Conservation, protection and care of the natural environment is a major issue of concern in the 21st century. It's in recognition of this fact that environmental issues occupy significant space in various fields of scholarly pursuit. Philosophical reflections on these issues have been rife. This paper is premised on the position that present environmental crisis is largely caused by human actions and inactions, particularly due to increased human capacity to interfere with natural processes. In this paper we have shown that the humannature encounter raises serious ethical concerns and hence the need for an ethical response. However we are cognizant of the theoretical controversies in environmentalism particularly regarding the appropriate framework to articulate the ethical dimension of human-nature relationship. It is against this backdrop that this study from which this paper has been developed was conceived. This paper is therefore based on the findings of a study carried out in an African cultural context to assess the contribution of culture and tradition to the aforementioned debate in environmental ethics. The study is a reconstruction of the Bukusu (one of the Kenyan ethnic communities) environmental values gathered through intensive oral interviews and subjected to rigorous critical scrutiny and analysis. The study reveals an environmental an ethic which recognizes inherent value in nonhuman nature while emphasizing the unique place of humanity in nature. The Bukusu environmental wisdom and virtue support principles and values aimed at achieving ecological balance and harmony. This is perfectly consistent with Bukusu morality which emphasizes harmonizing relationships. Finally and most significantly the findings support eco-sustainability as the ideal human-nature ethical theoretical framework.


Since the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued the Final Rule in 1998 as a guideline for organ transplantation and allocation policies, the lung allocation system has undergone two major changes. The first change came with the implementation of the lung allocation score (LAS) instead of waiting time as the primary determinant for donor lung allocation. The LAS model helped allocate donor lungs based on medical urgency and likelihood of post-transplant success. The LAS has been successful in prioritizing the sickest candidates and reducing waitlist mortality in line with the Final Rule mandates. However, the LAS model did not address geographic variability in donor lung supply and demand, leading to disparities in waiting list survival based on a patient's listing location, which was inconsistent with the Final Rule. In an urgent response to a lawsuit filed by a patient demanding broader geographic access to lungs in November 2017, the second major change in lung allocation occurred when the primary allocation unit for donor lungs expanded from the local donation service area (DSA) to a 250-nautical mile radius around the donor hospital. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network has since undergone a review of the current organ allocation systems and has approved a continuous organ distribution framework to guide the creation of a new organ allocation system without rigid geographic borders. In this review, we will describe the history of lung allocation, the changes to the allocation system and their consequences, and the potential future of lung allocation policy in the U.S.


We report the experimental observation and micromagnetics simulation of the current-induced switching of the magnetic vortex core in ferromagnetic elliptical disks. We found that the critical current density required for the core switching depends on the relative alignment between the current direction and the elliptical axes of the disk. The micromagnetics simulation results qualitatively reproduce the experimental findings, suggesting that the vortex core displacement induced by the current plays a significant role for the core switching rather than the core velocity.


https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2022.14.1.0398 Abstract Big data technologies have intensified the need for Sustainable Data Governance (SDG). Significant empirical evidence from literature revealed that of the 2.7 zettabytes of data now in the digital universe, only 67% of organizations deployed data governance or data intelligence solutions, 76% of company executives consider information "mission-critical" or most important asset, while 46% including Nigeria had no formal governance strategy in place. Globally, significant relationships exist between SDG and Sustainable Information and Communication Technology (SICT). Data governance (DG) that is driven by SICT is agile, holistic, security-embedded, accurate, high-quality, sustainable, and on a real-time enterprise data pipeline, required in revamping any nation's economy. Despite these global impacts of SDG in revamping the national economy, numerous investigations have shown that DG in Nigeria has remained relatively non-existent or unattended to because its approach is driven by IT that adopted rigid and fragmented processes that were carried out on a system by system basis, lacked a single version of the truth or one single reference for critical master data across geographies, business structure, and wider support of the organization. Poor sustainability of ICT in Nigeria also posed barriers that impede progress related to DG due to corrupt policies and practices, ignorance, and illiteracy that plagued SICT innovations in Nigeria. The authors adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the conceptual framework for this study. UTAUT model claimed that users' acceptance behavior towards technology is determined by users' perceived benefits of using technology and the factors that drive users' decision to use it. A narrative review methodology was adopted in this study to review significant information based on the study conceptual framework, and existing systems that enhance SDG in revamping Nigeria's economy. Articles reviewed include peer-reviewed articles and other documentaries within the last 5 years, extracted from electronic databases, using keywords such as "ICT and SDG", "SDG and national economic development", "Trends for SDG", etc. Results from this study revealed that better decision-making, analytics, and regulatory compliance to policies, laws, and guidelines on the adoption of ICT, coupled with good formulation and communication of same, are the major drivers of sustainable DG for revamping the national economy. The result of this study may increase understanding, minimize corrupt practices and encourage trust and regulatory compliance of ICT innovations, adoption, and sustainability that can positively impact SDG for revamping Nigeria's


Epidemiological studies have shown that flavonoid‐rich plants induce beneficial health effects that are likely beyond their potent antioxidant capacity. Thus, the mechanisms by which Achyrocline satureioides (AS), a popular South American medicinal plant, protects cells and neurons in culture, are still unclear. In this sense, a recently described trophic capacity for flavonoids, similar to that evoked by growth factors, could be one of the mechanisms involved in AS cellular protection. Since this trophic activity causes differentiation of PC12 cells, the cell differentiation capacity of AS and some of its flavonoids were evaluated. PC12 cells were treated with AS infusion (10 or 20 µg/mL of total polyphenols), quercetin (Q) (12.5 or 25 µm), luteolin (L) (25 µm), Q + L (12.5 µm each one) or nerve growth factor (NGF) for 3 days. Four morphological parameters (percentage of cells with neurites longer than one cell body diameter, percentage of cells with neurites, average number of neurites per cell and percentage of fusiform cells) were explored. The AS infusion showed differentiation capacity on all parameters with similar potency when compared with NGF. Besides, AS was more potent than some of its constituent flavonoids: Q, L or their combination. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Magneto-polaronic effects are considered in electron transport through a single-level vibrating quantum dot subjected to a transverse (to the current flow) magnetic field. It is shown that the effects are most pronounced in the regime of sequential electron tunneling, where a polaronic blockade of the current at low temperatures and an anomalous temperature dependence of the magnetoconductance are predicted. In contrast, for resonant tunneling of polarons the peak conductance is not affected by the magnetic field.


"The work upon which this publication is based was supported by funds provided by the United States Department of the Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964, as amended."


Methylsulfomycin I (1) is a new cyclic peptide antibiotic isolated from the fermentation broth of a Streptomyces sp. HIL Y-9420704. Its structure was elucidated by NMR and GC-MS. The in vitro activity (MIC) against a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-, and teicoplanin-resistant strains, is described.


ABSTRACT Time series modelling applied to study water table depths monitoring data is an elegant way to model irregular and continuous data. When successive observations are dependent, future values may be predicted from past observations, and target parameters can be estimated. These may include expected values of groundwater levels, or probabilities that critical levels are exceeded at certain times or during certain periods. These target parameters are estimated with the purpose of obtaining characteristics of the development of a certain domain in time and such characteristics can, for instance, be extrapolated to future situations. In a system identification approach, is it possible to establish the dynamic relationship between water table perturbations and climatological events, vegetation, hydrogeological local conditions, management and groundwater abstraction. The aim of this work was demonstrate the use of a physical-based time series model to stablish the relationship between precipitation and water table depths from hydrogeological monitoring data. The results enabled to infer about water table dynamics even when it is affected by different climatological patterns, simulating mean, maximum and minimum states.


In the following discussion, we are dealing with Weber's theory of the production of presentations, as presented in his article "The Problem of the Production of Presentations". In this article, published in 1928, Weber offers an essential modification of a version of the theory of objects which had been developed by the Graz school (and was closely linked with the theory of higher-order objects). According to Weber, the production of presentations consists in a primary transition from passive to corresponding active presentations (so there is active as well as passive presentation). Weber distinguishes several types of production of presentations: psychophysical, content, act, intentional, and surrogate production, all of which can be divided into many subtypes. Most interesting in this connection is his theory of intentional presentation. In the 1928 article, Weber postulates non-intentional presentations, on which intentional presentations are based. He distinguishes four levels of intentionality: non-intentional presentation, on the lowest level, is followed by presentational intentionality, isolative, and rational intentional presentation. Weber's 1928 article is of considerable importance for an understanding of his subsequent philosophical development.


A combined experimental and numerical study is undertaken to investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of single-phase droplet collision in a shear flow. The passing-over motion of interactive droplets is observed, and the underlying hydrodynamic mechanisms are elucidated by the analysis of the motion trajectory, transient droplet deformation and detailed hydrodynamic information (e.g., pressure and flow fields). The results indicate that the hydrodynamic interaction process under shear could be divided into three stages: approaching, colliding, and separating. With the increasing confinement, the interaction time for the passing-over process is shorter and the droplet processes one higher curvature tip and more stretched profile. Furthermore, the lateral separation Δy/R1 exhibits larger decrease in the approaching stage and the thickness of the lubrication film is decreased during the interaction. As the initial lateral separation increases, the maximum trajectory shift by the collision interaction is getting smaller. During the collision between two droplets with different sizes, the amplitude of the deformation oscillation of the larger droplet is decreased by reducing the size ratio of the smaller droplet to the bigger one.


An approximate—locally analytic in the time variable and globally analytic in the space variable—solution is developed for the one-dimensional Stefan problem with time-dependent boundary conditions. Because of local analyticity in time, the solution is accurate over time intervals that are much larger than the step size permitted by most numerical schemes. The solution is developed by reducing the governing partial differential equation (PDE) to two ordinary differential equations (OOE), and then simultaneously solving them along with the ODE for the moving-boundary interface condition. The resulting scheme requires the solution of only a single transcendental (algebraic) equation at each time interval for the time-step-averaged temperature gradient at the moving boundary. The position of the moving boundary and the temperature distribution at the end of the time interval are then simply evaluated using approximate analytical expressions. Good agreement with reference solutions is obtained.


The Union Cabinet before it was recently enlarged. In the left foreground is Dr. A.J. Stals (Health and Social Welfare). Others are (left to right): Mr F.C. Erasmus (Defence), Dr T.E. Donges (Interior), Mr S.P. Le Roux (Agriculture), Dr E.G. Jansen (former Minister of Native Affairs and now Governor-general), Mr N.C. Havenga (Finance), Dr. D.F. Malan (Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs), Mr J.G. Strydom (Lands and Irrigation), Mr C.R. Swart (Justice) , Mr P.O. Sauer (Transport), Mr E.H. Louw (Economic Affairs), and Mr B.J. Schoeman (Labour, Public Works and Forestry). Dr. H.F. Verwoerd is the new Minister of Native Affairs, Mr J.H. Viljoen, Minister of Mines, Education, Arts and Science, and Mr J.F.T Naude, Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.


This article considers the dismantling of architectural woodwork, conservation issues, and preparation for the installation of the music room from the Curtis Bok House in the upcoming expansion of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's American Art galleries. In addition, insights on Wharton Esherick as both an artist and craftsman that were revealed in the process of the dismantling are addressed.


Cystoid macular edema (CME) has been reported in the neonatal period associated with preterm birth; however, its pathogenesis remains unclear and is likely multifactorial. The authors report the case of a preterm infant imaged using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which revealed severe CME that regressed after laser treatment. Because laser for retinopathy of prematurity aims to reduce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels, this case considers the possibility of VEGF-mediated CME pathogenesis. Further, the authors provide additional evidence of the value of OCT for noninvasive visualization of the preterm retina; the modality provides an effective way to evaluate and monitor progression of CME. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2020;51:472-475.].


beta-adrenergic blocking drugs reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, chiefly by reducing heart rate as the principal basis for their efficacy in ischaemic heart disease. Regardless of the presence of associated properties, beta, selectivity, partial agonist activity, all beta-blocking drugs have been found efficacious in the treatment of angina pectoris, both alone and in combination with drugs such as nitrates and calcium antagonists. Holter monitoring has demonstrated beta blockers also reduce the incidence of silent ischaemia. Finally, they are established in the treatment of acute infarction and secondary prevention of recurrences. There are inherent disadvantages of inhibition of the beta sympathetic, most notably the precipitation of asthma and heart failure in susceptible subjects. Recently, combined-action beta-blocking drugs have been developed, i.e. combining beta blockade with peripheral vasodilator activity, either by alpha 1, blockade, beta 2 stimulation or a direct effect independent of either receptor. They have a more favourable haemodynamic profile and, while initial studies are promising, it is not yet clear whether this will be translated into improved clinical benefit in ischaemic heart disease.


The control of the physicochemical properties of silica particles is of paramount importance to achieve full functionality in specific applications. A novel facile method of silica particle synthesis, requiring only two reactants, was developed. Control of the surface charge of these newly synthesized silica particles was achieved via the rapid electrostatic adsorption and acidic desorption of the branched, biomimetic polymer, polyethylenimine (PEI). Successful adsorption/desorption of PEI was supported by ATR-FTIR spectra, an adsorption isotherm, and ζ-potential curves. PEI adsorption above a threshold PEI concentration was determined to categorically change the topography of the silica particles' ζ-potential curve. The results from our study convey a rapid, reversible, and reliable method of silica particle surface charge control. This may be of particular use in tailoring surface interactions of silica or silica-coated particles for applications in drug delivery, biomedical technologies, catalysis, and coatings.


Generating a protective humoral immune response requires proper B cell activation. Ligation of the BCR increases the level of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI). While they have been implicated in oxidative stress, recent studies suggest ROI act as secondary messengers facilitating normal cellular function. Our focus is on the mechanisms by which ROI control B cell function. Following BCR ligation in vitro, the levels of the first oxidation product of cysteine, sulfenic acid, increased in the proteome. Using 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione (dimedone), a compound that covalently reacts with sulfenic acid to prevent further oxidation or reduction, we determined reversible cysteine sulfenic acid formation is critical for sustained tyrosine phosphorylation, calcium flux, and proliferation of B cells. To address the role of ROI in vivo, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infected mice were treated with Mn(III)tetrakis(4-benzoic acid)porphyrin chloride (MnTBAP), a superoxide dismutase mimetic, from days 0-8 postinfection. On day 38, LCMV specific IgG antibody secreting cells (ASC) were 5-fold lower in the bone marrow. In contrast, the number of LCMV specific memory B cells was unaffected. The ASC decrease was not detected when mice were only treated from days 0-4 or 4-8 postinfection or during secondary viral infection. These data demonstrate ROI and reversible cysteine sulfenic acid formation are critical to B cell function and differentiation.


Sustainable forest practices are often designed to mimic natural disturbance and successional processes, yet succes- sion is poorly understood in many ecosystems. On northeastern Vancouver Island, the "disturbance hypothesis" is a widely assumed succession model asserting that shade-tolerant western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) and the ericaceous shrub salal (Gaultheria shallon Pursh) invade and colonize highly productive western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) - Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis Douglas ex J. Forbes) stands (HA) on zonal sites in the absence of stand-replacing wind disturbance. This leads to the development of low-productivity, low-density, uneven-aged, open-crowned redcedar-hemlock-salal stands (CH). In conflict with this model, old, apparently stable HA stands lacking redcedar can be found on such sites as well. We sought evidence for the predicted transition to CH stands by examining stand composition, crown closure, tree size class frequency distributions, salal cover, and redcedar establishment on young HA (90 years old), old HA (>160 years), and CH (>160 years) stands. When adjacent to a redcedar stand, young HA stands had fewer redcedar seedlings but more redcedar adult trees than old HA stands. However, redcedar abundance did not differ between young and old HA stands at distances further than 10 m from adjacent redcedar stands. This could indicate that redcedar recruits into HA stands at stand establishment and that redcedar seedling establishment is low under the thick canopy of young HA stands. The chronosequence data also suggest that both old HA and CH stands are self-replacing stand types in these forests, contrary to the disturbance hypothesis. We develop a new, multipathway model for this ecosystem that is based on the chronosequence data and life-history traits of the focal tree species and suggest that disturbance plays a role opposite to the equilibrium model.


The potential of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) as a method for discriminating edible vegetable oils was investigated. SBS spectra of four different types of Chinese vegetable oil were measured by employing a special spectrometer system based on Fabry–Perot etalon and double cylindrical lenses. The results show that the frequency shift decreases with an increase in temperature. The changes in the Brillouin frequency shift of the four types of oil sample can be expressed by using four corresponding exponential decay functions. Experimental results prove the SBS method to be useful for discriminating edible vegetable oils or authenticating vegetable oil adulteration.


Four patients are presented who were ascertained to have synchronous primary neoplasms-adenocarcinoma of the colon and lymphoma. The age-specific incidence of these lesions is used to compute the expected incidence of this joint occurrence in the aggregate. A hypothesis is proposed to explain the association between adenocarcinoma of the colon and lymphoma. The available data concerning the incidence of multiple primary malignancy of different organs is briefly discussed. It is suggested that data pertaining to multiple primary malignancies of different organs is confused as a result of pooling heterogeneous groups.


Anemia is an almost universal complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and nearly all patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and approximately 70% of those with earlier stages of CKD receive treatment for anemia. Due to its significance in the treatment of anemia, there is increased reliance on iron in the renal anemia population. In clinical practice, not every patient benefits from intravenous (IV) iron therapy. In order to identify patients who will respond to IV iron therapy and who will not respond to it, our goals were to identify the potential serum biomarkers that could predict the response to IV iron therapy in renal anemia patients. The metabolic profiles of serum from 41 renal anemia patients with complete, partial or non-response to IV iron therapy were studied using a combination of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and multivariate analysis methods to identify the potential biomarkers that could predict the response to IV iron therapy in renal anemia patients. Oleamide and ascorbate 2-sulfate (AS) were identified and verified as the potential biomarkers. A prediction model constructed with oleamide and AS correctly identified approximately 83.3% of patients who were non-responsive to IV iron therapy and 87.5% of patients who had a complete response to IV iron therapy. The model has excellent discriminant performance, with an AUC of 0.901. These results show promise for larger studies that could advance more personalized treatment protocols for renal anemia patients.


Ink-jet printing is a method for directly patterning and fabricating patterns without the need for masks. To achieve this, the fluids used as inks must have the capability of being stably and accurately printed by ink-jetting. We have investigated the inter-relationship between ink-jet printability and physical fluid properties by monitoring droplet formation dynamics. The printability of the fluids was determined using the inverse (Z) of the Ohnesorge number (Oh) which relates to the viscosity, surface tension, and density of the fluid. We have experimentally defined the printable range as 4 < or = Z < or = 14 by considering characteristics such as single droplet formability, positional accuracy, and maximum allowable jetting frequency.


The proposal is made that very small changes in gravitational field could be detected by monitoring a cell of heated fluid. Variations in gravity would be observed by their effect on the convection in the fluid cell. It is proposed that the convection patterns be observed by using an interferometer to image the temperature gradient in the fluid by utilising the effect of temperature variations on the refractive index of the fluid. It was proposed that this system may be able to detect changes in the Earth's gravitational field from orbit. The possibility of using the NASA GAS programme to perform a space flight test of this proposal was suggested. Activities in this programme were therefore surveyed and a proposal made. The primary experimental results were recorded in the form of convection images which were later processed on the ground to extract information. Research has been carried out in this area as investigation has shown that existing image processing techniques are not suitable to process the anticipated fringe images. Meanwhile design and development of a GAS experiment was performed. This was undertaken in liaison with NASA in order to achieve the required safety approvals for flight. Subsequently the flight experiment was performed aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-77 mission launched on the 19th May 1996. As a result of this project an image processing system for the analysis of interferogram images of convection has been developed and an experiment to image convection in microgravity, with a view to analysing its use for the detection of changes in gravity has been performed.


It was found that the resonance frequency of NMR protons of the fluid inside erythrocytes differs from that of plasma protons. This leads to a broadening of the NMR signal from blood, which depends on the extent of oxygenation and the shape of erythrocytes. The coefficient of diffusion of water through the erythrocyte membrane was estimated to be D approximately equal to 10(-14) m2/s.


BACKGROUND
Cisplatin-induced peripheral nerve neurotoxicity (CIPN) is the main obstacle in cisplatin treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the modulatory effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and progesterone on CIPN, because there are scarce literature data on the protective effect of the proge-sterone on the CIPN.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty-four rats were divided into four groups: control, cisplatin-treated, concomitant cisplatin-treated and NAC-treated, and concomitant cisplatin-treated and progesterone-treated. Electron microscopic, immunohistochemical, real time polymerase chain reaction and histomorphome-tric analysis; oxidative/antioxidative markers (MDA/GSH and SOD), neurotoxic/ neuroprotective markers (iNOS/nNOS), inflammatory mediators (TNF-a and NF-kB) and BAX were done.

RESULTS
The myelin sheath in the cisplatin-treated group elucidated infolding. The myelin was disfigured, degenerated, and extensively split with areas of focal loss. The axoplasm was atrophic. Ballooning and vacuolations of the mitochon-dria with alterations of Remak bundles structures were observed. Fewer of these changes were noted in the NAC and progesterone-treated groups. Decrease of the antioxidant SOD and GSH (81% and 64%) and increase of the oxidant MDA (9 folds), increment of the neurotoxic iNOS (1.9 folds) and decrement of the neuroprotective nNOS (64%) and elevation of the inflammatory mediators' TNF-a and NF-kB (8.3 and 11 folds) in the cisplatin-treated group. Increase of the antioxidant SOD (1.3 and 2.5 folds) and GSH (120% and 79%) and decrease of the oxidant MDA (69% and 88%), decrement of the neurotoxic iNOS (56% and 68%) and increment of the neuroprotective nNOS (1.6 and one folds) and elevation of the inflammatory mediators' TNF-a and NF-kB were observed in the NAC and progesterone-treated groups, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The toxic effect of CIPN might be attributed to either oxidative or severe inflammatory stress. Progesterone is efficient in ameliorating these effects; however, NAC is better. (Folia Morphol 2018; 77, 2: 234-245).


Abstract Interspecific hybridization has been occasionally reported for various combinations of geoemydid turtles, but genetic consequences of such hybridization have rarely been investigated. We surveyed the hybrid status of 40 individuals from a seemingly hybridizing turtle assemblage in a natural pond in northcentral Honshu, Japan. Analysis of mtDNA sequences confirmed that the parental species of this assemblage were Mauremys reevesii (Chinese three-keeled pond turtle) and Mauremys mutica (Asian yellow pond turtle), neither of which is native to the main islands of Japan, although M. reevesii was naturalized in the area before the 19th century. Extensive examination of pure strain samples of the 2 species yielded 10 morphological and 10 genetic diagnostic characters (allozyme and short interspersed repetitive elements) that were used to determine the hybrid status of the turtles in the assemblage. Morphological examination showed that 19 out of 40 individuals were not different from pure M. reevesii individuals, but the remaining 21 individuals exhibited M. mutica states at 1 to 6 characters, indicating interspecific crosses at a moderate to large scale. In the genetic characters, however, only 2 of the 21 individuals possessed marker alleles of M. mutica at a few loci and all others possessed alleles of M. reevesii only; thus neither pure M. mutica nor F1 hybrids were included in the assemblage. These results suggest that iterative backcrosses with pure M. reevesii have occurred. In the analysis using the genetic hybrid index (GHI), which was defined as the number of M. mutica type alleles over the 10 examined loci, the 2 individuals scored 5 and 2, respectively, and all others scored 0. This discrete distribution of GHI scores negates an assumption of a random mating hybrid swarm but suggests that these two individuals emerged by a different hybridization event, independent from that leading to the many other putative hybrids detected by morphological characters only. Our results suggest that even though the hybrid genotypes rarely prevailed in the population, once introgressed genes were diluted by successive backcrosses, they could have been retained over many generations.


In urban areas, local microclimate is influenced by architectural forms, which will in turn affect human comfort. Taking Daqing as an example, this article studies the microclimate of a university campus in the severe cold area in China. Based on the space features of the streets, we categorize the streets into three types: open type, semi-open type, and street-entry type. Through analysis, this article researches microclimates of the three kinds of streets, the influence of building heating on the surrounding thermal environment, the relationship between streets' morphology features and microclimate and human comfort (physiological equivalent temperature, PET). By study and analysis, we have the following findings: for open-type streets, the average globe temperatures of streets with different orientations can reach 1.3 °C in winter because of the influence of sidewalk trees. For semi-open-type streets, streets temperature is under the influence of the locating directions of buildings. The maximum air temperature difference among streets with different building arrangements reaches 2.1 °C in winter. For street-entry-type streets, the height–width ratios and orientations of streets are related to the continuity degree of the street interfaces. The building interface acts as a heating element and affect the surrounding thermal environment by heat convection and heat radiation. Analysis demonstrates that heat convection has a more obvious effect on rising surrounding temperature than heat radiation. Buildings with higher heat radiation witness higher globe temperature. For street-entry-type streets and semi-open-type streets, the SVF (sky view factor) and L/C (plane opening rate) of streets are negatively correlated with temperature and PET, but positively correlated with wind speed. If the SVF increases 0.1, the air temperature will reduce 0.1 °C, the wind speed will increase 0.19 m/s, and the PET will reduce 0.7 °C.


Deep convolutional semantic segmentation (DCSS) learning doesn't converge to an optimal local minimum with random parameters initializations; a pre-trained model on the same domain becomes necessary to achieve convergence.In this work, we propose a joint cooperative end-to-end learning method for DCSS. It addresses many drawbacks with existing deep semantic segmentation learning; the proposed approach simultaneously learn both segmentation and classification; taking away the essential need of the pre-trained model for learning convergence. We present an improved inception based architecture with partial attention gating (PAG) over encoder information. The PAG also adds to achieve faster convergence and better accuracy for segmentation task. We will show the effectiveness of this learning on a diabetic retinopathy classification and segmentation dataset.


The primary goals of the clinician in the treatment of fistulizing Crohn's disease (CD) include (1) defining the anatomy of the fistula, (2) draining any associated infectious material, (3) eradicating the fistulous tract through medical or surgical therapies, and (4) preventing recurrence of fistulas. Evaluation and therapeutic decisions require close collaboration between the gastroenterologist and surgeon. Appropriate evaluation should include identification of septic complications, delineation of the fistulous tract including the origin and terminus of the fistula, and determination of the extent of bowel involvement with active CD. Drainage of abscesses and control of septic complications through the placement of drains or setons is essential. Conservative therapy with avoidance of sphincter muscle-cutting procedures is the standard approach. The appropriate approach to asymptomatic patients is uncertain because there are little data to indicate if treatment alters the natural course of disease.


The data present in this world is in bulk and in order to provide flawless performance along with two of the major things in the world of database, i.e. consistency and availability, it is difficult to achieve in RDBMS. To tackle this increase in data and work towards getting better performance in applications these days, NoSQL databases were introduced. There are different types of NoSQL databases that are built upon the concepts of documents, key-value pair, graphs etc. This paper talks about one such NoSQL database called MongoDB which is a based on a document store principle. It is widely used document store database in industries [11]. Despite being performance rich, there are some security flaws when adapting the database and those flaws are discussed in this paper in detail and are compared with traditional RDBMS system. Previous attacks on MongoDB, along with how to avoid such attacks are explained in detail. Some suggestions to work upon in order to improve the security in MongoDB is also suggested in this paper.


Context. The chromosphere of the Sun is a temporally and spatially very varying medium for which the assumption of ionisation equilibrium is questionable. Aims. Our aim is to determine the dominant processes and timescales for the ionisation equilibrium of calcium under solar chromospheric conditions. Methods. The study is based on numerical simulations with the RADYN code, which combines hydrodynamics with a detailed solution of the radiative transfer equation. The calculations include a detailed non-equilibrium treatment of hydrogen, calcium, and helium. Next to an hour long simulation sequence, additional simulations are produced, for which the stratification is slightly perturbed so that a ionisation relaxation timescale can be determined. The simulations are characterised by upwards propagating shock waves, which cause strong temperature fluctuations and variations of the (non-equilibrium) ionisation degree of calcium. Results. The passage of a hot shock front leads to a strong net ionisation of Ca II, rapidly followed by net recombination. The relaxation timescale of the calcium ionisation state is found to be of the order of a few seconds at the top of the photosphere and 10 to 30 s in the upper chromosphere. At heights around 1 Mm, we find typical values around 60 s and in extreme cases up to ∼150 s. Generally, the timescales are significantly reduced in the wakes of ubiquitous hot shock fronts. The timescales can be reliably determined from a simple analysis of the eigenvalues of the transition rate matrix. The timescales are dominated by the radiative recombination from Ca III into the metastable Ca II energy levels of the 4d 2 D term. These transitions depend strongly on the density of free electrons and therefore on the (non-equilibrium) ionisation degree of hydrogen, which is the main electron donor. Conclusions. The ionisation/recombination timescales derived here are too long for the assumption of an instantaneous ionisation equilibrium to be valid and, on the other hand, are not long enough to warrant an assumption of a constant ionisation fraction. Fortunately, the ionisation degree of Ca ii remains small in the height range, where the cores of the H, K, and the infrared triplet lines are formed. We conclude that the difference due to a detailed treatment of Ca ionisation has only negligible impact on the modelling of spectral lines of Ca ii and the plasma properties under the conditions in the quiet solar chromosphere.


We report clinical effects of tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist, in cardiac surgery. Tolvaptan was administrated to 5 patients with non-dialysis dependent stage 4-5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) during an early postoperative stage. Tolvaptan increased urine output and improved respiratory function in all patients without causing hemodynamic deterioration. All patients were able to avoid initiating long-term hemodialysis during hospital stay. Tolvaptan was effective and safe after cardiac surgery for patients with severe CKD.


: The reduction of the amount of pollution and toxicity by the manufacture of products has been a topic widely investigated by many international organizations, looking for an answer that help humanity to minimize the environmental impact. The main objective of this paper is to study the literature of Green engineering from 2007 to 2017 using bibliometric techniques for obtaining an overview of the production behavior of publications in this topic. The information was discharged and analyzed using tools such as Web of Science (WOS) and HistCite to get important results of the international contribution developing significant advances in this area. According to the results obtained, USA has been the most important country researching in this subject, providing 36.8% of the total publications. From the 257 publications, 60.9% were journal articles, where the Abstracts of papers of the American Chemical Society was the most relevant journal with 14 papers. Between 2014 and 2017 an important increase in the published production was presented, being 2016 the year with the most papers published with 15.6% of total investigations. In recent years, green engineering has been consider in many process on industries as a key tool to help the control of the greenhouse emissions, reducing the environmental impact providing some steps to achieve goals proposed for 2050 according to the ISO 50001 standard.Introducción.


The main focus of this thesis was to evaluate the possibility of establishing a wastewater treatment model for the main COD removal parts in the water line of Sjolunda Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located in Malmo, in southern Sweden. The finalised model was used to simulate an increased load of on average 5,000 population equivalents (P.E.) per year due to population growth in Malmo. The aim was to investigate for how long the present configuration of Sjolunda WWTP can handle the increased load without deteriorating water quality or enlarging the plant. The third aim was to investigate a possible increase in biogas production due to the increased load.

The construction, calibration and simulation of the wastewater treatment model were executed using the DHI software product WEST. The flow and concentration data used was provided by online measurements and lab analysis at Sjolunda WWTP. The four main sections modelled were the iron-based pre-precipitation with pre-settling, the primary clarifiers, the activated sludge lines and the secondary clarifiers. No parts of the waste sludge treatment processes were modelled, instead, the biogas production was analysed using simplified calculations.

The calibrated result indicates that it is highly possible to create a wastewater treatment model for the main COD removal parts in the water line for Sjolunda WWTP. The calibrated result for the primary sludge and the waste sludge were difficult to evaluate due to both lack of data from Sjolunda WWTP and data of low quality. The greatest calibration complication was to keep high concentrations for total suspended solids (TSS) and phosphorus (PO3-4-P) in the
activated sludge, extensive effort was therefore directed towards solving this complication. The calibrated results for the overflow from the primary clarifiers and the concentrations for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and COD in the overflow from the secondary clarifiers were considered good calibration results.

The results from the increased load simulations indicate that it is only possible to operate Sjolunda WWTP for an additional nine years without deteriorating effluent quality from the secondary clarifiers or enlarging the plant. The total yearly biogas production during year 0 (before the increased load started) was 800,000 Nm3. The total yearly production was on average increased by 47,000 Nm3 each year until the ninth simulation year where the total yearly production had reached a value of 1,220,000 Nm3.

It was proposed for future work to continue the development of the wastewater treatment model of Sjolunda WWTP since it was proved to be possible to create a model. Especially well-conducted measuring campaigns were proposed to improve the model significantly and a biogas production study was proposed in order to improve and evaluate the calculations for the biogas production.


Depression dur ing pregnancy is not uncomm on. One of the main concern with psychotropic drugs during pregnancy is teratogenicity. Although fluoxetin e is one of the most frequently prescribed antidepressant , its safety in women considering possible toxic effecs t has not been established well. To investigate the potenti al toxic effect of long term fluoxetine therap y on the DNA in women, comet assa y was performed in peripheral lymphocytes of 25 depre ssive female patients who has been receiving fluoxetine for at least six months. 25 healthy, drug free female volunteers were selected for the cont rol group. The frequencies of comet scores in the patient group were significantly higher than that of the control group (p=O.OI) indicating that DNA damaging effect of fluox etine in human lymphocytes . Our prelimin ary data were based on a few subjects and etiological and pathological mechani sm remain obscure, further large-scale experimental and clinical studie s are needed. [


Background/aim This study aims to explore the mirror neuron system (MNS) involvement using mu (8–12 Hz)/beta (15–25 Hz) band suppression in an action observation-execution paradigm. Materials and methods Electrophysiological (EEG) data from 16 electrodes were recorded while 8 participants observed video clips of a hand squeezing a spring. Specifically, the effect of anticipated execution on observation was studied. For this purpose, a fully actuated finger exoskeleton robot was utilized to synchronize observation and execution and to control the execution condition for the participants. Anticipatory effect was created with a randomized robot accompany session. Results The results showed that the observational condition (with or without anticipation) interacted with hemisphere at central channels near somatosensory cortex. Additionally, we explored the response of MNS on the kinetics features of visual stimuli (hard or soft spring). Conclusion The results showed an interaction effect of kinetics features and hemisphere at frontal channels corresponding nearly to the ventral premotor cortex area of the brain. The activation of mirror neurons in this area plays a crucial role in observational learning. Based on our results, we propose that specific type of visual stimuli can be combined with the functional abilities of the MNS in the action observation based treatment of hand motor dysfunction of stroke patients to have a positive additional impact.


Although replicon systems for hepatitis C virus (HCV) recently developed have enabled the replication of HCV in cultured cells, limited genotypes are available for them. We have isolated HCV cDNA of genotype 2a (JFH-1 strain) from serum of a patient with fulminant hepatitis. A subgenomic replicon of JFH-1 was constructed and compared with the HCV replicon of genotype 1b (Con1 NK5.1) which possessed adaptive mutations. Huh7 cells transfected with replicon RNAs that had been transcribed in vitro were cultured in the presence of neomycin sulfate (G418), and selected colonies were isolated and expanded. Then, growth rates and replication of HCV RNA were evaluated on isolated cells hosting replicons. Saturation densities were lower for cells propagating JFH-1 than Con1 NK5.1 or untransfected Huh7 cells, and the mean doubling time was longer for JFH-1 than for Huh7 cells. Levels of HCV RNA replication in isolated clones were similar between JFH-1 and Con1 NK5.1 cells. Replication of RNA decreased reciprocally with cell densities in both JFH-1 and Con1 NK5.1 cells. The replication of HCV RNA was more resistant to interferon-α in JFH-1 than in Con1 NK5.1 cells based on the comparison of an inhibitory concentration of 50%. In conclusion, we found differences between HCV replicon clones of genotypes 1b and 2a. However, these differences may result from strain-specific characteristics, such as the source of HCV, rather than characteristics of distinct genotypes. Therefore, further investigation may be needed on more HCV isolates of diverse genotypes.


The quantum limit of a laser amplifier used as a detector is calculated. It is shown that the amplified output can be quantum correlated to the detector readout. However, as an information tap, the amplifying detector is no better than a lossless linear beamsplitter due to the added spontaneous emission noise. >


The purpose of this study is to analyze the influential factors on the change in life satisfaction of elderly households. In this study, single and couple elderly households were defined as elderly households and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th data of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (KLoSA) provided by the Korea Employment Information Service (KEIS) were used. And 677 respondents aged 65 and over who had replied to all 3 sessions were included in the final subjects. multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the influential factors on life satisfaction by the type of elderly households according to consumption pattern and the result showed that there were common influential factors such as house owning status and subjective health status and the factors that influence specific types such as expectancy of standard of living. In addition, in the longitudinal analysis of life satisfaction of elderly households, individual satisfaction level was confirmed to reduce with time and the factors that influence the longitudinal change in the level of life satisfaction of elderly households was analyzed through the conditional model of a latent growth model. The analysis results showed that household type, house owning status, and subjective health status influenced the initial value of life satisfaction of elderly households while household type and expectancy of living standard influenced the change rate of life satisfaction of elderly households. Based on the results of this study, the followings are suggested. There is a need to improve the life satisfaction of old age by increasing the opportunity for self-realization of elderly households and also policy approach should be made selectively taking various types into consideration.


Copper amine oxidase (CAO) is a dual-functioning enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of a self-derived coenzyme and subsequent oxidative deamination of primary amines. The organic cofactor, 2,4,5-trihydroxyphenylalanine quinone (TPQ), is generated from the post-translational modification of an active site tyrosine (Y405) in a reaction shown to be dependent on both molecular oxygen and a mononuclear copper center. Previous investigations of Cu(II)-dependent cofactor formation in the Hansenula polymorpha amine oxidase (HPAO) provided evidence for the coordination of the precursor tyrosine in forming a ligand-to-metal charge transfer complex as a means of activating the tyrosyl ring for direct attack by triplet-state dioxygen. To further delineate the role of the metal in facilitating this complex series of reactions, apo-HPAO was reconstituted with alternate metals of varying reduction potentials and Lewis acidities [Ni(II), Co(II), Mn(II), Fe(II), and Fe(III)] and the consequence of each substitution on TPQ biogenesis examined. Ni(II) was found to support the transformation of the precursor tyrosine to the quinone cofactor to yield a mature enzyme competent for methylamine oxidation. Detailed kinetic analysis of the mechanism of TPQ biogenesis for the Ni(II)-substituted enzyme has led to the proposal of a direct electron transfer from the metal-coordinated tyrosinate to dioxygen as the dominant rate-limiting step.


Natural dyeing is one of the indigenous pieces of knowledge that has been explored on its potential since prehistoric decade. The process and materials used revolves nature-friendly essential, which are safe to the environment in comparison to the chemical dyeing materials. Currently, the Adonidia Merillii or also known as betel nut tree, is only used as an ornamental tree such as in landscaping. However, it has potentials of being more than an ornament and can be utilized as dyes for local textile industries. Thus, this study focused on extracting dye from young Adonidia Merillii fruits husk. Traditional boiling method was applied to extract the natural colours from the fruits. Colour testing was conducted on four (4) types of fabrics which were rayon, Crepe de Chine (CDC), China Cotton and jacquard by using post-mordanting treatment. The mordants used were aqueous lime water, alum, and ashes. The colour on the textile samples was tested and evaluated via colour fastness properties. The tests conducted include exposing textile samples to artificial light, washing, rubbing, water and perspiration. Adonidia Merillii fruits husk have given hues of brown colour staining on the textiles, but the colour changed after the test, surprisingly on the artificial light exposure. The bright colour of the initial samples appeared to be less bright than those exposed to artificial light. The brightness of the samples was determined using blue scale grading. The findings from this experimental study may contribute to the palette colour of natural dyeing on textile and extended future research about the brightness change would be significant for the Malaysia local textile industries.


Cross-modal transfer is helpful to enhance modality-specific discriminative power for scene recognition. To this end, this paper presents a unified framework to integrate the tasks of cross-modal translation and modality-specific recognition, termed as Translate-to-Recognize Network TRecgNet. Specifically, both translation and recognition tasks share the same encoder network, which allows to explicitly regularize the training of recognition task with the help of translation, and thus improve its final generalization ability. For translation task, we place a decoder module on top of the encoder network and it is optimized with a new layer-wise semantic loss, while for recognition task, we use a linear classifier based on the feature embedding from encoder and its training is guided by the standard cross-entropy loss. In addition, our TRecgNet allows to exploit large numbers of unlabeled RGB-D data to train the translation task and thus improve the representation power of encoder network. Empirically, we verify that this new semi-supervised setting is able to further enhance the performance of recognition network. We perform experiments on two RGB-D scene recognition benchmarks: NYU Depth v2 and SUN RGB-D, demonstrating that TRecgNet achieves superior performance to the existing state-of-the-art methods, especially for recognition solely based on a single modality.


A 48-year-old female with albinism presented to emergency department with a complaint of a three-day history of nausea and vomiting, accompanied by fever and general weakness. She had a towel wrapped around her left arm and said it was to cover a wound that was growing in size in the last two years. On physical examination, vegetating and exophytic ulcerous tumor on the lateral side of the left arm was observed; there was granulation tissue on all surfaces, release of fluid with pustules and hemorrhagic points. She had a pulse rate of 125/min, blood pressure of 136/78 mmHg, temperature of 38.5 C, (101.3 F) and respiratory rate of 16/min. Laboratory testing was remarkable for elevated white blood cells at 18,230/mm3 with left shift and C-reactive protein of 85.4 mg/dl; chest radiography and urine analysis were normal. Biopsy was performed, the diagnosis of giant cutaneous basosquamous cell carcinoma was made and she was referred to oncology department, but her follow-up was lost because she was not found.


The evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) has boosted transformation in education and public school. The indiscriminate use of the personal computer has flooded our schools with works like «select all, copy and paste». The public school reduces the digital exclusion, but the training of teachers in these subjects should be considered a priority. ICTs in education, as well as information provided by them, correspond to the discovery of a new educational dimension. A strong educational force, incorporating the needs of the twenty-first century, gives new technologies a major role, as mediators of the educational act.


Explicates the various components of hospice legal services and draws attention to their possible spiritual dimensions. Notes particularly pastoral care implications of the many legal matters associated with the hospice patient.


Abstract. Digital data production possibilities have developed with the emerging technologies, and it has become possible to use different data formats together. The usability of three-dimensional (3D) data on various application areas has increased with the multidimensional use of geographic data in established information systems, for 3D visualization, presentation, and analysis. Topography-related analyzes such as digital elevation models, digital terrain models, slope maps and visibility maps can be made from geographic data sets produced in 3D. In addition, the use of 3D data in Building Information Modeling (BIM) has added various innovations for geographic data analysis. In this study, a geographic database was established by taking the vector data produced in the 3D Cadastre project that was carried out by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre as an example. Data obtained from photogrammetry and architectural projects were used in accordance with the OGC CityGML standard. After creating 3D building database in GIS environment, as result of various visualization and analysis techniques, the contributions of this project to BIM were revealed for various applications such as real estate valuation, disaster management, renewable energy, 3D city models, and smart city projects.


Proactive routing protocols are commonly used in wireless sensor networks due to their main feature is distributing information very quickly. However, most of the implementations using these protocols do not guarantee the robustness that unexpected emergencies required. In this paper, it tries to model a wireless sensor network implemented in a three-floor's building, robust enough to assure the working of the net despite of the loss of nodes in emergency situations. The performance of DSDV (Destination Sequenced Distance Vector) and OLSR (On Link State Routing) is simulated in various scenarios using a different number of nodes in the building. The results show that the OLSR protocol can achieve a better performance in terms of robustness in the proposed scenarios.


Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMC) offers a theoretically wellfounded way to enable applications that preserve their users' privacy. However, the practical use of SMC has often been questioned in the past. This is partly due to the fact that the system assumptions made in theory are hard to meet in practice and partly due to the potentially very high overhead general purpose SMC frameworks induce on clients. In this report, we aim at bringing SMC closer to regular Internet users. We introduce SMC-MuSe, a framework for Secure Multi-Party Computation on MultiSets. SMC-MuSe is targeted at the efficient implementation of specific interesting functions rather then on computing arbitrary ones. It is generic in the sense that it allows to compute any composition of privacy-preserving set intersections, unions, and reductions on multisets. The system model used in SMC-MuSe is kept close to the one assumed in theory and supports asynchronous communications, resilient SMC computations, and fully automated key management.


Acquisition of training data for the standard semantic segmentation is expensive if requiring that each pixel is labeled. Yet, current methods significantly deteriorate in weakly supervised settings, e.g. where a fraction of pixels is labeled or when only image-level tags are available. It has been shown that regularized losses—originally developed for unsupervised low-level segmentation and representing geometric priors on pixel labels—can considerably improve the quality of weakly supervised training. However, many common priors require optimization stronger than gradient descent. Thus, such regularizers have limited applicability in deep learning. We propose a new robust trust region approach1 for regularized losses improving the state-of-the-art results. Our approach can be seen as a higher-order generalization of the classic chain rule. It allows neural network optimization to use strong low-level solvers for the corresponding regularizers, including discrete ones.


Objective To quantify the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in secondary schools after their reopening in May 2020. Design Repeated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study after the reopening of schools and 4 months later. Setting Secondary school in Dresden, Germany. Participants 1538 students grades 8–12 and 507 teachers from 13 schools. Interventions Serial blood sampling and SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody assessment. Primary and secondary outcome measure Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in study population. Number of undetected cases. Results 1538 students and 507 teachers were initially enrolled, and 1334 students and 445 teachers completed both study visits. The seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 0.6% in May/June and the same in September/October. Even in schools with reported COVID-19 cases before the lockdown of 13 March, no clusters could be identified. Of 12 persons with positive serology five had a known history of confirmed COVID-19; 23 out of 24 participants with a household history of COVID-91 were seronegative. Conclusions Schools do not play a crucial role in driving the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a low-prevalence setting. Transmission in families occurs very infrequently, and the number of unreported cases is low in this age group. These observations do not support school closures as a strategy fighting the pandemic in a low-prevalence setting. Trial registration number DRKS00022455.


Efficacy of antibacterial therapy was analyzed in 266 patients with diabetes mellitus and purulent-necrotic affection of the foot. In presence of affection of bones and joints good effect was achieved while conduction of antibacterial therapy and in the cases of open wound--while local administration of systemic antibacterial preparations.


Medical students in the Netherlands have the opportunity to follow an internship abroad. In general, they view this as a unique experience. There are personal, scientific, political and humanitarian reasons to support making such an internship abroad obligatory for all medical students. Therefore the Dutch medical study programme, developed in 2001, needs to be reviewed.


Previous results for nuclear fluxes during coherent tunnelling of molecules with symmetric double well potentials are extended to fluxes in asymmetric double well potentials. The theory is derived using the two-state approximation (TSA). The symmetric system serves as a reference. As an example, we consider the one-dimensional model of the tunnelling inversion of oriented ammonia, with semiclassical dipole coupling to an electric field. The tunnelling splitting increases with the dipole coupling by a factor f ≥ 1 . ?> The tunnelling time decreases by 1 / f . ?> The nuclear density appears as the sum of two parts: The tunnelling part decreases as 1 / f 2 ?> times the density of the symmetric reference, whereas the non-tunnelling part is the initial density times 1−1 / f 2 . ?> Likewise, the nuclear flux decreases by 1 / f , ?> with essentially the same shape as for the symmetric reference, with maximum value at the potential barrier. Coherent nuclear tunnellings starting from the upper or lower wells of the asymmetric potential are equivalent. The results are universal, in the frame of the TSA, hence they allow straightforward extrapolations from one system to others. This is demonstrated by the prediction of isotope effects for five isotopomers of ammonia.


Radiation-impaired wound is characterized by delayed healing, nonhealing, and carcinogenesis. The mechanism remains unclear. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are one family of key regulators of the process of wound healing. Their abnormal expression plays important roles in the formation of some chronic skin ulcers. The objective of this project was to study the expression of MMP1 in surgical and radiation-impaired wound healing and its effects on the healing process and tissue remodeling. A rat model of radiation-impaired wound healing was used. Routine light microscopy, electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridization, all of which enabled the detection of MMP1 expression during the healing process, were performed. The wound healing process was impaired and delayed. In rats receiving 25Gy gamma-ray locally, the irradiated wounds healed 6 days later than the nonirradiated controls. The following changes in MMP1 expression were found: (1) In the early inflammatory phase and in the period of granulation tissue formation, MMP1 expression was only slightly if at all affected in the newly formed epidermis of irradiated wounds compared with controls. Later, the epidermal expression of MMP1 in radiation wounds was comparatively increased following the delay of the healing process. (2) MMP1 expression in irradiated wounds was markedly decreased in fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and macrophages compared with controls. The expression phase was prolonged because of the delay of the healing process. The reduced expression of MMP1 in granulation tissue retards such important processes as cell migration, angiogenesis, and tissue remodeling, thus slowing the healing process. The expression ofMMP1 in the proliferating keratinocytes may help re-epithelialization. However, in the late healing period, overexpression of MMP1 in the epidermis may hinder the establishment of basal membrane and the formation of granulation tissue, and affect the tissue remodeling process.


AIM
Tregopil, a novel PEGylated human insulin is in clinical development for oral delivery in diabetes treatment. The aim of the study was to develop and validate a sensitive and specific ELISA method for quantitating Tregopil in diabetes subjects on basal Glargine, since most commercially available insulin kits either do not detect Tregopil or show significant reactivity to Glargine.

METHODS
An electrochemiluminescent ELISA was developed and validated for Tregopil quantitation in diabetes serum.

RESULTS
The method has a LLOQ of 0.25 ng/ml, shows minimum cross-reactivity to Glargine and was successfully tested using a subset of samples from Tregopil-dosed Type 1 diabetes mellitus patients.

CONCLUSION
The ELISA method is sensitive and can be used to support accurate measurement of Tregopil with no cross-reactivity to Glargine and its metabolites in clinical studies.


This paper uses numerical and experimental techniques to investigate the effect of bird strike on different types of aircraft bubble windows with different geometries and materials. Three different methods, namely Lagrangian, Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) and Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) are used to simulate bird strike effects on different types of bubble windows during the impact phase. Simple tension tests are carried out on some samples to determine the behaviour of window material during impact while models reported in the literature are used for modelling the bird. First, a simple bubble window is studied numerically using the Lagrangian, ALE and SPH techniques and the results are compared with experimental data. The results from all techniques are found to be almost similar and in good agreement with the test data. This will give way to only ALE to be used for other case studies. Next, bird impacts on a two-layer bubble window with a Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) interlayer and a multi-walled stretch acrylic bubble window are investigated numerically. Simulations for the latter bubble window show that the structure does not have enough strength to resist the bird impact as required by the FAR25 standard conditions. For this type of bubble, two bird impact tests are carried out with speeds lower than that needed for avian certification authorities and compared with numerical results. Finally, a three-layer bubble window with a polymeric interlayer will be proposed as a new design and it will be shown that this type of bubble is capable of withstanding against bird impacts according to the FAR standard conditions.


This paper presents a complexity reduced maximum likelihood (ML) or maximum a posteriori (MAP) based iterative MIMO detection scheme. The a priori loglikelihood ratios (LLRs) provided by the decoder have a Gaussian distribution. By using this statistical characteristics of the LLRs, we calculate the mean and variance of LLRs provided by the decoder. Subsequently, a threshold value is calculated, and on the basis of the threshold value the MIMO detector makes the decision about calculating the extrinsic LLRs or using the same LLRs values provided by the decoder for a particular symbol transmitted from each transmit antenna. Simulation results show that the proposed complexity reduction method produces nearly the same bit error rate (BER) performance as the full search MAP with about a 30% of the complexity reduction. Complexity reduction can be controlled by adjusting the parameters of the proposed method.


Most of schools in Menge woreda had no safe water supply for the school community. To address this
problem, WaterAid Ethiopia constructed water supply schemes and sanitation facilities in the schools'
vicinity. To assess the impact of facilities on the teachinglearning
process, data was collected for five
months that is the study period (from 01 Nov. 07 to 31 March 08) using questionnaires. The study found
that the major reason for absence or tardiness is the sum result of household workloads, such as fetching
water; followed by lack of hygiene awareness and resulting health problems. Majority of health problems
are due to WASHrelated
diseases. Yet, the students' reasons for poor hygiene are not related to a lack of
awareness. Recommendations are provided for action. These include establishing effective school
sanitation clubs, raising parent awareness through education, strengthening sector collaboration and
advocacy on relationship between education and WASH.


In this study, the structures of external costs are built in line with coal-fired and biomass power plant life cycle activities in Northeast China. The external cost of coal-fired and biomass power plants was compared, using the lifecycle approach. In addition, the external costs of a biomass power plant are calculated for each stage for comparison with those of a coal-fired power plant. The results highlight that the external costs of a coal-fired plant are 0.072 US $/kWh, which are much higher than that of a biomass power plant, 0.00012 US$/kWh. The external cost of coal-fired power generation is as much as 90% of the current price of electricity generated by coal, while the external cost of a biomass power plant is 1/1000 of the current price of electricity generated by biomass. In addition, for a biomass power plant, the external cost associated with SO 2 , NO X , and PM 2.5 are particularly lower than those of a coal-fired power plant. The prospect of establishing precise estimations for external cost mechanisms and sustainable energy policies is discussed to show a possible direction for future energy schemes in China. The paper has significant value for supporting the biomass power industry and taxing or regulating coal-fired power industry to optimize the energy structure in China.


The authors investigated the effects of nitrous oxide (N2O), ganglionic blockade, and combined infusion of epinephrine and norepinephrine (0.1 microgram.kg-1.min-1 each) on neurologic outcome and brain histopathology in a model of incomplete cerebral ischemia in the rat. Thirty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of four groups: group 1 (n = 10) received 70% N2O in O2; group 2 (n = 12) received 70% N2O in O2, plus ganglionic blockade; and group 3 (n = 10) received 70% N2O in O2, plus ganglionic blockade and catecholamine infusion. In groups 1-3, ischemia was produced by right carotid occlusion combined with hemorrhagic hypotension (35 mmHg) for 30 min. Group 4 (n = 6) received 70% N2O in O2 and hemorrhagic hypotension without carotid occlusion for 30 min. At the end of ischemic and nonischemic hypotension, the carotid artery was unclamped and the blood slowly reinfused. Neurologic outcome was evaluated for a 5-day period with a graded deficit score (0 = normal to 39 = stroke-related death). Brain histopathology was evaluated in coronal section at the level of the caudate nucleus according to a 6-point scale, from 0 = normal to 5 = total hemispheric infarction. Arterial blood gases, pH, and body temperature were kept constant in all groups. Compared to N2O alone (group 1), treatment with ganglionic blockade (group 2) decreased plasma catecholamines by 75% and significantly improved neurologic outcome from incomplete cerebral ischemia (P less than 0.05). Administration of exogenous epinephrine and norepinephrine in the presence of N2O and ganglionic blockade (group 3) worsened neurologic outcome compared to group 2 (P less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Background and aims: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the first wave in Italy caused a decrease of hospital admissions, delays in reperfusion treatments and an overall worse outcome in COVID+ patients with stroke. However, few data are available on outcome of stroke stratified by gender. Methods: A multi-center observational study on neurological complications in COVID-19 patients was conducted in 19 Neurology Units by the Italian society of Hospital Neuroscience (SNO). Adult patients admitted to Neurological units between March-April 2020 with ischaemic stroke were recruited. Demographic, clinical, treatment and outcome data were compared in patients with (COVID19+) and without COVID-19 (COVID19-), as well as in male and female patients. Results: 812 patients with ischemic stroke were enrolled (682 COVID-, 129 COVID+);males were 54.1% and 52.7%. Intra-hospital mortality was 31.9% in COVID+ patients (38.6% in male and 27.8% in female) and 7.2% in COVID- (8.4% in males and 6% in females). Male patients with COVID+ were more likely to have cPAP (30.9% vs 14.8%;p=0.03) or being intubated (14.9% vs 3.3%;p=0.02) than females. Reperfusion treatment was administered more frequently in women if COVID- (34.5% vs 29.8%), while less frequently if COVID+ (11.5% vs 29.4%;p=0.01). COVID+ patients had a higher frequency of ESUS than COVID- (31.8% vs 22.3%;p=0.02), with a higher frequency in COVID+ females compared to males (36.1% vs 27.9%). Conclusion: Our study detected some differences due to gender in ischaemic stroke with and without COVID-19. Multivariate analyses is ongoing to define predictors of mortality across gender categories.


The safety of modern vehicles has reached such a high standard that experts view the remaining potential for improvement of conventional restraint systems as nothing more than minimal. However the use of information gathered during the pre-crash phase added to the combination of preventive and conventional restraint systems can reveal additional potential. One example of this is the reversible pretensioner of the PRE-SAFE ® system, launched in 2002, which can hold occupants in their position shortly before a potential collision and thus reduce forward displacement to offer improved protection in an accident. This approach was further developed with the introduction of PRE-SAFE ® Impulse, which debuts in the current S-Class of MJ 2013. PRE-SAFE ® Impulse systems rapidly accelerate occupants at an early phase of the crash by moving them in the direction of the impact force so that the difference in kinetic energy between the vehicle and occupants can start to be reduced as early as possible. As a consequence the total energy does not have to be dissipated entirely during the crash itself, but is distributed over a minor initial impact and a major impact whose intensity is reduced accordingly. The new PRE-SAFE ® Impulse Side System, a pre-impacting restraint system, does not only applies this idea for side crash but brings the concept one step further. Previous measures for improving side impact protection were primarily implemented on the vehicle itself and did not directly influence the occupants prior to the crash. With PRE-SAFE ® Impulse Side, a defined energy, is transferred to the occupant, who is set in motion already before the collision occurs. Therefore PRE-SAFE ® Impulse Side is the very first of a new generation of preimpacting restraint system whose field of action will be extended prior to the collision due to the integration of active and passive safety. To this end, the PRE-SAFE ® Impulse Side system uses a 360-degree sensor system, which permanently senses the car surroundings, to anticipate an unavoidable collision. Using numerical simulation as well as sled and vehicle testing, relevant occupant loads have been shown to be reduced by 30 percent on average with the use of PRE-SAFE ® Impulse Side.


Introduction Research topics in the field of speech-related gesture that have received considerable attention are the function of gesture, its synchronization with speech, and its semiotic properties. While the findings of these studies often have interesting implications for theories about the processing of gesture in the human brain, few studies have addressed this issue in the framework of information processing. In this chapter, I will present a general processing architecture for gesture production. It can be used as a starting point for investigating the processes and representations involved in gesture and speech. For convenience, I will use the term 'model'when referring to 'processing architecture' throughout this chapter. Since the use of information-processing models is not believed by every gesture researcher to be an appropriate way of investigating gesture (see, e.g., McNeill 1992), I will first argue that information-processing models are essential theoretical tools for understanding the processing involved in gesture and speech. I will then proceed to formulate a new model for the production of gesture and speech, called the Sketch Model. It is an extension of Levelt's (1989) model for speech production. The modifications and additions to Levelt's model are discussed in detail. At the end of the section, the working of the Sketch Model is demonstrated, using a number of illustrative gesture/speech fragments as examples. Subsequently, I will compare the Sketch Model with both McNeill's (1992) growth-point theory and with the information-processing model by Krauss, Chen & Gottesman (this volume). While the Sketch Model and the model by Krauss et al. are formulated within the same framework, they are based on fundamentally different assumptions.


Lookup Table (LUT) method for inverse halftoning is computation less, fast and also yields goods results. This paper proposes a parallel algorithm for inverse halftoning by parallelizing the LUT method of inverse halftoning. The LUT method for inverse halftoning is parallelized by dividing the single Look-Up Table of LUT method for inverse halftoning into many smaller Look-up Tables (sLUTs). In the parallel algorithm up-to four pixels can be fetched from the halftone image concurrently and go to their separate smaller Look-Up Tables (sLUT) from where each template fetches its inverse halftone value independent to other pixels. The parallelization can increase the speed of inverse halftoning by up-to 4 times while the total entries in all smaller Look-Up Tables (sLUTs) remains equal to the entries in the single LUT of LUT method for inverse halftoning. Some degradation in image quality is noticed due to parallelization. The complete implementation of the method takes two CPLD devices with external content addressable memories (CAM) and static RAMs to store sLUTs.


Let others record more fully Charles Loomis Dana's contributions to the progress of neurology and psychiatry in America. I wish to write of him as the man with whom a small group were in close touch for more than forty years—a group that admired and respected him for his exceptional talents and his splendid character. Sincere, but sometimes caustic in his criticism, he was always just and genuinely human. Dana was not merely a fine physician and a great neurologist; he was a man of extraordinary ability as a writer, a lover of the classics, ancient and modern, and a connoisseur of the arts, having a most unusual familiarity with the art of ancient and modern times. It was due to his extraprofessional interests that in 1898 he persuaded Joseph Collins, Frederick Peterson and myself to meet, at first informally, and later to organize as a club to which in


ABSTRACT Recent research suggests that popular depictions of crime reflect and reinforce a dominant ideology in which criminals are viewed as rational actors who bear individual responsibility for crime. The research reported here employed a content analysis approach to examine depictions of 108 assailants found in media reports of murders that occurred in Maine from 2008 through 2012. While most of the depictions examined here describe crime as a matter of individual responsibility, this analysis found that many media depictions of Maine's murderers include content that is sympathetic to the offender and some accounts raise questions about the effectiveness of police services, mental health care and related social services.


Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and its associated deformation are major durability problems in concrete structures and was reported as far back as the 1940s by Stanton (2008) [1]. This deleterious reaction causes excessive expansion and cracks that can lead to severe degradation of the concrete structures. Despite the age-long discovery and numerous ASR studies, understanding the ASR mechanism remains challenging due to complex processes and reactions. This paper presents a review of ASR in concrete structures and details the factors associated with ASR, the reaction mechanism and chemistry, and its adverse effect on concrete structures. The alkalis in the pore solution, the reactive amorphous silica present in aggregates, and the presence of moisture (with other external climatic inputs) are the key factors responsible for ASR. The study also provides a critical assessment of the various test methods for ASR evaluation in the United States. A case study correlating the results (from the literature) of three prominent test methods was also carried out. From this review, the new miniature concrete prism test (MCPT) method was concluded to be rapid, reliable, and capable of determining the influence of aggregate reactivity, alkali availability, and exposure conditions as compared to other methods.


We will enter the cinematographic universe of the animated short film "Ewé de Òsányìn: the secret of the leaves" (2021), made by members of the terreiro de Candomblé Abassá of the Goddess Òṣùn de Idjemim and black university students from the Federal University of Southern Bahia, with the participation of the Truká-Tupan Indigenous Community, aiminfg to develop the theoretical construction of what we call Black Animation Cinema (BAC). One of the goals is to understand animation techniques as a possibility to present the world as it is seen by traditional indigenous and Afro-Diasporic peoples: the elements of nature, divinity, spirits and matter inhabit the world as equals in reality. In animation cinema, "giving life" to any element (human or otherwise) requires the same technical procedure, making them exist equally, by recreating a world as it is felt (and not just seen). In this production, the "Encantos" structure an Afro-Indigenous connection, based on the experiences of Candomblé in the Brazilian hinterland, bringing together black and indigenous elements in the constitution of the film universe.


AbstractCoronary heart disease (CHD) is a cardiovascular disease which is contributed by abnormal neovascularization. VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A) and VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) have been revealed to be involved in the pathological angiogenesis. This study was intended to confirm whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of VEGFA and VEGFR2 were associated with CHD in a Chinese population, considering pathological features and living habits of CHD patients.Peripheral blood samples were collected from 810 CHD patients and 805 healthy individuals. Six tag SNPs within VEGFA and VEGFR2 were obtained from HapMap Database. Genotyping of SNPs was performed using SNapShot method (Applied Biosystems, Foster, CA). Odd ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to evaluate the association between SNPs and CHD risk.Under the allelic model, 6 SNPs of VEGFA and VEGFR2 were remarkably associated with the susceptibility to CHD. Genotype CT of rs3025039, TT of rs2305948, and AA of rs1873077 were associated with a reduced risk of CHD when smoking, alcohol intake and diabetes were considered, while homozygote GG of rs1570360 might elevate the susceptibility to CHD (all P < 0.05) for patients who were addicted to smoking or those with hypertension. All of the combined effects of rs699947 (CC/CA) and rs2305948 (TT), rs3025039 (TT) and rs2305948 (TT), rs3025039 (CT) and rs1870377 (AA) had positive effects on the risk of CHD, respectively (all P < 0.05). By contrast, the synthetic effects of rs69947 (CA/AA) and rs1870377 (TA), rs699947 (CA) and rs7667298 (GG), rs699947 (AA) and rs7667298 (GG), rs1570360 (GG) and rs2305948 (TT), as well as rs1570360 (GG) and rs1870377 (AA) all exhibited adverse effects on the risk of CHD, respectively (all P < 0.05).Six polymorphisms in VEGFA and VEGFR2 may have substantial influence on the susceptibility to CHD in a Han Chinese population. Prospective cohort studies should be further designed to confirm the above conclusions.


Introduction Myocardial development is dependent on the concomitant growth of cardiomyocytes and a supporting vascular network. The coupling of myocardial and coronary vascular development is mediated in part by VEGFA signalling. Cited2 is a transcriptional co-factor that can inhibit hypoxia-activated transcription and also acts as a co-activator for transcription factors such as TFAP2. Genetic evidence indicates that Cited2 is essential for cardiac left-right patterning via regulation of the Nodal-Pitx2c left-right patterning pathway. Zygotic and epiblastic deletion of Cited2 results in atrioventricular septation, outflow tract and aortic arch abnormalities, as well as left-right patterning defects such as right-isomerism. Cited2 is also essential for adrenal, neural crest, liver, lung, lens and placental development. However, the early requirement of Cited2 in left-right patterning and placental development makes it difficult to identify a later specific role for Cited2 in myocardial development. To overcome this problem we therefore investigated the role of Cited2 in the myocardium by conditional deletion in cardiomyocyte precursors. Methods Cited2 was selectively deleted from cardiomyocytes by intercrossing mice transgenic for Cited2 and Nkx2-5Cre. Embryos were collected and processed for analysis by histology, MRI, X-Gal staining, quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (Q-RTPCR), chromatin immunoprecipitation and transient transfection assays. Results The cardiomyocyte specific knockout of Cited2 results in abnormal myocardial compact zone growth and ventricular septal defects. This is associated with a decreased ratio in the number of small vessels to large vessels, and a reduction in Vegfa expression. We also show that CITED2 is present at the Vegfa promoter in mouse embryonic hearts, and that it stimulates human VEGFA promoter activity in cooperation with TFAP2 transcription factors in transient transfection assays. However, we observed no change in the myocardial expression of the left-right patterning gene Pitx2c, a known target of Cited2. Conclusions The myocardial and capillary defects observed in myocardial loss of Cited2 are not associated with Pitx2c deficiency and suggests that Cited2 can cause myocardial and vascular defects via a mechanism that is distinct from its effect on the left-right patterning pathway. Our results delineate a novel mechanism of Vegfa regulation by CITED2 and TFAP2 transcription factors, and indicate that coupling of myocardial and coronary vascular growth in the developing mouse heart occurs, at least in part, through a Cited2->Vegfa pathway. This pathway may be targeted for the treatment of heart failure resulting from ischaemic heart disease.


PURPOSE
To evaluate intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) treatment, which is immunomodulatory but not immunosuppressive, in SLE.

MAIN ISSUES
IVIG indications in SLE could be categorized as already validated as for chronic polyradiculoneuropathy or thrombocytopenia; failure of classical treatment in threatening active disease; undetermined manifestation as reactive hemophagocytic syndrome which could be both disease-specific or iatrogenic, infection-related. To date, no published study has firmly established the efficacy of IVIG in SLE.

CONCLUSION
IVIG therapy in SLE should be evaluated in prospective trials.


Valve sparing aortic root replacement( VSRR) is currently an established option for patients with annuloaortic ectasia( AAE). A newly designed Valsalva graft, the J Graft Shield Neo Valsalva, was used for VSRR in three cases. All operations were successful and postoperative courses were uneventful. Graft designs closer in shape to the native Valsalva may contribute to the improvement of late outcomes in VSRR.


Behavior is crucial throughout global health interventions. The discipline of behavior change offers distinct expertise needed across 6 different domains of behavior. Such expertise is in short supply, however. We will not have effective and sustainable health systems, nor achieve our ambitious global health goals, without seriously addressing behavior change. Behavior is crucial throughout global health interventions. The discipline of behavior change offers distinct expertise needed across 6 different domains of behavior. Such expertise is in short supply, however. We will not have effective and sustainable health systems, nor achieve our ambitious global health goals, without seriously addressing behavior change.


Abstract Growth and production of carotenoid in three Dunaliella species (Dunaliella salina (Dunal) Teodoresco, Dunaliella bardawil Ben-Amotz & Avron and Dunaliella sp.) were investigated using flat-plate photobioreactors in outdoor conditions with two optical paths (3 cm and 5 cm). The experiment was conducted in duplicate and lasted four weeks during which light intensity, temperature, pH and optical density were checked daily. The pigment production (total carotenoid and chlorophyll a) was monitored every two days. To induce an additional stress besides temperature and light intensity, two different salt concentrations were used, i.e. 6% and 8% NaCl. The highest growth in all treatment groups was noticed for Dunaliella sp. followed by D. bardawil and D. salina. D. salina produced a higher content of carotenoid concentrations corresponding to 5 cm/8% and 5 cm/6% groups; 779.102 ± 0.434 μg.mL−1 and 694.326 ± 0.098 μg.mL−1 were registered at the end of the experiment. The same species had also greater content of β-carotene.


In order to assess ventilatory control in patients with chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), the present study was carried out in nine patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), eight asthmatics and nine normal subjects. We analysed the components of the respiratory control system at three levels: neural, assessed by diaphragmatic electromyography (EMGd), muscular, assessed by mouth occlusion pressure (P0.1), and ventilatory, assessed by mean inspiratory flow (VT/TI). EMGd was recorded by surface electrodes. During a CO2 rebreathing test, patients showed a normal or greater EMGd response slope (EMGdS), while for a given degree of EMGdS, P0.1 response slope (P0.1S) was found to be significantly reduced; in contrast, for a given degree of P0.1S, VT/TI response slope (VT/TIS) was found to be significantly reduced in COPD patients only. These data show that, compared to normal subjects, patients with CAO have a normal or increased neural component of the respiratory activity (EMGdS) and a relatively lower neuromuscular coupling (P0.1S/EMGdS). Probably due to different parenchymal and airway involvement, musculoventilatory transfer (VT/TIS/P0.1S) was found to be reduced in COPD patients but not in asthmatics. A complementary study, showing a good agreement between surface and oesophageal EMGd seems to confirm that surface EMGd is a useful and promising tool for clinical investigation.


This research paper is aimed to classify the type of errors, analyze the frequency and dominant, and explain the sources of error. The type of this research is descriptive research. The research collects English Tutorial Program record as the source of the data. The research uses documentation method to select the data. There are 305 data containing of errors. The researcher use Clark and Clark theory and Dulay Burt, and Krashen theory to analyze the error. They are speech error, morphological error and syntactical error. In speech errors are filled pause (81, 96%), Repeat (44, 27%), Silent Pause (19, 67%), Stutters (6, 22%), Injection (1, 96%), correction (0, 65%), Slip of the Tongue (0, 98%). Morphological error are vocabulary error (1, 96%), Pronunciation (9, 83%), Omission of Bound (1, 63%). Syntactical error are omission of Modal (will) (1, 31%), omission of preposition (1, 31%), Question Construction (1, 31%) and the last Wrong in Word Selection (0, 65%). Key Words: error analysis, oral production


OBJECTIVE
The menopausal transition is an important milestone in female reproductive life. Many studies have been conducted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, but few of them focus on the climacteric population. This study aimed to investigate changes in the health and health care of climacteric women aged 40-70 years residing in Brazil during the pandemic period.

METHOD
A cross-sectional study was carried out using an electronic form with questions related to sociodemographic, clinical and gynecological data, treatments, access to health services and changes in behavior.

RESULTS
A total of 419 women answered the questionnaire. Sixty percent reported weight gain and 50.8% reported reduced physical activity practice. More than 80% reported worsening mental health and 66.1% had a change in their sleep pattern. More than half reported having difficulty accessing gynecological consultations and routine examinations. Women living in capital cities reported a greater change in alcohol consumption (p = 0.002). Income change was associated with a higher prevalence of weight gain (p = 0.033) and changes in sleep quality (p = 0.018).

CONCLUSION
We observed an important reduction in the health care of climacteric women during the pandemic period, such as a decrease in medical consultations and preventive examinations, worsening of life habits and deterioration in mental health.


Microenvironmental stiffness regulates the behaviour of both normal and cancer cells. In breast tissue, high mammographic density (HMD), which reflects greater organisation and stiffness of the periductal collagen, represents a significant risk factor for cancer. However, the mechanistic link between extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness and increased risk of breast tumour initiation remains unclear. In particular, how increased ECM stiffness might promote genomic damage, leading to the acquisition of transforming mutations, remains to be determined. Here we determine that ECM stiffness induces changes in mammary epithelial cell (MEC) metabolism that drive genomic damage. Using a 3D-culture model, we demonstrate that genome-wide transcriptional changes in response to increased ECM stiffness impair the ability of MECs to remove reactive aldehyde species, resulting in greater accumulation of DNA damage in a RhoA-dependent manner. Together, our results provide a mechanistic link between increased ECM stiffness and the genomic damage required for breast cancer initiation.


Transitional justice (hereinafter "TJ") has originally been associated with a "transition" from one (totalitarian, authoritarian) regime to another (democratic) or from war/armed conflict to peace. After all, the use of the term "transitional" implies some kind of transition or change, that is, something grander than mere "justice" responses in the form of limited and selective reactions to rights violations. Of course, such a narrow, transition-focused reading of TJ would exclude situations where, like in Colombia or – perhaps – Palestine/Israel, the parties to an ongoing conflict want to make use of the toolkit of TJ. It is for this reason that a broader, justice-focused reading of TJ appears more appropriate. Accordingly, in its current form, TJ refers essentially to the adequate responses to (human) rights violations, irrespective of the nature of the underlying conflict (negative peace or armed conflict within the meaning of IHL). TJ, so understood, entails investigation and prosecution, reparations, truth-seeking, reconciliation, institutional reforms, vetting, and other measures, which, alone or in combination, all aimed to provide adequate responses to rights violations. These measures may be judicial and/or non-judicial and involve domestic and/or international state and non-state actors. A more ambitious approach goes beyond the mere focused responses to justice violations and advocates a structural transformation of the society concerned. While such a concept of "transformative justice" rightly points to some of the shortcomings of TJ and stresses the importance of socioeconomic injustice and inequality as the root causes of violence and rights violations, it faces even more problems regarding its actual implementation on the ground.