Background: Treating caries-susceptible pits and fissures with resin sealants enjoys wide acceptance as a preventive strategy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the one-year clinical performance of a polyacid-modified resin composite material (Dyract) in comparison to a composite resin material (Helioseal F). Methods: Using a half-mouth design, 100 sealants were placed on the sound first permanent molars of 50 children aged between six and 10 years. Half of the teeth (n = 50) were sealed with Dyract and half (n = 50) with Helioseal F. Teeth were evaluated at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 month intervals. The qualities of the restorations were evaluated in accordance with modified U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) codes and WHO criteria for the presence of dental caries. The data were analyzed accord-ing to the Mann-Whitney test and the spearman correlation. Results: There were no statistical differences between the two examined groups, considering marginal integrity, retention and caries. There also appeared to be no statistical difference between the standards in different ages (six-eight years and eight-ten years) and the two arches (P > 0.05). De-cayed/Missing/Filled Teeth index (DMFT) had convert relation with retention and marginal integrity in both materials. Conclusion: In this study there was no clinical difference between the two sealants. Polyacid Modified Resin Composite (PMRC) materials have low wear resistance compared to resin composite, but the two curing reactions that occur in PMRC materials might have improved their mechanical retention in the long term. Therefore, further study on these characteristics is recommended.


ABSTRACT We hypothesize that informal bank networks influence corporate credit access in China. Our sample comprises a panel of 515 corporations listed on China's stock exchanges with a total of 1,052 firm-year observations, holding a total of 7,009 major bank loans from 183 distinct banks between 2007 and 2012. Results support the hypothesis that closure in bank networks facilitates credit access. We further show that the positive closure-performance association offers fewer advantages if financial markets and the legal infrastructure are relatively well developed. Our findings contribute to an emergent literature examining how informal networks can productively substitute weak formal institutions, and how the interplay between informal networks and network embeddedness shapes individual and corporate strategies.


I'd like to make a comment, namely, that temperature can be an important dose parameter. Normally, temperature doesn't have to be considered in diagnostic procedures where the temperature of the patient is fairly uniform; but under abnormal circumstances, where the patient's temperature may be elevated or surpressed, it may become a consideration.


Background: The effective conservation of mammals on the brink of extinction requires an integrated socio-ecological approach, yet the knowledge of updated species distribution, population size, and life-history remain fundamental steppingstones in designing successful conservation plans. This study presents the �rst clari�cation on the population status of the critically endangered Western Derby eland (WDE) within its last stronghold, based on the �rst camera trap monitoring in the Niokolo Koba National Park (NKNP, Senegal). The spatiotemporal pattern of WDE behaviour, their population structure (based on individual recognition), age-speci�c survival rates, and population size estimate were investigated. Results: WDE were recorded during 49 events using dry season deployments (2017, 2018), during which they showed substantially lower occupancy (< 5% of protected area) in comparison to other ungulates in the park. WDE distribution, as of that of many other large mammal species, was strongly localised in the core area of NKNP. Based on the records, WDE were the most active during the hottest periods of the day. Group size ranged from 1 to 32 individuals (mean 7.6 ± SE 8.9), with mixed herds being larger and most frequent compared to others. The adult sex ratio was female-biased, and showed low annual adult male survival rates. The population consisted of a relatively high proportion of juveniles, whilst the proportion of adults did not exceed 40%. The estimated population density is 0.138 WDE/km 2 (± 0.0102), with an estimated 195 WDE in NKNP. Conclusions: Findings highlighted that the WDE population has potential to expand in the NKNP, due to an underutilized capacity, and considering the population density. The age-speci�c vital rates indicate that adult males are the most vulnerable; which suggests either an increase in the large predators' population, livestock encroachment pressure, and/or poaching. The occurrence of WDE indicated the key conservation area within the park, and together with their active behaviour during daylight periods, this enables the setting up of effective species protection. The �ndings imply that targeted monitoring with science-based interpretation may bring forward strong conservation solutions to the protected area management decision-makers.


The need to analyze the risks of cyberbullying that children and adolescents face through the use of social networks was determined. Given this, the problem focuses on the need to provide an ICT management model to mitigate the conflict situations to which users are exposed. It was used deductive and exploratory research w as a methodology to analyze information regarding the rates of users of social networks in Ecuador; in addition to establishing their ages. Turned out a conceptual model related to the development of digital skills, qualitative description in the handling of digital content by children and adolescents; as well as the qualitative description of digital content. It was concluded what is necessary to provide optimal environments for the development of digital skills or competences in children and adolescents in order to mitigate the risks of cyberbullying. In this way, it contributes to the efficient treatment of personal information indigital media.


Mescal is a distilled alcoholic beverage obtained by rectifying the fermented must of various agave species. The principal plant used for mescal production in the state of Durango, México is Agave duranguensis. We identified the volatile compounds present in several mescal samples using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Though the composition of each mescal was unique, 22 compounds appeared in all samples. Of these, 13 have been found in mescal produced from different agave species and 9 are unique to mescal produced from Agave duranguensis. The unique compounds could be used as a means of verifying the authenticity of mescal from this plant. Given the complex composition of alcoholic beverages, using several compounds to determine the authenticity provides a higher degree of reliability than using one or two ingredients.


A facies model is proposed for late Wisconsinan glaciomarine deposits in the lower Androscoggin Valley that includes four lithofacies assemblages that are defined by morphology and detailed stratigraphic and sedimentologic analysis. The end moraine facies assemblage includes subglacial and resedimented diamicton, and interbedded and locaJly deformed sand and gravel beds. The sediments form linear ridges which are former grounding line positions of the tidewater glacier margin. The submarine outwash fan fades assemblage commonly drapes or flanks the end moraine assemblage. In proximal regions of the fan, gravel, bedded sand, and diamicton lithofacies predominate and represent rapid deposition at the mouth of the meltwater tunnel by fluviaJ and mass flow processes. Distal and lateral to the ice margin, fan sediments consist of graded and cross-laminated sands deposited by underflow currents and slump-generated turbidites interbedded with rhythmically bedded silt attributed to suspension deposition from overflow or interflow plumes. The submarine plain facies assemblage is laterally and distally transitional with the submarine fan assemblage and consists of apparently massive, structureless fine-grained sediments deposited from suspension. The shallow marine facies assemblage consists of well-sorted tidal to subtidal sand lithofacies, poorly sorted gravelly and bouldery lag deposits on moraine crests, and lagoonal muds. Collectively, these lithofacies were deposited as a result of reworking previously deposited sediments during isostatic emergence. INTRODUCTION Study Area Retreat of the late Wisconsinan Laurenti de ice sheet through the coastal zone of Maine is documented by a complex stratigraphic sequence of glacial and glaciomarine sediments. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of detailed stratigraphic logging and sedimentology of such deposits in two adjacent borrow pits in south-coastal Maine. The data include lithofacies distributiQn, thickness, and texture, and are provided to lead to accurate modeling and detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the sedimentary environments associated with retreat of a tidewater glacier margin. The study area is located in Topsham, Maine, in the northwestern one-ninth of the Brunswick 7 .5 minute quadrangle (Bath 15 minute quadrangle). Two gravel pits, the Webber pit and the Bisson pit are located along the west side of Meadow Road approximately one-half mile west of the Cathance River (Fig. 1 ). The gravel pits are both located on the west side of a bedrock structural and topographic high that reaches a maximum elevation of 198 feet in the Webber Pit. The larger of the pits, the Webber Pit (Fig. l ), has exposures in a moraine ridge complex. The land surface drops off to the


Chiral metallic nanohelices with periodicity in the submicrometer regime are made from twisted CdTe nanoribbons. These helices are highly effective in polarization rotation at wavelengths centered at their pitch length. Interestingly, the chiro-optical performance of helical nanoparticle assemblies is better than that of solid gold nanowires with similar geometries, which sets an important target for the design of metamaterials.


In the process of micro-milling, the appearance of the edge-size-effect of micro-milling tools cannot be ignored when the cutting parameters are smaller than the cutting edge arc radius (r0) of the micro-milling tool or close to it, and it could easily lead to low cutting efficiency and poor surface quality of the micro-slot. Through micro-milling experiments on Al7075-T6 materials, the change of milling force in the plough zone and shear zone during micro-milling was studied, and the minimum cutting thickness (hmin) range was determined to be 0.2r0–0.4r0 based on r0 of the micro-milling tool. Subsequently, the effect of fz/r0 (fz denotes feed rate per tooth) on the top burr formation of the micro-slot, the surface roughness (Ra) of the micro-slot bottom, and the milling force was studied, and a size-effect band of micro milling was established to determine the strong size-effect zone, transition size-effect zone, and the weak size-effect zone. Finally, two different fz/r0 in the strong size-effect zone and the weak size-effect zone are compared, which proves that the main purpose of the cutting parameters optimization of micro-milling is to avoid cutting parameters locating in the strong edge-size-effect zone. The above conclusions provide a theoretical basis for the selection of micro-milling cutting parameters, and an important reference in improving the surface quality of micro-milling.


We provide numerical evidence that a p(x)-ip(y) paired Bonderson-Slingerland (BS) non-Abelian hierarchy state is a strong candidate for the observed ν=12/5 quantum Hall plateau. We confirm the existence of a gapped incompressible ν=12/5 quantum Hall state with shift S=2 on the sphere, matching that of the BS state. The exact ground state of the Coulomb interaction at S=2 is shown to have a large overlap with the BS trial wave function. Larger overlaps are obtained with BS-type wave functions that are hierarchical descendants of general p(x)-ip(y) weakly paired states at ν=5/2. We perform a finite-size scaling analysis of the ground-state energies for ν=12/5 states at shifts corresponding to the BS (S=2) and 3-clustered Read-Rezayi (S=-2) universality classes. This analysis reveals very tight competition between these two non-Abelian topological orders.


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
An increasing number of pediatric surgeons are using the laparoscopic approach to treat pyloric stenosis. The advantage of laparoscopic pyloromyotomy is uncertain and has not been evaluated in the setting of a pediatric surgery fellowship program.

METHODS
The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients who underwent pyloromyotomy for congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis at their institution from January 1, 1997 through December 31, 2000 (n = 117). Information obtained included age, sex, weight, admission laboratory values, attending surgeon, resident surgeon and their level of training, operating time, intraoperative and postoperative complications, time to full feedings, incidence of postoperative emesis, duration of postoperative emesis, length of stay, and total hospital charges. These variables then were compared between the open (OPEN) and laparoscopic (LAP) groups.

RESULTS
From January 1, 1997 through December 31, 2000, 65 LAP and 52 OPEN pyloromyotomies were performed. Characteristics of patients in the OPEN and LAP groups were similar. The mean operating time was 33 +/- 2 minutes for OPEN versus 38 +/- 2 minutes for LAP (P =.07). The incidence of postoperative emesis (LAP, 68%, OPEN, 65%), duration of postoperative emesis (LAP, 7.3 +/- 1.2 hours; OPEN, 8.1 +/- 1.8 hours), and time to full feedings (LAP, 19.5 +/- 1.6 hours; OPEN, 19.5 +/- 1.3 hours) did not differ significantly between groups (P >.05). Mean postoperative length of stay in both groups was similar (LAP, 31 +/- 5; OPEN, 28 +/- 2 hours; P =.64). Mucosal perforation occurred in 5 patients (8%) in the Lap and 2 patients (4%) in the OPEN group (P =.39). Postoperative complications occurred in 12 LAP (18%) and 6 OPEN patients (12%, P =.31). Five LAP cases were converted to OPEN. In the LAP group there was one unrecognized mucosal perforation and one incomplete pyloromyotomy both of which required reoperation. As the laparoscopic approach was adopted, general surgery resident participation as operating surgeon in these cases decreased from 81% in 1997 to 19% in 2000. Hospital charges were higher in the LAP group, but not significantly (LAP, $6,676 +/- 1,005; OPEN, $5,292 +/- 306; P = 27).

CONCLUSIONS
Laparoscopic pyloromyotomy has progressively become the dominant surgical approach to pyloromyotomy at our institution. The LAP and OPEN approaches have similar outcomes. However, the Lap approach may be associated with increased complication rates, a reduction in general surgery resident operative experience, and higher hospital charges.


Channel water balance analysis based on streamflow loss coupled with traced groundwater basins allow refinement of upland autogenic recharge values comparable to those derived from more precise site-scaled measurements. Based on total discharge and calculated flow loss in major stream channels, the channel contributions to recharge on the Barton Springs Segment of the Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone) Aquifer are: Onion Creek (32.6%), Barton Creek (less than 10.5%), Slaughter Creek (7.2%), Bear Creek (6.2%), Blanco River (6%), Little Bear Creek (3.4%), and Williamson Creek (1%). Major stream channels contributed from 56% to 67% of total groundwater recharge to the groundwater system, 17% of which was stream autogenic recharge, while upland autogenic recharge and other smaller sources contributed the remaining 33% to 44%. As a percent of precipitation over the Edwards Aquifer outcrop source area, autogenic recharge (upland and tributary recharge in the major stream channels) was 22% to 28%, compared with a recharge value of 28% of precipitation from climate tower water balances in Central Texas. Prior to delineation of groundwater basins using injected tracers, older channel water balance studies determined that upland autogenic recharge was only 15% of the total groundwater recharge (about 1% of precipitation). This study suggests that the channel water balance approach, based on gauged streamflow and spring discharge, is more accurate when one incorporates groundwater basins delineated by groundwater tracing, especially in karst aquifers. Refinement of an appropriate catchment area for the calculation of autogenic recharge also significantly affected the results of a precipitation water balance.


Urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) is the ninth most common cancer that accounts for 4.7% of all the new cancer cases globally. UCC development and progression are due to complex and stochastic genetic programmes. To study the cascades molecular events underlying the poor prognosis that are due to limited treatment options for advance disease and resistance to conventional therapies in UCC, transcriptomics technology (RNA-Seq), a method of analysing the RNA content of a sample using the modern high-throughput sequencing platforms has been employed to address these limitations. Here we review the principles of RNA-Seq technology and summarize the recent studies on human bladder cancer that employed this technique to unravel the pathogenesis of the disease, identify biomarkers, discover pathways and classify the disease state. We list the commonly used computational platforms and software that are publicly available for RNA-Seq analysis. Moreover, we discussed the future perspective for RNA-Seq studies on bladder cancer and recommend the application of new technology called single cell sequencing (scRNA-Seq) to further understand bladder cancer.
Keywords: Transcriptome profiling, RNA-sequencing, genomics, bioinformatics, bladder cancer


Social audits of health services in three South African provinces (Limpopo 2001, Gauteng 2003 and Eastern Cape 2001) demonstrated a fusion of participatory research, qualitative data collection, epidemiological surveys and analysis, and socialising of evidence for action. The social audit in each province involved the community in covering eight principles of service delivery. In the particular case of Gauteng province, householders answered a questionnaire on public perceptions of government health services. In each sentinel community, the results were returned for discussion in focus groups, made up of a sample that had answered the household questionnaire. Institutional reviews of health facilities and interviews with health workers in those facilities gave the government side of the story. Five actions came from the community-based focus groups, all accepted by the provincial government. Firstly, redesigned communication strategies will aim to reach those with lower levels of education. The second set of actions involves rebuilding the culture of care. Thirdly, the public knowledge of ways to complain was closely related to levels of public satisfaction. Leadership in the health services turned out to be a fourth area for development. And finally, related to this, is the longer-term challenge of establishing and reinforcing community consultation mechanisms.


Precipitation forecasts are of large societal value in the tropics. Here, we compare 1–5-day ensemble predictions from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF, 2009–17) and the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC, 2009–16) over 30°S–30°N with an extended probabilistic climatology based on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3 B42 gridded dataset. Both models predict rainfall occurrence better than the reference only over about half of all land points, with a better performance by MSC. After applying the postprocessing technique ensemble model output statistics, this fraction increases to 87% (ECMWF) and 82% (MSC). For rainfall amount there is skill in many tropical areas (about 60% of land points), which can be increased by postprocessing to 97% (ECMWF) and 88% (MSC). Forecasts for extremes (>20 mm) are only marginally worse than those of occurrence but do not improve as much through postprocessing, particularly over dry areas. Forecast performance is generally best over arid Australia and worst over oceanic deserts, the Andes and Himalayas, as well as over tropical Africa, where models misrepresent the high degree of convective organization, such that even postprocessed forecasts are hardly better than climatology. Skill of 5-day accumulated forecasts often exceeds that of shorter ranges, as timing errors matter less. An increase in resolution and major model update in 2010 has significantly improved ECMWF predictions. Especially over tropical Africa new techniques such as convection-permitting models or combined statistical-dynamical forecasts may be needed to generate skill beyond the climatological reference.


The reaction of propyl isocyanate (2), benzyl isocyanate (3), and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (4) with 4-nitro-7-piperazino-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (1) to yield the corresponding urea derivatives 5 was carried out in a continuous flow glass microfluidics chip. Real-time monitoring of the derivatization reactions was done by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, making use of a recently reported modular chip-MS interface. Rate constants of 1.5 x 10(4), 5.2 x 10(4), and 2.4 x 10(4) M(-1) min(-1) were determined for 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Using macroscale batch conditions, the rate constants are 3-4 times lower. The faster on-chip kinetics is attributed to the more efficient molecular diffusion in the micrometer-sized channel.


This review article focused on the primary neurotransmitters involved in transmission from the otolith to the vestibular nucleus (VN), especially in relation to the neurotransmission to the VN neurons (gravity-sensitive neurons) activated by tilt stimulation. The medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) neurons were classified in 8 types (alpha-theta) according to the patterns in response to the clockwise and counterclockwise tilt-stimulations. The tilt-induced firing was inhibited by GDEE (a non-selective glutamate receptor antagonist) and/or atropine (a muscarinic receptor antagonist). Thus, glutamate and/or acetylcholine may serve as the primary neurotransmitters. This conclusion is supported by the previous findings that glutamate exists in the vestibular nerve and is released from the nerve besides the presence of glutamate receptor subtypes in the VN. In addition, acetylcholine induced atropine-reversible firing of MVN neurons, and the enzymes involved in acetylcholine synthesis/metabolism are also found in the VN. Furthermore, serotonin was found to inhibit the MVN neuronal activities via the 5-HT1A receptors. As such, the 5-HT1A agonist, tandospirone, may be effective in preventing and/or treating motion sickness and/or space sickness.


Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have a very vital role in the development and economic growth in Indonesia. According to the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, in 2020, MSMEs have a total of 60% contribution to the Gross Domestic Bruto and 90% contribution to the national workforce absorption. Therefore, the recovery of MSMEs is very important for the well-being of the national economy. The Covid-19 pandemic must encourage MSMEs actors to transform their businesses if they want to survive. Business digitalization during the Covid-19 pandemic is growing faster. Therefore, the recovery of MSMEs cannot be separated from the utilization of information technology.


Various methods were devised in attempts to produce chronic hypertension in dogs. The induction of anxiety was unsuccessful. Bilateral renal denervation combined with injections of epinephrine appeared to produce temporary hypertension. Permanent hypertension was induced by unilateral renal ischemia with the other kidney left intact only in dogs of nervous temperament. Certain dogs were extremely resistant to the development of hypertension even when several methods were combined. Neurogenic hypertension induced by section of the moderator nerves is probably a true hypertension. It is obvious that the host factor may be as important as the method employed.


Tools for effective TB control have been available for years. Case finding, active medications, case management and directly observed therapy are the foundations for the management of TB. The current TB epidemic, centered in resource-limited settings is fueled by the HIV-1 epidemic. Lack of ability to diagnose and treat drug-resistant TB has led to development of more extensive patterns of resistance. Among the currently available drugs, there is reason to hope that rifamycins paired with fluoroquinolones will lead to shorter treatment regimens for drug-susceptible TB. As the result of novel public–private collaborations and investments of resources, new drugs are being developed. These include TMC207, already shown to have activity early in the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB and others that are likely to be active against persistor organisms, and have the prospect to dramatically shorten treatment courses for active and latent TB. Given that these drugs have novel mechanisms of action, combinations have the prospect to be highly active even against multidrug-resistant organisms.


The aggressive corrosive environment along with higher operating temperature in molten salt reactors present significant challenges to existing structural materials that have been qualified in the ASME Section III, Division 5 Code for high temperature cyclic service. Corrosion resistant claddings offer an attractive near-term solution to mitigate corrosion concerns and enable the use of ASME Code qualified materials for advanced reactor structural components. Nickel provides good corrosion resistance to molten salts as well as good thermal and mechanical compatibility with existing ASME Code qualified materials, and therefore can be used as a cladding material for structural components in molten salt reactors. However, there are currently no ASME design rules for cladded components to guard against creep-fatigue failure and ratcheting strain accumulation under high temperature cyclic service. Recently, we have developed new design rules for components cladded with creep-compliant materials (e.g. nickel clad on 316H base metal) for high temperature cyclic service. These design rules require design parameters that can be established through relatively short-term testing for the clad material. This work shows how the design parameters for nickel are developed using fatigue and creep-fatigue test data. Finally, the paper walks through a sample problem detailing the application of the design rules to 316H components cladded with nickel.


The Bloch—Torrey equations are modified to include the case of anisotropic, restricted diffusion and flow. The problem of solving these modified equations for the amplitude of a spin echo in a time‐dependent magnetic‐field gradient subject to restricting boundary conditions is discussed. This problem is solved for a number of selected cases. In particular, it is found that a magnetic‐field gradient applied in short, intense pulses is effective in defining the time during which nuclear displacements take place. A simplified equation, suitable for the pulsed‐gradient experiment, is presented and solved for two different examples of systems showing restricted diffusion. A procedure for analyzing the data from pulsed‐gradient measurements is suggested, and its merits are discussed. Suggestions are made of systems which may well be expected to show restricted, anisotropic diffusion or interesting flow properties.


Translation courses are found in most Arab University English programmes but the rationale for their existence is seldom made explicit. In a survey of syllabi of such programmes, Bahumaid (1995:99) found that (with one exception) 'no set of clearly defined objectives of the translation course is provided in the course description/outline'. The most common reasons for teaching translation at university level are a) linguistic and b) vocational/professional, but it seems that both in the West and in the Arab World the latter type of (career-oriented) courses are few and far between. A survey report on Translation in British Universities BA Degree French Language programmes found that 'translation [was] taught as a way of improving students' linguistic proficiency in nineteen of the twenty-one institutibns which answered the survey questionnaire' (Sewell, 1996: 137). It is true that the two aims can coincide. Improved linguistic proficiency would normally lead to a better chance of employment as a translator. But some scholars feel that the university translation class could be more effectively focussed on developing professional translation skills (Critchley et al, 1996) while others consider that the traditional practice of prose/translation exercises are neither realistic nor relevant to the work of the professional translator.


A91 Background: DNA methylation abnormalities are both very early events in cancer development and very widespread events in advanced neoplastic disease. Due to the early nature of DNA methylation disturbance, it also has applications as a biomarker in serum, sputum, and biopsies. However, analysis of epigenetic events has been limited by technique throughput and by sample material requirement, thus limiting this approach to the analysis of only a few genes. The ability to analyze many loci from minute starting materials in the small airways of the lung would greatly facilitate the use of DNA methylation as both a discovery tool and as a biological marker.
 >Objective: The objective of the current study is to improve current technologies and adapt them to the investigation of exfoliated bronchial epithelial cells collected by bronchoscopy. With the new techniques, we will monitor the effect of steroid treatment on the epigenome of bronchial cells.
 >Methods: Patients were treated for 4 weeks with inhaled steroid. Exfoliated bronchial cells were collected during bronchoscopy from airways ≤ 2mm in diameter both before and after treatment. Nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) were extracted by standard biochemical means. DNA methylation profiles were generated for the epithelial cells using a whole genome tiling path (WGTP) array by methylation dependent immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) array CGH. In MeDIP, immunoprecipitation with anti-5'-methylcytosine isolates methylated DNA fragments. The methylated fragments and input DNA (without immunoprecipitation) from the same sample are differentially labeled with Cyanine-3 and Cyanine-5 respectively, and competitively co-hybridized to the genomic array. Dye ratios at individual spots on the array are mapped to their genomic location, and are used to infer methylation status. This approach generates a DNA methylation map spanning the entire genome.
 >Results: Our results indicate that whole genome DNA methylation profiles can be produced reliably from airway epithelial cells. We have reduced the material requirement to only 1μg of genomic DNA, without requiring subsequent sample amplification. Analysis of DNA methylation profiles before and after treatment with steroid identified 17 regions of DNA hypermethylation and 16 regions of DNA hypomethylation corresponding to steroid treatment that were present in a minimum of 50% (5/10) of patients analyzed.
 >Conclusion: We have demonstrated that MeDIP aCGH is a valuable tool for the analysis of DNA methylation profiles in the small airways of the lung. This suggests the potential of using this technique for genome-wide assessment of methylation changes in lung diseases.


Abstract Creative practices have made a standing contribution to mobilities research. We write this article as a collective of 25 scholars and practitioners to make a provocation: to further position creative mobilities research as a fundamental contribution and component in this field. The article explores how creative forms of research—whether in the form of artworks, exhibitions, performances, collaborations, and more—has been a foundational part of shaping the new mobilities paradigm, and continues to influence its methodological, epistemological, and ontological concerns. We tour through the interwoven history of art and mobilities research, outlining five central contributions that creativity brings. Through short vignettes of each author's creative practice, we discuss how creativity has been key to the evolution and emergence of how mobilities research has expanded to global audiences of scholars, practitioners, and communities. The article concludes by highlighting the potency of the arts for lively and transdisciplinary pathways for future mobilities research in the uncertainties that lay ahead.


Summary An analysis of more than 1400 pens of cattle marketed during 1990 examined the influence of several cattle traits and marketing factors on fed cattle prices. Cattle quality grade had an important impact on packer bids and feedyard asking prices. However, both feedyard asking and packer purchase prices reflected less than 25%, on average, of estimated wholesale value differentials. Other factors, including estimated dressing percentage, finish uniformity, cattle weight, number of head purchased, presence of heiferettes, and cattle type had significant price impacts. Feedyards generally received what they asked for cattle; 65% of the pens sold for their asking prices. Price signals for differences in cattle "quality" are not fully transmitted to cattle feeders.


We explore the timing of deformation and exhumation of the Siviez‐Mischabel Nappe (western Swiss Alps), which has been considered a classic example of a midcrustal crystalline nappe since the studies of Argand [1916]. This study presents 40Ar/39Ar ages obtained on both synkinematic white mica from Permo‐Triassic cover sediments and more complex white mica populations from basement gneisses of the Siviez‐Mischabel and middle Pennine Nappes. Primary foliation developed in cover units by nucleation, growth, and rigid rotation of mica grains during noncoaxial Alpine deformation. Although some samples show a crenulation of this primary foliation, mica growth appears to have occurred only during the development of primary foliation, the main phase of greenschist facies deformation related to imbrication of the Siviez‐Mischabel Nappe and other middle Pennine Nappes. Good agreement exists between independent estimates of the timing of deformation and reported 40Ar/39Ar white mica ages from cover units of the central and southern Siviez‐Mischabel Nappe. In cover units from the central and southern Siviez‐Mischabel regions of the study area, 40Ar/39Ar ages appear to date synkinematic white mica growth. Results suggest that the Siviez‐Mischabel Nappe was emplaced and developed foliation during a 5 m.y. period from 41 to 36 Ma. In cover units from the eastern Siviez‐Mischabel, however, 40Ar/39Ar white mica ages appear to date postkinematic thermal events. These thermal events may be related to Oligocene magmatic activity in the lower Pennine Nappes or to Miocene development of the Simplon fault zone. Variations in the relation between Alpine age and grain size for cover samples from the central, eastern, and southern Siviez‐Mischabel correlate well with the regional variations in temperature inferred from quartz microfabrics and the pattern of regional metamorphism. When considered in concert with other recent isotopic studies on the timing of major tectonic and thermal events in the western Swiss Alps, these data support arguments that the relative timing of events such as thrusting and back thrusting of crystalline nappes in hinterland units and exhumation of high‐pressure units in the suture zone of the western Alps are intimately related and synchronous on the scale of a few million years.


The aim of the review of D.V. Cicchetti, A.S. Kaufman, and S.S. Sparrow (funded by the General Electric Company; this issue) is "to evaluate [the] literature relating the effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) upon neurobehavioral, health-related, and cognitive deficits in neonates, developing infants, children, and adults" (p. 589) on the basis of data derived from seven cohorts. One of these cohorts is the Dutch PCB/dioxin study. The paper of Cicchetti et al. presents a long, winding exercise in criticizing aspects of the design of the seven studies. Here we will give a comment on their review, as far as it concerns our own work. We applied the six fundamental sets of scientific criteria as proposed by Cichetti et al.


Received: 2/Jun/2007, Accepted: 31/Jan/2008 Objective: Investigation of the suitability of electrospun Poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) nanofiber scaffold for the Vero cell culture. Materials and Methods: Electrospinning was used for production of PCL nanofibers scaffolds. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), MTT assay, hematoxylin staining and histology analysis were used to investigate the cell morphology, viability, attachment and infilteration of the vero cells on the PCL nanofiber scaffolds. Results: The results of the MTT assay, SEM images and hematoxylin staining showed that Vero cells attach and spread on PCL nanofiber scaffolds. The proliferation of Vero cells is as well as that of control group, but histological analysis showed the lack of cell infilteration into the scaffolds, which was found to be due to the small diameters of the pores of nanofibrous scaffold. Conclusion: The result of this study show that PCL nanofiber scaffolds are suitable for cell culture, proliferation and attachment and Vero cells attach and proliferate on PCL nanofiber scaffolds.


Lately there is a growing interest in the negative symptoms in schizophrenia and their mechanisms of action, with special focus on the motivation process. The lack of motivation is increasingly recognized to be a very important impediment to positive management in schizophrenic pathology. In this mini-review, we described the current understanding of the nature and causes of the specific motivational deficits in schizophrenia in order to find better management strategies for this heterogeneous disorder. All the data and theories presented here clearly demonstrate that amotivation is a fundamental aspect of the negative symptomatology in schizophrenia and could represent a useful factor in understanding and improving the mechanisms and further management of schizophrenia.


The purpose is to characterize the clinical and laboratory parameters in children with different rates of congenital HIV infection progression and, based on the data obtained, to develop independent predictors of forecasting the course of the disease. Research methods . The comparison of clinical, immunological and virological parameters in 91 children with HIV infection with rapid (26%) and slow progression of the disease (74%) was carried out. The criterion for the rapid progression of HIV infection was considered the development of the AIDS clinic in the first two years of life. Results. Testing of clinical, immunological and virological parameters in a multivariate logistic regression model revealed independent predictors of rapid progression in children aged 6 months — HIV blood viral load more than 1 00 000 cop./ml (odds ratio OR 23.9; 95% confidence interval 95% CI 4.6—71.8; P < 0.001) and a decrease of blood CD4-lymphocytes less than 25% (OR 6.3; 95% CI 1.2—33.4; P = 0.029). The predictor «HIV blood viral load more than 100 000 cop./ml» was characterized by a higher sensitivity (91.3%), specificity (97.1 %) compared to the indicator «CD4 lymphocyte count less than 25%» (88.2% and 86.9%). Conclusion. In 26% of children with HIV infection, there is a rapid progression of the disease with the development of AIDS clinic during the first two years of life. The independent predictors of forecasting an unfavorable course of the disease are HIV blood viral load of more than 1 00 000 cop./ml and a decrease in CD4 lymphocytes in the blood of less than 25% at the age of 6 months. The level of viremia seems to be more preferable for predicting the course of HIV infection in children due to its high sensitivity and specificity.


Flapper Valve of Korean Utility Helicopter(KUH-1) is an essential equipment in Environmental Control System(ECS) for pilot to perform flight mission. It provides pilots and crews with heating, ventilating and air conditioning. It has function of maintaining room temperature to sustain operational capability for pilot and crew. This paper summarizes pilot comments in flight test which are classified by cause of occurrence and the troubleshooting process about each comment. It also describes design improvements which was derived from troubleshooting and suggests verification results of flight test at low temperature.


A Built-In Self-Test (BIST) approach is presented for the logic resources in the programmable input/output (I/O) tiles in Virtex-5 field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). A total of 15 BIST configurations were developed to test the I/O cell programmable logic resources in all modes of operation. The approach utilizes dedicated I/O buffer bypass routing in the I/O tile such that the BIST is package independent and applicable to all levels of testing from wafer-level to system-level. The approach offers control of BIST execution and maximal diagnostic resolution of faulty I/O tiles for device and package independent testing. Either the Boundary Scan interface or a simple system-level interface may be used for BIST execution, control, and diagnosis independent of the configuration interface. Experimental results are presented including fault detection capabilities.


Abstract It has been proposed that photodegradation of folates may be the reason for the pigmentation of races living under high fluence rates of ultraviolet radiation. The photodegradation of folic acid (FA) induced by ultraviolet-A (UV-A) radiation, in solution and in the presence of human serum albumin (HSA), was studied with absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. FA photodegradation, with formation of p-aminobenzoyl-l-glutamic acid, 6-formylpterin and pterin-6-carboxylic acid, was found to follow an exponential trend. A scheme of FA photodegradation, which involves photosensitization of FA degradation by its photoproducts, was proposed. The rate of FA photodegradation decreased drastically in the presence of HSA, whereas the spectral characteristics of the photoproducts remained constant. The reduction of the FA photodegradation rate by HSA was accompanied by degradation of tryptophan in HSA. Tryptophan, when added to solutions of FA, had a similar effect as HSA. In solutions of FA and HSA the FA photoproducts cause photodamage mainly to HSA rather than to FA itself. The oxygen dependence of FA photodegradation and the inhibition of this process by sodium azide indicate that singlet oxygen may participate in the photosensitizing activity of FA photoproducts.


PURPOSE
An oral moisture checking device is easy to use for the examination of oral dryness during clinical procedures. This study examined the usefulness of an oral moisture checking device.

METHODS
The subjects in the examination of factors that influence the measured value of the oral moisture checking device were 16 sound adults (mean age 27.5). The subjects in the examination of measuring the moisture of sound adults were 32 adults (mean age 24.4). In the factors that influence the measured value of the device, the measuring pressure was examined by comparing the measured value with a trial stopper and without the stopper. The factor of sensor cover was examined by comparing the measured value before and after changing the sensor cover. The factor of device was examined by comparing the measured value using the two devices. The moisture of sound adults was measured at the lingual mucosa and buccal mucosa.

RESULTS
The measured value with a trial stopper was lower by 0.2-0.3% than that without the stopper. The measured value differed before and after changing the sensor cover by 0.5-0.8%. The measured value was not different among devices. The mean value of the moisture of sound adults was 30.6+/-0.3% at the lingual mucosa, and 30.9+/-0.3% at the buccal mucosa.

CONCLUSIONS
The measurement errors of the oral moisture checking device were within 1% under the condition of proper measuring pressure. Additionally, the moisture of sound adults converged toward definite values. The results of this study suggested that the oral moisture checking device is useful for the examination of xerostomia.


We have reported previously that the Kirsten murine sarcoma virus (Ki-MSV), which carries the v-Ki-ras oncogene, prevents the induction of the class II MHC antigen H-2A and reduces the induction of class I MHC antigens by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on C3H10T 1/2 fibroblasts. It is here shown that the abolition by the virus of H-2A expression extends also to class II antigen H-2E and that this is maintained for at least 7 days after IFN treatment. In addition no concentration of IFN-gamma tested, including supra-optimal concentrations for class I antigen expression, induced class II antigens on MSV-infected cells. Thus MSV inhibits the induction by IFN-gamma of class II MHC antigens by a mechanism other than via a change in kinetics of response to, or in the sensitivity of the cells to, IFN. The possibility that transformation by MSV could result in the (selective) outgrowth of cells unresponsive to IFN was refuted by the observation that clones of C3H10T 1/2, when infected with Ki-MSV, expressed no or dramatically reduced levels of H-2A or H-2E. One C3H10T 1/2 clone chosen for high class II expression, when transformed with Ki-MSV, did express low levels of class II antigens at optimal concentrations of IFN-gamma, suggesting that the degree of the reduction of class II expression varies with the cells that are infected. Comparison with mechanisms whereby other viruses inhibit MHC antigen display revealed an interesting possibility: IFN response sequences (IRS) identified in the virus genomes might act in trans to (down) regulate MHC antigen expression. This could be an important mechanism determining the tumourigenicity of, and immune evasion by, Ki-MSV and other viruses.


ABSTRACT In many countries, students are selected into higher education institutions based on their achievement at high school, measured by scores given by their teachers and obtained on final national exams. This paper compares these two measures in terms of their ability to predict students' success in higher education. Accounting for sample selection problems, we find that the high school score is a stronger predictor of students' performance at university. However, the score obtained in the mathematics national exam still adds information. We conclude that both measures are complementary, a result that is relevant for university recruitment and selection policies.


The impingement of circular, liquid jets provides a convenient method of cooling surfaces. Here, jet impingement cooling of uniformly heated surfaces is investigated analytically and experimentally for stable, unsubmerged, uniform velocity laminar jets in the absence of phase change. Analytical and numerical predictions are developed for a laminar radial film flow. Experiments using undisturbed laminar jets were performed to determine local Nusselt numbers from the stagnation point to radii of up to 40 diameters. Turbulent transition in the film flow is observed experimentally at a certain radius. Beyond this transition radius, a separate turbulent analysis is constructed. Integral method results are compared to numerical results, and Prandtl number effects are investigated. The predictions are found to agree well with the measurements for both laminar and turbulent flow. Predictive formulae are recommended for the entire range of radii.


The authors continue to introduce into scientific circulation chapters from
A.M. Remizov's manuscript "At the Evening Dawn", which form a series of publications devoted to the émigré period of the writer's life and work. The main part contains Remizov's letters to S.P. Remizova-Dovgello for 1926, which in 1945–1948 were edited by the author and included in the planned book. The Appendix contains original letters of the same period. Such a juxtaposition of a particular chapter with its primary sources opens up the prospect of exploring motivations that guided the writer in creating autobiographical works in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The corps of epistolary documents for 1926 contains information related to Remizov's position in the literary environment of Parisian emigration, his friendly and professional contacts, his work in the journal Blagonamerenny and also reveals unknown facts of the creative and publishing history of his works. The publication is accompanied by detailed comments based on previously unknown archival materials which supplement the history of the Russian Diaspora. Historical and literary surveys of the authors made it possible to introduce significant refinements into the biographical data, and into the chronology of the writer's life and work as a whole.


The Medipix3 photon counting readout chip has a range of features — small pixel size, high readout rate and inter-pixel communication — which make it attractive for X-ray scattering and imaging at synchrotrons. DESY have produced a prototype large-area detector module that can carry a 6 by 2 array of Medipix3 chips (1536 by 512 pixels), which can be used with a single large silicon sensor (85mm by 28mm) or two ``hexa'' high-Z sensors. The detector head is designed to be tilable and compatible with low temperatures, and will allow high speed parallel readout of the Medipix3 chips. It consists of a ceramic board, on which the sensor assembly is mounted, and a secondary board for signal routing and voltage regulators. A prototype DAQ board using USB2 readout has also been produced. A ``quad'' Medipix3 sensor assembly has been mounted on the detector head, and successfully configured and read out by the DAQ board. Development has begun on a high-speed readout board, and large-area silicon assemblies are in production.


Research conducted by many psychologists, as well as Uzbek psychologists, allows us to identify the most essential qualities for modern teachers. In this case, the professogram of the teaching profession (a short and comprehensive document that is systematized, studied by labor psychologists and intended for use in future practice) is called a professogram.


Short-term anaesthesia is defined in terms of duration (allowing brief but what might be painful surgery), rapid recovery, metabolism and mode of administration. After a brief review of barbiturate narcoses, the authors study the electro-clinical features of anaesthesia under Althesin, Epontol and ketamine. For the first two, although there are some clinical differences, the E.E.G. effects are fairly similar with rapid onset of burst suppression. Recovery is rapid and its study (clinically, with psychomotor tests and E.E.G.) indicates that these drugs can safely be used with out-patients. Ketamine causes very specific alterations, both clinical (dissociative anaesthesia) and E.E.G. (diffuse and continuous theta). This drug is used particularly in painful operations; its use with out-patients would seem awkward.


An important set of information provided through Building Information Modeling (BIM) platforms are quantitative properties of design elements and assemblies. The capability to extract or deduce such quantitative properties from explicit and implicit model information is essential for bidding, procurement, production planning, and cost control activities in the AEC projects. Current solutions for quantity take off (QTO) and cost estimation (CE) are developed based on the assumptions that the design models are suitable, contain adequate information to perform these tasks efficiently and accurately. In practice often these criteria do not exist in the models that cost estimators receive. Many estimators, engineers and managers distrust BIM operations as a result or find it difficult to adopt a BIM-based preconstruction process. This leads to a cumbersome, manual and error-prone QT and CE process currently used by most construction companies. In order to overcome these shortcomings, we have developed a framework for a knowledge-based system to perform model based QTO and CE. This framework includes domain, reasoning, task and interface layers. This paper reports on the progress on an ongoing research effort which so far mostly focused on developing a domain layer and rule libraries for the reasoning layer. The domain layer contains a knowledge base which along with rule libraries were developed by acquiring and representing domain experts' knowledge. The rule libraries include modules of rules to infer knowledge about different product features. The inferred knowledge will enable providing and representing model information in a compatible format for QTO and CE tasks. It facilitates filtering, grouping and representing feature information provided in design models based on criteria that determines their true cost behavior. Finally, this knowledge will enable forecasting the properties of product features absent from design models. Examples are drawn from various fields inside and outside of the AEC industry, with a focus on the precast concrete industry.


Purpose: Dual‐gated radiotherapy is a promising method to reduce overall treatment time in which a dose is delivered at inhale and exhale phases. However, problems still remain associated with the phase shift and the target motion artifact. Dual‐gated method deals with both phases — inhale and exhale, hence the delivered dose uncertainties due to the residual motion may be doubled. In order to account for these uncertainties, we applied PTV partition technique to dual‐gated radiotherapy method. Methods: An IMRT plan for a lung cancer patient was optimized in Eclipse TPS at exhale phase. The PTV on the exhale CT was partitioned into three regions along the superior‐inferior axis; head, mid, and tail region. The dose distribution on PTV was reformed as follows: a) no dose is given to the head region, b) a gradient dose (zero to the prescription dose) is given to the mid region, and c) a hundred percent of prescription dose is given to the tail region. The reformed exhale phase dose distribution and structures were deformed to the inhale phase CT using MIM software. Thereafter the dose distribution on PTV at inhale phase was reformed in order that complement of the prescription dose is given to each region. Results: The dose‐volume histogram for PTV in the dual‐gated plan with partitioned PTV was comparable to that in the conventional gating plan while the presented technique gives robustness to the residual motion. Conclusion: The proposed method using the PTV partition technique is promising to assess dose uncertainties due to the phase shift and the target motion artifact. Further assessment of the robustness to the residual motion by experiments using thorax phantom is warranted in this regard.


Abstract In the paper patterns of social interaction are examined, as shaped by an inflow of new residents to an inner-city subarea characterized by a low socio-economic status and featuring ethnic homogeneity. The empirical material is derived from a set of semi-structured interviews conducted by the authors with the area's inhabitants, and with representatives of local governance arrangement and initiatives. The analysis is based on the concepts of social hyper-diversity, social networks, the concept of place and the research on gentrification. Sub-categories of residents are distinguished by referring to both functional and emotional types of social relations they enter into. The findings point at the formation of networks of integrative nature, mostly such that are supported by the use of common urban space, across the social categories identified, but also to limits and obstacles to social integration, both general and those specific to the case study area.


Self-assembling peptide amphiphile (PA) nanofibers were used to encapsulate camptothecin (CPT), a naturally occurring hydrophobic chemotherapy agent, using a solvent evaporation technique. Encapsulation by PA nanofibers was found to improve the aqueous solubility of the CPT molecule by more than 50-fold. PAs self-assembled into nanofibers in the presence of CPT as demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy. Small-angle X-ray scattering results suggest a slight increase in diameter of the nanofiber to accommodate the hydrophobic cargo. In vitro studies using human breast cancer cells show an enhancement in antitumor activity of the CPT when encapsulated by the PA nanofibers. In addition, using a mouse orthotopic model of human breast cancer, treatment with PA nanofiber-encapsulated CPT inhibited tumor growth. These results highlight the potential of this model PA system to be adapted for delivery of hydrophobic therapies to treat a variety of diseases including cancer.


Digital art installations can often gain from the capability of detecting the presence of people observing them. With this information, the artists can enhance the experience of who interacts with their work. While this detection can be made by means of web cameras or sensors, these systems are generally difficult to implement for people with a low knowledge of programming. We propose a system that uses bluetooth to do this detection and allows easy integration with applications often used by digital artists. The system also allows users to interact with the installation using their mobile devices. It's intended to be used in art installations by digital artists who wish to give their audience a new way to interact with their pieces. Index Terms – Interaction System, Digital Art, Bluetooth, Interactive Installation.


OBJECTIVE
The purposes of this study were to evaluate the expression of p16(INK4a) (referred as to p16) and Ki-67 in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and the correlation between high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and the above biomarkers.

METHODS
We analyzed 31 patients who were diagnosed with CIN at Kwandong University Myongji Hospital from October 2006 to September 2007. CIN specimens (CIN1, 12; CIN2, 6; CIN3, 13) were obtained by colposcopy-directed biopsy (CDB) or loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP). The expressions of p16 and Ki-67 were evaluated by immunohistochemical methods with antibodies to p16 and Ki67. The immunohistochemical staining results were classified into four grades: 0, 1, 2 and 3. HPV genotyping or Hybrid Capture-II test was used to detect high-risk HPV.

RESULTS
The expression of p16 (p<0.001) and Ki-67 (p=0.003) were positively associated with CIN grade. p16 expressions increased significantly with high-risk HPV infection (p=0.014), especially HPV type 16 and 58. Ki-67 expression was not related with high-risk HPV. There was positive correlation between the expression of the p16 and Ki-67 (p=0.007).

CONCLUSION
CIN grade were positively related to the expression of p16 and Ki-67. p16 expressions of high-risk HPV specimens significantly increased more than Ki-67. Therefore, in the diagnosis of CIN and high-risk HPV infection, p16 can be a useful biomarker.


Psychotherapy for ageing or old people is defined and described, and certain theoretical and practical aspects are dealt with. Special emphasis is laid on the direction and movement of a series of therapeutic encounters, so as to make clear, even to the non-specialist reader, what the patient might expect to gain from these.


PURPOSE
Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is a highly aggressive malignant bone and soft tissue neoplasm. The purpose of our study was to identify candidate biomarkers of ES and uncover their potential molecular mechanisms.

METHODS
The gene expression profiles of GSE45544 and GSE73166 were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed based on the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) database, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed, and hub genes of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by Cytoscape software.

RESULTS
586 DEGs in total were identified in ES, and the top up-regulated genes were extremely potent as ES biomarkers. GO function analysis data showed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in DNA translation, nucleus, and protein binding. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that DEGs were enriched in the pathways involved in cancer, HTLV-I infection, viral carcinogenesis, ribosome, and cell cycle. PPI network showed that most of the hub genes were for ribosomal proteins, associated in some way with the biological process of ES.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we identified the DEGs and hub genes which could promote our comprehension of detailed mechanisms involved in the development of ES.


In this highlight we present a snapshot of recent work using magnetic forces and particles to perform lab on a chip operations. Magnetic micro- & nanoparticles have been widely used for separations in cell biology & clinical diagnostics and as solid phase supports for reactions and chemical assays. Microscale approaches to control and manipulate magnetic particles can enable new functionality; allowing parallel and complex automation of assays, manipulation of fluids themselves, and precise separations based on small differences in magnetic properties. Here we discuss recent work demonstrating advances in these three areas.


It is well-known that the BitTorrent file sharing protocol is responsible for a significant portion of the Internet traffic. A large amount of work has been devoted to reducing the footprint of the protocol in terms of the amount of traffic, however, its flow level footprint has not been studied in depth. We argue in this paper that the large amount of flows that a BitTorrent client maintains will not scale over a certain point. To solve this problem, we first examine the flow structure through realistic simulations. We find that only a few TCP connections are used frequently for data transfer, while most of the connections are used mostly for signaling. This makes it possible to separate the data and signaling paths. We propose that, as the signaling traffic provides little overhead, it should be transferred on a separate dedicated small degree overlay while the data traffic should utilize temporal TCP sockets active only during the data transfer. Through simulation we show that this separation has no significant effect on the performance of the BitTorrent protocol while we can drastically reduce the number of actual flows.


Summary Despite many notable successes, the failure rate of animal translocations remains high. Conservation practitioners and reintroduction specialists have emphasised the need for ongoing documentation of translocation attempts, whether successful or not, including detailed methodologies and monitoring approaches. This study reports on the first translocation of the North Island subspecies of New Zealand's smallest bird, the endemic Rifleman Acanthisitta chloris granti. We describe an improved transfer methodology following recommendations arising from a previous translocation of South Island Rifleman Acanthisitta chloris chloris. Key modifications included a reduced capture window, shorter holding times, lack of extended aviary housing, and separation of territorial individuals during holding. Survival from capture to release increased from 52% to 97% using this new methodology. However, only 22% of 83 released birds were found in the reserve the next breeding season, resulting in an initial breeding population of only six males and five females. An integrated Bayesian analysis of three years of subsequent population data, including a population boost from a second translocation, projected a median decrease to 0–5 females over 10 years, but with 95% prediction intervals ranging from 0 to 33. These projections explicitly account for parameter uncertainty, as well as demographic stochasticity, and illustrate the need to do so when making inferences for small reintroduced populations.


523 Background: Anthracycline-based regimens are among the most active and used chemotherapies in BC. Here, we report the results of the prospective TOP trial ( NCT00162812 ) which was specifically designed to identify markers of response/resistance to preoperative epirubicin (100 mg/m2 q2 or q3wks) in estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) BC patients.

METHODS
Using pre-epirubicin biopsies, we analyzed TOP2A by fluorescence in situ hybridization (Abbott triple probe) and by immunohistochemistry (KiS1) and generated gene expression profiles (HG133Plus2.0). We used publicly available gene expression data from the BIG1-00, trial (EORTC-10094), which compared in a preoperative setting an anthracycline-based (A) to a taxane-based (T) regimen, to validate some of our results.

RESULTS
149 patients were included in the TOP trial and 14.5% had a complete pathological response (pCR). TOP2A amplification (11% of the cases) was exclusively observed in HER-2 amplified cases (33% of the cases), and was highly predictive of pCR (k = 0.35, p = 0.0002 - half of the patients with TOP2A amplification experienced pCR). Neither the protein levels nor the mRNA levels were predictive of pCR. Chromosome17 (Ch17) polysomy was observed in 68% of the samples and was not associated with pCR. TOP2A gene expression module (made of genes located closely to TOP2A), was predictive of response both in the HER-2+ patients of the TOP trial and in the ER-/HER-2+ of the BIG1-00 patients treated with A but not with T [Area Under the Curve (AUC): 0.86 (p = 0.00001) in TOP trial and 0.81 (p = 0.0005) in A-arm BIG1-00 trial]. Stroma expression module defined previously was associated with pCR in both trials (TOP and in the ER- BIG1-00 patients treated with A but not with T, especially in HER-2- patients [AUC: 0.31 (p = 0.01) in TOP trial and 0.33 (p = 0.02) in A-arm/BIG1-00 trial].

CONCLUSIONS
This trial, which is the first to prospectively evaluate the predictive value of TOP2A, supports TOP2A gene amplification as predictive marker of response. Ch17 polysomy, observed in ∼2/3 of these ER- patients, was not predictive of response. Finally, our results suggest that gene expression modules also predict relative response/resistance to anthracyclines, both in HER-2+ and HER-2- patients. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


The clinical laboratory in today's world is a rapidly evolving field which faces a constant pressure to produce quick and reliable results. Sigma metric is a new tool which helps to reduce process variability, quantitate the approximate number of analytical errors, and evaluate and guide for better quality control (QC) practices.To analyze sigma metrics of 16 biochemistry analytes using ERBA XL 200 Biochemistry analyzer, interpret parameter performance, compare analyzer performance with other Middle East studies and modify existing QC practices.This study was undertaken at a clinical laboratory for a period of 12 months from January to December 2020 for the following analytes: albumin (ALB), alanine amino transferase (SGPT), aspartate amino transferase (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALKP), bilirubin total (BIL T), bilirubin direct (BIL D), calcium (CAL), cholesterol (CHOL), creatinine (CREAT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), glucose (GLUC), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), total protein (PROT), uric acid (UA) and urea. The Coefficient of variance (CV%) and Bias % were calculated from internal quality control (IQC) and external quality assurance scheme (EQAS) records respectively. Total allowable error (TEa) was obtained using guidelines Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act guidelines (CLIA). Sigma metrics was calculated using CV%, Bias% and TEa for the above parameters. It was found that 5 analytes in level 1 and 8 analytes in level 2 had greater than 6 sigma performance indicating world class quality. Cholesterol, glucose (level 1 and 2) and creatinine level 1 showed >4 sigma performance i.e acceptable performance. Urea (both levels) and GGT (level 1) showed <3 sigma and were therefore identified as the problem analytes. Sigma metrics helps to assess analytic methodologies and can serve as an important self assessment tool for quality assurance in the clinical laboratory. Sigma metric evaluation in this study helped to evaluate the quality of several analytes and also categorize them from high performing to problematic analytes, indicating the utility of this tool. In conclusion, parameters showing lesser than 3 sigma need strict monitoring and modification of quality control procedure with change in method if necessary.


The purchasing power parity (PPP) is generally accepted as the exchange rate projection between two countries relative to their inflation rate. However, despites many researches in the past years, the answer to whether the PPP holds, remains an on-going debate. The prior researches are criticized for their heavy reliance on the bilateral exchange rate which consists of short time-series or uses multilateral or real effective exchange rate (REER) constructed by the fixed trade weight. Finally, the implementing of only the most popular unit-root or stationary tests such as ADF and PP deems to diagnose with certain weaknesses, for instance, size distortion ascending from the heteroscedasticity. The main purpose of this study, therefore, is to study whether the PPP holds in Cambodia? In this paper, an alternative stationary test known as the KPSS test is incorporated with the stationary test thereof. Avoiding the aforementioned problem, the time-varying trade weights of Cambodia from 1995 to 2019 is employed to construct the total data points or months of 295 REER from January 1995 to July 2019 instead. The result indicates that the PPP theory holds in Cambodia based on the result generated by the ADF test modeled with constant and trend. The test result thereof also indicates that the REER of Cambodia has a mean reverting process.


Why do most natural slopes have curvilinear rather than planar profiles? What slope shape is best suited for minimizing erosion losses …. convex, concave, compound (convex-concave), or planar (uniform)? Why are most man-made slopes constructed with planar surfaces and uniform gradients? These are not trivial questions - perhaps no other variable affects the stability of slopes with regard to both surficial erosion and mass wasting as does topography or slope morphology. Topographic parameters normally considered in estimating soil erosion losses include inclination and length of slope. Surprisingly, slope shape is seldom if ever considered. Conceptual and mathematical models, as well as the results of laboratory tests and field observations, can be used to determine the effect of slope shape on both mass stability and resistance to rainfall erosion.


This paper examines near capacity performance of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) detectors for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) channels. The proposed MCMC detector (Log-MAP-tb b-MCMC) operates in a strictly bit-wise fashion and adopts Log-MAP algorithm with table look-up. When concatenated with an optimized low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, Log-MAP-tb b-MCMC can operate within 1.2-1.8 dB of the capacity of MIMO systems with 8 transmit/receive antennas at spectral efficiencies up to ¿ = 24 bits/channel use (b/ch). This result improves upon best performance achieved by turbo coded systems using list sphere decoding (LSD) detector by 2.3-3.8 dB, leading to nearly 50% reduction in the capacity gap. Detailed comparisons of the Log-MAP-tb b-MCMC with LSD based detectors demonstrate that MCMC detector is indeed the detector of choice for achieving channel capacity both in terms of performance and complexity.


In this-paper we propose a new recognition method of lung nodule from X-ray CT images using 3D Markov random field (MRF) models. Pathological shadow candidates are detected by a mathematical morphology filter and volume of interest (VOI) areas which include the shadow candidates are extracted. The probabilities of the hypotheses that the VOI areas come from nodules (which are candidates of cancers) and blood vessels are calculated using nodule and blood vessel models evaluating the relations between these object models by 3D MRF models. If the probabilities for the nodule models are higher, the shadow candidates are determined to be abnormal. By applying this new recognition method to actual 38 CT images, good results were obtained.


In this article the cyclic cutwidth of the $n$-dimensional cube is explored. It has been conjectured by Dr. Chavez and Dr. Trapp that the cyclic cutwidth of $Q_n$ is minimized with the Graycode numbering. Several results have been found toward the proof of this conjecture.


Abstract Advanced and accurate modelling of a Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FW MAV) and its control is one of the recent research topics related to the field of autonomous MAVs. Some desiring features of the FW MAV are quick flight, vertical take-off and landing, hovering, and fast turn, and enhanced manoeuvrability contrasted with similar-sized fixed and rotary wing MAVs. Inspired by the FW MAV's advanced features, a four-wing Nature-inspired (NI) FW MAV is modelled and controlled in this work. The Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering algorithm is utilized to construct the data-driven NIFW MAV model. Being model free, it does not depend on the system dynamics and can incorporate various uncertainties like sensor error, wind gust etc. Furthermore, a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy structure based adaptive fuzzy controller is proposed. The proposed adaptive controller can tune its antecedent and consequent parameters using FCM clustering technique. This controller is employed to control the altitude of the NIFW MAV, and compared with a standalone Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller, and a Sliding Mode Control (SMC) theory based advanced controller. Parameter adaptation of the proposed controller helps to outperform it static PID counterpart. Performance of our controller is also comparable with its advanced and complex counterpart namely SMC-Fuzzy controller.


There is need to know what influence the Nigerian stock market. Index (SMI), proxy for stock prices. The index of all share prices (SMI), is a barometer for growth of the stock market and therefore that of the economy. Studies had been conducted on the subject but not specifically on these three isolated macro-economic variables which are quite intimidating or over- whelming and for reliability and effectiveness. Their dynamic effect on or relationship with the SMI is investigated, using co- integration on yearly data between 1975 and 2009. The finding is that some relationships exist among them, though not significant. It is therefore recommended that the authorities should manage these variables and enhance exports to improve growth because of the long- run negativity of the exchange rate.


In four patients, platelet aggregation with arachidonate was absent but was normal with "Labile Aggregation Stimulating Substance". ADP (10muM) aggregation was always reversible; collagen aggregation was absent and those induced by thrombin and ristocetin were normal. Collagen did not induce 14C-serotonin release but there was some release with thrombin. There was no thromboxan B2 synthesis in these platelets. Two patients showed hereditary hemostasis defect and the others acquired cyclo-oxygenase deficiency.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
To analyze our experience of segmental duodenectomy for tumors located at the third and fourth portion of the duodenum and attempt to explore the security and feasibility of this surgical procedure.

METHODOLOGY
A retrospective cohort study of five patients who underwent segmental duodenectomy in our hospital, medical records were analyzed in this study.

RESULTS
The initial symptoms in five patients are not specific. Five were surgically treated by segmental resection. All patients without postoperative anastomotic leakage, the gastroparesis and anastomotic stenosis each appeared in a case and all recovered after supportive care. Pathological examination showed: 3 cases of stromal tumor, 1 :ases of lymphangioma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding does not appear in the lymphangioma,two cases of high risk group of stromal tumor patients received targeting therapy with Imatinib Mesylate for 2 years after resection, the patient with lymphoma administer postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. All patients are still alive and the lymphoma patient developed postoperative local recurrence after approximately six months.

CONCLUSIONS
Segmental duodenectomy is a reliable and curative option for most duodenal benign tumor and stromal tumor located at the third and fourth portion. It is also applicable to some malignant tumor.


Traditional water use statistics only include the blue water withdrawal/consumption of municipalities, industry and irrigated agriculture. When, however, green water use of the agricultural sector is included as well as the virtual water use/water footprint (WF), water use quantity statistics become very different. In common water use statistics, Austria withdraws in total about 2.5 km(3) per year, only 3% of available resources (total discharge 81.4 km(3) = surface and ground water). The total water consumption (0.5 km(3)) is less than 1% of available resources. Urban (municipal) water requirements account for 27% of total withdrawal or 33% of consumption. When agricultural green water use (cropland) is included in statistics, the fraction of municipal water requirements diminishes to 7.6% of total withdrawal and 2.5% of total consumption. If the evapotranspiration of grassland and alpine meadows is also included in agricultural green water use, this fraction decreases to 3.2% and 0.9% respectively. When the WF is assessed as base value for water use in Austria, the municipal water use represents 5.8% of this value. In this globalized world, these traditional water use statistics are no longer recommendable. Only a holistic water balance approach really represents water use statistics.


ABSTRACT Enterococcus faecalis, a common causative agent of hospital-acquired infections, is resistant to many known antibiotics. Its ability to acquire and transfer resistance genes and virulence determinants through conjugative plasmids poses a serious concern for public health. In some cases, induction of transfer of E. faecalis plasmids results from peptide pheromones produced by plasmid-free recipient cells, which are sensed by the plasmid-bearing donor cells. These plasmids generally encode an inhibitory peptide that competes with the pheromone and suppresses self-induction of donors. We recently demonstrated that the inhibitor peptide encoded on plasmid pCF10 is part of a unique quorum-sensing system in which it functions as a "self-sensing signal," reducing the response to the pheromone in a density-dependent fashion. Based on the similarities between regulatory features controlling conjugation in pAD1 and pAM373 and those controlling conjugation in pCF10, we hypothesized that these plasmids are likely to exhibit similar quorum-sensing behaviors. Experimental findings indicate that for both pAD1 and pAM373, high donor densities indeed resulted in decreased induction of the conjugation operon and reduced conjugation frequencies. This effect was restored by the addition of exogenous inhibitor, confirming that the inhibitor serves as an indicator for donor density. Donor density also affects cross-species conjugative plasmid transfer. Based on our experimental results, we propose models for induction and shutdown of the conjugation operon in pAD1 and pAM373. IMPORTANCE Enterococcus faecalis is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. Its ability to transfer antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants by sharing its genetic material with other bacteria through direct cell-cell contact via conjugation poses a serious threat. Two antagonistic signaling peptides control the transfer of plasmids pAD1 and pAM373: a peptide pheromone produced by plasmid-free recipients triggers the conjugative transfer in plasmid-containing donors, and an inhibitor peptide encoded on the plasmid and produced by donor cells serves to modulate the donor response in accordance with the relative abundance of donors and recipients. We demonstrate that high donor density reduces the conjugation frequency of both of these plasmids, which is a consequence of increased inhibitor concentration in high-donor-density cultures. While most antibiotic strategies end up selecting resistant strains and disrupting the community balance, manipulating bacterial signaling mechanisms can serve as an alternate strategy to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance.


Direct numerical simulations are performed for the elliptic streamline flow, which is a homogeneous turbulent flow that combines the effects of solid body rotation and strain. Simulations are run over a range of parameters in order to determine the effect of changing rotation and strain separately. For early times the nonlinear cascade is suppressed, but then is re-established at later times. The growth rate of turbulent kinetic energy agrees at early times with the trends from linear theory, but at later times the flow seems to approach an asymptotic state that is independent of the ratio of mean flow rotation rate to strain rate. A comparison with standard Reynolds stress turbulence models is made. It is found that for strong rotation rates, the models predict decay of the turbulence, while the simulations show exponential growth. Close examination of the simulation results shows that they are affected by excessively low Reynolds numbers. Suggestions for reducing low Reynolds number effects in future simulations is given.


In many regions of the world, the use of cetaceans as bait or protein source has been reported. In most cases the individuals are from bycatch but also from intentionally killed animals. Cetaceans with coastal habits are more susceptible to negative interactions with small-scale fisheries, as in the case of the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) in the Lake Maracaibo system. For decades, the use of Guiana dolphins by local communities has been reported in this region and is culturally supported by recipes for its preparation. Most of these data was outdated and some were anecdotal, so the objective of this work was to collect systematically data through surveys using the snowball method in seven artisanal fishing communities and to try to quantify the capture rate and to inquire about the potential impact of this practice on the population of Guiana dolphin. From 2017 to 2019, 95 semi-structured interviews were applied. An average bycatch of 180 individuals/year was obtained, the highest catch rate in the entire geographic distribution, an alarming situation considering that the surveys were not carried out in all the fishing ports, generating an underestimation. A total of 78% of interviewed recognized at least one bycatch event during their fishing effort. Surveys revealed a higher incidence of entanglement of offspring and juveniles (78%). 77% of the respondents deny the sale and commercialization of the species, while 5% mention some type of trade. The most frequent part exploited was the dorsal muscle, confirmed by fishermen (97%, n = 72) and the rest of the animal is discarded. During this investigation three episodes of directed capture were recorded, affecting a total of 23 individuals, two of them were pregnant females. The interviews also revealed that the majority of fishermen (93%) recognize the capture of this species as illegal. Considering the vulnerability of the Guiana dolphin in the country, the high incidence of capture and consumption and the lack of surveillance and sanctions by government entities, it is imperative to immediate actions to mitigate the negative impact on the population.


This work was conceptualized with the goal to investigate the phytochemical, free radical scavenging and antifungal profile of Cuscuta campestrisYunck. seeds. Total phenolics, amino acid and carbohydrate contents were evaluated in ethanolic, acetone and chloroform extract. Effective antioxidant activity was evaluated throughout seven antioxidant methods. The antifungal activity was assessed against eight fungal strains and Candida albicans. The results showed total phenol, flavonoid, flavonols and phenolic acids contents in amount of 1.51 – 6.35 mg GAE/mL, 78 – 425 μg RU/mL, 1.04 – 2.98 mg QU/g and 12.01 – 30.58 μg CAE/mL, respectively. The total amino acids and carbohydrates content ranged from 8.29 to 185.45 μg Gly/mL and from 0.05 to 0.12 μg Glu/mL. The ethanolic extract showed the best antioxidant activity in phosphomolybdenum, DPPH free radical scavenging, ferric reducing power and lipid peroxidation assays. The best activity in ferrous ion chelating and H2O2 assays had the acetone extract, whereas the best hydroxyl radical scavenging activity was observed with the chloroform extract. The ethanolic extract at a concentration of 6 mg/mL proved to be the most effective antimycotic, since it inhibited the growth of all tested fungi except Penicillium verrucosum. The obtained results indicate that C. campestris seeds could be attributed to a potential source of natural antioxidants in food and pharmaceutical products.


A nonlinear version of disturbance observer is presented. The system under consideration is an uncertain single input single output nonlinear system and the nominal plant is also a nonlinear system. Compared to the previous implementation given in [8], the proposed scheme does not require an auxiliary variable anymore, thus it has a simpler and more intuitive structure. A robust stability condition for the overall closed-loop system is also provided.


Measuring image similarity is an important task for various multimedia applications. Similarity can be defined at two levels: at the syntactic (lower, context-free) level and at the semantic (higher, contextual) level. As long as one deals with the syntactic level, defining and measuring similarity is a relatively straightforward task, but as soon as one starts dealing with the semantic similarity, the task becomes very difficult. We examine the use of very simple syntactic image features combined with other multimodal features to derive a similarity measure that captures the weak semantics of an image. We test and further use this similarity measure to do video retrieval.


Parsing natural language to corresponding SQL (NL2SQL) with data driven approaches like deep neural networks attracts much attention in recent years. Existing NL2SQL datasets assume that condition values should appear exactly in natural language questions and the queries are answerable given the table. However, these assumptions may fail in practical scenarios, because user may use different expressions for the same content in the table, and query information outside the table without the full picture of contents in table. Therefore we present TableQA, a large-scale cross-domain Natural Language to SQL dataset in Chinese language consisting 64,891 questions and 20,311 unique SQL queries on over 6,000 tables. Different from exisiting NL2SQL datasets, TableQA requires to generalize well not only to SQL skeletons of different questions and table schemas, but also to the various expressions for condition values. Experiment results show that the state-of-the-art model with 95.1% condition value accuracy on WikiSQL only gets 46.8% condition value accuracy and 43.0% logic form accuracy on TableQA, indicating the proposed dataset is challenging and necessary to handle. Two table-aware approaches are proposed to alleviate the problem, the end-to-end approaches obtains 51.3% and 47.4% accuracy on the condition value and logic form tasks, with improvement of 4.7% and 3.4% respectively.


The plasma growth hormone, epinephrine, and norephinephrine responses to cycle ergometer exercise (15 min at 1 W/kg) were examined in 10 juvenile-onset, insulin-dependent diabetics (ages 10–32 yr) during conventional insulin treatment and after 7 and 14 days of treatment with a portable subcutaneous insulin infusion system that normalizes plasma glucose. During conventional insulin treatment (mean plasma glucose, 205 ± 22 mg/dl), the growth hormone response to exercise was sevenfold greater than in normal controls (P < 0.01). After 1 wk of insulin pump treatment (mean plasma glucose, 89 ± 3), the growth hormone response fell 62% (P < 0.001); by 2 wk the growth hormone response had fallen 83% (P < 0.001) to values comparable to those of controls. Exercise resulted in a two- to threefold rise in plasma epinephrine in diabetics (P < 0.001) during conventional treatment but failed to elicit a consistent increment in epinephrine in normal control subjects or in the diabetic patients after 14 days of pump treatment. The rise in plasma norepiriephrine after exercise in conventionally treated diabetic patients was 12-fold greater than in healthy control subjects (P < 0.025) but fell 82% (P < 0.001) after 7 days and 88% (P < 0.001) after 14 days of pump treatment to values similar to those of controls. These data indicate that treatment of insulin-dependent diabetics with a subcutaneous portable insulin infusion system that normalizes plasma glucose results in normalization of the growth hormone and catecholamine response to exercise within 7 to 14 days of institution of treatment.


In this paper, we study the capacity of multiple antenna fading channels. We focus on the scenario where the fading coeecients vary quickly; thus an accurate estimation of the coeecients is generally not available to either the transmitter or the receiver. We use a non-coherent model proposed by Marzetta and Hochwald. The model does not assume any prior knowledge of the fading coeecients, but only assumes that the coeecients remain constant for a coherent interval T as an approximation of the continuously varying channel. We compute the asymptotic capacity of this channel at high SNR in terms of T, the number of transmit antennas M and the number of receive antennas N. While the capacity gain of the coherent multi-antenna channel is minfM; Ng bps/Hz for every 3 dB increase in SNR, the corresponding gain for the non-coherent channel turns out to be M (1?M =T) bps/Hz, where M = minfM; N; bT=2cg. The capacity expression has a geometric interpretation of sphere packing in the Grassmann manifold.


Introduction: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most prevalent gynecologic malignancy in the US and is strongly associated with obesity. With the increasing number of morbidly obese women of reproductive age, endometrial health and prevention of endometrial malignancies is a pressing public health concern. Objective: To explore the rate of endometrial pathology in a small cohort of cancer free, morbidly obese, female bariatric surgery candidates and to determine the success rate of Pipelle endometrial sampling in this group. Methods: Thirty-seven bariatric surgery candidates provided informed consent for endometrial sampling in an outpatient setting. Women were eligible to participate if they were considering bariatric surgery, had an intact uterus, had no history of EC, and had not undergone endometrial ablation. Endometrial samples were obtained using a Pipelle endometrial suction curette and processed at the Pathology Department of Magee-Womens Hospital. Results: We were unable to obtain samples from five women due to anatomical anomalies, such as cervical stenosis. Of the 32 collected samples, 8 were classified as insufficient to evaluate; therefore, 24 readable biopsies were analyzed. Of these 24, 1 was diagnosed as hyperplasia without atypia, 1 hyperplasia with atypia, 3 suggestive endometrial polyps, 1 endometrial tubal metaplasia, 5 normal secretory, 8 proliferative pattern, and 2 benign atrophic endometrial tissue. Four samples revealed hormonal effect likely due to pharmacologic treatment for uterine bleeding. While histologic evidence of unopposed estrogen was prevalent, no one presented with cancer. Thus, this study found an overall rate of subclinical pathology of 20% among women who could be sampled and an overall 35% Pipelle failure rate, including the 5 technically impossible biopsies suggesting morbidly obese patients may be difficult to evaluate with Pipelle biopsy. Conclusion: Morbidly obese women are at a higher risk of having undiagnosed endometrial pathology, at rates greater than previously reported. Results suggest the importance of additional research to more thoroughly examine relationships between levels of obesity and endometrial pathology, as well as to explore underlying mechanisms. This line of research may open new avenues for endometrial cancer prevention and control, and possibly revert this major public health problem.


CONTEXT
RET/papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is a marker for papillary thyroid carcinoma, but its specificity has been questioned because of the disputed identification of RET/PTC in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), oncocytic tumors, and other thyroid lesions.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine 1) whether RET/PTC occurs in nonneoplastic follicular cells of HT, and 2) its recombination rate in thyroid tumors.

DESIGN/PATIENTS
Forty-three samples from 31 cases of HT were examined using interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with RET probes spanning the breakpoint region; real-time RT-PCR to quantify RET/PTC1, RET/PTC3, and c-RET transcripts; and RT-PCR after laser capture microdissection to enrich samples for follicular cells. The results were compared with those similarly obtained in 34 papillary carcinomas, eight thyroid oncocytic tumors, and 21 normal thyroids.

RESULTS
Normal samples showed no RET rearrangement. Sixty-eight percent (15 of 22) of HT were positive by FISH; in all thyroiditis, signals were localized to rare nonneoplastic follicular cells; low-level RET/PTC was identified in 17% (five of 29) of thyroiditis cases by real-time RT-PCR and in an additional six of 11 real-time negative cases after increasing sensitivity with laser capture microdissection. Low RET/PTC1 levels were detected in 26% (nine of 34) of papillary carcinomas with an expression pattern and proportion of FISH-positive cells similar to those of the thyroiditis. Forty-seven percent (16 of 34) of papillary carcinomas and one oncocytic carcinoma expressed high RET/PTC1 mRNA levels.

CONCLUSIONS
Low-level RET/PTC recombination occurs in nonneoplastic follicular cells in HT and in a subset of papillary thyroid carcinomas. RET/PTC expression variability should be taken into account for the molecular diagnosis of thyroid lesions. Overlapping molecular mechanisms may govern early stages of tumor development and inflammation in the thyroid.


In Finance, it is widely accepted that its main objective is the shareholder value creation. To achieve this objective, the shareholder return must be higher than its cost of capital. We calculated the annual realized return (ARR) in the Argentinean Stock Market for a sample of 60 firms during the period from December 2008 to December 2017, and then we compared the results with the required return estimated by an adjusted CAPM model, adding a country risk premium. The results showed that half of the companies included in the sample observed returns higher than their cost of capital, and therefore, created value for shareholders, while the other half destroyed value, including negative returns in the case of nine companies.


Introduction: Synovial hemangioma is a developmental hamartoma of vascular tissue within the synovium; no cases involving the shoulder girdle have been described in the literature. Synovial chondromatosis is a benign condition in which synovial cells undergo metaplasia into hyaline cartilage and is also thought to infrequently affect the shoulder region. Case Report: A 44-year-old female presented with left shoulder pain of 7-year duration. Magnetic resonance image displayed a 2.5 cm × 2.5 cm lesion in the anterior glenohumeral joint, with hypointense T1- and hyperintense T2-weighted signal and peripheral and septal enhancement. Arthroscopic biopsy of the synovial-appearing mass led to a histologic diagnosis of synovial hemangioma. Successful embolization was performed, and repeat arthroscopy then revealed a white consolidated mass at the subscapularis recess. After en bloc excision, histologic evaluation was consistent with synovial chondromatosis. At 6 months, she denied any pain or limitation in her shoulder. Conclusion: Synovial hemangioma has never before been reported to involve the shoulder region. Histologically, engorged inflammatory vessels secondary to a mass effect are identical to a hemangioma. The clinician should be aware that synovial chondromatosis or other masses may compress synovial vessels and histologically mimic a hemangioma.


Developing green and high efficiency inorganic flame retardants is the trend of preparing flame retarding polymer composites. Aluminum phosphates (t-hAP) with uniform, small dimension, and hexagonal structure were facilely synthesized, which have similar size (1–2 μm) but different structures from commercial spherical-like aluminum phosphate (cAP). The flame retardance of bismaleimide (BD)/t-hAP and BD/cAP composites were intensively investigated. t-hAP is proved to have much better flame retarding effect than cAP, but also exhibits advantages over Mg(OH)2 and Al(OH)3. With only 5 wt % addition of t-hAP into BD resin, the peak and total heat releases as well as total smoke production significantly reduce 42.3, 47.8, and 67.3%, respectively; besides, better data are obtained as the loading of t-hAP increases to 10 wt %. These attractive data result from three effects induced by t-hAP. Besides the better protection role of sheet structure, the strong hydrogen bonding between t-hAP and BD resin endows the composite with good dispersion of t-hAP and high crosslinking density; moreover, t-hAP releases H2O and NH3, diluting flammable gases during combustion. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41089.