.05 for all experiments), whereas vascular inhibition of CaSR reduced GLP-1 secretion in response to luminal infusion of mixed amino acids. In conclusion, amino acids differ in their capacity to stimulate GLP-1 secretion. Some amino acids stimulated secretion only from the intestinal lumen, while other amino acids exclusively stimulated secretion from the vascular side, indicating that amino acid-stimulated GLP-1 secretion involves both apical and basolateral (post-absorptive) sensing mechanisms. Sensing of absorbed amino acids involves CaSR activation as vascular inhibition of CaSR markedly diminished amino acid stimulated GLP-1 release.


In article have been presented the mathematical model of a global cycle of carbon, and also have been analyzed the problem of offset of absorption of dioxide of carbon by the countries in the Kyoto Protocol.


The term aequitas in the Corpus Iuris Civilis (and in rhetoric) forms the origin of the notion of equity, both in the field of law and in other social sciences. Its contents are, however, very contentious. Rather than following the two extremes in modern reconstructions, which consider aequitas either as unitary or as a vague and indefinite notion, this paper considers aequitas as an historically complex notion that kept its original semantic nucleus, but saw the addition of further meanings. This paper is based on a close examination of aequum, from the earliest attestations in the Republican Age until Cicero. We will see that it was a concept already profoundly rooted and elaborated in Roman culture before its reformulation in terms of Greek philosophy, which considerably enriched it, exploring its limits. In this respect, particular attention is paid to distinguishing aequitas from epieikeia as theorized by Aristotle. This paper examines then the development of the concept in the thought of the Roman jurists. As a whole, this study shows that aequitas involves, at its core, an attitude towards decisions that is founded on the criterion of the aequum, i.e. the "equal"; this conclusion is confirmed by iconographic evidence. Yet, at least from the Late Republic, aequitas is part of a wider conception of man and his relations to others in society, i.e. it is part of a political anthropology that expands and articulates the meanings of aequitas (and without which it might give the impression of being a vague notion).


In recent years, there has been growing attention on intrinsically conducting polymers, such as polypyrrole (PPy) because of the wide range of possible applications. Adhesion to other materials is a pending problem that could be tackled by enhancing the chemical affinity of the surface toward PPy coating. In this work, low-temperature plasma pretreatments were used for improving adhesion of PPy on polyester (PET) fabrics by changing the surface chemistry and generating a microscopically rough surface. Oxygen and argon plasmas were used to treat both sides of PET fabrics before PPy deposition by in situ chemical polymerization. Moreover, PPy depositions were performed 1 h, 1 week, and 1 month after the plasma treatments to study possible ageing effects. Different chemical/physical characterizations (contact angle, surface energy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) showed the efficacy of plasma pretreatments in inducing wettability on PET fabrics and promoting adhesion of the PPy layer. The enhanced adhesion was confirmed by abrasion tests and subsequent surface resistivity and color measurements. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012


Naydenov, N., Ishpekov, S. & Zaykov, R. (2020). Investigation of seed losses at mechanized harvesting of sesame. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 26 (6), 1323–1327 The losses of sesame seeds of Bulgarian varieties Aida and Nevena by the Wintersteiger – Hege 160, by the specialized device for feeding sesame stems in harvesting machine and by the wind has been investigated. The results testify that the percentage of losses by the specialized device is 1.7 to 4 times smaller than by the header of grain harvester for both varieties. The wind, with a speed of up to 10.3 m/s for two days during the sesame maturation, scatters from 14.1% to 22.5% of the seeds depending on the variety and its moisture content. When the sesame is harvested after a wind at mentioned speed then a decrease in the percentage of seed losses is registered. It is twice for the specialized device and from 5 to 7 times for Hege 160.


Background and aims: Power plants are the most important infrastructure for economic development with technological advances and sophisticated technology , are subject to risks and accidents. Despite of uncertainty and ambiguity , offer the Solution that can by combine information to identify hazards , assess and risk rank ing may effective to control and reduction of occupational accidents . This survey targeted to identify and assess hazards, determine and rank the effective safety risks in a combined cycle power plant.
Methods: To identify hazard , was used documentation review , interviews with experts , brainstorming sessions , knowledge and experience group of experts in occupational health and safety engineering . For risk analysis , used fuzzy classification for severity and frequency by previous studies and expert opinion . Finally the risks were ranked based on using degree of Belief approach in fuzzy logic.
Results: in the present study , among the 11 cases of identified hazards , explosion and fire gas turbines and bust steam pipes under pressure, with the degree of belief 0/56 , ranked in the first place and fell in tanks reservoirs and canals with degree of belief 0/21 had second place.
Conclusion: So far , few risk assessment tools and techniques have been proposed in power plan t. In this study, despite of use subjective and qualitative variables , but for measuring these variables were used the absolute numbers and mathematical methods . Therefore this study is important and can be suitable and accurate approach to address the technical deficiencies in this section.
Keywords: Power plant, Risk assessment, Fuzzy logic, Ranking, Degree of belief


Despite the vast research on construction projects management issues in the Middle-East, little is known about client involvement in public projects. This article presents a study on identifying significant factors affecting client participation performance in public construction projects in the Sultanate of Oman. The study was conducted in quantitative approach where the data was collected through questionnaire survey. The collected data was analysed statistically to determine the ranking of the identifiedfactors based on the degree of involvement in the project. The study found that the handover phase had the highest client's participation, while the operations and maintenance phase had the lowest client's participation among all the five construction phases. The low client participation in any project has an undesirable influence on the projects' overall outcomes. Consequently, this condition has harmed the time of completion of construction projects in the Sultanate of Oman. This condition is also the main reason for the quality problems in construction projects in Oman.


Galphimia glauca (Cav.) Kuntze is an important endemic plant species, which possesses many medicinal properties and has been used in the Mexican traditional medicine for its sedative, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, antiasthmatic and antiallergic properties. The therapeutic properties of this plant are mainly due to the presence of diverse bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, triterpenoids, and phenolics. Several triterpenoids and flavonoids compounds have been isolated and identified. Modern studies have demonstrated many biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antidiarrheal, gastroenteritis, antimalarial and cytotoxic activities. Nevertheless, many studies are restricted to the crude extract, and many bioactive compounds are yet to be identified and validated according to its traditional use. However, its commercial exploitation and use are highly limited due to the non-availability of enough plant material and lack of knowledge about its agronomical practices. Moreover, the misinterpretation and mislabeling of closely related species of the genus Galphimia Cav. as G. glauca or G. gracilis is a common problem for its rigorous scientific study and commercial exploitation. The present review provides comprehensive knowledge based on the available scientific literature. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review on G. glauca. This comprehensive information will certainly provide a guide for the better understanding and utilization of G. glauca for its scientific and industrial exploitation.


To The Editor:

Congratulations to DiGiovanni et al. for their landmark paper, "Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness" (2002;84:962-70), which demonstrated an association between isolated gastrocnemius tightness and the development of foot pathology in neurologically normal people.

I have found that exercises that stretch the gastrocnemius, especially the "downward dog" yoga posture, and heel-walking are very effective in relieving anterior knee pain as well as heel and plantar pain, metatarsalgia, and the symptoms of interdigital neuroma. Patients can readily understand that decreasing the tension in the posterior calf muscles can decrease anterior knee pain and that walking on the heel can relieve forefoot pain.

However, patients need goals and markers of their progress. The results of the differential dorsiflexion test that …


Parathyroid carcinoma is a very rare malignancy and the least common among endocrine malignat tumors. Its etiology is still unclear and some hypotheses have been suggested: previous external radiation to the neck, pregression from benign to malignant lesion, familial hyperparathyroidism. An early accurate diagnosis is very important since surgery is the most effective therapeutic approach to parathyroid carcinoma. Prognosis is quite variable and stress is laid on the early diagnosis and radical surgery which seem to be most favorable prognostic factors. An accurate follow-up should include frequent measurements of serum calcium and PTH levels to promptly detect recurrence or metastases which are usually associated with severe hyeprcalcemia.


Natural products have gained a wide popularity as chemopreventive and anti‐cancer agents owing to their multi‐mechanistic mode of action, availability and synergism with several conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Crocetin is a carotenoid compound isolated from the stigma of Crocus sativus L. (saffron). Crocetin has shown promising effects as an anti‐tumor agent in animal models and cell culture systems. Crocetin retards the growth of cancer cells via inhibiting nucleic acid synthesis, enhancing anti‐oxidative system, and inducing apoptosis and differentiation pathways. The present review outlines natural sources of crocetin, and its pharmacokinetic and pharmacological properties relevant to the prevention and treatment of cancer. Also, we discuss molecular targets underlying the putative anti‐tumor effects of crocetin.


Through systematic density-functional theory-based ab initio calculations, various performance indicators such as $G/B$, the ratio of shear modulus $G$ over bulk modulus $B$, ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{s}/{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{t}$, the ratio of ideal shear strength ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{s}$ over tensile strength ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{t}$, and the Cauchy pressure defined as ${C}_{12}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{C}_{44}$ were evaluated for a selection of fcc metals and assessed in relation to the characteristics of their electronic distributions obtained from the electron localization function. The analysis reveals that the ratio ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{s}/{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{t}$ is possibly a better indicator of malleability as it discriminates directionally bonded metals in addition to discerning ductile crystals from brittle ones. Furthermore, Al is found to sustain the largest shear deformation among the scrutinized solids due to its directional bonds. Similarly, the surprisingly long range of distortion of Pd is rationalized as a result of the geometric constraints caused by small electron pockets of comparatively high localization in the interionic region. However, the examination of the peculiar case of Ir suggests that, in general, the extent of shear distortion should be the consequence of at least two factors, namely, the angular characteristics of bonding and the bond strength.


A new alkaloid, 2-acetyl-4-methoxyfuro[2,3-b]quinoline (1), and a new benzaldehyde derivative, (2'S)-4-(2'-hydroxy-3'-methyl-3'-butenoxy)benzaldehyde (2), were isolated from the twig of Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC. along with twenty-six known compounds (3-28). Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis (1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and HRMS analysis) and comparison with data reported in the literature. Thirteen of the known compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against human cancer cell lines that included MDA-MB-231, SW1353, A549, and HCT116. (±)-8-Acetonyldihydronitidine (15) showed moderate cytotoxicity toward the SW1353 cancer cell line with an IC50 value of 18.90±0.39 µg/mL, and exhibited weak cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231, A549 and HCT116 cell lines with IC50 values of 49.86-71.32 µg/mL.


ASTROPHYSICSA pair of astronomers may have solved a long-standing puzzle about the source of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, particles that slam into the atmosphere with 100 million times the energies reached in the largest particle accelerators. They have traced a handful of these particles back to highly energetic active galactic nuclei, the turbulent centers of distant galaxies that may harbor massive black holes. The finding, reported in the 26 October issue of Physical Review Letters , could upset current notions about the nature of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.


Eremopyrum is a potential genus in wheat improvement. To breed T. aestivum-Er. orientale additional and substitutional lines, chromosome number of 96 BC2F3 individuals were accounted. Fifteen plants with 2n = 43 and eight plants with 2n = 44 were checked out. GISH results of the individuals with 43 chromosomes showed that they blonged to three different monosomic additions. Two disomic additions, one double-monosomic addition, one trible-monosomic addition and one monosomic addition were found in the 2n = 44 individuals. One double-monosomic substitution and one monosomic substitution were obtained. We also proved that it is relatively easier to obtain addition lines in the selfing population than to obtain double-monosomic additions.


Background: APPT is a commonly requested laboratory test in various bleeding conditions and as a screening test preoperatively. It is also used to monitor heparin therapy. This study was conducted to see the frequency of various medical conditions presenting with prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT).
 Methodology: This prospective study was conducted in Department of Pathology Saidu Medical College, Shah Clinical laboratory, Saidu Sharif, Swat, Pakistan from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. One hundred patients (59male and 41 female) with APTT>10 seconds of the normal pooled plasma control were studied. Those on anticoagulants therapy were excluded from the study. Ethyelenediamine tetra acetic acid and citrated blood samples were taken for tests to be performed. Blood counts were performed on Coulter Counter Haematology analyser. APTT, Prothrombine time, Bleeding time and Thrombin time were performed manually.
 Results: Out of 100 patients, liver disease was present in 39(39%); 19 males and 20 females, disseminated intravascular coagulation in 20(20%); 6 males 14 females, Haemophilia A in 20(20%), Haemophilia B in 8(8%) and miscellaneous in 13(13%); 6 males and 7 females.
 Conclusion: APTT test should be included in the investigations for screening in bleeding tendencies and preoperatively to prevent fatal haemorrhage. In order of frequency the commonest causes of prolonged APTT in our set up are liver disease, followed by DIC, Haemophilia A, and Haemophilia B.


The problem of distributing m interacting tasks over N identical processors for minimizing job completion time is examined. The processors are independently and asynchronously scheduled with distinct execution initiation times corresponding to their earliest instant of availability. The criteria specify, for any given values of load and system parameters, the subset of processors that should be assigned to execute the given job and the number of tasks allocated to each processor. Unlike previously published criteria, which assume synchronously scheduled processors, the present results show that minimizing job completion time does not always require engaging all available processors in job execution and that the optimal load allocation is generally an uneven distribution of modules over engaged processors.<<ETX>>


A three-tier structure consisting of organization, coordination, and execution levels forms the architecture of an intelligent machine using the principle of increasing precision with decreasing intelligence from a hierarchically intelligent control. This system has been formulated as a probabilistic model, where uncertainty and imprecision can be expressed in terms of entropies. The optimal strategy for decision planning and task execution by the intelligent machine can be found by minimizing the total entropy in the system. The focus is on the design of the organization level of the intelligent machine as a Boltzmann machine, as described in current neural network literature. Since this level is responsible for planning the actions of the machine, the problem at this tier is formulated as the construction of the right sequence of tasks or events that minimizes the entropy for the desired action. The Boltzmann machine is reformulated to use entropy as the cost function to be minimized. Simulated annealing, expanding subinterval random search, and the genetic algorithm are presented as search techniques to efficiently find the desired action sequence. The genetic algorithm is modified to ensure convergence in probability to the minimum entropy of the system. Simulations of these algorithms are shown and performance is analyzed. >


Abstract Background New percutaneous techniques for the management of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) are emerging, but there is lack of data regarding the approach of mobile thrombus in the right chambers, with the added risk of potential thrombus dislodgement that may prevent from mechanical circulatory support devices to be implanted in unstable patients. Case summary We present the case of a 65-year-old male with cardiogenic shock of unknown aetiology, severe biventricular dysfunction, and large mobile thrombus in the right atrium. Mechanical circulatory support devices could not be implanted, and current thromboaspiration systems were either too small or not available at that time. However, the patient's condition deteriorated rapidly with thrombus in transit, hence, a novel approach was required: using a deflectable 14 Fr sheath, directional thrombectomy was performed, achieving complete extraction of the thrombi and allowing for circulatory support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to be implanted with outstanding results and progressive weaning of all intensive care measures. Discussion Despite the growing interest in the development of percutaneous strategies for acute PE, there is no evidence-based guidelines regarding the treatment of mobile right heart thrombus. Even though some cases of percutaneous right heart thrombectomy have been reported, it is still a challenging scenario, given the potential risk of thrombus dislodgement and atrial perforation. We describe a novel technique of percutaneous directional thrombectomy in a patient with cardiogenic shock of unknown aetiology and large mobile thrombi in the right atrium as a bridge to ECMO proving to be a feasible alternative to treat thrombus in transit.


PREMISE OF THE STUDY
Paeonia suffruticosa is one of the most famous flowering species in China. Ten simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed and characterized from the expressed sequence tag (EST) database of tree peonies to be applied in genetic diversity studies.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 10 novel EST-SSR loci were developed and characterized when tested on two populations of 45 tree peony individuals from China. The number of alleles per locus ranged from one to four and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.2087 to 0.6581. Select loci also amplified successfully in three other Paeonia species (P. ostii, P. rockii, P. jishanensis).

CONCLUSIONS
These markers will facilitate analysis of genetic diversity, population differentiation, and marker-assisted breeding of Paeoniaceae.


Prompt-based or in-context learning has achieved high zero-shot performance on many natural language generation (NLG) tasks. Here we explore the performance of prompt-based learning for simultaneously controlling the personality and the semantic accuracy of an NLG for task-oriented dialogue. We experiment with prompt-based learning on the PERSONAGE restaurant recommendation corpus to generate semantically and stylistically-controlled text for 5 different Big-5 personality types: agreeable, disagreeable, conscientious, unconscientious, and extravert. We test two different classes of discrete prompts to generate utterances for a particular personality style: (1) prompts that demonstrate generating directly from a meaning representation that includes a personality specification; and (2) prompts that rely on first converting the meaning representation to a textual pseudo-reference, and then using the pseudo-reference in a textual style transfer (TST) prompt. In each case, we show that we can vastly improve performance by over-generating outputs and ranking them, testing several ranking functions based on automatic metrics for semantic accuracy, personality-match, and fluency. We also test whether NLG personality demonstrations from the restaurant domain can be used with meaning representations for the video game domain to generate personality stylized utterances about video games. Our findings show that the TST prompts produces the highest semantic accuracy (78.46% for restaurants and 87.6% for video games) and personality accuracy (100% for restaurants and 97% for video games). Our results on transferring personality style to video game utterances are surprisingly good. To our knowledge, there is no previous work testing the application of prompt-based learning to simultaneously controlling both style and semantic accuracy in NLG.


In vitro EDTA-induced platelet aggregation is a fairly rare event but can have serious clinical consequences producing pseudothrombocytopenia and pseudoleukocytosis. Sixteen specimens with previously recognized EDTA-induced platelet aggregation were collected in a new anticoagulant-antiaggregant mixture containing trisodium citrate 17 mmol/l, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate 11.3 mmol/l and Tris 24.76 mmol/l (CPT mixture) and analyzed at various times after venepuncture with four hematological instruments: Coulter Counter S-Plus STKR, Technicon H6000, Technicon H1 and Ortho ELT-8. In CPT-anticoagulated specimens the signals and instrumental flags of platelet clumping were absent, and the platelet number correlated very well with a microscopic count from a finger stick drawn into Unopette. The complete blood count was very similar in "normal" hematological specimens either collected in K3. EDTA or in CPT, although Technicon H1 and Ortho3 ELT-8 required a suitable calibration for MCV and hematocrit in the latter mixture. Mean platelet volume was stable for up to 24 h only in CPT-collected specimens, if it was measured on a Coulter Counter S-Plus STKR. In routine hematological practice CPT can be an alternative anticoagulant to K3. EDTA, most suitable for automated complete blood count and useful in avoiding EDTA-induced platelet clumping.


The ion source for the 1 MW National Spallation Neutron Source (NSNS) is required to provide 35 mA of H beam current (1 ms pulses at 60 Hz) at 65 keV with a normalized rms emittance of less than 0.2 pi mm mrad. The same ion source should be able to produce 70 mA of H at 6% duty factor when the NSNS is upgraded to 2 MW of power. For this application, a radio-frequency driven, magnetically filtered multicusp source is now being developed at LBNL. In preliminary experiments with an existing ion source developed for the Superconducting Super Collider, 15 mA of H ions were extracted at an accelerated voltage of 10 kV and an RF output power of 20 kW without cesium. The design of a new source equipped with a cesium dispenser collar, a fast ion beam pre-chopper (rise times < 100 ns) and a strong permanent-magnet insert for electron deflection will be presented.


The conformational mobility of large heteroatomic cycles (>6) in organic compounds studied in the liquid state is a major challenge. This is due to low energy barriers between the conformational isomers (1–2 kcal mol−1), which make it difficult to find the most important factors in their preference. Eleven single crystal tetraoxazaspirocycloalkanes are considered in this work with single-crystal X-ray diffraction, DFT, and AIM calculations. Natural bond orbital analysis at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,2p) level of theory and topological analysis of the electron density within Bader's theory of "Atoms in Molecules" showed that the tetraoxazocane cycle in spiro-adamantanetetraoxazocanes and tetraoxazaspiroalkanes possesses a twist–boat–chair conformation due to the lower interaction energy of LP(O6) → σ*(C5–N4) and the large contribution of the π-component to the C3–O2 bond. The tetraoxazocane cycle in isopropyl-methyl-tetraoxaza-spiro-tridecanes adopts a chair–chair conformation due to the higher interaction energy of LP(O6) → σ*(C5–N4) and the smaller contribution of the π-component. A key factor, which determines the large O1–O2–O6–O7 pseudo-torsion angles (102–112°) in spiro-adamantanetetraoxazocanes and tetraoxaza-spiro-alkanes, is the absence of intramolecular C–H⋯O and C–H⋯π contacts and vice versa, which provide smaller O1–O2–O6–O7 pseudo-torsion angles (0.6–4°) in isopropyl-methyl-tetraoxaza-spiro-tridecanes. The molecules of spiro-adamantanetetraoxazocanes and tetraoxazaspiroalkanes in single crystals are stabilized via C–H⋯O and C–H⋯H–C weak intermolecular interactions. The molecules of isopropyl-methyl-tetraoxaza-spiro-tridecanes are packed in crystals with C–H⋯O unusual bifurcated one-component and multicomponent contacts.


Background The aim of this study was to evaluate visual performance, contrast sensitivity, and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing cataract surgery with bilateral implantation of the Tecnis ZMB00 diffractive multifocal IOL (intraocular lens). Material/Methods This was a prospective study of 40 eyes of 20 patients with an age range from 48 to 67 years and undergoing cataract surgery with implantation of the diffractive 1-piece IOL Tecnis ZMB00 (Abbott Medical Optics) in 1 eye and 3 weeks later in the other eye. The following parameters were evaluated at 3 and 6 months after the operation: binocular uncorrected distance, intermediate and near visual acuity (UDVA, UIVA, UNVA), uncorrected binocular photopic and mesopic distance and photopic near contrast sensitivity (CSV-1000), subjective symptoms, and patient satisfaction (VF-14). Results No significant change was observed in logMAR UDVA between 3 and 6 months postoperatively (−0.11±0.14 vs. −0.10±0.13, p>0.05). In contrast, UNVA (0.06±0.12 vs. −0.02±0.12, p=0.004) and UIVA (0.12±0.15 vs. 0.07±0.11, p=0.005) in this period improved significantly. At 3 and 6 months after surgery, 85% of patients no longer needed to wear corrective lenses. Contrast sensitivity under different conditions was within normal age-matched limits, with significant improvements for some spatial frequencies at 3 and 6 months after surgery (p<0.04). Mean overall patient satisfaction was 9.39±1.06 and 9.19±1.20 (scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best score) at 3 and 6 months, respectively. Low level of halo perception was reported in 75% of patients. Conclusions The Tecnis ZMB00 IOL provides an effective restoration of the distance, intermediate, and near visual function, allowing patients to be totally free of need to wear corrective lenses and providing high levels of patient satisfaction.


Introduction: Primary care practitioners and travel medicine physicians are primarily responsible for identifying individuals who may be unfit for overseas travel and consulting with them pre-travel. Pre-existing medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory conditions and diabetes mellitus (DM) have the potential to complicate travel journeys. A considerable percentage of travel-associated illness may be due to the decompensation of a pre-existing medical condition. This review seeks to address the challenges faced by travellers with each of these conditions, including recently updated and evidence-based practical approaches for travel with comorbidities. Methods: Sources for this review were identified through searches of PubMed/Google Scholar for materials published between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2019, using combinations of search terms. Results: The volume of literature on travelling with a pre-existing condition exploded with more than 865 associated articles indexed on the PubMed alone as of March 2020. After screening titles, abstracts and, in some cases, the full text version of indexed articles, 121 articles were deemed relevant to the subject matter of this review. Conclusion: Rational approaches to pre-planning for travel with a medical condition will contribute to the prevention of problems while in transit as well as when at the travel destination. It is imperative for health care providers to be aware of the preventative measures and current recommendations that should be taken before and during travel to protect individuals with a chronic illness. Further research and studies should be directed to protect this vulnerable group of travellers.


The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) families of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are evolutionarily related cell-surface receptors which regulate physiological and pathological angiogenesis. Neuropilins (NRPs) are transmembrane glycoproteins which function as co-receptors for VEGFR to mediate vascular development and angiogenesis. RTK signalling has a long established role in tumour-cell biology and downstream cellular effects of RTK activation, such as, sustained cell proliferation and invasion are known hallmarks of cancer. NRPs are also up-regulated in tumour cell lines and clinical specimens, and a major focus of NRP research has been to understand the role of NRPs in cancer, which to date has largely been attributed to NRPs contribution to VEGFR activation. Emerging evidence for NRPs in regulating the activation of adhesion molecules, growth factors and RTKs (other than VEGFR) illustrate that NRP has a much broader role in cancer. In cell types including smooth muscle cells, stem cells and tumour cells, there is now evidence that NRP-1 regulates PDGFR activation and signalling. Identification of the molecules that regulate PDGFR signalling will advance the understanding of tumour cell biology and contribute to the development of targeted therapies.To date, few studies have evaluated the role of NRP-1/PDGFR signalling in cancer. The objective of this study was therefore, to elucidate the cellular mechanisms of NRP-1/PDGFR signalling, and to investigate how this cellular crosstalk modulates PDGFR-stimulated signalling, survival and migration of tumour cells. A subset of mesenchymal tumour cell lines that expressed NRP-1 and PDGFR-? and/or PDGFR-? and were identified to investigate NRP-1/PDGFR crosstalk. In these cell lines, NRP-1 could associate with PDGFR-? and PDGFR-? independent of PDGF growth factor stimulation. NRP-1 did not regulate PDGF-stimulated phosphorylation of PDGFR-? or PDGFR-? yet, in a subset of the cell lines, NRP-1 contributed to the activation of the MAPK-ERK and PI3K pathways. NRP-1 did not regulate PDGF-stimulated cell proliferation, yet NRP-1 knockdown attenuated PDGF-stimulated cell migration in certain cell lines. Together, this study has provided evidence of NRP-1/ PDGFR crosstalk, which affects the migratory potential of a subset of mesenchymal tumour cells. In these cell lines, NRP-1 knockdown does not inhibit the overall phosphorylation of PDGFR, yet does have subtle effects on specific downstream PDGFR pathways.


Various diagnostic methods have been described to detect Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Collection of first void urine is advantageous because it is non-invasive, reproducible, and painless; and provides specimens that have already been used for detection of N. gonorrhoeae by molecular tools. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of first void urine for detection of N. gonorrhoeae using conventional bacteriologic techniques in patients with low-grade symptoms. Investigation was focused on first void urine and urethral secretion specimens collected from 87 male patients who were undergoing diagnotic workup for suspicion of sexually transmitted infection. Direct microscopic examination of smears stained using the Gram technique and cultures on modified Thayer-Martin medium and on cooked blood agar were performed on each specimen. The prevalence of urethritis was 58.0%. Gonorrhoea was diagnosed in 7.5% of cases. The sensitivity and specificity of microscopic examination of first void urine for detection of Gram-negative diplococci were 85.7% and 97.5% respectively. First void urine was less productive than urethral secretion for detection of urethritis: sensitivity, 44.4% and specificity, 100%, and urethral flora: sensitivity, 59% and specificity of 96.9%. The good performance of first void urine specimens for detection of Gram-negative diplococci by microscopy may justify their use for identification of N. gonorrhoeae in level 1 laboratories. First void urine could also be useful for epidemiological studies and large-scale screening surveys.


A range of Al-Ti-Ce and Al-Ti-Ni ternary alloys has been produced by rapid solidification processing to examine their potential for elevated temperature applications. The aim has been to generate microstructnres comprising large volume fractions of thermally stable intermetallic phase(s), dispersed finely and uniformly in an aluminium matrix. The alloys, with total solute concentrations in the range 4-20 wt%, have been produced in thin (30-70 μm) ribbon form using the chill block melt spinning technique under a controlled He atmosphere. The resulting alloy microstructnres, following solidification and post-solidification heat treatment, have been characterized using analytical transmission electron microscopy. The microhardness of as-solidified and heat treated ribbons has been measnred using 'a nano-indentation technique'.The rapidly solidified microstructures in Al-3Ti-1Ce and Al-5Ti-5Ce alloys contained a fine-scale (- 0.1 μm) and uniform dispersion of intermetallic Al20Ti2Ce (diamond cubic, a= 1.445 ± 0.005 nm) and Al11Ce3 phases, which formed directly from the melt during rapid solidification. Although the dispersed intermetallic particles appeared to be quite resistant to coarsening for up to 240 hat 400°C, they were relatively coarse scale and were not complemented by significant solid state precipitation during post-solidification heat treatments. These alloys thus appear to have limited potential for practical application, unless the solute content were raised to very high levels (> 10 wt%).In Al-Ti-Ni alloys, with a Ti:Ni weight ratio in the range 3:1 to 4:1, the rapidly quenched microstructures invariably contained a fine-scale (30-100 nm) and uniform dispersion of cuboidal particles of a novel metastable face-centred cubic phase (space group Fm3c, a = 2.40 ± 0.05 nm) with a composition of approximately 83.1 ± 1.0 at. %Al - 12.6 ± 0.5 at.% Ti - 4.3 ± 0.5 at %Ni. In addition to the presence of the ternary cubic phase, particles of a metastable, primitive orthorhombic phase (a = 1.80 ± 0.05 nm, b = 2.20 ± 0.05 nm, c = 1.40 ± 0.05 nm) were also detected in a rapidly quenched Al-4Ti-1Ni alloy. The ternary intermetallic particles appeared to form directly from the melt as primary phase during rapid solidification, and their volume fraction increased with an increased total solute concentration (up to 20 wt%) in the alloys. Due to the high rates of cooling and large undercooling achieved in rapid solidification, up to - 3.5 wt% of Ti was retained in solid solution in the a-Al matrix phase of the rapidly quenched alloys. Maintaining the total solute concentration at 5 wt%, a change in Ti:Ni ratio from 4: I to 1 :4 led to the formation of rapidly solidified microstructures comprising fine-scale dispersions of spheroidal intermetallic particles of the equilibrium AbNi and metastable Al9Ni2 phases, which again appeared to form directly from the melt as a result of microcellular solidification[...]


A coordinated, concerted action between Europe and China in ocean monitoring kicked off with its first meeting, held in Beijing.

The project, named DRAGONESS (DRAGON in support of harmonizing European and Chinese marine monitoring for Environment and Security System), is funded by the European Union's (EU) Framework Programme for 3 years. Researchers from the two continents will establish an inventory of Chinese and European capacities in marine monitoring for environment and security in the framework of challenges identified within international programs such as Global Ocean Observing System, Global Earth Observing System of Systems, and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security. In particular, the DRAGONESS aims to (1) assess existing Chinese and European information products and services arising from integrated use of remote-sensing, in situ observations, models, and data assimilation methods; (2) identify monitoring gaps and barriers (e.g., restrictive data availability); and (3) stimulate exchange and initiation of a new European-Chinese partnership in Earth observation science and technology in support of global environmental monitoring.


The automatic identification of discourse relations is still a challenging task in natural language processing. Discourse connectives, such as since or but, are the most informative cues to identify explicit relations; however discourse parsers typically use a closed inventory of such connectives. As a result, discourse relations signalled by markers outside these inventories (i.e. AltLexes) are not detected as effectively. In this paper, we propose a novel method to leverage parallel corpora in text simplification and lexical resources to automatically identify alternative lexicalizations that signal discourse relation. When applied to the Simple Wikipedia and Newsela corpora along with WordNet and the PPDB, the method allowed the automatic discovery of 91 AltLexes.


classes to be a disgrace to the institutions which advertise them, and a nuisance to the community. I warn aniy who may think of defending them that I have full and curious details of the so-called successes claimed by some of them, which are highly significant. I enclose a letter which I have just received. It is a sample of a great number which I get every year. Their writers are all under the same delusion as those persons wlho pretend to prepare candidates in five months for the preliminary scientific examination. They regard this examination as a farce, in which they can learn to take a part by studying for three or four mornings for a month. When they arrive at Burlington House, they find the piece is not a farce, but a tragedy, and they set up a terrible wailing. The medical men at our hospitals, who ought to guide these poor fellows in the right path, and see that they give at least a year's study under competent teachers to the subjects of tlle preliminary scientific examination, join in the lamentation, and demand that the University shall make its preliminary scientific examination in real earnest a farce. They would act more worthily were they to abandon the attempt to teach the subjects of preliminary scientific education at a hospital, and to frankly advise their pupils to make use for one year of the arrangements of thoroughly organised colleges which exist for the very purpose of teaching science. After a year spent in the science-faculty of such a college, and having passed his prelimiinary scientific examination, the student can return to the hospital of his choice without let or hindrance.-Faithfully yours, E. RAY LANKESTErt.


real-world examples of how utility unions are successfully using the PUC process to advance workforce objectives. These opportunities can and should be considered throughout the country, but especially by unions operating in regions in which concerns have been raised about the quality and reliability of the services provided by their utility employers. In seeking to improve service delivery, union and consumer objectives should often coincide. However, implementing service quality improvements may require rate increases, which can make it more difficult to forge union-consumer group alliances. Union Power in PUblic Utilities Defending Worker and Consumer Health and Safety


Asymmetric synthesis of 4- and 5-substituted pipecolic esters was achieved by the sequence of allylation, ring-closing metathesis, and palladium-catalyzed formate reduction.


Background Injury registration is a necessary first step of injury prevention research in sports. However, inconsistencies in injury definitions and recording methods may have contributed to discrepancies in injury rates reported. Previous studies have traditionally been based on injury reporting by team medical staff. Objective To evaluate a novel methodology employing text messaging (SMS) by players to record injuries, comparing it to routine injury registration by team medical staff. Design Prospective study. Methods All teams in the Norwegian elite female football league (N=12, 205 players) reported injuries and exposure in training and matches throughout the 2009 football season (April-November). For the individual registration, we used a new SMS tracking system; all players received three messages once weekly with questions on exposure and injuries. Players reporting time-loss injuries were contacted to complete an injury form through a telephone interview. A designated member of the team medical staff also recorded injuries and team exposure throughout the season. Results We compared data from teams with complete registrations (n=9, 159 players). A total of 232 time-loss injuries were reported; 62% were recorded by individual registration only, 28% by both methods, and 10% by medical staff only. Knee injuries dominated (26%), but only 41% were captured through medical staff reports. The most frequent injury type was ligament injuries (22%), of which 38% were reported by the medical staff. Of the severe injuries (absence >28 days), 31 (50%) were identified from medical staff reports. Discussion The medical staff reports underestimated the incidence of time-loss injuries by two-thirds in our setting, which emphasises the importance of individual registration to increase the accuracy of injury incidence in team sports. Conclusion A new method employing text messaging by players to record injuries gave a more complete picture of injuries to elite female football players than team medical staff registration.


The space of phylogenetic trees arises naturally in tropical geometry as the tropical Grassmannian. Tropical geometry therefore suggests a natural notion of a tropical path between two trees, given by a tropical line segment in the tropical Grassmannian. It was previously conjectured that tree topologies along such a segment change by a combinatorial operation known as Nearest Neighbor Interchange (NNI). We provide counterexamples to this conjecture, but prove that changes in tree topologies along the tropical line segment are either NNI moves or"four clade rearrangement"moves for generic trees. In addition, we show that the number of NNI moves occurring along the tropical line segment can be as large as $n^2$, but the average number of moves when the two endpoint trees are chosen at random is $O(n (\log n)^4)$. This is in contrast with $O(n \log n)$, the average number of NNI moves needed to transform one tree into another.


OBJECTIVE
To determine prospectively the causes of upper GI hemorrhage (UGIH) in alcoholics, focusing on the prevalence of alcoholic gastropathy, and to compare the etiology of bleeding in patients who drink alcohol to that of nondrinkers.

METHODS
From August 1, 1990 through September 9, 1994, all patients evaluated by the gastroenterology consultative service at a large inner-city hospital presenting with UGIH were prospectively identified. Patients had to have a subnormal hematocrit on or within 12 h of admission or a fall of at least 5 points from a previous baseline determination to be included. Upper GI endoscopy was performed in all patients within 48 h of admission. Alcohol use was quantitated as chronic (80 g or more per day for at least 1 month), binge, occasional, or none.

RESULTS
Over the 4-yr study period, 727 patients met the inclusion criteria, and of these, 212 (29%) were classified as chronic alcohol users. Overall, peptic ulcer disease was the most common cause of bleeding (60%). Gastropathy (diffuse subepithelial hemorrhage) was considered etiological in only 32 patients (4%). The most common causes of gastropathy were portal hypertension in 22 patients and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use in five. Only three patients were identified in whom alcoholic gastropathy was considered etiological; in these patients, bleeding was mild and self-limited. When the causes of bleeding were compared between drinkers and nondrinkers, drinkers were more likely to bleed from varices (p = 0.024) or other portal hypertension-related causes (p < 0.01), whereas peptic ulcer was more common in nondrinkers compared with chronic users (67 vs 53%; p < 0.01). Esophagitis (p = 0.95) and Mallory-Weiss tear (p = 0.15) prevalences were not significantly different between the two groups.

CONCLUSION
In the actively drinking patient, the most common causes of UGIH are peptic ulcer and disorders related to portal hypertension. Alcoholic gastropathy appears to be a rare and previously overemphasized cause of bleeding.


Behavioural interventions are packages of tailored advice and support for behaviour change, which are known as one of the most important methodologies and technologies adopted by social scientists for understanding and changing behaviour.There has been a trend for more and more behavioural intervention studies to be carried out on-line. It has been demonstrated that web-based behavioural interventions have many advantages over the traditional face-to-face method. However, at this stage in time, due to the lack of software for authoring WBBIs, their potential is severely restricted. Many commercial applications that could potentially be used for creating interventions have been shown to be inflexible for social science research. Therefore, researchers need to develop WBBI applications and analyse the data of each intervention individually. This vast duplication of effort in producing similar WBBIs, has limited the number of interventions that can be developed and evaluated, thereby limiting the accumulation of knowledge behavioural intervention research. LifeGuide is a social science research environment co-designed by both computer scientists and behavioural psychologists for accelerating WBBI research. The system is aimed at enabling social scientists with minimal technical expertise to design, develop and deploy a WBBI by themselves. The intervention and its results can be shared or reused within the research community to devise evolving interventions. The data for each intervention can be potentially integrated to carry out large scale data analysis to answer further research questions.


Glycogen storage disease type Ib (GSD Ib) is a rare hereditary glycogen disorder that results in inadequate maintenance of glucose homeostasis, accumulation of glycogen in different organs, loss and dysfunction of neutrophils. Crohn's-like disease is observed in up to 24–77% of GDS Ib cases. Recently, empagliflozin has been recommended as a treatment for neutrophil dysfunction in GDS Ib patients with or without Crohn's-like disease. There are no guidelines for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) manifestation in GSD Ib patients, although some cases have been treated with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and others with IBD conventional therapy, resulting in partial IBD remission. Herein, we describe a child with GDS Ib and Crohn's-like disease who was treated with empagliflozin and achieved complete remission after 2 years of treatment. This case is the first one with such a long follow-up evaluation including endoscopic and magnetic resonance enterography assessment. Our clinical evidence of remission of IBD manifestation in our GSD Ib patient and the role of neutrophils in GDS Ib described in the literature suggest a strong association with IBD pathophysiology and neutrophil function. The use of empagliflozin resulted in significant improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms, reduced drug usage, and enhanced quality of life in the patient, with a favorable safety profile, offering a promising new therapeutic option for this population.


We report enhanced transmission of 250 nm radiation by sub-wavelength square aperture arrays on silver and demonstrate its use in optical lithography with far-reduced number of addressed pixels to produce very good edge acuity.


Let $k$ be a positive integer. Bermond and Thomassen conjectured in 1981 that every digraph with minimum outdegree at least $2k-1$ contains $k$ vertex-disjoint cycles. It is famous as one of the one hundred unsolved problems selected in [Bondy, Murty, Graph Theory, Springer-Verlag London, 2008]. Lichiardopol, Por and Sereni proved in [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 23 (2) (2009) 979-992] that the above conjecture holds for $k=3$.
Let $g$ be the girth, i.e., the length of the shortest cycle, of a given digraph. Bang-Jensen, Bessy and Thomass\'{e} conjectured in [J. Graph Theory 75 (3) (2014) 284-302] that every digraph with girth $g$ and minimum outdegree at least $\frac{g}{g-1}k$ contains $k$ vertex-disjoint cycles. Thomass\'{e} conjectured around 2005 that every oriented graph (a digraph without 2-cycles) with girth $g$ and minimum outdegree at least $h$ contains a path of length $h(g-1)$, where $h$ is a positive integer.
In this note, we first present a new shorter proof of the Bermond-Thomassen conjecture for the case of $k=3$, and then we disprove the conjecture proposed by Bang-Jensen, Bessy and Thomass\'{e}. Finally, we disprove the even girth case of the conjecture proposed by Thomass\'{e}.


This paper presents a new two-dimensional (2-D) optimum block stochastic gradient (TDOBSG) algorithm for 2-D adaptive finite impulse response (FIR) filtering. The TDOBSG algorithm employs a space-varying convergence factor for all the filter coefficients, where the convergence factor at each block iteration is optimized in a least squares sense that the squared norm of the a posteriori estimation error vector is minimized. It has the same order of computational complexity as another 2-D optimum block adaptive (TDOBA) algorithm. Computer simulations for image restoration show that the TDOBSG algorithm outperforms the TDOBA algorithm and other related algorithms in terms of objective and/or subjective measures.


We consider a centralized server that receives streaming updates from numerous moving objects regarding their current whereabouts. However, each object always relays its location cloaked into a broader uncertainty region under a Bivariate Gaussian model of varying densities. We wish to monitor a large number of continuous queries, each seeking k objects nearest to its own focal point with likelihood above a given threshold, e.g., "which of my friends are currently the k = 3 closest to our preferred cafe with probability over 75%". Since an exhaustive evaluation would be prohibitive, we develop heuristics based on spatial and probabilistic properties of the uncertainty model, and promptly issue approximate, yet reliable answers with confidence margins. We conducted a comprehensive empirical study to assess the performance and response quality of the proposed methodology, confirming that it can efficiently cope with large numbers of moving Gaussian objects under fluctuating uncertainty conditions, while also offering timely response with tolerable error to multiple queries of varying specifications.


The trend to achieve even more compact-sized systems is leading to the development of micro-scale reactors (lab-on-chip) in the field of radiochemical separation and radiopharmaceutical production. Technetium-99m extraction from both high and low specific activity molybdenum could be simply performed by MEK-driven solvent extraction if it were not for unpractical automation. The aim of this work is to develop a solvent extraction and separation process of technetium from molybdenum in a micro-scale in-flow chemistry regime with the aid of a capillary loop and a membrane-based separator, respectively. The developed system is able to extract and separate quantitatively and selectively (91.0 ± 1.8% decay corrected) the [99mTc]TcO4Na in about 20 min, by using a ZAIPUT separator device. In conclusion, we demonstrated for the first time in our knowledge the high efficiency of a MEK-based solvent extraction process of 99mTc from a molybdenum-based liquid phased in an in-flow micro-scale regime.


A carcinogen-induced premalignant oral lesion model that progresses to oral cancer was used to examine the immunological impact of a 5-week treatment regimen to block programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). PD-1 antibody treatment resulted in concurrent, but transient, increases in interleukin (IL)-2, IFN-γ and IL-17, and delayed increases in IL-6 and IL-10 within the lesion-bearing tongue epithelium. In contrast, cytokine secretion by lymph node cells of PD-1 antibody-treated mice was lower than for mice treated with control antibodies, with the exception of interferon (IFN)-γ, whose secretion increased late in the treatment period. This delayed secretion of IFN-γ coincided with an increase in CD4+ lymph node cells expressing IFN-γ. Lymph node cells of PD-1 antibody-treated mice reacted to a challenge with lysates of lesions or cancer by early production of IFN-γ, but this rapidly subsided. There also was increased production IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in response to the challenge, but the response was greatest by cells of control lesion-bearing mice. Clinical assessment showed an early but transient, stabilization of disease in mice treated with PD-1 antibody. These results show an early beneficial, but time-limited, response to PD-1 antibody treatment, which then fails with continued lesion progression.


The photocatalytic degradation of two industrial-grade surfactants, sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate (SDDBS), were achieved using TiO2 immobilised on glass Raschig rings and inside a bent tube of glass, using two different photoreactors in recirculation batch mode with a black light fluorescent tube as irradiation source. The influence of parameters pH, recalculation flow, airflow and number of treatment units were determined. For comparison purposes, the energetic cost of treatment was determined for both reaction systems as the figure-of-merit EE/O, showing that titania supported on glass Raschig rings is a more efficient system than the inner coated spring with TiO2, but this condition is strongly dependent on the surfactant identity. The best conditions for surfactants elimination were used to carry out the treatment of solutions containing two commercial detergents, reaching an 80% of removal in 60 min of irradiation.