Direct evidence that dopamine (DA) neurotransmission varies during the 24 h of the day is lacking. Here, we have characterized the firing activity of DA neurons located in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) using single‐unit extracellular recordings in anesthetized rats kept on a standard light–dark cycle. DA neuronal firing activity was measured under basal conditions and in response to intravenous administration of increasing doses of amphetamine (AMPH: 0.5, 1, 2, 5 mg/kg), apomorphine (APO: 25, 50, 100, 200 µg/kg) and melatonin (MLT: 0.1, 1, 10 mg/kg) at different time intervals of the light–dark cycle. DA firing activity peaked between 07:00 and 11:00 h (3.5 ± 0.3 Hz) and between 19:00 and 23:00 h (4.1 ± 0.7 Hz), with lowest activity occurring between 11:00 and 15:00 h (2.4 ± 0.2 Hz) and between 23:00 and 03:00 h (2.6 ± 0.2 Hz). The highest number of spontaneously active neurons was observed between 03:00 and 06:00 h (2.5 ± 0.3 neurons/track), whereas the lowest was between 19:00 and 23:00 h (1.5 ± 0.2 neurons/track). The inhibitory effect of AMPH on DA firing rate was similar in both phases. The inhibitory effect of low dose of APO (25 μg/kg, dose selective for D2 autoreceptor) was more potent in the dark phase, whereas APO effects at higher doses were similar in both phases. Finally, MLT administration (1 mg/kg) produced a moderate inhibition of DA cell firing in both phases. These experiments demonstrate the existence of an intradiurnal rhythmic pattern of VTA DA neuronal firing activity and a higher pharmacological response of D2 autoreceptors in the dark phase. Synapse 68:454–467, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


A status report is presented on a project aimed at implementing new technologies, such as concurrent processing, object-oriented programming, and artificial intelligence techniques, in distribution system control centers. The applications functions include monitoring, diagnosing, switching, and service restoration. A major concern in implementing such technologies is how best to interface existing software (number crunching) with the new tools. The project investigates the possibility of solving the integration problem by using conventional language extensions for coding the new applications. All the required extensions are based on a distributed real-time system which supports process-spawning and message-passing. This project forms part of a more general effort which includes applications to a broader class of power system problems and to such areas as the real-time control of telephony switching systems.<<ETX>>


The use of an InGaAsP quantum well (QW) active region offers the intriguing possibility of realizing reliable high-power operation at short wavelengths (730 nm). We employ high bandgap cladding layers and confining layers to suppress carrier leakage along with a 1.5% compressively strained InGaAsP QW. The structure was grown on [100] substrates misoriented 10" toward (111) A by low-pressure metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition (LPMOCVD).


ISSUES
Relapse is a theoretical construct and empirical object of inquiry. It is unclear how relapse is operationalised with regard to the various phases in substance use disorders (SUD). The aim was to investigate relapse operationalisations in SUDs studies after short- and long-term abstinence and remission, recovery and slip/lapse.

APPROACH
Systematic review using the following databases: Epistemonikos, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL and DARE), MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Web of Science and PsycINFO. Search returned 3426 articles, with 276 meeting the following inclusion criteria: empirical study published in English in a peer-reviewed journal; samples meet diagnostic criteria for dependence syndrome or moderate-severe drug use disorder or alcohol use disorder; reports relapse, abstinence, recovery, remission, slip or lapse. Review protocol registration: PROSPERO (CRD42020154062).

KEY FINDINGS
Thirty-two percent of the studies had no definition of 'relapse'. Most relapse operationalisations were defined according to measure (26%), time (17%), use (26%) and amount and frequency (27%). Of the 16 studies with a follow-up duration of up to 2 years, one (6%) contained a definition of 'long-term abstinence'. Of the 64 studies with a follow-up duration of more than 2 years, four (6%) contained a definition of 'long-term abstinence'. Of those, one (2%) mentioned 'early relapse' and one (2%) mentioned 'late relapse'.

IMPLICATIONS
Future research is needed to explore the possible difference between early and late relapse. Moreover, working to increase consensus on relapse operationalisations in SUD research is warranted.

CONCLUSIONS
We identified no consensus on relapse operationalisations nor agreement on the differentiation between early and late relapse. The clinical utility of current relapse operationalisations seems low and may compromise knowledge accumulation about relapse and implementation of research into treatment.


Geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in depleted gas reservoirs represents a cost-effective solution to mitigate global carbon emissions. The surface chemistry of the reservoir rock, pressure, temperature, and moisture content are critical factors that determine the CO2 adsorption capacity and storage mechanisms. Shale-gas reservoirs are good candidates for this application. However, the interactions between CO2 and organic content still need further investigation. The objectives of this paper are to (i) experimentally evaluate the adsorption isotherm of CO2 on activated carbon, (ii) quantify the nanoscale interfacial interactions between CO2 and the activated carbon surface using Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, (iii) evaluate the modeling reliability using experimental measurements, and (iv) quantify the influence of temperature and geochemistry on the adsorption behavior of CO2 on the surface of activated carbon. These objectives aim at obtaining a better understanding of the behavior of CO2 injection and storage in the kerogen structure of shale-gas formations, where activated carbon is used as a proxy for thermally mature kerogen.
 We performed experimental measurements, grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations, and MD simulations of CO2 adsorption and diffusion on activated carbon. The experimental work involved measurements of the high-pressure adsorption capacity of activated carbon using pure CO2 gas at a temperature of 300 K. The simulation work started with modeling and validating an activated carbon structure by calibrating the GCMC simulations with experimental CO2 adsorption measurements. Then, we extended the simulation work to quantify the adsorption isotherms at a temperature range of 250–500 K and various surface chemistry conditions. Moreover, CO2 self-diffusion coefficients were quantified at gas pressures of 0.5 MPa, 1 MPa, and 2 MPa using MD simulations.
 The experimental results showed a typical CO2 excess adsorption trend for the nanoporous structures, with a density of the sorbed gas phase of 504.76 kg/m3. The simulation results were in agreement with experimental adsorption isotherms with a 10.6% average absolute relative difference. The self-diffusion results showed a decrease in gas diffusion with increasing pressure due to the increase in the adsorbed gas amount. Increasing the simulation temperature from 300 K to 400 K led to a decrease in the amount of adsorbed CO2 molecules by about 87% at 2 MPa pressure. Finally, the presence of charged functional groups (e.g., hydroxyl–OH and carboxyl–COOH) led to an increase in the adsorption of CO2 gas to the activated carbon surface. The outcomes of this paper provide new insights about the parameters affecting CO2 adsorption and sequestration in depleted shale-gas reservoirs. This in turn helps in screening the candidate shale-gas reservoirs for carbon capture, sequestration, and storage to maximize the CO2 storage capacity.


Design education should integrate design concepts and skills with practical and theoretical knowledge through collaborative learning. Computer-mediated communication systems used in web-based education systems are quite appropriate for this principle by enabling global access to course material as well as allowing interaction of participants at distributed learning environments at anytime. Course design broadly requires the organization of time, space and activities considering the tools and methods used. Based on these issues, this study proposes a framework for the design of a web-based studio course with respect to the nature of the design process. An implementation of a sample web-based course design is included to support the idea. Considering the benefits and limitations, the nature of web-based design courses is explored first. Then, the sociological, ideological, epistemological and pedagogical aspects of a design studio are examined within the framework of objectives (why), objects (what), methodology (how) and management (who) with special emphasis given to synchronous and asynchronous communication.


Cushions are energy absorbing structures or materials used in various applications including packaging, footwear and protective gears. They often come in the form of polymeric cellular structures such as foams. The cushion selection process conventionally involves testing of available foams and selecting the foam which is best suited for the target application.

Optimized cushions would greatly improve the selection process and its effectiveness for a targeted task. Instead of selecting a cellular solid best suited for a particular application, the foam or the cellular structure itself is designed and optimized based on the requirements of the application. This requires understanding and control of the cellular structure's design parameters and additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing offers great design freedom for the fabrication of complex porous parts.

Polyjet printing is a 3D printing process that is capable of producing complex polymer parts for various purposes (prototypes to functional parts). Polyjet printing is also capable of producing digital polymers which are polymers composing of up to three different polymer resins hence offering a range of physical and mechanical properties.

This research aims to develop an optimized 3D printed cellular structure for cushioning purposes. The effect of cellular microstructure and density on the cushioning properties of the final structure will first be investigated. This is followed by the formulation of an optimization problem to optimize the design parameters of a cellular structure for cushioning purposes.

To achieve the above, methods of evaluating cushioning properties were reviewed and a new cellular structure model was designed with the unit cells arranged in a regular array. The design allows the tuning of the structure's stiffness and strength without affecting its weight i.e. maintaining its relative density. Theoretically, this new method of designing cellular structures allows for an exponential increase in stiffness by decreasing the cellular size. A mathematical model was then developed to accurately predict (R2 > 0.6) the mechanical response of the honeycomb during compressive deformation.

A method which predicts the dynamic response of cellular structures using its static compressive data and the mathematical model were used to optimize the structure to meet various cushioning requirement. The optimized cushions were compared to conventional cushions for various applications. The optimized cushions are always lighter (50% ~ 90%) when compared to conventional cushions with similar thickness.


In this paper, we explore the trade-offs and opportunities in porting a high-throughput Grid computing middleware to a high-performance service oriented environment. We present the limitations of the Grid computing middleware when operating in such a performance sensitive enviroment and suggest ways of overcoming these limitations. We focus on exploiting the computation and communiction heterogeneity of the Grid resources to meet the peformance requirements of services, and present several approaches of work distribution that deal with this hetergeneity. We also present a heuristic for finding the best decomposition of work and present algorithms for each of the approaches which we evaluate on a PlanetLab tesbed. The results validate the heuristic and indicate that a significant improvement in performance can be achieved by making the Grid computing middleware aware of the heterogeneity in the underlying infrastructure. The results also provide some useful insights into selecting a work distribution policy based on the dynamic status of the Grid computing environment.


Road damage detection is critical for the maintenance of a road, which traditionally has been performed using expensive high-performance sensors. With the recent advances in technology, especially in computer vision, it is now possible to detect and categorize different types of road damages, which can facilitate efficient maintenance and resource management. In this work, an ensemble model for efficient detection and classification of road damages, which has been submitted to the IEEE BigData Cup Challenge 2020. The solution utilizes a state-of-the-art object detector known as You Only Look Once (YOLO-v4), which is trained on images of various types of road damages from Czech, Japan and India. The ensemble approach was extensively tested with several different model versions and it was able to achieve an F1 score of 0.628 on the test 1 dataset and 0.6358 on the test 2 dataset.


Effects of a small clear-cutting on solar radiation, soil and air temperature regimes were investigated by continuous field measurements in a spruce forest in Solling, Central Germany, during vegetation period of 2005. Five meteorological stations, installed in central part of a small clear-cut area (2.5 ha) and close to edges of a surrounding forest, allowed to quantify the spatial variability of meteorological parameters within the clear-cut and to describe the impacts of the forest on clear-cut microclimate. The differences of microclimatic conditions between the clear-cut and the surrounding forest were derived using an additional station installed inside the forest about 150 m from the clear-cut. Results showed that clear-cutting leads to significant changes of spatial and temporal patterns of solar radiation and soil temperature. Solar radiation at the clear-cut was very heterogeneously distributed and about 5-11 times higher than inside the forest. It reached maximum at northeastern part and minimum at southwestern part of the clear-cut. The daily maximal soil temperature at 10 cm depth was measured at northern parts of the clear-cut and it was by up to 6°C higher than in the forest. Daily minimal soil temperature at the clear-cut was about 1-3°C higher than in the forest, too. The main factors influencing the soil temperature patterns were seasonally changed incoming solar radiation, ground vegetation and its phenology, as well as soil moisture. The mean daily maximal air temperature measured at the clear-cut was by up to 2.5°C higher and the mean daily minimal temperature by up to 0.5°C lower than in the surrounded forest.


Some occupations are subject to more complex identity work processes than others. This rings true for those professional endeavours that are relatively poorly known and that cannot rely on institutions as a reference for identification, such as digital nomadism. Digital nomads can broadly be defined as professionals who embrace extreme forms of mobile work to combine their interest in travel with the possibility to work remotely. Building on a two-stage data collection process, this paper proposes a typology that characterises four archetypes of digital nomad lifestyle promoters' narratives found online and show how these online narratives play a role in the process of identity work of other digital nomads. Our contributions are two-fold. First, we show that while the archetypes act as an important online identity regulatory force, they do so through dis-identification. Second, we explain how identity work for digital nomads involves evaluating discursively available subjectivities and propose a three-step reflexive process that entails (i) interpreting, (ii) dis-identifying and (iii) contextualising. We contend that our findings extend beyond the specific case of digital nomads and shed light onto the intricacies of work identity for 'new' occupations that are romanticised and monetised through social media and beyond.


Under certain circumstances (High Mach number, large shock angle...), the interaction between an incident shock wave impinging a boundary layer may create an unsteady separation bubble. This bubble, as well as the subsequent reflected shock, are known to oscillate in a low-frequency streamwise motion that can spread over several tenth of the boundary layer thickness. The origin of those oscillations, however still unclear, has been related either to the shedding of vortices in the mixing layer downstream of the separation, or to the turbulent structures in the incoming boundary layer. An in-house parallel (MPI) Finite-Volume based DNS/LES solver developed at LIMSI-CNRS is used to perform simulations of this problem. In order to reduce the possible causes of unsteadiness to the sole vortex shedding, simulations have been performed for laminar boundary layers, in which no incoming structures are encountered within the boundary layer. In this configuration, low frequency oscillations of the whole shock wave boundary layer interaction system (SWBLI) have not been observed even if a strong intermittency of the shedding responsible for low-frequency reattachment shock oscillations have been evidenced. This tends to suggest the importance of the turbulent structures of the incoming boundary layer in the low frequency oscillations of the SWBLI system. In this context, the accurate simulation of a turbulent compressible incoming boudary layer is of great importance. A Synthetic Eddy Method [3], adapted to compressible flow, have been employed to achieve this objective without prohibitive additional computational costs. Analyses of the SWTBLI dynamics by using a modal decomposition will be presented at the conference.


Despite the merits of digitisation in private and professional spaces, critical infrastructures and societies are increasingly exposed to cyberattacks. Thus, Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) are deployed in many countries and organisations to enhance the preventive and reactive capabilities against cyberattacks. However, their tasks are getting more complex by the increasing amount and varying quality of information disseminated into public channels. Adopting the perspectives of Crisis Informatics and safety-critical Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and based on both a narrative literature review and group discussions, this paper first outlines the research agenda of the CYWARN project, which seeks to design strategies and technologies for cross-platform cyber situational awareness and actor-specific cyber threat communication. Second, it identifies and elaborates eight research challenges with regard to the monitoring, analysis and communication of cyber threats in CERTs, which serve as a starting point for in-depth research within the project.


Colonies attached to glass slides were suspended in the sea. They were also immersed in low salinity waters once for one or two hours or repeatedly for one, two or six hours once a day to examine the effects of salinity changes on growth. The effect was also examined with a culture method in beakers using water of various salinity (33.7, 31.0, 27.9, 24.1 and 18.1•ñ), with colonies on glass slides with Rhodomonas as food. Exposure to fresh water for even a short time caused severe damage to the animal, but salinities higher than 9•ñ were not injurious for their further growth. Colonies repeatedly exposed to seawater lower than 20•ñ will not grow to be a mature colony. If the seawater has a salinity higher than 25•ñ they might grow to a mature stage and in salinities higher than 30•ñ they grow well.


Noninvasive methods to study glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling are urgently needed to elaborate the complexity of GR signaling in normal physiology and human disorders, as well as to identify selective GR modulators to treat diseases. Here, we report evidence supporting translational studies with (±)-11C-5-(4-fluorobenzyl)-10-methoxy-2,2,4-trimethyl-2,5-dihydro-1H-chromeno[3,4-f]-quinoline ((±)-11C-YJH08), a radioligand for PET that engages the ligand binding domain on GR. Methods: (±)-11C-YJH08 was synthesized by reacting the phenol precursor with 11C-methyl iodide. The biodistribution was studied in vivo. Specific binding was tested in vivo with adrenalectomy and ligand competition. A library of analogs was synthesized and studied in vitro and in vivo to understand the (±)-11C-YJH08 structure–activity relationship. Rodent dosimetry studies were performed to estimate the human-equivalent doses of (±)-11C-YJH08. Results: (±)-11C-YJH08 was synthesized by reaction of the phenolic precursor with 11C-methyl iodide, giving a radiochemical yield of 51.7% ± 4.7% (decay-corrected to starting 11C-methyl iodide). Specific binding was observed in many tissues, including the brain. An analysis of the (±)-YJH08 structure–activity relationship showed that (R)- and (S)-enantiomers are equally avid for GR by occupying discrete binding modes. A focused chemical screen revealed that the aryl fluoride motif on YJH08 is essential for high-affinity GR binding in vitro, high tissue uptake in vivo, and efficient passage across the blood–brain barrier. Lastly, we performed dosimetry studies on rodents, from which we estimated the human-equivalent doses of (±)-11C-YJH08 to be commensurate with the widely used 11C and 18F tracers. Conclusion: These studies reveal the molecular determinants of a high-affinity and high-selectivity ligand–receptor interaction and support the use of (±)-11C-YJH08 PET to make the first measurements of GR expression in human subjects.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of dynamic neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) with 3-month functional outcomes in patients with sICH. We retrospectively identified 213 consecutive patients with sICH hospitalized in The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2017 to May 2018. Patients were divided into functional independence (FI) or unfavorable prognosis (UP) groups based on 3-month outcomes. Admission leukocyte counts within 24 hours of symptom onset were obtained, and the recorded fraction, of which the numerator is neutrophil and the denominator is lymphocyte, as NLR0. Determined NLR1, NLR3, NLR7, and NLR14 were recorded on day 1 (n = 77), day 3 (n = 126), day 7 (n = 123), and day 14 (n = 105), respectively. The relationships between dynamic NLR or leukocyte counts and clinical features were evaluated using Spearman's or Kendall's correlation analysis. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify the risk factors for unfavorable 3-month prognosis. The patients' dynamic NLR was positively associated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, ICH score, and hematoma volume at admission, while inversely correlated to the onset GCS score and FI at 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, higher NLR or lower absolute lymphocyte count obtained at admission was independently risk factor for UP at 3 months (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.003, 1.12; OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.94, respectively). In conclusion, higher NLR and lower lymphocyte counts at early stages were predictive of 3-month unfavorable outcomes in sICH patients.


Periplocoside P (PSP), a novel compound isolated from Periploca sepium Bunge, possesses insecticidal activity against some lepidopterans, such as Mythimna separata. In M. separata, the brush border membrane vesicles of the midgut epithelium are the initial site of action of periplocosides. We conducted two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight/time of flight mass spectrometry analysis to analyze differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) from periplocoside P (PSP)-treated M. separata. We successfully isolated seven up-regulated and three down-regulated DEPs that have been previously identified, as well as a novel DEP. The DEPs are implicated in protein degradation, transporter, folding, and synthesis, and in juvenile hormone biosynthesis. DEPs involved in the oxidative phosphorylation energy metabolism pathway are enriched. Through real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, we confirmed that vma1 expression is significantly up-regulated expression levels in PSP-treated M. separata larvae. Enzymology validation further indicated that PSP can significantly inhibit V-type ATPase activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Given these results, we speculate that in M. separata, the V-type ATPase A subunit in the midgut epithelium is the putative target binding site of periplocosides. This finding provides preliminary evidence for the mode of action of periplocosides.


Discordianism, founded in 1957 and generally regarded as a "parody religion," has only recently received scholarly consideration as a valid religious expression within modern Paganism (Cusack 2010). Yet ritual practice within Discordianism remains largely unexamined; Hugh Urban's brief discussion of Discordian magical workings as a sub-category of Chaos Magic is the extent of academic discussion of the subject to date (Urban 2006). This article elaborates on Urban's tantalising classification of Discordian magic. A brief history of Discordianism is sketched; then ritual and magic in the Discordian tradition is explored through an examination of key texts, including Malaclypse the Younger's Principia Discordia (1965), and Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975). Similarities between Chaos Magic and Discordianism are noted, and an analysis of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY), a magical order founded by British performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and others in 1981, elucidates the relationship between Chaos Magic and Discordian magic. It is argued that the essentially unorganised nature of Chaos Magic and Discordianism, and the trenchant resistance of both to any form of "orthodoxy," justifies classifying Discordian magic as a form of Chaos Magic. Chaos magicians and Discordians both have a deconstructive and monistic worldview, in which binary oppositions collapse into undifferentiated oneness, and neither conformity of belief nor unity of practice is required to be an "authentic" Discordian or Chaote.


We report initial results of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) 2006-2007 Long Duration Balloon flight, which searched for evidence of the flux of cosmogenic neutrinos. ANITA flew for 35 days looking for radio impulses that might be due to the Askaryan effect in neutrino-induced electromagnetic showers within the Antarctic ice sheets. In our initial high-threshold robust analysis, no neutrino candidates are seen, with no physics background. In a non-signal horizontal-polarization channel, we do detect 6 events consistent with radio impulses from extensive air showers, which helps to validate the effectiveness of our method. Upper limits derived from our analysis now begin to eliminate the highest cosmogenic neutrino models.


This study examines how shelter workers who serve formerly homeless veterans perceive their experiences and performances related to their workplace. Previous research shows that perceived social support is strongly related to self-efficacy, work morale, and job satisfaction among workers. Interviews administered to homeless shelter workers reveal how they engage in daily tasks and recognize support systems at work. Results show that homeless shelter workers experience positive outcomes associated with their profession while they feel significant challenges and confrontations posed by clients. Acknowledging the critical role of the homeless shelter workforce in addressing veteran homelessness, this study emphasizes the importance of offering effective staff trainings. To support the homeless shelter workforce and develop its capacity, organizational effort should focus on promoting social support and protecting staff well-being.


The objective of this article is to review various unsightly periodontal defects and the treatments that have previously been used to eliminate them in order to establish guidelines for future therapy. The inter-relationship between orthodontic and periodontal disciplines is well established and needs no defense here. Periodontal tissues change throughout life and the same is true for the smile. The periodontium is an essential component of the appearance of the face as well as the lips. These are dynamic esthetic criteria while the gingiva and the static character of the dentition also contribute to the character of an individual's smile. In order to conduct orthodontic therapy most effectively it is essential that orthodontists and periodontists utilize a coordinated approach. From the beginning, they must establish an etiological diagnosis of any esthetic defects that will insure that their joint therapy is conducted appropriately and at the proper moment.


It has been over twenty years since Tateyama-Sniezek (1990) studied the effect that cooperative learning had on promoting positive relationships between handicapped and non-handicapped students. The author examined the role cooperative learning played in effecting the academic achievement of handicapped students. The results of the author's research revealed "before teachers are encouraged to use cooperative learning as a strategy to promote the academic achievement of students with handicaps, further evaluation is required; the variables that contribute to its 'risks and benefits' must be identified" (p. 430). Since then McMaster and Fuchs (2002) published an update on Tateyama-Sniezek's article reviewing fifteen studies according to cooperative learning types and revealed design problems across the studies that proved difficult to determine the efficacy of cooperative learning approaches on the achievement of students with learning disabilities. Both articles emphasized the need for further research before identifying specific cooperative learning approaches that significantly impact the academic achievement of students with disabilities which was the impetus for this paper. In continuing to promote the idea of inclusion in public schools as established in previous federal legislation, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 reaffirmed the notion that children with disabilities be educated with children who are nondisabled and have greater access to the general education curriculum within the context of least restrictive environment and in accordance with inclusion, the rules and regulations stated that children with disabilities must be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum while participating with other children with disabilities and nondisabled children in classroom activities (IDEA; U.S. Department of Education, 2004). In addition, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001) emphasized a need for improving the academic achievement of low achieving students including children with disabilities while requiring teachers to use scientific research to guide classroom practice (Linn, Baker, & Betebenner, 2002). The greatest number of students with disabilities served in public schools fall under the category of specific learning disability, and these students are more likely to be served in a general education classroom. In the 2011 -12 school year 36% of students between the ages of 3-21 in public schools were identified as having a specific learning disability and 66 percent of these students with specific learning disabilities spent most of their school day in general classes (Synder & Dillow, 2013). The significant number of students with learning disabilities in the general education classroom has led teachers to seek instructional strategies that promote cooperation while improving the students' academic performance. The requirements of both IDEA and NCLB established greater accountability for teachers in identifying instructional strategies for improving the academic achievement for all students. In a search for best practices that promote cooperation and improve academic achievement, cooperative learning is a highly effective strategy with sound research to support implementation in K-12 classrooms. Cooperative learning is an instructional method, or peer-assisted learning strategy where students work together in small groups to help each other learn (Rohrbeck, Ginsburg-Block, Fantuzzo, & Miller, 2003; Slavin, 2008; Webb, 2009). Typically, students are assigned to cooperative groups and stay together for many weeks or months. They are usually taught specific skills that will help them work well together, such as listening actively, giving good explanations, avoiding putdowns, and including other people (Slavin, 2008, p. 230). A lesson's goal structure refers to the amount of interdependence required of students as they perform their work and cooperative goal structures exist when students can obtain their goal only when other students with whom they are linked can obtain theirs (Arends, 2015, p. …


This paper aims to examine Greek consumers' intentions to purchase innovative green cosmetics and detergents. The new products, not yet delivered to the market, will contain green chemicals produced by recycled CO2, sun, and water. A model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour extended by scepticism was conceptualised, and the relevant measures were originally developed for this study. A survey was conducted through electronic interviews with 306 respondents. Stratified sampling was implemented according to the population distributions of gender and age in Greece. The results revealed that perceived behavioural control was the stronger influencer of intentions, followed by subjective norms, while the impact of attitudes was found to be surprisingly weak. Scepticism was found able to moderate the relationship between subjective norms and consumption intentions, indicating that the influence of important persons on intentions towards green buying is stronger in those consumers who obtained a higher level of scepticism.


: After briefly summarizing the chacteristics of all infections caused by rickettsies and pararickettsies, which are the same depending on the same properties of these pathogen agents, the Author describes the microagglutination technique which is the elective method of serodiagnosis, briefly referring the genesis. The Author reports in conclusion the considerations deriving from the results, stressing the importance of reactivation in all cases resulting negative.


We model duopoly competition between two platforms. They operate in a two-sided market where agents are heterogeneous on both sides of the market and are allowed to multihome. Network effects are captured within a vertical differentiation framework. Under single-homing there exists an interior equilibrium where networks exhibit asymmetric sizes and both firms enjoy positive profits. When all agents are allowed to patronize the two platforms, we show that in equilibrium multi-homing takes place on one side of the market only. Moreover, the only equilibrium exhibiting positive profits for both platforms replicates the collusive outcome.


The forklift is one of the most popular goods handling vehicles in logistic applications. Self-driving, as an emerging technology, is promising in simultaneously reducing the labor cost and improving the logistic efficiency for forklifts. In this paper, a cascade path-following controller for the self-driving forklift with rear wheel steering, based on a dynamic model, is proposed in the framework of active disturbance rejection control. To address the nonminimum phase behavior observed in forklift with rear wheel steering system, a coordinates reconstruction method is first applied. Then the lateral error, of the reconstructed coordinates to the target trajectory, is enforced to zero by manipulating the desired heading angle through the outer-loop controller. The heading angle is achieved in the inner-loop controller by adjusting the desired steering wheel angle. For both inner and outer loop controllers, all the effects of the discrepancy of the dynamic model from the real forklift are lumped into "total disturbances" for each loop, which are then estimated by the extended state observers. With the total disturbance rejected in the feedback loop, the plant is enforced to behave as a simple first order linear system which is straightforward to control. Experimental validation results show 20 cm maximum lateral error without need for controller gain scheduling, using low-cost positioning system with 15 cm positioning uncertainty. Frequency domain analysis is also provided for the evaluation of the robustness of the proposed controller.


The available information on foodborne diseases reported in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia between January 1982 and December 1986 was examined. Ninety incidents and 1,531 cases of foodborne diseases were reported during the study period. The average number of incidents and cases per 100,000 population were 1.3 and 22.4, respectively. Saudis were involved in small incidents in which the food was probably mishandled at private homes. The expatriates, who were mostly workers of Indian or Southeast Asian origin, constituted the majority of cases of relatively large foodborne outbreaks in which the food was probably mishandled in their camps. Dairy foods, meat, and chicken were the foods most frequently reported in association with foodborne diseases (36, 30, and 22.2% of incidents, respectively). Staphylococcus aureus was the agent or the suspect agent of more incidents than Salmonella spp. Insufficient cooking and improper storage were the main factors suspected of contributing to incidents (17.8 and 13.3%, respectively). Although a general view can be drawn from the available data, more information on foodborne diseases in the Eastern province is needed.


Lazaroff, Norman (British Columbia Research Council, Vancouver, B.C., Canada). Sulfate requirement for iron oxidation by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. J. Bacteriol. 85:78–83. 1963.—The growth of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans is initially inhibited in media containing ferrous chloride in place of ferrous sulfate. This inhibition of growth is due to the requirement of a high relative proportion of sulfate ions to chloride (or other anions) for iron oxidation. Adaptation takes place, producing strains which are able to oxidize iron in media containing an initially unfavorable anionic composition. Adaptation is possibly due to the selection of spontaneous mutants capable of oxidizing iron in high chloride, low sulfate media. Such cells are found at a frequency of 10−5 of the population of unadapted cultures.


Background/Aim: Metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer is associated with a dismal prognosis. We evaluated outcome and prognostic factors in patients receiving radiation to the primary tumor in metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC). Patients and Methods: All consecutive patients with metastatic ATC (n=20) undergoing irradiation between 2009 and 2019 for anaplastic thyroid cancer were investigated. Results: Median survival time and median progression-free survival were 2 (range=1-22) and 2 (1-20) months. In univariate analyses, surgery, concurrent or sequential chemotherapy and higher radiation dose escalation (>39 Gy) were correlated with longer overall survival (p=0.005, p=0.018 and p=0.038), respectively. Karnofsky performance status >70% showed a trend of longer survival time (p=0.062). Limited metastatic disease, surgery and concurrent/sequential chemotherapy are correlated with longer progression-free survival times (p=0.043, p=0.024 and p=0.039), respectively. Conclusion: Radiation to the primary tumor in metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer is safe and offers durable local control. Treatment intensification including concurrent or sequential chemotherapy and radiation dose escalation were associated with longer survival rates and should be considered in selected patients with metastatic disease.


Michael-addition of 3-aminocrotonic acid ester 7 to aralkylidene acetoacetic acid esters 6 is followed by ring closure to give novel 4-aryl-1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylates 8 with non-identical ester functions. In the series of 3-nitrophenyl derivatives (8, Ar=3-nitrophenyl) the pharmacological activities (coronary vasodilation, antihypertensive activity) of the asymmetrically substituted derivatives are shown to be superior to those of the corresponding symmetrically substituted derivatives in many cases. One representative of this class 3-ethyl-5-methyl-1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-4-(3-nitrophenyl)-3,5-pyridinedicarboxylate (nitrendipine, Bay e 5009, No. 3) was selected for further development as an antihypertensive drug.


Brahui is one of the oldest languages of the world. It fiction literature can be traced back to the folk to the folk lures of the olden times. The story is to be found in this oral tradition the translations of fiction from the other languages into Brahui and those of Brahui fiction into the other languages started from 1956. Gul Bangulzai, Taj Raisani, Anwer Roman, Dr Abdur Rehman Brahui, Sosen Brahui, Nader Shahwani, Khadim lehri and many others translated fiction from foreign languages into Brahui. The aim of this research article is to trace the origin and derelafment of translations of fiction into Brahui language. The area has been virtually ignored by the research scholars and no scholar has yet not of this area is by no means lesser than original fiction. Therefore, the researcher felt this important area and attempted to fil the research gap in this ongoing research study.


The Method of synthesis was narrative subjective review or qualitative review. 40 papers were collected by searching online papers through Google with key words, but only 26 papers that included in inclusion criteria were used to this study. The result showed that studies about risk perception were conducted in 6 fields, including health, disaster, traffic, sport, environment and tourism. Subjects were varied from children to adult. There were 3 main themes of risk perception studies: first, the relationship between risk perception and behavior; second, factors of risk perception, and third, description of risk perception. Result of this study was discussed to identify gaps of studies about risk perception of Indonesian population for practical consequences in risk management.


Th is article is about the multi-dimensional value of the Accessible Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites (AUCHS) for coastal areas and islands in the Mediterranean Region, especially as an opportunity for sustainable blue growth. It is an attempt to underline the need for the broad promotion of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) and to highlight the contribution of innovative technologies for direct and indirect accessibility to underwater cultural heritage remains. Th e paper further demonstrates how the AUCHS can become niches of touristic development for an area whilst off ering multifaceted socioeconomic benefi ts to the local communities.


Research on Italian emigrant and immigrant women has evolved in the same epistemic space, posing the same questions and providing complementary answers that enable gender-migration studies to move forward on the basis of three observations. The first is that the complexification of migration flows is a developing process, linked to a continual superimposition of gendered migration patterns; the second highlights the fact that power structures involve all women, both migrant and non-migrant; the third emphasises that differences and similarities are not binary opposites (current/past migrants, migrant/non-migrant). The theoretical and methodological reflexivity that has developed around the issues of gender and migration in Italy makes it possible to grasp the gender dimension as being consubstantial to the construction of knowledge on migration. This work reveals the inadequacy of traditional explanatory models and shows that the study of migration must simultaneously take into account mobility and immobility, centrifugal and centripetal forces, economic and cultural structures, administrative and political dimensions.


Carbon-based materials have ascended as promising candidates for thermoelectric energy conversion. This study demonstrated charge transfer complexes (CTCs) as novel p-dopants for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which established reduced correlations between electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient compared with those of traditional p-dopants. The SWCNT films doped with 0.07 wt% CTCs of tetrathiafulvalene-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF-TCNQ) exhibited a maximum power factor of 248 μW m−1 K−2 at room temperature, which was 51% higher than that of the undoped SWCNTs and 20% higher than that of the TCNQ-doped SWCNT films. Flexible thermoelectric generators solely from TTF-TCNQ-doped SWCNT films exhibited a maximum output power of 17.4 nW under a temperature bias of ΔT = 22.8 K from a device with 12 active modules, while the device composed of TCNQ-doped SWCNT films did not produce recordable output power. The more efficient thermoelectric conversion capability for the CTC-doped SWCNT could be explained by its lower amount of structural defects, higher carrier mobility and reduced charge transfer process between SWCNT and dopant molecules. This work demonstrated that charge transfer complexes were more superior p-dopants, which were generally applicable for SWCNT-based thermoelectric materials and generators.


The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on all sectors of society, including information institutions such as libraries and Community Reading Park which have been affected. Community Reading Park has also innovated to survive during a pandemic by developing collections, reference services, and circulation services at Community Reading Park The purpose of this study was to determine the innovation of the Circle of Light Community Reading Park during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study used a descriptive qualitative research method, in which the researcher conducted interviews and observations on the managers of the Circle of Light Community Reading Park. The innovation at Community Reading Park involves several aspects and services such as management, collection development, and services such as reference services and circulation services. This innovation is expected to attract people to carry out the function of Community Reading Park to increase reading interest during the Covid-19 pandemic.


RNAs, which play significant roles in many fundamental biological processes of life, fold into sophisticated and precise structures. RNA folding is a dynamic and intricate process, which conformation transition of coding and noncoding RNAs form the primary elements of genetic regulation. The cellular environment contains various intrinsic and extrinsic factors that potentially affect RNA folding in vivo, and experimental and theoretical evidence increasingly indicates that the highly flexible features of the RNA structure are affected by these factors, which include the flanking sequence context, physiochemical conditions, cis RNA–RNA interactions, and RNA interactions with other molecules. Furthermore, distinct RNA structures have been identified that govern almost all steps of biological processes in cells, including transcriptional activation and termination, transcriptional mutagenesis, 5′‐capping, splicing, 3′‐polyadenylation, mRNA export and localization, and translation. Here, we briefly summarize the dynamic and complex features of RNA folding along with a wide variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect RNA folding. We then provide several examples to elaborate RNA structure‐mediated regulation at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Finally, we illustrate the regulatory roles of RNA structure and discuss advances pertaining to RNA structure in plants. WIREs RNA 2016, 7:562–574. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1350


Energy systems are decidedly the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Therefore, transitioning them from fossil to renewable systems is a top priority for societies committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, such transitions involve substantial costs. In many cases, these costs are proportionally passed on to final energy consumers through levies on their electricity consumption. In our paper, we investigate the impacts of renewable support levies on social justice or, more specifically, on income inequality. For our study, we chose Germany where inflation-adjusted electricity prices for private households increased substantially because of such a levy for renewables. We base our analyses on representative household panel data with over 40,000 households from 2003 to 2018. Our results indicate that indiscriminate renewable support levies on electricity consumption increase income inequality and energy poverty. For our case in 2018, renewable support levies alone led to a relative increase of ~0.23% of the Gini coefficient and ~11.31% of the high cost low income (HCLI) energy poverty indicator measuring energy poverty intensity. Based on our findings, we propose a reform of the renewable support levy and analyze three options: (1) the abolition of the levy, (2) levies which are income-progressive proportionally to the income taxes, and (3) a high and flat levy in conjunction with an income-degressive compensation payment. Our ex-post analyses for 2018 indicate that a reformed levy system would have slightly decreased overall income inequality with relative decreases of ~0.23%, ~0.32%, and ~0.59% of the Gini coefficient for options (1), (2), and (3), respectively. But more importantly, such a system would have substantially decreased energy poverty by ~11.31%, ~30.45%, and ~31.45% for the HCLI energy poverty indicator for options (1), (2), and (3), respectively.


Ever since it was adopted in 2015 by the United Nations, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has acted as the main guideline for European Union Member States in regard to achieving economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and peaceful, inclusive and innovative societies. However, in the race for sustainable development, some European Union Member States are ahead of the others - not only as far as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals is concerned, but from the perspective of the R&D and innovation factors as well. In this context, the objective of this research was to explore sustainable development disparities between the EU-27 Members, based on the previously mentioned factors. A cross-sectional multiple linear regression model was constructed to facilitate an in-depth look at the observations. The econometric analysis was carried out based on the Global SDG Index, the Global Innovation Index and on the percentage of the GDP allocated to R&D activities. Although the transition to the sustainable development model requires modern and disruptive approaches at country level, the literature is not rich on papers fully covering the nature of the existing links between the variables analyzed in the proposed econometric model. Results show that countries from Northern and Westeren Europe are leading the change to a more innovative and sustainable path for the European Union. This implies the responsibility of high levels of R&D expenditure. Although no European country is on track on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, Central and Eastern European Countries have made a lot of catching up to the Northwestern European leaders. The results of this research help decision-makers improve their strategies by understanding the impact of R&D and innovation factors on meeting sustainable development throughout EU-27 at an equitable pace for all European members.


BACKGROUND
Musculoskeletal symptoms are reportedly common among musicians. Flautists may be at high risk of symptoms, due to their asymmetrical playing posture.

AIMS
To determine the prevalence and incidence of musculoskeletal symptoms among flautists.

METHODS
A systematic search of four databases, with reference and citation lists of included studies, screened for additional studies. Included studies were assigned to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine levels of evidence and critical appraisal was performed using a previously published tool. Data extracted included the country, sample size, data collection methods, response rates, sample demographics and data pertaining to the prevalence or incidence of musculoskeletal symptoms among flautists.

RESULTS
Seven studies (evidence levels 1 and 3) were included. These were at moderate to high risk of bias. There was wide variation in the populations and the types of musculoskeletal symptoms investigated. Lifetime prevalence of any musculoskeletal symptoms of any duration varied from 15 to 95% depending on the populations and symptoms investigated. In schoolchildren, this was as high as 79%, and 95% in university students. The upper extremities were most commonly affected, with minimal differences in the prevalence of symptoms between right and left sides. Due to the differences in the types of data collected, different groups of flautists could not be directly compared.

CONCLUSIONS
The lack of studies with high evidence levels and low risk of bias in this area precludes a clear understanding of the prevalence and location of musculoskeletal symptoms in flautists, although current evidence suggests that the prevalence is high.


Estimation of nutrition profile of edible fishes is essential and thus a bio-monitoring study was carried out to find out the nutritional composition of commonly available fishes in Agatti Island water of Lakshadweep Sea. Protein, carbohydrate, lipid, ash, vitamin, amino acid and fatty acid composition in the muscle of ten edible fish species were studied. Proximate analysis revealed that the protein, carbohydrate, lipid and ash contents were high in Thunnus albacares (13.69%), Parupeneus bifasciatus (6.12%), Hyporhamphus dussumieri (6.97%) and T. albacares (1.65%), respectively. Major amino acids were lysine, leucine and methionine, registering 2.84–4.56%, 2.67–4.18% and 2.64–3.91%, respectively. Fatty acid compositions ranged from 31.63% to 38.97% saturated (SFA), 21.99–26.30% monounsaturated (MUFAs), 30.32–35.11% polyunsaturated acids (PUFAs) and 2.86–7.79% branched fatty acids of the total fatty acids. The ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs were ranged 13.05–21.14% and 6.88–9.82% of the total fatty acids, respectively. Hence, the fishes of Lakshadweep Sea are highly recommended for consumption, since these fishes are highly enriched with nutrition. The results can be used as a baseline data for comparing the various nutritional profiles of fishes in future.


ABSTRACT Background: Caregiving for people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is highly stressful and has significant negative consequences, such as anxiety and depression. Previous research offers conflicting findings as to whether coping strategies are associated with greater psychological distress or not. We conducted this study with a view to obtaining new data regarding the association of coping strategies and psychological distress in AD caregivers. Methods: Eighty people with AD and their primary caregivers living in the community were recruited from local health services. Purposive recruitment was carried out to ensure that the sample was representative of people living with dementia in terms of dementia severity, gender, and care setting. We used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure anxiety, the Beck Depression Inventory to measure depression, and the Coping Strategies Inventory to measure coping strategies. Results: Most caregivers reported higher anxiety and depression levels. Use of disengagement coping strategies (Wald = 3.35, p = 0.01) and higher caregiver burden (Wald = 4.83, p = 0.02) predicted anxiety on logistic regression. In turn, use of disengagement coping strategies (Wald = 12.48, p = 0.001) and higher caregiver burden (Wald = 6.91, p = 0.009) predicted depression on logistic regression. Conclusion: These results may be useful for designing treatment interventions that aim to modify the use of coping strategies and thus reduces caregiver anxiety and depression.


Based on previous studies it has been found that women have a smaller chance than men of attaining professorships. It has also been found that gender differences in career development have been observed in many different countries. This study aims to contribute to these discussions by analyzing the extent to which gender differences in career development can be explained by early career opportunities, specifically the prestigious postdoctoral fellowship which is particular to the Swedish university system. This study concluded that women and men have the same probability to achieve a postdoctoral fellowship and that among men and women who have achieved this we observed that they had equal chances of becoming professors. However, it was also shown that women are substantially worse off than men for the study group of those who have not achieved a postdoctoral fellowship. This indicates that a meritocratic system does not seem do discriminate against women whereas as vacancy system seems to do so.


A recent paper by Byun et al. (/) describes accumula tion of technetium-99m phosphates in the gluteal area of bone scan patients who had recently received intravenous injections of iron-dextran complex. This observation was first reported at the San Francisco Meeting of the Northern and Southern California SNM Chapters in October 1974 (2). Also, we have published an abstract describing further work (using thin layer chromatography and in vivo animal experiments) on a possible mechanism for the localization referred to in Ref. 3. Con sequently, it would seem only prudent to cite at least the abstract even though such astute scholars as McRae et al. (4) cited the 1974 presentation. We are pleased that Byun and his colleagues agree with our findings, but feel this should be presented as a supporting case report instead of a "new observation."


individual vocabulary. This combination allows defining the excellence of overall quality, understanding the characteristics of quality perception , and, eventually, constructing a link between preferences and quality attributes. The method was developed under constructive research with respect to validity and reliability of test results. A series of quality evaluation studies with more than 300 test participants was conducted along different critical components of a system for optimized mobile 3DTV content delivery over DVB-H. The results complemented each other, and, even more importantly, quantitative quality preferences were explained by sensory descriptions in all studies. Beyond the development of OPQ, the thesis proposes further research approaches, e.g. a conventional profiling in which OPQ's individual vacobulary is substituted by a fixed set of Quality of Experience components or Descriptive Sorted Napping which combines a sorting task and a short post-task interview. All approaches are compared to Open Profiling of Quality at the end of the thesis. To be able to holistically contrast strengths and weaknesses of each method, a comparison model for audiovisual evaluation methods was developed and a first conceptual operationalization of the model was applied in the comparison. This thesis investigates flexible self-organizing overlay networks for multimedia delivery – networks that are dynamically built on existing infrastructure to support the preferences of applications using them. For example, consider a large sports event with several concurrent competitions, in which hundreds of thousands visitors produce and consume videos with their mobile devices. These devices connect to each other to exchange videos. However, as the interests of their owners change, the overlay must adapt as well: existing connections must be replaced with connections to other relevant devices, such as devices of other visitors with similar interests. Deciding which devices should connect to each other, while also optimizing network performance is not trivial. This thesis attempts to solve that issue by using a flexible and scalable self-organizing overlay located between an application and its underlying network, which optimizes itself based the application's interest in content and network quality. A special focus is placed on including metrics relevant to multimedia delivery, such as jitter and bottleneck bandwidth, in the optimization. As these metrics cannot be predicted by a third node, established approaches such as matchmaking cannot be used. Therefore, a new approach based on a novel interest-property concept is introduced, which provides the flexibility of traditional matchmaking approaches, but also supports optimization based on parameters that …


Background/Goals: Liver cirrhosis, the final stage of chronic liver disease, is characterized by an unfavorable prognosis and an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and also requires an appropriate management. Laparoscopy, the gold standard in the diagnosis of cirrhosis, is hampered by its invasiveness. Therefore, a noninvasive method for diagnosing liver cirrhosis would be of great benefit. Study: A consecutive series of 100 patients, sent to our gastroenterological unit for diagnostic laparoscopy, underwent a standardized ultrasonographic examination prior to laparoscopy. Results: Conventional ultrasonographic examination revealed a sensitivity of 55% and a specificity of 86% in the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Considering the assessment of the transmission of heart pulsation on the liver surface, the corresponding values improved by increasing to 85% and 93%. Conclusion: Evaluating the transmission of heart pulsation on the liver surface improves the ability of ultrasound to diagnose liver cirrhosis; therefore, it should be an integral part of routine sonographic examination of the liver.


A direct and an indirect relationship between paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and atherosclerosis exists. Given PON1's physical location within high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) particles and its recognized enzyme activity, it is certainly reasonable to suggest that PON1 facilitates the antiatherogenic nature of HDL particles. PON1 also plays a role in regulating reverse cholesterol transport, antioxidative, anti‐inflammatory, antiapoptotic, vasodilative, and antithrombotic activities and several endothelial cell functions. HDL dysfunctionality is a more recent issue and seems to be centered on pathological conditions affecting HDL structure and size profiles. This review is focused on the role of PON1 status in different atherosclerosis‐related diseases that we have studied over the last twenty years (coronary heart disease, acute ischemic stroke, diabetes mellitus type 2, end‐stage renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and sarcoidosis) with the aim to determine the true value of PON1 as a biomarker. The role of PON1 in cancer is also covered, as risk factors and mechanisms underlying both atherosclerosis and cancer share common features.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete one way slab with opening and applying strengthening to them by using CFRP strip. Size, shape of the opening, length, and width of CFRP strip are the main parameters that are investigated in this experimental research. Three different squares opening of (150 mm, 200 mm and 250 mm) side and three different shape of opening with constant opening area (square, rectangle and circle), two length of CFRP strip of (500mm and 700mm), and two width of CFRP strip of (50mm and 100mm) are tested. These openings are situated in the maximum bending zone. Two series of test are done during experimental program. First set of experiments are done without strengthening and second set of test are done after strengthening with CFRP strips. Totally, nine test specimens are tested, including one reference specimen, five specimens without strengthening and three specimens with strengthening. CFRP strips are located along the openings and fixed using anchor bolts. Finally some evaluations of test results are done for determining the performance of strengthening techniques. Crack load, ultimate load, service deflection, ultimate deflection, concrete compressive strain, crack width, crack pattern, and failure mode are calculated and compared. By all these evaluations, the strengthening technique that can be applied easily, faster and required less workmanship is developed.


The current international business environment demands to industrial companies to adapt their operations to an ever more increasing global playground. The sourcing, manufacturing and supplying should therefore evolve from a traditional vertically integrated supply chain to a worldwide spread network, which is able to efficiently respond to markets. However, companies face difficulties with finding a structured approach for designing or restructuring their operations networks. This article shows one of the first case studies in a global multiplant and multiproduct operations network, where it will be tested the goodness of a framework that systematically assess the strategic factory role of within its a global operations network. The framework evaluates the current status regarding the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the strategic plant role. These are the basis for deploying an improvement roadmap to push the plant competences, depending on the targeted new plant strategic role, either by the plant itself or by the product area/company.The applicability of the model will be checked via a case study, providing additionally if the application of this framework can support a better competitive performance in a plant.


Entomopathogenic filamentous fungi of the genus Isaria are effective biocatalysts in the biotransformation of flavonoids as well as steroids. In the present study, the species Isaria fumosorosea and Isaria farinosa isolated from the environment were used. Their catalytic capacity to carry out biotransformations of flavones—unsubstituted, with hydroxy- and amino-substituents as well as a hydroxylated isoflavone—was investigated. Biotransformations of flavone, 5-hydroxyflavone, 6-hydroxyflavone, 7-hydroxyflavone, and daidzein resulted in the formation of O-methylglucosides, in the case of flavone and 5-hydroxyflavone with additional hydroxylations. 7-Aminoflavone was transformed into two acetamido derivatives. The following products were obtained: From flavone–flavone 2′-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside, flavone 4′-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside and 3′-hydroxyflavone 4′-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside; from 5-hydroxyflavone–5-hydroxyflavone 4′-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside; from 6-hydroxyflavone–flavone 6-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside; from 7-hydroxyflavone–flavone 7-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside; from daidzein–daidzein 7-O-β-d-(4′′-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside; and from 7-aminoflavone–7-acetamidoflavone and 7-acetamido-4′-hydroxyflavone. Seven of the products obtained by us have not been previously reported in the literature.


Time-series predictions by artificial neural networks (ANNs) are traditionally formulated as unconstrained optimization problems. As an unconstrained formulation provides little guidance on search directions when a search gets stuck in a poor local minimum, we have proposed to use a constrained formulation in order to use constraint violations to provide additional guidance. In this paper, we formulate ANN learning with cross-validations for time-series predictions as a non-differentiable nonlinear constrained optimization problem. Based on our theory of Lagrange multipliers for discrete constrained optimization, we propose an efficient learning algorithm, called violation guided back-propagation (VGBP), that computes an approximate gradient using back-propagation (BP), that introduces annealing to avoid blind acceptance of trial points, and that applies a relax-and-tighten (R&T) strategy to achieve faster convergence. Extensive experimental results on well-known benchmarks, when compared to previous work, show one to two orders-of-magnitude improvement in prediction quality, while using less weights.


This research aimed to describe the variety of Javanese culture that contained in novel Mars by using the theory of literary anthropology. The source of data was novel Mars.The purpose of this paper is to describe the Javanese cultures on novel Mars. Data were analyzed using descriptivequalitative method with literature review technique. The results of the analysis showed the diversity of Javanese culture that exists in the novel of Mars in the form of traditions and customs, arts, traditional buildings, religions, and traditional beliefs. Javanese culture has been eroded, but some are still routinely held every year.


Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is associated with increased risk of premature atherosclerosis. Inflammation is a key event in atherogenesis, and we have previously reported an inflammatory imbalance between tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α and interleukin‐10 in children with FH. Based on the potential role of TNF‐related molecules in inflammation, we investigated the regulation of other members of the TNF superfamily (TNFSF)/TNF receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) in children and young adults with FH and matched healthy controls.


The objective of this study is to evaluate the workability and various mechanical properties of heavyweight magnetite concrete and examine the reliability of the design equations specified in code provisions. The main parameters investigated were the water-to-cement ratio and substitution level of normal-weight coarse aggregate (granite) for magnetite. The oven-dried unit weight of concrete tested ranged between 2446 and 3426 kg/㎥. The measured mechanical properties included compressive strength development, stress-strain curve, splitting tensile strength, moduli of elasticity and rupture, and bond stress-slip relationship of concrete. Test results revealed that the initial slump of heavyweight magnetite concrete increased as the substitution level of normal-weight coarse aggregate increases. The substitution level of normal-weight coarse aggregate had little influence on the compressive strength and tensile resistance capacity of heavyweight concrete, while it significantly affected the modulus of elasticity and stress-strain curves of such concrete. The design equations of ACI 349-06 and CEB-FIP provisions mostly conservatively predicted the mechanical properties of heavyweight magnetite concrete, but the empirical equations for modulus of elasticity and splitting tensile strength need to be modified considering the unit weight of concrete.


The production of Golgi complexes was investigated in Amoeba proteus by introducing a nucleus into cells that had been enucleated for 5 days. Golgi complexes were not detected in 5 day enucleates, nor were they observed in amebae fixed 15 min after renucleation. Samples taken at longer intervals after the introduction of a nucleus exhibited an increase in the size and abundance of Golgi complexes. Small curved smooth cisternae, some of which were aligned in parallel to form small Golgi complexes, were observed 30 min after the operation. Aggregations of small Golgi complexes increased in number in amebae fixed 1 to 6 hr after renucleation. Golgi complexes of normal size were present 6 hr after the operation and became more abundant in samples fixed 12 hr, and 1, 2, and 3 days after renucleation. The possible participation of the granular endoplasmic reticulum in the development of Golgi complexes was suggested by two observations. First, the Golgi complexes in renucleates contained a dense material similar to the content of the endoplasmic reticulum in enucleates and early renucleates. Second, examples of continuity between the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi cisternae were present in renucleates. The possibility that Golgi complexes can be produced in the absence of preexisting Golgi complexes is discussed.


Although most efforts to improve habitat for bees and other pollinators focus on floral resources, it is also important to consider the availability and suitability of nesting habitats in relation to various management activities. We used soil emergence traps to compare the number of ground‐nesting bees among treatments in a long‐term fire frequency study in Florida. We regularly moved the traps, a strategy that appears to greatly improve the efficacy of this sampling approach. The experiment consisted of forested plots that have been burned annually, biennially or triennially for the past six decades as well as unburned reference plots. Bee abundance was significantly lower in the unburned plots than in any of the burn treatments and was higher in annual plots than triennial plots. Bee richness was significantly higher in plots burned annually than in unburned plots. Bee Shannon's diversity was significantly higher in plots burned biennially or triennially than in unuburned plots. Evenness was significantly lower in annually burned plots than in any of the other treatments. Indicator species analysis found six bee species to be significantly associated with one or more burn treatments. Four of them were strongly associated with plots burned annually or biennially while two species were significantly associated with plots burned biennially or triennially. None was significantly associated with unburned plots. Our findings suggest that frequent fires generally improve habitat for ground‐nesting bees in southeastern U.S. forests and that tolerances for particular burn frequencies vary by species.


INTRODUCTION
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic and life-threatening autoimmune disease. Its prevalence and clinical manifestations are known to be particularly severe in the Asian populations. Although genetics is known to play an important role in SLE susceptibility and clinical manifestations, the specific polymorphisms associated with these phenotypes in Asia are unclear. Therefore, we aim to review the association of SLE genetic polymorphisms with lupus manifestations across Asian populations and their role in the pathogenesis of SLE.

METHODS
A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, EBSCOHost, and Web of Science. We identified 22 casecontrol studies that matched our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Information such as study characteristics, genetic polymorphisms associated with SLE, and organ manifestations was extracted and reported in this review.

RESULTS
In total, 30 polymorphisms in 16 genes were found to be associated with SLE among Asians. All included polymorphisms also reported associations with various SLE clinical features. The association of rs1234315 in TNFSF4 linking to SLE susceptibility (P=4.17x10-17 OR=1.45 95% CI=1.34-1.59) and musculoskeletal manifestation (P=3.35x10-9, OR=1.37, 95%CI= 1.23-1.51) might be the most potential biomarkers to differentiate SLE between Asian and other populations. In fact, these associated genetic variants were found in loci that were implicated in immune systems, signal transduction, gene expression that play important roles in SLE pathogenesis.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
This review summarized the potential correlation between 30 genetic polymorphisms associated with SLE and its clinical manifestations among Asians. More efforts in dissecting the functional implications and linkage disequilibrium of associated variants may be required to validate these findings.


This research shows the results of a qualitative study that aims to identify the formative dimensions of the Practicum of Elementary Education and which are the factors that favor or hinder the articulation of these dimensions. To do this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine students who had completed their professional practice and were close to graduating from the career. The interventions, analyzed following the guidelines of the Grounded Theory, revealed the existence of three dimensions or training areas of the Practicum: reflection in practice, learning to be a professor and professional identity. These dimensions, however, would be mobilized in the scenario of the centers of practice, not like that in Universities. These preliminary findings invite us to analyze (and improve) the practical experiences that are offered in both contexts, in order to train professionals who have adequate professional and personal skills to teach.


Endolithic borings attributable to sponges, hitherto unknown before Devonian time, are common in trilobite fragments in Scandinavian Lower to Middle Ordovician limestones. Most borings consist of branching, anastomosing tubes, approximately 25 µm in diameter, and closed end tubes, 50 to 150 µm long and 20 to 40 µm in diameter. The tube network may close and thereby form major chambers. The small borers were probably most successful in breaking down carbonate particles where rates of bio-genie carbonate sedimentation were low.


Statistical machine learning often uses probabilistic algorithms, such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), to solve a wide range of problems. Many accelerators are proposed using specialized hardware to address sampling inefficiency, the critical performance bottleneck of probabilistic algorithms. These accelerators usually improve the hardware efficiency by using some approximation techniques, such as reducing bit representation, truncating small values to zero, or simplifying the Random Number Generator (RNG). Understanding the influence of these approximations on result quality is crucial to meeting the quality requirements of real applications. Although a common approach is to compare the end-point result quality using community-standard benchmarks and metrics, we claim a probabilistic architecture should provide some measure (or guarantee) of statistical robustness.
This work takes a first step towards quantifying the statistical robustness of specialized hardware MCMC accelerators by proposing three pillars of statistical robustness: sampling quality, convergence diagnostic, and goodness of fit. Each pillar has at least one quantitative metric without the need to know the ground truth data. We apply this method to analyze the statistical robustness of an MCMC accelerator proposed by previous work, with some modifications, as a case study. The method also applies to other probabilistic accelerators and can be used in design space exploration.


BACKGROUND
In Spanish prisons tuberculosis is a serious problem of public health. The analysis of temporal trends of tuberculous infection can show the effectiveness of interventions developed.

PATIENTS, MATERIAL AND METHODS
All admissions in a prison between July 1991 and June 1996, without antecedents of chemotherapy or chemoprophylaxis, were included. We gathered sociodemographic variables as well as prison-related variables and HIV-risk factors. Tuberculin skin test was performed with 2 U of PPD RT-23 following the Spanish Consensus to Criterion of Tuberculous Infection. Statistic analysis was based on multivariate analysis (logistic regression).

RESULTS
37% of 1,459 prisoners analyzed were infected with M. tuberculosis. The tuberculous infection was more frequent among older prisoners (p < 0.001) and those with more time spent in prison (p < 0.001). Those with BCG-vaccination showed lesser levels of tuberculin reaction (p = 0.001). Temporal trends of tuberculous infection didn't show variations, but in intravenous drug users IVDU (p = 0.012) and those with time spent in prison (p = 0.08) it was increased.

CONCLUSIONS
We detected a high prevalence of tuberculous infection and the time spent in prison was one of the risk factors. The infection was probably underestimate among those with BCG-vaccination because of the criterion used. The tuberculous infection was increased among IVDU and those with antecedent of time spent in prison.


Objectives: There is limited knowledge on the efficacy of universal adhesives when used in different etching modes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microtensile bond strength (µTBS) to dentin using universal adhesives with light-cure and dual-cure composites.
Materials and Methods: In this in vitro experimental study, the occlusal third of 60 caries-free human molars were removed and the exposed surfaces were treated and allocated to 10 groups (N=6). Two different bonding agents (Single Bond Universal, G-Premio) were used to bond 2 different composite resins (Z250 light-cure and CoreFlo DC dual-cure) to dentin, using etch-and-rinse (E&R) and self-etch (SE) modes. Single Bond 2 was applied in E&R mode on wet dentin to serve as control. The specimens were sectioned into 1×1 mm2 sticks with a precision saw. A microtensile testing machine was used to measure the µTBS of the specimens with a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Data were analyzed using three-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test (α=0.05).
Results: The Single Bond Universal group in SE mode with light-cure composite yielded the highest (39.24MPa), and the G-Premio SE group with dual-cure composite produced the lowest (13.65MPa) mean µTBS (P<0.05). The dominant failure mode was adhesive, in all groups.
Conclusion: The bonding agent had a significant effect on µTBS of composite to dentin, but different composites and different etching modes were not significantly different in this respect.


The transmission characteristics of phototherapy eyeshields have been measured under conditions that mimic the clinical situation. Peak transmission (less than 10%) was detected at 700 nm for the poorest patch tested and less than 2% for either of the other patches examined. The optics of measurement systems are considered with reference both to this and previous studies of light transmission through eyepatches. The simplicity and effectiveness with which eyepatches can be secured may be as important as their transmission characteristics.


This paper aims to explore the potentials of introducing game-based learning in English for Professional Purposes course at the tertiary level of education. It considers the possibilities of integrating an online business game in a taskbased experiential syllabus using simulation as its core technique. Simulations are seen as a viable, dynamic, communicative and learner-centered approach that enables creating the learning experience that resembles real-world professional experiences. By integrating language, content and skill development in meaningful and purposeful tasks that replicate workplace target tasks, simulations create an immersive and stimulating environment that fulfills the needs for competence, connectedness and autonomy, thus increasing learners' motivation.


A school leader's achievement is not what they study in learning institutions but the way they organize themselves into problem solving and realistic decision making. While this includes some taught hard skills, the bulk of school activities rely on soft skills. Soft skills, however, are frequently neglected, although they play an important role in school principals' daily operations as an instructional supervisor. This study aimed to examine the relationship between soft skills training and Principals' performance. The study adopted a cross-sectional mixed survey design. Using Yamane formulae, the sample comprised of 167 principals from 286 public secondary schools in Kiambu County. These were spread proportionally across all the 12 sub-counties in the County. The principal research instrument was primarily a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was deemed reasonable at.73. The findings showed that a substantial relationship exists between the training of the principal on soft skills and their good performance of the duties. The study suggests routine in-service training should be undertaken in the county to improve the development of soft skills. It is also advisable that undergraduate, postgraduate, or in-service training include soft skills as a unit, to build knowledge of the value of soft skills.


The objective of this study was to evaluate nutrition before and after artificial insemination (AI) on follicular dynamics, expression of estrus, and steroidogenesis. Seventy-nine beef heifers were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments (High;155% and Low;86% of maintenance energy) 30d prior to AI. Estrus was synchronized (PG 6-d CIDR protocol) and heifers received AI (d0) 8 to 12h following onset of estrus. On d0, heifers were randomly reassigned diets generating four Pre-x-Post-AI nutritional treatments; High-High (HH, n = 20), High-Low (HL, n = 20), Low-High (LH, n = 19), and Low-Low (LL, n = 20). Heifers remained on new diet treatments until embryo collection (flush; d7-8). Blood samples were collected daily from d-3 to d0, and on d1, 3, 5, 7 and 8 for plasma concentrations of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4). Dominant follicle diameter was evaluated on d-3 and d0, and CL diameter was recorded at flush. Statistical analyses were completed in SAS using the MIXED (body weight, E2, P4), GLIMMIX (expression of estrus), and GLM (ovarian parameters, interval to estrus) procedures. There were Pre-AI (P < 0.0001) and Post-AI by time (P < 0.0001) interactions on body weight; heifers in high and low treatments gained and lost weight, respectively, during both periods. Estradiol concentrations increased (P < 0.0001) from d-3 (2.18±0.15pg/mL) to d0 (6.05±0.04pg/mL). Pre-AI diet increased the proportion of heifers in estrus (80±6.3% vs. 59±7.9%; P = 0.05), and dominant follicle size (11.7±1.42mm vs. 10.68±1.33mm; P = 0.0016) in High vs. Low, respectively. Additionally, High Pre-AI heifers had greater P4 after AI compared to Low Pre-AI heifers (4.85±0.37ng/mL vs. 3.53±0.38ng/mL; P = 0.015). Post-AI treatment did not influence concentrations of P4 (P = 0.88). There was no effect of Pre, Post or Pre-x-Post-AI treatment on initial follicle size, follicle growth rate, E2 concentrations, interval to estrus, or CL size at flush (P > 0.10). In conclusion, nutrient restriction before AI negatively impacted ovarian function, steroidogenesis, and expression of estru.


The uncertainties of fluvial reservoir geologic model are notably high due to complicated geological conditions and unknown strong heterogeneity. However, previous uncertainty analysis approaches mainly focus on qualitative evaluation. In this work, we proposed a novel workflow to quantify and optimize the geologic model uncertainties using the virtual outcrops.
 First, the 3D geologic model is built by the virtual outcrops and geology database is established by the fine description of modern sedimentations, geologic outcrops and dense spacing areas. Next, geologic modeling algorithm is optimally selected based on the complexities of target reservoirs, computational speed and the shape of sand bodies. In this work, three indicators are proposed to evaluate the accuracy of geologic models, including matching coefficient of digital grey images to virtual outcrops, consistency of braided stream facies morphology and connectivity of inter-well effective sand bodies.
 For the braided channel in Sulige field examples, the width of channel belt is 1500~3500m and the average sand thickness is 5m. For channel bar, the width is 350~650m, the length is 800~1500m and the thickness is 3~6m. The virtual outcrops help determine the vertical sequence and planar characteristics of sedimentary facies and sand bodies. The comparisons between established model and virtual outcrops indicate that the accuracy of geologic models increases as the denseness of hard data becomes smaller and the optimal well spacing and row spacing match up with the sand body size and average well spacing of studied area. The evaluation system proposed in this work demonstrates the degree of geologic reproduction, reasonability and partial uncertainty of the models to the real reservoir.
 The value of this work is to provide a novel practical approach to optimize and quantify the uncertainties of geologic model. Furthermore, the established workflow can further be applied to identify the most significant controlling factor to determine geologic modeling in unconventional reservoirs.


As a supporting technology in wireless sensor networks, time synchronization is a new focus topic in the research of Wireless Sensor Networks, and it is a challenge to acquire a high precision of synchronization with lower energy-consumption. Based on TPSN and RBS, an energy-aware time synchronization algorithm is presented. In this algorithm, the additional parameters including the remaining energy level of child-nodes and their degrees are synthetically considered to optimize the process of reference-node selection, thus to reduce and balance energy-consumption among the nodes, prolong the network lifetime efficiently. Experimental results show the validity of the algorithm.


Summary form only given. Yield managers have a large but expensive arsenal of yield improvement tools and methods at their disposal. Different tools perform different functions under different conditions and some combinations of tools and methods work better than others do. Yield managers need to know which combination of tools works the most effectively and the most cost-effectively, in order to maximize the profitability of their operations. They require metrics that allows them to assess the value of apparently unrelated options. This paper uses a model based on information theory in an attempt to create an objective method of comparing technology options for yield analysis. The knowledge extraction rate per experimentation cycle and knowledge extraction rate per unit time serve as benchmarking metrics for yield learning. Combinations of four yield analysis technologies-electrical testing (ET), automatic defect classification (ADC), spatial signature analysis (SSA) and wafer position analysis (WPA)-are examined in detail to determine an optimal yield management strategy for both the R&D and volume production environments.


A large number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients show neurological symptoms such as ischemic- and hemorrhagic stroke as well as encephalitis, and SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect endothelial cells leading to endotheliitis across multiple vascular beds. These findings suggest an involvement of the brain- and peripheral vasculature in COVID-19, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain obscure. To understand the potential mechanisms underlying SARS-CoV-2 tropism for brain vasculature, we constructed a molecular atlas of the expression patterns of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry-associated genes (receptors and proteases) and SARS-CoV-2 interaction partners in human (and mouse) adult and fetal brain as well as in multiple non-CNS tissues in single-cell RNA-sequencing data across various datasets. We observed a distinct expression pattern of the cathepsins B (CTSB) and -L (CTSL) - which are able to substitute for the ACE2 co-receptor TMPRSS2 - in the human vasculature with CTSB being mainly expressed in the brain vasculature and CTSL predominantly in the peripheral vasculature, and these observations were confirmed at the protein level in the Human Protein Atlas and using immunofluorescence stainings. This expression pattern of SARS-CoV-2 viral-entry associated proteases and SARS-CoV-2 interaction partners was also present in endothelial cells and microglia in the fetal brain, suggesting a developmentally established SARS-CoV-2 entry machinery in the human vasculature. At both the adult and fetal stages, we detected a distinct pattern of SARS-CoV-2 entry associated genes' transcripts in brain vascular endothelial cells and microglia, providing a potential explanation for an inflammatory response in the brain endothelium upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, CTSB was co-expressed in adult and fetal brain endothelial cells with genes and pathways involved in innate immunity and inflammation, angiogenesis, blood-brain-barrier permeability, vascular metabolism, and coagulation, providing a potential explanation for the role of brain endothelial cells in clinically observed (neuro)vascular symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Our study serves as a publicly available single-cell atlas of SARS-CoV-2 related entry factors and interaction partners in human and mouse brain endothelial- and perivascular cells, which can be employed for future studies in clinical samples of COVID-19 patients.


Article history: Received on: 31/10/2013 Revised on: 26/11/2013 Accepted on: 07/01/2014 Available online: 20/01/2014 Lactobacillus rhamnosus is known as species that had many benefits in pharmaceutical, dairy food industry. To supply more applications for life, the detection of uronic production of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 was done. After the extracellular components of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 culture were precipitated with 1% cetyl pyridium chloride, the precipitants were used to check the uronic acid production capacity by carbazole assay according to BP98. As a result, the highest uronic acid yield was produced at 96 h cultivation. The maximum of uronic acid was about 74mg/L. The study was the first report the uronic acid existing in Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04.


Objective: Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) was found to be correlated with inflammation degree of patients with periodontitis. Cullin3 is an important ubiquitin ligase for controlling Shh signaling. In this study, we exerted ourselves to clarify the roles of Shh and Cullin3 in P. gingivalis-LPS (Pg-LPS)-treated periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). Methods: Cell viability was detected using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). The inflammatory cytokines of PDLSCs were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The protein levels of Shh, Gli1 and NF-E2-related factor2 (Nrf2) were determined via western blots. Alkaline phosphatase staining and Alizarin red staining were performed to evaluate the differentiation and mineralization capabilities of PDLSCs. The apoptotic cells were screened by TUNEL staining. Results: Pg-LPS inhibited cell viability and triggered inflammation of PDLSCs. Overexpression of Cullin3 impeded the differentiation and mineralization capabilities of PDLSCs. Moreover, Cullin3 overexpression aggravated inflammation and cell apoptosis induced by Pg-LPS. Of note, while the protein levels of Shh, Gli1 and Nrf2 were elevated in PDLSCs treated with Pg-LPS, overexpression of Cullin3 decreased the expressions of them. Conclusion: Shh/Gli1 and Nrf2 were involved in the inflammation and cell apoptosis of PDLSCs, which was dominated by Cullin3.


Objective The current study sought to compare the effects of the addition of Qingshen granules to conventional Western medicine on immune function in patients with comorbid chronic renal failure and damp-heat syndrome and to explore the possible mechanisms responsible for any differences observed. Methods Through a multicenter, randomized, controlled study, a total of 282 eligible patients were divided into experimental (n = 136) and control groups (n = 146). All of the patients were treated with conventional Western medical therapy. The experimental group also received Qingshen granules three times daily for 12 weeks. Clinical efficacy was observed in the two groups. Peripheral blood levels of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, Th17 cells, nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) activity, serum interleukin-17 (IL-17), serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6), fibronectin (FN), and type IV collagen (Col-IV) were detected in both groups. Results The total clinical curative effective rate was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the experimental group (79.41%) than in the control group (67.12%). Before treatment, there were no significant differences in CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio, Th17 cell level, NF-κB p65 activity, serum IL-17, IL-6, TNF-α, TRAF6, FN, and Col-IV between the experimental and control groups (p > 0.05); however, all of the measures were significantly higher than those observed in a healthy comparison group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). After treatment, the above indexes in the experimental group were significantly lower than those before treatment (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Similarly, NF-κB p65 activity, serum IL-17, TNF-α, TRAF6, FN, and Col-IV in the control group were significantly lower than the levels observed prior to treatment (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01); however, while all of the other indexes were lower than those observed before treatment, the differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusion Qingshen granules adjust immune dysfunction, improve immunity mediated inflammatory response, and attenuate renal fibrosis in patients with comorbid chronic renal failure and damp-heat syndrome.


BACKGROUND
Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occasionally develop respiratory failure and coagulopathy. We aimed to determine whether coagulation abnormalities at admission and during the course of hospitalization can predict the liberation from respiratory support in critically ill patients with COVID-19 by combining the results of rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) with standard laboratory tests.

METHODS
This single-center, retrospective, observational study included 31 consecutive adult patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and who required respiratory support between April 2021 and August 2021. We divided the patients into two groups according to the liberation from respiratory support and analyzed the differences between the groups.

RESULTS
There were 20 patients in the liberation group and 11 in the non-liberation group. There were no significant differences in the overt disseminated intravascular coagulation scores or abnormal counts in the ROTEM parameters at admission between groups, although there was a significant difference in the highest score in the ICU. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment and sepsis-induced coagulopathy scores were significantly different between both groups at admission and at the time when the highest values were reported during the ICU stay.

CONCLUSIONS
High sepsis-induced coagulopathy scores at admission to the ICU were found to be useful predictors of difficulties in the liberation from respiratory support in patients with severe COVID-19. However, increased overt disseminated intravascular coagulation scores and abnormal counts in the ROTEM parameters during the ICU stay were associated with difficulties in the liberation from respiratory support.