Under climate change, many Arctic coastal ecosystems receive increasing amounts of freshwater, with ecological consequences that remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how freshwater inputs may affect the small‐scale structure of benthic food webs in a low‐production high‐Arctic fjord (Young Sound, NE Greenland). We seasonally sampled benthic invertebrates from two stations receiving contrasting freshwater inputs: an inner station exposed to turbid and nutrient‐depleted freshwater flows and an outer station exposed to lower terrestrial influences. Benthic food web structure was described using a stable isotope approach (δ13C and δ15N), Bayesian models, and community‐wide metrics. The results revealed the spatially and temporally homogeneous structure of the benthic food web, characterized by high trophic diversity (i.e., a wide community isotopic niche). Such temporal stability and spatial homogeneity mirrors the high degree of trophic plasticity and omnivory of benthic consumers that allows the maintenance of several carbon pathways through the food web despite different food availability. Furthermore, potential large inputs of shelf organic matter together with local benthic primary production (i.e., macroalgae and presumably microphytobenthos) may considerably increase the stability of the benthic food web by providing alternative food sources to locally runoff‐impacted pelagic primary production. Future studies should assess beyond which threshold limit a larger increase in freshwater inputs might cancel out these stability factors and lead to marked changes in Arctic benthic ecosystems.


Following popular protests at home and the fall of the government, Ukraine reversed course and joined Georgia and Moldova in signing Association Agreements in June 2014. This paper has two main aims. First, using a gravity model of trade it estimates the effects of deep and shallow free trade agreements for the EaP states with Russia and the EU respectively. Second, by relating the outcomes of the first estimation to the quality of institutions, proxied with the level of democracy and the level of corruption in the selected countries, the paper estimates the effect of changes in the quality of institutions on exports. The main results show that the EaP countries gain significantly from free trade agreements with the EU, but little if anything from free trade agreements with Russia and that improvements in the quality of institutions in EaP countries have played an important role in fostering exports.


For reducing carbon emissions the transport sector may be the most difficult challenge. Many efforts for controlling CO2 and to raise energy efficiency have shown poor returns. The forces for increasing the amount of transport are strong, leading to higher emissions. Aviation is dedicated to go in under the common European Emission Trading Scheme and road transport may come in as well. Aeroplanes may be there by 2012, but it is likely to happen at a later stage for cars, buses and trucks. Firstly, the system for trading transport emissions their need to be further developed. Further studies into the implications may also be appropriate, not the least for justifying such a move. The undertaking by the car manufacturers to reduce CO2 by 25 per cent from 1995 should be accomplished by 2008. That date will surely come, but the goal will not be met by then. So there is already an urgent issue on the agenda: how to take the measures forward? How should CO2 be controlled further? How to make sure that the manufacturers goals are met, even if it may come somewhat later than promised? How to get effective control of emissions in a longer time-frame? A lesson to be learned may be that a voluntary commitment to reduce carbon dioxide from transport would not do. More solid measures may have to be implemented, which is the aim here. The use of market related mechanism for driving towards more energy efficient road vehicles has been studies in couple of investigations in Sweden in recent time. The implications for setting up a baseline and credit system for light vehicles have been studied with the aim to effectively replace the voluntary commitment by manufacturers. Furthermore, a similar system but for new heavy duty vehicles has also been elaborated. A possible second baseline-and credit system may be set up to promote energy efficiency also on heavy duty vehicles. These may fit in the time-gap prior the possible introduction of transport in emission trading, or any other new instrument. For the covering abstract see ITRD E137145.


Considerable concern has been raised over the problem of antibiotic resistance in bacteria from humans and farm animals. However, in spite of this concern, the spread of resistance into wider ecosystems has not received the desired attention. The transfer of antibiotic resistance to wildlife is an important risk for environmental health. Detection of resistance to antibiotics in populations of wild animals usually entails examination of isolates of the common intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli. Bird populations sympatric to areas with human settlements and areas that have high density of livestock are colonised with antibiotic resistant E. coli strains. Data regarding occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in African domestic and wild mammals is very limited. There is therefore a need to carry out studies in other parts of the African continent to find out if sympatric animals represent a possible reservoir for antibiotic resistant microbes. This study was therefore carried out to analyze faecal samples from barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) droppings in Ishaka Town, Uganda, for the presence of antibiotic resistant E. coli strains. Results of the study showed that, out of the one hundred and sixteen (116) fecal samples of Barn Swallow droppings collected, twenty seven isolates of Escherichia coli were obtained. All the 27 isolates (100%) were resistant to one or more of the tested antibiotics. Out of the 27 isolates, 20 (74.1%) were multi-drug resistant isolates (resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobials). Such birds can act as reservoirs for antibiotic resistant microbes if enough attention is not given to the problem. Further research is recommended to determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli from barn swallows residing in other parts of the country and even on the continent and the whole world at large.


In spite of the crucial role that conference interpreters play in the world of international affairs and diplomacy, the concept of conference interpreters as an elite has not attracted significant academic interest to date. Building on the author's previous work (Hoyte-West, 2021), which examined the historical and theoretical aspects of the intersection between conference interpreting and elite sociology, this article reports on the findings of an empirical study with practising conference interpreters. Given increasing interest in sociological aspects of the translational professions, this study is both necessary and timely. In terms of data gathering, snowball sampling was used to disseminate an internet-based survey among professional conference interpreters, with the aim of determining whether conference interpreters viewed themselves as members of an elite. The internet-based survey received 120 responses from freelance, staff, and retired conference interpreters. Using an overwhelmingly quantitative approach, the data was analysed and tabulated, before being subsequently discussed and compared with Khan's (2012) framework of elite resource areas (political, economic, cultural, social network, and knowledge-based), which had previously been applied to the professional sphere of conference interpreting by the author. As such, it was noted that conference interpreters generally did not view themselves as members of an elite; however, further qualitative research in this area remains both desirable and necessary.


Japanese has many compound clause-linkage markers (hereafter "CLMs"). Some of them consist of a verbal inflectional suffix and (up to three) particles. They include eleven compound CLMs that have the Concessive conditional meaning ('even if') and/or the Concessive meaning ('even though, although'). In these eleven compound CLMs, different inflectional categories of verbs (i.e. conjugational categories) combined with different particles indicate different degrees of the speaker's belief or confidence regarding the likelihood of the existence or occurrence of a situation. That is, verbal inflectional morphology plays a crucial role in expressing modal meanings. Such a phenomenon does not seem to have been recognized for Japanese or any other language.


Background: Nigerian Government established National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) including Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS) to reduce out-of-pocket health expenses of enrollees, strengthen and ensure access to quality healthcare services. The functionality of the schemes however, revolves round health facilities being able to meet the expectation of the enrollees.
Study Objectives: The study assessed the adequacy of the designated health facilities in offering quality healthcare services to the enrollees or potential enrollees under the CBHIS, and to identify likely challenges.
Study Design: This is part of a larger prospective cross-sectional study that assessed the implementation of the Community-Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS) in selected local government areas of Kwara in the north central and Ogun in the South Western part of Nigeria.
Place and Duration of the Study: Health facilities of selected wards from two Local Government Areas in Kwara and Ogun States were assessed between February and May 2015.
Methods: Semi-structured questionnaires and health facility assessment checklist were used to assess services rendered, storage of drugs and the vaccines, manpower, training opportunities, available infrastructures and perceived challenges to smooth operation of health facilities designated for CBHIS.
Results: A total of twenty designated health facilities were visited and assessed (Seventeen public and three private). Services claimed to be available at the facilities included clinical, nursing, pharmaceutical and laboratory services. The assessment showed inadequacy of some critical human resources for health. Seventeen of the 20 health facilities (85%) had evidence of recent renovation while 3 (15%) had no evidence of renovation. Twelve (60%) had backup supply of electricity from generator or solar panel. Other challenges that could impede quality healthcare service delivery under the CBHIS were identified.
Conclusion: The study showed that inadequate personnel, paucity of training opportunities for health workers, poor infrastructures (lack of ambulance services, poor electricity supply and lack of portable water supply) were the main challenges impeding delivery of quality healthcare services to the CBHIS enrollees patronizing the studied facilities.


Thirty-three out of 100 patients affected by migraine without aura, reported premonitory symptoms in at least 50% of attacks and were considered to be affected by complete or premonitory common migraine. This group had a greater positive familiarity for migraine, a lower mean age of onset, and a higher average number of trigger factors compared with other patients. These three differences were statistically significant; hence we hypothesized that patients with migraine attacks generally preceded by premonitory symptoms have a stronger constitutional migraine trait with a premature weakening of their antinociceptive adaptation systems to the environment and to stressful events.


This thesis reports four studies that evaluated the usefulness of written medicines information provided as a leaflet, and on the Internet, for improving people's
understanding about medicines. Three of the studies used mixed methods. Study one used two methods. A systematic review evaluated 36 randomised trials that examined
the effectiveness of leaflet-based medicines information for changing knowledge, attitudes and medicines-taking behaviours. Two sequential workshops enabled stakeholders to input into the review aims, and then give feedback on the findings. The review concluded that leaflet-based information can improve knowledge, but there was no evidence that it can change attitudes or behaviour. Study two analysed ten websites that contained information about medicines and found considerable variation in their quality, content, and design. Study three examined the usability and readability of five sites sampled from Study two. Fifteen participants were randomly allocated to use one site, to locate and explain information about the safety and efficacy of the medicine. Their performance was measured using four concurrent methods: observation, online tracking, thinking aloud, and User Testing. The design of the sites and how their content was written impeded participants' performance on the task. Evidence-based recommendations were derived for improving the sites' design. Study four was a pilot of an intervention for redesigning Internet-based medicines information, including a crossover study design and tools for measuring the outcomes. Thirty participants viewed both the original and revised web pages in a random and counterbalanced order to see if the redesigned web pages containing information about
medicines improved participants' ability to locate and understand specific information. The study design and limited redesign of the webpages may not be appropriate for a full RCf. Applying User Testing to the evaluation of websites appears to be original, and using a mixed methods approach has been beneficial to the research. Improvements are needed to leaflet-based and Internet-based medicines information to make it easier to read and understand. This could make written medicines information more useful for medicine users, enabling them to make an informed choice about taking medicines, or be better informed about their safety and efficacy.


The fabrication of thin organic films covalently grafted onto silicon substrates is of significant interest, as they are expected to give access to a broad range of new materials for integration into microelectronic applications. Covalent layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly offers a high degree of freedom when designing such thin films. In this work an approach for the preparation of covalent redox active molecular multilayers on silicon (100) surfaces is presented using a highly branched decaallylferrocene and thiol-ene click chemistry. The multilayers are analyzed by ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron sprectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The results indicate that the multilayer growth is linear for at least sixteen layers and the density of ferrocenes per layer is in the range of 6 × 10⁻¹¹ mol cm⁻². Moreover, this method for LbL assembly is extended to surfaces which have been locally passivated by microcontact printing. By atomic force microscopy measurements it is possible to show that the covalent LbL deposition proceeds exclusively in the nonpassivated areas.


The most widespread method for virgin olive oil filtration at industrial scale is the so-called precoat body-feed filtration by means of filter aids, mainly consisting of perlite and cellulose. The residue of the process is a spent filtration cake, that has potential for upgrading if understood in the context of the biorefining concept. Data about the production and composition of the spent cake were collected from an industrial case-study. The potential availability of the spent cake has been estimated both at local (the industrial case-study) and large scale (Spain context). The mean percentage composition of the spent cake is 5 % oil impurities, 7 % cellulose, 28 % perlite, 52 % oil and 8 % water. About 10 g of spent cake are produced per kilogram of virgin olive oil to be processed; while about 316 and 7482 Mg of spent cake could be potentially available for the local and large scale scenarios, respectively. Owing to its diversified composition entailing oil and waxes, cellulose and mineral fractions, the spent cake appears a valuable feedstock to supplement the supply of the emerging biorefineries technologies.


Disasters did not happen often, but when they occurred, noticeably, the governor belittled and delayed rescue actions due to poor preparations at peacetime; consequently, all residents suffered huge damages and losses in human lives. The disasters always include tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, terrorism, tornadoes, and earthquakes etc. When the disasters occurred, in order to rescue injured patients on time, supplies must be available at the right time to meet the emergency demands. This is especially true with regard to the difficult and serious process of disaster aftermath recovery management. Consequently, this study is of current importance. To reduce the dangerous impacts and losses from disasters, aftermath rescue recovery problems and effective disaster supply management are vital. The findings of this study are that disaster demand and supply management focuses on three main requirements: (1) Low cost, (2) high-performance and effective-operations, and (3) few risks. The study employed a heuristic algorithm and used computational analysis to demonstrate the power of the algorithm. The results showed that transportation management played the most important role in a successful rescue.

 Key words: Emergency demand and supply management, tsunamis, earthquake, epidemic infection, rescue manager.


Attention has been conceptualized as a filter mechanism that suffices the fundamental capacity limitation of sensory processing by selecting the input of most behavioral relevance. Recent research has demonstrated that information can be selected by attention based on the sensory modality it is presented in. However, it is not yet known whether this 'intermodal' selection relies on common attentional resources. Alternatively, each sensory modality might draw on an independent pool of resources. The present work investigates the neural mechanisms of sustained intermodal attention by pitting the notions of common vs. modality-specific attentional resources against each other. To this end, concurrently presented, frequency-tagged auditory and visual stimuli elicited continuous electrophysiological brain responses in respective early sensory cortices. Three experiments probed (1) whether attention to a particular sensory modality results in a modality-specific modulation of processing, (2) whether this modulation of processing is a facilitation of the attended, an inhibition of the unattended sensory modality or a combination of both factors, and (3) whether stimuli of different sensory modalities enter a competition for processing, thus necessitating intermodal attention to rely on common attentional resources. Attentional modulation of stimulus processing was found to be modality-specific. This modulation likely involved two separate mechanisms: a facilitation of stimuli presented to attended sensory modalities that led to an inhibition of stimuli presented to unattended modalities. As a complementary result, stimuli were found to enter a competition for processing within but not between modalities. In conclusion, the present findings provide evidence for early sensory processing to rely on modality-specific rather than common attentional resources.


Methylated cyclodextrins (CDs) are effective solubilizers of poorly soluble organic compounds. In this work, we compared various methylated β-CDs concerning their structure characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, composition analyzed by HPLC and solubilizing capability by using model compounds such as cholesterol, fatty acids, furosemide, tamoxifen, and amiodarone. All the commercially available methylated β-CDs are mixtures of various isomers and homologues except trimethyl β-CD. The effects of the degree of methylation, the composition, as well as the influence of further derivatization with ionic groups were studied. The number of methyl groups in a CD ring should be around 14 to get the highest solubility for the included guest molecules. Although the distribution of isomers and related compounds has hardly any effect at constant degree of substitution, the introduction of amino and succinyl moieties on the CD ring adds ionic interactions to the hydrophobic interactions of the inclusion complex formation, which might result in synergic effect in solubilization.


Paired box 9 (PAX9) is a transcription factor of the PAX family functioning as both a transcriptional activator and repressor. Its functional roles in the embryonic development of various tissues and organs have been well studied. However, its roles and molecular mechanisms in cancer development are largely unknown. Here, we review the current understanding of PAX9 expression, upstream regulation of PAX9, and PAX9 downstream events in cancer development. Promoter hypermethylation, promoter SNP, microRNA, and inhibition of upstream pathways (e.g., NOTCH) result in PAX9 silencing or downregulation, whereas gene amplification and an epigenetic axis upregulate PAX9 expression. PAX9 may contribute to carcinogenesis through dysregulation of its transcriptional targets and related molecular pathways. In summary, extensive studies on PAX9 in its cellular and tissue contexts are warranted in various cancers, in particular, HNSCC, ESCC, lung cancer, and cervical SCC.


Experimental and theoretical data on new compounds, nitrides and carbides of the platinum group 4d and 5d metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, platinum), published over the past five years are summarized. The extreme mechanical properties of platinoid nitrides and carbides, i.e., their high strength and low compressibility, are noted. The prospects of further studies and the scope of application of these compounds are discussed.


Background: Smilax aspera L. (sarsaparilla or prickly ivy) is a perennial climber from the family Smilacaceae. Its root and rhizome are used as alterative, demulcent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, stimulant and tonic. Objective: To perform standardization of root and rhizome of S. aspera for authentication and identification of raw drug by pharmacognostical, physiochemical, powder and finish product evaluation. Materials and Methods: Air-dried rhizome and roots were boiled, sectioned and stained for macroscopical and microscopical analysis. For physicochemical studies, rhizome and roots were coarsely powdered and subjected for determination of extractive values, ash values, chemical constituents, weight per millilitre, alcohol content, total solids and loss on drying. Finished product analyses (chromatographic studies, sediments, pH and total solid) were also undertaken. Results: The root was longitudinally wrinkled, about 3 mm in diameter with numerous branching, rootless, tough and flexible. Cortex consisted of 18–20 rows of parenchymatous cells; xylem and phloem were arranged in a radiate manner. Rhizome was wrinkled, hard and brown externally and white or light-yellow internally. The outer cortex consisted of polygonal parenchymatous cells. The findings of physicochemical determination of raw drugs including maximum extractive values in alcohol were 5.67% w/w, 0.1% w/w foreign matter, 8.90% w/w moisture content, 10.60% w/w total ash, etc., and finished product parameter showed pH near to 7, total solid 1.07% w/v and 50% v/v alcohol content. Conclusion: The data represented in this article may be used as distinctive diagnostic characters for proper identification, authentication of raw drug to ensure purity, quality and efficacy of drug S. aspera.


This study proposes a general methodology, applied in Switzerland, for the delineation of protection areas for abstracted groundwater against persistent chemical contaminants in order to establish: (1) remediation programmes in the event of contamination and (2) prevention programmes, in a general way. This new approach is based on the complete groundwater flow cycle, from the surface of the catchment zone to the groundwater source itself; areas with the highest contribution rate to the groundwater source will be preferentially protected. The method under consideration thus provides a tool for sustainable development and land management. To date, four actual cases have been treated in order to test the method's applicability. The results are convincing in various porous or fractured aquifers. One case is presented to illustrate an application of the methodology.


Several approaches for window detection have been proposed in recent years, which all use the window size, shape or position within the facade as characteristics for the detection. In this paper another property of windows is proposed for their detection: Windows are made of glass, so they tend to specularly reflect sun light, while the surrounding wall diffusely reflects it. To this end, colour values in multiple views are analysed to detect specular reflections. In the experiments, walls often show a high homogeneity of small colour differences, and many windows are clearly visible in the form of colour differences. Nevertheless, it is difficult to segment windows from the facade if there is no prior knowledge about the intensity of the scene's illumination. Promising results are obtained if the facade lies in the shadow, e.g., of another building or a tree.


In 1997 Shprintzen published a pioneering text in which he listed genetic syndromes and their
associated communication disorders. In his pioneering text Shprintzen chose to focus on speech,
language, voice, resonance and hearing as communication consequences associated with genetic
syndromes. Communication consequences within the area of social use of language (i.e. pragmatics)
in particular Autism appeared to not be documented within this original cohort. A meta-analysis of
Shprintzen's (1997) catalogue revealed 6 syndromes in which features described provided a hint
towards autism. A systematic review of the literature (from 1997-2013) revealed a cohort of 10
articles which were analysed to determine the association between genetic syndromes and Autism
Spectrum Disorders. The presence of Autism was confirmed and additional information was added
to 3 of the syndromes described as having presentation of autism within the original catalogue. New
information was added to 27 existing syndromes and 15 new syndromes with associated autism
were discovered. Many of the updates provided details of the autistic characteristics within genetic
syndromes as well as highlighting the differences when compared to idiopathic autism. As well as
these descriptions additional information also included prevalence rates. However, there is still a
large amount on syndromes for which the description was given as "autistic features present".
Following Van Borsel's (2004) meta-analysis of voice and resonance disorders in genetic syndromes,
analysis was carried out with regards to autism present in genetic syndromes and its co-occurrence
with speech, language, voice, resonance and hearing disorders. Autism never occurs in isolation and
it is most frequently reported to co-occur with speech and language difficulties (26%). The presence
of autism is reported in a greater number of single gene syndromes (62%) compared to 38% within
chromosomal abnormalities. The study drew similar conclusions to Van Borsel (2004), highlighting
the communicative consequences of genetic syndromes remain an area that is under researched
and that genotype-phenotype relationships are still lacking.


The light emitted by electron avalanches in a parallel plate chamber can be used to image the tracks of photoelectrons liberated by the interaction of an incident x-ray with the gas filling the chamber. The differing morphologies of photoelectron tracks and high-energy charged particle tracks can be used for background rejection. The initial direction (before scattering) of the liberated photoelectron also contains information about the polarization of the incident radiation. We have built a small test chamber with which we have imaged photoelectron tracks using an intensified CCD camera. Our results show that optical imaging could be used in a hard x-ray imaging polarimeter useful for astronomy.


Abstract: The Internet has made it easier for child sex offenders to get into direct contact with their victims, including the exchanging and distributing of "child pornography". On a European level, child sexual exploitation is one of the three main priorities of EC3, Europol's Cybercrime Centre. Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children further prescribes that the EU Member States shall ensure that sexual offences against children are effectively investigated. However, when it comes to investigative measures such as undercover policing, national police forces are bound by national rules. This article concludes that undercover policing is a necessary investigative tool in order to detect and infiltrate the networks of these sexual offenders. Departing from a legal dogmatic method this article first examines relevant EU legal instruments. It then takes a comparative approach describing national differences in investigating sexual offences against children. Finally, it discusses whether common rules in the area are foreseeable within the existing frameworks of European law.


The calcium-sensing receptor(CaSR)is a G protein-coupled membrane receptor that binds extracellular Ca2+and other cations as a ligand. CaSR is expressed in parathyroid glands at the highest level and plays a critical role in the regulation of extracellular calcium. CaSR is also expressed by a wide variety of tissues other than calcium metabolic organs. In this overview, divergent roles of CaSR in inflammasome as well as various tissues including intestines, lungs, neurons and endocrine pancreas will be briefly summarized.


More than 130 years of shared history between France and Algeria followed by one of the most brutal wars of decolonization in 1962 generated important developments in both countries and their self-perceptions. However, immediately after the war, France began a policy of "national amnesia" towards the memories of Algeria. There is a "halo effect" that imputes an Algerian origin to any Arab-looking individual. Thus, since the biggest part of Arabs in France are of North African descent, in this research, Algeria is seen as a medium through which France perceives its Arab part of identity. The fact that the shared history with Algeria, memories and France's wrongdoings during the war were not included in the national narrative of France had negatively influenced France's ability to integrate its Arab population. The awareness of its own growing pluralism and inability to accept it has created an identity crisis. This article attempts to address this particular issue. For the purpose of illuminating how the repression of Algerian war memories in France's governing myth influences France's identity problems related with the acceptance of its Arab population, a theoretical approach of memory is employed. The article draws on research conducted by Duncan Bell, who is notable for revealing the possibility of the often overlooked contradictions between the collective memory and the governing myth of the nation. Bell claims that memories are inseparable from lived experience, while a myth is a constructed story that can encompass various events that were important for a particular community at any time in history. Bell finds that collective memories that are not integrated into the myth can act in opposition and challenge it. The article presents a case study of 2005 French law requiring school history teachers to emphasize the positive aspects of colonialism which illuminates the politics of history in France towards the Algerian war. Results of the analysis show that the politics of history pursued by the governing elite towards the memories of Algerian war remain the same despite the growing problems posed by a repression of the past. The second finding is that the strategy of adhering to the old myth, implying denial of the Muslim element in French identity flows, from the governing elite. The French state maintains the politics of amnesia towards the memories of Algerian decolonization and the war of independence despite the initiatives from the public. Such politics of history retain a denial of the Arab element in France's self-understanding and continues to negatively influence France's relationship with its Arab population. The repression of the Algerian memory fosters resentment among those who are forbidden their past and further deepen France's identity crisis.


Background and Objectives: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The impact of the primary tumor location on the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer has long been a concern, but studies have led to conflicting conclusions. Methods: In total, 465 colorectal cancer patients who received radical surgery were reviewed in this study. Enrolled patients were divided into two groups according to the tumor location. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed via the Kaplan-Meier method. A Cox regression model was employed to evaluate the independent prognostic factors for DFS and OS. Results: The right colorectal cancer (RCC) and left colorectal cancer (LCC) groups comprised 202 and 140 patients, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the tumor location and TNM stage were independent predictors of DFS and OS. Subgroup analyses by stage demonstrated that there were significant differences in DFS and OS between patients with stage II and III RCC and LCC, but not for those with stage I colorectal cancer. Conclusions: Patients with stage II and III LCC had better survival than those with RCC. However, this improvement in DFS and OS was not observed in patients with stage I colorectal cancer.


Only a few iron precursors that can be used in the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of iron oxides have been examined thus far. This study aimed to compare the various properties of FeOx thin films deposited using thermal ALD and plasma-enhanced ALD (PEALD) and to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using bis(N,N′-di-butylacetamidinato)iron(II) as an Fe precursor in FeOx ALD. The PEALD of FeOx films using iron bisamidinate has not yet been reported. Compared with thermal ALD films, PEALD films exhibited improved properties in terms of surface roughness, film density, and crystallinity after they were annealed in air at 500 °C. The annealed films, which had thicknesses exceeding ~ 9 nm, exhibited hematite crystal structures. Additionally, the conformality of the ALD-grown films was examined using trench-structured wafers with different aspect ratios.


Soybean Fusarium wilt and root rot disease caused by a necrotrophic ascomycete pathogen, F. oxysporum, triggered severe damage to the plant tissues and organs and impacted heavy losses. Biocontrol agents, Bacillus subtilis, were commonly used to produce a broad spectrum of antifungal substances and were gradually used in biocontrol studies for plant disease management. Investigation and determination of the inhibiting mechanism of antifungal substance produced by B. subtilis on F. oxysporum should be done to protect the soybean plant. This study revealed that basal nutrient broth (NB) gives the best antifungal activity. The stationary phase of the bacterial growth curve was obtained on two days of cultivation and showed the maximum antifungal activity against F. oxysporum. Ethyl acetate (EA) extraction of bacterial supernatant generated crude EA extract, which showed half inhibition (IC50) at 306.42 µg/ml obtained from the dose-response regression curve. Post-treatment mycelia of F. oxysporum with bacterial extract were demonstrated as hyphal deformation followed by malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation. Furthermore, cellular leakage on fungal cells that may be triggered by antifungal compounds from strain W3.15 occurred. Last, the related antifungal compounds were predicted to be epicatechin and benzophenone from the LC-MS/MS analysis of crude EA extract. Accordingly, the biocontrol agent B. subtilis strain W3.15 promises a strong potency for biofungicide development.


The quantitative tissue specificity of the high mobility group (HMG) chromosomal proteins was investigated. Perchloric acid (PCA) extracts of four different chicken tissues and erythrocytes contained three proteins which comigrated on NaDodSO4-polyacrylamide gels with the HMG's 1,2, and E from erythrocyte nuclei. These three HMG's from embryonic skeletal muscle and erythrocytes also comigrated on two-dimensional gels, employing an acid-urea system in the first dimension and an NaDodSO4 system in the second. Interpretation of the two-dimensional gels suggested that the two low molecular weight proteins of this triplet arose from the HMG 2 band of the acid-urea gels. These have been designated HMG 2A and HMG 2B. Three proteins of similar molecular weights were also found in the PCA extracts of calf thymus. They were arranged in a similar but not identical pattern on two-dimensional gels. Thus, these three HMG's appear to be neither tissue nor species specific. In addition, the 2.0% PCA extracts of all chicken tissues examined contain a 38 000-dalton (38K) nuclear protein which coisolates with the HMG's. These four proteins are found in different relative amounts in each of the four chicken tissues and erythrocytes. They are found in the same relative amounts, however, in embryonic skeletal muscles from different chicken strains with widely different highly repetitive sequence content, suggesting that none of these individual proteins is selectively localized to constitutive heterochromatin. The quantitative tissue specificity of the HMG's and the 38K protein, however, suggests that they may participate in regulating cell-specific gene expression.


This experimental thermal performance investigation presents that the hot air at a significant high temperature, and simultaneously at high power density and energy density of PCM can be obtained utilizing a novel design of PCM embedded solar air heater employing impinging stable air jet array. Investigation is carried out following two main objectives, i.e., to obtain (i) instant and (ii) long thermal backups. In the reported design configuration, impinging stable air jets on absorber plate are obtained by reducing the flow path of expelled air from upstream air jets that increased the heat transfer rate to air and consequently instant thermal backup. Although, the use of wavy PCM unit provides instant and long thermal backup by increasing heat transfer area that augments the heat transfer to air and the collection of solar radiations, respectively. Moreover, the present study is extended as follows, (i) the use of shutter on glass cover to increase thermal performance during nocturnal hours, (ii) charging of PCM till the maximum solar radiation hours and use the stored energy during nocturnal hours, (iii) thermal performance analysis to reveal instant thermal backup, (iv) thermal performance investigation during variable weather conditions, and (v) thermal performance investigation for low ambient air temperature. The obtained results revealed that for the unit collector area, significant thermal backup of about 6 hours at a temperature rise of =5oC can be obtained by utilizing the above-mentioned provisions in this research.


The accumulation of damaged mitochondria has been proposed as a key factor in aging and the pathogenesis of many common age-related diseases, including Parkinson disease (PD). Recently, in vitro studies of the PD-related proteins Parkin and PINK1 have found that these factors act in a common pathway to promote the selective autophagic degradation of damaged mitochondria (mitophagy). However, whether Parkin and PINK1 promote mitophagy under normal physiological conditions in vivo is unknown. To address this question, we used a proteomic approach in Drosophila to compare the rates of mitochondrial protein turnover in parkin mutants, PINK1 mutants, and control flies. We found that parkin null mutants showed a significant overall slowing of mitochondrial protein turnover, similar to but less severe than the slowing seen in autophagy-deficient Atg7 mutants, consistent with the model that Parkin acts upstream of Atg7 to promote mitophagy. By contrast, the turnover of many mitochondrial respiratory chain (RC) subunits showed greater impairment in parkin than Atg7 mutants, and RC turnover was also selectively impaired in PINK1 mutants. Our findings show that the PINK1–Parkin pathway promotes mitophagy in vivo and, unexpectedly, also promotes selective turnover of mitochondrial RC subunits. Failure to degrade damaged RC proteins could account for the RC deficits seen in many PD patients and may play an important role in PD pathogenesis.


Recent phylogenetic analyses imply a diphyly of tree sloths and a convergent evolution of their obligatory suspensory locomotion. In mammals the extrinsic shoulder musculature forms a 'muscular sling' to support the trunk in quadrupedal postures. In addition, the extrinsic pectoral muscles are responsible for moving the proximal forelimb elements during locomotion. Due to the inverse orientation of the body in regard to the gravitational force, the muscular sling as configured as in pronograde mammals is unsuited to suspend the weight of the thorax in sloths. We here review the muscular topography of the shoulder in Choloepus didactylus and Bradypus variegatus in the light of presumably convergent evolution to adapt to the altered functional demands of the inverse orientation of the body. In addition, we venture to deduce the effect of the shoulder musculature of C. didactylus during locomotion based on previously published 3D kinematic data. Finally, we assess likely convergences in the muscular topography of both extant sloth lineages to test the hypothesis that convergent evolution is reflected by differing morphological solutions to the same functional demands posed by the suspensory posture. Muscular topography of the shoulder in C. didactylus is altered from the plesiomorphic condition of pronograde mammals, whereas the shoulder in B. variegatus more closely resembles the general pattern. Overall kinematics as well as the muscles suitable for pro‐ and retraction of the forelimb were found to be largely comparable to pronograde mammals in C. didactylus. We conclude that most of the peculiar topography of extrinsic forelimb musculature can be attributed to the inverse orientation of the body. These characteristics are often similar in both genera, but we also identified different morphological solutions that evolved to satisfy the new functional demands and are indicative of convergent evolution. We suggest that the shared phylogenetic heritage canalized the spectrum of possible solutions to new functional demands, and digging adaptations of early xenarthrans posed morphological constraints that resulted in similar suspensory postures. The data of this study, including muscle maps, will be helpful to infer locomotor characteristics of fossil sloths.


Losartan potassium (LOS) and atorvastatin (ATR) are used in combination for long-term treatment of stroke and for treatment of hypertension with high-level cholesterol. Both drugs were simultaneously determined and validated using a novel, easy, fast, and economical first-derivative synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic method. Methanol was used as the solvent for both drugs at a Δλ 80 nm and with a scanning rate of 600 nm/min. Peaks were determined as at 288.1 nm and 263.6 nm for LOS and ATR, respectively. The proposed method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines and, subsequently, the developed method was applicable to the analysis of the two compounds in their different formulations without interference from each other. Amplitude-concentration plots were rectilinear over the concentration ranges 1.0-10.0 μg/ml and 0.5-5.0 μg/ml for LOS and ATR, respectively. Detection limits were found to be 0.096 μg/ml and 0.030 μg/ml and quantitation limits were 0.291 μg/ml and 0.093 μg/ml for LOS and ATR, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of both compounds in synthetic mixtures and in laboratory-prepared tablets. These results were in accordance with the results acquired using the comparison method, high-performance liquid chromatography.


Here reports new conversions methods of tomato saponins, esculeoside A (1) and a mixture of esculeosides B-1 (2) and B-2 (3), (the latter two were obtained from tomato cans) into pregnane derivative (5) by an alkal treatment followed by acid treatment. Compound 1 or a mixture of 2 and 3 were each refluxed with 1 N KOH to afford a characteristic pyridine steroidal glycoside (4), which was then treated with 2 N HCl-MeOH to afford a pregnane derivative, 3β-hydroxy-5α-pregn-16-en-20-one (5). The results of the above two reactions indicated that tomato saponins are chemically closely related to pregnane hormones. We assume that the assimilated tomato saponins via the small intestine are metabolized into pregnane derivatives, demonstrating various bioactivities such as anti-cancer, anti-osteoporosis, and anti-menopausal disorder activities.


Recent advances in digital circuit, radio communication, and MEMS technologies, have made wireless sensor network (WSN) improve greatly. WSN can be applicated in many areas such as military areas, habitat monitoring, traffic monitoring, and so on. The other way, transportation is looked as one of the most important issues for the development of social economy, especially highway. In order to improve the management and efficiency of highway, and to prevent effectively and resolve traffic accidents in time, a highway transportation monitoring system based on WSN is put forward in this paper. This system adequately makes use of WSN's distribution, self-organizing and extensibility. The architecture and mechanism of the system are described. And some functions of the system have been implemented. The speed measurement of high-speed moving targets with multiple sensors has been accomplished, and the performance and limitation have been analyzed.


In this paper we investigate experimentally the effect of the modulation methods on the AM-WIRNA (wide bandpass filter-rectifier-narrow lowpass filter) system. We use two modulation methods: external modulation and direct modulation. Direct modulation is simpler, has a more linear response and requires smaller RF input power as compared to external modulation.<<ETX>>


Dr. M. G. Candau, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in his Annual Report to the Tenth World Health Assembly at Geneva on 7th May, will record that malaria eradication was one of the main concerns of the Organization in 1956. Mosquito resistance to insecticides was responsible for shifting W.H.O.'s malaria policy from mere control to eradication. A dramatic race is now under way between the destructive properties of insecticides (of the DDT and BHC groups), on the


The Effect of Education on Preventive Behaviors of Failure to Thrive in Mothers with Children Aged One to Five Years: Applied Health Belief Model

Mahtab Navabi, Mahboobeh Khorsandi , Nasrin Rouzbahani, Mehdi Ranjbaran

Associate Professor, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran , firstname.lastname@example.com

Abstract
Background: One of the common and important health problems is failure to thrive in childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of education on preventive behaviors of failure to thrive in mothers with children based on health belief model.
Materials and Methods: This study is an interventional one in which 100 mothers with children one to five years involved (samples divided into two case and control groups, each of 50) sampling was done by a simple random method. For collecting information, a researcher-made questionnaire based on the health belief model and performance check list were used. Then, case group was trained for one month. 3 months after training, data were gathered and analyzed by Spss20 software. In addition to descriptive statistics, tests such as Chi-square, paired t-test and independent T-test were used.
Results: The mean age of case and control was 29.98±5.51 and 25.35±5.30 years old, respectively. The average age of children was 23.31 ± 13.14 and 27.55 ± 14.01months, respectively. Before the intervention, no significant difference was seen between groups. The average score in case group before intervention was as: knowledge(31.87±14.24), perceived susceptibility(64.23±5.86), perceived severity(64.41±9.34), perceived benefits(61.75±6.79), perceived barriers(67.91±8.14), self-efficacy(68.00±7.87), cues to action(44.53±6.82) and action(70.00±9.77). However, after the intervention, significant differences between groups in all variables were obserred.
Conclusion: According to the results, education based on health belief model is recommended for promoting preventive behaviors of failure to thrive.

Keywords: Children, Failure to thrive, Health belief model, Mothers


Dielectric spectroscopy measurements were performed for aqueous solutions of short single-stranded DNA with 30 to 120 bases of thymine over a frequency range of 10;{5} to 10;{8}Hz . Dielectric dispersion was found to include two relaxation processes in the ranges from 10;{5} to 10;{6} and from 10;{6} to 10;{8}Hz , respectively, with the latter mainly discussed in this study. The dielectric increment and the relaxation time of the high-frequency relaxation of DNA in solutions without added salt exhibited concentration and polymer-length dependences eventually identical to those for dilute polyion solutions described in previous studies. For solutions with added salt, on the other hand, those dielectric parameters were independent of salt concentration up to a certain critical value and started to decrease with further increasing salt concentration. This critical behavior is well explained by our newly extended cell model that takes into account the spatial distribution of loosely bound counterions around DNA molecules as a function of salt concentration.


This paper analyses the reform progress made in the energy-rich states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (AKTU for short) and contrasts their development to that in the resource-poor countries at the CIS periphery. The main argument of the paper is that far from being a blessing that would have allowed energy-rich countries to cushion the impact of reforms and thus make faster progress, energy rents have often been wasted or appropriated by the ruling elites. Progress in key structural reforms has in some cases lagged even behind other CIS countries and significant policy challenges need to be addressed if natural resource wealth is not to turn into a curse for the region.


The purpose of the study was to attempt to eradicate caseous lymphadenitis in sheep with the help of serological monitoring. A newly developed double-antibody sandwich ELISA and the culling of positive or doubtful reactors was the basis of the disease control regimen. Seropositive pregnant ewes were kept in quarantine and removed after lambing; their lambs were artificially fed and allowed to remain in the herd. Under this regimen, supplemented by a number of hygienic measures, caseous lymphadenitis was eradicated from two large flocks of sheep in which the disease was endemic.


The functions of excitable tissues are basic for the vital functions of the organs and systems of the body. The physiology of excitable tissues is not only a part of molecular-cellular physiology, but also the physiology of functional systems, contributing to the formation of systematic knowledge of life processes. The functions of excitable tissues are determined by hereditary factors, form a single functional environment and contribute to system genesis. They are an integral part of the information and executive processes of functional systems and ensure the continuity of the body's functions.


Aromatic hydrotherapy is a method of health care which use water as the medium, applying the water with different temperature, pressure and solute concentration, as well as the addition of aromatic substances with proper efficacy to physical symptoms, acting on human body so as to prevent and cure diseases. After being fully absorbed, the rehabilitation of body and psychology would be achieved through metabolism. Owing to drug-induced diseases and sub-health symptoms have been increasing in recent years, the treatment that applying aromatic substances, herbal and non-drug therapy on human skin, apertures and acupoints has the same effect as medicine. If immersing the body, hands and feet in the bath water that contained aromatic substances and herbal essence liquid, the blood circulation and mental balance would be enhanced. The function of reflex zones could be also improved by stimulating the acupoints of hands and feet in bath water.


In This paper the redundancy and imperfect opportunistic maintenance optimization of a multi-state weighted k-out-of-n system is formulated. The objective is to determine the k-out-of-n system redundancy level and the maintenance strategy which will minimize the wind farm life cycle cost subject to an availability constraint. A new condition based opportunistic maintenance approach is developed. Different component health state thresholds are introduced for imperfect maintenance of failed subsystems and working subsystems and preventive dispatching of maintenance teams. In addition, a simulation method is developed to evaluate the performance measures of the system considering different types of subsystems, maintenance activation delays and durations, limited number of maintenance teams, and discrete inspection of the system. Also, a multi-seed tabu search heuristic algorithm is also proposed to solve the formulated problem. An application to the optimal design of a wind farm is provided to illustrate the proposed approach.


Mezzogiorno in the economic literature is the international benchmark to indicate a geographical area within an industrialised country 1) that does not experience a GDP growth rate consistent with the national value 2) whose economy relies on transfers. Making a logical leap it was concluded that Southern Italy has been diverting resources away the Centre-North. An empirical analysis on per capita GDP growth rates shows that from the years after the second world war and until 2007, the South has provided its contribution to the welfare growth of the rest of the country. However, the same proposition cannot be stated reversing the causality.


Abstract The method for filtering information from large volumes of text is called Information Extraction. It is a limited task than understanding the full text. In full text understanding, we express in an explicit fashion about all the information in a given text. But, in Information Extraction, we delimit in advance, as part of the specification of the task and the semantic range of the result. Only extractive summarization method is considered and developed for the study. In this article a model for summarization from large documents using a novel approach has been proposed by considering one of the South Indian regional languages (Kannada). It deals with a single document summarization based on statistical approach. The purpose of summary of an article is to facilitate the quick and accurate identification of the topic of the published document. The objective is to save prospective readers' time and effort in finding the useful information in a given huge article. Various analyses of results were also discussed by comparing it with the English language.


Exposure to diesel exhaust (DE) increased airway inflammatory responses and airway responsiveness to allergen challenge. To clarify the roles of T cells in DE exposure-induced early inflammation, we studied the effect of CD4 and CD8 cells on the effect DE might have on allergic inflammation by using monoclonal antibody-mediated cellular depletion assays. In the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, the numbers of inflammatory cells from 3 mg/m(3) DE-exposed and ovalbumin (OVA)-immunized mice markedly increased. Depletion of CD4(+) cells resulted in reduced accumulation of inflammatory cells. DE exposure to OVA-immunized mice significantly increased interleukin (IL)-1 beta production but decreased IL-12 production. DE exposure significantly enhanced production of the macrophage inflammatory proteins (MIP)-1 alpha and MIP-2, but not monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and regulated upon activation normal T cells expressed and secreted (RANTES). Treatment with anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 mAbs abrogated the adverse effect of DE exposure. In CLN cells from OVA + DE-exposed mice, CD45R/B220-, CD3-, CD4-, and CD8-positive cells were significantly increased, but the OVA-stimulated cytokine production remained at the same levels with OVA-immunized mice. These findings suggest that the induction of early inflammatory responses by DE exposure may initially be related to the modulated function of lymphocyte subpopulations.


Spinal cord chimeras were constructed by orthotopic grafting of quail embryonal neutral folds, neural crest and neural tube into chicken embryos. The spinal cord xenografts were accepted for varying lengths of time, but most chimeras eventually rejected the quail transplant. This was associated with perivenular cuffing and demyelination with preservation of most neurons, as well as clinical neurological symptoms. Twenty-four chimeras were studied to delineate the time of first appearance of glial deposits of immunoglobulin and to identify the subpopulations of T cells in spinal cord infiltrates. The results suggested that deposits of immunoglobulins on glial elements preceded inflammatory cell infiltration. The perivenular cuffs consisted predominantly of T cells and showed a preponderance of CD8- over CD4-positive cells (CD4/CD8 ratios around 0.6). Further, CD4+ cells were found almost exclusively in the central portions of the infiltrate, with the periphery consisting almost only of CD8+ cells. The diffuse cellular infiltrate of the parenchyme contained T and plasma cells. The T cells were almost exclusively CD8+. Plasma cells were seen only at the outer borders of the cuffs and dispersed throughout the quail-derived spinal cord tissue. It seemed that rejection of quail-derived melanocytes in feathers ('quail-like feathers'), described by us earlier, often preceded neurological symptoms and showed a histopathological pattern comparable to spinal cord lesions, i.e., predominantly perivascular cuffing. In preliminary studies, enhancement of disease by immunization with quail organ suspension and decreased intensity of disease by combined immunosuppressive treatment with FK 506 and cycylophosphamide were suggested. The data presented here are compatible with the hypothesis that rejection of CNS quail tissue by chimeras is preceded in the periphery by rejection of melanocytes in segments of skin and in feathers, and that the spinal cord rejection relies on xenoantibodies and on cytotoxic as well as delayed hypersensitivity-type T cells. Finally, these data strengthen the analogy between the histopathologic presentation and immune effector composition of the xenograft rejection lesions in the chimeras and the plaques seen in patients with multiple sclerosis.


CONTEXT
Whether cancer risk in acromegaly is increased remains controversial. Also, the risk of benign tumors has been little studied.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the incidence of benign and malignant tumors in acromegaly in a nationwide population-based study.

DESIGN
Adult patients diagnosed with acromegaly between 1987 and 2017 were identified in the Swedish National Patient Registry. The diagnoses of benign and malignant tumors were recorded. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for neoplasms with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the Swedish general population as reference.

RESULTS
The study included 1296 patients (52% women). Mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 51.6 (14.7) years. Median (range) follow-up time was 11.7 (0-31) years. Overall, 186 malignancies were identified in acromegalic patients compared to 144 expected in the general population (SIR 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5). The incidence of colorectal and anal cancer (SIR 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0-2.2), and renal and ureteral cancer (SIR 4.0; 95% CI, 2.3-6.5) was increased, whereas the incidence of malignancies of the respiratory system, brain, prostate, and breast was not. Only three cases of thyroid cancer were recorded. Mortality due to malignancies was not increased (SMR 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.4). Incidence of benign tumors was increased more than 2-fold (SIR 2.4; 95% CI, 2.1-2.7).

CONCLUSIONS
Patients with acromegaly had an increased risk of both benign and malignant tumors including colorectal and anal cancer, and renal and ureteral cancer. Whether this is associated with acromegaly itself or due to more intensive medical surveillance remains to be shown.


In this paper a millimeter-wave radar system simulation environment for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar using a 3D ray tracing channel simulator is presented. Therefore we use Agilents' RF design environment ADS® for system simulation and calculate the channel impulse response based on the data received from a 3D ray tracer in a Matlab® co-simulation. To reduce computing time the whole signal flow is processed in a complex baseband representation and scattering center models are used as substitute for complex polygon targets as further improvement. Nevertheless all effects occurring at harmonic bands and at DC due to nonlinearities in the transmitter and receiver circuits are well reflected in the simulation. A typical road scenario is simulated and the results show the capabilities of the simulation technique in terms of speed and accuracy.


IIn this paper, an efficient method to detect and discriminate mechanical defects of transformer winding based on extracting the winding frequency responses using outlier data detection and ensemble algorithms ,which in total constitutes an efficient hybrid method has been proposed. First, the frequency response of the high voltage winding of a real model of transformer (1.6 MVA) was extracted in different condition and arranged as primary data. Then, due to the high standard deviation of the characteristics and the weight of the outlier samples above the threshold of 1.1, the Local Outlier Factor (LOF) method was used to clean the samples. Finally, data mining algorithms have been used to detect and distinguish mechanical defects. Based on the results, the decision tree bagging ensemble method reported the best accuracy compared to other techniques and improved the accuracy of the decision tree with total accuracy of 92.68% by LOF. These results also showed that all methods improved accuracy by LOF. Therefore, it can be claimed that the proposed method has the ability to discriminate the mechanical defects of the transformer winding with appropriate accuracy.


Pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDCA) analogs extend the vase life of spray-type (SP) carnation flowers by accelerating flower opening and retarding senescence. Among the PDCA analogs, 2,3-PDCA and 2,4-PDCA are equally and highly effective. In the present study, we characterized the promotion of flower opening by PDCAs and their analogs, pyridinecarboxylic acids. The present results showed that 3-pyridinecarboxylic acid (3-PCA), and its derivative, 3-PCA amide, are most active in accelerating flower opening of 'Light Pink Barbara' carnation cut flowers. 3-PCA treatment promoted flower opening in cut flowers of many SP carnation cultivars, that had been stored dry at 2–4°C for 3 weeks and resulted in extension of their display time.


Detailed serological investigations were carried out in forty-nine active kala-azar (KA) cases in North Bihar, India. Various classes of immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, and IgM) and third component of complement (C3) levels were determined in these sera and results were compared with those obtained in normal controls. Antibody titres were determined by the indirect haemagglutination (IHA) method using soluble Leishmania antigen. Immunoglobulin G and M class-specific antibody titres were also determined separately by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Polyclonal hypergammaglobulinaemia with marked increase in serum IgG (and to a lesser extent in IgM) level was a rather common feature in the majority of these sera. Much of this immunoglobulin increase, however, appeared to be non-specific in nature and no absolute correlation could be noted between serum IgG or IgM levels and corresponding IgG or IgM antibody titres. Significant decrease in serum C3 level was observed in KA and this decrease was found to be independent of immunoglobulin levels or specific antibody titres. A fairly good correlation between aldehyde test and serum IgG level was evident from this study. Aldehyde-positive KA sera usually gave higher antibody titres than aldehyde-negative ones. Anti-leishmanial antibodies belonged mostly to IgG class although some IgM antibodies were also demonstrable. The latter class of antibodies probably appeared early in KA infection although their serological specificity was poorer to IgG antibodies. Out of forty-nine KA sera examined in this study thirty-six (73.5%) gave positive IHA titres while forty-six (93.9%) were positive by IgG-ELISA which appeared to be a highly specific and sensitive serodiagnostic method particularly for the early detection of KA cases.


The article presents a modern methodology for organizing the practical work of volunteers in the cultural sphere using the example of Russian cultural institutions. The used methodology allows to gain knowledge and practical experience of interaction with the target audience of cultural events, to explain the main features and principles of the volunteer movement in the sphere of culture; to use successful practices of organizing the volunteers' work in cultural institutions. Using surveys, interviews and personal conversations with active participants of the research and ongoing progress of developing cultural volunteering in Russia, it allowed to supplement the material received from various sources, which significantly increased the scientific quality of author's research. In addition, the article provides an analysis of research in personal characteristics of volunteers, a system of motivation and incentives and also identifies key areas of activity. Such approach in volunteer management is complex and universal, and therefore can be used with volunteers by various cultural institutions. The practical significance of the research is that its conclusions and recommendations can be successfully used in the recruiting, professional selection and support in training, retraining and analysis of volunteer activities in the field of culture.


While individual agent-oriented methodologies are useful for restricted situations, a more flexible approach can be found in the use of situational method engineering. Using an underpinning metamodel, a repository of method fragments can be built up and, from this, a selected number of fragments can be abstracted to form an organization-specific or project-specific methodology. As an example, we demonstrate the use of the OPEN metamodel and repository, as extended to support agent-oriented conceptual thinking. Re-creation of existing methodologies, such as Prometheus, is demonstrated with further enhancements from other methodologies such as Tropos and Gaia.


Verbal and nonverbal behavior are on all fours when it comes to interpretation. This idea runs counter to an intuition that, to borrow a phrase, speech is cooked but action is raw. The author discusses some of the most compelling psychoanalytic work on the interpretation of action and presents empirical and philosophical findings about understanding speech. These concepts generate reciprocal implications about the possibility of interpreting the exotics of action and the necessity of interpreting the domestics of speech, treating both as equally dignified aspects of human behavior. The author presents a number of clinical examples to further illustrate these ideas.


Exceptional points can be found for specific sets of parameters in thermoacoustic systems. At an exceptional point, two eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenfunctions coalesce. Given that the sensitivity of these eigenvalues to parameter changes becomes infinite at the exceptional point, their occurrence may greatly affect the outcome and reliability of numerical stability analysis. We propose a new method to identify exceptional points in thermoacoustic systems. By iteratively updating the system parameters, two initially selected eigenvalues are shifted toward each other, ultimately colliding and generating the exceptional point. Using this algorithm, we were able to identify for the first time a physically meaningful exceptional point with positive growth rate in a thermoacoustic model. Furthermore, our analysis goes beyond previous studies inasmuch as we employ a more realistic flame transfer function to model flame dynamics. Building on these results, we analyze the effect of exceptional points on the reliability of thermoacoustic stability analysis. In the context of uncertainty quantification, we show that surrogate modeling is not reliable in the vicinity of an exceptional point, even when large sets of training samples are provided. The impact of exceptional points on the propagation of input uncertainties is demonstrated via Monte Carlo computations. The increased sensitivity associated with the exceptional point results in large variances for eigenvalue predictions, which needs to be taken into account for reliable stability analysis.


A key obstacle hampering fielding of AI planning applications is the considerable expense of developing, verifying, updating, and maintaining the planning knowledge base (KB). Planning systems must be able to compare favorably in terms of software lifecycle costs to other means of automation such as scripts or rule-based expert systems. Consequently, in order to field real systems, planning practitioners must be able to provide: 1. tools to allow domain experts to create and debug their own planning knowledge bases; 2. tools for software verification, validation, and testing; and 3. tools to facilitate updates and maintenance of the planning knowledge base. This paper describes two types of tools for planning knowledge base development: static KB analysis techniques to detect certain classes of syntactic errors in a planning knowledge base; and completion analysis techniques, to interactively debug the planning knowledge base. We describe these knowledge development tools and describe empirical results documenting the usefulness of these tools.


This paper presents a new technique of repairing congenital hypospadias by a one-stage method using the principle of advancement of the anterior urethra. It can also be applied in the secondary repair of urethral strictures or fistulae. No urinary diversion is necessary. It eliminates the possibility of post-operative urethral stricture or fistula formation which are frequent complications of the more classical procedures and the repair can be completed in one stage. The clinical details of 16 patients in whom this technique was successfully used are presented.


Genetical study on fruit yield per plant and its attributing traits along with quality traits like total soluble solids in brinjal were conducted by following line x tester mating design comprising of seven lines and three testers at Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. The analysis of combing ability revealed the predominant role of both additive and non-additive gene effects in the inheritance of yield and component traits. The genotypes NSR-1, JBG-10-208 and Pant Rituraj, displayed high gca effect for fruit yield per plant and some desirable traits like days to 50 % flowering, days to first picking, fruit girth, fruit weight, numbers of primary branches per plant, plant spread and total soluble solids. The estimates of sca effect of the crosses indicated that five hybrids manifested significant and positive sca effect for fruit yield per plant. Out of these best three specific combinations were JBG-10-208 x GJB-2 followed by ABR-2-23 x GBL-1 and AB-09-1 x GOB-1. The cross JBG-10-208 x GJB-2 was also found good specific combiner for plant height, fruit weight and fruit girth and number of primary branches per plant and also showed maximum per se performance. These hybrids may be exploited for obtaining transgressive segregants toward developing hybrid varieties in brinjal.


Although cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been recognized as a potential hazard of blood transfusion since 1966,1 few transfusion services provide blood components that have been selected specifically for low risk of infectivity with CMV. The objective of this commentary is to provide a review of the epidemiology of posttransfusion CMV infections with special reference to recent recommendations for its control by donor antibody screening and other blood bank procedures.
 In the healthy immunocompetent child or adult, posttransfusion CMV infection usually results in asymptomatic seroconversion or is manifested as a mild heterophile-negative mononucleosis syndrome. There is minimal morbidity associated with these transfusion-related infections and, therefore, minimal need for special CMV-free blood components.2


We report the results of a conceptual replication of a study that reported that pupil dilation can predict potentially threatening random events above chance level. In this study, participants' pupil dilation was used to predict the appearance of a threatening or a neutral stimulus, presented randomly in a double sequence of ten trials with replacement, i.e. replacing the chosen trial for the future extractions. In the first experiment, with a sample of 100 participants, the average correct prediction was 55.9%, with a small difference between the two stimuli. This effect was further tested in an exact pre-registered study where the average correct prediction was 58.7%. The reliability of these findings was checked utilizing both a frequentist and a Bayesian statistical parameters estimate approach. These findings collectively support the hypothesis that pupil dilation can be used to anticipate random and therefore theoretically "unpredictable" events in an implicit unconscious way that is without a conscious awareness, and that this ability is another characteristic of the powerful anticipatory adaptive systems of our psychophysiological system.


This research work mainly developed to reduce the number of vehicles stolen per year. There were 49,791 bikes stolen in 2010-that's over $325 million in losses. There are various methods of prevention to reduce the likelihood of a vehicle getting stolen. Some of these include, Devices used to lock a part of the vehicle necessary in its operation, such as the wheel lock (manual), handle bar. Currently used alarm systems are easily be immobilized. In alarm type locking system, it will only inform the owner by high sound when someone tends to move or start the vehicle and stop the engine. But it will not preventing the movement of the vehicle. In this paper is provided on how to use value engineering technique to improve the performance of wheel locking system using ignition key and to develop a new design in pro e software. In wheel locking system, when ignition key is in off state then both front and rear brakes are applied. This will prevent the vehicle movement when it is not in use. This could be done for disc brake system. The brake fluid is passing from the caliper to the reservoir. So the brake piston releases the brake pads against the disc. By applying the wheel locking system in two wheelers, we could reduce the number of vehicles stolen per year.


In this article, we study the landscape of an online nonconvex optimization problem, for which the input data vary over time and the solution is a trajectory rather than a single point. To understand the complexity of finding a global solution of this problem, we introduce the notion of spurious (i.e., nonglobal) local trajectory as a generalization to the notion of spurious local solution in nonconvex (time-invariant) optimization. We develop an ordinary differential equation (ODE) associated with a time-varying nonlinear dynamical system which, at limit, characterizes the spurious local solutions of the time-varying optimization problem. We prove that the absence of spurious local trajectory is closely related to the transient behavior of the developed system. In particular, we show that if the problem is time-varying, the data variation may force all of the ODE trajectories initialized at arbitrary local minima at the initial time to gradually converge to the global solution trajectory. We study the Jacobian of the dynamical system along a local minimum trajectory and show how its eigenvalues are manipulated by the natural data variation in the problem, which may consequently trigger escaping poor local minima over time.


Gene expression patterns were examined in lens epithelial cells conditioned to grow in 125 microM hydrogen peroxide in order to define the protective mechanisms that may be involved in survival during oxidative stress. RNA was extracted from normal and hydrogen peroxide-resistant alphaTN4 mouse lens epithelial cells. Gene expression was evaluated using Differential Display (DD) and RT-PCR. Upregulation of mRNAs for antioxidant and cellular defense enzymes was observed. The highest elevation detected was a 14-fold increase in catalase in the hydrogen peroxide-resistant cells. Glutathione peroxidase, ferritin, and alphaB-crystallin were upregulated 2-fold, and reticulocalbin was upregulated 6-fold in the resistant cells. alphaA-crystallin was downregulated 5-fold, while aldose reductase and mitochondrial gene products were unchanged. Thus, in the alphaTN4 mouse lens cell line, long-term exposure to high levels of hydrogen peroxide elicited an upregulation of transcripts for enzymes involved in hydrogen peroxide degradation, metal binding, and chaperone function. Since mitochondrial gene transcription is sensitive to hydrogen peroxide, the presence of normal levels of mitochondrial transcripts, in this study, demonstrates the effectiveness of the antioxidant defense systems.


An engineering approach to dynamic analysis of an offshore monopile wind turbine is presented in this paper. The wind-wave coupling for shallow water conditions is considered. Different wind, wave and current loads on the wind turbine within the cut-in and cut-off conditions are taken into account. The hydrodynamic loading is computed based on the corresponding sea-states. The interaction between the foundation and the soil is simulated by nonlinear springs, which stiffness properties are obtained from the axial load transfer (t-z) curve, the tip load-displacement (Q-z) curve and the lateral load-deflection (p-y) curve. Three types of soil conditions are considered in the simulations, i.e., 100% sand layer, 50% sand layer (top) and 50% clay layer (bottom), as well as 100% clay layer. For a given current speed, the variations of the static and the dynamic responses of the wind turbine due to the effects of different wind-wave load combinations and soil conditions have been investigated and discussed.© 2013 ASME


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of perceived informational value and perceived relational value on feedback-seeking intention in online communities of inquiry (OCoIs). To develop an integrated theoretical framework, the antecedents of perceived informational value and perceived relational value are also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on the relational communication theory (RCT) and the social psychology perspective to develop an integrated research model regarding feedback-seeking. Hypotheses were empirically tested using data collected from 262 subjects who are members of OCoIs.

Findings
The results indicate that feedback-seeking intention is positively affected by perceived informational and relational value of feedback-seeking. Furthermore, perceived informational value partially mediates the effects of feedback-seeking self-efficacy and learning goal orientation on feedback-seeking intention; perceived relational value partially mediates the effects of social influence and social risk on feedback-seeking intention.

Practical implications
The results suggest that practitioners can promote feedback-seeking by enhancing learners' informational and relational dependencies on OCoIs. To achieve effective online learning, practitioners should consider learners' characteristics to provide personalized learning interventions.

Originality/value
This study advances RCT and the social psychology perspective to develop an integrated model for understanding feedback-seeking. The empirical results complement information-related explanations of feedback-seeking by finding that a relationship-related explanation is more important for promoting feedback-seeking in OCoIs. The proposed model also indicates that tolerance for ambiguity serves as a moderator in the relationship between perceived informational value and its antecedents.


This research explores the idea of digilog for fashion; it would help to conclude the uncertain mixed-phenomena and words as a neologism and find a fundamental concept that would be a reference for a lot of uncertain new words that have been occurring even this year. Furthermore, this research is aimed at analyzing how digilog has been reflected on the contemporary fashion and directing the ways towards the future of fashion. The digilog fashion design is the expression of a combination of opposite extremes, that is to say the combination of a paradoxical mix and directly-opposed elements. The outward expression of fashion design with digilog can be classified into several ways. First of all, it tends to use the elements of paradoxical expression; for example, applying high-technology to express a primitive and natural material. The analog expresses unprocessed. Secondly, using high-tech machine to express the texture of handicraft or rough embroidery. Lastly, digital printing(DTP) is applied to enlarge the several or the whole parts of a natural object or sensitivity. As a result of the analysis, the inside view of the contemporary fashion with digilog delineate followings; it is the attitude that claims to go back to the past and accepts the combination of nature and high-technology to get calmness in the rapidly changing modern world. And it is the will to fly from the utterly exhausted reality through the recurrence of the past when there used to be a lot of energies and used to live in affluence.


Three-component reactions of nitroalkanes, acrylamides, and aldehydes by using a catalytic amount of KOH in DMSO gave β′-hydroxy-γ-nitro amides. Mechanistic studies suggested that the reactions proceeded by domino Michael/aldol reactions. The highly nucleophilic nature of transient amide enolates that were formed by Michael addition of nitronate anions to acrylamides in DMSO enabled the realization of catalytic intermolecular aldol reactions of amide enolates in the presence of acidic nitroalkanes.


Theoretically deduced concern about a declining legitimacy of the welfare state has been expressed regularly over the last thirty years. However, in that period empirical studies have repeatedly shown a permanent and substantial popular supportfor welfare. This naismatch might be due to two factors. Firstly, an inadequate understanding ofpeople's ntotivations to support welfare, since the prognostic theories tend to overemphasise either an interest-basefor such motivations, or a value-base, thereby neglecting the possibility that people might be motivated in both ways, at the same time, and that possibly other types of motivation might play a role too. Secondly, thus farpeople 's motivations to contrioute to welfare have been naeasured indirectly only, which cab easily lead to false conclusions. A direct measurement would allowfor more accurate conclusions, as well as more adequate analyses of the structural and cultural determinants of motivations, which is an area largely uncovered at present. In this article an empirical instrun:ent is developed and appliedfor measuring directly the various motivations people may have to contribute to welfare. For this purpose d~erent types of motivation are deducedfrom sociological theories on solidarity, which address the general question why individual people would give priority to collective over personal interests. Four motives are found: perceived self-interest, moral obligation, affection and identification with others, and accepted authority. The core of the measurement instrument consists of asking respondents to what degree the frrst three motives for contributing to social security apply in their case, given that paying such contributions is a legal obligation. The instrument is applied in a national survey among the Dutch adultpopulation in 1995. The main conclusions are: that indeed a large majority of the Dutch is motivated to payfor welfare on several grounds at the time; that the motive of self-irrterest plays a most inrportant role; that older people, meir and the highest educated are more strongly motivated to contribute to welfare, while welfare use and income level only have a modest injluence; and that the main patterns can oe understoodfrom the encompassing character of the Dutch welfare state, from which (nearly) all Dutch citizens profit personally.


It is interesting that during a major disaster that the vast majority of individuals who actively respond and seek to help are volunteers, in fact according to the American Red Cross 95% of their relief workers are volunteers. Furthermore, there exists a substantial number of volunteer organisations that facilitate the placement of individuals who have made a conscious decision to assist and give up their time for this purpose. This paper seeks to contextualise this human endeavour within the philosophical framework of 'Utilitarianism' as espoused by Mill, whose essential premise is that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote human happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. The key linkage between utilitarian theory and disaster volunteerism is the notion that there is an undertaking to promote social, economic and/or environmental reform, and that ultimately only good or happy consequences matter. It is also important to emphasise that the response to a disaster may be characterised not only by specialist and highly trained individuals, but ordinary citizens volunteering their time, knowledge, skills and resources to help others in times of crisis. The issue here is to understand disaster volunteerism within utilitarian theory. It is contended that an improved theoretical understanding of this crucial and supportive component within the disaster management industry will be associated with beneficial economic, social and environmental consequences.


Quantum algorithms can be written down in several forms, one of the most common is the quantum circuit representation using discrete gates. The challenge in assessing the computational cost then becomes counting those gates, with realistic costs assigned to each gate. Moreover, interacting pairs of qubits inside most quantum computers will require moving qubits. In many architectures, this will involve cellular automaton-like swapping of qubits. In general, the depth will be described in number of quantum error correction (QEC) cycles, while the total cost will be space-time ``volume'' consisting of the number of qubits involved over that set of QEC cycles. This implies that accurate estimates can be made only in the context of a particular architecture and error correction mechanism.


SUMMARY.

1
 A general account of the palate, nasal and vomeronasal organs throughout the Squamata is given, since these structures are intimately related to the lachrymal duct.

2
 The bony palate of lizards shows variations in the extent to which the adjacent borders of the maxillary palatal processes and vomers are approximated behind the level of the opening of the duct of Jacobson's organ (fenestra vomeronasalis externa). separating this opening from that of the choana (fenestra exochoanalis).

3
 In snakes the bony palate is highly modified, the maxillae are reduced and in many forms the fenestra vomeronasalis externa is bordered laterally by the septomaxilla.

4
 In most lizards the superficial palate (soft tissues between the bony palate and the month) is incomplete, the vomerine and maxillary portions being divided by a groove, the choanal groove. This usually terminates anteriorly in relation to the duct of Jacobson's organ and posteriorly opens into the choana. In some lizards the choanal groove. are reduced, and in snakes they are entirely absent, so that the superficial palate is complete.

5
 The relations of the lachrymal duct to the organ of Jacobson and choanal groove in a relatively large number of squamate types are deseeibed. In all forms the lachrymal duct opens anteriorly in close proximity to the duct of the organ of Jacobson. Behind this level the lachrymal duct may or may not communicate with the choanal groove.

6
 The ontogeny of the structures considered is described in general terms, and it is shown that both the duct of Jacobson's organ and the choanal groove represent persistent portions of the primitive choana. The variations in relationships and extent of the choanal grooves are explained mainly on the basis of variations in the degree of fusion between the maxillary and vomerinc processes during ontogeny.

7
 The condition in Squamata is compared with that in Sphenodon, where the lachrymal duct opens only into the lateral aspect of the nasal sac. It is shown that the essential difference between Sphenodon and the Squamata lies in the forward extension of the lachrymal duct to come into relationship with the duct of Jacobson's organ in lizards and snakes. This involves an invasion by the growing lachrymal duct of the tissues derived from the vomerine process. It is concluded that conditions in Sphenodon are primitive and could readily undergo elaboration along either the squamate or mammalian lines of evolution.

8
 Certain functional implications of the conditions described are discussed. In the Squamata the organ of Jacobson is more highly developed than in any other vertebrates, and in many lizards the ciliated choanal grooves play an mportant part in conveying odorous particles to its lumen. In forms where these grooves are small or absent it is usually possible for the particles to be inserted directly by the tongue tips; there is is evidence, however, that there may also be some other filling mechanism, the nature of which remains obscure.

9
 The constant relationship between the opening of the lachrymal duct and the duct of Jacobson's organ is thought to have some physiological significance. The possibility that the secretion of the Harderian gland may possess some special property related to the sensory function of Jacobson's organ is considered.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a genetically heterogeneous disease characterized by significant clonal evolution. It is critical to understand clonal diversity and evolution during cancer progression and drug resistance in order to tailor curative therapies that block the growth of the multiple AML subclones in each patient.

In our individualized systems medicine (ISM) initiative, we performed ex-vivo drug sensitivity and resistance testing (DSRT) with a comprehensive set of 306 cancer drugs on primary cells from 22 AML patients (Pemovska et al, Cancer Discovery, 2013). Objective clinical responses were seen in 3/6 chemorefractory patients treated based on DSRT results. Here, we applied next-generation genome and transcriptome sequencing in order to a) follow clonal progression of adult AML in patients during treatment with novel targeted drugs, b) identify putative cancer predisposing mutations in patients who later develop aggressive relapsed AML.

Serial samples were obtained from each patient during diagnosis, treatment, remission and relapse. The data indicated significant clonal evolution and emergence of new subclones after relapse and drug resistance. In one such case, treatment of an AML patient with a combination of dasatinib-sunitinib-temsirolimus led to the selection of an already existing low-frequency subclone carrying ETV6-NTRK3 fusion. DSRT of the relapsed sample indicated addiction to IGF1R signalling, compatible with the NTRK3-fusion acting as a driver gene for drug resistance after this treatment. Similar trend where a low-frequency subclone was selected for in the resistance sample was seen in 3 other cases analyzed. Thereby, in depth analysis of clonal evolution from paired AML samples should facilitate the design of new combinatorial regimens to block relapse from arising.

Altogether, we analyzed the genomic profile of 20 recurrent, chemorefractory AML cases. The profile was different between the individual patients and showed an overrepresentation of FLT3 and WT1 mutations, whereas previously reported recurrent mutations in primary AML such as DNMT3A, IDH1/2 and RUNX1 mutations were seen only in individual cases.

We also analyzed the germline variants in the 20 cases, of which two had a positive family history. These patients were analyzed to identify putative variants predisposing these patients to refractory AMLs. The finnish population data comprising of exome sequencing data of 3700 individuals was used to filter the germline variants and assess their potential significance. This analysis indicated recurrent germline changes in multidrug resistance superfamily of genes, which suggests potential germline clues to the etiology to the chemorefractory, recurrent AML cases.

Citation Format: Naga Poojitha Ojamies, Mika Kontro, Henrik Edgren, Samuli Eldfors, Pekka Ellonen, Tea Pemovska, Langstrom Sonja, Henrikki Almusa, Maija Lepisto, Tero Aittokallio, Krister Wennerberg, Caroline Heckman, Kimmo Porkka, Olli Kallioniemi. Analysis of clonal evolution of leukemia in vivo following novel targeted treatments. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 982. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-982


BACKGROUND
Cervical cancer is the primary cause of death due to cancer in women in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. The Chuukese population is the fastest growing segment of the Micronesian community in Hawaii. Little is known about the health beliefs or practices of this population in Hawaii. The purpose of this project was to describe the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Chuukese women in Hawaii regarding cervical cancer prevention and screening.

METHODS
Research assistants from the Chuukese community were recruited and trained as members of the research team. A culturally sensitive survey tool was developed and piloted by the research team and used to interview ten key informants from the Chuukese community in Honolulu, Hawaii.

RESULTS
There is limited knowledge about cervical cancer, especially the association with human papillomavirus (HPV). This may be indicative of a lack of health information in general. Fear, privacy concerns, lack of awareness and cultural beliefs represent the main barriers mentioned when discussing cervical cancer. Education, done in a group setting with other women, is the most recommended method of informing this community and improving preventive and screening services for cervical cancer in these women.


Parkin is responsible for most autosomal juvenile recessive cases of Parkinson's disease (PD). Besides its well-characterized function as ubiquitin ligase, we previously established that parkin could repress p53 at the transcriptional level. Interestingly, p53 was recently shown to upregulate parkin, suggesting a feedback loop by which parkin and p53 interplay, thereby contributing to their physiological homeostasis. This equilibrium is disrupted in both PD and cerebral cancer. Thus, when parkin is mutated in PD, its transcriptional ability to repress p53 is abolished. Therefore, p53 elevation could likely contribute to the exacerbated cell death observed in PD-affected brains. Inversely, in brain-associated tumors linked to p53 mutations, the transcriptional control of parkin is reduced, and thereby, parkin expression is lowered. The reduction in parkin level could, in turn, contribute to an increase in the levels of transcriptionally inactive p53 that could explain, at least in part, the defect in cellular apoptotic commitment observed in cerebral cancer. Here, we discuss in detail the various studies demonstrating the importance of the functional interplay between parkin and p53 and its impairment by pathogenic mutations likely contributing to the etiology of PD and gliomas.