Background : Various types of protective footwear have been used to minimize bacterial contamination in operating rooms. In recent years, debate has arisen concerning the need for use of such protective footwear. This study was designed to provide useful data about choosing shoes most suitable for the surgical environment. Methods : Between November, 1999 and January, 2000, we performed this experimental study by comparing effect of three types of shoes (i.e., disposable shoescover, operating room-restricted shoes, and ordinary shoes) on bacterial contamination of operating rooms equipped with two different ventilation systems (i.e., high air-change, low air-change) respectively. Data were collected during two- hour sham operations in which subjects and their activities were strictly standardized. Bacterial flora were sampled from the study area floor and air colony counts were measured. Results : In experiments involving high air-change ventilation system, there was a significant difference of floor contamination between three types of shoes, but no difference of air contamination. Under low air-change system, there was a significant difference of both floor and air contamination between three types of shoes. Conclusion : The results show that protective footwear would be unnecessary in the operating room with high air-change ventilation system, but it is important to choose suitable shoes carefully under low air-change system. Therefore, the use of outdoor shoes can be considered under high air-change system, but it would seem sensible to apply their first use in less bloody operations at the day surgery center or out-patient department to prevent transfer of body fluid into the outside environment.


ABSTRACT The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has a special type of anaerobic metabolism that is quite unusual for eukaryotes. It has two oxygen-sensitive [Fe-Fe] hydrogenases (EC 184.108.40.206) that are coupled to photosynthesis and, in addition, a formate- and ethanol-producing fermentative metabolism, which was proposed to be initiated by pyruvate formate-lyase (Pfl; EC 220.127.116.11). Pfl enzymes are commonly found in prokaryotes but only rarely in eukaryotes. Both the hydrogen- and the formate/ethanol-producing pathways are involved in a sustained anaerobic metabolism of the alga, which can be induced by sulfur depletion in illuminated cultures. Before now, the presence of a Pfl protein in C. reinhardtii was predicted from formate secretion and the homology of the deduced protein of the PFL1 gene model to known Pfl enzymes. In this study, we proved the formate-producing activity of the putative Pfl1 enzyme by heterologous expression of the C. reinhardtii PFL1 cDNA in Escherichia coli and subsequent in vitro activity tests of the purified protein. Furthermore, a Pfl-deficient E. coli strain secretes formate when expressing the PFL1 cDNA of C. reinhardtii. We also examined the Pfl1 fermentation pathway of C. reinhardtii under the physiological condition of sulfur depletion. Genetic and biochemical analyses show that sulfur-depleted algae express genes encoding enzymes acting downstream of Pfl1 and also potentially ethanol-producing enzymes, such as pyruvate decarboxylase (EC 184.108.40.206) or pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase (EC 126.96.36.199). The latter enzymes might substitute for Pfl1 activity when Pfl1 is specifically inhibited by hypophosphite.


Parent/carer involvement in their child's support for mental health difficulties is a critical component of effective care. 13 Community Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (F:CAMHS) across England were developed to provide specialist support to young people at high risk of harm to self and in particular others, and their families. The aim of this study is to explore parent/carer experiences of Community F:CAMHS. Thematic analysis of interviews (N=18, from 5 sites) was conducted. Superordinate themes generated focused on 1) facilitators; and 2) barriers to support. Subthemes generated relate primarily to facilitators, particularly empowering parents/carers through the co-production of strategies to help, "holding" cases (taking ownership), and acting on behalf of and supporting parents/carers. Managing clear, joined-up communication across multi-agencies is also of key importance. Barriers to effective support are a lack of joined-up communication at the beginning of the implementation of the services, awareness of Community F:CAMHS, and limited contact. Implications, including the need to further embed the Community F:CAMHS offering in the overall provision of support for this population are discussed. Areas for future research are identified, including the exploration of how young people's characteristics and outcomes may impact parents/carers' experiences of interacting with services.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies and is clinically unresponsive to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy.1 2 High densities of immunosuppressive myeloid cells,3 a paucity of antigen-presenting cells4–6 and T cell exclusion from tumour microenvironment7 all contribute to the refractory nature of PDAC to immune-based therapies. We and others have shown that innate immune activation of myeloid stroma via engagement of the STING (Stimulator of Interferon Genes) pathway can mediate proinflammatory remodeling and trigger a flood of T cell infiltration into otherwise 'cold' tumours.8–11 To that end, intratumoral injection of cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) agonists of the STING pathway has been shown to foster local and abscopal tumor immunity.8–10 Despite proven therapeutic efficacy in preclinical models, the mechanistic basis at a cellular level of how CDNs reprogram the suppressive myeloid stroma to sensitise tumours to ICB is poorly understood.Using RNA sequencing and protein arrays we profiled myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) and M2 macrophage function following stimulation with CDNs of ascending potency. We describe the effects of CDN STING agonists on cell cycle dynamics, metabolic reprogramming and c-Myc expression in MDSCs. Next, in an orthotopic Kras+/G12DTP53+/R172HPdx1-Cre (KPC)-derived model of PDAC, we determined the ability of intratumorally-administered CDNs to sensitise PDAC to checkpoint blockade using bioluminescent in vivo imaging and multi-parameter flow cytometry of tumor stroma post-therapy.Multi-omics profiling of MDSCs and M2 Macrophages of human and murine origin show that high-potency synthetic STING agonists rewire these populations from immunosuppressive to immune-permissive phenotypes in part through inhibition of c-Myc signaling, energy metabolic modulation, and antagonism of cell cycle. Intratumoral injection of the STING agonist, IACS-8803 resulted in an amplified therapeutic response to checkpoint blockade that was dependent on T/NK cell infiltration into the tumour. Furthermore, dimensionality reduction analyses of multiparameter flow cytometry data show proinflammatory remodeling of the myeloid stroma and enhanced T cell function as salient features of synthetic agonists versus natural CDNs in orchestrating the in vivo therapeutic benefit.This study uncovers molecular and cellular mechanisms by which STING agonists drive proinflammatory conversion of tumour myeloid stroma. We are the first to report that synthetic CDN STING agonists affect MDSC and M2 macrophage repolarization through altering energy metabolism and c-Myc signalling. Lastly, we demonstrate the potential for high-potency STING agonists to overcome resistance to checkpoint blockade in an aggressive orthotopic tumour model of PDAC.Royal RE, Levy C, et al. Phase 2 trial of single agent Ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) for locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. J Immunother 2010;33(8):828–33.Brahmer JR, Tykodi SS, et al. Safety and activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in patients with advanced cancer. N Engl J Med 2012;366(26):2455–65.Karakhanova S, Link J. Characterization of myeloid leukocytes and soluble mediators in pancreatic cancer: importance of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Oncoimmunology 2015;4:e998519.Dallal RM, Christakos P, et al. Paucity of dendritic cells in pancreatic cancer. Surgery 2002;131:135–138.Yamamoto T, Yanagimoto H, et al. Circulating myeloid dendritic cells as prognostic factors in patients with pancreatic cancer who have undergone surgical resection. J Surg Res 2012;173:299–308.Hegde S, Krisnawan V, et al. Dendritic cell paucity leads to dysfunctional immune surveillance in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Cell 2020;37(3):289–307.Beatty GL, Winograd R, et al. Exclusion of T cells from pancreatic carcinomas in mice is regulated by Ly6Clow F4/80+ extratumoral macrophages. Gastroenterology 2015;149(1):201–210.Baird JR, Friedman D, et al. Radiotherapy combined with novel STING-Targeting oligonucleotides results in regression of established tumors. Cancer Res 2016;76(1):50–61.Ager CR, Reilley MJ, et al. Intratumoral STING activation with T-cell checkpoint modulation generates systemic antitumor immunity. Cancer Immunol Res 2017;5(8):676–84.Smith TT, Moffett HF, et al. Biopolymers codelivering engineered T cells and STING agonists can eliminate heterogeneous tumors. J Clin Invest 2017;127(6):2176–91.Jing W, McAllister D, et al. STING agonist inflames the pancreatic cancer immune microenvironment and reduces tumor burden in mouse models. J Immunother Cancer 2019;7(1):115.


Direct visualization of the pi current density maps of highly strained annelated benzenes containing cyclopropa, cyclobuta, and cyclobutadieno clamps, alone and in combination, using a reliable distributed-origin, coupled Hartree-Fock method, shows the robustness of the classical benzene diatropic pi ring current. When only saturated clamps are used, the benzene ring current is essentially unchanged. In contrast, annelation with one or more cyclobutadieno clamps disrupts the benzene ring current. Analysis of orbital contributions to the current density maps gives a unified account of these observations in terms of the nature of the HOMO-LUMO transition.


A substantial portion of the costs associated with, and the value to beneficiaries of, Social Security Disability Insurance is Medicare eligibility. However, the benefits of this eligibility can vary due to differences in state policies on supplemental Medicare coverage, also known as Medigap. Although Medigap policies are federally regulated to be issued to 65-and-over Medicare beneficiaries with specific restrictions over underwriting, these policies are left to states to regulate with regard to the under-65 SSDI population, generating substantial cross-state and temporal variation. This paper documents the variation in availability and generosity of under-65 Medigap eligibility for the SSDI population. Furthermore, it exploits this variation to provide initial estimates of how this eligibility affects the health status of non-Medicaid-eligible SSDI recipients. Our main finding is that requiring Medigap plans be offered for under-65 SSDI recipients substantially improves self-reported health of this population, with suggestive evidence that this improvement is stronger as underwriting restrictions increase and among SSDI beneficiaries with mental health conditions. The estimated effect is highly robust to alternative scaling or categorizations of self-reported health, choice of data set, inclusion of fixed effects, controls for local Medicare Advantage penetration, and falsification tests. This effect is nearly three times the size of the estimated increase in self-reported health in the Oregon Medicaid expansion.


Stochastic problems existing in many research domains could be solved through three kinds of methods viz. expected value model (EVM), chance-constrained programming (CCP), and dependent chance programming (DCP). However, these methods, sometimes, give different or even contrary results when dealing with the same real world problems. This paper proposes a new stochastic programming method, termed as balance programming between target and chance, based on the concept of effective decision frontier curve, which can solve the stochastic problems in a more rational, flexible, and applicable manner, and can diminish conflicts of the three above-mentioned methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by building optimal bidding strategies for generation companies with risk management in the electricity market environment. A genetic algorithm with Monte Carlo simulation is employed to solve the programming model.


Neuraminidases produced by 16 strains of Pasteurella multocida (serotypes 1 to 16) were characterized by molecular weight, substrate specificity, and antigenic identity. After growth in a chemically defined medium, stage I (lyophilized) culture supernatants were assayed for activity with N-acetylneuramin lactose, human alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, fetuin, colominic acid, and bovine submaxillary mucin. Neuraminidase produced by P. multocida A:3 was purified by a combination of salt fractionation, ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200. Purified P. multocida A:3 neuraminidase was employed to immunize rabbits, and the resulting antiserum reduced the activity of the P. multocida A:3 enzyme by 40.3%. This antiserum also reduced the activities of the neuraminidases produced by other serotypes by between 30.8 and 59.6%. Molecular weight estimates of the neuraminidases produced by the various serotypes were obtained by gel filtration chromatography on Sephadex G-200. Each of the 16 serotypes examined produced a neuraminidase with a molecular weight of approximately 500,000. In addition, all 16 high-molecular-weight neuraminidases showed similar substrate specificities. On the basis of these data, it appears that the high-molecular-weight neuraminidases produced by different P. multocida serotypes are quite similar.


The research was conducted to investigate the production of value-added tea as part of the resuscitation of Tshivhase-Mukumbani Tea Estate. Data were mainly obtained from records kept at the Tshivhase-Mukumbani Tea Estate, through a review of literature and interviews of the selected respondents. Evaluation of economic viability of the value-adding initiative was based on Net Present Value (NPC) and the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) calculated from time-series data obtained for the period 2005–2012. The quantity of value-added tea produced varied across years, geographical locations, and seasons, with production higher for wetter seasons. The NPV was consistently negative, while the BCR was below unity throughout the study period, implying that the value-adding initiative was economically not feasible. Initiatives for achieving economic sustainability of the value addition were (1) Improve the marketing of the made tea brand Midi Tea as organic and longer shelf life. (2) Good labor contracting management practices to deal with labor disputes and unrest. (3) Good supply chain and procurement management practices to reduce the cost of production (4) Monitoring the impact of climate variability and mitigate by providing irrigation (5) Intercropping tea with a suitable winter yielding crops such as avocadoes or Macadamia.


Upregulation of the p16 tumor suppressor is a hallmark of senescence in human fibroblasts. In this study, we investigated potential protein modification of p16 in senescent human fibroblasts using 2D SDS–PAGE analysis. Three distinct p16 variants with isoelectric points of 5.2, 5.4, and 5.6, were consistently detected in normal human IMR90 fibroblasts that had undergone senescence due to forced expression of oncogenic H‐ras or culture passage. Moreover, in contrast to short‐term serum starvation, which induces quiescence, IMR90 fibroblasts cultured in low serum for a prolonged period exhibited senescent phenotypes and expression of the three p16 variants. All three p16 variants are unlikely phosphoproteins since they failed to react with antibodies against phospho‐serine, and were resistant to the treatment with phosphatases. Functionally, co‐immunoprecipitation assays using antibodies against cdk4 and/or cdk6 revealed that only the two most acidic p16 variants associated with cdk4/6. Moreover, senescence induced by the forced expression of p16 in early passage IMR90 fibroblasts or osteosarcoma U2OS cells was accompanied by expression of the two most acidic p16 variants, which also associated with cdk4/6. In summary, we report that prolonged serum starvation‐induced senescence may provide an additional model for studying biochemical changes in senescence, including p16 regulation. Furthermore, induction of endogenous p16 in senescent human fibroblasts correlates with the expression of three distinct p16 variants independent of protein phosphorylation. Lastly, expression of the two cdk‐bound variants is sufficient to induce senescence in human cells. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


There is currently no definitive treatment for vitiligo; various modalities include immune modulators phototherapy and skin camouflage. We investigated the efficacy and safety of topical tacrolimus either as monotherapy or combined therapy in the treatment of vitiligo. Electronic systematic search of the literature was carried out using four major databases. Randomised clinical trials (RCTs) that reported the use of topical tacrolimus in the treatment of human vitiligo have been included in a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Meta‐analysis was conducted via RevMan, and risk of bias was assessed through the Cochrane quality assessment tool. The protocol was published through PROSPERO (CRD42018112430). A total of 19 studies including 814 patients were included in our systematic review. The random‐effects‐model meta‐analysis of two studies revealed that the tacrolimus and narrowband ultraviolet B (NB‐UVB) combination therapy rates is better than NB‐UVB alone in inducing >75% repigmentation [RR 1.34 (95% CI: 01.05–1.71), P = 0.02]. Tacrolimus and steroids had similar potency in acheiving >75% repigmentation [RR 1.02 (95% CI: 0.19–5.51), P = 0.98]. Meta‐analysis of two studies revealed that the fractional laser and tacrolimus combination therapy is no better than tacrolimus alone in causing >75% repigmentation [RR 2.11 (95% CI: 0.87–5.09), P = 0.10]. Further investigating tacrolimus as mono‐ or adjuvant therapy for vitiligo is highly recommended. Combining tacrolimus to other treatment options such as steroids, phototherapy and laser may be superior to using tacrolimus alone.


Iodine is a key component of the thyroid hormones which are crucial for brain development. Adequate intake of iodine in pregnancy is important as in utero deficiency may have lifelong consequences for the offspring. Data on the iodine status of UK pregnant women are sparse, and there are no such data for pregnant women in the South East of the UK. A total of 100 pregnant women were recruited to a cross-sectional study carried out at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, at their first-trimester visit for an ultrasound scan. The participants provided a spot-urine sample (for the measurement of urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and creatinine concentration) and 24 h iodine excretion was estimated from the urinary iodine:creatinine ratio. Women completed a general questionnaire and a FFQ. The median UIC (85·3 μg/l) indicated that the group was iodine deficient by World Health Organisation criteria. The median values of the iodine:creatinine ratio (122·9 μg/g) and of the estimated 24 h iodine excretion (151·2 μg/d) were also suggestive of iodine deficiency. UIC was significantly higher in women taking an iodine-containing prenatal supplement (n 42) than in those not taking such a supplement (P< 0·001). In the adjusted analyses, milk intake, maternal age and iodine-containing prenatal supplement use were positively associated with the estimated 24 h urinary iodine excretion. Our finding of iodine deficiency in these women gives cause for concern. We suggest that women of childbearing age and pregnant women should be given advice on how to improve their iodine status through dietary means. A national survey of iodine status in UK pregnant women is required.


For experimental or rearing purposes, young abalones are fed benthic diatoms successfully during their early life stages without considering if the diatoms provided are found in the abalone habitat, nor if grazing selectivity exists. Our aim in this study was to gather further evidence that would indicate whether young Haliotis fulgens graze diatoms in situ selectively. Thirty-four specimens of young H. fulgens were collected in a fishing site in BCS, Mexico on two dates. We identified the diatoms in their gut contents (144 species) and determined their relative abundances. Fourteen diatoms (80% of the total abundance) were considered most important and twelve were among the most important in the diet of young abalone in BCS. The diversity values (H´) of the diatoms in their guts ranged from 1.05 to 4.47, depending on dominance, which reflected the structure of diatom assemblages in situ. The above observations and the low similarity measured between samples show that species richness and equitability are similar even if the species composition of diatoms ingested by young abalone differs between specimens. The results lead us to conclude that grazing of diatoms by young H. fulgens is non-selective, and that the structure of diatom assemblages is more important than the particular taxa in their diet.


We have found a secreted phospholipase A2 (PLA2, EC 220.127.116.11) from Streptomyces violaceoruber A‐2688, which is the first PLA2 identified in prokaryote, and determined its tertiary structure by NMR and X‐ray analyses. In this study, we collected the X‐ray diffraction data of the bacterial PLA2 at room temperature (297 K) using conventional MoKα radiation and refined the structure at a 1.05 Å resolution. The atomic resolution analysis led us to introduce disordered conformations and hydrogen atoms into a full anisotropic model. The molecular motion, which is expressed as the sum of rigid‐body motion and internal motion of protein, is roughly estimated as the thermal motion when the X‐ray diffraction data are collected at room temperature. In this study, we applied a TLS (rigid‐body motion in terms of translation, libration, and screw motions) model to analyze the rigid‐body motion of the bacterial PLA2 and calculated the internal motion by subtracting the estimate of the rigid‐body motion from the observed anisotropic temperature factor. We also subjected the TLS model to estimate the internal motion of the bovine pancreatic PLA2 using the anisotropic temperature factor deposited in the Protein Data Bank. Both results indicate that the localization of regions exhibiting larger internal motion in the bacterial PLA2 is almost the same as that in the bovine pancreatic PLA2, suggesting that although the tertiary structure of the bacterial PLA2 is strikingly different from that of the bovine pancreatic PLA2, the internal motion, which is associated with the calcium(II) ion‐binding, phospholipid‐binding, and allosteric interfacial activation, is commonly observed in both PLA2s. Proteins 2003;51:453–469. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Recent research suggests that the Big Five personality traits are important determinants of a wide range of political and social attitudes. In spite of this, the impact of personality traits on attitudes towards immigrants has been unattended in sociological research. On the basis of insights from personality psychology, we extend the sociological approach to immigrant-specific prejudice by analysing the effects of personality using a large and nationally representative sample of the Dutch population. Moreover, we consider personality jointly with situational predictors of attitudes towards immigrants. The results confirm that some personality traits are associated with attitudes towards immigrants, beyond the effect of socio-economic, attitudinal and contact predictors. We conclude that combining insights from sociology and personality psychology in the study of dispositional and situational determinants of attitudes towards immigration is a fruitful avenue for research.


The purpose of this paper is to describe the profile of coaching and coach education in Mexico. Mexico currently plays a prevailing sport role at a Pan-American level. Five types of coaches exist in Mexico: professional, amateur, personal or private, schooling and plainspeople. Each one is defined by the scopes, knowledge and its application, and sporting results achieved. The development of Mexican coaches is based on a traditional training model. It is important that coach developers in Mexico observe the progresses of countries that have advanced in the development of academic improvement programs and coach development opportunities offered through institutes of higher education.


Abstract Bacillus sp. CL14 crude protease was partially characterized and applied to obtain antioxidant whey protein isolate (WPI) hydrolysates. Optimal activity occurred at pH 9.0 and 60 °C. Ca2+, Mg2+, and Mn2+ (5 mM) enhanced activity (12–26%), whereas Co2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, and Zn2+ inhibited it (50–94%). At 1% (v/v), Tween 20 and Triton X-100 enhanced activities (21–27%), β-mercaptoethanol decreased it (15%), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) had no effect. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS; 0.1%, w/v) increased activity by 36%. Complete inhibition by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), and 85% inhibition by ethylenediaminotetraacetic acid, indicates its serine protease character and the importance of cations for activity/stability. With 5 mM Ca2+, protease was optimally active at 65 °C and completely stable after 20 min at 40–55 °C. Crude protease preferentially hydrolyzed WPI and soy protein, followed by casein. WPI hydrolysis was then performed (55 °C, pH 9.0, 5 mM Ca2+) for 0–180 min. Contents of trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble proteins in WPI hydrolysates (HWPI) increased from 29% (0 min) to 50–52% (60–180 min), accompanied by enhanced radical scavenging activity (14%, 0 min; ∼34%, 60–180 min) and Fe2+-chelating ability (56%, 0 min; ∼74%, 45–180 min). CL14 protease might represent an alternative biocatalyst to obtain antioxidant hydrolysates from WPI and, potentially, from other food proteins.


Sphagnum nepalense is a bryophyte endemic to Nepal. The objective of the present study is to analyze DNA barcoding markers useful for delineating the Sphagnum species. Here, a specimen of Sphagnum nepalense collected from the bank of Maipokhari lake, Ilam (2107 m asl) was used. Three chloroplast loci from the sample viz. rbcL, psbA-trnH and trnF-trnL, the latter two being intergenic spacers, were amplified and sequenced. Four accessions of plastome sequences of S. junghuhnianum, S. multifibrosum, S. palustre and S. subsecundum were retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Evolutionary analysis was performed following the Maximum Likelihood approach using MEGA X. The result showed that the evolutionary tree generated with single locus trnF-trnL and combined sequences of trnF-trnL and psbA-trnH was better compared to that generated with the sequence of other single locus and even the combined sequence of rbcL, psbA-trnH and trnF-trnL. The sequence data generated in this study for Sphagnum nepalense are novel to the scientific community.


Background: Correlation between chest X-ray findings and drug resistance can provide valuable guide for physicians working at low-resource settings. Objective: To study tuberculosis (TB) drug sensitivity pattern as per the radiological presentation. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based prospective study was conducted among 67 newly diagnosed sputum-positive pulmonary TB patients who never took anti-TB treatment. They were subjected to history, systemic examination, radiology, and sputum smear examination. Ten patterns of chest X-ray were studied in the present study, which was not studied before. Chest X-ray radiology pattern was correlated with the drug resistance. Results: Isoniazid (INH) monoresistance was present in 11.9% of patients. 1.5% had rifampicin (RIF) resistance but no INH resistance. RIF and INH both resistance (multidrug-resistant [MDR]) was present in 7.5% of cases. Pattern Four was the most common radiological presentation in our patients being present in 20 (29.9%) patients. In this pattern, bacteria of 5.0% were RIF resistant. 15.0% were INH resistant, and 5.0% were both RIF and INH resistant (MDR). RIF resistance was most common in chest X-ray PA view with "Pattern Two" being present in bacteria of 21.42% of patients. Conclusion: Radiological patterns 2, 3, and 4 were highly correlated with the multidrug resistance, but it was not statistically significant. Patients' chest X-ray showing these patterns can be suspected to have MDR-TB and sent for further evaluation for early diagnosis and treatment of MDR-TB, which will give us good outcome. Further studies on this hypothesis should be conducted with bigger sample size to throw more light in this field.


2035. Proposed by Gregory Dresden, Prakriti Panthi (student), Anukriti Shrestha (student) and Jiahao Zhang (student), Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA. Two real numbers x, y are said to have a common decimal part if xy < 0 and x + y is an integer, or else xy ≥ 0 and x − y is an integer. More concretely, this means that the decimal expansions of x, y are of the forms ±amam−1 . . . a1a0 . d1d2d3 . . . , ±bnbn−1 . . . b1b0 . d1d2d3 . . . , where the common decimal part is 0.d1d2d3 . . . . Find all polynomials of degree at least 2 with integer coefficients, all roots real, and irreducible over the rationals, whose roots have pairwise common decimal tails.


Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats facing humankind at the beginning of the 21st century. This research focuses on the attitudes of local community groups in the city of Portsmouth by analysing current awareness, understanding, concern, influence and sources of information on this global issue. It compares the attitudes of the local community groups to the attitudes of the United Kingdom public generally. The research also compares local community group's attitudes on climate change with media coverage in the preceding year. Instances of over certainty and lack uncertainty from two national newspapers are identified and analysed. The research concludes that local attitudes indicate high levels of awareness and concern among the four community groups, whilst understanding of the causes of the climate change remains confused. This misunderstanding is socially and politically disabling because it misleads people away from dealing with an issue at the heart of western consumer society - the consumption of fossil fuels.


Security issues became a topic of research with the introduction of networked information systems in the early eighties. However, in the mid-nineties the proliferation of the Internet in the business area exposed security as one of key-factors for successful on-line business. The majority of efforts to provide security were focused on technology. However, it turned out during the last years that human factors play a central role. Therefore, this chapter gives a methodology for proper risk management that is concentrated on human factors management, but it starts with addressing classical, i.e. technology based issues. Afterwards, business dynamics is deployed to enable a quantitative approach for handling security of contemporary information systems. The whole methodology encompasses business intelligence and presents appropriate architecture for human resources management. IntroductIon


All retroviruses use their full-length primary transcript as the major mRNA for Group-specific antigen (Gag) capsid proteins. This results in a long 3′ untranslated region (UTR) downstream of the termination codon. In the case of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), there is a 7 kb 3′UTR downstream of the gag terminator, containing the pol, env, and src genes. mRNAs containing long 3′UTRs, like those with premature termination codons, are frequently recognized by the cellular nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) machinery and targeted for degradation. To prevent this, RSV has evolved an RNA stability element (RSE) in the RNA immediately downstream of the gag termination codon. This 400-nt RNA sequence stabilizes premature termination codons (PTCs) in gag. It also stabilizes globin mRNAs with long 3′UTRs, when placed downstream of the termination codon. It is not clear how the RSE stabilizes the mRNA and prevents decay. We show here that the presence of RSE inhibits deadenylation severely. In addition, the RSE also impairs decapping (DCP2) and 5′-3′ exonucleolytic (XRN1) function in knockdown experiments in human cells.


This paper presents an original approach to identify oil depots from single high resolution aerial/satellite images in an automated manner. The new approach considers the symmetric nature of circular oil depots, and it computes the radial symmetry in a unique way. An automated thresholding method to focus on circular regions and a new measure to verify circles are proposed. Experiments are performed on six GeoEye-1 test images. Besides, we perform tests on 16 Google Earth images of an industrial test site acquired in a time series manner (between the years 1995 and 2012). The results reveal that our approach is capable of detecting circle objects in very different/difficult images. We computed an overall performance of 95.8% for the GeoEye-1 dataset. The time series investigation reveals that our approach is robust enough to locate oil depots in industrial environments under varying illumination and environmental conditions. The overall performance is computed as 89.4% for the Google Earth dataset, and this result secures the success of our approach compared to a state-of-the-art approach.


A novel type II BiOCl/CAU-17 2D/2D heterostructure photocatalyst was synthesized by in situ growth of ultrathin BiOCl on the surface of CAU-17 nanorods through a solvothermal process. The 2D/2D heterostructures endow the BiOCl/CAU-17 heterojunction with a large specific surface area and tight interfacial contact, which can provide sufficient channels for carrier migration. The introduction of CAU-17 can enhance the light absorption ability of BiOCl/CAU-17 photocatalysts. Furthermore, the staggered type II heterostructure energy band alignment formed between BiOCl and CAU-17 can promote the separation of photoexcited carriers. The improved performance for carrier migration and light absorption was evaluated by SEM, TEM, BET, EIS, and DRS tests. Transient photocurrent response and photoluminescence tests confirmed the improvement in separating photoexcited carriers. The optimal 70% BiOCl/CAU-17 sample exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 96.3% for RhB and 85.5% for TC, under 90 min of simulated solar light irradiation. Its apparent first-order rate constant k values are 0.02947 and 0.01955 min-1, respectively, being 48.31 and 19.75 fold higher than those of CAU-17, and 7.61 and 1.84 fold higher than those of BiOCl. The free radical scavenging experiment results showed that h+ and ˙O2- are the prime active species during the photodegradation process. Hence, a possible photocatalytic mechanism of the type II BiOCl/CAU-17 heterojunction was proposed.


This study aims to describe the polemic over the zoning education system policy in the Bondowoso region. The method used is qualitative research with the type of critical discourse analysis research and the Fairclough critical discourse analysis model. The data in this study are in the form of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences related to the text and the results of the interviews which show polemics. Sources of data for this research were taken from Ministry of Education and Culture Regulations, follow-up policies from the Education Office, interview results, and online media documentation. The instruments used in data collection were the researchers themselves who acted as key instruments, devices, recording devices, note sheets, and laptops. Data collection techniques in this study were carried out using documentation, interviews and observation techniques. Data analysis techniques, researchers used critical discourse analysis developed by Fairclough by way of description, interpretation and explanation. The results of the study show the use of lingual features such as lexical processes, euphemisms, transitivity, and modality, as well as the ideology of each group involved. The polemic found from each group with the existence of a zoning education system policy can be used as literacy material and also for consideration in making further policies.


Abstract: Possible factors affecting the seizure frequency during pregnancy and puerperium were prospectively studied on 125 cases, paying particular attention to the drug compliance and the antiepileptic drug disposition. Of the subjects, 27% were under the poor compliance category. As the reasons for the poor compliance, anxiety about the side effects of antiepileptic drugs including teratogenecity and the harmful effects on their newborns by breast feeding were found in about half of them. In the cases with regular drug taking, 80% showed no change in the seizure frequency whereas only 16% exhibited an increase and 4% a decrease. The apparent serum clearance of phenytoin, primidone, phenobarbitone derived from primidone and valproic acid increased during pregnancy and puerperium. In some cases, the lowering of the serum level of drugs was associated with the aggravation of seizures.


Medicinal plants have been used to treat various illnesses for decades. The present study supports the physicochemical, phytochemical, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis of the methanolic extract of Pouteria campechiana leaves and fruits, in order to propose that the bona fide plant material is suitably for traditional use. The physicochemical evaluations and fluorescence analysis were determined according to standard protocols. The phytochemical constituents were carried out by both qualitative and quantitative methods. The GC–MS analysis was carried out to identify the compounds present. The physicochemical parameters revealed that the total ash content of P. campechiana leaves is more than the fruit. The water-soluble ash value of P. campechiana leaves is less than the acid-soluble ash value of the leaf, but the water-soluble ash value of P. campechiana fruit is greater than the acid-soluble ash value of the fruit. The water-extractive value of P. campechiana leaves and fruit is better when compared to the alcohol-extractive value. Moisture content, swelling index, and foaming index were found to be greater in the leaves than the fruit. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of various phytoconstituents. Quantitative analysis revealed that the leaf extract consists of high phenolic compounds followed by total flavonoids and total tannin than the fruit extract. The total alkaloid was found to be higher in the fruit extract than the leaf extract. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer analysis of the leaves showed the presence of elements such as N, O, Cl, K, Ca, and C and fruits showed the presence of N, O, K, and C. The GC–MS analysis of P. campechiana leaf and fruit reveals the presence of 9 and 12 compounds, respectively. The results of the present study provide apparent information of the plant and also serve as an analytical tool for appropriate identification. Hence, this plant exhibits rich phytopharmaceutical importance.


[1] Insect outbreaks are major ecosystem disturbances, affecting a similar area as forest fires annually across North America. Tree mortality caused by bark beetle outbreaks alters carbon cycling in the first several years following the disturbance by reducing stand-level primary production and by increasing the amount of dead organic matter available for decomposition. The few studies of biogeochemical cycling following outbreaks have shown a range of impacts from small responses of net carbon fluxes in the first several years after a severe outbreak to large forest areas that are sources of carbon to the atmosphere for decades. To gain more understanding about causes of this range of responses, we used an ecosystem model to assess impacts of different bark beetle outbreak conditions on coupled carbon and nitrogen cycling. We modified the Community Land Model with prognostic carbon and nitrogen to include prescribed bark beetle outbreaks. We then compared control simulations (without a bark beetle outbreak) to simulations with various levels of mortality severity, durations of outbreak, and snagfall dynamics to quantify the range of carbon flux responses and recovery rates of net ecosystem productivity to a range of realistic outbreak conditions. Our simulations illustrate that, given the large variability in bark beetle outbreak conditions, a wide range of responses in carbon and nitrogen dynamics can occur. The fraction of trees killed, delay in snagfall, snagfall rate, and management decisions about harvesting killed trees will have major impacts on postoutbreak carbon fluxes for several decades and postoutbreak carbon stocks up to 100 years.


Recent years have shown the introduction of several types of smart products. These products gather data about user behaviour and try to determine an optimal response, in order to make the user's life easier. However, some smart products also lead to user behaviour that is undesirable. Hence, we would like to introduce a new design paradigm aiming for wise products that make the user's life better. These products allow the user to be in control of his own life, they are empathic, and they know multiple ways to evoke desirable behaviour. Besides awareness of the user's current situation, wise products are connected to a knowledge source that helps them decide on the appropriate behaviour, and they possess a repertoire of possible actions that may be customized to momentary demands. The aim is for wise products to contribute to the user's and society's subjective well being. We discuss several examples of how people experience wisdom in products and in the way they interact. In addition, we describe implications for the design process.


The thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIS) is the thermal infrared (TIR) sensor on-board the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-1) satellite. The TIS data can potentially be used to support improved monitoring of ground conditions with high-spatial resolutions, so accurate radiometric calibration is required. A meticulous radiometric calibration was conducted on the prototype of TIS to test its ability to convert a raw digital number (DN) to at-aperture radiance. The initial maximum radiometric error was 2.19 K at 300 K for Band 1(B1) and the minimum radiometric error was 0.25 K at 300 K rooted in Band 3 (B3). The R-Squared (R2) was over 0.99 for each band. The methodology was refined to divide the channel detectable temperature range into three sub-ranges and then the maximum radiometric errors were reduced to less than 1 K at 300 K for three bands. Subsequently, the Generalized Split-Window (SW) algorithm was preformed to estimate the ability of TIS on land surface temperature (LST) retrieval. In order to take advantage of its high-spatial resolution and make full use of TIR data, three-channel SW algorithm was also performed for intercomparison. Results showed that the SW algorithm can obtain LST with root-mean-square error (RMSE) less than 1K. Compared with two-channel algorithm with RMSE = 0.94 K, three-channel algorithm achieves better results in retrieving LST with RMSE = 0.82 K. For different land surface types, water samples achieved the minimum RMSE, and for different atmospheric column water vapor (CWV), dry atmospheres obtained better results. The sensitivity analysis of SW algorithm was considered along with noise-equivalent differential temperature (NEΔT), uncertainty of land surface emissivity (LSE) and input land surface temperature (Ts). Generally, three-channel algorithm was more stable to LSE uncertainties, and the error changes were within 40%. But when NEΔT and Ts uncertainties were included, the error percentage of three-channel SW method increases more, which means three-channel SW method is more sensitive to those two factors. All in all, the methodology and results used for radiometric calibration and LST retrieval in this study provide valuable guidance for the flight model of TIS and post-launch applications.


The African Journal of Business and Economic Research has recently celebrated its tenth year following its launch in 2006. This final issue (volume 11, issues 2&3), features five papers, covering six countries Ghana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Four of these are country-based studies, and are complemented by one general exploration of Global South producers including those in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Topics range from Economic success, to Fair trade shopping, brand loyalty in telecommunications, fishery (the fish value chain), and university-industry co-operation.


This study examines whether a firm's business strategy is an underlying determinant of downside risk in accounting earnings and its components. Based on organizational theory we predict that firms following an innovative "prospector" strategy exhibit lower profitability tendencies than firms following a cost-oriented "defender" strategy. Further, we anticipate that these strategies are asymmetrically positioned towards environmental uncertainty, with defenders focusing their efforts to efficiency, cost control, and minimizing exposure to downside risk, whereas prospectors direct their resources to flexibility, innovation, and maximizing the growth potential through aggressive expansion to new product markets. We find that prospectors are indeed less profitable than defenders. We also demonstrate that prospectors have greater total and downside earnings risk. Finally, we decompose earnings into accruals and cash flow and show that the higher exposure of prospectors to earnings downside risk is driven by the cash flow component rather than the accrual component. Collectively, our results suggest that considering how strategy interacts with financial reporting attributes is a useful way for evaluating a firms' risk profile.


Editor's Note: Thanks to funding from the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, JHPPL has begun the coordination of an Engaged State Health Reform Research Network to bring together people from different backgrounds (practitioners, stakeholders, and researchers) involved in state-level health reform implementation to inform and extend health reform across the United States. A network website will document implementation projects across the country, workshops will be held, and JHPPL will publish essays under this new section based on findings emerging from network participants. All essays in the section will be published open access. —Colleen M. Grogan


BACKGROUND
Immunisation is very cost effective. It provides high level immunity against a range of general and travel specific pathogens. There are more vaccines available as research and development of vaccines progresses. Some vaccines require multiple doses to induce long lasting protective immunity, and some will only induce protective immunity for a limited period of time.

OBJECTIVE
This article outlines the principles of travel immunisation and reviews the use of each individual vaccine.

DISCUSSION
Pre-travel consultation is interactive and must be individualised. A systematic approach is required, as well as knowledge of disease risks and vaccine details. Recommendation of vaccines should be based on travel illness epidemiology, and be appropriate to the traveller's needs and budget. We need to update routine vaccinations relevant in Australia, recommend vaccines relevant to the traveller's usual lifestyle and occupation, and travel vaccines based on specific needs.


Platform sharing across manufacturers has recently become common practice in the automobile industry. Its important objective is to reduce procurement costs by taking advantage of the commonality of components, but this often reduces the degree of product differentiation. We investigate this trade-off through analyzing a model that incorporates manufacturer-supplier relationships with communication costs into a standard differentiated duopoly model, and find an interesting inverse relationship between the advantage of platform sharing and the costs for manufacturers to communicate with their potential suppliers. The result suggests that the information-technology revolution could be a reason for the recent prevalence of platform sharing in the automobile industry, and predicts that similar phenomena would prevail in various other industries as the IT revolution makes further progress. We then consider an extension of our model that incorporates an option for the manufacturers to jointly establish a B2B electronic marketplace in order to reduce their communication costs, and explore its welfare implications. Although the joint establishment of an e-marketplace could be viewed as an anticompetitive activity, we find that in our framework it increases welfare.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Background: BC can relapse years after initial diagnosis. In animal models, bone marrow (BM)-derived VEGFR1+ cells define the premetatastic niche and VEGFR2+ cells are critical for the transition from micro- to macrometastatic disease. We sought to define the temporal relationship of these circulating hemangiogenic progenitor cells in a cohort of BC patients (pts) that developed recurrent disease and whether quantitative changes in these cells could predict response to therapy in pts with established metastases.

Methods: 125 pts with Stages I to IV BC enrolled in 2 studies. In Study #1 circulating VEGFR1+ (CD45+/CD34+/VEGFR1+) hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) and VEGFR2+ (CD45dim/CD133+/ VEGFR2+) endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) of adjuvant patients were assessed at baseline (BL), every 3 months (mo) for the first year, then every 6 mo. Stage IV pts had levels measured at BL (defined as when initiating new treatment (tx)), with subsequent 1 mo interval blood draws and accompanied by a clinical evaluation. Tx could include chemo-, hormone or biologic therapy. In Study #2, these cells were examined monthly in pts without overt evidence of BC. HPCs/EPCs were quantified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells using flow cytometry with commercially available antibodies. Statistical analysis is by Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Results: Data from both studies were combined to analyze 1) pts without overt BC who relapse and 2) stage IV pts according to response. Seven pts without evidence of BC based on physical exam, labs, and imaging developed recurrence while on study. In all 7 pts, there was a median (med) increase of 1,111% in HPCs preceding overt relapse (range 283% to 5800%). Med HPCs at BL 0.65/ul (range 0.02 to 1.22/ul) increased to 2.90/ul prior to relapse (range 1.18 to 34.94/ul), p=0.016. In 5 of 7 relapsed pts a 433% increase in EPCs occurred as HPCs decreased: med EPCs at BL 0.03/ul (range 0.015 to 0.21/ul) and at relapse 0.16/ul (range 0.03 to 0.27/ul). This pattern was not seen in non-relapsed pts.

In 22 stage IV pts, HPCs and EPCs were evaluated over the course of 40 tx. For the 20 tx (16 pts) in which progression of disease (POD) was the outcome, HPCs increased prior to POD (median 7.45/ul, range 0.37 to 77.6/ul) from BL (med 1.70/ul, range 0.01 to 16.47/ul), p=0.001. Similarly, EPCs increased at relapse (med 0.07/ul, range 0 to 0.62/ul) from BL (med 0.03/ul, range 0 to 0.21/ul), p=0.04. For the 12 tx (11 pts) with disease responding to systemic tx, there was a reduction in HPCs (BL med 6.15/ul, range 0.91 to 85.1/ul) to a 3 mo time point (med 0.63/ul, range 0.05 to 18.1/ul), p=0.05. A trend was noted in med EPCs (0.05/ul at BL to 0.02/ul at 3 mo), p=0.37. There was no change in HPCs/EPCs in 8 tx (6 pts) with stable disease.

Conclusion: BM-derived progenitor cells are important in the metastatic cascade and may represent a novel biomarker in following disease status and a new target for therapy.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4720. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4720


Cardiovascular disease is a major worldwide health problem with a growing impact in developing countries. Heart failure is the clinical manifestation of many advanced cardiac disorders. It can have numerous etiologies and the incidence of non-infectious causes is increasing with socio-economic development, thus illustrating the global nature of this epidemiologic transition. Several of the numerous non-infectious causes of heart failure involve cardiac diseases specific to tropical areas including dilated cardiomyopathy, endomyocardial fibrosis, and peripartum cardiomyopathy. Other widespread disorders are becoming more common as a result of the epidemiologic transition. Cardiovascular risk factors are changing particularly with regard to the incidence of coronary artery disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and hypertension-related complications. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of non-infectious causes of heart failure in terms of frequency, onset, and therapeutic requirements. Symptomatic treatment of heart failure is same as in developing countries but is often delayed due to shortcomings in the care system.


Abstract
 Background An interesting clinical phenomenon occures frequently in our work, which indicates that blood pressure could return to normal in some hypertension patients with cervical & upper thoracic esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy. We speculated that this may be related to thyroid gland damage by radiotherapy.Methods We retrospectively analyzed pre- and post-radiotherapy (RT, 1.5months, 4.5months and 7.5months) systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) for a cohort of esophageal cancer patients. At 7.5 months post-RT, serum free triiodothyronine (FT3), free tetraiodothyronine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations were also measured to evaluate the changes of thyroid hormones (THs) and its correaltion with changes of blood pressure. To confirm the influence of radiation on thyroid, patients were divided into cervical & upper thoracic group (C&U, n=55) and middle & lower thoracic group (M&L, n=57). Results In the C&U group, the decreases (±SD) in SBP and DBP, respectively, were 5.51 mmHg (±1.83, P=0.003) and 3.62 mmHg (±1.38, P=0.002) at 1.5 months post-RT, 6.73 mmHg (±2.24, P=0.001) and 6.15 mmHg (±1.57, P=0.012) at 4.5 months post-RT, and 8.02 mmHg (±2.73, P<0.001) and 7.91 mmHg (±2.33, P<0.001) at 7.5 months post-RT. The corresponding decreases in the M&L group were not significant at any time post-RT. At 7.5 months post-RT, serum FT3 and FT4 concentrations in C&U group decreased significantly (P<0.05) from before RT to 7.5 months after the end of RT, and TSH concentration increased significantly after RT (P<0.05). In addition, Pearson analysis showed that both FT3 and FT4 was positively correlated with decrease of systolic BP (r= 0.430, P =0.001; r=0.667, P <0.001, respectively) and diastolic BP (r = 0.370, P =0.005; r = 0.469, P < 0.001 respectively). Conclusion The present study suggests that radiotherapy in patients with cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer might result in lowering BP, which might be related to thyroid gland damage by radiotherapy.


Ultrafast transmission changes around the fundamental trion resonance are studied after exciting a p-shell exciton in a negatively charged II-VI quantum dot. The biexcitonic induced absorption reveals quantum beats between hot-trion states at 133 GHz. While interband dephasing is dominated by relaxation of the P-shell hole within 390 fs, trionic coherence remains stored in the spin system for 85 ps due to Pauli blocking of the triplet electron. The complex spectrotemporal evolution of transmission is explained analytically by solving the Maxwell-Liouville equations. Pump and probe polarizations provide full control over amplitude and phase of the quantum beats.


Purpose Solid-pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas, a rare tumor, has low malignant potential. However, some patients develop metastasis and recurrence after resection, with aggressive biological behaviors. This study aimed to explore the features and risk factors associated with the aggressive biological behaviors of SPNs. Patients and Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological and long-term follow-up data of 63 patients diagnosed with SPN at the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College between January 2007 and February 2019. Results Sixty-three patients presented atypical clinical symptoms. The median tumor size was 7.0 cm (range, 2.4–17 cm), and imaging features were solid and cystic or solid tumors with uneven density. Frequent and diffuse nuclear LEF1 protein expression (94.2%) was observed with LEF1 having a higher sensitivity and specificity. Overall survival significantly correlated with tumor size, Ki-67 index, and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). Conclusion SPN is a rare low-grade malignancy with a specific pseudopapillary structure. LEF1 is an effective biomarker of SPNs. Although SPNs generally display indolent biological behavior, a large tumor size, high proliferation index, and lymph node metastasis may be risk factors for the aggressive behavior and poor prognosis of SPN.


Communication is no longer seen as a simple exchange of information involving transmitter-receiver pair. We can say that today communication is virtually at the core of human activities and means, in particular, understand the other's gesture. In line with this approach, which means close to the sports communication, communication and physical education is very difficult to prepare an accurate definition of the word physical education because it is a concept that changes continuously. However we can say that in general, is a physical education physical activity and motor skills may involve competition.


Describes a novel, computer-based approach to the objective assessment of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The magnitude of symptoms such as tremor, chorea and hesitation are particularly important in the appropriate administration of drugs, such as L-Dopa, used to improve patients' motor activities. The method adopted measures the motor control of patients in real time using a commercially available digitising tablet. Vector-based analysis of this data is then performed to obtain an objective measurement of the symptoms under investigation. Results are presented for a population of Parkinson's patients and compared with results obtained from subjects without any known neurological disorder. It is proposed that this technique is sufficiently sensitive to aid precise administration of medication to Parkinson's patients throughout the day, and thus to increase the long-term benefits of such drug therapies.


This book concentrates on the study of psychopathic disorder as defined in the 1959 Mental Health Act in Great Britain. This definition reads as follows: "A persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including subnormality of intelligence) which results in abnormally or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the patient, and requires or is susceptible to medical treatment." The subjects who provided the material for the observations and studies reported on are 100 consecutive admissions and one later admission to Balderton Hospital, a state hospital near Nottingham in the Midlands. The criteria for their selection were that they had an IQ over 60, were over 13 years of age, that they were deemed in need of psychiatric hospital admission, and were not neurotic or psychotic. They had to have demonstrated antisocial behavior as evidenced by prior convictions for the large majority of


Children with cancer treated with cytotoxic drugs are frequently at risk of developing renal dysfunction. The cytotoxic drugs that are widely used for cancer treatment in children are cisplatin (CPL), ifosfamide (IFO), carboplatin, and methotrexate (MTX). Mechanisms of anticancer drug-induced renal disorders are different and include acute kidney injury (AKI), tubulointerstitial disease, vascular damage, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and intrarenal obstruction. CPL nephrotoxicity is dose-related and is often demonstrated with hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, and impaired renal function with rising serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. CPL, mitomycin C, and gemcitabine treatment cause vascular injury and HUS. High-dose IFO, streptozocin, and azacitidine cause renal tubular dysfunction manifested by Fanconi syndrome, rickets, and osteomalacia. AKI is a common adverse effect of MTX, interferon-alpha, and nitrosourea compound treatment. These strategies to reduce the cytotoxic drug-induced nephrotoxicity should include adequate hydration, forced diuresis, and urinary alkalization. Amifostine, sodium thiosulfate, and diethyldithiocarbamate provide protection against CPL-induced renal toxicity.


Attempts were made to modify polypropylene fibers by melt blending with polyethylene terephthalate in order to enhance the dyeability of the resultant fiber. Five blends of polypropylene/polyethylene terephthalate/compatibilizer were prepared and subsequently spun into fibers. Three disperse dyes were used to dye such modified fibers at boiling and 130°C. The dyeing performance of the blend fibers, as well as the morphological, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties, of the corresponding blends was characterized by means of spectrophotometry, polarized optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and tensile testing.


Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are major public health problems in India, including West Bengal. Existing programme to control IDD needs to be continuously monitored through recommended methods and indicators. Thus we undertook the study to assess the prevalence of goiter, status of urinary iodine excretion (UIE) level and to estimate iodine content of salts at the household level in Dakshin Dinajpur district, West Bengal. We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study in 2004; among 2250 school children, aged 8-10 years. The '30 cluster' sampling methodology and indicators for assessment of IDD, as recommended by the joint WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD consultation, were used for the study. Goitre was assessed by standard palpation technique, UIE was analyzed by wet digestion method and salt samples were tested by spot iodine testing kit. Of the 2250 children, 419 (18.6%) had goitre (95% CI = 17.0 - 20.2%). Total goitre rate (TGR) was not significantly different in respect of gender, age and religion. Visible goitre rate was 2.5%. Median urinary iodine excretion level was 16 mcg/dL (normal: > or = 10 mcg/dl.) and 16.5% children had value less than 5 mcg/dL. Only 67.4% of the salt samples tested had adequate iodine content of > or = 15 ppm, with significant difference between Hindus and Muslims (chi2 = 12.68, d.f. = 1, p < 0.01). TGR of 18.6% indicate the district is still endemic for IDD, but median urinary iodine within normal range reflects no current iodine deficiency. The district is in the transition phase from iodine-deficient to iodine-sufficient. Measures are to be sustained for successful transition towards elimination.


The advent of CRISPR/Cas9 as a gene editing tool has enable the development of genome-scale libraries of single-guide RNAs that can be used to probe biological processes. CRISPR/Cas9 screens can be used to profile the essential gene complement of cancer cell lines, map genetic interactions and chart the response to drugs. During my presentation, I will present our efforts to map the genetic networks that govern the DNA damage response and will discuss our work aimed at mapping the genetic architecture of the response to PARP inhibitors. Our work revealed new types of genetic vulnerabilities to PARP inhibition and in particular, I will discuss a type DNA lesion that could act as the elusive inhibited-PARP "trap". Citation Format: Daniel Durocher. Prospective identification of vulnerabilities to DNA repair inhibitors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on DNA Repair: Tumor Development and Therapeutic Response; 2016 Nov 2-5; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2017;15(4_Suppl):Abstract nr IA05.


Seventy-seven children for minor surgery of less than 90 minutes in duration were divided into two groups; one group received midazolam syrup and the other received bromazepam suppository. The sedative effect before or after the induction of the anesthetic, the effect on the circulatory system, and the prolongation of the sedative effect after surgery were studied. Regarding the sedative effect before or during the induction of anesthesia, both medications were effective with no significant difference between the two groups. However, the bromazepam suppository had a significantly better sedative effect 1 or 2 hours after the surgery. In children under 4 years of age, the sedative effect during the induction was obtained by administering midazolam syrup before the surgery. It is indicated that midazolam syrup is superior to the bromazepam suppository in children under 4 years of age.


This cross‐sectional study describes oral health problems in a sample of children with Down syndrome (DS) compared with their siblings. Data were collected using the Oral Assessment ‐ Down Syndrome questionnaire, a validated French language evaluation to be completed by the child's carer. Parents attending a national meeting anonymously answered a questionnaire for their child with DS and for the sibling closest in age and returned their replies by post. Data concerning 204 individuals with DS (103 males, 101 females; mean age 9.6 years) and 161 of their siblings (80 males, 81 females; mean age 11.8 years) were returned. The association between DS status, age, and oral health was analysed. There was a greater frequency of oral health problems in those with DS with regard to function, clinical signs, disability, and development. The prevalence of chewing problems did not improve with age, the prevalence of bleeding gums and mouth breathing increased with age, and that of tongue protrusion reduced with age. Most parents rated the general and oral health of their children with DS highly, although worse than for their siblings.


Climate change is already having adverse impacts, with place- and problem-based implications due to higher temperatures, prolonged droughts, and more frequent extremes. Despite uncertainty about the full extent of future change, adaptation will be required. Adaptation pathways (APs) planning is increasingly used as a methodological approach to identify, evaluate, and sequence adaptation options over time. Pathways link critical decisions to future conditions, providing a road map to support planning in the face of uncertainty. This systematic review identifies and assesses the rapidly growing APs literature, focusing on its definition, and application in diverse contexts. Using bibliometric and thematic analysis, we highlight scholarly networks driving innovation in this area, characterise theoretical and conceptual differences in framing, and derive insights for best practice. Results show the evolution in interpretation, framing and practice; from an initial focus on managing uncertainty with technological- and engineered-based approaches, through to more participatory, policy- and decision-relevant pathways. Pathways planning has become increasingly collaborative, and is now used to address climate adaptation outcomes, within the broader context of interacting and compounding stressors. Results also highlight challenges in conceptualising and operationalizing APs, including comprehensive accounting for costs, and navigating social dynamics involved in process development. Based on these findings we propose new avenues for research, to develop methodologies to better engage with stakeholders' social, political, and economic concerns, and enhance learning for climate adapted futures.


Mastocarpus stellatus and Chondrus crispus are morphologically similar red seaweeds that co-occur on rocky intertidal seashores in the Northern Atlantic. Mastocarpus stellatus grows higher on the shore and is more tolerant of environmental stress, caused by factors such as freezing and desiccation, than C. crispus. Here we report a correlation between reactive oxygen metabolism and stress tolerance, which suggests that reactive oxygen metabolism may play a role in stress tolerance of intertidal red seaweeds. Mastocarpus stellatus scavenged added H 2 O 2 slightly faster, and was more resistant to oxidative stress induced by addition of H 2 O 2 and Rose Bengal, than C. crispus. These data were consistent with higher levels of ascorbate and β-carotene and higher activities of catalase and glutathione reductase, in M. stellatus. Tocopherol content and activities of superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase were similar in both species. Activities of reactive oxygen scavenging enzymes generally increased with tidal height in M. stellatus; this was, however, not a consistent trend in C. crispus.


THE PRESENT NOTE ANALYSES THE TRANSIENT PHENOMENA THAT APPEAR WHEN ONE OPENS A SHUTTER FOR A BEAM OF DIRAC PARTICLES. THE PURPOSE OF THE ANALYSIS IS TO ESTABLISH THE TIME-DEPENDENT SPINORS WHICH WILL BE SUITABLE FOR A DYNAMICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SCATTERING OF DIRAC PARTICLES, FOLLOWING A PROCEDURE FOR SPINLESS PARTICLES THAT WAS GIVEN ELSEWHERE. THE TRANSIENT DIRAC SPINORS ARE EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF LOMMEL FUNCTIONS OF TWO VARIABLES AND THEIR ASYMPTOTIC PROPERTIES ON THE LIGHT CONE AND WHEN --------- ARE DISCUSSED. THE BEHAVIOR OF THE TRANSIENT SPINORS UNDER LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS IS ANALYZED.


Release of eosinophil chemotactic factor (ECF) and histamine was studied peripheral leukocytes of 16 normal and 12 ragweed allergic volunteers and compared to 15 patients with chronic urticaria. Cells were exposed to varying concentrations of anti-IgE or to ragweed antigen E in the case of allergic donors. Twelve of 15 patients with chronic urticaria showed defective release of ECF as well as histamine, while almost all normal and all allergic donors were able to release larger quantities of both mediators. Since the eosinophil is thought to have a modulating effect at sites of inflammation induced by anaphylactic mechanisms, the defective release of a factor attracting these cells may explain the persistence of symptoms in chronic urticaria.


We prove variation-norm estimates for the Walsh model of the truncated bilinear Hilbert transform, extending related results of Lacey, Thiele, and Demeter. The proof uses analysis on the Walsh phase plane and two new ingredients: (i) a variational extension of a lemma of Bourgain by Nazarov-Oberlin-Thiele, and (ii) a variation-norm Rademacher-Menshov theorem of Lewko-Lewko.


Becoming a research-informed school explains how research and evidence are used to:

Improve decisions and decision-making processes
Develop schools as intellectual communities
Address priorities for improvement
Implement research-informed teaching
Respond to policy imperative for informed practice
Set the agenda for future research

Based on 9 collaborative research projects with 152 teachers and school leaders in 85 schools or colleges, this book provides detailed analysis of how research influences practice. It considers key topics including Teacher Research, Lesson Study, schools' use of data, navigating social media and blogs, and how to overcome common obstacles to research use in schools.


Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common and one of the most treatable cancers in children. Although the majority of children with ALL are now cured, 10%-20% of patients are predicted to relapse and outcomes with salvage therapy have been disappointing, with approximately only one-third of children surviving long-term after disease recurrence. Several prognostic factors have been identified, with timing of recurrence relative to diagnosis and site of relapse emerging as the most important variables. Despite heterogeneity in the elements of salvage therapy that are delivered in trials conducted internationally, outcomes have been remarkably similar and have remained static. Because most intensive salvage regimens have reached the limit of tolerability, current strategies are focusing on identifying new agents tailored to the unique biology of relapsed disease and identifying methods to develop these agents efficiently for clinical use. Recently, high-resolution genomic analyses of matched pairs of diagnostic and relapse bone marrow samples are emerging as a promising tool for identifying pathways that impart chemoresistance.


Social media may play a role in the "contagion" mechanism thought to underpin suicide clusters. Our pilot case-control study presented a novel methodological approach to examining whether Facebook activity following cluster and non-cluster suicides differed. We used a scan statistic to identify suicide cluster cases occurring in spatiotemporal clusters and matched each case to 10 non-cluster control suicides. We identified the Facebook accounts of 3/48 cluster cases and 20/480 non-cluster controls and their respective friends-lists and retrieved 48 posthumous posts and replies (text segments) referring to the deceased for the former and 606 for the latter. We examined text segments for "putatively harmful" and "putatively protective" content (e.g., discussion of the suicide method vs. messages discouraging suicidal acts). We also used concept mapping, word-emotion association, and sentiment analysis and gauged user reactions to posts using the reactions-to-posts ratio. We found no "putatively harmful" or "putatively protective" content following any suicides. However, "family" and "son" concepts were more common for cluster cases and "xx", "sorry" and "loss" concepts were more common for non-cluster controls, and there were twice as many surprise- and disgust-associated words for cluster cases. Posts pertaining to non-cluster controls were four times as receptive as those about cluster cases. We hope that the approach we have presented may help to guide future research to explain suicide clusters and social-media contagion.


Known for its accessible, precise approach, Epp's DISCRETE MATHEMATICS WITH APPLICATIONS, 5th Edition, introduces discrete mathematics with clarity and precision. Coverage emphasizes the major themes of discrete mathematics as well as the reasoning that underlies mathematical thought. Students learn to think abstractly as they study the ideas of logic and proof. While learning about logic circuits and computer addition, algorithm analysis, recursive thinking, computability, automata, cryptography and combinatorics, students discover that ideas of discrete mathematics underlie and are essential to today's science and technology. The author's emphasis on reasoning provides a foundation for computer science and upper-level mathematics courses. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.


Florence Nightingale Foundation scholar Karen Harrold received funding to support her PhD exploring the patient experience of saline washout as a management strategy for chemotherapy extravasation. She discusses the focus of her thesis, the completion of phase one and looks ahead to phase two.


Does democracy help babies survive in sub-Saharan Africa? By using retrospective fertility surveys conducted in 28 African countries, I compare the survival of infants born to the same mother before and after democratization to identify the effect of democracy. In measuring democracy, I adopt a theoretically motivated definition of democracy: universal suffrage and contested elections for executive office. I find that infant mortality falls by 1.8 percentage points, 18 percent of the sample mean, after democratization. The size of the reduction is larger for babies born to mothers from disadvantaged groups. I also find that the replacement of a chief executive by democratization is the driving force behind these results. Additional evidence suggests that improvements in public health service delivery, not an increase in affluence, are the key mechanism in which democratization has reduced infant mortality. ∗I thank Maitreesh Ghatak and Tim Besley for their continuous support and valuable comments, and Robin Burgess and Oriana Bandiera for helpful comments at various stages of this research. I am also grateful to Fernando Aragon, Yutaka Arimoto, Dave Donaldson, Ray Fisman, Hiro Ishise, Hisaki Kono, Rocco Macchiavello, Torsten Persson, Steve Pischke, Jim Snyder, and seminar participants at the 4th Development Economics PhD Seminar held in University of Namur, at University of Warwick, and at London School of Economics for helpful suggestions and discussions. Sylvia Meek kindly guided me through the public health literature. Data appendices to this paper are available on my website: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/kudamats/research.htm †Email address: email@example.com


Food-fermenting lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are generally considered to be not-toxinogenic and not-pathogenic. Some species of LAB, however, can produce biogenic amines. Biogenic amines (BA) are organic, basic, nitrogenous compounds, mainly formed by the decarboxylation of amino acids. BA are present in a wide range of foods and can occasionally accumulate in high concentrations. The presence of BA in foods has traditionally been used as an indicator of undesired microbial activity. Relatively high levels of certain BA have also been reported to indicate the deterioration of food products and/or their defective manufacture. The consumption of food containing large amounts of these amines can have toxicological consequences. Although there is no specific legislation regarding BA content in many fermented products, it is generally assumed that they should not be allowed to accumulate. The ability of microorganisms to decarboxylate amino acids is highly variable, often being strain-specific. Therefore, the detection of bacteria possessing aminoacid decarboxylase activity is of main importance to assess the risk of foods to contain biogenic amine and to prevent their accumulation in food products.


The background of this study in the lack of student learning outcomes organizing material in civics subject. This is due to improper use of teaching methods by teacher. So it does not help student in improving learning outcomes. Therefore, researchers make effort in improving learning outcomes though the Gallery Walk method. The problem formulation in this research is (1) How is the implementation of Gallery Walk method to improve the organizing material of Civics subject in class V B MI Darun Najah Kwangsan Sedati Sidoarjo? (2) How to improve student learning outcomes of organizing subject matter of Civics after using Gallery Walk method in class V B MI Darun Najah Kwangsan Sedati Sidoarjo? The purpose of the first study to find out the application of the method of gallery walk increased the organizational material of PKn Subject in the V-B class. The second objective is to improve students learning outcomes of organizational subject matter oc civics after using the gallery walk method in the V-B class. This research method is Classroom Action Research (PTK) with Kurt Lewin TOD model consisting of two cycles with four stages in each cycle that is, (1) Planning, (2) Implementation, (3) Observation, and (4) Reflection. Data collection techniques used in the study are interviews, observation, documentation, written tests and non-test. The result showed that (1) Implementation of Gallery Walk method in this study obtained increased score of observation on the first cycle I that is 83 increased to 94 in cycle II. Thus the score of teacher activity increased by 11 scores. While the results of student activity observation on the first cycle that is 76 increased to 93. With so proved the increased in student activity by 17 scored on cycle II. (2) Improvement of student learnig outcomes of organizational subject matter of civics han increased. This is envidenced by the increased in average learning outcomes in the first cycle of 78 to 84 in cycle II. Thus the percentage of completeness of student learning outcomes in the first cycle of 45% (Enough) increased to 86% (High Once).


The main lessons from the EDIFICE surveys can be summed up in five points. (i) Evidence talks but very quietly: cancer-screening practices in the French general population do not match scientific evidence; (ii) Give time to time: the rate of appropriation of screening behaviour isslow; (iii) Where there is a will there is a way: the organization of screening decreases inequalities for cancer screening; (iv) Do not aim only at the target: although monitoring of adhesion and compliance for the targeted population is mandatory, monitoring the utilization of screening resources, particularly in countries such as France that have no financial constraints (screening outside the official range is still almost fully reimbursed) is also useful; and (v) Trees do not reach the sky: we have observed a ceiling effect for breast cancer with 90–95% of women who have had a mammogram in their lifetime and 80–85% of women from the targeted population who had a mammogram within the previous 2 years. For colorectal cancer, even with the longstanding programme, the ceiling level observed in France is close to 60%.


Objective: To evaluate diagnostic accuracy of spot urine protein-creatinine ratio for the diagnosis of proteinuria among patients with preeclampsia taking 24 hours urinary protein concentration > 300 mg/24hrs as gold standard. Study Design: This was a cross sectional study. Introduction: Preeclampsia can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. One of the important characteristic of diagnosis of preeclampsia is proteinuria. Gold standard for detection of significant proteinuria among these patients is 24 hours urinary proteins level (>300 milli grams). However, spot urinary protein-creatinine ratio can also detect proteinuria and save patients from botheration for collection of 24 hours urine. Previously, variable sensitivities, specificities and diagnostic accuracy of spot urinary protein-creatinine ratio had been calculated. So, this study was designed to determine diagnostic accuracy of spot urinary protein-creatinine ratio. Methods: 551 patients with preeclampsia were included. All patients had spot urinary protein-creatinine ratio (>0.3 was cutoff for proteinuria). All patients had 24 hours urinary protein test (>300 grams cutoff for proteinuria) as gold standard. Diagnostic accuracy of urinary protein-creatinine ratio was detected by determining sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. Results: Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of spot urinary protein-creatinine ratio were 95.8%, 94.2% and 91.6%, respectively. Conclusions: Due to its high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy, urinary protein-creatinine ratio is a reliable test for diagnosing proteinuria among patients with preeclampsia.


Four external fixator systems (five configurations) used for limb lengthening were tested to determine the fixator stiffness and the fracture gap rigidity. There was a statistical difference between fixators in all modes of loading with respect to stiffness, shear, and axial motion. The fixators were graded to determine their relative stiffness, shear rigidity, and axial rigidity. The EBI Orthofix proved to be the most rigid fixator relative to the configurations tested with minimal shear or axial motion at the fracture site. The Ilizarov tibial configuration was the least rigid, demonstrating more shear and axial motion at the fracture gap. The Ilizarov femoral system combined excellent stability and shear resistance with preservation of axial dynamization. Fixators with a high stiffness provide less motion at the fracture site, which may cause stress shielding of the osteotomy. Fixators that provide more motion at the fracture gap are less stable. These data may be useful in determining which fixator may be ideal for a particular clinical situation.


The emergence of location based social network (LBSN) services make it accessible and affordable to study individuals' mobility patterns in a fine-grained level. Via mobile devices, LBSN enables the availability of large-scale location-sensitive data with spatial and temporal context dimensions, which is capable of the potential to provide traffic patterns with significantly higher spatial and temporal resolution at a much lower cost than can be achieved by traditional methods. In this paper, the Foursquare LBSN data was applied to analyze the trip attraction for the urban area in Austin, Texas, USA. We explore one time-dependent function to validate the LBSN's data with the origin-destination matrix regarded as the ground truth data. The objective of this paper is to investigate one new validation method for trip distribution. The results illustrate the promising potential of studying the dynamic trip attraction estimation with LBSN data for urban trip pattern analysis and monitoring.


Membrane tension regulation is vital for cell's sustenance. If unchecked, higher tension can cause cells to rupture and ultimately die. Earlier studies to understand the tension regulation were mostly focused on the role of membrane reservoirs and ion channels. This study aims to understand how physical factors and membrane cholesterol content affects membrane tension regulation. We increased the cell's tension through hypo-osmotic shock and checked the cell's tension regulating ability under various treatments. Two parameters, the fraction of cells that ruptured and the size of the rupture pore, were determined to proxy for failure of tension regulation and membrane tension respectively in the absence of various molecules/changes under treatments. We observed that cells are quite resilient and most perturbations affecting the actin assembly, ATP content or adhesion area did not affect cell's tension regulation abilities. Low temperature and cholesterol content, however, made the cells prone to rupture. We saw that among all perturbations, cholesterol depletion from the membrane affected the tension regulation in the most detrimental manner. Preliminary results from further exploration into the cholesterol's mechanism of action in tension regulation revealed that cholesterol depletion increases membrane tension by affecting the membrane, and not the membrane-cytoskeleton attachments.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the kinds of ad appeals and brand types that contribute to perceived ad–media congruence on Instagram and how such congruence influences consumers' engagement intentions via the interaction of self-related congruence constructs. Additionally, ad intrusiveness was studied as a mediator of the relationship between ad–media congruence and consumers' behavioral engagement intention.

Design/methodology/approach
An online 2 (Ad appeal: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (Brand type: hedonic vs utilitarian) between-subject experiment was conducted with four versions of mock-up Instagram in-feed native ads.

Findings
Results showed that hedonic advertising appeals contributed to ad–media congruence on Instagram, which yielded a lower level of ad intrusiveness and further resulted in higher consumer behavioral engagement intentions. The brand type did not significantly influence participants' perceptions of ad–media congruence. Moreover, the findings indicate individuals' brand-self congruence and ad-self congruence were significant moderators in interactions with ad–media congruence in influencing consumers' behavioral engagement intentions.

Practical implications
Both brand managers and social media providers can leverage this study's findings to improve ad effectiveness and consumer experiences in their respective social media landscapes. Specifically, knowing what kind of ad is more congruent and less intrusive, as well as how to better tailor targeting strategies in digital media spaces by building higher ad self- and brand self-congruence, can help them achieve persuasive effects when complying with the Federal Trade Commission disclosure guideline.

Originality/value
The current study advances extant literature on native advertising by examining the core characteristic of ad–media congruence and its relation to the key metric of social media marketing success – consumer engagement intentions. The findings also extend the congruence theory by examining the interaction effect of media- and self-related congruence constructs.


Experiments on dogs with acute coronary insufficiency were made to show that nonachlazine in doses of 3 and 5 mg/kg considerably reduces or even prevents the rise of S-T segment on the epicardial electrogram depending on the intensity of ischemia. Hydroxyfedrine in doses of 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg deteriorates the electrogram. Nonachlazine prevents an increase in the content of lactate and in the lactate/pyruvate ratio in the blood outflowing from the focus of ischemia. On the contrary, hydroxyfedrine raises the characteristics in question. Nonachlazine improves blood supply of the ischemized myocardium, increases the retrograde coronary blood flow and redistributes blood in favour of the affected myocardial area. Hydroxyfedrine lowers the retrograde blood supply of the area of ischemia and redistributes blood in favour of the unaffected areas of the heart.


This paper reports a RP-HPLC method for the determination in topics of azelaic acid, a keratolytic and anti-comedogenic agent widely used in the treatment of all types of acne. A derivatization step was needed prior to chromatographic analysis because the analyte is lacking in chromophore. A sample clean-up procedure by solid-phase extraction was also developed to analyse azelaic acid in complex matrices, such as pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations.


Humanoid robots being underactuated, they need to interact with their environment to move. When optimizing trajectories, the contact forces must therefore be taken into account. In this paper, we first highlight an issue encountered when using parametrized functions in the presence of equality constraints which need to be satisfied continuously over a time interval. We then propose a parametrization of contact forces and a formulation of the constraints which allow to write a tractable optimization program whose solution verifies at any instant all the constraints where those forces appear. We finish by exemplifying the approach with preliminary results obtained on a HRP-2 humanoid robot.


The chemical dynamics of the reaction of ground state carbon atoms, C(3Pj), with vinyl cyanide, C2H3CN(X 1A'), were examined under single collision conditions at collision energies of 29.9 and 43.9 kJ mol(-1) using the crossed molecular beams approach. The experimental studies were combined with electronic structure calculations on the triplet C4H3N potential energy surface (H. F. Su, R. I. Kaiser, A. H. H. Chang, J. Chem. Phys., 2005, 122, 074320). Our investigations suggest that the reaction follows indirect scattering dynamics via addition of the carbon atom to the carbon-carbon double bond of the vinyl cyanide molecule yielding a cyano cyclopropylidene collision complex. The latter undergoes ring opening to form cis/trans triplet cyano allene which fragments predominantly to the 1-cyano propargyl radical via tight exit transition states; the 3-cyano propargyl isomer was inferred to be formed at least a factor of two less; also, no molecular hydrogen elimination channel was observed experimentally. These results are in agreement with the computational studies predicting solely the existence of a carbon versus hydrogen atom exchange pathway and the dominance of the 1-cyano propargyl radical product. The discovery of the cyano propargyl radical in the reaction of atomic carbon with vinyl cyanide under single collision conditions implies that this molecule can be an important reaction intermediate in combustion flames and also in extraterrestrial environments (cold molecular clouds, circumstellar envelopes of carbon stars) which could lead to the formation of cyano benzene (C6H5CN) upon reaction with a propargyl radical.


A significant part of the territory of Russian Federation refers to seismically dangerous areas. In the current code in design of reinforced concrete buildings for seismic loads the development of plastic strains is supposed. They are taken into account while determining loads by introduction of reducing factor K1, but their influence on the strength of elements is neglected. Plastic strains of reinforcement lead to appearance of residual cracks in compressed zone of concrete and due to this the reduction of bearing capacity of bending elements takes place on following loading cycles. The approximate method of determination of the depth of open cracks and of the residual height of sections when changing the sign of internal forces after reaching the maximum deflection has been proposed. The depth of residual crack is determined from the condition of equilibrium of longitudinal forces with regard to stress-strain state of a section at three stages of loading: at a moment of achievement of maximum plastic strains, at the unloading stage and at a moment of the beginning of crack formation after changing the sign of internal forces. The comparison of results obtained by the approximate method and results of calculation of finite elements model of a beam has been carried out.


The three-dimensional flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid over a stretching/shrinking sheet is investigated. Numerical results are obtained using bvp4c in MATLAB. The results show nonunique solutions for the shrinking case. The effects of the stretching/shrinking parameter, suction parameter, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter, and Lewis number on the local skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are studied. Suction increases the solution domain. Furthermore, as the sheet is shrunk in the -direction, suction increases the skin friction coefficient in the same direction while decreasing the skin friction coefficient in the -direction. The local Nusselt number is consistently lower for higher values of thermophoresis parameter and Lewis number. On the other hand, the local Nusselt number increases as the Brownian motion parameter increases.


Nano-Se/bamboo charcoal (BC) composites were prepared successfully by hydrothermal method. The composites were characterized by SEM, XRD, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (AFS) analysis. The effects of the synthesized conditions on the morphologies of Se particles on BC were investigated. The results showed that the reaction time, the adding order of reagents and the concentration of hydrazine have much influence on the formation of nano-Se/BC composites. The application of composites on the keeping fresh of cutting rose flowers was also studied, the experiment results indicate that Nano-Se/BC composites have better effect on the keeping fresh of cutting rose flowers than single BC, Nano-Se, distilled water and commercial "flower food" nutrient solution, the florescence of cutting rose flowers is distinctly extend by Nano-Se/BC composites up to 48 and 24 days in winter and summer respectively. "Synergy effects" and "Delayed release capsule effects" were used to explain the mechanism of Nano-Se/BC composites on the keeping fresh of cutting rose flowers.


In this paper a comprehensive analysis of steady-state forced response is performed for the case of a system with snap-through nonlinear springs. Stiffness characteristics of these springs include cubic and linear terms and the linear stiffness term is negative. There are a very restricted number of solutions found in literature for such type of nonlinearity. Because of that, the primary goal of the study is to obtain a full set of possible solutions providing stable and unstable periodic forced response regimes. The solutions sought include three major groups of the periodic response: (i) vibrations having a period coinciding with the excitation; (ii) subharmonic vibrations; and (iii) superharmonic vibrations. A multi-harmonic balance method is applied for highly efficient and accurate frequency-domain analysis of steady-state forced responses in a wide range of excitation frequency variation. Time-marching integration methods are used for validation and further analysis, including assessment of stability for the solutions found by the multi-harmonic balance method. The numerical studies performed reveal a wide variety of periodic regimes which are inherent for structures with snap-through springs


Location-basedgames (LBGs) have risen to popularity recently with games like Pokémon GO, Jurassic World: Alive and Walking Dead: Our World. The games revolve around travelling to points of interests (PoIs) to perform missions, but where the points are located and what they represent in the real world varies between games. In this study, we look at the PoI placements in five popular LBGs for Android and iOS platforms: Pokémon GO, Ingress, Jurassic World: Alive, The Walking Dead: Our world and Draconius GO. The first two games utilize the same criteria-based manually created database of PoIs referred to as Portal Network, whereas the next three rely on algorithmically created PoIs. We use three factors in determining the quality of PoIs: 1) connection to real world places 2) uniqueness and metadata and 3) placement. Based on the three factors, the manually created PoI database used in Ingress, Pokémon GO and the upcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite outperforms automatically generated alternatives in cities and near tourist attractions, and provides a more immersive, robust and safe platform for LBGs in comparison to alternatives. However, algorithmic options maintain better PoI coverage in rural areas, an issue manual solutions will need to address.