Changes in the haematological and innate immune parameters and accumulation in the liver, gill and muscle tissues were investigated in Mozambique tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus , L.1758), which were semi-statically exposed to several zinc concentrations in vivo . The fish were exposed to low (1 mg L -1 ), medium (2.5 mg L-1) and high (5 mg L -1 ) concentrations of zinc for 14 days. In this study, significant changes were seen in the haematological and innate immune parameters of the fish exposed to zinc in comparison to those of the control group (p<0.05) at day 14. In all groups exposed to zinc, a decrease in the erythrocyte count (RBC) and lymphocyte percentage and an increase in hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values and neutrophile percentage occurred (P<0.05). A decrease in white blood cell (WBC) count and an increase in mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) values occurred with medium and high concentrations (P<0.05). As per hematocrit (Hct) values, a decrease with high concentrations and an increase with low and medium concentrations were found (P<0.05). In all groups exposed to zinc, a decrease in phagocytic activity was found, and an increase in lysozyme and myeloperoxidase activities were observed with medium and low concentrations (P<0.05). A decrease was found in nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) activity with medium and high concentrations; in the lysozyme and myeloperoxidase activities was found with high concentrations (P<0.05). In this study, the highest zinc accumulation rate was found in the liver tissue, and the lowest rate was found in the muscle tissue. Accumulation of zinc metal in the tissues was found to increase directly proportional with the ambient concentration and exposure duration (P<0.05). In conclusion, it was found that exposure of O. mossambicus to Zn concentrations affected haematological and innate parameters adversely. Therefore, these parameters can be used to predict the effect of metals such as zinc on fish populations. Keywords : Zinc, haematology, immunology, accumulation, Oreochromis mossambicus African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(7), pp. 744-753


Monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1), also known as a l-lactate transporter, is a potential therapeutic target in cancer. The objectives of this study were to evaluate efficacy and assess concentration-effect relationships of AR-C155858 (a selective and potent MCT1 inhibitor) in murine 4T1 breast cancer cells and in the 4T1 tumor xenograft model. Western blotting of 4T1 cells demonstrated triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) characteristics and overexpression of MCT1 and CD147 (a MCT1 accessory protein), but absence of MCT4 expression. AR-C155858 inhibited the cellular l-lactate uptake and cellular proliferation at low nanomolar potencies (IC50 values of 25.0 ± 4.2 and 20.2 ± 0.2 nM, respectively). In the xenograft 4T1 mouse model of immunocompetent animals, AR-C155858 (10 mg/kg i.p. once daily) had no effect on tumor volume and weight. Treatment with AR-C155858 resulted in slightly increased tumor lactate concentrations; however, the changes were not statistically significant. AR-C155858 was well tolerated, as demonstrated by the unchanged body weight and blood lactate concentrations. Average blood and tumor AR-C155858 concentrations (110 ± 22 and 574 ± 245 nM, respectively), 24 h after the last dose, were well above the IC50 values. These data indicate that AR-C155858 penetrated 4T1 xenograft tumors and was present at high concentrations but was ineffective in decreasing tumor growth. Evaluations of AR-C155858 in other preclinical models of breast cancer are needed to further assess its efficacy.


In the article the main principles of lowering of a noise of an exhaust of pneumatic systems surveyed. The expediency of lowering of exhaust speed of an exhaust jet, and also splitting it on set many direction jets, by means of application of a silencer is justified. The mathematical model of calculation of a noise level created exhaust jet designed in view of the installation of a silencer also permitting to calculate transients in the pneumatic system. The outcomes of simulation of transients, and also calculation of efficiency of a silencer are shown. Matching calculation datas of pressure drop in pneumocapacity with experimental is carried out.


AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF BETA-CATI:NIN IN HEREDITARY NON-POLYPOSIS COLON CANCER (HNPCC) COLON TUMOURS. 8eta-catenin is normally complexed with adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein and E-cadherin adhesion molecule, and localized on the cell membrane. If APClbeta-catenin is disrupted, beta-catenin transfers into the nucleus, where it functions as a transcriptional activator, causing unregulated cell proliferation. The localisation of beta-catenin in H NPCC adenomas has not been studied but a shift in beta-catenin to the nucleus has been previously demonstrated in a range of col 0 recta I cancers, including those in HNPCC. The aim of the first part of the study was to determine whether there is a beta-catenin shift occurring as an early event in HNPCC tumours. Coded sections of tumours were immunohistochemically stained with antibody against beta-catenin and counterstained in haematoxylin. 14 HNPCC adenomas, 13 HNPCC carcinomas, 10 FAP adenomas, 10 FAP carcinomas, 10 sporadic adenomas and carcinomas and 10 juvenile polyps -three with dysplasia and seven withoutwere studied. A score was given for loss of membrane staining (0-1), presence of cytoplasmic staining (0-2) or nuclear staining (02) and a total out of five obtained. An shift in beta-catenin was demonstrated at the adenoma phase in HNPCC. HNPCC ,tumours were compared with sporadic tumours and a statistically significant similarity in prevalence of beta-catenin shift found in adenomas and carcinomas. The early shift in beta-catenin in HNPCC led to the second part of the study evaluating the "down-stream" effects of this shift in HNPCC tumours. The HNPCC sections were immunohistochemically stained with E-cadherin, cmyc and cyclin 01. The results showed a positive correlation between Ecadherin loss, increased cyclin 01 and a shift in beta-catenin. No significant change in c-myc or correlation between c-myc and a shift of beta-catenin was found. In conclusion the study indicates that disruption of the APC/beta-catenin pathway plays a similar role in HNPCC tumours to that in sporadic tumours. A notable exeption is the effect on c-myc and further study is needed in this regard.


The development of a silicon-based microfluidic field effect transistor has been carried out. The main objective of this study is to present from concept, the design of a microfluidic FET and to develop its appropriate process flow in fabricating the microfluidic FET on silicon wafer, which will finally be characterized using a suitable test methodology. Hence, fabrication on a p<100> 4 inch silicon wafer by photolithography, wet chemical etching, thermal oxidation, diffusion and metallization with focus on a liquid conduction path has been executed. A three level photo mask has been designed via AutoCAD and chrome printed on soda-lime glass. The basic structure of the device is adapted from the conventional MOSFET structure and redesigned to incorporate a liquid channel in its operation. Therefore, the functionality remains unchanged but the principal conduction path is replaced by a fluid instead of a doped semiconductor. Two reservoirs are connected via a channel with source and drain regions doped on opposite sides of the liquid channel to reduce conduction through the substrate. They are placed as far away from each other in order to minimize electron flow through the fluidic channel when not filled with fluid. The channel widths are set to five sizes, which are 5 μm, 20 μm, 50 μm, 100 μm and 500 μm in order to study the effect of the transistor characteristics against channel size. The electron mobility in the channel is significantly affected due to the presence of polar liquid. The electron drift velocity now undergoes more collisions with mobile water molecules, which is itself polar and hence affected by the applied gate electric field. The channel profiles are inspected with the aid of stylus profilometer and SEM. The capping issue of the gate on the channel i.e. a void is addressed using a thin layer of single-side aluminum coated glass glued onto the silicon surface. This however results in higher threshold voltage as the silica thickness is about 80 μm, which is much thicker than the normal MOSFET oxide. Typically the thickness of the oxide layer in MOSFET is in the range of 0.02 0.1μm. Therefore, this causes higher reduction in electric field at the gate area. Testing of the devices commences during the fabrication process where the various resistivity, grown layer thicknesses and other parameters are measured. However, these measurements do not give an insight towards the final device performance. Thus, an electrical test is performed on both conditions, with and without liquid inside the channel using the semiconductor parametric analyzer, curve tracer and a high current circuit. I-V characteristics and resistivity of the devices is analysed and the results show that there is some current and voltage relation and the characteristics does conform to the theory. However, the device can not be categorized either as PMOS or NMOS since the channel is undoped. The resistance is reduced by one order for wet condition as compared to dry condition. This again shows that the presence of water molecules in the channel improves the carrier mobility. xxi © T hi s i te m is p ro te ct ed b y or ig in l c op yr ig ht


In order to understand the optimal condition of the design and operation of the lance equipped with secondary nozzles as well as main ones, the behavior of the inclined oxygen jet was theoretically analyzed and the post combustion ratio was calculated after combining the previous experimental data with the theoretical jet model.Equations of continuity, conservations for momentum, enthalpy and gas species inside the jet were derived from quasi one dimensional assumption. The numerical calculation of the inclined jet by using Runge-Kutta method enables us to describe the jet trajectory, the distributions of velocity, temperature and mass fractions. Under the assumption that CO2 or O2 in the impinging jet reacts with C at the interface, under the rate-determing step of gas diffusion, the relation between the reaction rate and the theoretically calculated physical quantities is obtained statistically from the data in the real converters.The calculation of this model shows that the optimal secondary oxygen flowrate is determined by the factors such as the lance height, nozzle diameter, nozzle angle, etc. in order to obtain the maximum post combustion ratio.


Korean government is preparing the long-term care financing and delivery system in order to cope with rapid population aging. The system should be designed to provide demented patients with an appropriate services that the patients want to take, and considered to be necessary for them. In this regard, this study aims to analyse empirically a relationship between the types of long-term care services that demented patients wanted to take and they actually received during 2004. The caregivers of 609 dementia patients, who were randomly selected in a manner of proportional allocation from a nationwide claim database of the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation, were interviewed in September, 2005. Independent variables include socio-demographic characteristics, Activities of Daily Living(ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living(IADL). To explore the correspondence of the types of long-term care services that demented patients wanted to take and that they actually received, and its affecting factors, we conducted chi-square test and logistic regression analysis. Main findings are as follows. First, while only 20% of study subjects wanted home services as a long-term care services, those who wanted to use the long-term care facilities and general hospital were 37%, 43% respectively. Second, the correspondence rate was just 38% on average, and extremely low in the demented patients who wanted to use long-term care facilities. Third, the demented patients who resided in urban areas and received relatively high level of education showed high correspondence rate. Fourth, the high ADL score was closely related to low correspondence rate.


In 1998 it was first showed that intravenous Intralipid could prevent or improve resuscitation from cardiovascular collapse by severe bupivacaine overdose in rats. Since then published examples now include toxicities related to verapamil, diltiazem, amlodipine, quetiapine and sertraline, haldoperidol, lamotrigine, olanzapine, propranolol, atenolol, nevibolol, doxepin, dosulepin, imipramine, amitriptyline, glyosphate herbicide, flecainide, venlafaxine, moxidectin, and others. Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a rare but potentially catastrophic obstetric emergency. Despite earlier recognition and aggressive treatment, morbidity and mortality rates remain high. An estimated 5% - 15% of all maternal deaths in Western countries are due to AFE. The pathophysiology of AFE is not completely understood. AFE most commonly occurs during labor, delivery, or the immediate postpartum period. However, it has been reported to occur up to 48 h postpartum. Pulmonary hypertension and right heart strain/failure may be the result of physical amniotic fluid debris in the pulmonary vasculature or, perhaps more likely, result from circulating pulmonary vasoconstrictive mediators. Therapy with Intralipid in male rats resulted in 100% survival and prevented Pulmonary arterial hypertension-induced right ventricular failure by preserving right ventricular pressure and right ventricular ejection fraction and preventing right ventricular hypertrophy and lung remodeling. In preexisting severe Pulmonary arterial hypertension, Intralipid attenu-ated most lung and right ventricular abnormalities. The beneficial effects of Intralipid in Pulmonary arterial hypertension seem to result from the interplay of various factors, among which preservation and/or stimulation of angiogenesis, suppression and/or reversal of inflammation, fibrosis and hypertrophy, in both lung and right ventricular, appear to be major contributors. In conclusion, Intralipid not only prevents the development of Pulmonary arterial hypertension and right ventricular failure but also rescues preexisting severe Pulmonary arterial hypertension. Intralipid treatment is a new treatment for AFE (amniotic fluid embolism) which was never suggested before. Animal studies should be done in order to evaluate this new treatment modality.


The human estrogenic enzyme 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type-1 (HSD17B1) provides biosynthesis regulation of active estrogen in stimulating the development of breast cancer through cell proliferation. The β-sitosterol is classified as a steroid compound and is actually a type of triterpenoid compound that has a similar structure to a steroid. This similarity provides a great opportunity for the inhibitor candidate to bind to the HDS17B1 enzyme because of the template similarity on the active site. Several in silico approaches have been applied in this study to examine the potential of these two inhibitor candidates. Pharmacokinetic studies showed positive results by meeting several drug candidate criteria, such as drug-likeness, bioavailability, and ADMET properties. A combination of molecular docking and MD simulation showed good conformational interaction of the inhibitors and HSD17B1. Prediction of binding free energy (ΔGbind) using the Molecular Mechanics-Generalized Born Surface Area (MM-GBSA) approach shows ΔGbind (kcal mol−1) of C1–HSD17B1: −49.31 ± 0.23 and C2–HSD17B1: −33.54 ± 0.34. Meanwhile, decomposition energy analysis (ΔGresiduebind) suggested several key residues that were also responsible for the interaction with inhibitors, such as C1–HSD17B1 (six residues: Leu96, Leu149, Pro187, Met193, Val225, and Phe226) and C2–HSD17B1 (four residues: Ile14, Gly94, Pro187, and Val188). Hopefully, the obtained results from this research could be considered for the mechanistic inhibition of the HSDS17B1 enzyme at molecular and atomistic levels.


The ovaries cyclically secrete estradiol and progesterone. Cyclic ovarian estradiol secretion is associated with a bone-saving and vascular protection effect. Endogenous progesterone does not modify the vasodilator effect of oestrogens. At physiological concentrations, the natural sex steroids have low antigonadotropic effects. More potent synthetic derivatives with more antigonadotropic effects were synthesized in the 1950s. After the menopause, there is no longer any need to use hormonal steroids as antigonadotropics. In addition, vascular contraindications are more common in an older population. Contraceptive steroids (particularly ethinyl estradiol) are therefore rarely used. The oestrogen that is most widely prescribed for post-menopausal replacement is a complex formulation of conjugated oestrogens of equine origin that is administered orally in a single daily dose. Improvements in hormone replacement therapy may result from the use of parenteral estradiol (providing sufficient doses are reached) and of a progestogen chemically more similar to progesterone.


Studies on the effects of increasing acidification on marine communities have been previously mostly carried out in truly marine areas whereas brackish-water ecosystems such as the Baltic Sea have been less studied. The current study analyses how acidification induced by elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affects the photosynthetic net production of different macroalgal species in the brackish Baltic Sea. Research methods include sets of laboratory and field experiments carried out in shallow coastal brackish waters. The aim of the laboratory experiments was to develop the necessary techniques and experience for the mesocosm experiments. Laboratory experiments were carried out using specimens of the red alga Furcellaria lumbricalis collected from Kakumäe Bay. The mesocosm experiments were conducted in Kõiguste Bay during the field season of 2011. Separate mesocosms were operated in each set with different CO2 concentrations and a control treatment in natural conditions. Field experiments were carried out with three species representing three different morphological and ecological groups: Ulva intestinalis, a fast-growing green alga; Fucus vesiculosus, a perennial brown alga with a slow metabolism; and Furcellaria lumbricalis, a perennial red alga. Photosynthetic activity was used as the response variable. In the laboratory decreasing pH increased the net primary production of F. lumbricalis with the lowest net primary production values measured at pH 8.0 and the highest at pH 6.5. Results of the field experiments indicated that increased CO2 levels in seawater favoured photosynthetic activity of the macroalgae U. intestinalis and F. lumbricalis, but F. vesiculosus showed no response to elevated CO2. Elevated CO2 levels are suggested to favour the production of fast-growing filamentous species, which thus may indirectly enhance the effect of eutrophication in the shallow coastal brackish waters.


Although partially autonomous driving (AD) systems are already available in production vehicles, drivers are still required to maintain a sufficient level of situational awareness (SA) during driving. Previous studies have shown that providing information about the AD's capability using user interfaces can improve the driver's SA. However, displaying too much information increases the driver's workload and can distract or overwhelm the driver. Therefore, to design an efficient user interface (UI), it is necessary to understand its effect under different circumstances. In this paper, we focus on a UI based on augmented reality (AR), which can highlight potential hazards on the road. To understand the effect of highlighting on drivers' SA for objects with different types and locations under various traffic densities, we conducted an in-person experiment with 20 participants on a driving simulator. Our study results show that the effects of highlighting on drivers' SA varied by traffic densities, object locations and object types. We believe our study can provide guidance in selecting which object to highlight for the AR-based driver-assistance interface to optimize SA for drivers driving and monitoring partially autonomous vehicles.


Construction of heterostructures is one of the most promising strategies for designing photocatalysts for highly efficient solar hydrogen (H2) production because the introduction of an electron-donating counterpart contributes to more effective photon absorption, while the heterostructures benefit spatial carrier separation. However, the hole-transfer rate is usually 2-3 orders of magnitude slower than that of the electron-transfer rate within the heterostructures, ensuing serious charge recombination. Here, we find the energy band offset-driven charge-transfer behavior in a donor-acceptor (D-A)-conjugated polymer/CdS organic/inorganic heterostructure and realize hole-transfer improvement in cooperation with a further hole removal motif of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate. The photocatalytic H2 production activity is increased by nearly 2 orders of magnitude with the apparent quantum yield hitting ca. 80% at 450 nm without co-catalysts. Ultrafast transient absorption together with surface photovoltage characterizations consolidates the hole extraction mechanism. The intimate bond formed at the interface between the polymer and the inorganic semiconductor acts as an interpenetrating network at the nanoscale level, thus providing a charge-transfer freeway for boosting charge separation.


Abstract Liquid marbles have potential to serve as mini‐reactors for fabricating new materials, but this has been exploited little and mostly for conventional chemical reactions. Here, we uncover the unparalleled capability of liquid marbles to act as platforms for controlling the self‐assembly of a bio‐derived polymer, hydroxypropyl cellulose, into a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase showing structural coloration by Bragg reflection. By adjusting the cholesteric pitch via quantitative water extraction, we achieve liquid marbles that we can tailor for structural color anywhere in the visible range. Liquid marbles respond with color change that can be detected by eye, to changes in temperature, exposure to toxic chemicals and mechanical deformation. Our concept demonstrates the advantages of using liquid marbles as a miniature platform for controlling the liquid crystal self‐assembly of bio‐derived polymers, and their exploitation to fabricate sustainable, responsive soft photonic objects.


The hypothesis that the clonal plant Glechoma hederacea can forage for light in environments with spatially patchy light supply was tested experimentally using artificial habitats in the glasshouse. There were five light treatments. Two treatments were homogeneous, with uniformly low or high light. Three treatments were patchy, each consisting of one high light patch and one low light patch. In the patchy treatments the position of the light patches differed with respect to the position at which the clone commenced growth. Several morphological responses were predicted if foraging for light through morphological plasticity took place: (1) there should be a greater concentration of ramets and biomass, a greater frequency of branching, greater leaf area, a lower proportional allocation of biomass to stolons and a higher proportional allocation of biomass to leaves in high light than in low light patches; (2) there should be increased petiole lengths and a higher proportional allocation of biomass to stolons and petioles in low light patches than in high light patches; (3) different primary stolons should assume different morphologies when exposed, simultaneously, to different light regimes. Structures directly involved in light acquisition in G. hederacea showed the greatest responses to changes in light conditions. In the patchy light treatments the frequency of branching, the leaf area of primary ramets and the proportional allocation to leaf biomass were significantly greater in high light patches and petiole length and proportional allocation to petiole biomass were significantly greater in low light patches. The greater leaf area, coupled with greater branching, allowed clones to harvest light energy more efficiently in hight light conditions and the increase in petiole length allowed clones to escape from poor light conditions. However, these foraging responses were shown only when clones grew from low light to high light patches or when different primary stolons were exposed simultaneously to either high or low light. Foraging responses were suppressed when clones grew from high light to low light patches. These results imply that responses to patchy light conditions are not clone-wide, but localised within individual stolons, and that individual stolons can adjust morphology rapidly only when high resource patches are encountered after low resource patches. The converse - adjustment to a low resource patch following a period in a high resource patch - does not occur or occurs slowly, due to physiological integration within stolons and the predominantly acropetal nature of resource translocation.


The concept of relieving the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by dilating the urethral has existed for centuries. Thirty patients with a clinically estimated prostate gland size of 25 g or less were randomized to either balloon dilation (BDP) or transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP). The mean pretreatment Madsen-Iverson symptom scores in the two groups were 15.0 +/- 4.9 (SD) and 15.4 +/- 4.4, respectively. The early response rates were 87% fo BDP and 86% for TUIP, with the mean symptom scores declining to 3.4 +/- 2.8 after dilation and 4.2 +/- 6.6 after incision. Among the 14 patients who initially responded to BDP, 2 have been lost to follow-up, 1 died of unrelated causes at 17 months with no urinary symptoms, 2 remain in response at 32 and 38 months, and the other 9 (75% of those available for evaluation) have developed recurrences. Among the 12 patents who responded to TUIP, 2 have been lost to follow-up, 8 remain in response at 14 to 48 months, and 2 (20%) developed recurrences by 44 months of follow-up. In the short term, both BDP and TUIP are effective for treating bladder outlet obstruction in men with relatively small prostates. However, the effect of dilation appears to be less durable than that of incision.


Indonesian government attempts to improve connectivity and to increase regional activities in Sumatera Island through the development of Trans Sumatera Toll Road (TSTR). However, despite its benefits to local economic development in Sumatera, the project shows low feasibility due to a low amount of investment. It can be attributed from the lack of planning in the initial phase to produce a comprehensive route that considers the various potentials of the regions. Thus, this research aims to investigate alternative route planning of Trans Sumatera Toll Road particularly in this paper for Central Sumatera by studying Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), population and other significant factors. This research exposes cities and districts in Riau, West Sumatera, and Jambi which potentially contribute to the regional economy. Each selected towns and districts will be integrated with the intermodal system and connected to other functions to establish the Trans Sumatera Toll Road project in Central Sumatera. Compared to existing estimation of investment from public records, this alternative route has generated a competitive cost of investment which is estimated around 118,053,400,074,696 rupiahs. The research findings are expected to become the basis to improve other similar infrastructure toll road project development.


The purpose of this paper is to design, fabricate, and characterize of a bracelet monitoring device for blood leakage detection during the haemodialysis treatment. The design includes a photo interrupter, a Bluetooth 4 wireless module, power, and alert components. The validation results show that it only needs a very small amount of blood (0.01 ml), and takes 1.6 s to detect a blood leakage. Furthermore, the lifetime of the battery on this device is longer than the currently available commercial products. It can continuously give out an alert for 18-h long and continuously monitor up to 41 h. In addition, the transmission range of Bluetooth wireless signal can be extended to 23 m. As long as the patients wear this bracelet blood leakage detector during the haemodialysis therapy and affix the absorbent material onto the junction of fistula, any blood leakage can be detected. As the absorbent material is placed at the light sensing position of the photo interrupter, which causes the received light intensity to change during blood leakage. Once a blood leakage occurs, the absorbent material absorbs the blood due to the capillary action and triggers the alarm system. A warning light will also be activated, and a leakage occurrence is transmitted to the healthcare stations alarming healthcare workers via the Bluetooth wireless. The healthcare workers can take appropriate action immediately to prevent any risks to the patients during haemodialysis therapy. The proposed blood leakage monitoring system can improve the current medical approach for the haemodialysis therapy.


Today, many different types of scams can be found on the internet. Online criminals are always finding new creative ways to trick internet users, be it in the form of lottery scams, downloading scam apps for smartphones or fake gambling websites. This paper presents a large-scale study on one particular delivery method of online scam: pop-up scam on typosquatting domains. Typosquatting describes the concept of registering domains which are very similar to existing ones while deliberately containing common typing errors; these domains are then used to trick online users while under the belief of browsing the intended website. Pop-up scam uses JavaScript alert boxes to present a message which attracts the user's attention very effectively, as they are a blocking user interface element. Our study among typosquatting domains derived from the Majestic Million list utilising an Austrian IP address revealed on 1219 distinct typosquatting URLs a total of 2577 pop-up messages, out of which 1538 were malicious. Approximately a third of those distinct URLs (403) were targeted and displayed pop-up messages to one specific HTTP user agent only. Based on our scans, we present an in-depth analysis as well as a detailed classification of different targeting parameters (user agent and language) which triggered varying kinds of pop-up scams. Furthermore, we expound the differences of current pop-up scam characteristics in comparison with a previous scan performed in late 2018 and examine the use of IDN homograph attacks as well as the application of message localisation using additional scans with IP addresses from the United States and Japan.


Obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide and there is a general misconception regarding body weight perception. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity and body weight perception among pregnant women. A total of 315 pregnant women participated in this study. Their Body Mass Index (BMI) was recorded and weight perception was assessed using a questionnaire. About two third (60.6%, n=191) participants in the study had excess weight out of which, 29.8% (n=94) were obese and 30.8% (n=97) were overweight. There was poor agreement between participant's true body weight category and their perception (k=0.185 (95% CI, 0.119 to 0.258), p<0.001). Majority of participants who were obese (84%, n=79) and overweight (77.4%, n=75) underestimated their weight status. Only a very small percentage of obese (16%, n=15) and overweight 18.6% (n=18) participants had correct perception of their weight. However, the majority (84.3%, n=86) of participants with normal body weight had correct perception regarding their body weight. This study found that most obese and overweight women tend to underestimate their weight status while those of normal weight had correct perception of their body weight. The inaccurate perception of those who are obese and overweight may impact weight gain during pregnancy and affect pregnancy related complications. Education regarding ideal body weight and its benefits needs to be instilled during pre-pregnancy care to achieve better overall outcome.


Abstract Over the years, researchers have shown that hypnotherapy can be exceptionally helpful in the management of refractory irritable bowel syndrome. However, it is a labor-intensive modality with a finite success rate and is not suitable for everyone. It is therefore best incorporated into a program of graduated care that has a contingency plan for dealing with individuals who do not respond to this particular form of treatment. This paper describes how hypnotherapy has been successfully integrated into the functional gastroenterology service in Manchester.


Some features of recent geodynamics are presented. Special attention was given to those processes that cause evident deformations of the natural and antropogenic complexes, result in the damage to properties, and exert an adverse effect upon the health of the population. The spatial distribution of such processes is sketched, and some their quantitative characteristics are provided. It was concluded that the extremal features of recent geodynamics could be considered as the natural or natural-antropogenic dangers of the lithosphere class.


Differences have been found in the depth resolution of dynamic SIMS profiles from polysilicon films on silicon carried out with and without sample rotation. Corresponding differences in the surface topography have been observed using atomic force microscopy. Both amorphous and polycrystalline silicon films implanted with fluorine and arsenic and subjected to rapid thermal annealing were examined. For the polycrystalline film, conventional SIMS analysis led to a significantly roughened crater, with a somewhat lesser roughening effect in the case of the rotational SIMS. The crater in the amorphous film showed slight roughening in the conventional analysis mode whereas with rotation the crater base appears to preserve the initial topography of the film.


Meat waste management has been and continues to be one of the most important issues related to pollution management. This was due to the high concentration of meat waste materials like blood, hair, tail, horns and bones, among others that have to be thoroughly and effectively treated prior to their disposal. Methods like aerobic and anaerobic digestion [mesophilic or thermophilic temperatures, composting (windrows, aerated static piles and bins or aerated chambers)] are currently extensively used. Nowadays, the emphasis is on reusing the so-called waste materials for production processes, i.e. meat and bone meal. The latter was widely recommended and used in animal nutrition as a protein source in place of proteinaceous feeds. However, this approach greatly suffered from Small Bowel Enteroclysis (SBE) occurrence and micro-organism presence. Heavy metal absorption by means of charred bones appears to be one of the most promising applications of bones apart from other use for production of edible materials. The aim of this review was to summarise most updated references in the field of meat waste treatment and potential uses of treated waste by means of nine informative tables and six figures.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) in regulating migration, invasion and MMP expression in RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS).

METHODS
RA FLS migration and invasion in vitro were measured by the Boyden chamber method. Invasion of RA FLS into cartilage was detected in the severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse co-implantation model of RA in vivo. PAK1 and MT1-MMP expression were examined by western blotting. ELISA was used to measure the production and activity of MMPs.

RESULTS
Phosphorylated PAK1 (p-PAK1) protein expression was increased in ex vivo synovial membrane cells from RA patients. Stimulation with IL-1β or TNF-α up-regulated p-PAK1 expression. Inhibition of PAK1 by transfection with dominant negative PAK1 mutant (dnPAK1) reduced in vitro migration and invasion of RA FLS. In the SCID mouse model, RA FLS invasion into cartilage was attenuated by transfection with dnPAK1 in vivo. PAK1 regulated IL-1β-induced production and activity of MMP-13 and MT1-MMP. Inhibition of MMP-13 or MT1-MMP activity also reduced RA FLS invasion. Furthermore, dnPAK1 transfection inhibited c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation, but did not affect the activities of extracellular signal-regulated kinases and p38. Inhibition of the JNK activity by chemical inhibitor significantly reduced the migration, invasion and production of MMP-13 and MT1-MMP.

CONCLUSION
PAK1 plays an important role in regulating the migration, invasion and production and activity of MMPs in RA FLS, which is mediated by the JNK pathway. This suggests a novel strategy targeting PAK1 to prevent joint destruction of RA.


A 65 year-old man was hospitalized due to fever (38 6 degrees C) and dry cough since 4 days He visited Wuhan 8 days ago At admission, nasopharyngeal swabs sample were taken and PCR analysis confirmed SARS-CoV-2RNA positivity On day 9 after admission, chest CT scan showed diffuse ground-glass shadows in patient's bilateral lungs On day 11, his respiratory symptoms worsened Subsequently, type 1 respiratory failure was diagnosed, coinciding with kidney injury, and subsequently, type 2 respiratory failure occurred, coupled with multi-organ failure including heart and liver However, patient constitution worsened although SARS-CoV-2 tests were negative since day 13 He died on day 21 Lung biopsy showed areas of diffuse alveolar damage, characterized by extensive acute alveolitis with numerous intra-alveolar neutrophils, lymphocytes and macrophages infiltrations Microthrombi were seen in the dilated pulmonary capillaries Immunohistochemistry stainings for SARS-CoV-2-N protein was negative Taken together, the patient died of multiorgan failure although the SARS-CoV-2 infection was cleared already, implicating that for disease worsening, no active SARS-CoV-2 infection is required


CONTEXT
Researchers have observed slower cooling rates in thigh muscle with greater overlying adipose tissue, suggesting that cryotherapy duration should be based on the adipose thickness of the treatment site. Skinfold data do not exist for other common cryotherapy sites, and no one has reported how those skinfolds might vary because of physical activity level or sex.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the variability in skinfold thickness among common cryotherapy sites relative to sex and activity level (National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletes, recreationally active college athletes).

DESIGN
Descriptive laboratory study.

SETTING
Field.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Three hundred eighty-nine college students participated; 196 Division I athletes (157 men, 39 women) were recruited during preseason physicals, and 193 recreationally active college athletes (108 men, 85 women) were recruited from physical education classes.

INTERVENTION(S)
Three skinfold measurements to within 1 mm were taken at 8 sites (inferior angle of the scapula, middle deltoid, ulnar groove, midforearm, midthigh, medial collateral ligament, midcalf, and anterior talofibular ligament [ATF]) using Lange skinfold calipers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Skinfold thickness in millimeters.

RESULTS
We noted interactions among sex, activity level, and skinfold site. Male athletes had smaller skinfold measurements than female athletes at all sites except the ATF, scapula, and ulnar groove (F₇,₂₇₀₂ = 69.85, P < .001). Skinfold measurements were greater for recreationally active athletes than their Division I counterparts at all sites except the ATF, deltoid, and ulnar groove (F₇,₂₇₀₂ = 30.79, P < .001). Thigh skinfold measurements of recreationally active female athletes were the largest, and their ATF skinfolds were the smallest.

CONCLUSIONS
Skinfold thickness at common cryotherapy treatment sites varied based on level of physical activity and sex. Therefore, clinicians should measure skinfold thickness to determine an appropriate cryotherapy duration.


Differences among total solar irradiance (TSI) estimates are most pronounced during the so‐called "ACRIM Gap" of 1989–1991, when available satellite‐based observations disagree in trend and no observations exist from satellites with on‐board calibration. Different approaches to bias‐correcting noisy satellite‐based observations lead to discrepancies of up to 0.7 W/m2 in the change in TSI during the Gap. Using a Bayesian hierarchical model for TSI (BTSI), we jointly infer TSI during the ACRIM Gap from satellite‐based observations and proxies of solar activity. In addition, BTSI yields estimates of noise and drift in satellite‐based observations and calibration for proxy records. We find that TSI across the ACRIM Gap changes by only 0.01 W/m2, with a 95% confidence interval of [−0.07, 0.09] W/m2. Our results are consistent with the PMOD CPMDF and Community Consensus TSI reconstructions and inconsistent with the 0.7 W/m2 trend reported in the ACRIM composite reconstruction. Constraints on the trend across the ACRIM Gap are primarily obtained through constraints on the drift in the Nimbus‐7 satellite that are afforded by overlapping satellite and proxy observations.


Superimposition of serial cephalograms provides a limited description of tooth movement that could be complemented by data obtained from serial dental casts. The aim of this study was to develop a mathematical method for superimposing 3-dimensional data obtained from selected landmarks on longitudinally collected dental casts to describe maxillary first molar movement during headgear treatment. The material consisted of dental casts taken bimonthly from 36 children whose Class II Division 1 malocclusion was treated with straight-pull headgear during a 24-month period. Control data were collected from initial and final models of 38 subjects with a similar malocclusion who were not treated during a 24-month observation period. Spatial data from each subject's initial model were oriented similarly in an anatomically derived coordinate system, and a best-fit superimposition of palatal rugae landmarks from subsequent models allowed the measurement of molar movement. On average, headgear treatment resulted in distal movement of the molars, and the fitted net difference between treated and control subjects was 3.00 mm (SE, 0.37 mm; P < .001). Also, the headgear caused significantly more molar extrusion (0.56 mm; SE, 0.20 mm; P < .006) and buccal expansion (0.58 mm; SE, 0.17 mm; P < .001) on average than in the control group. Poor reliability of the method for measuring molar rotations indicated that they could not be determined accurately. Longitudinal description of molar movement for each subject revealed great individual variability in the amount and pattern of tooth movement. Several reasons could account for the wide range of individual variation and warrant exploration.


Despite widespread awareness of the detrimental impact of CO2 pollution on the world climate, countries vary widely in how they design and enforce environmental laws. Using novel microdata about multinational firms' CO2 emissions across countries, we document that firms headquartered in countries with strict environmental policies perform their polluting activities abroad in countries with relatively weaker policies. These effects are largely driven by tightened environmental policies in home countries that incentivize firms to pollute abroad rather than lenient foreign policies that attract those firms. Although firms headquartered in countries with strict domestic environmental policies are more likely to export pollution to foreign countries, they nevertheless emit somewhat less overall CO2 globally.


In this thesis, we consider the problem of an autonomous mobile robot operating in a stochastic reward field to maximize total rewards collected in an online setting. This is a generalization of the problem where an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collects data from randomly deployed unattended ground sensors (UGS). Specifically, the rewards are assumed to be generated by a Poisson point process. The robot has a limited perception range, and thus it discovers the reward field on the fly. The robot is assumed to be a dynamical system with substantial drift in one direction, e.g., a high-speed airplane, so it cannot traverse the entire field. The task of the robot is to maximize the total rewards collected during the course of the mission, given above constraints. Under such assumptions, we analyze the performance of a simple receding-horizon planning algorithm with respect to the perception range, robot agility and computational resources available. Firstly, we show that, with highly limited perception range, the robot is able to collect as many rewards as if it could see the entire reward field, if and only if the reward distribution is light-tailed. The second result attained shows that the expected rewards collected scale proportionally to the square root of the robot agility. Finally, we are able to prove that the overall computational workload increases linearly with the mission length, i.e., the distance of travel. We verify our results in simulation examples. At the end, we present one interesting application of our theoretical study to the ground sensor selection problem. For an inference/estimation task, we prove that sensors with randomized quality outperform those with homogeneous precisions, since random sensors yield a higher confidence level of estimation (lower variance), under certain technical assumptions. This finding might have practical implications on the design of UAV-UGS systems. Thesis Supervisor: Sertac Karaman Title: Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics


Primary bone lymphoma (PBL) is a rare entity. Nevertheless, very high long-term complete remission and survival rates following adriamycin-based chemotherapy alone or combined with involved-field radiation therapy have been reported. While the etiology is unknown, factors comprising local or general immunocompromised states have been suggested. Sporadic cases of local trauma followed by the emergence of primary bone lymphoma have been described. We describe 4 patients who developed primary bone lymphoma following direct trauma to a specific bone area. All 4 are alive with no evidence of disease after being treated with a combined chemo-radiotherapy regimen.


1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. 11p15 mucin gene expression is celland tissue-specific 4. Organization of the 11p15 mucin gene cluster 5. Structures of the promoters of MUC2, MUC5AC and MUC5B 5.1. Structure of the promoter of MUC2 5.2. Structure of the promoter of MUC5AC 5.3. Structure of the promoter of MUC5B 6. Transcriptional regulation of 11p15 mucin genes by exogenous factors 6.1. Transcriptional regulation of MUC2 6.1.1. Regulation in colon cancer cells 6.1.2. Regulation in lung cancer cells 6.2. Transcriptional regulation of MUC5AC 6.2.1. Regulation by inflammatory mediators 6.2.2. Regulation via EGF-receptor (EGF-R) signaling 6.3. Transcriptional regulation of MUC5B 6.3.1. Regulation of the promoter 6.3.2. Roles of intron 1 and intron 36 in MUC5B regulation 6.4. 11p15 mucin gene regulation during mucous cell differentiation 6.5. 11p15 mucin gene regulation by glucocorticoids and hormones 7. Transcriptional regulation of 11p15 mucin genes by the Sp-family of transcription factors 8. Repression of 11p15 mucin genes by methylation. Consequences during early development and tumorigenesis 9. Perspective 10. Acknowledgments 11. References


Abstract Conclusions: CDH23 mutations and the 1555A>G mitochondrial mutation were identified among our series of electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) patients, confirming that these genes were important in hearing loss with involvement of high frequency. Successful hearing preservation as well as good outcomes from EAS indicated that patients with this combination of mutations are good candidates for EAS. Objectives: Screening for gene mutations that possibly cause hearing loss involving high frequency was performed to identify the responsible genes in patients with EAS. In addition to a review of the genetic background of the patients with residual hearing loss, the benefit of EAS for patients with particular gene mutations was evaluated. Methods: Eighteen patients (15 late-onset, 3 early-onset) with residual hearing who had received EAS were included in this study. Genetic analysis was performed to identify GJB2, CDH23, SLC26A4, and the 1555 mitochondrial mutations. Results: Three early-onset patients had CDH23 mutations. One late-onset patient had the 1555 A>G mitochondrial mutation.


Cytidine (C) to Uridine (U) RNA editing is a post-trancriptional modification that until recently was known to only affect Apolipoprotein b (Apob) RNA and minimally require 2 components of the C to U editosome, the deaminase APOBEC1 and the RNA-binding protein A1CF. Our latest work has identified a novel RNA-binding protein, RBM47, as a core component of the editosome, which can substitute A1CF for the editing of ApoB mRNA. In addition, new RNA species that are subjected to C to U editing have been identified. Here, we highlight these recent discoveries and discuss how they change our view of the composition of the C to U editing machinery and expand our knowledge of the functional attributes of C to U RNA editing.


As a result of the thermodynamic analysis of the pyrometallurgical refining of crude lead, we suggested the alternative sulfide reagent and substantiated usage of the most efficient energy source for the implementation of deep decoppering. We have drawn isothermal dependences of equilibrium solubility of sulfur and copper in the fused lead, which indicate the need to transfer the reaction stage of decoppering by sulfide formation to the area of lower temperatures up to close to the crystallization temperatures in order to reduce the consumption of expensive sulfury reagents. We have carried out the X-ray phase analysis of the products of gas purification of lead production in initial and fused state, on the basis of which we proved scientifically their application after high-temperature impact in the pyrometallurgical processing when refining crude lead from copper. The implementation of the proposed technological measures at the enterprises for lead and its alloys production will improve signifi-cantly the technical and economic parameters with the introduction in the process of sub-standard materials.


A class-AB switched current memory cell is proposed. The circuit decomposes the input signal into two components by a low-voltage class-AB current splitter and subsequently processes the individual signals by two low switching error class-A memory cells. As a consequence, the output current obtained by recombination of the separated signals can be higher than the bias current and features low error. Simulation results confirm that, for a 0.75V supply, a 5MS/s sampling frequency, and a 500 kHz sinusoidal input current having 400% modulation index, the proposed memory provides less than −45 dB THD output current with very low switching error.


Dopamine mediates many physiological processes in plants. We investigated its role in regulating growth, ion homeostasis and the response to salinity in Malus hupehensis Rehd. Both hydroponics and field-pot experiments were conducted under saline conditions. Salt-stressed plants had reduced growth and a marked decline in their net photosynthetic rates, values for Fv /Fm and chlorophyll contents. However, pretreatment with 100 or 200 μM dopamine significantly alleviated this inhibition and enabled plants to maintain their photosynthetic capacity. In addition to changing stomatal behavior, supplementation with dopamine positively influenced the uptake of K, N, P, S, Cu and Mn ions but had an inhibitory effect on Na and Cl uptake, the balance of which is responsible for managing the response to salinity by Malus plants. Dopamine pretreatment also controlled the burst of hydrogen peroxide, possibly through direct scavenging and by enhancing the activities of antioxidative enzymes and the capacity of the ascorbate-glutathione cycle. We also investigated whether dopamine might regulate salt overly sensitive pathway genes under salinity. Here, MdHKT1, MdNHX1 and MdSOS1 were greatly upregulated in roots and leaves, which possibly contributed to the maintenance of ion homeostasis and, thus, improved salinity resistance in plants exposed earlier to exogenous dopamine. These results support our conclusion that dopamine alleviates salt-induced stress not only at the level of antioxidant defense but also by regulating other mechanisms of ion homeostasis.


An open-ended co-axial line has been used as an electromagnetic sensor or probe for various industrial and scientific applications. These applications are based on the principle that the characteristics of the echo signal produced by the co-axial opening depend upon the sample material terminating the probe. Thus, if the aperture admittance (or reflection coefficient) characteristics can be precisely formulated, then the electrical parameters of the sample can be found. Several admittance models have been reported during the last two decades. A comparative study of these models is reported in this review. Furthermore, the inverse process of calculating the complex permittivity of materials is summarized.


A novel method for the accurate calculation of the transition activity at the nodes of a multiplier-accumulator (MAC) architecture implementing finite impulse response filters is proposed in this paper. The method is developed for input signals, which can be described by a stationary Gaussian process. The transition activity per bit of a signal word is modeled according to the dual-bit-type (DBT) model and it is described as a function of the signal statistics. An efficient analytical method has been developed for the determination of the signal statistics at each node of the MAC architecture. It is based on the mathematical formulation of the multiplexing in time of signal sequences with known statistics. The effect of the multiplexing mechanism on the breakpoints of the DBT model, which influences significantly the accuracy of the method, is also determined. Several experiments both with synthetic and real data have been conducted. The numerical results produced by the proposed models are in very good agreement with the measured values of the transition activity.


Controlled fabrication of anisotropic materials has become a hotspot in materials science, particularly biomaterials, since the next generation of tissue engineering is based on the application of heterogeneous structures that can simulate the original biological complexity of the body. The current fabrication method of producing anisotropic materials involves expensive and highly specialized equipment, and not every conventional method can be applied to preparing anisotropic materials for corresponding tissue engineering. Anisotropic materials can be easily applied to a problem in tissue engineering: cartilage injury repairing. The articular cartilage consists of four spatially distinct regions: superficial, transitional, deep, and calcified. Each region has a specific extracellular matrix composition, mechanical properties, and cellular organization; this calls for the application of an anisotropic hydrogel. Controlled diffusion, under the assistance of buoyancy, has been considered a generalized method to prepare materials using a gradient. The diffusion of two solutions can be controlled through the difference in their densities. In addition to providing anisotropy, this method realizes the in situ formation of an anisotropic hydrogel, and simplifies the preparation process, freeing it from the need for expensive equipment such as 3D printing and microfluidics. Herein, an anisotropic hydrogel based on a decellularized extracellular matrix is fabricated and characterized. The as-prepared scaffold possessed specific chemical composition, physical properties, and physiological factor gradient. In vitro experiments ensured its biocompatibility and biological effectiveness; further in vivo experiments confirmed its application in the effective regeneration of cartilage injury.


For Sartre, shame is not an ethical but an ontological experience. With this in mind, the article examines the philosophical connection between shame and ambiguity through analysis of the experiences of abortion and the Nazi Occupation. The article demonstrates how Beauvoir develops Sartre's ontological notion of shame into an ethical philosophy of ambiguity as a result of wartime experiences. It demonstrates how encounters with shame, abortion, ambiguity and Occupation life in Beauvoir's 1945 novel Le sang des autres elucidate and are developed by Sartre and Beauvoir's philosophies of shame and ambiguity. The paper proposes that Sartre's and Beauvoir's thought was shaped by living through the Nazi Occupation and reveals how the memory of wartime shame is activated in contemporary ethical dilemmas in later literary works of both writers.


The January 1987 issue of Physics Education had a special feature on 'Physics and Faith', a feature that included articles by two fine physicists of the present time who are believers and also an article that discusses the religious faith of some of the founding fathers of physics. The author thoroughly welcomes this feature, because there is far too much of an assumption that all scientists, and those in the physical sciences especially, must be non-believers. In his view the spread of beliefs and non-beliefs among physicists is much the same as in the general population and to counter-balance the view that physics and faith are incompatible is therefore something that needed to be done. He is very concerned that the presentation in Physics Education conveys the contrary orthodoxy, namely that all physicists are of necessity believers in some established religion. The author, as a humanist and non-believer, sets out his contrasting views. He discusses at some length how he sees a sharp difference in the methods of argumentation of physics and at least of some of the religions that he knows of.


【This paper suggests a detailed design of APS(Advanced Planning & Scheduling) system using the DBR (Drum-Buffer-Rope) which is a finite capacity scheduling logic of TOC(Theory of Constraints). Our design is composed of four modules; Network, Buffer, Drum and Subordination. The Network module defines the Product Network which is built from BOM and routings. The Buffer module inserts the Buffers into the Product Network. The Drum module describes detail procedures to create Drum Schedule on the CCR(Capacity Constraint Resource). The Subordination module synchronizes all non-constraints to the constraints by determining the length of Rope. This design documented by ARIS.】


The creation of altered and manipulated faces has become more common due to the improvement of DeepFake generation methods. Simultaneously, we have seen detection models' development for differentiating between a manipulated and original face from image or video content. We have observed that most publicly available DeepFake detection datasets have limited variations, where a single face is used in many videos, resulting in an oversampled training dataset. Due to this, deep neural networks tend to overfit to the facial features instead of learning to detect manipulation features of DeepFake content. As a result, most detection architectures perform poorly when tested on unseen data. In this paper, we provide a quantitative analysis to investigate this problem and present a solution to prevent model overfitting due to the high volume of samples generated from a small number of actors. We introduce Face-Cutout, a data augmentation method for training Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), to improve DeepFake detection. In this method, training images with various occlusions are dynamically generated using face landmark information irrespective of orientation. Unlike other general-purpose augmentation methods, it focuses on the facial information that is crucial for DeepFake detection. Our method achieves a reduction in LogLoss of 15.2% to 35.3% on different datasets, compared to other occlusionbased augmentation techniques. We show that Face-Cutout can be easily integrated with any CNN-based recognition model and improve detection performance.


Galaxy is a popular framework for execution of complex analytical pipelines typically for large data sets, and is a commonly used for (but not limited to) genomic, genetic and related biological analysis. It provides a web front-end and integrates with high performance computing resources. Here we report the development of the blend4php library that wraps Galaxy's RESTful API into a PHP-based library. PHP-based web applications can use blend4php to automate execution, monitoring and management of a remote Galaxy server, including its users, workflows, jobs and more. The blend4php library was specifically developed for the integration of Galaxy with Tripal, the open-source toolkit for the creation of online genomic and genetic web sites. However, it was designed as an independent library for use by any application, and is freely available under version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LPGL v3.0) at https://github.com/galaxyproject/blend4php. Database URL: https://github.com/galaxyproject/blend4php


The beef cattle marketing structure imposes stress on calves due to weaning, transport, commingling, and adaptation to new diets, resulting in a weakened immune systems at the height of disease risk, frequently causing bovine respiratory disease. Backgrounding programs facilitate opportunities for calves to overcome stressors by building immunity, and adapting the rumen to high concentrate diets for improved feedlot performance. Four experiments were conducted to compare backgrounding strategies and effects of supplementation frequency performance and the effects of the ruminal environment. In Exp. 1, 48 weaned steers were used to investigate the effects of transportation and supplementation frequency, while in Exp. 2, 36 heifers were used to investigate only supplementation frequency. No differences in gains were observed due to transportation stress or supplementation frequency. Weaning stress resulted in elevated (P < 0.05) creatine kinase and neutrophil:lymphocyte ratios during the first week. In Exp. 3, 48 calves were used to compare the effect of tall fescue type on performance and health. Calves on novel endophyte fescue had higher ADG (P = 0.07) than on endophyte-infected fescue. Experiment 4 investigated the changes in ruminal environment due to supplementation frequency. No differences were observed between supplementation frequencies for ruminal pH, ammonia, or VFA concentration, and DM, or CP digestibility. Therefore, the rumen maintained a hospitable environment to promote bacterial protein synthesis and fiber digestion with every 48


In the postwar period, when population growth declined precipitously in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, governments in these countries adopted pronatalist population policies and restricted access to contraception. It will be interesting to observe the impact of recent social and political changes in this region on access to family planning services, including voluntary sterilization. For example, Yugloslovia is considering new legislation to make contraception more available and Romania recently overturned its restrictive abortion law. Family planning organizations in Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, and, most recently, the Soviet Union have affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Clinics for the distribution of contraceptives have been established in East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. Although reliable data on contraceptive practices in this region are unavailable, traditional methods (such as withdrawal or rhythm) appear to be used most widely. Obstetricians-gynecologists, the only health care providers authorized to provide the pill and IUD, lack medical training in family planning and are often reluctant to make these methods available. Particularly inaccessible to couples in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is sterilization, referred to in Soviet legislation as a "social danger." Given the limited access to reliable means of contraception, illegal abortion is a significant means of fertility control in this region and results in thousands of deaths. Because of the diversity of cultures, religions, and ethnic groups in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, family planning services are likely to develop in the years ahead in ways specific to the individual countries.


We report on the growth of a ferromagnetic cobalt electrode by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and demonstrate it as a functional spin source in complete magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Using an in situ protocol, we integrate a reference tunnel barrier on top of the ALD cobalt spin source stabilizing its metallic nature and allowing further characterization. The cobalt layer, grown in mbar conditions with chemical precursors, is assessed to be metallic and ferromagnetic using both x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry measurements. Atomic force microscopy tapping and conductive tip mode analyses reveal a very flat film with low roughness (0.2 nm RMS) with a high homogeneity of surface conductivity matching the best reference samples grown by sputtering. We finally evaluate its behavior in full MTJ spin valves, using a reference spin analyzer to highlight that the ALD grown layer is, indeed, spin polarized and can act as a functional spintronics electrode. This result opens the perspective of exploiting the benefits of ALD (such as the wide area low-cost process, extreme conformality, layer by layer growth of heterostructures, area selectivity, etc.) for spintronics applications.


The paper deals with linguistic identity of politician on the materials of statements of French President Charles de Gaulle. Political discourse is studied through interpretive analysis of vocabulary, neologisms, and anthroponyms. Linguistic information verbalizes typical strategies and tactics of verbal action of this personality.


The aim of this study was to develop individual-tree diameter and height growth models for Scots pine, Norway spruce, and pubescent birch growing in drained peatlands in Finland. Trees growing in peatland sites have growth patterns that deviate from that of trees growing in mineral soil sites. Five-year growth was explained by tree diameter, different tree and stand level competition measures, management operations and site characteristics. The drainage status of the site was influencing growth directly or in interaction with other variables. Site quality had a direct impact but was also commonly related to current site drainage status (need for ditch maintenance). Recent thinning increased growth of all species and former PK fertilization increased growth of pine and birch. Temperature sum was a significant predictor in all models and altitude for spruce and birch. The data were a subsample of the 7th National Forest Inventory (NFI) sample plots representing northern and southern Finland and followed by repeated measurements for 15–20 yrs. Growth levels predicted by the models were calibrated using NFI11 data to remove bias originating from the sample of the modelling data. The mixed linear models technique was used in model estimation. The models will be incorporated into the MOTTI stand simulator to replace the current peatlands growth models.


The idea of fMRI-based personalized medicine is emerging to characterize brain disorders at the patient level and to develop tailored therapeutic protocols. A main limitation in this direction, as well as with fundamental studies of brain function, is the variability observed in fMRI data. In practice, such measurements exhibit a mixture of session-to-session variability with subject- and condition-related information. Disentangling these contributions is crucial for real-life applications where only a few sessions per subject are available. The present study aims to define a new reliable standard for the extraction of signatures from fMRI data. These signatures correspond to subnetworks of directed interactions between brain regions (typically 100 covering the whole brain) supporting the subject and condition identification for single fMRI sessions. The key is to step from functional connectivity to effective connectivity, which is estimated using a whole-brain dynamic model. Our method shows that as few as 4 sessions per subject are sufficient to perfectly identify more than 40 other sessions of 6 subjects. We also demonstrate the good generalization capability for 30 subjects. Using another dataset with resting state and movie viewing, we show that the two extracted signatures correspond to distinct subnetworks, suggesting some sort of orthogonality. Our results set solid foundations to follow longitudinally a subject's condition from fMRI data.


This article aims to highlight the depiction of the negative effects of unfavorable family situations on literary characters. The vastness of the topic compels me to concentrate on the portrayal of some characters from American plays written in the first half of the 20'h century. The discussion will, therefore, focus on three American dramatists who have very skillfully drawn the lives of some of their characters who are thrown off balance because of the disturbances in their families. These dramatists are Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee. Each of them has presented characters suffering from different psychological problems, the causes of which were rooted in almost the same types of problems, that is, their dysfunctional families.


Convex optimization now plays an essential role in many facets of statistics. We briefly survey some recent developments and describe some implementations of these methods in R . Applications of linear and quadratic programming are introduced including quantile regression, the Huber M-estimator and various penalized regression methods. Applications to additively separable convex problems subject to linear equality and inequality constraints such as nonparametric density estimation and maximum likelihood estimation of general nonparametric mixture models are described, as are several cone programming problems. We focus throughout primarily on implementations in the R environment that rely on solution methods linked to R, like MOSEK by the package Rmosek. Code is provided in R to illustrate several of these problems. Other applications are available in the R package REBayes, dealing with empirical Bayes estimation of nonparametric mixture models.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze volatility properties of the house price returns of Turkey and Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir provinces over the period of July 2007-June 2014.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses conditional variance models, namely, ARCH, GARCH and E-GARCH. As the supportive approach for the discussions, we also use correlation analysis and qualitative inputs.

Findings

Empirical findings suggest several points. First, city/country-level house price return volatility series display volatility clustering pattern and therefore volatilities in house price returns are time varying. Second, it seems that there were high (excess) and stable volatility periods during observation term. Third, a significant economic event may change country/city-level volatilities. In this context, the biggest and relatively persistent shock was the lagged negative shocks of global financial crisis. More importantly, short-lived political/economic shocks have not significant impacts on house price return volatilities in Turkey, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Fourth, however, house price return volatilities differ across geographic areas, volatility series may show some co-movement pattern. Fifth, volatility comparison across cities reveal that Izmir shows more excess volatility cases, Ankara recorded the highest volatility point and Istanbul and national series show lower and insignificant volatilities.

Research limitations/implications

The study uses maximum available data and focuses on some house price return volatility patterns. The first implication of the findings is that micro/macro dimensions of house price return volatilities should be carefully analyzed to forecast upside/downside risks of house price returns. Second, defined volatility clustering pattern implies that rate of return of housing investment may show specific patterns in some periods and volatile periods may result in some large losses in the returns. Third, model results generally suggest that however data constraint is a major problem, market participants should analyze regional idiosyncrasies during their decision-making in housing portfolio management. Fourth, because house prices are not sensitive to relatively less structural shocks, housing may represent long-term investment instrument if it provides satisfactory hedging from inflation.

Originality/value

The evidences and implications would be useful for housing market participants aiming to manage/use externalities of housing price movements. From a practical contribution perspective, the study provides a tool that will allow measuring first time of the return volatility patterns of house prices in Turkey and her three biggest provinces. Local level analysis for Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir provinces, as the globally fastest growing cities, would be found specifically interesting by international researchers and practitioner.


Today's stream processing scenarios are characterized by large volumes of data, e.g., generated by cyber-physical systems in a smart city, on which continuous analysis tasks need to be performed, often with very different optimal trade-offs between achieved QoS and associated resource consumption. Here we present the novel Quasit model and framework offering runtime support to stream processing applications. Differently from existing literature, Quasit originally allows advanced QoS-based configuration, which can be used to finely tune the framework to fit highly different real-world situations. The paper describes the architecture and development of the Quasit prototype by offering interesting insights and lessons learned about the most important design/implementation choices made, such as the actor-based threading model, or the QoS enabled inter-process communication based on OMG DDS. The reported experimental results, measured over simple real test beds, show that our Quasit framework implementation can provide a good level of horizontal scalability with limited overhead and good exploitation of dynamically available processing resources.


This article studies mathematical literacy in university professionals as an impossibility or urgent re-significance from the voices of different professionals. In the investigation, interviews were conducted with nine (9) professionals from different areas. Through a qualitative inquiry, an exploratory study, thereby becoming emergent categories. The results reveal the analysis of the emerging categories surveys such as: democratization of mathematics; intellectual laziness in professionals; bad educational policies in Venezuela; false beliefs, negative emotions towards mathematics and imposition of a reductionist mathematics in the classroom and the meeting of the scientific knowledge of mathematics and the underground knowledge of it. In conclusion, mathematical literacy currently has in the professional exit lines such as: the professional promoter of mathematics as a legacy science of humanity, as the citizen responsibility of each one; minimization in communities of learning of the false beliefs of mathematics and its learning, we can all; the democratization of mathematics and re-signified educational policies in favor of the promotion of the legacy science of humanity. It encourages us to think that the problem and then the need today more than ever for mathematical literacy is everyone's responsibility.


Lowpass complex sigma-delta (/spl Sigma//spl Delta/) modulators that have a built-in mixer can be used to digitize narrowband intermediate frequency (IF) signals in radios and cellular systems. A well-known problem of the complex modulators is the mismatches between the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) channels. In this paper, a technique of sharing the critical sampling and feedback capacitors between the I and Q channels of the modulator is proposed. As demonstrated by circuit simulations, the mismatch effect can be greatly suppressed and thus the image rejection performance can be improved. A 3/sup rd/ order complex modulator is designed with a 0.35/spl mu/m CMOS technology for a 10.7MHz IF input.


The functional capacity of lactoferrin (IF) to act as a negative feedback regulator of myelopoiesis has been investigated and shown to depend on the structure of the molecule itself and on the presence and absence of agents that can modulate its activity. LF has a specific requirement for iron (Fe) in terms of its functional capacity and is most effective in inhibiting the production of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating activity (GM-CSA) from monocytes and macrophages when it is fully saturated with Fe. LF saturated with copper (Cu) or zinc (Zn) is functionally ineffective; moreover. Cu and Zn actually interfere with the inhibitory properties of Fe-saturated LF. A radioimmunoassay for LF did not distinguish between these functionally active and inactive samples of metal-unsaturated and metal-saturated LF. Bacterial Iipopolysaccharide (LPS). lithium. testosterone. and estradiol abrogate LF inhibition of GM-CSA production. but the mechanism of IPS and lithium abrogation may be different since lithium. but not LPS, could equally reverse LF inhibition of C3H/HeJ (poor LPS responder) and C3HeB/FeJ (normal LPS responder) macrophages. While the corticosteroids. hydrocortisone and dexamethasone. do not influence GM-CSA production or LF activity. they do block the LPS abrogation of LF action. The specificity of LF for inhibition of monocyte-macrophage GM-CSA production was further substantiated as LF has no effect on B-lymphocyte CSA production by mouse macrophages. ' pre-CFU-GM" stimulatory activity production by adherent mononuclear bone marrow cells. the release of lysozyme from human monocytes and mouse macrophages. the release of /9-glucuronidase from J774 cells. and the production of plasminogen activator by mouse macrophages. The specificity of LF for the mononuclear phagocytic series was also defined. as LF did not bind to or inhibit GM-CSA production by human lymphocytes. These results indicate the complex interactions that may modify the in vivo action of LF.


The regioselectivity of α-metalation–methylation of N-BF3 adducts of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridines as a function of β-substitution is examined in attempts to prepare configurationally stable atropisomeric derivatives (I and II) having an α-methyl substituent and a β-biaryl stereogenic axis. The activity of some of these derivatives as catalysts for acyl transfer is examined and the kinetic resolution of 1-(1-naphthyl)ethanol catalysed by α-methyl chiral DMAP (−)-24 is reported. A rationale for the reduced stereoselectivity of this catalyst relative to its non-α-substituted analogue (−)-1 is also proposed.


Templated graphical models (TGMs) encode model structure using rules that capture recurring relationships between multiple random variables. While the rules in TGMs are interpretable, it is not clear how they can be used to generate explanations for the individual predictions of the model. Further, learning these rules from data comes with high computational costs: it typically requires an expensive combinatorial search over the space of rules and repeated optimization over rule weights. In this work, we propose a new structure learning algorithm, Explainable Structured Model Search ( ESMS ) , that learns a templated graphical model and an explanation framework for its predictions. ESMS uses a novel search procedure to efficiently search the space of models and discover models that trade-off predictive accuracy and explainability. We introduce the notion of relational stability and prove that our proposed explanation framework is stable. Further, our proposed piecewise pseudolikelihood (PPLL) objective does not require re-optimizing the rule weights across models during each iteration of the search. In our empiri-cal evaluation on three realworld datasets, we show that our proposed approach not only discovers models that are explainable, but also significantly outperforms existing state-of-the-art structure learning approaches.


Background After failure of a first anti-TNF agent (aTNF), clinicians may choose to prescribe an alternative aTNF or switch to a 'non-aTNF biologic antirheumatic agent' (non-aTNF-BI: abatacept, tocilizumab or rituximab (RTX)). In this setting, it has been previously shown that non-aTNF-BIO have a better overall drug retention compared to alternative aTNF,(1) but no direct comparison of their respective effectiveness and safety has been made. Objectives To compare drug retention rates of non-aTNF-BIO with alternative aTNF, as groups, prescribed in second or third intention and to compare specifically drug discontinuation due to ineffectiveness or adverse events (AEs). Secondly, analyze these outcomes for the individual non-aTNF-BIO biologic agents. Methods This longitudinal, population-based cohort study (SCQM-RA) analyzed all patients treated with an alternative biological, after a 1st inadequate response to an aTNF agent (ineffectiveness in 50%, AE in 33%). The primary end point is drug discontinuation rate for (i) ineffectiveness and (ii) intolerance (AEs). Time to discontinuation was defined as the time between drug initiation and last administration plus 1 dispensation interval. Because RTX may be administered 'on demand' with flexible intervals, we defined RTX discontinuation as a major alteration of the antirheumatic regimen after RTX initiation or the time of last infusion plus six months, whatever happened first. Drug discontinuation was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards model, adjusting for potential confounders and correcting for multiple failures within the same individual (Anderson-Gill). Results We identified 2391 biologic treatment courses in aTNF inadequate responders (1,199 with an alternative aTNF and 1,192 with a non-aTNF-BIO) and 1203 treatment discontinuations. A 2nd biological was administrated 1507 times, a 3rd - 587, a 4th or 5th - 297 times, contributing a total of 3554 patient-years on biological agents. No major differences existed in baseline characteristics, except for a larger number of previous biologic failures (median of 2 versus 1, p < 0.001) and slightly older ages, longer disease durations in the non-aTNF-BIO group. The overall drug discontinuation was higher in the aTNF group than in the non-aTNF-BIO group (Hazard Ratio (HR) for aTNF: 1.96 [95% CI: 1.71-2.26]). Drug discontinuation for ineffectiveness (N=710, HR for aTNF: 1.74 [95% CI: 1.46 – 2.08]) and for AEs (N=279, HR for aTNF: 2.09 [95% CI: 1.58 – 2.77]) were also higher with alternative aTNF than with non-aTNF-BIOs. While a trend to lower drug discontinuation was observed for all agents within the non-aTNF-BIO group, the effect was significantly stronger with RTX (HR for ineffectiveness: 0.44 [99% CI: 0.33 – 0.60); HR for AEs: 0.34 [99% CI: 0.20 – 0.57]), which may be partially explained by a completely different approach of administration ('on demand' with variable intervals, med 11.5 months [IQR: 8.6 – 16.2]). Conclusions In patients having experienced an inadequate response to a previous aTNF agent, biologic agents with a different mode of action appear to have significantly lower drug discontinuation rates than alternative aTNF agents, for both ineffectiveness and for AEs. References Ann Rheum Dis. 2012;71:997-9 Disclosure of Interest S. Martin-du-Pan: None Declared, D. Neto Grant/research support from: Unrestricted research grant from BMS, P. Zufferey: None Declared, A. Ciurea: None Declared, H. Ziswiler: None Declared, C. Gabay: None Declared, A. Finckh Grant/research support from: Unrestricted research grant from BMS


We have identified the RhoBTB2 putative tumor suppressor gene as a direct target of the E2F1 transcription factor. Overexpression of E2F1 led to up-regulation of RhoBTB2 at the level of mRNA and protein. This also occurred during the induction of E2F1 activity in the presence of cycloheximide, thus indicating that RhoBTB2 is a direct target. RNAi-mediated knockdown of E2F1 resulted in decreased RhoBTB2 protein expression, demonstrating that RhoBTB2 is a physiological target of E2F1. Because E2F1 primarily serves to transcribe genes involved in cell cycle progression and apoptosis, we explored whether RhoBTB2 played roles in either of these processes. We found RhoBTB2 expression highly up-regulated during mitosis, which was partially dependent on the presence of E2F1. Furthermore, overexpression of RhoBTB2 induced a short term increase in cell cycle progression and proliferation, while long term expression had a negative effect on these processes. We similarly found RhoBTB2 up-regulated during drug-induced apoptosis, with this being primarily dependent on E2F1. Finally, we observed that knockdown of RhoBTB2 levels via siRNA delayed the onset of drug-induced apoptosis. Collectively, we describe RhoBTB2 as a novel direct target of E2F1 with roles in cell cycle and apoptosis.


Background and Purpose: Ethnobotany science is study about people of a nation, a culture, or a particular area, how to use plants in specific area. purpose: The aim of this study was to collect and identify medicinal plants and usage of indigenous knowledge of the people, for introduction of medicinal plants of the study region. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in the namarestagh summer rangelands of Amol. Finally, plants of the region, were collected by relief of local experts, and local name, information , traditional and local usage of plants were obtained and recorded by face to face interviewing with indigenous people. Results: The results showed that 119 species have been identified in the region of 74 plant species belonging to 34 families have medicinal use. Asteraceae with 12 species (16.21%), Lamiaceae with 10 species (13.51%), Rosaceae with 7 species (9.54 %) had the largest share. Conclusions: 111 medicinal uses for the plants listed, Treatment of anemia (11.71%), astringent (10.81%), anti-flatulence, laxative and fever (9.09%), low blood sugar, cough and colds (8.1%) and hypotension (6.3 %) of the most used by the people listed. Considering the Rich flora of the region, carried out extensive research To identify and How the use of medicinal plants Can help the pharmaceutical industry.


In Spanish-speaking countries, the game of dominoes is usually played by four people divided into two teams, with teammates sitting opposite each other. The players cannot communicate with each other or receive information from onlookers while a game is being played. Each player only knows for sure which tiles he/she has available in order to make a play, but must make inferences about the plays that the other participants can make in order to try to ensure that his/her team wins the game. The game is governed by a set of standardized rules, and successful play involves the use of highly-developed mathematical, reasoning and decision-making skills. In this paper we describe a computer system designed to simulate the game of dominoes by using four independent game-playing agents split into teams of two. The agents have been endowed with different strategies, including the traditional strategy followed by experienced human players. An experiment is described in which the success of each implemented strategy is evaluated compared to the traditional one. The results of the experiment are given and discussed, and possible future extensions mentioned


Detecting the 21-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) is challenging due to the strong astrophysical foregrounds, ionospheric effects, radio frequency interference and instrumental effects. Understanding and calibrating these effects are crucial for the detection. In this work, we introduce a newly developed direction-dependent (DD) calibration algorithm DDECAL and compare its performance with an existing algorithm, SAGECAL, in the context of the LOFAR-EoR 21-cm power spectrum experiment. In our data set, the North Celestial Pole (NCP) and its flanking fields were observed simultaneously. We analyse the NCP and one of its flanking fields. The NCP field is calibrated by the standard pipeline, using SAGECAL with an extensive sky model and 122 directions, and the flanking field is calibrated by DDECAL and SAGECAL with a simpler sky model and 22 directions. Additionally, two strategies are used for subtracting Cassiopeia A and Cygnus A. The results show that DDECAL performs better at subtracting sources in the primary beam region due to the application of a beam model, while SAGECAL performs better at subtracting Cassiopeia A and Cygnus A. This indicates that including a beam model during DD calibration significantly improves the performance. The benefit is obvious in the primary beam region. We also compare the 21-cm power spectra on two different fields. The results show that the flanking field produces better upper limits compared to the NCP in this particular observation. Despite the minor differences between DDECAL and SAGECAL due to the beam application, we find that the two algorithms yield comparable 21-cm power spectra on the LOFAR-EoR data after foreground removal. Hence, the current LOFAR-EoR 21-cm power spectrum limits are not likely to depend on the DD calibration method.


Eponyms continue to have their place in medicine but there are pitfalls associated with their use. "Priorities" may be debatable, misattributions are not uncommon, and knowledge of the original papers is often insufficient. A. Ya. Kozhevnikov (1836–1902) is considered to be the founder of the Russian neurology, best known in the West for his work on epilepsia partialis continua (EPC), published in 1894. Kozhevnikov considered various natures for this disorder but thought chronic infectious etiology to be the most probable. Shortly the eponym Kozhevnikov epilepsy was coined and used in clinical practice and writing. Thirty‐five years after Kozhevnikov's death, in 1937, a new form of viral encephalitis, Russian spring‐summer tick‐borne encephalitis (RTBE), was discovered, which was strongly associated with EPC and at times incorrectly attributed to Kozhevnikov by Russian (Soviet) and West‐European scientists, although he never specifically identified or even could have recognized this disease entity. When, in 1958, Canadian scientists published about persisting focal epilepsy due to chronic focal encephalitis in children, a new disease was proclaimed: Rasmussen syndrome or Rasmussen chronic encephalitis. The only reference to Kozhevnikov in the Canadian papers was the incorrect suggestion that Kozhevnikov himself described EPC in RTBE. This historical error resulted in continuing misquotations of Kozhevnikov in the current literature and controversies concerning the place of Kozhevnikov epilepsy in the Classification Scheme of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). The history of Kozhevnikov epilepsy thereby offers an illustrative example of the successive misunderstandings, errors, and controversies that arise due to insufficient knowledge or understanding of the original publications, questionable post hoc interpretations of earlier findings, misquoting of secondary papers, or a combination of all these.


Bio-based polymeric materials and green routes for their preparation are current issues of many research works. In this work, we used the diisocyanate mixture based on partially bio-based diisocyanate origin and typical petrochemical diisocyanate for the preparation of novel bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (bio-TPUs). We studied the influence of the diisocyanate mixture composition on the chemical structure, thermal, thermomechanical, and mechanical properties of obtained bio-TPUs. Diisocyanate mixture and bio-based 1,4-butanediol (as a low molecular chain extender) created bio-based hard blocks (HS). The diisocyanate mixture contained up to 75 wt % of partially bio-based diisocyanate. It is worth mentioning that the structure and amount of HS impact the phase separation, processing, thermal or mechanical properties of polyurethanes. The soft blocks (SS) in the bio-TPU's materials were built from α,ω-oligo(ethylene-butylene adipate) diol. Hereby, bio-TPUs differed in hard segments content (c.a. 30; 34; 40, and 53%). We found that already increase of bio-based diisocyanate content of the bio-TPU impact the changes in their thermal stability which was measured by TGA. Based on DMTA results we observed changes in the viscoelastic behavior of bio-TPUs. The DSC analysis revealed decreasing in glass transition temperature and melting temperature of hard segments. In general, obtained materials were characterized by good mechanical properties. The results confirmed the validity of undertaken research problem related to obtaining bio-TPUs consist of bio-based hard building blocks. The application of partially bio-based diisocyanate mixtures and bio-based chain extender for bio-TPU synthesis leads to sustainable chemistry. Therefore the total level of "green carbons" increases with the increase of bio-based diisocyanate content in the bio-TPU structure. Obtained results constitute promising data for further works related to the preparation of fully bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers and development in the field of bio-based polymeric materials.


The industry underwent several transformations initiated by the first Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century. Today we are experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where equipment is capable of processing data and connect to communication networks. Maintenance planning can use the large volume of data generated by IoT devices to act preventively. This work aims to propose an architecture that uses an outlier detection algorithm, Local Outlier Factor, to detect anomalies in machine failure records, producing information to support equipment maintenance decisions.


ABSTRACT An infected mycotic aneurysm due to Streptococcus constellatus subsp. constellatus has not previously been reported. We report on this condition in an 87-year-old woman who had aggravating abdominal pain and a large fusiform aneurysm over the thoracic-abdominal aorta with mural thrombus. Isolates from two sets of blood cultures and the debrided tissue were identified as S. constellatus subsp. constellatus by their biochemical reaction profiles, compatible 16S rRNA gene sequencing results, and sequencing results for the partial groESL gene and the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) administration for ovulation induction in CC-resistant oligo-ovulatory women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) after metformin treatment or laparoscopic ovarian drilling (LOD). Design Prospective controlled study.

PATIENTS
Twenty-eight overweight oligo-amenorrhoeic women with PCOS who were still anovulatory after metformin administration (group A, n = 8) or LOD (group B, n = 20).

METHODS
Treatment with CC 150 mg/day for 5 days from the third to the seventh day of a progesterone-induced uterine bleeding for 6 months.

MEASUREMENTS
The ovulation, pregnancy, abortion and live-birth rates were evaluated in each group.

RESULTS
The subjects of groups A and B were studied for a total of 36 and 74 cycles, respectively. At the end of the study, no differences in ovulation [11/36 (30.6%) vs. 23/74 (31.1%); P = 0.96], pregnancy [6/36 (16.7%) vs. 12/74 (16.2%); P = 0.95], abortion [2/6 (33.3%) vs. 5/12 (41.7%); P = 1.00] and the live-birth [4/6 (66.7%) vs. 7/12 (58.3%); P = 1.00] rates were observed between groups A and B.

CONCLUSION
Metformin administration as well as LOD improves the effectiveness of CC for ovulation induction in overweight infertile CC-resistant women with PCOS.


The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of past injuries of female university soccer players in comparison with injuries in male university soccer players . We investigated past injuries of female players (n=32) and male players (n=24) . A past injury was defined as any injury sustained during soccer that required admission to a team doctor , medical attention or absence from practices or games for more than seven days. The most frequent injury was Joint Injuries in both female and male players. High occurrence of overuse injuries of lower leg was most apparent in the female players. The 32 female players had experienced 144 injuries, or 4.5 injuries per player, and the 24 male players had suffered 85 injuries , or 3.5 injuries per player. The numbers of injuries per player of female players were 1.3 times higher than the male players. Also, the incidence of injury was 0.64 (injury/player/year) in female players , and 0.27 (injury/player/year) in male players. The incidence of injury of female players was significantly larger than that of male players. We conclude that the prevention and care of overuse injuries in lower leg is very important for female succor players. (Jpn. J. Phys. Fitness Sports Med. 2004, 53 : 493•`502) key word : female soccer, injuries