Background: Leptin is an adipocyte derived hormone which is thought to be a key regulator of food intake and body weight. Agouti-related protein also called Agouti-related peptide (AgRP) is a neuropeptide produced in the brain by the AgRP/NPY neuron. It is one of the most potent and long-lasting of appetite stimulators. The appetite stimulating effects of AgRP are inhibited by the hormone leptin. There is a public perception that exposure to cannabis produces an increase of appetite (a phenomenon referred to as the 'munchies'). This phenomenon needs an exploration of the role of the endocannabinoid system in the regulation of obesity and associated metabolic syndrome Aim: This study aimed to find out the food intake style, of subjects smoking cannabis by studing the relationship between the most two popular hormones controlling food intake (leptin hormone, and agouti related protein hormone) compared with healthy subjects. Methods: The study compared two groups of personells; the test group (Group II) included ten males aged 37.40±2.67 years (mean age ±SD) with positive 9-carboxyTetrahydrocanabinol (THC) detected in their urine by qualitative analysis using Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry. And control group (GroupI) included ten healthy males aged 38.67±2.35 years (mean age ± SD) as volunteers with negative 9-carboxyOriginal Research Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(29): 4844-4854, 2014 4845 Tetrahydrocanabinol (THC). In both groups, age and body mass index (BMI) were matched, diabetic subjects were excluded. Plasma leptin concentration was measured by quantitative radio immunoassay (RIA). Human plasma AgRP hormone was quantitatively measured by using a kit supplied from Quantikine R&D systems INC. Results: In group I (GI), there was an increase in mean plasma leptin concentrations ±SD (6.39±1.93) ng/ml, than that found, in group II (GII) (4.49±1.40) ng/ml, but it's statistically insignificant (P>0.05). There was an elevation, in mean plasma AgRP concentrations (27.77±2.17) pg/ml in GII, comparing with mean plasma AgRP concentrations (25.84±1.93) pg/ml, in GI but it's statistically insignificant (P>0.05). There was a statistically significant inversely correlation between plasma leptin concentrations and plasma AgRP concentrations in GI (P 0.05). Conclusion: The relationship between plasma leptin concentrations and plasma AgRP concentrations affected by smoking cannabis, and that may change the mechanism of food intake in cannabis smokers.


Variations of thermal donors (TDs) in highly phosphorus-diffused n-type silicon wafers (diffused wafer) have been studied with deep-level transient spectroscopy and capacitance-voltage measurements. The introduction and annihilation of TDs have been performed with heat treatment at 450°C and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in the temperature range 600-900°C,respectively. In diffused floating zone-grown (FZ) silicon wafer, TDs were observed. It is thought that oxygen diffuses into FZ silicon during the diffusion process, since no TDs are generally formed in FZ silicon for the low oxygen concentration. The behavior of TDs in diffused wafer corresponded with that in oxygen-rich bulk silicon. TDs were completely annihilated by RTA at 700 and 800°C for the as-diffused wafers and the heat-treated ones at 450°C for 24 h, respectively, and the annihilation rate for the as-diffused wafers was fast, as compare to that for the heat-treated ones. This results may be caused by difference in the total concentration and cluster size of TDs.


Chlamydia trachomatis is among the most prevalent of sexually transmitted diseases. While Chlamydia infection is a reportable event and screening has increased over time, enhanced surveillance has not resulted in a reduction in the rate of infections, and Chlamydia infections frequently recur. The development of a preventative vaccine for Chlamydia may be the only effective approach for reducing infection and the frequency of pathological outcomes. Current vaccine research efforts involve time consuming and/or invasive approaches for assessment of disease state, and MRI presents a clinically translatable method for assessing infection and related pathology both quickly and non-invasively. Longitudinal T2-weighted MRI was performed over 63 days on both control or Chlamydia muridarum challenged mice, either with or without elementary body (EB) immunization, and gross necropsy was performed on day 65. A scoring system was developed to assess the number of regions affected by Chlamydia pathology and was used to document pathology over time and at necropsy. The scoring system documented increasing incidence of pathology in the unimmunized and challenged mice (significantly greater compared to the control and EB immunized-challenged groups) by 21 days post-challenge. No differences between the unchallenged and EB immunized-challenged mice were observed. MRI scores at Day 63 were consistently higher than gross necropsy scores at Day 65, although two of the three groups of mice showed no significant differences between the two techniques. In this work we describe the application of MRI in mice for the potential evaluation of disease pathology and sequelae caused by C. muridarum infection and this technique's potential for evaluation of vaccines for Chlamydia.


A 12-channel seismic-reflection survey over parts of the head of Wilmington Canyon and the surrounding shelf revealed four major buried valleys and many small channels. The data indicate that the ancestral Delaware River valley was the most recent of a series of valleys to enter the canyon from the west. The head of Wilmington Canyon probably was eroded and then filled at various times from late Miocene to late Pleistocene time. Thick sedimentary sequences indicate a sediment supply from both the north and west. A large buried valley entering the canyon from the north was not mapped with the data presented here, but it is possible that such a valley exists. This is one of the first documentations of the long history of erosion of the United States east coast canyons.


Objective: To explore the attitudes and expectations of maternity care professionals to UK-born ethnic minority mothers. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews with 30 professionals from eight NHS maternity units in England that provide services for large proportions of women of black Caribbean, black African, Indian, Pakistani and Irish descent. Results: All the professionals reported providing care to both UK-born and migrant mothers from ethnic minorities. Most of them felt that they could differentiate between UK-born and migrant mothers based mainly on language fluency and accent. 'Westernized dress' and 'freedom' were also cited as indicators. Overall, professionals found it easier to provide services to UK-born mothers and felt that their needs were more like those of white English mothers than those of migrant mothers. UK-born mothers were generally thought to be assertive and expressive, and in control of care-related decision-making whereas some South Asian Muslim women were thought to be constrained by family influences. Preconceived ideas about ethnic minority mothers' tolerance of pain in labour, use of pharmacological pain relief measures and mode of delivery were recurring themes. Women's education and social class were felt to be major influences on the uptake of maternity care, regardless of ethnicity. Conclusions: Professionals appeared to equate the needs of UK-born ethnic minority women with those of white English women. Overall, this has positive implications for care provision. Despite this, specific behavioural expectations and unconscious stereotypical views were evident and have the potential to affect clinical practice.


We use nonparametric production function methods to decompose farm-level labor productivity growth into components attributable to efficiency change, technical change, and factor intensity. The estimation is accomplished using balanced panel data drawn from the Kansas Farm Management Association for the period 1993 to 2007. We find that labor productivity growth is primarily driven by factor intensity and technical change. Efficiency change is declining with increasing productivity growth, and technical change is not Hicks-neutral and occurs at high levels of factor intensity, suggesting that innovation is embodied in factor intensity.


We present a theoretical approach including Coulomb scattering to InAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers. In agreement with experiments we find strongly damped relaxation oscillations. We show the crucial importance of Coulomb interaction for this characteristic feature.


To obtain excellent current spreading performance of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UVLEDs), a 60-period stacked Si modulation-doped n-AlGaN/u-GaN structure is proposed to replace the traditional n-AlGaN structure. The high-resolution X-ray diffraction ω-scan rocking curves show that the periodic growth of AlGaN and GaN layers plays a positive role in reducing dislocation density. Compared with the conventional UV light-emitting diodes (LEDs), light emission micrographs of devices with a multi-layer stacked n-AlGaN/u-GaN structure reveal higher brightness and a more uniform distribution. In addition, the output power and external quantum efficiency under a 20-mA injection current are increased by 22% and 26.5%, respectively. Experimental and simulation results indicate that a multi-layer stacking structure can alleviate the current crowding effect in four ways: (1) a reduction in dislocation density; (2) replacement of quasi-two-dimensional electron transport with electronic bulk transport to enhance electron mobility; (3) an increase in electron concentration without improving the impurity concentration; and (4) a weakening of the electron scattering effect by reducing the impurity concentration.


Why do some refugee flows cause conflict in the host state and others do not? Drawing on bargaining models of war, I argue refugees are especially likely to cause conflict when they alter the host state's ethnic balance of power. More specifically, I explain why multiple informational and commitment problems arise when refugee flows produce a rapid shift in relative power between ethnic groups. As an empirical strategy, I examine a unique controlled comparison made possible by the influx of Kosovar refugees into Albania and Macedonia in 1999 that eliminates over a dozen competing explanations for civil conflict. I then use process tracing to demonstrate how a change in relative power between ethnic groups fostered violence in Macedonia, whereas the preservation of the ethnic balance facilitated a peaceful refugee flow into Albania. This evidence, though tentative, indicates that a refugee flow's effect on the host state's ethnic balance of power can help explain whether the state experiences peace or conflict.


Building on remarkable and sudden fundraising success during the Covid-19 pandemic, many National Health Service (NHS) charities in England and Wales have undergone a period of rapid organisational transformation and growth. This article explores these developments by considering how claims to distinction contribute to new organisational identities and allow access to valuable resources and funding opportunities. After situating recent developments within the policy background and key changes in governance and regulation since the 1990s, we report on interviews with directors and trustees of NHS Charities Together (NHSCT), the national membership organisation of NHS charities. These offer new insight into strategic shifts and the desire to form a distinct and unified identity for NHS charities. Highlighting ongoing tensions and debates within the sector, findings raise important questions over the role of NHS charities and their position in relation to the NHS and the state.


The effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) treatment on the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been fully evaluated in Japan. We therefore retrospectively evaluated this in a sub‐cohort of a prospective multicenter study to investigate optimal hemoglobin (Hb) level of CKD patients on hemodialysis (HD) treated with rHuEPO; Japan Erythropoietin Treatment Study for Target Hb and Survival (JET study). Effect of rHuEPO treatment during predialysis period to delay initiation of HD was retrospectively assessed in 2434 patients from the JET study comparing groups with and without rHuEPO treatment. The assessment was done by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and inverse probability‐weighted (IPW) analysis to adjust for time‐dependent confounders. The weights used in the IPW analysis were calculated using a logistic model that included baseline confounders and time‐dependent variables. During the predialysis period, 71.7% (1746 patients) were treated with rHuEPO (mean Hb level of 8.7 g/dL at initiation of rHuEPO treatment). Covariates significantly associated with initiation of rHuEPO treatment were Hb level, serum creatinine level, age, diabetes, cardiac insufficiency, and hypertension. The adjusted hazard ratio for time until HD initiation under rHuEPO treatment was 0.272 (95% CI, 0.223–0.331; P < 0.001) in the Cox analysis and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.53–0.76; P < 0.0001) in the IPW analysis. This retrospective study suggests that rHuEPO treatment during the predialysis period has preventive effects on the progression of CKD although further prospective investigation on the efficacy is needed.


The primary aim of this thesis is to understand the effects of electronic frustration generated by local interactions of the Hubbard U type on a lattice. Specifically we attempt to study the strongly interacting liquid phase of the Hubbard model and the so called extremely correlated phase of the t-J model without any broken symmetries. Of particular interest is the fate of the Fermi Liquid state under the influence of a large U. Exact solutions in solvable limits inform most of the physical intuition. Perturbative methods such as an infinite order calculation in the particle-particle channel ladder expansion yield fruitful results. Finally the non-perturbative field theory of Schwinger is used to generate a calculation scheme for the Green's function of the non-canonical Fermions of the t-J model. Numerical results are compared with important experimental results from the high-Tc Cuprate compounds.


Stress is considered an essential part of present life. It is the poignant or physical reaction that occurs when an personality observes an disparity between the level of demand placed upon him and his skill for meeting that demand. Many environmental situations can cause stress. Stress can be documented by some categories of indicators. There are the sensitive expressions: prickliness, worry, unhappiness, anxiety, tension, abandonment or unfriendliness. Secondly, there may be a social aspect: for instance, over impulsiveness, aggressiveness, reduced ability to distinguish and assess a condition, sometimes an unnecessary intake and dependence on alcohol or analgesics. And thirdly, there are the interconnected cognitive and biological aspects.


This paper presents the design and implementation of Shirako, a system for on-demand leasing of shared networked resources. Shirako is a prototype of a service-oriented architecture for resource providers and consumers to negotiate access to resources over time, arbitrated by brokers. It is based on a general lease abstraction: a lease represents a contract for some quantity of a typed resource over an interval of time. Resource types have attributes that define their performance behavior and degree of isolation.

Shirako decouples fundamental leasing mechanisms from resource allocation policies and the details of managing a specific resource or service. It offers an extensible interface for custom resource management policies and new resource types. We show how Shirako enables applications to lease groups of resources across multiple autonomous sites, adapt to the dynamics of resource competition and changing load, and guide configuration and deployment. Experiments with the prototype quantify the costs and scalability of the leasing mechanisms, and the impact of lease terms on fidelity and adaptation.


Microeconomic models posit that transaction costs isolate subsistence producers from output market shocks. We integrate microeconomic models of many heterogeneous households into a general equilibrium model and show that supply on subsistence farms may respond, in apparently perverse ways, to changes in output market prices. Price shocks in markets for staple goods are transmitted to subsistence producers through interactions in factor markets. In the case presented, a decrease in the market price of maize reduces wages and land rents, stimulating maize production by subsistence households; however, real incomes of subsistence households fall.


The work analyses the relationship between hormonal disorders in the postoperative period and the dynamics of postoperative anemias in patients who were operated on for brain tumors of various localization. It was found that hormonal changes have an effect on the process of hematopoiesis manifested by inhibition of erythroid differentiation in the bone marrow. The principal role in this case belongs to hypercortisolemia which is intensified by postoperative hormone therapy.


This study was aimed at examining the radiation absorbed dose rate, annual effective doses and excess lifetime cancer risks of halls of residence, Radiotherapy Unit and Radiology Department of UI, UCH and UNIMEDTH respectively. Results of measurements show that the mean absorbed dose rate for male and female hall are 0.33 ± 0.05476 and 0.17 ± 0.05074 µSv h-1 respectively. The mean overall absorbed dose rates calculated for facilities studied are 0.269 ± 0.0992 µSv h-1, 0.121 ± 0.036 µSv h-1 and 0.123 ± 0.00931 µSv h-1 in UI, UCH and UNIMEDTH respectively. The mean annual effective doses recorded in both male and female halls in University of Ibadan ranges between 0.71 mSv y-1 and 2.67 mSv y-1. The mean annual effective doses obtained from the facility of University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Ondo (UNIMEDTH) ranges between 0.17 and 0.44 mSv y-1. In addition, the mean annual effective doses calculated from the measured absorbed dose rate in Radiotherapy Department of University College Hospital, Ibadan ranges between 0.20 and 1.22 mSv y-1. As regards ELCRs, the mean values  determined in various facilities examined are 6.07 x 10-3 (Male Halls, UI), 3.27 x 10-3 (Female Halls, UI), 0.57 x 10-3 (UNIMEDTH- NE), 0.99 x 10-3 (UNIMEDTH- EX), 0.65 x x 10-3 (Teletherapy, UCH) and 0.57 x 10-3 (Brachytherapy, UCH).The mean ELCRs of both halls examined are higher than the world average of 1.45 x 10-3 and the standard value of 0.29 x 10-3 by at least a factor of 1.97 units.


Collagen implants are widely used in clinical practice and are an active area of research. The continued development of collagen-based implants often relies on histological techniques to fully evaluate the host response post implantation. These destructive, end-point analyses limit the rate that data can be obtained from samples. Magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to non-invasively monitor the remodeling of collagen scaffolds. In this study, scaffolds prepared from insoluble bovine collagen, with varied and predictable tissue responses were implanted in rats and evaluated using both histological and MRI techniques. Treatment of scaffolds with a carbodiimide crosslinker was found to slow the degradation and cellular infiltration into the scaffolds compared to uncrosslinked scaffolds. Angiogenesis was observed in core regions of crosslinked scaffolds, but not uncrosslinked scaffolds. Conjugation of chondroitin sulfate to the collagen scaffolds in combination with crosslinking improved both the cellular infiltration and angiogenesis compared to uncrosslinked and crosslinked scaffolds. Correlations between histology and MRI analyses showed that statistically significant relationships existed between cellular density, void area, T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements demonstrating that MRI is sensitive to specific remodeling parameters. Understanding the relationship between histology and MRI parameters may be used to help guide the interpretation of MRI data as well as to reliably detect changes within the implants using the MRI data alone, reducing the need for scaffold harvesting and destructive testing.


This poster describes a framework that automatically generates learning support scaffolds to guide task-based learning. The aim is to combine the exploratory learning principles prominent in digital games with the rich user modeling and adaptation of intelligent tutoring systems.


Introduction: Sipuleucel-T is an autologous cellular immunotherapy FDA approved for men with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Previous clinical data have shown that antibodies specific for the immunizing antigen, PA2024, develop within two weeks post-end of sipuleucel-T treatment. Here, we sought to determine whether B lymphocytes were activated during the course of treatment and to evaluate their phenotypic profile in two ongoing clinical studies (NEoACT and PRoACT). Materials and Methods: Sipuleucel-T is manufactured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated every two weeks by leukapheresis. The PBMCs are cultured with PA2024, an antigen composed of prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) fused to granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), washed, and then infused into the patient as sipuleucel-T. Each patient receives three infusions. The activation status of B lymphocytes was evaluated by multi-color flow cytometry during the manufacture of sipuleucel-T, before and after culture at each of the three treatment times. B lymphocyte subsets were identified by their expression of CD20, IgD and CD27: CD20+IgD+CD27− naive, CD20+IgD+CD27+ mature activated, and CD20+IgD−CD27+ memory. Activation of each of these subsets was determined by their expression of CD80 and CD96. Antigen-specific B lymphocyte function, in the form of antibody production, was evaluated in the serum of sipuleucel-T-treated subjects before and after treatment. Summary: In the mature activated B lymphocyte subset, an increase in the proportion of lymphocytes expressing CD80+ and CD86+ was detected following culture with PA2024, with the increase in CD86+ mature B lymphocytes being the highest after the second infusion of sipuleucel-T. An increase in mature activated B lymphocytes directly ex vivo, pre-culture, was not observed prior to the second or third infusion. Additionally, CD80 and CD86 expression was upregulated on memory B lymphocytes in response to culture with PA2024 and following the first infusion. Furthermore, PA2024- and PAP-specific antibody responses were detected and maintained 2-22 weeks after the completion of sipuleucel-T treatment.Conclusions: These data demonstrate that B lymphocyte activation is a consequence of ex vivo culture with PA2024 and precedes an antigen-specific humoral response, as detected in the patients' serum after treatment with sipuleucel-T. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of therapy-induced humoral immune activation in men with mCRPC treated with sipuleucel-T. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5508. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5508


The relationships among a worldwide collection of 56 strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, causal agent of halo blight disease on bean, were investigated by studying the phenotypic and genetic diversity. All P. s. pv phaseolicola strains tested were pathogenic on the bean cultivar 'Canadian Wonder'. Carbon substrate utilization using BIOLOG (Biolog GN2 Microplate test) clustered all the phaseolicola strains together. The use of the phaseolotoxin gene cluster as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) target detected all the P. s. pv. phaseolicola strains identified as toxin producers (Tox + ) except for one strain (NCPPB 2385) from Australia. Grouping of P. s. pv. phaseolicola by fatty acid composition suggested the existence of five clusters. A majority of the strains from the USA and Turkey were present in Cluster A while 12 of the 16 strains in group C were from Africa. PmeI and PacI enzymes were used for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of P. s. pv. phaseolicola. Digestion of chromosomal DNA from P. s. pv. phaseolicola with Pmel and Pad generated 29 and 28 groups, respectively. Determination of similarity coefficients and clustering by UPGMA revealed five clusters. More diversity was observed among strains with PFGE than with fatty acid profiling. The results obtained in this study suggest that although a number of strains formed small clusters based on their geographical origin, a clear segregation cannot be concluded. The uniformity of the strains in Turkey isolated in 1994 could possibly indicate a recent introduction of a population of closely related strains. Although only a limited number of strains from the USA were compared, it is interesting to note that the strains were phylogenetically closely related considering that they spanned approximately 20 years. The oldest strain, NCPPB 52 from Canada, which was collected in 1941, had identical PFGE patterns with several strains from South Africa and one strain in Turkey collected in the 1990s. The presence of identical PFGE groups in more than 1 year in South Africa and Germany and the phylogenetically closely related group in the USA coupled with the fatty acid data would indicate the likelihood for local seed sources and/or endemic populations.


Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a critical transcription factor for the adaptation to lowered oxygen environments. We have previously reported that hypoxia induced phosphatidic acid (PA) accumulation through diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) activity and provided evidence that this PA production regulated HIF-1 expression. Here we report that hypoxia also produces a marked intracellular accumulation of diacylglycerol (DAG) in different cell types. The previously proposed inhibitor of phosphatidylcholine phospholipase C (PC-PLC)/sphingomyelin synthase (SMS) activities, D609, specifically abrogates both hypoxia-dependent DAG accumulation and hypoxia-induced HIF-1 expression. We show that DAG-dependent protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms do not play an essential role in the regulation of HIF-1 expression. D609 inhibits PA accumulation triggered by hypoxia, suggesting that DAG could act as substrate for its conversion into PA by DGK upon these conditions. Therefore, this work provides novel evidence for the existence of DAG/PA-dependent intracellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of HIF-1 expression.


Background Heatwaves kill more people than floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes combined and disproportionally affect older persons and those with chronic conditions. Commonly used medications for chronic conditions, e.g., diuretics, antipsychotics disrupt thermoregulation or fluid/electrolyte balance and may sensitive patients to heat. However, the effect of heat-sensitizing medications and their interactions with heatwaves are not well-quantified. We evaluated effects of potentially heat-sensitizing medications in vulnerable older patients. Methods US Medicare data were linked at the zip code level to climate data with surface air temperatures for June-August of 2007–2012. Patients were Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years with chronic conditions including diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular, lung, or kidney disease. Exposures were potentially heat-sensitizing medications including diuretics, anticholinergics, antipsychotics, beta blockers, stimulants, and anti-hypertensives. A heatwave was defined as ≥2 days above the 95th percentile of historical zip code-specific surface air temperatures. We estimated associations of heat-sensitizing medications and heatwaves with heat-related hospitalization using self-controlled case series analysis. Results We identified 9,721 patients with at least one chronic condition and heat-related hospitalization; 42.1% of these patients experienced a heatwave. Heatwaves were associated with an increase in heat-related hospitalizations ranging from 21% (95% CI: 7% to 38%) to 33% (95% CI: 14% to 55%) across medication classes. Several drug classes were associated with moderately elevated risk of heat-related hospitalization in the absence of heatwaves, with rate ratios ranging from 1.16 (95% CI: 1.00 to 1.35) to 1.37 (95% CI: 1.14 to 1.66). We did not observe meaningful synergistic interactions between heatwaves and medications. Conclusions Older patients with chronic conditions may be at heightened risk for heat-related hospitalization due to the use of heat-sensitizing medications throughout the summer months, even in the absence of heatwaves. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and also to understand the effect of milder and shorter heat exposure.


Accumulating evidence demonstrates that the brain orexin system plays a crucial role in the control of blood pressure and cardiovascular function. In addition, hyperactivity of central orexin system function has been implicated in the pathology of salt sensitive hypertension (SSH). However, whether or not peripheral orexin system activity is altered in SSH remains unknown. In this study, we compared plasma orexin A levels and adrenal orexin receptors including orexin 1 receptor (OX1R) and orexin 2 receptor (OX2R) expression in Dahl salt‐sensitive (Dahl S) rat, an animal model of SSH, under high salt diet with their normotensive Dahl S cohorts. 7‐weekold male and age‐matched female Dahl S rats were divided into two groups of each and were fed either normal diet (NS, 0.4% NaCl) or high salt diet (HS, 4%NaCl). Six weeks following different diet treatments, all rats were euthanized and their plasma orexin A levels were measured using ELISA. Their adrenal glands were collected and subjected to real time PCR for OX1R and OX2R mRNA measurements. The results showed that HS diet increased plasma orexin A levels in both male (HS: 6.97±0.98 vs. NS 4.34±0.95 pg/ml; n=3; p=0.053); and female (HS: 6.17±0.65 vs. NS: 3.65±0.15 pg/ml; n=4; *P<0.05) rats. No significant difference was observed in orexin A level between male and female rats in both NS and HS groups. We therefore performed the rest of the experiments using female Dahl S rats. Real Time PCR results showed that OX1R mRNA level is increased by 3‐fold (n=5; *P<0.05) and OX2R mRNA level is increased by 1.9‐fold (n=5; *P<0.05) in HS diet treated rats compared to control rats. Immunohistochemistry assay showed that OX1R and OX2R are primarily expressed in the medulla of the adrenal gland and their expressions are co‐localized with tyrosine hydroxylase, an enzyme that catalyzes the first and rate limiting step in the synthesis of catecholamines including norepinephrine. This result coupled with the evidence that adrenal and plasma norepinephrine levels are increased in HS loaded Dahl S rats suggests that increased orexin system activity in the adrenal gland may increase norepinephrine production and subsequent release, therefore contributing to the development of SSH. Further studies will be performed to investigate whether blockage of the adrenal orexin receptors will decrease norepinephrine level and prevent or attenuate SSH in Dahl S rats.


This study undertaken during rabi season of 2017 and 2018 at Agricultural Research Station, Karimnagar, Telangana to study the effect of planting row ratios of female: male for seed production of Maize hybrid Karimnagar makka-1. The flowering showed that male inbred has taken 60 days after sowing (DAS) to 50% pollen shedding as against 64 days in both 4:1 and 5:1 row ratios and female showed 50% silking at 63 DAS compared to 66 days in both 4:1 and 5:1 row ratios. The 5:1 row ratio recorded significantly more cob length (18.3 cm). Kernel number (29.5), 100-seed weight (39.3g), grain weight per cob (107.6g), seed yield of (2597 Kg/ha) and net returns (Rs. 3,93,632/ha) compared to 4:1 row ratio (17.9 cm, 27.3, 36.6 g, 99 g, 2094 Kg/ha and Rs. 3,05,132 / ha respectively) indicating 19.3 and 22.5% increased yield and net returns over 4:1 row ratio which in turn resulted significantly higher yield over 3:1 row ratio.


The piriform cortex (PCx) has a potential role in storage and recall of olfactory information. This study is a first extensive investigation of the spatiotemporal distribution of activity in the PCx induced by learned sensory inputs following conditioning. In a conditioned group, rats chronically implanted with four electrodes in the olfactory bulb were trained to associate the electrical stimulation of a given bulbar electrode with a positive reinforcement, while stimulation of a different electrode predicted a negative reinforcement. In a familiarized group, rats received the same protocol of daily electrical stimulation with no associated reinforcement. At the end of the conditioning or familiarization episode, activity evoked in the PCx was optically mapped using a 144 photodiode array. In the anaesthetized rats, PCx maps were recorded in response to stimulation of each of the four bulbar electrodes using either high (0.5–1 mA) or low (0.1 mA) test current intensities. Low intensity stimulation revealed that conditioning selectively enhanced the probability of occurrence of a signal composed of a single late (56–73 ms) component which occurred almost simultaneously on a large PCx area. In the conditioned group, high intensity stimulation through either of the four electrodes revealed a potentiation of the early (17–30 ms) disynaptic component of the PCx response in the most posterior part of the PCx as well as a homogeneous increase of the late (39–52 ms) component spread over the PCx areas. These data suggest that learning induces synaptic changes at different nodes of the PCx circuitry.


ABSTRACT Samples of thoroughly disintegrated granite from a granitic knob (Sandstone Mountain) in the Llano area of central Texas and from Flagstaff Mountain, Colorado, exhibit bulk sample size distributions which follow Rosin's law of crushing. This same distribution is also found in samples which have traveled several hundred yards down a small intermittent stream draining Sandstone Mountain. Less completely disintegrated granite samples from Bear Mountain, Texas, and Flagstaff Mountain depart from Rosin's law in showing a deficiency in the finer sizes. Hornblende grains weathered out of the granite at Sandstone Mountain without fracturing and zircon grains in weathered granite at Flagstaff Mountain exhibit the lognormal distribution which they probably had in the fresh granites. Mineralogy and grain size are closely correlatable in the disintegrated granites from Texas. The percentage of quartz and rock fragments increases with increasing grain size whereas the percentage of the feldspars and heavy minerals decreases. The tendency of quartz and rock fragments to be more spherical than feldspar causes sphericity to increase with grain size. The decrease of sphericity with decreasing grain size is shown both in the samples from the Llano area and from Flagstaff Mountain.


Background: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a progressive disease of unknown etiology. Abnormal alveolar epithelial wound repair after injury may result in pulmonary fibrosis. We hypothesize that stem cells have a healing capacity by migrating to the site of injury and secreting hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) which supports alveolar epithelial repair, therefore contributing in reduction of fibrosis. Methods: Immunohistochemistry using paraffin lung sections from patients with two histological lung fibrosis pattern, usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) (both n=5) was performed with several stem cell markers. Results: Specific cells in the lung parenchyma were stained positive for HGF in UIP and NSIP. They were mainly located in the fibrotic areas. These HGF-positive cells did not co-stain for markers of alveolar epithelial cell (Surfactant protein C) or fibroblasts (vimentin). However, HGF-positive cells showed strong co-staining for the mesenchymal stem cell markers CD44, CD29, CD105, and CD90, indicating that HGF positive cells in the lung are of stem cell origin. The HGF-positive cells were also positive for CXCR4, suggesting that the HGF-positive cells in UIP and NSIP are recruited from the bone marrow. Conclusion: HGF-positive stem cells with the origin of the bone marrow (CXCR4 positive) can be detected in both UIP and NSIP, indicating a crucial role in the development or resolution of pulmonary fibrosis. These data indicate a possible role for stem cell therapy of patient with fibrotic lung disease in the future.


Background/Aim: Presepsin is a useful biomarker for diagnosing sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between oxidative stress and presepsin levels in animal models. Materials and Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were used for cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and to generate massive bowel resection (MBR) models. Trunk blood was collected for analysis of presepsin. Liver and intestinal tissue samples were taken to determine oxidative stress parameters. Results: Presepsin levels in MBR and CLP sepsis models were higher than those in control groups. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and malondialdehyde levels were increased in the liver and small intestine of rats in both models, whereas glutathione levels were decreased. Conclusion: Presepsin levels and RONS may be released by the same mechanism which is closely associated with the progression of sepsis and inflammation in both CLP and MBR models.


Machine learning (ML) methods can expand our ability to construct, and draw insight from large datasets. Despite the increasing volume of planetary observations, our field has seen few applications of ML in comparison to other sciences. To support these methods, we propose ten recommendations for bolstering a data-rich future in planetary science.


We present a case of a miscarriage at 16 weeks of gestation due to infection and transplacental passage of Salmonella group C. This was identified as being Salmonella Virchow from genital tract swab culture, and placental Gram-staining revealed numerous colonies of Gram-negative bacilli within the fibrin between the placental villi, confirming a true villitis associated with a hematogenous infection. Based on the patient's history, it was suggested that she had contracted the salmonella infection from eating undercooked eggs. Treatment of salmonella infection in pregnancy is controversial, and antibiotic therapy should be reserved for cases of invasive disease, using amoxicillin or a cephalosporin.


Summary: The "Lull pgm system" is a closed system for purifying harvested fat. It processes the collected tissue safely without any additional cost. The system was conceived by referring to the targets described in the literature with the aim of creating a simple system that guarantees a high standard of purification and requires minimal equipment that is available in every operating room. Cost must be always considered: even the most prosperous hospitals must keep within tight annual budgets. "Lull" can be used instead of expensive devices or disposable kits, without substantially increasing the operating time. The system has been used in clinical practice for many plastic reconstructive procedures and has obtained positive results and patient satisfaction, and no contraindications or disadvantages have been observed.


Abstract Objective To determine the effectiveness of educational programmes for the self management of asthma in children and adolescents. Data sources Databases of the Cochrane Airways Group, PsychINFO, reference lists of review papers, and eligible studies. Review methods Eligible studies were published randomised controlled trials or controlled clinical trials of educational programmes for the self management of asthma in children and adolescents that reported lung function, morbidity, self perception of asthma control, or utilisation of healthcare services. Eligible studies were abstracted, assessed for methodological quality, and pooled with fixed effects and random effects models. Results 32 of 45 identified trials were eligible, totalling 3706 patients aged 2 to 18 years. Education in asthma was associated with improved lung function (standardised mean difference 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.25 to 0.75) and self efficacy (0.36, 0.15 to 0.57) and reduced absenteeism from school (−0.14, −0.23 to −0.04), number of days of restricted activity (−0.29, −0.33 to −0.09), and number of visits to an emergency department (−0.21, −0.33 to −0.09). When pooled by the fixed effects model but not by the random effects model, education was also associated with a reduced number of nights disturbed by asthma. The effect on morbidity was greatest among programmes with strategies based on peak flow, interventions targeted at the individual, and participants with severe asthma. Conclusions Educational programmes for the self management of asthma in children and adolescents improve lung function and feelings of self control, reduce absenteeism from school, number of days with restricted activity, number of visits to an emergency department, and possibly number of disturbed nights. Educational programmes should be considered a part of the routine care of young people with asthma.


This paper focuses on the production of introductory videos for gallery exhibitions through collaborations between young people, professional artists and gallery staff. Fundamental to this process is the quality of encounter young people involved have with original works of art, artists and gallery staff. Their enquiries about the work on show and critical response is valued by the gallery and its diverse audiences for its unique and individual perspective. Students are invited to explore and familiarise themselves with the work prior to articulating their ideas and views on video within the exhibition spaces. Recorded footage is then edited to a professional standard and shown in the gallery during the run of each show. The videos are also posted out to local schools, marketed as peer-led introductions to each exhibition, in order to offer up questions and ideas to students and teachers prior to their gallery visit. A commissioned, external evaluation of the videos, against their stated aims and objectives, was undertaken by Goldsmiths College's Art in Education team.


Introduction: Accidents of old age is an important health problem for the cases of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the accident prevalence and to identify associated risk factors among elderly people living in nursing homes in Manisa city. Materials and Method: This cross sectional study was conducted in all nursing homes (n=4) Manisa city in Aegean region of Turkey. The data were collected in March 2010May 2010. The population of the study included elderly people living nursing homes (n=260). Of those elderly people, 210 (80.8%) were face to face interviewed by means of a questionaire. The questionaire included three forms: "sociodemographic variables form", "Brief Disability Questionnaire", and "accident experience form". All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 11.0. Descriptive statistics, the χ2 test, p for trend and logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Results: Prevalence of at least one accident experience in the previous year was 38.6% (n=81) in the study population. The most frequent accident type and accident place were falls (63.3%) and stairs, respectively. The most frequent accident reasons were balance disorder among personal reasons (20.2%) and wet and uneven floor among enviromental reasons (12.8%). We have found the use of an assistive device and disability was an important risk factor for accidents. Conclusion: Accidents are common among elderly elderly people living in nursing homes.


type="main"> Hedge fund managers are subject to several nonlinear incentives: performance fee options (call); equity investors' redemption options (put); and prime broker contracts allowing for forced deleverage (put). The interaction of these option-like incentives affects optimal leverage ex ante, depending on the distance of fund-value from the high-water mark. We study how these endogenous effects influence performance measures used in the literature. We show that reduced-form measures that do not account for these features are subject to economically significant false discovery biases. The result is stronger for low-quality funds. We propose an alternative structural methodology for conducting performance attribution in hedge funds.


ADAR2, a member of the adenosine deaminase family of proteins, is the enzyme that edits the Q/R site in the GluR-B transcript, an important physiological A-to-I editing event. ADAR2 pre-mRNA undergoes a number of known alternative splicing events, affecting its function. Here we describe a novel alternatively spliced exon, located within intron 7 of the human gene, which we term "exon 7a". This alternatively spliced exon is highly conserved in the mammalian ADAR2 gene. It has stop codons in all three frames and is down regulated by NMD. We show that the level of exon 7a inclusion differs between different human tissues, with the highest levels of inclusion in skeletal muscle, heart and testis. In the brain, where the level of editing is known to be high, the level of exon 7a inclusion is low. The new alternative form was also found in supraspliceosomes, which constitute the nuclear pre-mRNA processing machine. The high conservation of the novel ADAR2 alternative exon in mammals indicates a physiological importance for this exon.


Most of the software reliability models are based on reliability growth models which deal only with the fault detection process. In such models it is assumed that faults are corrected immediately after being detected or the time to correct a fault is not taken into account. This assumption may not be realistic in practice. In this paper we propose a software reliability model taking into account the fault correction time. The software failure times as well as correction times are assumed to be exponential. The model is formulated as an alternating renewal process. The properties of the reliability model are studied through the renewal process. The system parameters are estimated by means of the maximum likelihood estimators and the properties of the estimators are discussed. We also propose some large sample tests for the system parameters. Some numerical studies are made to evaluate the power of the tests.


Paediatric Gastrointestinal Disease. Pathology, Diagnosis, Management. Vols 1 and 2. 2nd Ed. Edited by W Allan Walker, Peter R Durie, J Richard Hamilton, John A Walker-Smith, and John B Watkins. (Pp 1856; £245 hardback.) Mosby, 1996. ISBN 0-8151-9082-4 .

'Paediatric Gastroenterology—A Formidable Past, a Challenging Future' the first chapter of this multiple, and international, author textbook highlights the recent impressive advances in our understanding of gastrointestinal diseases in children. The second edition could not have come at a better time, with many countries now recognising 'certification' in this rapidly developing subspecialty. The two volumes are divided into …


Graphene has demonstrated extraordinary electrical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties. In last decade, a lot of research has been done to improve fabrication and solution processing of graphene to graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide. Graphene oxide contains more number of oxygen containing functional groups which increase interlayer distance and make its dispersion easy in aqueous solutions. These advances in graphene have further improved its properties including tensile strength, elastic modulus, low resistance, carrier mobility and stability against higher temperatures and chemicals. Alginate is obtained from brown seaweeds and has potential applications in treatment of wounds and cell differentiation due to its non-toxicity, biodegradability and biocompatibility. It is a hydrophilic natural polysaccharide and provides moist and ideal environment for wound healing and cell growth. However, Alginate fibers still also display some unsatisfactory properties, such as low mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. Combining the intriguing properties of graphene and alginate, we develop smart composite fibers with suitable conductivity and mechanical strength which can be processed to nonwoven wound dressings and can be used as biosensors for medical applications. Sodium alginate/Graphene oxide fibers were fabricated by using wet spinning setup. The developed sodium alginate/graphene oxide fibers were further thermally and chemically reduced to improve conductivity. Their structure and properties were characterized by conductivity measurements, fiber strength testing, absorption behaviors, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscope). The addition of graphene oxide improves the strength of sodium alginate/graphene oxide fibers due to high compatibility and even distribution of graphene oxide fillers in alginate matrix. Thermal and chemical reduction methods increase the conductivity of sodium alginate/graphene oxide fibers due to removal of oxygen containing groups. Chemical reduction method seems to have greater effect in improving the conductive properties of sodium alginate/graphene oxide fibers. These fibers also have good ability to absorb fluid and forms hydrogel to keep appropriate moist environment for wound healing which make them ideal material to develop smart wound dressings.


Abstract The natural nest sites in hedgerows of the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius were investigated in Devon, in south-west England. A total of 73 nests were found in the autumn by careful searching of hedgerows, all of which were species-rich. In hedgerows that had not been cut for 6 years or more, most nests were in bramble Rubus fruticosus agg. and field rose Rosa arvensis margins, with a few in holly Ilex aquifolium bushes. In contrast, in hedgerows that had been cut within 6 years, the majority of nests were in shrubs, the dense protective growth at the cut line being strongly favoured. Blackthorn Prunus spinosa was preferentially selected, hazel Corylus avellana was avoided. It is suggested that the availability of safe nest sites may limit population density and that where nesting conditions are good the hazel dormouse may prefer to build nests in unenclosed situations rather than in hollows, whether natural hollows, such as tree holes, or artificial ones, such as nest boxes. To encourage hazel dormice in hedgerows, bramble and rose margins should be allowed to develop, and some lengths of hedgerow should be cut occasionally, particularly where blackthorn is present.


Epidemiological, experimental and clinical data verify that the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is increased by a long-term estrogen deficiency. This is, among other beneficial effects of estrogens on arteries, caused by alteration of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism [e.g. decrease in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and lipoprotein (a) and decrease in HDL2 cholesterol in serum and decrease in the accumulation of cholesterol in the arterial wall]. The beneficial cardioprotective effects of estrogens are attenuated by estrogen overdosing (causing hypertriglyceridemia), the use of synthetic instead of natural estrogen products (increased incidence of adversary effects) and especially by use of inappropriate progestins. The effect of progestins may be minimized by selecting a lower dose of a more metabolically inert products (especially progestins of the third generation). Mild to moderate hypercholesterolemia may improve with oral estrogen, and this strategy may be used as an adjunct for treatment. The replacement treatment of menopause is not yet widespread in Czechoslovakia. The new forms of treatment, not causing menstrual bleeding (continual medication, tamoxifen) may achieve more interest in the therapy. Hypogonadal men are known to have a more advanced development of atherosclerosis. The appropriate replacement is done by administration of such testosterone derivatives which enable the conversion to estrogens.


Cowpea is a drought-tolerant food legume grown in the savannah regions of the tropics and subtropics. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) holds the world collection of 15,003 cultivated cowpea from 89 countries in its genebank. In excess of 12,000 accessions were characterized for 28 agrobotanical descriptors. The entire collection was first stratified by country of origin and biological status. Land race accessions (10,227) with information on origin and characterization data were grouped using clustering procedures. The clustering analysis was based on Euclidean distances between and among accessions. Accessions within each country were then grouped hierarchically, according to their similarity. The number of clusters selected for countries varied from 2 to 20, depending on the size of collection for that country. A percentage number of accessions (5–25%) was chosen from each country, based on the size of the collection and its proximity to the centre of diversity. The number of accessions from each cluster in a country was then chosen randomly, based on the predetermined percentage. In countries where the numbers of accessions were few ( < 10), the percentage chosen from those countries would be higher and may go up to 100% to ensure that at least one accession was chosen from every country. Accessions with no characterization information were treated as a group, and accessions were chosen randomly, based on their geographical distribution. In the process of selection, 200 accessions that are known to be resistant to pests and diseases and not originally chosen through the selection processes were, nevertheless, kept as part of the core collection. Following these procedures, a total of 1701 accessions of landraces were chosen from the entire collection. Using the same procedures, a subset of 225 accessions was chosen from 1422 advanced cultivars and breeding or research lines. A third subset of 130 accessions was chosen from 838 accessions that either lack information on origin or biological status, and six accessions of wild and weedy forms from the available 64 wild and weed accessions were added. Thus a core collection of 2062 accessions of cowpea was constituted. The diversity in the core collection was similar to that of the entire collection and correlated traits that may be linked were also preserved in the core collection. This core collection of cowpea provides an opportunity for further exploitation of the cowpea germplasm for improvement of this crop.


Abstract : Normal guinea pig serum contains bactericidins active against Listeria monocytogenes. The listeriocidal activity of the serum did not increase after infection or after the injection of killed Listeria cells. It was destroyed by heating at 56 C for 30 minutes or by absorbing the serum with bovine serum albumin-antibovine serum albumin precipitate. The activity was not reduced by the addition of EDTA or heparin. Absorption of the serum with cells of Listeria, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli reduced the listeriocidal acitivity. Plasma was bactericidal to a lesser degree than serum. The activity of both plasma and serum was inhibited by the addition of a crude cell extract of Listeria, the mortalityenhancing factor. Lysozyme was not implicated in the bactericidal system. It was suggested that the bactericidal activity of guinea pig serum might be due either to a beta lysin-like substance originating from plate-lets or leucocytes or to the presence of antibodies produced as a result of contact with other Gram-positive organisms such as B. subtilis or S. aureus, which possess antigenic substances cross reacting with Listeria. (Author)


Chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) antagonists provide a new therapeutic approach in the treatment of HIV-1 (AIDS). TAK-779 displays high affinity and selectivity for the CCR5 receptor and serves as a lead compound for the development of further antagonists. In order to increase the oral bioavailability replacement of the quaternary ammonium structure by a tertiary amine and modification of the 4-methylphenyl moiety were envisaged. Herein, a new synthetic strategy for the development of TAK-779 analogs by late stage diversification is reported. The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions allowed various modifications of the central amide building block 3 at the end of the synthesis leading to compounds 2f and 2h with a promising CCR5 binding affinity.


Background: The Gail model is a validated breast cancer risk assessment tool that is primarily based on nonmodifiable breast cancer risk factors. Conversely, mammographic breast density is strongly correlated with breast cancer risk and responds to risk-modifying interventions. The purpose of our study was to correlate mammographic density with breast cancer risk as calculated by the Gail model and to examine the relative association of each of the model covariates to mammographic density. Methods: The study included 99 participants of the National Surgical Breast and Bowel Project P-1 trial, ages 36 to 74 years, all of whom had a mammogram and Gail model risk estimates done upon trial entry. Baseline mammograms were retrieved and digitized, and mammographic density was assessed by both subjective and computer-assisted objective measures. Results: Mammographic density was 2-fold higher in women with a >15% lifetime risk of breast cancer compared with those with <15% risk, by all density assessment methods. This was equivalent to a 3% to 6% increase in density per 10% increase in risk. Gail model covariates that measured benign or premalignant breast tissue changes accounted for the majority (41%) of the relationship with increased mammographic density. Seven percent of density was not explained by risk factors included in the Gail model. Conclusions: The Gail model does not fully account for the association between breast density and calculated breast cancer risk. Because mammographic density is a modifiable marker, development of a breast cancer risk assessment tool that includes mammographic density could be beneficial for assessing individual risk. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(7):1324–30)


This paper investigates the multi-objective optimization of ride comfort, suspension deflection and tyre grip performance measures for a conventional suspension structure by deriving the analytical solutions for a quarter-car model. The optimization results are compared with two other configurations, one having the same complexity in construction but employing an inerter while the other being the simplest suspension network with one damper and one spring only. The motivation is to investigate the possibility and situations where the inerter can be replaced by some cheaper element such as the spring. The results show that for a low static stiffness and in the situations that ride comfort is less important than suspension deflection and tyre grip (such as race cars), the considered structure would be a reasonable alternative for the one employing an inerter.


Training load (TL) is influenced by both training volume and training intensity. A precise understanding of the TLs completed during training is crucial to achieve desirable training outcomes and to avoid overtraining. TL can be monitored in many different ways; however, we recommend the session-rate of perceived exertion (session-RPE) method for quantifying TL because of its low cost and because it is easy to understand and relatively simple to implement. In this report, we provide data regarding TLs collected during the 2008 Roland Garros Tournament. Our experience in tennis suggests the session-RPE method to be a valuable tool that can be used to control training and to avoid excessive TLs. We also believe that accurate monitoring of TL will enable the coach to better understand of the sports training process, ultimately leading to the improvement of performance.


FGF21 is a novel secreted protein with robust anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, and anti-atherogenic activities in preclinical species. In the current study, we investigated the signal transduction pathways downstream of FGF21 following acute administration of the growth factor to mice. Focusing on adipose tissues, we identified FGF21-mediated downstream signaling events and target engagement biomarkers. Specifically, RNA profiling of adipose tissues and phosphoproteomic profiling of adipocytes, following FGF21 treatment revealed several specific changes in gene expression and post-translational modifications, specifically phosphorylation, in several relevant proteins. Affymetrix microarray analysis of white adipose tissues isolated from both C57BL/6 (fed either regular chow or HFD) and db/db mice identified over 150 robust potential RNA transcripts and over 50 potential secreted proteins that were changed greater than 1.5 fold by FGF21 acutely. Phosphoprofiling analysis identified over 130 phosphoproteins that were modulated greater than 1.5 fold by FGF21 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Bioinformatic analysis of the combined gene and phosphoprotein profiling data identified a number of known metabolic pathways such as glucose uptake, insulin receptor signaling, Erk/Mapk signaling cascades, and lipid metabolism. Moreover, a number of novel events with hitherto unknown links to FGF21 signaling were observed at both the transcription and protein phosphorylation levels following treatment. We conclude that such a combined "omics" approach can be used not only to identify robust biomarkers for novel therapeutics but can also enhance our understanding of downstream signaling pathways; in the example presented here, novel FGF21-mediated signaling events in adipose tissue have been revealed that warrant further investigation.


An 18-month-old proposita with psychomotor retardation and other congenital abnormalities is presented. Chromosomal analysis of both parents proved normal. However, the karyotype of the proposita contained 47 chromosomes in both lymphocytes and cultured fibroblasts. The marker chromosome proved to be a deleted No. 14 or 15. Comparison of the reported cases of partial trisomy D indicates that a definitive clinical syndrome is not apparent in either case.


This paper analyzes the impact of economic and social factors on fiscal independence of districts/cities government in Province of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Scope of research includes all districts in2009-2012. To analyze secondary data, we utilize the Pooled EGLS (Cross-section random effects) method. This research not only use secondary data, but also primary data. The primary data are used to obtain deep picture about factors that lower fiscal dependence of districts/cities in North Sulawesi. Those data are collected by interview to parties related to generate own resource revenues (OSR) and by focus discussion group with academicians. This research finds that economic development and population in districts of North Sulawesi do not significantly affect on fiscal independence. Otherwise, only variable human development index has significantly positive effect on fiscal independence. These findings are supported by primary data which show that: (1) most activities of dominant economic factor of those districts, except Manado and Bitung, namely agriculture, are not tax or surcharge objects; (2) types of local government tax have small tax base for districts and varies between districts that have big cities and small cities; (3) low of human resource capacity and creativity to generate OSR effectively and efficiently; and (4) low of taxpayers compliance. Keywords: fiscal independence, economic development, human development index, population.


Application of robotics in rehabilitation provides various opportunities to improve the quality of daily life of disabled people. Therapy rehabilitation is categorized as cardiopulmonary, neurological and musculoskeletal. This paper focus on rehabilitation robots used for musculoskeletal therapy which assists in strengthening and restoring functionality and improving coordination in the musculoskeletal system. The development of therapy rehabilitation robots in the form of passive and active is reviewed in this paper with regards to the 21st century. Therapy rehabilitation robots are mainly discussed based on different actuation systems, degree of intelligence and virtual reality based rehabilitation robots. The main focus of this paper is to address the impact of the developments in the field of rehabilitation, limitations and challenges faced by current researchers.


Under the guidance of "the Scientific Outlook on Development", the Sichuan universities and colleges have rethought the present lazy and separate situation of the "Three Spir i ts" . Based on analyzing the relationship of the "Three Spirits", they have taken such measures as constructing learning group and cultivating educational tradition etc, and established the mechanism of "educational guidance" and "cultural edification" to promote the virtuous change of the "Three Spirits"construction, it thus has important practical value.


Parallel robots are being increasingly used as a fundamental component of lower-limb rehabilitation systems. During rehabilitation therapies, the parallel robot must interact with the patient, which raises several challenges to the control system: (1) The weight supported by the robot can vary from patient to patient, and even for the same patient, making standard model-based controllers unsuitable for those tasks since they rely on constant dynamic models and parameters. (2) The identification techniques usually consider the estimation of all dynamic parameters, bringing about challenges concerning robustness and complexity. This paper proposes the design and experimental validation of a model-based controller comprising a proportional-derivative controller with gravity compensation applied to a 4-DOF parallel robot for knee rehabilitation, where the gravitational forces are expressed in terms of relevant dynamic parameters. The identification of such parameters is possible by means of least squares methods. The proposed controller has been experimentally validated, holding the error stable following significant payload changes in terms of the weight of the patient's leg. This novel controller allows us to perform both identification and control simultaneously and is easy to tune. Moreover, its parameters have an intuitive interpretation, contrary to a conventional adaptive controller. The performance of a conventional adaptive controller and the proposed one are compared experimentally.


Serotonin-induced DNA synthesis in bovine aortic smooth muscle cells was totally abolished by pretreatment of cultures with 5 ng/ml pertussis toxin. The half maximally effective concentration of toxin was approximately 10 pg/ml. Pertussis toxin did not affect platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-stimulated DNA synthesis and actually enhanced the mitogenic effect of the phorbol ester, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. Pertussis toxin did not inhibit serotonin-stimulated inositol phosphate accumulation or increases in intracellular calcium or cAMP concentrations under conditions sufficient to completely inhibit serotonin-induced (3H)thymidine incorporation. These results demonstrate that a novel, pertussis-sensitive pathway is required for serotonin-, but not platelet-derived growth factor-induced DNA synthesis in vascular smooth muscle cells. The pertussis-sensitive step does not involve cAMP, phosphoinositide hydrolysis, mobilization of intracellular calcium, or phorbol ester-sensitive protein kinase C activity.


Recent studies have revealed a novel mechanism of myosin regulation in which the actin-binding protein tropomyosin converts atypical type-V myosins into processive cargo transporters. To achieve this, tropomyosin's primary role appears to lie in its ability to influence myosin's enzyme kinetics, prolonging the strong actin-bound ADP/apo state to enable hand-over-hand walking of myosin-V dimers along actin tracks. Activation of myosin-V mediated transport by tropomyosin underscores its function in helping to direct cargos to specific actin tracks and subcellular destinations. This type of regulation supports the broader notion that tropomyosin plays a key role in actomyosin sorting.


The Use of Raspberry pi microcomputer nowadays is increasing rapidly in various applications and projects that require an acceptable software capability and an affordable one. One of the Raspberry pi applications is to use it as a video server. Real-time video servers are used in monitoring, as well as one-sided educational conferences. In this paper, an embedded LAN live real-time video/audio stream server is designed using the Raspberry pi programming and control capabilities. The video is captured through the Raspberry pi camera module port and is compressed and sent using a special standard that applies HTTP so that it can be received from the network. The audio is also captured using a microphone and sent with the RTP protocol. This system finds somehow solutions for high cost and complex video server systems as well as the mass storage used for such systems. This system uses a video stream of 800 × 400 at 24 frames per second. This paper recommends expanding the project to a WAN network. Keywords— Raspberry pi, Raspbian, HTTP, RTP, Microcomputer


Fabricating multi-cell constructs in complex geometries is essential in the field of tissue engineering, and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is widely used for this purpose. To enhance the biological and mechanical integrity of the printed constructs, continuous single-nozzle printing is required. In this paper, a novel single-nozzle printhead for 3D bioprinting of multi-material constructs was developed and characterized. The single-nozzle multi-material bioprinting was achieved via a disposable, inexpensive, multi-fuse IV extension set; the printhead can print up to four different biomaterials. The transition distance of the developed printhead was characterized over a range of pressures and needle inner diameters. Finally, the transition distance was decreased by applying a silicon coating to the inner channels of the printhead.


Author(s): Weber, Martin | Advisor(s): Porter, Benjamin; Feldman, Marian | Abstract: The transition for the Late Bronze to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean is still only incompletely understood, with explanations ranging from social disintegration to environmental degradation. Especially the idea of societal collapse has had a strong influence on this discourse and continues to be frequently invoked as an explanatory model, despite recent advances in the historical and archaeological understanding of this transitional period. Mediated by Classical Greek and biblical tradition, this ongoing appeal of collapse theory can be attributed to the (overt or subliminal) persistence of 18th-20th century CE intellectual paradigms, which are often enmeshed with ill-defined concepts of race, ethnicity, or social evolution. In the context of the Late Bronze/Iron Age Levant, traditional applications of collapse theory reveal more about Western scholarly self-perceptions, than they contribute to an understanding of this critical period.This dissertation argues that Socio-Natural Systems (SNS) thinking, borrowed from ecology, offers a theoretical and methodological framework with which the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition can be analyzed and understood in more detail. Rather than relying on incompletely understood and ultimately restrictive classificatory labels, SNS thinking promotes the analysis of processes of change across multiple scales, both temporal and geographic. SNS analysis acknowledges the interrelatedness of social processes and environmental conditions, and provides a structure through which the interactions between societies and their respective environments can be studied.The principles of SNS analysis are applied to a study region in Western Syria and Northern Lebanon, termed West-Central Syria, in a preliminary analysis of socio-natural interactions in the late 2nd and early 1st millennia BCE. Geospatial analysis is used not only to investigate and quantify relationships between social and environmental processes, but also to overcome significant gaps in current data availability. GIS modeling is used to retrodict climatic conditions in the late 2nd and early 1st millennia BCE, but also to develop a predictive model of agricultural suitability, enabling the analysis of the effects of climatic change on the environment and ancient agricultural economies. Combining the results of these models with geostatistical analysis, palaeoenvironmental data, and the historical and archaeological record, this dissertation argues that processes of change and transformation in Late Bronze/Iron Age West-Central Syria were geographically and chronologically specific, and conditioned on a highly complex interplay of both social and environmental factors.


Metal-based electronics is attractive for fast and radiation-hard electronic circuits and remains one of the longstanding goals for researchers. The emergence of 1T-TaS2, a layered material exhibiting strong charge density wave (CDW) driven resistivity switching that can be controlled by an external stimulus such as electric field and optical pulses, has triggered a renewed interest in metal-electronics. Here we demonstrate a negative differential resistor (NDR) using electrically driven CDW phase transition in an asymmetrically designed T-junction made up of 1T-TaS2/2H-MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure. The principle of operation of the proposed device is governed by majority carrier transport and is distinct from usual NDR devices employing tunneling of carriers, thus avoids the bottleneck of weak tunneling efficiency in van der Waals heterojunctions. Consequently, we achieve a peak current density in excess of 105 nA μm-2, which is about two orders of magnitude higher than that obtained in typical layered material based NDR implementations. The peak current density can be effectively tuned by an external gate voltage as well as photo-gating. The device is robust against ambiance-induced degradation and the characteristics repeat in multiple measurements over a period of more than a month. The findings are attractive for the implementation of active metal-based functional circuits.


In this paper we derive an extra class of non-Markovian master equations where the system state is written as a sum of auxiliary matrixes whose evolution involve Lindblad contributions with local coupling between all of them, resembling the structure of a classical rate equation. The system dynamics may develop strong nonlocal effects such as the dependence of the stationary properties with the system initialization. These equations are derived from alternative microscopic interactions, such as complex environments described in a generalized Born-Markov approximation and tripartite system-environment interactions, where extra unobserved degrees of freedom mediates the entanglement between the system and a Markovian reservoir. Conditions that guarantee the completely positive condition of the solution map are found. Quantum stochastic processes that recover the system dynamics in average are formulated. We exemplify our results by analyzing the dynamical action of nontrivial structured dephasing and depolarizing reservoirs over a single qubit.


The expansion and renovation projects of the nation's large infrastructure systems such as highways, airports, and nuclear power plants can be characterised by their complexity and high cost, especially when they interfere with a facility's ongoing operations. Generally, major infrastructure systems are required to remain fully operational and minimally disturbed while expansion and renovation projects are taking place. This paper discusses the concept of disturbance, and addresses how to minimise the disturbance of construction and to reduce their impacts on ongoing operations. A disturbance model was adopted through the integration of stochastic simulation and project management packages. The model was validated in a major infrastructure case study. This research showed that substantial savings in infrastructure operations and construction cost could be achieved by the implementation of the developed model. It has been proved that modern information technology can be used effectively to deal with real and complex issues concerning our infrastructure. However, barriers to the transfer of the presented technology still exist. An overview of these barriers as well as the critical success factors that would make this technology applicable to airport organisations, are also discussed.


CHEMISTRY QUINSEY, CARMEN D. B.S., KNOXVILLE COLLEGE, 1974 TRYPTOPHAN FLUORESCENCE STUDIES ON TURKEY LIVER FRUCTOSE 1,6-BISPHOSPHATASl ~~ Advisors: Drs. G. Scott Owen and Joe Johnson, Jr. Thesis dated December, 1976 The native form of turkey liver fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (FbPase) consists of four identical subunits, each of which contains one tryptophan residue. The fluorescence emission spectra of the tryptophan residues have been recorded as a function of changes in pH, substrate (fructose 1,6bisphosphate) and inhibitor (adenosine-5! monophosphate) binding, and the addition of the metal cofactors Mg+2, Mn+2 and Co . Changes in the fluorescence emission spectra of the tryptophan residues indicate that conformational changes in the enzyme occur under the above conditions. TRYPTQPHAN FLUORESCENCE STUDIES ON TURKEY LIVER FRUCTOSE. 1,6-BISPHOSPHATASE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE


Intranet technology is the application of Internet tools in local networks. Due to the diversification of hardware and the need for international cooperation, cross‐platform systems with network access are required for computer‐based training (CBT). The latest advances in Web technology make it feasible to have interactive CBT on the Web: Web‐based training (WBT). It is possible to convert existing interactive learning programs to Intranet technology. This approach combines the evaluated contents of excellent learning resources with the technical advantages of Web technology.


—Dynamic Line rating can be used as a temporary alternative to manage congestion in networks that have high penetration of renewable generation. Key factors for implementing dynamic line ratings in scheduling and planning are network imbalance constraints. Modern power systems are expected to have some degree of imbalance even at the transmission level due to the presence of embedded generation and uncoordinated electric vehicle charging. This paper presents a new mathematical framework to generalize the extended conic quadratic optimal power flow with dynamic line rating in the context of three-phase load flow formulation. Extended cases were studied and results indicate that the proposed approach can be well fitted to unbalanced operating conditions when each phase of the system is considered separately with mutual coupling between phases. Dynamic line rating (DLR) proved to provide considerable benefits in unbalanced networks with no adverse effects on voltage imbalance.


Drawing on particular socio-economic theories, this paper discusses the implications for regional studies of the experience economy approach through the broader question of market valuation. Different forms of market construction are identified and compared with regard to distinct models of regional development. It is observed that most of established territorial innovation models give prominence to a technical form of market valuation driven by technological change, by localized innovative production and by the mobility of goods and services. Conversely, experiential valuation primarily points to alternative models of development focusing on the local capacity to set attractive and engaging stages and to exploit consumer mobility. While the former models have mainly been applied to export-based manufacturing, the latter have essentially been applied to leisure, entertainment and tourism activities. The second part of the paper discusses the limits of technical as well as experiential market valuation in the case of the Swiss watchmaking industry. In such a case, experience in consumption and technology in production appears as strategic economic resources but what is primarily valued is authentic watchmaking. Authenticity is regarded as a third possible form of market valuation revealing specific socio-economic and territorial dynamics. The paper finally argues that market valuation should be considered as a key issue for future understandings of economic and territorial development.


In order to study the protection performance of silane coating on in-service concrete structures in a sulfate environment, we collect concrete samples in the field to simulate the concrete erosion process by accelerated erosion with wetting–drying cycles. We place the samples into protected, exposed and control groups corresponding to a corrosive environment with silane protection, corrosive environment without protection and general environment for three different service conditions. A combination of ultrasonic velocimetry, CT (Computed Tomography) scan imaging, NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) pore structure analysis, strength testing and other methods are used to analyze the strength, ultrasonic wave velocity, pore structure and other characteristics of the specimens during sulfate erosion. Based on the test results, the protective effect of silane coating on concrete structures under sulfate attack is quantitatively analyzed, and an index for judging the damage rate of specimens is proposed to quantitatively analyze the protective effect of silane coating. The research results show that the damage of the concrete structure under silane protection in a sulfate-attack environment can be reduced by more than 50%; its integrity damage index and strength damage index are easily affected by the location of local defects, which leads to a decrease in the protection efficiency of the surface silane coating.


Muhammad Abed Al-Jabri (1935—2010) is one of the significant philosophical and scientific figures who left their strong and broad imprint in various fields of contemporary Arab culture. Al-Jabri created his philosophy towards various aspects of Arab history. This included philosophy, theology, politics, ethics, and other aspects. His philosophical works culminated in his famous book on "The Arab Mind," in which he dealt with "The Structure of the Arab Mind" and supplemented it with his famous book — "Critique of the Arab Mind." The article's primary task is limited to addressing the intellectual path of Al-Jabri by tracing what he wrote and the content of these works. Besides, in this article, what Al-Jabri wrote is arranged in chronological order in order to clarify the features of the general and particular course of his philosophical creativity. It is a necessary task for scientific research in his philosophy. It provides the reader and researcher with the complete basic set of his books.


Polioencephalomalacia was diagnosed histologically in cattle from two herds on the Darling Downs, Queensland, during July-August 2007. In the first incident, 8 of 20 18-month-old Aberdeen Angus steers died while grazing pastures comprising 60%Sisymbrium irio (London rocket) and 40%Capsella bursapastoris (shepherd's purse). In the second incident, 2 of 150 mixed-breed adult cattle died, and another was successfully treated with thiamine, while grazing a pasture comprising almost 100%Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish). Affected cattle were either found dead or comatose or were seen apparently blind and head-pressing in some cases. For both incidents, plant and water assays were used to calculate the total dietary sulfur content in dry matter as 0.62% and 1.01% respectively, both exceeding the recommended 0.5% for cattle eating more than 40% forage. Blood and tissue assays for lead were negative in both cases. No access to thiaminase, concentrated sodium ion or extrinsic hydrogen sulfide sources were identified in either incident. Below-median late summer and autumn rainfall followed by above-median unseasonal winter rainfall promoted weed growth at the expense of wholesome pasture species before these incidents.


Background & Aim: Intra-aortic ballon pump(IABP) is a mechanical device that has become an accepted treatment modality for patients with severely compromised hemodynamics. The present retrospective study was undertaken to identify the major survival and nonsurvival determinants of patients who were in need of intra-aortic ballon pump support after cardiac surgery. Patients & Methods: This study was conducted on 46 out of 2200 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG) during one year in Tehran Shahid Rajaie Hospital and required IABP support. The patients were divided into survival(n=33) and nonsurvival(n=13) groups. Nonsurvival group was divided into 2 subgroups; weaned and not weaned from IABP. Variables compared between 2 groups were: sex, age, body surface, smoking, acute myocardial infarction(AMI), diabetes mellitus, previous cardiac surgery, ejection fraction(EF), functional class according to Canadian Cardiovascular Society(CCS), duration of cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB), aortic occlusion, IABP support, mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit(ICU) stay. Differences between 2 groups were analysed via student's t-test, chi-square test, and frequency analysis. A Pvalue of <0.05 was regarded a significant level. Results: Overall survival and nonsurvival rate was 71.17% and 28.3% respectively. Nonsurvival group had higher rate of Canadian Cardiovascular Society functional class III, IV(P=0.03) and depressed left ventricular ejection fraction(P=0.13). This group had longer duration of cardiopulmonary bypass(P=0.01) and aortic occlusion(P=0.02). No significant difference was seen with other variables. In nonsurvival group, 6 patients weaned and 7 patients were not weaned from IABP, but all died from heart failure(P=0.009), renal failure(P=0.059), or respiratory failure(P=0.3). Conclusion: This data suggest that heart failure was the major cause of death in patients not weaned from IABP, and patients with EF<30% had a poorer outcome. In patients weaned from IABP, renal failure, heart failure and respiratory failure were causes of death.


This article continues the series of previous publications of the authors based on the analysis of the detailed report of the experts of the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death program (NCEPOD) designed to evaluate the quality of autopsies carried out by the coroners in the Great Britain. It was shown that only in 13 to 55% of the 1,691 case the operators had an opportunity to refer the necropsy materials for the pathological study. The problems encountered in association with histological and toxicological analysis arose from the misunderstanding between the coroners and the pathologists as regard the organizational aspects of autopsy studies as swell as the financial and economic considerations. The Coroner Rules that had been adopted in 1984 and remained in force in the country until 2005 needed to be radically revised, corrected, and amended to facilitate the solution of a number of problems and eliminate the formal organizational and technical contradictions that hampered the further improvement of the quality of autopsies that must be performed by the corners at the national rather than the local level. The maximum number of the unacceptable results were revealed in the protocols of autopsires carried out by the forensic medical experts. All pathologists in the Great Britain are recommended to pay special attention to all cases of sudden death of the adult subjects and the deceased epileptic patients. The detailed investigations are mandatory in all cases of death following medical manipulations, such as surgical interventions, and complications.


Professional secret is a legally punished banning from disclosing certain information. Those who are subject to professional secret do not always know precisely its outline. After recalling general rules of professional secret, exceptions that allow or impose the disclosure of confidential information will be explained. The 5th March 2007 law on child protection and the same day law on crime prevention both provide for obligations and authorisations to disclose confidential information. The compatibility of each of these laws with the other is subject to controversy and the sound structuring of their various obligations is complex. Their implementation in the interest of families and children will need common thinking in social services and communities.


Information Management System (IMS) is a joint hierarchical database and information management system With 'extensive 'transaction processing capabilities '[1]. IMS 'is currently a system being used worldwide in order to improve efficiency of an operation. Meeting Management System '(MMS) 'is 'a system that will 'be 'used 'iy'Hindu Youth Organization (HYO) of Batu Empat, Taiping as the case study. MMS is suitable for office use, where mneetings 'a,. 'usually 'conducted. Types 'pf meetings 'are only formal and official with the presents of secretary and chairperson. Problem statement arises
because use of paper 'document is 'out 'dated, slow 'i , locating 'of 'pivious 'meeting documents and update of progress after meeting is slow using manual method. MMS is developed as a prototype of web based MMS 'using Aspnet 2008 and Microsoft SQL server 2005. Using MMS relocating meeting documents using search function, and
updates of Progress are acknowledged as 'fasten'the 'process.. MethOdOlogy 'used 'to develop MJvIS is Rapid Application Development (RAD). I hope that this system will benefit to HYO in enhancing productivity 'of'the 'organization. 'I also 'hope that MMS's featured styles in handling meeting documents will be implemented and be considered by all organization or'companies in 'order to spread'comp eried 'ineethig'tuanagie1it.


This paper discusses and illustrates the 'knowledge turn' in urban policy across Europe. We identify four manifestations of it: 1) widespread efforts to lure knowledge workers; 2) a growing involvement of knowledge institutes in urban development and planning processes, 3) an explicit 'knowledge based' approach to planning and the design of public space, and 4) efforts to underline a 'knowledge city' identity using all kinds of marketing and branding techniques.


Exploring novel anticancer agents that can trigger non-apoptotic or non-autophagic cell death is urgent for cancer treatment. In this study, we screened and identified an unexplored anticancer activity of gypenoside L (Gyp-L) isolated from Gynostemma pentaphyllum. We showed that treatment with Gyp-L induces non-apoptotic and non-autophagic cytoplasmic vacuolation death in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Mechanically, Gyp-L initially increased the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, which, in turn, triggered protein ubiquitination and unfolded protein response (UPR), resulting in Ca(2+) release from endoplasm reticulum (ER) inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R)-operated stores and finally cytoplasmic vacuolation and cell death. Interruption of the ROS-ER-Ca(2+) signaling pathway by chemical inhibitors significantly prevented Gyp-L-induced vacuole formation and cell death. In addition, Gyp-L-induced ER stress and vacuolation death required new protein synthesis. Overall, our works provide strong evidence for the anti-HCC activity of Gyp-L and suggest a novel therapeutic option by Gyp-L through the induction of a unconventional ROS-ER-Ca(2+)-mediated cytoplasmic vacuolation death in human HCC.


Duplications of DNA regions with subsequent divergence of the duplicated copies by mutations is traditionally considered to be the major mechanism of the new genes appearance. After duplication, only a small fraction of the paralogs remains unchanged, while most copies are converted into pseudogenes or acquire new functions as a consequence of either subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization events. In some cases, certain regions of duplicated copies can combine with each other, giving rise to functionally new genes. Analysis of the primate genomes revealed a burst of segmental duplications in apes. It was demonstrated that some of these duplications include genes that are specifically duplicated only in human. Genome sequencing, followed by transcriptome analysis, enabled the identification of transcribed pseudogenes in mammalian genomes, that contradicts with the traditional view of pseudogenes as inactive copies of functioning genes.


In this paper we develop a kinetic model for the growth of electrical tree structures in solid polymeric insulation that allows for combined electrical and mechanical stresses. We present an energy balance analysis during the tree growth process and show the total tree extension driving force is not a material constant due to the existence of a damage process zone around the tree tip and the dissipated heat and the trapped energy remaining in the damage process zone. We derive both the tree growth rate equation and life formula of tree propagation to breakdown, based on the specific tree growth mechanism and the fractal nature of tree structures. We perform electrical tree growth tests in epoxy resin samples with and without mechanical residual stresses, and present results which show that the proposed model can give predicted tree propagation times to failure in good agreement with the experimental data of the tree growth subjected to a combined electrical and mechanical stress


: The purpose of this study in long-term care facilities was to determine the factors associated with the common pressure ulcer prevention practice of turning and positioning of residents. The study showed there was a deficit in performance of two-hour turning, but not in knowledge that turning should be done. The chief reason for the aides' performance deficit was a lack of specific assignment to the task as well as a lack of time and staff. Head nurses and directors of nursing acknowledged these problems and also cited copious paperwork that prevented them from spending the necessary time to monitor compliance to facility policies on turning and positioning.


Structural health monitoring contributes to the safety and extension of the lifetime of structures. There are several techniques for structural health monitoring, most of them based on different types of sensors. Fiber optics has been proven as a very good technology since it is lightweight, has low signal loss, is immune to electromagnetic interferences and offers the possibility of remote sensing and multiplexing. Therefore, as in telecommunications technology, the application of fiber optics to structural health monitoring has resulted in great breakthroughs during the last decades. Furthermore, one of the advantages that fiber optic sensors offer is obtaining distributed measurements with a certain spatial resolution. In this approach, the whole fiber optic line is the sensor, instead of having sensors placed in given positions. Between the different technologies that perform fiber optic distributed measurements, Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) is the one with better performance. BOTDA sensors are based in the stimulated Brillouin scattering phenomenon characterization. This is a phenomenon that has a strong dependence on strain and temperature. However, there is still much room for improvement in these sensors since they do not meet the minimum quality criteria for some structural health monitoring applications. Also, survey of literature indicates that the parameters that define the performance of the sensor and specially the resolution of measurements are not thoroughly defined. This is due to the infancy of this technology and the fact that unlike localized sensing technologies the measurement parameters in distributed sensing are dependent on spatial characteristics of the sensor. In this thesis, a method for the computation and presentation of measurement resolutions in BOTDA sensors is defined based on an exhaustive literature review. Moreover, an important improvement in BOTDA quality is presented by creating fiber optic coils and special data processing, which is a non-instrument-based enhancement. An improvement of 1.73 times the strain resolution and repeatability and a reduction of the spatial resolution from 20cm to 7.7cm are experimentally demonstrated.


Recently BABAR and Belle have measured anomalous large transverse polarizations in some pure penguin B{yields}VV decays, which might be inconsistent with the standard model expectations. We try to explore its implications for R-parity violating (RPV) supersymmetry. The QCD factorization approach is employed for the hadronic dynamics of B decays. We find that it is possible to have parameter spaces solving the anomaly. Furthermore, we have derived stringent bounds on relevant R-parity violating couplings from the experimental data, which is useful for further studies of RPV phenomena.


A theoretical investigation is made of the time dependence of the spatial distribution of particles injected perpendicular to the direction of propagation of a linearly polarised inhomogeneous electromagnetic wave and reflected by this wave. It is shown that such reflection modulates the particle density in a beam which is homogeneous at injection. Stimulated emission of radiation from a ribbon electron beam reflected by a wave is considered. The spectral—angular and polarisation characteristics of such radiation are investigated.