Background and Objectives: Clinically, a major challenge of multiple nodule localization is puncture-related pneumothorax, which may hamper the successful localization. This study aims to investigate and compare the efficacy and safety of the simultaneous and sequential patent blue dye (PBD) injections for identifying multiple pulmonary nodules during preoperative CT-guided localization. Materials and Methods: Sixty-one consecutive patients with multiple pulmonary nodules who underwent preoperative CT-guided localization with PBD injections between January 2020 and December 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. Of these patients, 31 patients with 64 nodules who underwent simultaneous injections were designated as the simultaneous group; the remaining 30 patients with 63 nodules who underwent sequential punctures were designated as the sequential group. The clinical and radiological features, technical information, pathological results, and procedure-related variables and complications of the two groups were reviewed and analyzed. Results: The localization success rate of the simultaneous group was higher than that of the sequential group (100% [64/64] vs. 93.7% [59/63], p = 0.041). The incidences of pneumothorax (32.3 vs. 33.3%, p = 0.929) and pulmonary hemorrhage (6.3 vs. 3.0%, p = 1) were not significantly different between the two groups, and all cases were minor, which did not require further intervention. Additionally, a significantly lower radiation dose (2.7 vs. 3.5 mSv, p = 0.001) and a shorter procedure time (20.95 vs. 25.28 min, p = 0.001) were observed in the simultaneous group than in the sequential group. Conclusions: Compared with the sequential method, simultaneous PBD injections may improve the localization success rate with a shorter procedure time and less radiation exposure if the patient with multiple pulmonary nodules can be approached in a single position. Further prospective studies are needed to validate these results.


The SLIF project combines text-mining and image processing to extract structured information from biomedical literature. SLIF extracts images and their captions from published papers. The captions are automatically parsed for relevant biological entities (protein and cell type names), while the images are classified according to their type (e.g., micrograph or gel). Fluorescence microscopy images are further processed and classified according to the depicted subcellular localization. The results of this process can be queried online using either a user-friendly web-interface or an XML-based web-service. As an alternative to the targeted query paradigm, SLIF also supports browsing the collection based on latent topic models which are derived from both the annotated text and the image data. In addition to a description of the SLIF system, this technical report describes the hand-labeled datasets used for training SLIF components. These datasets, and the SLIF web application, are publicly available at http://slif.cbi.cmu.edu.


In-depth interviews with individuals who had experienced marital infidelity revealed a three-stage process following disclosure of an affair. The process starts with an "emotional roller coaster" and moves through a "moratorium" before efforts at trust building are recognized. Implications for the literature on forgiveness and the process of change in couples therapy are discussed as well as implications for future research and for practice.


We describe immunofluorescence detection of the vimentin epitope, recognized by monoclonal antibody VI-01, in chromatin structures of eukaryotic cell nuclei and chromosomes. The approach used is based on increased sensitivity of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-substituted DNA to UV irradiation-induced crosslinking of DNA with proteins in vivo, by which the proteins interacting with chromosomal DNA can be immunovisualized in situ.


The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) experiment will search for gravitational waves generated by cataclysmic events far back in astronomical history. LISA is an interferometer formed by three spacecraft positioned five million km apart, and to observe gravitational waves, it must monitor test mass positions with picometre level resolution. One of the numerous technological challenges is to identify an actuator with appropriate accuracy, precision and stability for positioning of the optical fibres used to deliver LISA's laser sources. We have developed a Michelson interferometer system to determine the temporal and thermal stability of candidate actuators, with an emphasis on characterisation in the milliHertz frequency range required for gravitational wave detection in space. This paper describes the interferometer data logging and calibration and presents preliminary results in the form of a "noise spectrum" generated from the small perturbation of a nominally static mirror. The maximum displacement of the mirror was ~50 nm with sub-Hz noise levels of 0.1-1 nm√Hz. This is within the LISA noise specification, and confirms that the apparatus is stable enough for the characterisation of the actuator.


Despite some impressive achievements, Algerian planning strategy has neglected the spatial aspect of development, which has accelerated interregional migration and consequently has reinforced existing urban problems: 1) overcrowding, 2) the housing crisis, 3) unemployment, and 4) inadequate infrastructure services. It has become obvious that policy makers must take into account the major role of migration in balanced economic growth, and yet knowledge of migration patterns and processes is very limited in Algeria. Constantine's geographic location and role as a regional metropolis played an essential part in shaping migration flows. Up to 1966, Constantine's disproportionate growth was largely the result of massive migration. Since then, there has been a noticeable slowdown in migration, and natural increase has become the largest component of urban growth. This change reflects the government's development policies. Migration flows to Constantine have been deflected to the new industrial poles, which offer greater employment opportunities. More knowledge of migration is essential for an understanding of the factors that determine the rate and direction of migration flows.


Clinical natural language processing requires methods that can address domain-specific challenges, such as complex medical terminology and clinical contexts. Recently, large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in this domain. Yet, their direct deployment can lead to privacy issues and are constrained by resources. To address this challenge, we delve into synthetic clinical text generation using LLMs for clinical NLP tasks. We propose an innovative, resource-efficient approach, ClinGen, which infuses knowledge into the process. Our model involves clinical knowledge extraction and context-informed LLM prompting. Both clinical topics and writing styles are drawn from external domain-specific knowledge graphs and LLMs to guide data generation. Our extensive empirical study across 7 clinical NLP tasks and 16 datasets reveals that ClinGen consistently enhances performance across various tasks, effectively aligning the distribution of real datasets and significantly enriching the diversity of generated training instances. We will publish our code and all the generated data in \url{https://github.com/ritaranx/ClinGen}.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is frequently associated with cardiovascular manifestations, but rarely complicated with aortic disease. We report a 28-year-old female patient with a 14-year history of SLE and a 3-year history of hypertension. She had suffered from palpitation and chest tightness for 1 month before admission. Heart echo showed thoracic to low abdominal level with low flow. A computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed aneurysms of the descending thoracic and upper abdominal aorta, down to the renal level. Diagnosis of aortic aneurysm should be considered in patients with SLE, especially those who have a history of hypertension, prolonged steroid use, palpitation and chest pain. Current imaging modalities, such as cardiac echo, CT and magnetic resonance angiography may provide earlier detection of subclinical disease, which may aid in preventing these fatal complications. It is important to control hypertension aggressively in patients with SLE. In addition to decreasing steroid doses, early use of immunosuppressive agents and accurate noninvasive image modalities may allow us to prevent severe damage to the aorta and avoid the fatal complications.


HouseFly is an interactive data browsing and visualization system that synthesizes audio-visual recordings from multiple sensors, as well as the meta-data derived from those recordings, into a unified viewing experience. The system is being applied to study human behavior in both domestic and retail situations grounded in longitudinal video recordings. HouseFly uses an immersive video technique to display multiple streams of high resolution video using a realtime warping procedure that projects the video onto a 3D model of the recorded space. The system interface provides the user with simultaneous control over both playback rate and vantage point, enabling the user to navigate the data spatially and temporally. Beyond applications in video browsing, this system serves as an intuitive platform for visualizing patterns over time in a variety of multi-modal data, including person tracks and speech transcripts.


The robust passivity synthesis problem is addressed for a class of uncertain delayed systems with time-varying delays in both state and control input. The parameter uncertainties are norm-bounded and allowed to appear in all the matrices of the model. The problem aims at designing an observer-based dynamic controller that renders the closed-loop systems strongly robustly stable with strictly passive for all admissible uncertainties, dependently of the maximum of delay derivative. By converting the problem at present into a class of strongly stable with strictly passive control problem for some parameterized systems equivalently, the explicit solution is established and expressed in terms of a linear matrix inequality.


Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are very used as fillers in polymer nanocomposites research. They cannot be used in their pristine form (magnesium and aluminum hydroxycarbonates) because they exhibit strong interlayer electrostatic interactions and tight basal spacings so that they require the intercalation of organic anions into clay galleries. The organic modification of LDH increases the filler-polymer compatibility, enlarges the basal spacing of the lamellae (making easier the insertion of the polymeric chains into the gallery), and promotes the exfoliation of the filler into the polymeric matrix. Organically modified LDH/polymer nanocomposites exhibit improved mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties when they are compared with pristine polymers or conventional composites. Moreover, the incorporation of LDH allows us to obtain materials with specific functionalities. For example, the intercalation of antimicrobial molecules into LDH (such as benzoate or stearate) and the use of the modified nanoparticles as fillers results in nanocomposites with antimicrobial activity. In this paper, several benzoate and/or stearate LDH/polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites have been produced for food packaging applications. The O2 permeability coefficient of the nanocomposite named 1.5% o-benzoate/1.5% o-stearate LDH/PP/3% PP-g-MAH reduces by 20% compared to unfilled PP and 30% compared to unfilled PP/3%PP-g-MAH. It is accepted that in such a nanocomposite, the lamellar structure of LDH creates a more tortuous path for the progress of oxygen molecules reducing the gas diffusion. For the novel nanocomposite material, the physical, morphological, mechanical, and gas barrier properties have been measured and the antimicrobial effect has been evaluated. In this paper, some benzoate LDH/polyurethane foam (PU) nanocomposites have been also produced. The filler dispersion into the PU has been investigated by scanning electronic microscopy. It was observed that organic LDH particles were uniformly dispersed into the walls of cells, forming small aggregates. The morphological properties of the foam have been analyzed by nanotomography. LDH/PU nanocomposite showed antibacterial and improved mechanical properties.


We present the last-stage suspension for the mirrors of the gravitational wave antenna Virgo. We studied some problems encountered during the commissioning of the Virgo central interferometer (CITF) and solved them with the aim of achieving the target sensitivity of the detector in its final configuration. We measured the effect of the holder on the internal motion of the mirror, and the residual nonlinear couplings between the electromagnetic actuators and the metallic parts present on the last-stage suspension. The limits experienced on the Virgo CITF have helped us to define some important modifications to be applied to the last-stage suspension. Moreover, we present the experimental study of west input mirror internal modes after it was dismounted from the Virgo central interferometer. The results were useful to identify, in the data of the engineering run 4 of the CITF, the thermal peaks of such a mirror.


Studies examining occupational class differences in burnout symptoms across employment sectors are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine whether occupational class is associated with emotional exhaustion, and whether there are differences in the examined associations between employment sectors. A further aim was to examine to which extent psychosocial working conditions may explain these associations. Survey data were collected in 2017 among 19-39-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki (4630 women and 1267 men, response rate 51.5%). Occupational class included four classes: 1. manuals, 2. routine non-manuals, 3. semi-professionals, 4. managers and professionals. Employment sector was classified into three groups: 1. health and social care, 2. education and 3. 'other'. Linear regression analysis and IBM SPSS 25 statistical program were used. The analytical sample included 4883 participants. The highest occupational class, i.e. managers and professionals, reported the highest emotional exhaustion. In terms of the sector, those working in education had the highest scores of emotional exhaustion. The associations between occupational class and emotional exhaustion differed somewhat between the sectors. Adjustment for job demands attenuated the differences in emotional exhaustion between occupational classes, whereas adjustment for job control and job strain widened the differences. Attention should be paid to occupations with excess mental demands, and to employees in the education sector, who showed the highest risk of emotional exhaustion.


This paper investigates the effectiveness of two adaptive control strategies for modulating control force of piezoelectric friction dampers (PFDs) that are employed as semi-active devices in combination with laminated rubber bearings for seismic protection of buildings. The first controller developed in this study is a direct adaptive fuzzy logic controller. It consists of an upper-level and a sub-level direct fuzzy controller. In the hierarchical control scheme, higher-level controller modifies universe of discourse of both premise and consequent variables of the sub-level controller using scaling factors in order to determine command voltage of the damper according to current level of ground motion. The sub-level fuzzy controller employs isolation displacement and velocity as its premise variables and command voltage as its consequent variable. The second controller is based on the simple adaptive control (SAC) method, which is a type of direct adaptive control approach. The objective of the SAC method is to make the plant, the controlled system, track the behavior of the structure with the optimum performance. By using SAC strategy, any change in the characteristics of the structure or uncertainties in the modeling of the structure and in the external excitation would be considered because it continuously monitors its own performance to modify its parameters. Here, SAC methodology is employed to obtain the required force which results in the optimum performance of the structure. Then, the command voltage of the PFD is determined to generate the desired force. For comparison purposes, an optimal controller is also developed and considered in the simulations together with maximum passive operation of the friction damper. Time-history analyses of a base-isolated five-story building are performed to evaluate the performance of the controllers. Results reveal that developed adaptive controllers can successfully improve seismic response of the base-isolated buildings against various types of earthquakes.


The balance of global atmospheric angular momentum is examined in a long time series of "reanalysis" data generated at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). A systematic negative bias of about −10 Hadleys (1018 kg m2 s−2) is obtained in the total torque in all seasons. The sum of the frictional (TF) and mountain (TM) torques contributes about half of this negative bias in the northern summer and autumn. The torque due to the parameterized gravity wave drag, TG, contributes the other half of the negative bias in summer but contributes the whole of it in winter. In the annual mean the projected angular momentum imbalance due to TG exceeds that due to TM + TF. Consistent with the budget analysis of the assimilated data, losses of angular momentum are also found in an extensive set of medium-range forecasts made with the NCEP reanalysis model. The average rates of loss of relative angular momentum in these forecasts, −7 Hadleys in January and −6 in July, are comparable to the bias of the total torque in the angular momentum budget. Further investigations are suggested to determine the model error, especially that associated with the parameterized gravity wave drag, related to the budget imbalance found in this study.


Solar Disinfection (SODIS) is a low cost water treatment method currently used in communities that do not have year round access to safe water. However, there is still reluctance in widespread adoption of this treatment method due to a number of limitations. An important limitation is the lack of SODIS inactivation studies on some waterborne pathogens in the developing world. SODIS inactivation of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), a major cause of infantile diarrhoea is reported for the first time under simulated sunlight conditions and following a natural temperature profile. EPEC was exposed to simulated sunlight (885Wm-2) for periods up to a cumulative time of 4 hours. Inactivation was determined by a log reduction in growth of the organisms. The temperature (°C) of the water was taken at every time point. After 4 hours exposure EPEC was completely inactivated (7 log reduction) by SODIS. Imposing a realistic water temperature profile (min-max) concomitant with irradiation produces a greater kill of EPEC. Maintaining simulated sunlight experiments at a high fixed temperature may result in over --estimation of inactivation. Following a natural water temperature profile will result in more reliable inactivation comparable with those that might be obtained under natural sunlight conditions.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate differences in CSF concentrations of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in dogs with and without T2-weighted (T2W) MRI hyperintense areas in the limbic system.

SAMPLE
Archived CSF samples and stored brain MRI images of 5 healthy research dogs (group 1), 8 dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) with no abnormal MRI findings (group 2), and 4 dogs with IE with hyperintense areas in the limbic system detected by means of T2W MRI (group 3).

PROCEDURES
Archived CSF samples and stored MRI images obtained from all dogs were evaluated. Dogs in groups 2 and 3 were matched on the basis of age and breed. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to evaluate glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentrations in CSF samples.

RESULTS
Glutamate concentrations were higher in CSF of both groups of dogs with IE than in healthy dogs. However, glutamate concentrations in CSF were not significantly higher in dogs with IE and with hyperintense areas than in dogs with IE but no abnormal MRI findings. Concentrations of GABA in CSF were higher in group 3 than in group 2 and in group 2 than in group 1.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
No significant difference was evident between glutamate concentrations in CSF of dogs with IE and with and without hyperintense areas detected by means of T2W MRI. However, glutamate concentrations typically were higher in CSF of dogs with IE and MRI hyperintense areas. Future studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted to confirm this finding and to determine the clinical importance of high glutamate concentrations in CSF of dogs with IE.


We present module theory and linear maps as a powerful generalised and computationally efficient framework for the relational data model, which underpins today's relational database systems. Based on universal constructions of modules we obtain compact and computationally efficient data structures for data collections corresponding to union and deletion, repeated union, Cartesian product and key-indexed data. Free modules naturally give rise to polysets, which generalise multisets and facilitate expressing database queries as multilinear maps with asymptotically efficient evaluation on polyset constructors. We introduce compact maps as a way of representing infinite (poly)sets constructible from an infinite base set and its elements by addition and subtraction. We show how natural joins generalise to algebraic joins, while intersection is implemented by a novel algorithm on nested compact maps that carefully avoids visiting parts of the input that do not contribute to the eventual output. Our algebraic framework leads to a worst-case optimal evaluation of cyclic relational queries, which is known to be impossible using textbook query optimisers that operate on lists of records only.


The methods to measure the angle{gamma} of the CKM unitarity triangle at the B factories are presented. Special emphasis is given to the measurement of sin(2{beta} + {gamma}) using the B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup {+-}} {pi}{sup {-+}} decays which has already produced results providing an interesting constraint in the {rho} - {eta} plane. Various methods using B {yields} DK decays are also presented.


In the context of a charge qubit under continuous monitoring by a single electron transistor, we propose an unraveling of the generalized quantum Markovian master equation into an ensemble of individual quantum trajectories for stochastic point process. A suboptimal feedback algorism is implemented into individual quantum trajectories to protect a desired pure state. Coherent oscillations of the charge qubit could be maintained in principle for an arbitrarily long time in case of sufficient feedback strength. The effectiveness of the feedback control is also reflected in the detector's noise spectrum. The signal-to-noise ratio rises significantly with increasing feedback strength such that it could even exceed the Korotkov-Averin bound in quantum measurement, manifesting almost ideal quantum coherent oscillations of the qubit. The proposed unraveling and feedback protocol may open up the prospect to sustain ideal coherent oscillations of a charge qubit in quantum computation algorithms.


The article addresses the issue of political polarisation in the news media in Hungary. Hungary is an illustrative case of a country which has been studied as the example of high political parallelism in news media, and one of the most politically polarised societies in Europe. We contribute to the literature in a number of ways. First, to our knowledge, this is a pioneering study in the application of network analysis to measuring political polarisation in the news media. Second, we provide evidence that fragmentation and heavy partisanship do not necessarily lead to extreme polarisation. The study presents an issue-centred and context-based approach to assessing whether mass communication channels form integrated or divided news media spaces for public discussion. For an empirical test, we explore the news media networks of three of the most widely covered issues of 2014. To link a medium to another one, we concentrate on interactions, which are defined as explicit citations or hyperlinks to the content of other media products and the communication of politicians. The findings support the claim of moderate polarisation in the Hungarian news media. Although ideologically divergent blocs are detected, there are intensive interactions between news media outlets of different political colours.


Tapasin plays an important role in HLA class I assembly. The gene has been mapped on the human MHC region. We identified two alleles of TAPASIN in the Japanese population and analyzed the association of the alleles with HLA-DPB1, -DQB1 and -DRB1 alleles. The allele frequencies of TAPASIN*01 and *02 were estimated to be 0.37 and 0.63, respectively, in the Japanese population. TAPASIN showed strong linkage disequilibrium with the HLA-DPB1 locus. Several frequent four-locus haplotypes were identified, including DRB1*0901-DQB1*0303-DPB1*0501-TAPASIN*02, DRB1*0901-DQB1*0303-DPB1*0201-TAPASIN*02 and DRB1*1302-DQB1*0604-DPB1*0401-TAPASIN*02.


Species diversity-productivity relationship is often, but not always, scale dependent. We hypothesize that the arrangement of environmental heterogeneity along a rainfall gradient, as a surrogate for productivity, determines whether scale dependence of beetle diversity at our sandy sites exists. We chose seven geographically distant landscapes (360 kms from south to north) within a mean annual rainfall range of 30–585 mm, each having six clusters of five uniformly distributed pitfall traps (within a range of 0.24 km2). Vegetation and physical variables were measured within each landscape and its clusters to characterize both spatial and temporal heterogeneity. We used species diversity of each cluster and the accumulative species diversity in a landscape as local and regional diversity, respectively. Between-clusters dissimilarity in diversity reflected the turnover of species within a landscape. We used environmental measures in each cluster and at the entire landscape to indicate local and regional heterogeneity, respectively, and changes between transects to characterize the within-landscape dissimilarity in heterogeneity. Beetle diversity and productivity showed a unimodal pattern at both spatial scales, with a peak at intermediate productivity of ca. 300 mm. Environmental heterogeneity increased with productivity both at the local and at the landscape scales, but within-landscape dissimilarity in heterogeneity did not change with productivity. Between-clusters dissimilarity in diversity was higher at intermediate productivity, explaining the unimodal pattern at the landscape scale. We suggest that the scale independence in our study results from the equal distribution of environmental heterogeneity within a landscape. We propose that the exploration of the diversity-productivity relationship across scales should consider the way heterogeneity is distributed along the productivity gradient.


Why do law reforms spread around the world in waves? In the dominant account of diffusion through technocracy, international networks of elites develop orthodox policy solutions and transplant these across countries without regard for the wishes of ordinary citizens. But this account overlooks a critical factor: in democracies, reforms must win the support of politicians, voters, and interest groups. This book claims that laws spread across countries in very public and politicized ways, and develops a theory of diffusion through democracy. I argue that politicians choose to follow certain international models to win domestic elections, and to persuade skeptical voters that their ideas are not radical, ill-thought-out experiments, but mainstream, tried-and-true solutions. This book shows how international models generated domestic support for health, family, and employment law reforms across rich democracies. Information that international organizations have endorsed certain reforms or that foreign countries have adopted them is valuable to voters. Public opinion experiments show that even Americans respond positively to this information. Case studies of election campaigns and legislative debates demonstrate that politicians with diverse ideologies reference international models strategically, and focus on the few international organizations and countries familiar to voters. Data on policy adoption from many rich democracies document that governments follow international organization templates and imitate the policy choices of countries heavily covered in national media and familiar to voters. The book provides a direct defense to a major criticism international organizations and networks face: that they conflict with domestic democracy. The book also explains how to design international institutions and transnational advocacy campaigns to spread laws more effectively. The introductory chapter follows.


com Abstract - This paper presents miniature hardware model of 6 pulse controlled rectifier circuit for a monopolar HVDC link. The Controlled rectifier is interfaced with PIC (16F72) microcontroller for generating various firing angles. The results of output voltage are recorded using digital oscilloscope and are compared with the theoretical values at different firing angles. Performance analysis parameters such as voltage ripple, ripple percentage, harmonics with and without low pass filter for Rand RL load is obtained by varying the firing angle. Results show that the ripple factor and ripple percentage has drastically reduced with the addition of the low pass filter and also smoothens the DC output


We designed and tested a system for real-time control of a user interface by extracting surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity from eight electrodes in a wrist-band configuration. sEMG data were streamed into a machine-learning algorithm that classified hand gestures in real-time. After an initial model calibration, participants were presented with one of three types of feedback during a human-learning stage: veridical feedback, in which predicted probabilities from the gesture classification algorithm were displayed without alteration, modified feedback, in which we applied a hidden augmentation of error to these probabilities, and no feedback. User performance was then evaluated in a series of minigames, in which subjects were required to use eight gestures to manipulate their game avatar to complete a task. Experimental results indicated that, relative to baseline, the modified feedback condition led to significantly improved accuracy and improved gesture class separation. These findings suggest that real-time feedback in a gamified user interface with manipulation of feedback may enable intuitive, rapid, and accurate task acquisition for sEMG-based gesture recognition applications.


This book demonstrates that a type of prologue found in ancient Greek literature could be the literary convention behind John 1.1-18. The structure and content of the Johannine prologue determine the structure and content of the whole Gospel. It provides the reader with seminal statements about the cosmic situation and God's plan for mankind, statements which are explicated thereafter. This function of the prologue is explored through the three historical personages mentioned in that largely metaphysical construction about the Logos: John, Moses and Jesus Christ. The person and mission of Jesus Christ, cryptically stated in the prologue, are explicated through three christological expressions: 'the Son of Man', 'I am', and 'the Son (of God)'. These require the Logos-creator conception in the background to give them theological coherence.


The procedure, for use with an automatic gearbox controlled by clutches, brakes and a series of sensors (51 - 54) for a rev counter, gearbox output shaft speed and throttle valve position, consists of delivering fluid under pressure to a clutch required for changing to a higher gear, reducing the pressure after a given period of time for changing to a lower gear. The fluid pressure is controlled by adaptative regulation, with the deviation in the initial fluid pressure from a correct value is calculated to obtain a value for the initial fluid pressure delivered to the clutch. After a set period of time, based on value for the modification of the engine shaft speed during a transfer phase, the initial fluid pressure is increased to a set level for changing up to the next higher gear.


Planer Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) has been employed to measure the spatial liquid and vapor fuel concentration distributions, although it is generally difficult to achieve quantitatively accurate measurement. The authors devised a 2-D fuel spray concentration distribution measurement method which combines three optical principles; absorption, fluorescence, and scatter. NO2 gas was used as a fluorescence dopant while Ar+ laser was employed as a light source by scanning across the cylinder in order to measure the spatial fuel concentration distribution. This technique was applied to gaseous jets and swirl sprays. Quantitative measurement was successfully achieved in both tests. Also, the characteristics of liquid and vapor fuel concentration distribution using a swirl type injector were confirmed.


This article deals with the image of England in the diaries of English writer John Fowles novels 1949-1965 period. There is ambiguity about the author to his country, mainly due to personal circumstances. It is also alleged that submission Fowles novels about their nation is undergoing a certain evolution: from the negative in the early period to positive in later.


Philosophy of Medicine is an interesting field of study concerned with issues and problems that are philosophically relevant in practice and research in Medicine. However, although Philosophy of Medicine enjoys recognition in other latitudes, in Colombia it has received little attention, in particular, because of the rise of bioethics, which has overshadowed other kinds of reflections on the medical task. In this paper, departing from an overview about the formation of the field, it is argued that a Critical Philosophy of Medicine should be promoted as a deep and critical reflection on the genesis and possible way outs to the crisis that the healthcare system and the medical profession have experienced in Colombia in the last two decades. A Critical Philosophy of Medicine must then contribute to training physicians and health professionals to be able to transform the ethos of their professions as well as of the health care services.


The most important reason for the lack of commercial residue arithmetic (RA) based systems is not the "slow" and area consuming reverse conversion, but the absence of research that explores the system-level trade-offs of such arithmetic in actual VLSI implementations. Such system-level issues are-choice of the moduli set, effect of moduli imbalance on resulting VLSI implementation, choice of the reverse and forward convertors, use of lookup versus computation for modular operations, system characteristics that indicate RA suitability and finally, typical VLSI area and performance figures. This paper explains these concerns by presenting novel RA architectures for VLSI correlators employed in radioastronomy and ultrasonic blood flow measurement. A state-of-the-art, high performance (80-100 MHz), RA-based correlator ASIC was successfully fabricated as a result of this research.


The present invention provides a humanized anti-EGFR IgG1 antibody and irinotecan for combined use in treating cancer, with or without additional agents or treatments, such as other anti-cancer drugs or radiation therapy. The invention also encompasses a pharmaceutical composition that is comprised of a combination of a humanized anti-EGFR IgG1 antibody and irinotecan in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.


OBJECTIVES
To explore the correlation between early postmortem interval (PMI) and eight RNA markers of rat's brain at different temperatures.

METHODS
Total 222 SD rats were randomly divided into control group (PMI=0 h) and four experimental groups. And the rats in the experimental groups were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and respectively kept at 5 ℃, 15 ℃, 25 ℃ and 35 ℃ in a controlled environment chamber. The RNA was extracted from brain tissues, which was taken at 9 time points from 1 h to 24 h postmortem. The expression levels of eight markers, β-actin, GAPDH, RPS29, 18S rRNA, 5S rRNA, U6 snRNA, miRNA-9 and miRNA-125b, were detected using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR, respectively. Proper internal reference was selected by geNorm software. Regression analysis of normalized RNA markers was performed by SPSS software. Mathematical model for PMI estimation was established using R software. Another 6 SD rats with known PMI were used to verify the mathematical model.

RESULTS
5S rRNA, miR-9 and miR-125b were suitable as internal reference markers for their stable expression. Both β-actin and GAPDH had well time-dependent degradation patterns and degraded continually with prolongation of PMI in 24 h postmortem. The mathematical model of the variation of ΔCt values with PMI and temperature was set up by R software and the model could be used for PMI estimation. The average error rates of model validation using β-actin and GAPDH were 14.1% and 22.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The expression levels of β-actin and GAPDH are well correlated with PMI and environmental temperature. The mathematical model established in present study can provide references for estimating early PMI under various temperature conditions.


We investigate the problem of construction of small-size universal Petri nets with inhibitor arcs. We consider four descriptional complexity parameters: the number of places, transitions, inhibitor arcs, and the maximal degree of a transition, each of which we try to minimize.
We give six constructions having the following values of parameters (listed in the above order): $(30,34,13,3)$, $(14, 31, 51, 8)$, $(11, 31, 79, 11)$, $(21,25,13,5)$, $(67, 64, 8, 3)$, $(58, 55, 8, 5)$ that improve the few known results on this topic. Our investigation also highlights several interesting trade-offs.


Single-frame infrared small target detection remains a challenge not only due to the scarcity of intrinsic target characteristics but also because of lacking a public dataset. In this paper, we first contribute an open dataset with high-quality annotations to advance the research in this field. We also propose an asymmetric contextual modulation module specially designed for detecting infrared small targets. To better highlight small targets, besides a top-down global contextual feedback, we supplement a bottom-up modulation pathway based on point-wise channel attention for exchanging high-level semantics and subtle low-level details. We report ablation studies and comparisons to state-of-the-art methods, where we find that our approach performs significantly better. Our dataset and code are available online 1.


Two new species of Haliotrema Johnston & Tiegs, parasiting in the gills of Ostichthys japonicus (Cuvier & Valenciennes) and Branchiostegus argentatus (Cuvier & Valenciennes) were described. Haliotrema pentaristulatus sp. nov. is similar to H. holocentri Young, 1968, H. epinepheli Young, 1968 and H. cromileptis Young, 1968 in the shape of central anchors; the dorsal connective bar is similar to that of H. cromileptis; the ventral connective bar is similar to that of H. holocentri, and the new species differs from the known species in the structure and measurement of copulatory organ. Haliotrema tangi sp. nov. is similar to H. platycephali Yin & Sproston, 1948 and H. macassaarensis (Yam, 1963) Bychowsky & Nagibina 1971, in the shape of central anchors, but differs from the known species in the connective bar, the vaginal structure and copulatory organ.


Abstract Traditionally the genus Pleurospermum and the related genera Aulacospermum, Hymenidium, Hymenolaena, Physospermopsis, Pseudotrachydium, Pterocyclus, and Trachydium, have been problematic taxa with regard to their circumscription and composition. Pleurospermum s. s. includes one or two closely related boreal species but more than 40 other species, distributed mainly in the Sino-Himalayan floristic area, have been attributed to it by different authors in various classifications. Relationships in this taxonomic group are unclear. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of nuclear (nrITS) and cpDNA (psbA-trnH and trnL-trnF) sequences of representative species of Pleurospermum s. l. and closely related Hymenidium, Aulacospermum, Trachydium, Physospermopsis, Pseudotrachydium, Sinolimprichtia, Pterocyclus, and Hymenolaena (55 species in all) was conducted and compared with an analysis of morphological characters. Only two traditional genera were supported as monophyletic groups in the molecular trees, namely Aulacospermum (including Pseudotrachydium) and Hymenolaena. Two stable groups were revealed within Hymenidium. One group included H. chloroleucum, H. heterosciadium, H. hookeri, and H. delavayi. The second included H. lindleyanum, H. stellatum, H. huzhihaoi, H. wilsonii, and Trachydium roylei. Various species of Hymenidium and Trachydium were scattered throughout the tree. The molecular data did not confirm an early divergence between northern and Sino-Himalayan species of Pleurospermum. This indicates that Pleurospermum s. l. and most of the other genera included in this study are polyphyletic.


Protein-protein docking is a major task in structural biology. In general, the geometries of protein pairs are sampled by generating docked conformations, analyzing them with scoring functions and selecting appropriate geometries for further refinement. Here, we present an algorithm in real space to sample geometries of protein pairs. Therefore, we initially determine uniformly distributed points on the surfaces of the two protein structures to be docked and additionally define a set of uniformly distributed rotations. Then, the sampling method generates structures of protein pairs as follows: (i) We rotate one protein of the protein pair according to a selected rotation and (ii) translate it along a line connecting two surface points belonging to different proteins such that these surface points coincide. The resulting protein pair geometries are then analyzed and selected using a scoring function that considers residues and atom pairs. We applied this approach to a set of 22 enzyme-inhibitor complexes and demonstrate that a discretisation of the rigid-body search in real space provides an efficient and robust sampling scheme. Our method generates decoy sets with a considerable fraction of near-native geometries for all considered enzyme-inhibitor complexes.


Shashaani, Sara PhD, Purdue University, December 2016. Adaptive Sampling Trust-Region Methods for Derivative-Based and Derivative-Free Simulation Optimization Problems. Major Professors: Raghu Pasupathy, Susan Hunter. We consider unconstrained optimization problems where only "stochastic" estimates of the objective function are observable as replicates from a Monte Carlo simulation oracle. In the first study we assume that the function gradients are directly observable through the Monte Carlo simulation. We propose ASTRO, which is an adaptive sampling based trust-region optimization method where a stochastic local model is constructed, optimized, and updated iteratively. ASTRO is a derivative-based algorithm and provides almost sure convergence to a first-order critical point with good practical performance. In the second study the Monte Carlo simulation is assumed to provide no direct observations of the function gradient. We present ASTRO-DF, which is a class of derivative-free trust-region algorithms, where the stochastic local model is obtained through interpolation. Function estimation (as well as gradient estimation) and model construction within ASTRO and ASTRO-DF are adaptive in the sense that the extent of Monte Carlo sampling is determined by continuously monitoring and balancing metrics of sampling and structural errors within ASTRO and ASTRO-DF. Such error balancing is designed to ensure that the Monte Carlo effort within ASTRO and ASTRO-DF is sensitive to algorithm trajectory, sampling more whenever an iterate is inferred to be close to a critical point and less when far away. We demonstrate the almost-sure convergence of ASTRO-DF's iterates to a first-order critical point when using quadratic stochastic interpolation models. The question of using more complicated models, e.g., regression or stochastic kriging, in combination with adaptive sampling is worth further investigation and will benefit from the methods of proof we present. We investigate the implementation of ASTRO and ASTRO-DF along with the


CuO-added (1-x)KNbO3-x mol%BaZrO3 ceramics with 0.0≤x≤7.0 were sintered at 960°C. Large double polarization vs electric field (P-E) and sprout-shaped strain vs electric field (S-E) hysteresis curves were obtained from the specimens with x≤2.0. They exhibited large polarizing electric fields (EP) owing to the presence of a large number of defect dipoles (PDs) that formed between Cu2+ ions and oxygen vacancies. Small double P-E hysteresis curves were observed for the specimens with x≥3.0 with reduced EP because of the decreased number of PDs and the presence of a polymorphic phase structure containing both orthorhombic and pseudocubic structures. In particular, the specimen with x=5.0 exhibited a large strain of 0.16% at 8.0 kV/mm with a small EP of 1.2 kV/mm and good fatigue property: this specimen maintained a strain of 0.13% at 6.0 kV/mm after 106 cycles of 3.0 kV/mm.


A highly sensitive and accurate automated method using a Technicon Autoanalyzer AAII was developed for the determination of human serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. gamma-L-Glutamyl-p-nitroanilide added as substrate was split to p-nitroaniline and the gamma-glutamyl group was trapped by glycylglycine in Ammediol/HC1 buffer solution. Liberated p-nitroaniline was diazotized and converted by Tsuda Reagent (N,N-(diethyl)-N'-(1-naphthyl) ethylendiamine) to an azo-dye possessing an absorbance maximum at 550 nm. This new method of determination, using the conversion of p-nitroaniline to azo-dye, was found to be 7 times more sensitive as compared to the conventional direct p-nitroaniline determination method [1]. This method requires only 0.1 ml lerum and permits 60 determinations per hour.


The primitive face is composed of neural crest cell (NCC) derived prominences. The medial nasal processes (MNP) give rise to the upper lip and vomeronasal organ, and are essential for normal craniofacial development, but the mechanism of MNP development remains largely unknown. PDGFRα signaling is known to be critical for NCC development and craniofacial morphogenesis. In this study, we show that PDGFRα is required for MNP development by maintaining the migration of progenitor neural crest cells (NCCs) and the proliferation of MNP cells. Further investigations reveal that PI3K/Akt and Rac1 signaling mediate PDGFRα function during MNP development. We thus establish PDGFRα as a novel regulator of MNP development and elucidate the roles of its downstream signaling pathways at cellular and molecular levels.


DNA methylation occurs in most organisms from bacteria to mammals and provides a mechanism for epigenetic control of a variety of cellular processes. In Escherichia coli, most of the N6 positions in adenines found in the sequence GATC are methylated by DNA adenine methyltransferase. After DNA replication, the GATC sites exist transiently in the hemimethylated state, and the specific recognition of these hemimethylated GATC sites is essential for several processes, including sequestration of the site of replication initiation by the SeqA protein, strand discrimination in DNA mismatch repair by the MutH protein, and transcription of several genes. Here, we characterize the solution structure and dynamics of two dodecamer DNA duplexes that each contains a single GATC site in either unmethylated or hemimethylated state. We found that the N6-methylated adenine of a hemimethylated GATC site undergoes a slow trans-cis interconversion. The release of a tightly bound cation from hemimethylated DNA explains the instability of this structure. In addition, quantitative structural analysis revealed that hemimethylated DNA has unusual backbone structures and a remarkably narrow major groove. These dynamic and structural features provide insights into the specific recognition of hemimethylated GATC sites by the SeqA protein.


Since Hong Kong's handover to China, British newspapers still play an active role in constructing Britain's connections with its former colony. This study elaborates a schema for protests to help better understand protests in general. Based on this schema, the study examined representations of the 2019–20 protests in British newspapers using the approach of corpus-assisted critical discourse studies. The analysis shows that they mainly used the predicational strategy, and emphasized the Chinese government's control of Hong Kong – including the inabilities of the Hong Kong government and police violence – in contrast with the protestors' demands for universal suffrage. They suggested that Britain act as a mediator to shoulder a moral responsibility over Hong Kong. Their attitudes are interpreted with regard to Britain's foreign policies and the dominant ideology cultivated in its historical, socio-political contexts and suggest that the UK journalistic practice regarding Hong Kong issues is political-driven to a great extent.


In this article, I examine how journalists working for the Turkish national mainstream televisual media represent Kurds – a significant national 'Other' of Turkish society – in the process of news production. My research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted between 2011 and 2014 in the newsrooms of two Turkish television channels with different political outlooks and experiences. The study reveals an unprecedented interest of mainstream television media in the inclusionary representation of Kurds during the research period due to a temporary change to the traditional Turkish state policy toward Kurds. In this new political context, I argue that the journalistic practice and discourse on Kurds is likely to be determined by political differences among Turkish journalists. The Turkish journalists working for these two different channels, for example, seek to justify and advance conflicting political agendas since they have contradicting political worldviews and political experiences. Based on these findings, this article demonstrates how the three factors of political worldview, political experience, and political context combine to shape journalistic values – the values which orient various stages of news production, at which journalists imagine, categorize, and articulate the Kurds and decide how to represent them in news outputs.


The purpose of this study was to characterize the attack of the opposite player in Elite Volleyball Female, according to the opposition block characteristics. Six games of the 2004 Olympics Games (female, senior teams) were analyzed, which corresponds to 437 attack actions. In order to test the association between variables, descriptive and inferential statistics were used namely the Chi-Square and Monte Carlo test. The reliability showed that the observations are reliable enough to be used as scientific tool, based on the percentage of accordance and according to the Kappa de Cohen statistic. By zone 1, the opposite player's attack is slow because it permits the opposition of the triple block and the formation of the compact block. It is also effective in as much as the continuity effect prevails. On the contrary, the attack by zone 2 is fast because it accentuates the use of the simple block in relation to zone 1 and the double and triple block is predominantly badly formed. It is also more effective since the point effect prevails when there is no contact with the ball and the block. These results prove that the 2nd line attack by zone 1 is not sufficiently developed in the female Volleyball.


E-negotiators' credibility was compared to that of face-to-face (FTF) negotiators in an integrative bargaining task. Dyads were randomly assigned to negotiate either on the computer or FTF. E-negotiators perceived their opponents to be less credible and reported less selfcredibility than FTF negotiators. Although lying did not vary significantly from FTF to e-negotiations, self-credibility and lying were negatively correlated. E-negotiators were also more likely to advocate using dishonesty in the future. Consistent with psychological distance theory, skepticism regarding the credibility of e-negotiators appears warranted. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


ABSTRACT Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) represent a major safety concern in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. To date, no PERV infection of a xenograft recipient has been recorded; however, PERVs are transmissible to human cells in vitro. Some recombinants of the A and C PERV subgroups are particularly efficient in infection and replication in human cells. Transcription of PERVs has been described in most pig cells, but their sequence and insertion polymorphism in the pig genome impede identification of transcriptionally active or silenced proviral copies. Furthermore, little is known about the epigenetic regulation of PERV transcription. Here, we report on the transcriptional suppression of PERV by DNA methylation in vitro and describe heavy methylation in the majority of PERV 5′ long terminal repeats (LTR) in porcine tissues. In contrast, we have detected sparsely methylated or nonmethylated proviruses in the porcine PK15 cells, which express human cell-tropic PERVs. We also demonstrate the resistance of PERV DNA methylation to inhibitors of methylation and deacetylation. Finally, we show that the high permissiveness of various human cell lines to PERV infection coincides with the inability to efficiently silence the PERV proviruses by 5′LTR methylation. In conclusion, we suggest that DNA methylation is involved in PERV regulation, and that only a minor fraction of proviruses are responsible for the PERV RNA expression and porcine cell infectivity.


Soybean is one of the most important economic crops for both China and the United States (US). The exchange of germplasm between these two countries has long been active. In order to investigate genetic relationships between Chinese and US soybean germplasm, 277 Chinese soybean accessions and 300 US soybean accessions from geographically diverse regions were analyzed using 5,361 SNP markers. The genetic diversity and the polymorphism information content (PIC) of the Chinese accessions was higher than that of the US accessions. Population structure analysis, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis all showed that the genetic basis of Chinese soybeans is distinct from that of the USA. The groupings observed in clustering analysis reflected the geographical origins of the accessions; this conclusion was validated with both genetic distance analysis and relative kinship analysis. FST-based and EigenGWAS statistical analysis revealed high genetic variation between the two subpopulations. Analysis of the 10 loci with the strongest selection signals showed that many loci were located in chromosome regions that have previously been identified as quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with environmental-adaptation-related and yield-related traits. The pattern of diversity among the American and Chinese accessions should help breeders to select appropriate parental accessions to enhance the performance of future soybean cultivars.


Sir, Solubilization might be a useful new word if used to mean the process of making soluble or more soluble. Glasgow, Hamilton, and Sass-Kortsak (1973) do not define the term but use it as though they mean solubility or possibly sometimes solution. How did they measure '/O lipid solubilized' (Fig. 2) ? Will the authors kindly say what they mean? P. R. EVANS The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London WClN 3JH.


This article profiles a partnership between the Living Cully ecodistrict and Portland State University's Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative. The case studies presented in this article explore how Living Cully leveraged PSU assets to advance their goals, highlighting successes and lessons learned. This article also addresses how the partnership was formed, what makes the partnership innovative, the role of interdisciplinary/intercommunity organizational strategies, and how the community partner commits to urban sustainability and social justice.


Leah Gesing, graduate research assistant; Anna Johnson, assistant professor; Ken Stalder, professor, Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University; Matthew Ritter, swine technical consultant, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, IN; Jim Moody, vice-president of finishing and marketing; Tara Donovan, vice-president of health management; Eva Jablonski, regional veterinarian, The Hanor Company, WI; Dave Johnson, research barn independent contractor; Angie Johnson, research barn independent contractor, Algona, IA


The analysis of national and foreign research literature devoted to different methods of treating multiple fractures of lower limb bones presented in the work.


Plasma fibronectin concentrations in blood drawn from both arms of a pagetic patient affected only at the humerus, ulna and radius of the right arm were studied. Significantly higher levels were observed in the affected arm compared to the nonpagetic arm. Results suggest that in vivo synthesis of soluble fibronectin is associated with increased bone turnover and demonstrate the value of bilateral blood sample collection when localized bone disease is present.


The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law encapsulates what its object is all about: a variety of perspectives on the legal framework, academic discipline and judicial institutions that comprise what we call 'international criminal law'. But it goes beyond orthodox definitions and approaches to the subject to include some of its parallel and underrated 'lives' in social, economic, political and cultural settings – from diplomatic negotiations to TV screens. The Handbook's contributions include doctrinal, political, sociological, historical and philosophical perspectives on some of the most contentious issues in the field. Despite such diversity, the rhetoric of crisis and critique pervades different chapters and seems to originate from varying levels of personal or professional disappointment with the field, following an initial sense of utopia. After mapping out and unpacking such underlying disappointment, I argue that constructive criticism, self-reflection and accessibility are necessary to move past it. One important step is to shift attention from spectacular trials, narratives and discourses to 'the banality of law': its ordinary existence as an educative tool. Upon reflection on the Handbook's chapters, I conclude that international criminal law ought to be made simpler, more transparent and inclusive.


The purposes of the present studies were to test the hypotheses that lower dosages of oral pyruvate ingestion would increase blood pyruvate concentration and that the ingestion of a commonly recommended dosage of pyruvate (7 g) for 7 days would enhance performance during intense aerobic exercise in well-trained individuals. Nine recreationally active subjects (8 women, 1 man) consumed 7, 15, and 25 g of pyruvate and were monitored for a 4-h period to determine whether blood metabolites were altered. Pyruvate consumption failed to significantly elevate blood pyruvate, and it had no effect on indexes of carbohydrate (blood glucose, lactate) or lipid metabolism (blood glycerol, plasma free fatty acids). As a follow-up, we administered 7 g/day of either placebo or pyruvate, for a 1-wk period to seven, well-trained male cyclists (maximal oxygen consumption, 62.3 +/- 3.0 ml. kg(-1). min(-1)) in a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial. Subjects cycled at 74-80% of their maximal oxygen consumption until exhaustion. There was no difference in performance times between the two trials (placebo, 91 +/- 9 min; pyruvate, 88 +/- 8 min). Measured blood parameters (insulin, peptide C, glucose, lactate, glycerol, free fatty acids) were also unaffected. Our results indicate that oral pyruvate supplementation does not increase blood pyruvate content and does not enhance performance during intense exercise in well-trained cyclists.


In this study, a tissue-engineered trachea, consisting of multilevel structural electrospun polylactide (PLA) membranes enveloping 3D-printed thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) skeletons, was developed to create a mechanically robust, antibacterial and bioresorbable graft for the tracheal reconstruction. The study design incorporated two distinct uses of stereocomplex PLA: patterned electrospun fibers to enhance tissue integration compared to the random layered fibers, meanwhile possessing good antibacterial property; and 3D-printed TPU scaffold with elasticity to provide external support and protection. Herein, ionic liquid (IL)-functioned graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized and presented enhanced mechanical and hydrophilicity properties. More interesting, antibacterial activity of the GO- g-IL modified PLA membranes were proved by Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, showing superior antibacterial effect compared to single GO or IL. The synergistic antibacterial effect could be related to that GO break cytomembrane of bacteria by its extremely sharp edges, while IL works by electrostatic interaction between its cationic structures and electronegative phosphate groups of bacteria membranes, leading to the loss of cell electrolyte and cell death. Hence, after L929 fibroblast cells were seeded on patterned fibrous membranes with phenotypic shape, further effective cell infiltration, cell proliferation and attachment were observed. In addition, the tissue-engineered trachea scaffolds were implanted into rabbit models. The in vivo result confirmed that the scaffolds with patterned membranes manifested favorable biocompatibility and promoted tissue regeneration.


This paper presents the experiments and results obtained by the SUKI team in the Discriminating between Dutch and Flemish in Subtitles shared task of the VarDial 2018 Evaluation Campaign. Our best submission was ranked 8th, obtaining macro F1-score of 0.61. Our best results were produced by a language identifier implementing the HeLI method without any modifications. We describe, in addition to the best method we used, some of the experiments we did with unsupervised clustering.


Classified airborne high resolution multispectral video imagery (pixel size of 0.16 m) and ground reflectance measurements were used to estimate and map the energy balance terms, namely, net radiation (R n ), sensible heat flux (H), and ground heat flux (G) in a desert environment. The data were gathered during summer 1994, at Goshute valley, Nevada, USA. Energy balance fluxes were measured at 10 sites using Bowen ratio and eddy correlation systems. Ground-based and airborne remotely sensed data were taken at the same time during the experiment. Supervised classification was conducted on each high resolution image of the sites to estimate the proportions of each surface (i.e. playa, organic soils, Greasewood, Sagebrush, and Shadescale). Surface temperature was mapped for each site using airborne thermal imagery (pixel size of 0.30 m) obtained using an infrared thermal scanner. R n was estimated using the PIT ratio suggested by Jackson (1994) for estimating albedo. H was modelled using vegetation parameters extracted from the multispectral video imagery. The values of G/R n were exponentially related to the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI). Maps of the energy balance fluxes were produced based on the class distribution at each desert site. The good agreement between the observed and estimated surface energy fluxes suggests that maps of surface energy fluxes for sparsely vegetated arid regions could be produced at low cost using airborne sensors and used for input and verification of meso-scale atmospheric and energy balance models.


BACKGROUND
Demodicosis is a common disease in small animal veterinary practice worldwide with a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic options.

OBJECTIVES
To provide consensus recommendations on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of demodicosis in dogs and cats.

METHODS AND MATERIALS
The authors served as a Guideline Panel (GP) and reviewed the literature available before December 2018. The GP prepared a detailed literature review and made recommendations on selected topics. A draft of the document was presented at the North American Veterinary Dermatology Forum in Maui, HI, USA (May 2018) and at the European Veterinary Dermatology Congress in Dubrovnik, Croatia (September 2018) and was made available via the World Wide Web to the member organizations of the World Association for Veterinary Dermatology for a period of three months. Comments were solicited and responses were incorporated into the final document.

CONCLUSIONS
In young dogs with generalized demodicosis, genetic and immunological factors seem to play a role in the pathogenesis and affected dogs should not be bred. In old dogs and cats, underlying immunosuppressive conditions contributing to demodicosis should be explored. Deep skin scrapings are the diagnostic gold standard for demodicosis, but trichograms and tape squeeze preparations may also be useful under certain circumstances. Amitraz, macrocyclic lactones and more recently isoxazolines have all demonstrated good efficacy in the treatment of canine demodicosis. Therapeutic selection should be guided by local drug legislation, drug availability and individual case parameters. Evidence for successful treatment of feline demodicosis is strongest for lime sulfur dips and amitraz baths.


Due to their anatomical position, the tendency of early infiltrative growth and their poor prognosis without treatment, klatskin tumors are challenging concerning diagnosis and therapy. In contrast to other tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, for which exact diagnostic and stage dependent therapeutic guidelines could be formulated, clear recommendations for klatskin tumors are missing. Thus, survival rates after local resection, e. g. resection of the bile duct bifurcation alone, show high rates of R1/2 resection and early tumor recurrence. With an additional hepatic resection formally curative resections and long-term survival can be improved. Extended liver resections including the portal vein provide the highest rates of R0 resections for hilar carcinomas of the extrahepatic bile duct. Survival rates after liver transplantation for klatskin tumors are not yet convincing. Promising first results have been reported for the combination of neoadjuvant treatment and liver transplantation and might show future perspectives for the treatment of klatskin tumors.


Abstract. The spatial and temporal distribution of sea-level rise has the potential to cause regional flooding in certain areas, and low-lying island countries are severely at risk. Tuvalu, an atoll country located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, has been inundated by this regional flooding for decades. Tuvaluans call this regional flooding phenomenon King Tide, a term not clearly defined, blaming it for loss of life and property in announcing their intention to migrate. In this study, we clarified and interpreted King Tide, and analyzed the factors of King Tide in Tuvalu. Using tide gauge and topographical data, we estimated that 3.2 m could be considered the threshold of King Tide, which implied half of the island of Tuvalu was flooded with seawater. This threshold is consistent with the finding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that King Tide events occur once or twice a year. We surveyed 28 King Tide events to analyze the factors of regional flooding. Tide gauge and satellite altimeter data from 1993 to 2012 were cross-validated and indicated that the King Tide phenomenon is significantly related to the warm-water effect. Warm water contributed to the King Tide phenomenon by an average of 5.1% and a maximum of 7.8%. The height of King Tide is affected by the combined factors of spring tide, storm surge, climate variability, and, significantly, by the warm-water effect.


In 2006, the Government proposed allowing prosecutors in England and Wales to adduce 'general' expert witness testimony in rape cases. This initiative was based on two assumptions-first, that jurors currently lack an adequate understanding of rape complainants' post-assault behaviour (which, in turn, generates inappropriate inferences regarding credibility) and, second, that expert testimony offers a useful vehicle for addressing such juror ignorance. In a previous article, the authors reported on a mock jury study that provided empirical support for the first of these claims-at least in regard to a complainant's calm demeanour, delayed reporting or lack of physical resistance. In this article, the authors investigate whether educational guidance presented at trial-via expert testimony or an expansive judicial instruction-can have the intended beneficial impact of redressing popular misconceptions, thereby leading to a fairer assessment of complainant credibility in rape cases.


The appropriateness of antidiabetic usege on a public hospital in Padang - West Sumatra has been studied. This study was a descriptive study, which used patient's medical record as data resources. The appropriateness of antidiabetic usage based on criterion which was established earlier, such as the appropriateness of indication, the appropriateness of patient, the appropriateness of regiment, and the appropriateness of drug administration. Evaluation also has been done to the potential of drug interaction. The results showed that antidiabetic usage on that hospital were 100% appropriate in term of indication and drug administration. While evaluation to appropriateness of patient and drug regiment were 95.59% and 40.82% respectively.


When analysing the volatility related to high frequency financial data, mostly non-parametric approaches based on realised or bipower variation are applied. This article instead starts from a continuous time diffusion model and derives a parametric analog at high frequency for it, allowing simultaneously for microstructure effects, jumps, missing observations and stochastic volatility. Estimation of the model delivers measures of daily variation outperforming their non-parametric counterparts. Both with simulated and actual exchange rate data, the feasibility of this novel approach is shown. The parametric setting is used to estimate the intra-day trend in the Euro/U.S. Dollar exchange rate.


Laser surface alloying is one of the recent technologies used in the manufacturing sector for improving the surface properties of metals. Aluminum alloys are key materials in the manufacturing sector. This favors their high demand in many industries. In this study investigation, the surface alloying of pure aluminum was conducted using a CO2 laser. Four types of alloying powders were used with a 2:1:1 combination of copper, magnesium, and manganese. The hardness of the alloyed zones of Al-CuMgMn increased by 2 to 7 times at a 1.7 kW processing laser power. To assess the rate of wear for the alloyed samples, a modified Lancaster wear coefficient was considered. When the pin-on-disc wear test at 10 N and 20 N loads was analyzed with different sliding speeds, a reduction in wear by 30–50% appeared due to surface alloying. The result shows good insight into the wear behavior. In the same way, microstructure and surface morphology studies displayed a good metallurgical bonding without defects. In a statistical sense, the friction and wear behavior matched with an asperity-based model. The experimental results revealed that laser surface alloy has more wear resistance.


BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY
There are many possible determinants of left ventricular (LV) mass, including the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) genotype, which have rarely been compared in aortic stenosis (AS). The study aim was to investigate these determinants in patients with all grades of AS.

METHODS
Transthoracic echocardiography and an analysis of ACE genotype was performed in 91 patients with aortic valve thickening and a peak aortic velocity >2.0 m/s.

RESULTS
Univariate relationships were identified between LV mass index and effective orifice area (R = 0.22), and peak transaortic pressure difference (R = 0.36). LV mass index was similar for the ACE-II (152+/-37 g/m2), ACE-ID (145+/-46 g/m2) and ACE-DD (161+/-56 g/m2) genotypes. LV mass index was significantly greater in males (162+/-52 gm/m2) than in females (137+/-38 gm/m2; p = 0.014). The multivariate determinants varied according to the grade of AS: diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.028) in mild stenosis; peak transaortic pressure difference (p = 0.03) in moderate stenosis; and peak transaortic pressure difference (p <0.0001) and gender (p = 0.02) in severe stenosis. LV hypertrophy was present in 15 of 24 patients (63%) with mild AS, in 21 of 27 (78%) with moderate AS, and 32 of 40 (80%) with severe AS.

CONCLUSION
LV hypertrophy is common, even in mild AS, when it is independently related only to the systemic blood pressure. This suggests that antihypertensive agents should be considered early in the natural history of AS.


The Dimension-5 Seesaw Portal is a Type-I Seesaw model extended by d = 5 operators involving the sterile neutrino states, leading to new interactions between all neutrinos and the Standard Model neutral bosons. In this work we focus primarily on the implications of these new operators at the GeV-scale. In particular, we recalculate the heavy neutrino full decay width, up to three-body decays. We also review bounds on the dipole operator, and revisit LEP constraints on its coefficient. Finally, we turn to heavy neutrino pair production from Higgs decays, where the former are long-lived and disintegrate into a photon and a light neutrino. We probe this process by recasting two ATLAS searches for non-pointing photons, showing the expected event distribution in terms of arrival time t γ and pointing variable | ∆ z γ | .


A series of experiments was conducted to study the in vivo protection against Marek's disease-derived tumor transplants by the nononcogenic SB-1 strain of Marek's disease virus. Intact, embryonally bursectomized (Bx), thymectomized (Tx), or cyclophosphamide (Cy)-treated chickens of four genetic lines were vaccinated with live or inactivated SB-1. JMV, a non-virus-producing transplant, and GA/Tr-1 and MDT-198, two virus-producing transplants were used for challenge. Optimal protection against JMV was present 7 days postvaccination, but there was significant protection even when SB-1 and JMV were administered together. Protection was abolished by an increase in the number of tumor cells used for challenge or by combined Tx and Cy treatment. Inactivated SB-1-infected cells were unable to induce protection against JMV challenge. Protection was also present against challenge with GA/Tr-1, but not against MDT-198, except in vaccinated, Bx chickens. It was concluded that protection against JMV was T-cell dependent and required the induction of neo-antigens not present in an inactivated SB-1 cellular preparation. The absence of protection in intact chickens against MDT-198 could not be explained.


This paper attempts to give a rationale to public announcements, so often observed in the real world, and to formalize the idea that they can be used as a form of equilibrium selection device when multiple equilibria arise. It also shows how announcements solve the problems of coordination failures as predicted by the empirical literature based on experimental studies.


This paper studies banks' loan pricing behaviour in mainland China from 2003-2013 by applying panel regressions to firm-level loan data and estimated default likelihood for listed companies. We find that, with the progress of market-oriented financial reforms, banks generally require compensation for their exposure to borrowers' default risks. More so if the borrower is a non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE), mainly due to the pricing behaviour of the Big Four banks. On the other hand, bank lending rates are less sensitive to the default risks of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Our results also reveal that banks priced in firm default risks before 2008 financial crisis, but not necessarily after the crisis. As for industries, we find that, after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the real estate sector and other government-supported industries tended to enjoy better terms on loan pricing in terms of default risks. We believe the main reason is that government stimulus policies tilted towards those industries that played crucial roles in China's economic growth.


Myeloma tumor cells are particularly dependent on their microenvironment and sensitive to cellular antitumor immune response, including natural killer (NK) cells. These later are essential innate lymphocytes implicated in the control of viral infections and cancers. Their cytotoxic activity is regulated by a balance between activating and inhibitory signals resulting from the complex interaction of surface receptors and their respective ligands. Myeloma disease evolution is associated with a progressive alteration of NK cell number, phenotype and cytotoxic functions. We review here the different therapeutic approaches that could restore or enhance NK cell functions in multiple myeloma. First, conventional treatments (immunomodulatory drugs-IMids and proteasome inhibitors) can enhance NK killing of tumor cells by modulating the expression of NK receptors and their corresponding ligands on NK and myeloma cells, respectively. Because of their ability to kill by antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity, NK cells are important effectors involved in the efficacy of anti-myeloma monoclonal antibodies targeting the tumor antigens CD38, CS1 or BCMA. These complementary mechanisms support the more recent therapeutic combination of IMids or proteasome inhibitors to monoclonal antibodies. We finally discuss the ongoing development of new NK cell-based immunotherapies, such as ex vivo expanded killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR)-mismatched NK cells, chimeric antigen receptors (CAR)-NK cells, check point and KIR inhibitors.


Background : The study aim was to examine the effect of caffeine, L-carnitine, and their combination on lactate blood level, and exercise time during a 400m freestyle swimming trial. Methods : In a double-blind randomly designed study, 16 Karaj female freestyle swimmers aged 13.87±1.14 yr, BMI 21.69±4.34 kg/m2, height 160.87±58.75cm, weight 56.31±1.31kg were recruited. The trial activities included completing maximal 400m freestyle. The activity was performed half an hour after taking caffeine (3 mg/kg body weight) or L-carnitine (1.5g), caffeine + L-carnitine (3 mg/kg + 1.5 g), or placebo on 4 similar separate occasions. Blood lactate was measured 1 and 10 min after exercise. Results : Repeated measures ANOVA indicated that no significant difference was observed for performance in all groups (p≥0.05), whereas significant differences were observed in lactate accumulation in 1 min after trial (p<0.05). Conclusion : These findings showed that consuming caffeine, L-carnitine and their combination has no meaningful effect on performance. However, it seems that taking caffeine alone or with L-carnitine result would result in more lactate accumulation in 1 min after exercise.


A new system of impedance measurement over a frequency range of 0 to 200 kHz was developed by a three-electrode method. In this study, the electrical impedances of various tumors were measured in vivo in 54 patients with breast disease (31 breast cancers, 13 fibroadenomas, and 10 fibrocystic diseases) and 57 patients with pulmonary disease (44 lung cancers, 5 metastatic pulmonary tumors, 4 pulmonary tuberculoses, and 4 organized pneumonias). On the basis of those impedance measurements and the equivalent circuits in vivo, we calculated the extracellular resistance (Re), intracellular fluid resistance (Ri), and cell membrane capacitance (Cm) in tissues, all of which were compared among the various diseases. It was found that Re and Ri were significantly higher in breast cancers than in benign tumors and normal breast tissues and that Cm was significantly lower in breast cancers than in other tissues. On the other hand, Re and Ri were significantly higher, and Cm was significantly lower, in normal lung tissues than in pulmonary masses. Re and Ri were significantly higher, and Cm was significantly lower, in malignant tumors than in organized pneumonias. The results showed that these parameters (Re, Ri, and Cm) exhibit significant differences among various tissues and tumors, suggesting possible applications in tumor diagnosis.


Grasslands have to be considered not only as a mean for providing foods for domestic herbivore but also as an important biome of terrestrial biosphere. This function of grasslands as an active component of our environment requires specific studies on the role and impact of this ecosystem on soil erosion and soil quality, quality and quantity of water resources, atmosphere composition and greenhouse gas emission or sequestration, biodiversity dynamics at different scales from field plot to landscape. All these functions have to be evaluated in conjunction with the function of providing animal products for increasing human population. So multifunctionality of grasslands become a new paradigm for grassland science. Environmental and biodiversity outputs require long term studies, being the long term retro-active processes within soil, vegetation and micro-organism communities in relation to changes in management programme. So grassland science needs to carry on long term integrated experimentation for studying all the environmental outputs and ecological services associated to grassland management systems.


This chapter presents a system level design and conception of a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for the execution of cognitive agents. The computational architecture of this SoC will be presented using the cognitive model of the concurrent autonomous agent (CAA) as a reference. This cognitive model comprises three levels that run concurrently, namely the reactive level, the instinctive level and the cognitive level. The reactive level executes a fast perception-action cycle. The instinctive level receives perceptions from and sends the active behavior to the reactive level, and using a Knowledge Based System (KBS) executes plans by selecting reactive behaviors. The cognitive level receives symbolic information from the instinctive level to update its logical world model, used for planning and sends new local goals to instinctive level. Thus, this work proposes a novel SoC whose architecture fits the computational demands of the aforementioned cognitive model, allowing for fast, energy-efficient, embedded intelligent applications.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has afflicted tens of millions of people, fostering and unprecedent effort in vaccine development and distribution. Healthcare workers (HCW) play a key role in vaccine promotion and patient guidance, and it is likely that hesitancy among this population will have a major impact on the adoption of a successful immunization policy. To investigate HCW attitudes towards anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) vaccination, we developed an anonymous online cross-sectional survey. 1723 Italian HCW responded. Overall, 1155 (67%) intended to be vaccinated, while 443 (26%) were not sure and 125 (7%) declared refusal. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with hesitancy were using Facebook as the main information source and being a non-physician HCW, while predictors of acceptance included younger age, being in close contact with high-risk groups and having received flu vaccination during the 2019–2020 season. Reasons for hesitancy included lack of trust in vaccine safety (85%) and receiving little (78%) or conflicting (69%) information about vaccines. According to our results, adequate investment in vaccine education for healthcare personnel appears to be urgently needed, prioritizing non-physicians and information quality spread through social media. We hope that our data could help governments and policy-makers to target communication in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaign.


ABSTRACT City-regions are conferred economic advantage through their brokerage roles, which close structural holes between other city-regions that would otherwise not be connected within firm networks. Here, we identify city-regions whose brokerage roles are defined by their network positionality as intermediaries using flows based on ownership relations between headquarters and subsidiary locations. Applying Gould and Fernandez's framework of five potential brokerage types, we find city-regions play one or more brokerage roles characterized by both global and domestic flows. Moving beyond understandings of brokerage as a position, we explain diversity in brokerage as defined by economic processes underlying urban networks.


Dan 11:10 presents textual and historical difficulties. While some scholars favor the Qetiv/OG reading of bnw "son", corresponding to what has been seen as the more historical statement that one son of Seleucus II, the famous Antiochus III, fought against the Ptolemaic kingdom, others prefer the reading of bnyv/"sons" with the Qere, Th.-Dan. and the Vulgate, though they have not understood the verse in a meaningful historical fashion. This article attempts to show that recent developments in the study of Hellenistic history in Asia Minor demonstrate that both sons of Seleucus II, first Seleucus III and then Antiochus III, raised large forces for campaigns to restore their father's kingdom to its former glory. Dan 11:10 becomes an interesting example of the historicity of Dan 11.


Active regions in the inner solar corona, when observed in X-ray emission, consist of bright, hot loops surrounded by unstructured clouds. The emission from the clouds extends to a height of ≈4–5 × 104 km at temperatures of ≈2–3 MK. These "hot clouds" are variable, but persist for many days and do not appear to connect directly to the active region streamers or other large-scale structures observed higher in the corona. We present an observational analysis of these diffuse structures to establish basic plasma parameters such as magnetic field strength, particle density, and temperature. The values of β, the ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic field pressure, were found to be generally less than unity, though often approaching unity in the upper portions of the active region, where the hot clouds are located. The magnetic field may therefore only partially confine these regions and inhibit flare-like instabilities that could otherwise be driven by gradients of plasma pressure and current density.


In this paper, we present the results of a simulation study for the performance evaluation of certain batching strategies in a multi-product semiconductor wafer fabrication facility (waferfab). Batching in waferfabs means that we can process different lots at the same time on the same machine. As opposite to common scheduling and dispatching decisions in manufacturing beside assignment and sequencing decisions we have to make decisions on the content of a batch. Batching decisions have a large impact on the performance of a waferfab because of very long processing times of batching operations. We extend previous work on the evaluation of batch-ing strategies from the two product-case to the case of a larger number of products and different product mix scenarios. We investigate three different batching heuristics. Our heuristics are based on the Apparent Tardiness Cost dispatching rule. Two of the suggested batching strategies take future lot arrival information into account. It turns out that the usage of future lot information is advantageous in many situations. We use a reference model of a waferfab of medium size in order to carry out the simulation experiments.


ABSTRACT Here, we present the draft genome sequence of Microbacterium oleivorans strain A9, a uranium-tolerant actinobacterium which has been isolated from radionuclide-contaminated soil from the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It is composed of 22 contigs totaling 2,954,335 bp and contains 2,813 coding DNA sequences, one cluster of rRNA genes, and 45 tRNA genes.


The pregnane X receptor (PXR), or nuclear receptor (NR) 1I2, is a ligand-activated NR superfamily member that is enriched in liver and intestine in mammals. Activation of PXR regulates the expression of genes encoding key proteins involved in drug metabolism, drug efflux, and drug transport. Recent mechanistic investigations reveal that post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as phosphorylation, play a critical role in modulating the bimodal function of PXR-mediated transrepression and transactivation of target gene transcription. Upon ligand binding, PXR undergoes a conformational change that promotes dissociation of histone deacetylase–containing multiprotein corepressor protein complexes while simultaneously favoring recruitment histone acetyl transferase–containing complexes. Here we describe a novel adenoviral vector used to deliver and recover recombinant human PXR protein from primary cultures of hepatocytes. Using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry we report here that PXR is phosphorylated at amino acid residues threonine 135 (T135) and serine 221 (S221). Biochemical analysis reveals that these two residues play an important regulatory role in the cycling of corepressor and coactivator multiprotein complexes. These data further our foundational knowledge regarding the specific role of PTMs, namely phosphorylation, in regulating the biology of PXR. Future efforts are focused on using the novel tools described here to identify additional PTMs and protein partners of PXR in primary cultures of hepatocytes, an important experimental model system. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Pregnane X receptor (PXR), or nuclear receptor 1I2, is a key master regulator of drug-inducible CYP gene expression in liver and intestine in mammals. The novel biochemical tools described in this study demonstrate for the first time that in cultures of primary hepatocytes, human PXR is phosphorylated at amino acid residues threonine 135 (T135) and serine 221 (S221). Moreover, phosphorylation of PXR promotes the transrepression of its prototypical target gene CYP3A4 through modulating its interactions with coregulatory proteins.


Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic multi-system disease of unknown cause. It affects the people in their prime of life, predominantly between the ages of 20-50 years with unpredictable course. Sudard is used in the ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of inflammation and pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, osteo-arthritis, frozen shoulder, sciatica, ankylosing spondylitis and chronic backache. Our study was aimed to evaluate efficacy of sudard using different animal models such as formalin (2% v/v) induced acute inflammation, carrageen (1% v/v) induced polyarthritis, adjuvant induced arthritis, subacute inflammation by sponge implantation technique and analgesic activity by Eddy's hot plate method. The results indicate that the formulation sudard possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic and analgesic activities in the experimental animal models.


It is almost a decade now since the Electric Power Sector Reforms Bill was signed into law. The law, among other objectives, is to ensure a system of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and marketing that is efficient, safe, affordable and cost-effective throughout the industry. It appears, however, that the effectiveness of the reforms in transforming the sector has remained uncertain. The major objective of this paper therefore, is to examine the challenges facing the power sector reforms in Nigeria by employing a purely descriptive method and to suggest the way forward. The focus of exposition is on the appropriate energy mix in generation, workable tariffs and supply gap in the electricity generation within the context of power reforms. The paper offers a number of suggestions that can move the power sector forward in Nigeria.


Meningitis is life-threatening condition and examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may not give a precise diagnosis and prognosis of different types of meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is still a very common problem especially in many developing countries. The aims of study are to estimate the importance and significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes, protein and sugar in CSF of different types of meningitis. A total of 160 cases, aged between 1 month and 60 years, including patients with bacterial meningitis (n=50), pyogenic meningitis (n=46), viral meningitis (n=24) and a control group (n=40), were  analyzed on the basis of data from the initial clinical examinations. Significant increase in LDH level (P<0.001) were observed in the test group when compared to the control group. The LDH activity was significantly elevated in the CSF and serum (p < 0.001) in cases of pyogenic (PM) as well as tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Bacterial meningitis is more common than non bacterial meningitis. The enzymatic activity of LDH although significantly raised in PM compared to TBM but there was no cutoff level to differentiate them. The LDH level did rise quite significantly in pyogenic meningitis.


The overall aim of this thesis was to describe changes in the prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases and to identify risk factors for severe periodontal disease in adults living in Jonkoping County, Sweden, by analysing the cross-sectional, epidemiological studies that had been carried out in the city of Jonkoping in 1973, 1983, and 1993. Individuals were randomly selected from the following age groups: 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 years. The number of dentate subjects was 537 in 1973, 550 in 1983, and 552 in 1993. The cross-sectional study in 1993 was expanded to include an additional 1192 dentate individuals from the rest of the county. A longitudinal follow-up was also performed based on a re-examination in 1988-91 of 361 of the individuals examined in 1973. The main findings were as follows: Oral hygiene among 20-year-olds had deteriorated in 1993 compared with the 1983 results and the prevalence of gingivitis in this age group reverted to levels similar to those in 1973. The largest increase in mean number of teeth was found among the 70-year-olds who had an average of five more teeth per subject in 1993 than in 1973. Similar findings regarding tooth loss and levels of alveolar bone could be seen in individuals living in the city of Jonkoping and in the rest of the county. The prevalence of individuals diagnosed with severe periodontal disease experience (13%) was unchanged between 1983 and 1993. These subjects had, on the average, two-four more teeth in 1993 than in 1983. Higher levels of supragingival plaque were significantly associated with severe periodontal disease/disease progression. A mean plaque level of 10 cigarettes/day) was strongly correlated with severe periodontal disease, but no association was found for light smoking (1-9 cigarettes/day). Female gender was found to be correlated with severe periodontal disease progression. The potential risk factors identified in the cross-sectional study were similar to the risk factors identified in the longitudinal study. (Less)


Author Institution: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Optical Technology Division; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical and Chemical Properties Division


Background: Microtia is a congenital malformation of the outer ears caused by improper embryonic development. The origin of microtia and causes of its variations remain unknown. Because of the lack of clarity regarding the role of genetic variables in microtia, we conducted a systematic review to qualitatively identify the genes most important in the development of microtia to provide an up-to-date review. Methods: Using six search engines, we searched all published studies related to the genetic factors of isolated microtia and syndromic microtia. The identified publications were screened and selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria by the authors and assessed for methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tools. We found 40 studies, including 22 studies on syndromic microtia and 18 studies on isolated microtia. Data extraction of each study was arranged in tabulation for syndromic and isolated microtia. The extracted data were: first author's surname, year of publication, country of origin, study design, sample characteristic and gene assessed. Results: After the data were extracted, analyzed, and reviewed, the most common gene suspected to be involved in isolated microtia was Homeobox A2 (HOXA2, 12.1%). Conversely, in syndromic microtia, the two most common genes supposed to play a role were Fibroblast Growth Factor 3 (FGF3, 47.2%) and Treacher–Collins–Franceschetti syndrome 1 (TCOF1, 30.2%). From the studies, the three most prevalent genes associated with microtia were HOXA2 (10%), FGF3 (8.4%), and TCOF1 (5.4%). In syndromic microtia, the most common mutation types were deletion in TCOF1 (46.9%) and missense and deletion in FGF3 (both 38%), and in isolated microtia, the most common mutation type was silent in HOXA2 (54.2%). Conclusions: In summary, genetic factors are involved in microtia; thus, molecular analysis is strongly advised. PROSPERO registration: CRD42021287294 (25/10/21).