In the microfinance industry the idea of "empowerment" is often valued as a means to encourage female emancipation from male domination. This paper's main purpose is to draw on women's testimonies and narratives to highlight the fundamental importance within these processes of women's relationships with one another, both in terms of female subjectivity and agency. Women constantly position themselves between their kin and their neighbourhood in a context where dependence upon men is considered as natural. Microcredit uses are shaped by and constitutive of the relationships between women, including power relationships. Our findings suggest revising the usual opposition between power as domination (power over) and power as agency (power to). In many cases, women's agency requires or implies their domination over other women.


Abstract Charles and Mary Lyell visited North America four times from 1841 to 1853. During the first three visits, Lyell lectured and they travelled widely. The lectures were great successes with the American public in spite of Lyell's poor elocutionary skills. Comparisons of lecture topics covered over a decade provide insights into the rapid development of the young science of geology and of Lyell's changing preoccupations. Included were crustal movements; uniformity of causes through time; coral reefs and oceanic subsidence; Carboniferous conditions; the early appearance of reptiles; palaeoclimate; the submergence of land and the origin of drift; biogeography; and a uniform organic plan with arguments against transmutation and historical progression. The Lyells saw more of the United States and Canada than had most citizens. Their conveyances included horseback, stagecoach, train, railroad handcar, and steamboat. Accommodation varied from elegant hostelries to dirt-floored shacks. Their travels took them from the Atlantic coast to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and from the St Lawrence valley to the Gulf Coast. America gained from Lyell the enhancement of the stature of geology, several original contributions to the understanding of its geology, and a positive impression of the New World conveyed back to Britain. Lyell's reward was greater, however, thanks to the generosity of American guidance in his field work. He gained many fresh geological examples for his books, published two travel journals and more than 30 journal articles and presented at least eight lectures in Britain about American geology, making him the local British authority on America. He especially gained new evidence for his opposition to biological progression and for his submergence theory for the drift. Besides enhancing his geological reputation, Lyell also made an incisive comparison of British and American education, which drew him into public reforms at home sponsored by Prince Albert. Finally, his exposure to American Unitarianism, coupled with disenchantment with the Anglican Church, caused Lyell to shift his religious allegiance.


The distribution coefficients of the solutes (toluene, naphthalene, and phenanthrene) are reported at infinite dilution between silicone rubber and supercriticalfluid carbon dioxide. A new technique is described in which a thin film of polymer is coated and cross-linked onto silica, and the distribution coefficient is measured rapidly by elution supercritical-fluid chromatography. Because CO2 significantly enhances the solute's volatility and its diffusion coefficient in the polymer, it is possible to study solute-polymer interactions at room temperature for nonvolatile compounds which would be difficult to study by conventional techniques such as gas chromatography. These infinite dilution data are used to determine solutepolymer interaction parameters to calculate phase diagrams over a wide concentration range. The residual, combinatorial, and cross-link contributions to the solute activity coefficient in the polymer are discussed as a function of concentration. In addition, pronounced pressure and temperature effects are described in terms of experimentally measured solute partial molar volumes (to – 14 L/mol) and partial molar enthalpies (to – 850 kJ/mol) in the fluid phase.


Introduction/Background With an increase in demand for less-invasive surgeries, the role of laparoscopic surgery in the management of gynecological cancers continues to expand. However, the scope of single port laparoscopy is still limited in ovarian cancer. We reported the experience of single port access (SPA) laparoscopic staging of early stage ovarian cancer. Methodology We prospectively collected data on women who had SPA laparoscopic staging surgery at Severance Hospital between 2014 and 2017. The surgical outcomes, including intra-operative data, time to interval between the end of SPA laparoscopy and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (POAC), and port related complications were measured. Results Fifty six patients underwent SPA laparoscopic staging surgery. Mean patient age and BMI were 47.25±13.93 and 23.58 kg/m2±3.24, respectively. Mean operation time was 235±93 minutes and median blood loss was 55 ml (range, 10–1100). Median time interval between the end of procedure and the start of POAC was 21 days (range, 14–31). Additional port was needed in 4 cases (7.1%) and the conversion rate to laparotomy was 8.9%. There were no peri-operative moderate to severe complications, including port-site metastasis. The upstaging rate after SPA laparoscopic staging surgery was 30.3% and POAC was performed in 34 cases (60.7%). The overall rate of recurrence with a median follow up period of 26 months was 16% (9 cases) and 4 patients died due to the disease. Conclusion The surgical outcomes of SPA laparoscopic staging surgery in patient with early stage ovarian cancer is feasible and could be compatible with conventional laparoscopic approach in terms of operative outcomes and upstaging rate in comparison with previous studies. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


The question of the fate of Paulinism in late antiquity, a point of controversy in early Christian studies especially since Adolf von Harnack, has benefited from fresh attention in recent research, even as, simultaneously, there is ever less agreement among New Testament scholars on the question of what Paulinism actually is. This state of affairs comes sharply into focus in Todd Still and David Wilhite's edited volume Tertullian and Paul, the first in a new series from T&T Clark on the reception of Paul in the church fathers. Reading and assessing Tertullian and Paul is a sometimes dizzying experience of intertextuality. The reader encounters, for example, Margaret MacDonald reading Elizabeth Clark reading Tertullian reading Paul. What is more, Paul himself is reading, for example, Second Isaiah, who is reading First Isaiah, who is reading parts of the Pentateuch, and so on. One thinks of Derrida's notion of différance, in which any given text refers to other texts, which refer to still other texts, which refer to still other texts, and so on, ad infinitum.


OBJECTIVE
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem; historically, major wars have increased TB notifications. This study evaluated whether modern conflicts worldwide affected TB notifications between 1975 and 1995.

DESIGN
Dates of conflicts were obtained and matched with national TB notification data reported to the World Health Organization. Overall notification rates were calculated pre and post conflict. Poisson regression analysis was applied to all conflicts with sufficient data for detailed trend analysis.

RESULTS
Thirty-six conflicts were identified, for which 3-year population and notification data were obtained. Overall crude TB notification rates were 81.9 and 105.1/100,000 pre and post start of conflict in these countries. Sufficient data existed in 16 countries to apply Poisson regression analysis to model 5-year pre and post start of conflict trends. This analysis indicated that the risk of presenting with TB in any country 2.5 years after the outbreak of conflict relative to 2.5 years before the outbreak was 1.016 (95%CI 0.9435-1.095).

CONCLUSION
The modelling suggested that in the modern era war may not significantly damage efforts to control TB in the long term. This might be due to the limited scale of most of these conflicts compared to the large-scale civilian disruption associated with 'world wars'. The management of TB should be considered in planning post-conflict refugee and reconstruction programmes.


Qatar's prospects of becoming a regional maritime hub strengthened as transshipment volumes grew by a robust 73% year-on-year this April, according to fi gures released by Mwani Qatar. The country's Hamad, Doha and Al Ruwais ports also posted a robust two-digit year-on-year growth in container handling and the number of ships arrived this April; even as the country tightened the Covid-19 restrictions owing to second wave of the pandemic. Specifi cally, the building materials handled by these ports more than doubled year-on-year in April 2021; indicating a robust outlook for the construction sector, as corroborated by the rising trends in building permits issued in the recent months. The increase in transshipment in April 2021 comes amidst the government's plan to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional trading hub in the region, given its geographical proximity with the continents and attractive regulatory, legal environment as well as robust infrastructure. The container handling through the three ports stood at 137,966 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which grew 25.04% and 0.17% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in April 2021. The container handling stood at 549,098 TEUs in January-April this year. QTerminals had recently tweeted that Hamad Port handled container volume of more than 5mn TEUs since the start of operations. Hamad Port, which is the largest eco-friendly project in the region and internationally recognised as one of the largest green ports in the world, alone saw 135,710 TEUs of containers handled in April 2021. The number of ships calling on Qatar's three ports stood at 300 in April 2021, which was 33.93% and 20% higher on both yearly and monthly basis respectively. As many as 1,047 ships had called on the ports during the fi rst four months of this year. Hamad Port's strategic geographical location off ers opportunities to create cargo movement towards the upper Gulf, supporting countries such as Kuwait and Iraq and south towards Oman. Qatar's share in the overall Middle East trade is expected to signifi cantly increase with the robust technological infrastructure supporting the Hamad Port's second container terminal (CT2). The building materials handled amounted to 49,129 tonnes in April this year, which more than doubled year-on-year and was up 0.42% month-on-month in the review period. A total of 248,079 tonnes of building materials had been handled by these three ports during January-April 2021. The rebound of business activities, especially in the construction sector, corroborates the Qatar Financial Centre's positive outlook on the non-energy private sector. The three ports had handled 52,252 livestock in April, which more than doubled on yearly and monthly basis respectively. Together they handled 157,744 heads in the fi rst four months of this year. The three ports handled 7,167 vehicles (RORO) in April 2021, which grew 52.33% and 7.47% year-on-year and month-onmonth respectively. They together handled 26,896 vehicles in January-April this year. Hamad Port alone handled 7,116 units in April this year. The general cargo handled through the three ports stood at 123,438 tonnes in April 2021, which showed a 10.19% and 8.1% decline on a yearly and monthly basis respectively. Hamad Port alone handled 118,903 freight tonnes of break-bulk in April this year. On a cumulative basis, the general cargo movement through the three ports totalled 586,008 tonnes in the fi rst four months of this year.


A variety of metallic objects may be seen on x-ray films of the head, facial structures, neck or chest. Among them are subperiosteal and endosseous implants, used to replace missing or damaged portions of the maxilla or mandible and to anchor dental prostheses. Wires, condylar head and neck replacements, surgical clips and silver amalgam may also be seen.


Marine mammal strandings provide vital information on their life histories, population health and status of marine ecosystems. Opportunistic reporting of strandings serve as a potent low-cost tool for conservation monitoring of these highly mobile species. We present the results of spatio-temporal analyses of marine mammal stranding events to identify hotpots along Indian coastline. We collated data over a long-time frame (~270 years) available from various open access databases, reports and publications. Given the inadequacy in data collection over these years, we grouped data into four major groups viz. baleen whales, toothed whales, small cetaceans and dugongs. Further, we described the trends in data for marine mammal sightings, incidental mortalities, induced mortalities and stranding events using the last group for spatio-temporal analysis. Annual strandings along the Indian coast has increased considerably in the recent years (11.25 ± 9.10 strandings/ year), peaking in the last two years (2015-17, mean = 27.66±12.03 strandings /year). We found that number of strandings spiked in June- September along the west coast and December- January along the east coast. We identified several sections of coastline which have consistently received comparatively higher number of stranded animals (0.38 - 1.82 strandings/km) throughout the study period. Use of novel geospatial tool 'Emerging Hotspot Analysis' revealed new and consecutive hotspots along the north-west coast, and sporadic hotspots along the south-east coast. Despite the challenges of working with an opportunistic database, this study highlights critical areas to be prioritized for monitoring marine mammal strandings in the country. We recommend establishing regional marine mammal stranding response centres at the identified hotspots coordinated by a National Stranding Monitoring Centre with adequate funding support. Regular conduct of stranding response programs for field veterinarians, frontline personnel focused around identified stranding hotspots would help develop a comprehensive picture of marine mammal populations in Indian waters.


The brain stem reticular formation is responsible for EEG desynchronization.It bears,among others,adrenergic and cholinergic neurons.Neurons of this area project directly or indirectly to the cortex.Isolated studies have shown that both the adrenergic as well as the cholinergic inputs may induce and modulate cortical EEG desynchronization,however,their relative role was unknown.In this study,the differential influence of adrenergic and cholinergic inputs in cortical EEG desynchronization during spontaneous and brain stem reticular formation stimulation induced wakefulness was investigated in freely moving chronically prepared cats.The cats were chronically prepared for standard electrophysiologcial sleep- wakefulness recording and also with stimulating electrode in the midbrain reticular formation. After recovery,baseline recording of sleep-wakefulness was done.Thereafter,either adrenergic . 1-adrenoceptor antagonist,prazosin (1 mg/Kg),. 2-adrenoceptor agonist, clonidine (25 μg/Kg),. 2-adrenoceptor antagonist,yohimbine (1 mg/Kg),. -adrenoceptor antagonist,propranolol (10 mg/kg)or,cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist, scopolamine (0.5 mg/Kg)was injected i.p.and the effect on spontaneous as well as midbrain reticular formation stimulation induced EEG desynchronization investigated.It was found that desynchronization of the EEG was modulated significantly by both,the cholinergic as well as by the adrenergic systems.The cholinergic action was mediated through the muscarinic receptor while the adrenergic through the . 1-adrenoceptor.The effect of the former was relatively long lasting and it reduced the high frequency waves while the latter was more effective in increasing the rhythmicity of the EEG waves in the power spectrum record.These differences possibly have relevance in EEG desynchronization during wakefulness and REM sleep.


While Saguinus fuscicollis forms mixed-species troops with sympatric tamarin species in parts of its geographic range, in other parts it does not. The question is addressed whether body size divergence is a critical factor for this difference. Analysis of body size (head-body length) data shows that body size divergence ranges between 8 and 17% for associated species and between 1 and 4% for non-associated species. In associated species, the degree of body size divergence seems to correlate with the stability of mixed-species troops (i.e., time spent in interspecific association). It is concluded that body size plays an important role for niche differentiation, sympatric coexistence and the formation of mixed-species troops in tamarins.


Carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) van der Waals heterostructures (vdWH) have previously shown exceptional oxygen sensitivity via a photoredox mechanism, making it a potential material candidate for various applications such as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysis and oxygen sensing. In this work, the electronic structure of a carbon nitride/rGO composite is modified through the introduction of copper nanoparticles (NPs). When incorporated into a chemiresistor device, this vdWH displayed a newfound CO2 sensitivity. The effects of humidity and light were investigated and found to be crucial components for the CO2 sensitivity. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations performed on a carbon nitride/copper NP@rGO model system found an enhanced stabilization of CO2 caused by H-bonds between the carbon nitride layer and chemisorbed CO2 on copper, pointing to the important role played by humidity. The synergetic effect between carbon nitride layer interfaced with CuNP@rGO, in combination with humidity and light (395 nm) irradiation, is found to be responsible for the newfound sensitivity toward CO2.


In this paper we define a general framework for activity recognition by building upon and extending Lempel–Ziv multiway tree structure called tries to model human activities of daily living (ADLs). Our activity recognition system is performed online. We show a wearable wrist, based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to detect everyday objects, and WiFi positioning system installed in our experimental environment to capture human current position. Our activity models are formulated by translating labeled activities (such as grooming) into probabilistic collections of a sequence of action steps (such as brushing teeth → combing hair), and each action step (such as making tea) is composed of a sequence of human handling object terms (such as cup → teabag → electric air pot → teaspoon), and human movements (bedroom → kitchen). Given RFID tags, WiFi signals, and Passing of time can directly yield the state of the physical world. We experimentally validate our approach using data gathered from actual human activity.


【Objective】Effects of Zanthoxylum bungeanum intercropped with potato on arthropod community structure in Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden were studied to investigate the favorable Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting pattern for ecologically regulating insect pest and provide scientific references for managing Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden.【Method】Arthropod community characteristics of monoculture Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden and Zanthoxylum bungeanum intercropped with potato garden were compared and analyzed using community character index,stability index and grey relational analysis.【Result】Zanthoxylum bungeanum intercropped with potato garden had a higher species,individual,diversity,evenness,richness and stability index than monoculture Zanthoxylum bungeanum garden.Zanthoxylum bungeanum intercropped with potato garden also showed higher correlation indexes of diversity and individuals(r =0.603,P0.01),diversity and richness(r =0.815,P0.01),diversity and evenness(r =0.706,P0.01).【Conclusion】Zanthoxylum bungeanum intercropped with potato garden had a more stable and complex arthropod community,therefore this planting pattern should be adopted and extended in Zhaotong of Yunnan.


ABSTRACT Cultured gametophytes of Huperzia selago are dorsiventral and strap-shaped. They are basically the same as cultured gametophytes of other terrestrial Huperzia species and also essentially the same as gametophytes of H. selago collected from loose soil. Besides shape, the cultured gametophytes have anatomical features found in gametophytes of H. selago from loose soil. These gametophytes are Type III gametophytes as characterized by Bruchmann in 1898. Although both gametangia occur on individual cultured gametophytes, the meristematic groove produces them at different times and they are not intermixed. The number of terrestrial Huperzia species with described gametophytes is still small (six), but that number has tripled as a result of the recent studies on these gametophytes in culture. Because all the terrestrial Huperzia species to date have Type III gametophytes, it would not be unexpected for the undescribed gametophytes of other species in this group to also be Type III gametophytes.


Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of pain related to musculoskeletal system among nurses. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, musculoskeletal pain was evaluated using the extended of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. A figure showing nine anatomical areas of the body used for the survey (neck, shoulders, upper and lower back, elbows, wrists/hands, hips/thighs, knees, and ankle/feet). Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The logistic regression analysis was performed for identification of risk factors that may impact on pain. A significance level of 0.05 was set for the study. Results: The main age of nurses in the study was 32.70±8.03. Two hundred seventeen, of whom 92.6% had musculoskeletal pain in at least one body part, participated in the study. The respondent most often reported symptoms in the low back (66.4%), upper back (56.2%), neck (51.6%), and ankle/feet (44.7%). 56.2% reported low back pain during the past 12 months, and 48.8% during the past one month and past one week (32.7%). Being male (odds ratio= 2.21, 95% confidence interval= 1.22-4.01) and increased body mass index (odds ratio= 1.23, 95% confidence interval= 1.06-1.43) were the most important factors that increased pain complaints in at least one body part. Age wasn't found to be related to musculoskeletal pain. Conclusions: In this study, musculoskeletal pain was very common among nurses. It is important to provide training about occupational risks. A need to implement preventive measures, early diagnosis, and exercise programs for nursing personnel.


Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) have been involved in citizen science initiatives for decades, engaging with citizens with the goal of protecting and restoring our environment. Yet the data and knowledge generated and the possibilities for engaging citizens have grown significantly in the last decades thanks to the recent developments in mobile technologies and the access to internet, resulting in a transformation of how environmental protection can be done. This perspective provides some examples on how European EPAs and their partners are currently addressing key environmental challenges and exploring new institutional approaches by bringing in citizen science data and methods. It also points out challenges that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of citizen science as a complement to the monitoring efforts by these agencies. Finally, it presents the Interest Group on Citizen Science of the Network of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network), an informal forum where EPAs across Europe share examples and bring together strategic insights on citizen science approaches into their daily activities.


Purpose of review Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) refers to a structural defect resulting in incomplete closure between the soft palate and posterior pharyngeal wall, leading to inadequate speech and deglutition. Traditional surgical options for VPI include sphincter pharyngoplasty, pharyngeal flaps and palatoplasty. Although these procedures have been successfully used over the past several decades, they are associated with complications such as pain, bleeding, infection and obstructive sleep apnoea. They also require postoperative admission. Injection augmentation pharyngoplasty (IAP) is increasingly being viewed as a viable, less invasive surgical option for patients with mild to moderate VPI. Recent findings Both autologous fat and alloplastic synthetics have been used as injectable materials, with low morbidity and good speech outcomes. However, given the overall lack of standardization across studies, no single material has shown clear superiority. Summary IAP is a promising alternative to more invasive surgeries in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate VPI. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of this approach, with an emphasis on its safety and efficacy.


Introduction: Point of care testing for C-reactive protein (CRP) has shown promise as a measure to reduce
 unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in respiratory tract infections (RTI) and has been adopted into NICE guidelines,
 but its use in primary care is still controversial. We aimed to evaluate the effect of CRP testing on the prescription of
 antibiotics and the outcome of patients in general practice with acute cough/RTI.
Methods: We undertook a case-control study with POC testing with CRP in intervention group (Oct 16-Jan 17)
 and compared this to similar cohort of patients from a year previously coded with exact diagnosis.
Results: A total of 207 patients were included: 69 in the intervention group and 138 in the control group.
The two groups were similar in clinical characteristics. In the intervention group, the antibiotic prescribing rate was
 31.6%, which was significantly lower than that in the control group (59.9%) (P=0.003).
The recovery rate, as recorded by the GPs, was 94.9% and 93.8% in the intervention and control groups,
 respectively. Referral to Emergency Department for children under 12 was also reduced significantly in the
 intervention group (4.4%) when compared to the control group (6.5%; P=0.00479).
Conclusion: The study showed that CRP testing in patients with acute cough/RTI may reduce antibiotic
 prescribing and referral to pediatric ED, probably without compromising recovery.


This article explores ways to decolonise aspects of the intellectual property system in Aotearoa New Zealand, primarily in respect of trade marks. It considers the seminal Wai 262 report of the Waitangi Tribunal and builds upon its findings and recommendations, while also offering new ideas of legal reform for protecting mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge and expertise) from undue exploitation. This article also measures those ideas against the objectives and principles of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), as well as other internationally recognised rights. Essentially, this article maintains that for any mechanism to be effective in recognising and upholding the tino rangatiratanga (unqualified self-determination) of Māori over their own mātauranga, that mechanism must be founded upon the principles of tikanga Māori (Māori laws and customs), which is a notion crystallised within the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It must also find its own meaningful place in the law of New Zealand that surrounds us today. It is only in this way that the extractive and thereby oppressive binds of the western intellectual property regime can be unpicked and put aside and the tapu (high status and associated sanctity) of mātauranga can be upheld. These words are also an honouring of those who spent countless hours on the Wai 262 report. It is hoped this article gives new and much needed life to the issue of protecting mātauranga Māori, which is still as relevant today as it was then. Kei aku rangatira, kei aku tapaeru, kei aku whakaruakākā, tēnei e ngākau whakaiti nei (an acknowledgement of all those who took part in Wai 262).


The existence of proper weak solutions of the Dirichlet-Cauchy problem constituted by the Navier-Stokes-Fourier system which characterizes the incompressible homogeneous Newtonian fluids under thermal effects is studied. We call proper weak solutions such weak solutions that verify some local energy inequalities in analogy with the suitable weak solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, we deal with some regularity for the temperature.


This paper examines how China's emergence as a major player in the global economy is affecting export performance of and FDI flows to its East Asian neighbours against the backdrop of the ongoing process of global production sharing. The findings indicate that the 'China threat' has been vastly exaggerated in the contemporary policy debate. China's rapid market penetration in traditional labour intensive manufactured goods has occurred mostly at the expense of the high-wage East Asian countries, without crowding out export opportunities of low-wage countries in the region. More importantly, China's emergence as a major assembly centre within global production networks has created new opportunities for the other East Asian countries to engage in various segments of the production chian in line with their comparative advantage in international production. FDI flows to the other Asian countries seem to be stimulated, rather than crowded out by FDI flows to China.


The detection of an optical signal modulated at 15 GHz was demonstrated experimentally by using difference frequency generation based on a second-order nonlinear optical effect in a periodically poled microwave rectangular waveguide. The measured frequency dependence of the generated microwave signal was in good agreement with the theoretically expected result. An interesting application of the proposed device is the detection of high-speed optical clock detection.


In the present issue of the European Respiratory Journal, Berger et al. [1] report the lack of efficacy of inhaled budesonide for the prevention of acute mountain sickness (AMS). This small well-designed study was undertaken to verify or refute the provocative finding of robust protection with budesonide against AMS reported by Chinese colleagues in 2014 [2] and 2015 [3]. In the presently reported study, 50 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to inhale twice daily budesonide 200 μg, budesonide 800 μg or a placebo 1 day prior and during climbing in less than 48 h to an altitude of 4559 m. Such a rapid active ascent is known to be associated with a more than 50% incidence of AMS symptomatology [4]. Accordingly, AMS indeed occurred in 53% of the subjects in the placebo group, and in 56% and 76% of the subjects assigned to the 200 μg and 800 μg budesonide groups, respectively. Between group differences were not significant. Clearly, inhaled budesonide did not prevent acute mountain sickness. Inhaled corticosteroids are ineffective for the treatment of acute mountain sickness http://ow.ly/gz0i30eawqn


We would like to comment on a recent paper by Plint et al. (2012) that discusses mud transport across a Cretaceous shelf. The authors have taken to heart recent research that advocates looking for evidence of bedload transport of aggregated clays, and we are comfortable that much of the clay component in the Kaskapau Formation did indeed arrive via bedload transport rather than simply settling out of the water column. However, whereas we are perfectly comfortable with the proposed mode of transport, we do have several concerns and suggestions concerning one type of mud aggregate discussed by Plint et al. (2012).

In the depositional model that the authors present (their fig. 16), they envision that cohesive mud is reworked by storms into intraclasts and that these then are carried across the seabed in bedload. That in itself is no problem, because it can be shown in experiments that surficial muds with as much as 85% water content can be transported as millimeter-size aggregates for considerable distances (Schieber et al. 2010). One class of aggregates, however, described as intraclastic aggregates (IAs for the remainder of this manuscript) by the authors, did capture our attention. The authors state that " Storm wave reworking of the seafloor produced intraclastic aggregates…because the mud had been rendered cohesive by the chemical compaction and biostabilization processes that operated shortly after deposition ." We are aware that surficial sediments can gain enhanced cohesion and improved erosion resistance due to mucus from benthic worms and endo-sedimentary microbes, but we are not quite sure what the authors mean by chemical compaction. If they mean that cementation renders the muds firmer and more cohesive, it would have been rather appropriate to document this critical factor in the aggregates in question. By definition, …


Similarities between natural languages and programming languages have prompted researchers to apply neural network models to software problems, such as code generation and repair. However, program-specific characteristics pose unique prediction challenges that require the design of new and specialized neural network solutions. In this work, we identify new prediction challenges in application programming interface (API) completion tasks and find that existing solutions are unable to capture complex program dependencies in program semantics and structures. We design a new neural network model Multi-HyLSTM to overcome the newly identified challenges and comprehend complex dependencies between API calls. Our neural network is empowered with a specialized dataflow analysis to extract multiple global API dependence paths for neural network predictions. We evaluate Multi-HyLSTM on 64,478 Android Apps and predict 774,460 Java cryptographic API calls that are usually challenging for developers to use correctly. Our Multi-HyLSTM achieves an excellent top-1 API completion accuracy at 98.99%. Moreover, we show the effectiveness of our design choices through an ablation study and have released our dataset.


ARID1A is one of the most frequently mutated epigenetic regulators in a wide spectrum of cancers. Recent studies have shown that ARID1A deficiency induces global changes in the epigenetic landscape of enhancers and promoters. These broad and complex effects make it challenging to identify the driving mechanisms of ARID1A deficiency in promoting cancer progression. Here, we identified the anti-senescence effect of Arid1a deficiency in the progression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) by profiling the transcriptome of individual PanINs in a mouse model. In a human cell line model, we found that ARID1A deficiency upregulates the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A1 (ALDH1A1), which plays an essential role in attenuating the senescence induced by oncogenic KRAS through scavenging reactive oxygen species. As a subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, our ATAC sequencing data showed that ARID1A deficiency increases the accessibility of the enhancer region of ALDH1A1. This study provides the first evidence that ARID1A deficiency promotes pancreatic tumorigenesis by attenuating KRAS-induced senescence through the upregulation of ALDH1A1 expression.


During its first two centuries, opera was dominated by sopranos. There were male sopranos, or castrati, whose supercharged voices (female vocal cords powered by male lungs) were capable of feats of vocalism that are hard to imagine today. And there were female sopranos, or prime donnas, whose long battle for social acceptance and top billing was crowned in the early nineteenth century when the castrati disappeared from the opera stage and left them supreme. Whether they were male or female, these singers were amazing virtuosi, perhaps the greatest singers there have ever been - "angels". Unfortunately, some of them (and often the most famous) were also capable of behaving extremely badly, both on and off stage - "monsters." This book tells their colourful stories. Besides providing fascinating anecdotes about some of those who graced and disgraced the operatic stage, Richard Somerset-Ward tells the story of their greatest glory - the singing tradition they founded and perfected, which we know as bel canto and which is still the backbone of operatic singing today. Rich in musical, social, and cultural lore, Angels and Monsters illuminates a unique and vanished tradition and will be irresistible to opera lovers everywhere.


Abstract A number of socio-economic, biological and lifestyle characteristics change with advancing age and place very old adults at increased risk of micronutrient deficiencies. The aim of this study was to assess vitamin and mineral intakes and respective food sources in 793 75-year-olds (302 men and 491 women) in the North-East of England, participating in the Newcastle 85+ Study. Micronutrient intakes were estimated using a multiple-pass recall tool (2×24 h recalls). Determinants of micronutrient intake were assessed with multinomial logistic regression. Median vitamin D, Ca and Mg intakes were 2·0 (interquartile range (IQR) 1·2–6·5) µg/d, 731 (IQR 554–916) mg/d and 215 (IQR 166–266) mg/d, respectively. Fe intake was 8·7 (IQR 6·7–11·6) mg/d, and Se intake was 39·0 (IQR 27·3–55·5) µg/d. Cereals and cereal products were the top contributors to intakes of folate (31·5 %), Fe (49·2 %) and Se (46·7 %) and the second highest contributors to intakes of vitamin D (23·8 %), Ca (27·5 %) and K (15·8 %). More than 95 % (n 756) of the participants had vitamin D intakes below the UK's Reference Nutrient Intake (10 µg/d). In all, >20 % of the participants were below the Lower Reference Nutrient Intake for Mg (n 175), K (n 238) and Se (n 418) (comparisons with dietary reference values (DRV) do not include supplements). As most DRV are not age specific and have been extrapolated from younger populations, results should be interpreted with caution. Participants with higher education, from higher social class and who were more physically active had more nutrient-dense diets. More studies are needed to inform the development of age-specific DRV for micronutrients for the very old.


In recent years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcucs aureus (MRSA) have become a truly global challenge. Systemic review and meta-analysis was performed to summarize the prevalence of MRSA in different regions of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A search of the PubMed, Google and Google Scholar databases for studies published during the period of 1 January 2002 through 31 December 2012 was conducted. We included studies that looked at the number and prevalence of MRSA among total S. aureus . Meta-analyst and comprehensive meta-analysis were used for statistical analysis. Twenty six studies were included in the review, representing five regions of KSA. Pooled estimation of 22,793 S . aureus strains showed 35.6% (95% Confidence interval (CI), 0.28 –0.42; P < 0.01) of the strains were MRSA with significant heterogeneity. Prevalence of MRSA ranged from 5.97% to 94% in Dahran and Riyadh cities, respectively. MRSA proportion among KSA regions is slightly high and varied from one city to the other. Key words : Saudi – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcucs aureus -systemic review.


The Merdeka Belajar curriculum its various episodes places the teacher as the main actor in the transformation of Indonesian education. In the transformation process, Catholic religious teachers are an important and major part of the quality change that is expected from the Merdeka Belajar  program at the school level. This study aims to reveal the quality, quantity and professionalism of Catholic religious teachers and their level of participation in various personal and professional development activities. This study uses case study research on Catholic religious teachers in Manado City, North Sulawesi. The data collection technique used a qualitative pattern through observation, interviews and documentation studies. Data analysis used inductive analysis patterns through data triangulation techniques. The results of the study show that (a) all Catholic religious teachers in Manado city, both civil servants and private employees, have a bachelor's degree qualification. (b) some teachers improve their professional qualifications and quality at the second and third strata levels, (c) the involvement of Catholic religious teachers in the association of civil servants in various training and professional development activities is given priority over private teachers because of the targets and quotas of the prepared programs. by the organizers. To improve the knowledge and skills of Catholic religious teachers in implementing an independent curriculum, it is necessary to empower Catholic religious teachers intensely and evenly so that they are able to compete and be actively involved in the transformation process of national education.


BACKGROUND
The non-remunerated donors in many of Kenya's hospital blood banks are either call responsive (CR) or walk-in (WI) donors. These donors impact differently on the national blood transfusion services.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the walk-in (WI) and call responsive (CR) donors' influence on the national blood transfusion services.

DESIGN
A retrospective study.

SETTING
A national referral and a private hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Donor's age, sex, whether walk in or responded to a call to donate for a relative or emergency blood requirement and test results of; HIV, HBsAg, syphilis and HCV.

RESULTS
Between April 1999 and April 2000, 10,295 persons donated blood either responding to a call or walked in. The national referral hospital had 8,563 (83%) and private hospital 1,732 (17%). In total, 2.5% were WI and 97.5% CR. The lowest age of donors were CR 15, and WI 18 years. Of 1,138 (11.1%) rejected were 4.6% WI and 11.2% CR donors. The infections 5.8% HIV, 4% HBSAg, 1.2% VDRL and 0.2% HCV were statistically significant in WI compared to CR (p=0.002), also in female compared to male donors (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION
This study shows that walk in donors were fewer than call responsive but had less rates of transfusion associated infections.


In the present study was estimate the genetic diversity and relationships among nine horses breeds in Czech and Slovak Republic. In conclusion, the main objective of study was to show the level of genetic distance among the horse breeds with different history of breeding of each country. Furthermore, it should be clarified whether these populations and subpopulations are distinct enough from each other to justify defining separate breeds. This research concerns the variability of microsatellite markers in genotypes of horse. We compared the genetic diversity and distance among nine horse breeds Czech and Slovak Warmblood both of Czech origin, Slovak Warmblood of Slovak origin, Hucul, Hafling, Furioso, Noriker, Silesian Noriker and Bohemian-Moravian Belgian Horse. In total, 932 animals were genotyped for 17 microsatellites markers (AHT4, AHT5, ASB2, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7, HTG4, HTG10, VHL20, HTG6, HMS2, HTG7, ASB17, ASB23, CA425, HMS1, LEX3) recommended by the International Society of Animal Genetics. In the different population size, the allele frequencies, observed and expected heterozygosity, test for deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and Polymorphism information content have been calculated for each breed. We analyzed genetic distance and diversity among them on the base of the dataset of highly polymorphic set of microsatellites representing all autozomes using set of PowerMarker v3.25 analysis tools and Structure 2.2. programme for results comparison.


Fluorophores based on 4-triazolyl, 7-hydroxy-4-triazolylmethyl, 4-O-triazolylmethyl, and 7-O-triazolylmethyl coumaryl-tagged amino acids and dipeptides were synthesized by copper-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction between azido- or alkynyl-functionalized coumarins with alkynyl- or azido-functionalized amino acid and dipeptides in good-to-excellent yields. Steady-state absorption and the fluorescence properties of the synthesized conjugates were studied. The chemical applicability of these amino acid and peptide-based fluorophores was successfully demonstrated by their linear elongation by further tagging them with appropriate C- or N-terminus amino acid.


Expression of ABCA1 is regulated by transcription of the gene and calpain-mediated proteolytic degradation, and inhibition ABCA1 degradation results in increased ABCA1 and HDL biogenesis in vitro. We examined whether this approach could be a potential antiatherogenic treatment. Although probucol inhibits both the activity and degradation of ABCA1, its oxidized products, spiroquinone and diphenoquinone, reduce degradation of ABCA1 without inhibiting its activity or altering transcription of the ABCA1 gene. Accordingly, both compounds enhanced apolipoprotein A-I/ABCA1-dependent generation of HDL in vitro, and increased hepatic ABCA1 and plasma HDL without increasing antioxidant activity in plasma when given to rabbits. Both compounds also decreased vascular lipid deposition in cholesterol-fed rabbits. We therefore conclude that stabilization of ABCA1 against calpain-mediated degradation is a novel and potentially important strategy to increase HDL formation and prevent atherosclerosis. Spiroquinone and diphenoquinone are potential seeds for development of such drugs.


This study aims to isolation, characterization and create a culture of cellulolytic bacteria from the caecum of rabbits to fermentation local agro-industry waste CSO (skin coconut meat, soybean seed coat and onggok) into quality feed products and palatable as a commercial feedstuff substitute for optimization performance of rabbit. The materials of study are rabbit caecum, culture media and waste CSO. The study methods is descriptive of isolation, characterization and creation of caecum cellulolytic bacterial culture, continued experiments using a completely randomized design (CRD) factorial 3 x 5 fermentation of cellulolytic bacteria colonies concentration (Ci = 10 CFU / g DM, C2 = 108 CFU / g DM, C3 = 109 CFU / g DM) and a long incubation (Ii = 2 days, I2 = 4 days , I3 = 6 days , I4 = 8 days, I5 = 10 days). The results show that cellulolytic bacteria strongest from epithelial wall of caecum are gram-positive, do not form spores, catalase negative and bacillus. The nutrient content of waste CSO: CP 10.11%; CF 20.99%; EE 31.52%; NDF 33.42%, ADF 21,35% and cellulose 11.97% so need to be fermented. Treatment of bacterial colonies concentration and long Pemanfaatan Bakteri Selulolitik ... (Ali dan Wadjdi) incubation in fermentation CSO partially lowered OM, EE, CF, NDF, ADF and cellulose, but increase the CP. Treatment interaction increases CP and other nutrients down not significant. Effective treatment interaction concentration 108 CFU / g DM and long incubation 8 days with CP 11.55%; CF 17.34%; EE 31.29%; NDF 28.23% ; ADF 18:33% and cellulose 8.89%. In conclusion, the strongest rabbit caecum cellulolytic bacteria from the epithelial wall of the caecum are gram positive, not sporulating, catalase negative and formed bacillus. Nutrient content of the best CSOF at K2I8 treatment with CP increased 14.36% and other nutrients down: CF 17.39%; EE 0.73%; NDF 15.53% and cellulose.25.74%. Suggested fermentation effectiveness CSO waste can use the caecum cellulolytic bacteria concentration of 10 CFU / g DM material and incubation time of 8 days. Keywords: CSO waste, fermentation, nutrient content.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Although the assessment of cervical motion is routinely performed in clinical practice, no standard protocol for this procedure has ever been established formally. The specific aim of the present study was to select from four different measurement protocols the one which was most stable in terms of reproducibility and was appropriate for clinical and/or medicolegal applications.

METHOD
A repeated measurement, test-retest of cervical motion study design using an ultrasound-based system for three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis; cervical range of motion was measured along the six primary directions: flexion; extension; right and left rotation; and right and left lateral flexion, in 20 healthy subjects who were tested twice over a period of lasting from one to four weeks. 'Protocol A' (reciprocal--intermittent testing) consisted of moving the head along a given primary direction, return to the neutral position, a pause and then motion to the opposite primary direction and return to neutral position. These movements were repeated three times. 'Protocol B' (reciprocal--continuous testing) was identical to Protocol A, but without the pause between the primary directions. 'Protocol C' consisted of three repetitions of the same primary direction with a break between two consecutive primary directions. Three sets of six randomly ordered primary directions constituted 'Protocol D'.

RESULTS
Protocol D was associated with a significantly smaller range of motion and with the least intra-test reproducibility, as indicated by the coefficient of variation. The differences between the other protocols were largely negligible.

CONCLUSION
In routine clinical practice, either of protocols A, B or C may be applied.


The authors report a case of traumatic removal of nerve tissue during myelography with the Chynn aspiration cannula. If such a situation occurs, the authors suggest making a second puncture at a different level.


Background: The nutritional composition of the bran layer of rice (RB), a globally available product of the rice milling process, has attracted attention as a nutraceutical food source. However, to capitalize on RB's nutritional properties for humans, it is necessary to achieve a level of bioavailability that increases the efficacy needed to impact the nutritional well-being of lactating mothers and their breastfed infants. To accomplish this, a hydrolyzed enzymatic extract (RBEE) with increased protein, vitamin, carbohydrate, and antioxidant bioactivity has been developed.Objective: To determine the impact of RBEE on the nutritional status of lactating mothers (LM) and the growth of their exclusively breastfed (EBF) infants, living in food-insecure environments in rural Guatemala. Methods:  A RBEE daily ration was consumed by post-puerperium LM for 4.5 months of the EBF period. The nutritional impact on LMs was determined by body mass index (BMI). Anemia prevalence and packed cell volume (PCV) were obtained via hematocrit (HCT). Infant growth was determined monthly following World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, including weight-for-length (WHZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), BMI-for-age (BAZ) and head circumference-for-age (HCZ). Initial, midterm and final growth indicators were analyzed by Student t-test for independent samples. Results: While no significant differences were found between the initial and final BMI in LMs, anemia prevalence was significantly reduced from 12.1% to 4%. HCT results in LMs showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in PCV by the study's end, from 40.55% to 41.42%. Following a student t-test analysis, infant growth indicators WHZ, WAZ and BAZ showed a highly significant (p<0.01) increase. A significant (p<0.05) improvement was detected in WAZ, while LAZ scores improved from -1.9 to -1.76.Conclusions: The dietary supplementation of lactating mothers with an RBEE during the EBF period significantly impacted the mother-infant dyad, with improved growth of the exclusively breastfed infants and a reduction in anemia prevalence in mothers. Further research will include the quantity and quality of the putative increased maternal milk synthesis.  Keywords: rice bran, bioactive, bioavailability, enzyme-treated extract, functional food, infants, exclusive breastfeeding, lactating mothers, anemia, chronic, acute, malnutrition, Guatemala, growth, nutrition, children.


In recent decades, the dual systems of steel moment-resisting frames and RC shear walls have found extensive application as lateral load-resisting systems for high-rise structures in seismically active areas. This paper investigated the effectiveness of tuned mass damper (TMD), viscous damper, friction damper, and the lead-core rubber bearing in controlling the damage and seismic response of high-rise structures with concrete shear walls. Five buildings (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-story) with passive seismic control systems were analyzed in OpenSees using 50 seismic records. The structural responses (acceleration, drift, displacement, velocity, and base shear) were adopted as the criteria. The criteria were nondimensionalized by defining a measure to establish a relationship between the inputs (ground motions) and outputs (structural responses). At the end, Multi Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) method was employed to rank the passive seismic control systems and select the best one. The results showed application of the multiple-criteria decision-making methods in selecting a seismic upgrading strategy and earthquake engineering.


Svanibor Pettan is professor and chair of the ethnomusicology programme at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His academic degrees are from the Universities of Zagreb, Croatia (BA), Ljubljana, Slovenia (MA), and Maryland, USA (PhD), while his fieldwork sites include former Yugoslav lands, Australia, Egypt, Norway, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and USA. The prevalent themes are music, politics and war, multiculturalism, minorities, gender, and applied ethnomusicology. He was the first Yugoslav ethnomusicologist who conducted research for academic degrees outside of Europe (Zanzibar in 1982, Egypt in 1986-87). Svanibor's dynamic professional career included full-time posts as radio editor (1984-88), scholar in a research institute (1988-98), and professor at a conservatory-type institution (1995-2003), department of ethnology and cultural anthropology (2003-05), and department of musicology (2005-). Within the International Council for Traditional Music he served as national representative of Croatia and later Slovenia, Chair of the Programme Committee of the 38th World Conference, co-founder, Vice-chair and Chair of the Study Group on Music and Minorities, founder and Chair of the Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology, member of the Executive Board, Secretary General, and VicePresident. He was member of the Council of the Society for Ethnomusicology, and twice President of the Cultural and Ethnomusicological Society Folk Slovenia. Svanibor was visiting professor at the Universities of Zagreb (1993-96), Oslo (1994, 1996), Sarajevo (1998-2001), Washington (2004), Illinois (2006), Pula (2007-11), Chicago (2012), Tainan (2013), Split (2014), and Maribor (2017); visiting scholar at Wesleyan (2001), Brown (2010), and Griffith (2013); and external examiner at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University


Using the share society as a metaphor for the economic system, we construct a microfoundation for the stylized observations about rent-seeking and economic performance. We introduce the concept of rent intensity and show that at symmetric Cournot-Nash equilibrium it falls as value-adding productivity rises, rises with rent-seeking reward and with number of participants. Finally, average output falls with population growth where rent-seeking overwhelms increasing return to scale.


Treatment of methyl 3-O-benzyl-2-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl)-alpha-D- mannopyranoside (1) with tert-butyldiphenylsilyl chloride in N,N-dimethylformamide afforded methyl 3-O-benzyl-6-O-tert-butyldiphenylsilyl-2-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl -alpha-D- mannopyranosyl)-alpha-D-mannopyranoside (2). Oxidation of 2 with pyridinium chlorochromate, followed by reduction of the carbonyl group, and subsequent O-deacetylation afforded methyl 3-O-benzyl-6-O-tert-butyldiphenylsilyl-2-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl- alpha-D- talopyranoside (5). Cleavage of the tert-butyldiphenylsilyl group of 5 with tetrabutylammonium fluoride in oxolane, followed by hydrogenolysis, gave methyl 2-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl-alpha-D-talopyranoside (7). O-Deacetylation of 1 gave methyl 3-O-benzyl-2-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside (8). Treatment of 8 with tert-butyldiphenylsilyl chloride afforded a 6,6'-disilyl derivative, which was converted into a 2',3'-O-isopropylidene derivative, and then further oxidized with pyridinium chlorochromate. The resulting diketone was reduced and removal of the protecting groups gave methyl 2-O-alpha-D-talopyranosyl-alpha-D-talopyranoside (15). The structures of both 7 and 15 were established by 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy.


The finite-element method with a non-uniform mesh is used to analyze the two-dimensional (2D) linear head-tape interface including head-tape contacts. Numerical results for the head-tape spacing, the air-bearing pressure and the contact pressure for a 2D cylindrical head-tape interface are obtained and compared to the 1D calculation results. The effect of the tape edge on the head-tape spacing and pressure is investigated.


Cold heavy oil production utilizes the energy inherent in the reservoir for primary oil production and has been applied with commercial success in the area surrounding Lloydminster. The primary cold production of heavy oil can be expected to produce about 5-10% of initial oil in place before the process becomes uneconomical. Solvent gas injection processes can be utilized for the recovery of remaining heavy oil from post-primary reservoirs. The processes involve the injection of solvents or solvent mixtures into an oil reservoir, dissolution of the solvents or solvent mixtures into the oil and production of the solvent-oil mixture. Mixing of the injected solvents with oil in the reservoir is governed by molecular diffusion, mechanical dispersion and non-equilibrium solvent dissolution/exsolution. A key aspect of exsolution for solvent gas-based heavy oil recovery processes is its stimulation of foamy oil behaviour. Maximizing the solvent gas uptake during the dissolution process is vital for attaining foamy oil behaviour during the exsolution process.
 A suite of experiments is presented where CO2, propane and a CO2-propane mixture are injected into both dead and live heavy oil sandpacks at a constant pressure and temperature. The solvent uptake rate was monitored with time. Numerical simulation of selected experiments is also presented.
 Interestingly, propane showed a slower solvent uptake rate with live oil than with dead oil in the sandpack, whereas CO2 showed a faster rate. The CO2-propane mixture indicated little rate change between live and dead oil experiments. CT experiments further concluded that propane sorbs faster into dead oil. This indicates that methane interferes with propane sorption into the oil in live oil cases. The numerical study found that a non-equilibrium treatment is necessary in simulating solvent dissolution behaviour.
 This study will help in the design of solvent gas-based heavy oil recovery processes such as VAPEX, Thermal Solvent, Hybrid Solvent, ES-SAGD, and Cyclic Solvent Injection (CSI). It provides insight into the concentration of injected solvent with distance into the oil, and the time required for adequate solvent injection and soaking. The volume of solvent gas uptake plays a key role in foamy oil behavour during exsolution, and a solid understanding of the solvent gas uptake by heavy oil can help in optimizing oil recovery from sustained foamy oil drive in the reservoir.


This study has made it possible to highlight that the extraction of structural lineaments helps in the optimal decision-making in the implantation of boreholes in the basement zone. For this purpose, we used remote sensing, as a complementary tool in the extraction of structural lineaments and validated our results with the drillings carried out using electrical tomography carried out in the area. This semi-automatic method allowed us to understand the importance that remote sensing can play in the establishment of successful drilling in the basement zone. For this study we used software such as Excel for drilling data ARMAP 10.8 for GIS, PCI Geomatica software for the extraction of lineaments. The orientation of the lineaments was obtained using the rose diagram of the ROCKWORKS software. In addition, for our study we used images from Landsat 9+, ASTER, DEM, and STRM of 30m resolution which allowed us to develop thematic maps. Thus we were able to validate our Works with the representation by the profiles of electrical resistivity especially the electrical tomography made in the study area and the drillings carried out according to the lineaments extracted. The combination of different parameters in the middle of the basement in a GIS facilitated the spatial analysis, the results was good for the decision making to drill water well in basement area. This approach allowed us to understand that more than 53% of positive drilling intercepts lineaments while only 13% of negative drilling intercepts lineaments.


Research in Information Retrieval has significantly benefited from the availability of standard test collections and the use of these collections for comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of different retrieval system configurations in controlled laboratory experiments. In an attempt to design large and reliable test collections decisions regarding the assembly of the document corpus, the selection of topics, the formation of relevance judgments and the development of evaluation measures are particularly critical and affect both the cost of the constructed test collections and the effectiveness in evaluating retrieval systems.
Furthermore, recently, building retrieval systems has been viewed as a machine learning task resulting in the development of a learning-to-rank methodology widely adopted by the community. It is apparent that the design and construction methodology of learning collections, along with the selection of the evaluation measure to be optimized significantly affects the quality of the resulting retrieval system.
In this work we consider the construction of reliable and efficient test and training collections to be used in the evaluation of retrieval systems and in the development of new and effective ranking functions. In the process of building such collections we investigate methods of selecting the appropriate documents and queries to be judged and we proposed evaluation metrics that can better capture the overall effectiveness of the retrieval systems under study.


Adolescents have experienced decreased aerobic fitness levels and insufficient physical activity levels over the past decades. While both physical activity and aerobic fitness are related to physical and mental health, little is known concerning how they manifest in the brain during this stage of development, characterized by significant physical and psychosocial changes. Previous investigations have demonstrated associations of physical activity and aerobic fitness with the brain's functional connectivity in both children and adults. However, it is difficult to generalize these results to adolescents because the development of functional connectivity has unique features during adolescence. Here, we examined how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with local and interhemispheric functional connectivity of the adolescent brain, as measured with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Physical activity was measured by hip-worn accelerometers, and aerobic fitness by a maximal 20-m shuttle run test. We found that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, were linked to increased local functional connectivity as measured by regional homogeneity in 13–16-year-old participants. However, we did not find evidence for significant associations between adolescents' physical activity or aerobic fitness and interhemispheric connectivity, as indicated by homotopic connectivity. These results suggest that physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, is related to local functional connectivity in adolescents. Moreover, physical activity shows an association with a specific brain area involved in motor functions but did not display any widespread associations with other brain regions. These results can advance our understanding of the behavior-brain associations in adolescents.


This essay takes the work of the "housewife poet," Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978), as the starting point for a critical examination of the complex relationship between American women poets, masculine literary culture, and the second-wave feminist movement in the middle decades of the twentieth century. It posits a number of factors behind McGinley's rise to fame as a poet and subsequent decline in reputation, and it establishes hitherto overlooked—and productive—relationships between her writing and that of her better-known successors, including Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Elizabeth Bishop. The essay draws on a range of unpublished archival resources in offering a reading of McGinley's work in relation to its poetic, spatial, and historical contexts. Specifically, it addresses her choice of "light verse" and appeal to a popular market, her suburban origins and themes, and her opposition to the emergent feminist movement. By deploying McGinley's life and work as an exemplar, this essay proposes a re-evaluation of the complex discourses of gender, location, and literary value in mid-century American culture.


Brain shift is an important obstacle to the application of image guidance during neurosurgical interventions. There has been a growing interest in intra-operative imaging to update the image-guided surgery systems. However, due to the innate limitations of the current imaging modalities, accurate brain shift compensation continues to be a challenging task. In this study, the application of intra-operative photoacoustic imaging and registration of the intra-operative photoacoustic with pre-operative MR images is proposed to compensate for brain deformation. Finding a satisfactory registration method is challenging due to the unpredictable nature of brain deformation. In this study, the co-sparse analysis model is proposed for photoacoustic -MR image registration, which can capture the interdependency of the two modalities. The proposed algorithm works based on the minimization of the mapping transform via a pair of analysis operators that are learned by the alternating direction method of multipliers. The method was evaluated using experimental phantom and ex-vivo data obtained from the mouse brain. The results of phantom data show about 63% improvement in target registration error in comparison with the commonly used normalized mutual information method. Results proved that intra-operative photoacoustic images could become a promising tool when the brain shift invalidated pre-operative MRI.


We thank Lee and Fry for their input on our article. To summarize, we compared smokers' levels of urinary or blood biomarkers of exposure and potential harm by level of filter ventilation of their cigarette brand (1). We also examined the relationship between filter ventilation of the smokers' cigarette brand and perceptions of harm of one's own brand of cigarettes versus other cigarette brands. We found no association between filter ventilation and biomarkers. We also found that more smokers of higher versus lower ventilated cigarettes perceived their cigarette brand to be less harmful than other cigarette brands. Our article contributes to the literature showing a public misperception of filter-ventilated cigarettes which likely is due to the lighter taste and from decades of prior marketing by cigarette manufacturers who falsely portrayed low-yield cigarettes as lower risk because of the promised delivery of less tar determined through smoking machines. Lee and Fry stated "While of course their original conclusion is important, and the accuracy of their analysis undisputed, it is also important to be aware of exposure and harm on a per cigarette basis. Adding this significant covariate into the multivariate analysis, allows formore direct comparison between groups, and shows the interesting contrast with the published results." Our analyses focused on levels of a given biomarker as a function of the smokers' cigarette brand filter ventilation level. Given the observational nature of the study, we attempted to isolate the impact of filter ventilation on biomarkers by controlling for potential confounders in modeling which included age, sex, race, duration regular smoking, use of mentholated cigarettes, and quit effort. While adjusting for cigarettes per day (CPD) may be an interesting analysis, it may not provide an accurate description of exposure. That is why we purposely did not adjust for CPD. Despite higher versus lower ventilated cigarettes having lower machine-determined tar/nicotine yields, similar levels of exposure to the smoker may be achieved through users of higher ventilated cigarettes consuming more CPD as a way to "compensate" for the lower nicotine (2). Greater CPD among smokers of higher versus lower filter-ventilated cigarettes has been shown in prior studies summarized in NCI's Monograph 13 (2) and in our study where smokers in the top quartile of filter ventilation had a mean CPD of 16 versus 13 among smokers in the first quartile of filter ventilation. Thus, and as described previously (2), controlling for CPD may erroneously bias the estimates in favor of finding lower biomarkers among higher filter-ventilated smokers—which is what Lee and Fry observed in an approximate analysis of the aggregate-level data provided in our article. For these reasons, we believe our analysis is a more accurate reflection of the true exposure experienced by smokers than an analysis adjusting for CPD.


Conductive hydrogel (CH) coatings for biomedical electrodes have shown considerable promise in improving electrode mechanical and charge transfer properties. While they have desirable properties as a bulk material, there is limited understanding of how these properties translate to a microelectrode array. This study evaluated the performance of CH coatings applied to Nucleus Contour Advance cochlear electrode arrays. Cyclic voltammetry and biphasic stimulation were carried out to determine electrical properties of the coated arrays. Electrical testing demonstrated that CH coatings supported up to 24 times increase in charge injection limit. Reduced impedance was also maintained for over 1 billion stimulations without evidence of delamination or degradation. Mechanical studies performed showed negligible effect of the coating on the pre-curl structure of the Contour Advance arrays. Testing the coating in a model human scala tympani confirmed that adequate contact was maintained across the lateral wall. CH coatings are a viable, stable coating for improving electrical properties of the platinum arrays while imparting a softer material interface to reduce mechanical mismatch. Ultimately, these coatings may act to minimize scar tissue formation and fluid accumulation around electrodes and thus improve the electrical performance of neural implants.


The non-oriented Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip with a width of 100 mm and a thickness of 1.7 mm was prepared by the top side-pouring twin-roll casting (TSTRC) process. The surface quality of the air-cooled and water-cooled cast strip was good. Compared with the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy ingot, the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip has a relatively fine solidification structure and exhibits certain plasticity at room temperature. Microhardness, XRD, and TEM investigated the ordered structure and degree of Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloys prepared by three different cooling methods. The results show that the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy ingot prepared by the standard method has many B2 ordered phases and DO3 ordered phases, and the order degree is high. The Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip prepared by the TSTRC process has a low degree of order and only contains a small B2 ordered phase. The faster cooling rate effectively inhibits the formation of the DO3 ordered phase and B2 ordered phase. The growth of the ordered phase also reduces the reverse domain boundary energy, reduces the motion resistance of superdislocations, and increases its mobility, thereby improving the room temperature plasticity of Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strips.


She-rats have been treated at the 15th day of gestation with Misulban. The she-rats born from the former ones present an ovarian dysgenesis due to a precocious destruction of the germinal cells by the radiomimetic. These dysgeneses are characterized by the presence of cordal epithelial structures and of stroma. Cells whose cytoplasmic infrastructure is characteristic of a steroidogenesis have been searched on ovaries taken of between 15 days and 6 months. In the absence of follicular organization, they appear only from puberty and are localized particularly, between the epithelial structures, in the conjonctive stroma.


There are many problems in the operation of spiral bevel gears; for example, difficult lubrication conditions lead to excessively high oil temperature and the risk of severe wear. Thus, the aim of this work was to check whether, by the deposition of a thin, hard, low-friction coating on the teeth flanks of spiral bevel gears, it is possible to improve the resistance to wear, reduce friction and possibly the gear vibrations. The tribological experiments were carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a bevel gear test rig was used (laboratory testing). In the second phase, a verification test was performed using an industrial gear stand (chain conveyor) working under conditions typical of coal mines. The low-friction WC/C coating was tested. The coating was deposited on the teeth of the wheels. For reference, the uncoated pairs of spiral bevel gears were tested. In the laboratory testing, a commercial, mineral automotive gear oil of the API GL-5 performance level and 80W-90 viscosity grade was used for lubrication. For lubrication of the industrial gears, a mineral base oil of the low, VG32 viscosity grade was chosen. The results obtained show that, by the deposition of the low-friction WC/C coating on the teeth of the wheel, the following beneficial effects can be achieved in comparison with the case of the uncoated gears: a rise in the resistance to the two forms of severe wear (scuffing and pitting), and a drop in the oil temperature (lower friction). The above effects are accompanied at the first stages of the tests by an undesired, higher level of vibrations in case of the steel-WC/C material combination. However, throughout the test, the vibrations for the two material combinations became similar. Thus, the WC/C coating can be applied to increase the wear resistance and decrease the oil temperature in the transmissions containing spiral bevel gears in, e.g., chain conveyors installed in coal mines. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.21.3.7263


The grape (Vitis vinifera) from the Vitaceae family is the most grown fruit species in the world. Turkey has an important place in the world winegrowing due to favorable climatic conditions. The Cappadocia region is among the most important regions in Turkish wine production. The most grown varieties in this region are Emir and Dimrit grapes. Grape seeds are a by-product of the wine-making industry and fruit juice. Most of the total amount of grapes is used in wine making. In a few weeks of the harvest season, around 10 million tons of grape pods are emerging in the world. Grape seed oil contains omega 6, which is essential for omega fatty acids, at a high rate and also they are rich in polyphenolic compounds with strong biological effects. Due to the fatty acids and phenolic content of these products, it is aimed to be a new food source for human nutrition and at the same time to contribute to the reduction of factory product costs. The highest fatty acids identified in all varieties were linoleic acid (C18: 2), followed by oleic acid (C18: 1), palmitic acid (C16: 0) and stearic acid (C18: 0). Total phenolic substance content ranges between 70 and 84 ( g GAE/kg ekstract ) among the varieties. The phenolic content of the Dimrit grape seed is higher than Emir Grape seeds. According to these results, the oils of Cappadocia grape varieties Emir and Dimrit can be proposed as a new food source for human nutrition at the same time to contribute to the reduction of factory product costs.


Introduction Ispaghula husk (IS) is believed to modulate functional gastrointestinal symptoms by drawing water into the bowel to soften stool and accelerate transit, and by adding bulk. It is not thought to be readily fermented. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can assess gastrointestinal content and function. The aim of the study was to assess whether MRI could detect and quantify the effects of IS in patients with chronic constipation. Methods A double-blind crossover study in adults with functional constipation or constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Intervention: Metamucil Original Coarse Fibre® (P&G, USA) 14 g tds – daily IS dose 21 g. Placebo: Maltodextrin(MD) 14 g tds. On day 5 subjects swallowed 5 gadolinium filled capsules. On day 6 MRI scans were taken fasting and hourly for 7 hours while subjects ingested a rice pudding meal and treatment (IS or MD). Whole gut transit was assessed by the weighted average position score of the capsules 24 hours after ingestion (WAPS). Free water in the small bowel (SBWC) and ascending colon (ACWC) was measured as were T1 and T2 relaxation times in the ascending and descending colon (AC & DC), colonic volume and gas.Abstract OC-068 Figure 1 Results 16 subjects completed both treatments. Transit was faster after IS with a mean decrease in WAPS of 24% (p = 0.05, 1 tailed). Postprandial SBWC was markedly higher on IS (p < 0.001) with smaller increases seen in ACWC (p < 0.05). Fasting T1 was significantly higher after IS in both AC and DC. T2 fasting values were also higher. A postprandial rise was seen in both T1AC and T2AC after IS but not MD. Fasting colonic volume increased on PS by mean 332 mL or 48%. Exploratory analysis of colonic gas found that after IS significantly more was detectable both fasting (p < 0.05) and postprandially (p < 0.05). AC gas did not increase until 240 min after PS while transverse colon gas increased steadily through the day.Abstract OC-068 Table 1 Maltodextrin Ispaghula Mean difference(95% confidence interval) WAPS 3.4 (1.6–4.8) 2.2 (1.5–3.0) 0.8 (-0.2–1.7) Colonic Volume (mL) 690 (±55) 1022 (±60) 332 (213–451) T1AC (ms) 596 (±61) 829 (±98) 234 (15–453) T1DC (ms) 366 (±67) 613 (±94) 247 (82–411) Conclusion MRI parameters demonstrated accelerated in transit, increased intestinal water content and increasedcolonic volume with IS. Fasting T1 appears to discriminate constipation from health and responded to treatment. More colonic gas was detected with IS. This may reflect fermentation of IS or interference with small bowel absorption leading to malabsorption of carbohydrate in the rice meal. These novel findings illustrate the potential for MRI to provide insights into the in vivo effects and mechanisms of action of gut modulators. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


This study aims to analyze, assess and synthesize other research works on the neural mechanism of general anesthesia. The main focus of this study is to investigate the region of the brain involved in the induction of general anesthesia and the neural mechanisms of general anesthetics
that induce general anesthesia, based on the experiments and primary research carried out by other researchers. The results of experiments and findings from other researchers are gathered and analyzed to see how the results of the experiments may conform or contradict each other. The parts of the brain involved in general anesthesia are identified. The neural mechanism of
general anesthesia is better understood as well. From the extensive discussions in this research, it is found that thalamus, brainstem and reticular formation are the main targets of anesthetics. In terms of neural mechanism, general anesthetics exert its actions by altering neural functions and
activites, causing the signal in the brain to be desynchronized.


The heart is a key organ in the fetal development since it is responsible for perfusion and proper development of all fetal organs. From the very early stages of pregnancy, heart must maintain adequate cardiac output in a continued manner and be able to adapt to changing circulatory demands. Certain pathologies in fetal life can affect the proper functioning of the cardiovascular system and can even cause heart failure, hydrops and fetal death. Fetal echocardiography is one such tool, which can assess the status of the heart, both structural and functional.In Pakistan, fetal echocardiography has been in service for over a decade, primarily to identify fetuses with structural malformations of the heart and is now a part of routine fetal surveillance. However, evaluation of fetal cardiac function using echocardiography has received minimal attention and its utilization in functional assessment of the fetal heart and circulation is still awaited. Recently, research efforts have recognized the potential value of fetal cardiac function for clinical management. Given the substantial evidence indicating the occurrence of programming of adult cardiovascular disease in fetal life, it is logical to state that the integration of functional fetal echocardiography into clinical practice in developing country like Pakistan will be useful to detect and monitor not only fetuses at-risk of cardiac failure or cardiac dysfunction but also to help predict perinatal and long term cardiovascular outcomes.


SummaryThe effect of subconjunctival interferon-α-2b treatment on success rates after glaucoma filtering surgery was compared with that of 5-fluorouracil in a pilot study. Surgery was defined as successful if it reduced the intraocular pressure to less than 21 mm Hg without medication. Initially, doses of 2 x 105 IU of interferon-α were given. By 6 months postoperatively, 6 of 16 interferon-treated patients had had to resume medication to control their glaucoma, compared with only 2 of 16 patients treated with 5-fluorouracil (p = 0.08). When the dose of interferon was increased to 1 x 106 IU, 2 of 13 interferon-treated patients had to resume by 6 months (p = 0.14 when compared with the patients receiving the lower dose). Corneal epithelial defects were less common in the 1 x 106 IU interferon-α group compared with the 5-fluorouracil group (1 of 13 vs. 11 of 16; p = 0.0002) while other side effects, both local and systemic, were similar between the two groups. This study shows that (a) interferon-α-2b, in the doses used, is well-tolerated by the human eye, and (b) interferon-α-2b may reduce the risk of failure of glaucoma filtration surgery with fewer corneal complications than are seen with 5-fluorouracil.


While update protocols generally induce lower miss rates than invalidate protocols, they tend to generate much traffic. This is one of the reasons why they are considered less cost-effectively scalable than invalidate protocols and, as a result, are avoided in most existing designs of scalable shared-memory multiprocessors. However, given the increasing relative cost of cache misses, update protocols are becoming more worthy of exploration. In this paper, we present a model of sharing that is key to investigating the performance of optimized update protocols: the update distance model. The model gives insight into the update patterns that optimized protocols need to handle. Using this model, we design a new family of protocols that we call distance-adaptive protocols. In these schemes, the directory records the update patterns observed and then uses them to selectively send updates and invalidations to processors. As a result, traffic and miss rates are kept low. We present an implementation of these protocols based on a dynamic pointer scheme. A performance comparison between one of these protocols and efficient invalidate and delayed competitive-update protocols over five applications shows that the new protocol decreases the execution time by an average of 15% and 10% respectively.


Bone finds make great demands on the examiner. The first priority is to establish the remains as human, because then further analyses have to be performed for identification. Especially for bone fragments it may be extremely difficult to determine whether they are of human or animal origin. In the reported case a bone fragment similar to a human rib was found in a medieval town together with more than 300 non-human bones. As it turned out, a medieval cesspit had been opened during excavation works. Even an mtDNA analysis could not answer the question whether the rib was of human origin. A direct comparison with numerous ribs of humans and mammals showed the great interindividual variability, but in the end it was possible to rule out a human origin and to identify the fragment as the third left rib of a pig.


Aim of the study: To perform Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI of breast in patients with positive findings (BIRADS 3, 4 and 5) detected on screening mammography; to correlate the findings of digital mammography and contrast enhanced MRI of breast with histopathological examinations. Settings and Design: A prospective observation study was conducted at a single centre, i.e. HCG Manavata Cancer Centre. Materials and Methods: Screening mammography was performed on patients with age > 40 years and on patients with age 35 - 40 years having positive family history. The positive mammography was reported and the lesions classified according to BIRADS criteria for mammography. Results: Mammographic examination of the breast lesions yielded an overall sensitivity of 97.67% and a specificity of 85.71%. In our study we combined both morphologic and dynamic parameters and its modification into BIRADS category for lesion classification. The sensitivity of MRI examinations was 97.67% while the specificity was 71.43%. Spiculated margins were encountered only in malignant lesions (p = 0.0006). Statistical correlation was obtained between the pathologically proven benign and malignant lesions regarding their enhancement pattern with p value of <0.001. Conclusion: As per the results, dynamic contrast MRI had high sensitivity but limited specificity. We did not find any significant difference between FFDM and MRI in terms of diagnostic accuracy. The use of DWI showed high specificity at cut off point of ADC value—0.85 mm2/s. Thus, DWI can be used in addition of morphological and dynamic kinetic characteristics to increase specificity of MRI.


A detailed analysis of the circular, homogeneous ferrite microwave circulator is provided. Particular emphasis is on the circulator's Green's function and the impact of the asymptotic term within the Green's function on convergence, data quality, and design methodology. The asymptotic term is shown to be logarithmic, which suggests that the Green's function is weakly singular when the source and observation points occupy the same location. With the Green's function properly understood, two techniques - one analytical and one numerical - are then offered to integrate that function in order to obtain Z-parameter data and, subsequently, S-parameter data. Data are provided to show rapid convergence of all parameters of interest. A small coupling angle approximation is then given for the Z-parameters and, from that approximation, a first-order design equation is obtained that relates the coupling angle to circulator radius. A circulator design example is presented and compared to a design associated with the Wu and Rosenbaum method; the comparison substantiates the small coupling angle approximation and design formula.


The effects resulting from the substitution of the classical Fourier law by the non-classical Maxwell-Cattaneo law in Rayleigh-Benard convention in micropolar fluid is studied. The classical approach predicts an infinite speed for the propagation of heat. The present non-classical theory involves a wave type heat transport (SECOND SOUND) and does not suffer from the physically unacceptable drawback of infinite heat propagation speed. It is found that the results are noteworthy at short times and the critical sign values are less than the classical ones.


The goal is to help create smooth energy-optimal monophasic pulse waveforms for defibrillation using the Luo-Rudy cardiomyocyte membrane computer model. The waveforms were described with the help of the piecewise linear function. Each line segment provides a transition from one present level of the transmembrane potential to the next with a minimal energy value. The duration of the last segment was defined as a minimum duration at which an action potential occurs. Monophasic waveforms of segments 3, 10 and 29 were built using different increments of the transmembrane potential. The pulse energy efficiency was evaluated according to their threshold energy ratios in mA2·ms/cm4. There was virtually no difference between the threshold energy ratios of the three waveforms constructed and those of the previously studied energy-optimal half- sine waveform: 241 - 242 and 243 mA2·ms/cm4. The pulse waveform constructed is characterized by a low rise and fall as the duration of the rise is ~1.5 times longer than that of the fall. Conclusion: Energy-optimal smooth monophasic pulse waveforms have the same threshold energy ratio as the optimal half-sine one which was studied before. The latter is equivalent to the first phase of biphasic quasisinusoidal Gurvich-Venin pulse which has been used in Russia since 1972. Thus, the use of the Luo-Rudy cardiomyocyte membrane model appears to offer no possibilities for a substantial increase in the energy efficiency (threshold energy ratio reduction) of the classical monophasic defibrillation pulse waveforms.


A cell-based cancer vaccine composed of autologous dendritic cells (DCs) transduced with a replication-deficient adenovirus vector encoding HER-2 with potential antineoplastic activity. Upon administration, adenovirus HER2-transduced autologous dendritic cell vaccine may stimulate a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response against HER-2-positive tumor cells, which may result in tumor cell death and decreased tumor growth. HER-2, a tyrosine kinase receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF) (also known as neu and ErbB2), is overexpressed by some breast, ovarian, and gastric cancers.


Derf2 gene for one of mite allergens in Dermatophagoides farinae has been cloned and expressed under regulation of 35S promoter in transgenic tobacco. The tran-scriptional analysis showed that this mite complete gene structure in genomic sequence could be spliced at prediction site. Allergenicity assay with immunological sera indicated that the extracts from the transgenic tobacco gave obvious positive IgE binding reaction with specific serum pool. This work would be of potential use in allergenicity assessment of genetically modified food.


Abstract: Diagnostic insect damage to cocoa tree leaves and fruits were compared in situations with and without the presence of the little fire ants, Wasmannia auropunctata and the closely related and sympatric W. cf rochai. No significant differences in thrips, lepidopteran, or chrysomelid beetle damage to fruits, or to young and old leaves, were associated with these ants. However, significant increases of pseudococcids Planococcus citrii, associated with areas dominated by W. auropunctata, and to a lesser degree with W. cf rochai, were present. W. auropunctata has been reported to be a canopy mosaic dominant in cocoa farms, but the lack of reduced herbivore incidences and its lack of spatial permanence do not support favoring its populations for the management of phytophagous insect control.


SIK3 is an intracellular serine/threonine kinase belonging to the AMPK superfamily. We recently discovered a novel role of SIK3 in conferring TNF resistance to tumor cells. Resistance to TNF is an emerging mode of immune evasion in multiple solid tumors. In fact, while treating a broad panel of tumor cell lines with TNF we observed that almost 70% were either resistant or even proliferative in response to TNF. SIK3 knockout using CRISPR re-sensitized human PANC-1 and murine MC38 tumor cells to TNF-mediated death. Intratumoral SIK3 induces TNF resistance by retaining HDAC4 in the cytoplasm thus keeping the chromatin open and potentiating the TNF-driven pro-tumorigenic activity of NF-κB. To translate these findings into the clinic, we have developed a potent (low nM range) inhibitor of SIK3, OMX-0370. Firstly, OMX-0370 exhibits dose-dependent inhibition of HDAC4 phosphorylation and nuclear NF-κB activity in response to TNF, thereby effectively neutralizing the SIK3-HDAC4-NF-κB axis. Consequently, treatment of human as well as murine tumor cells with OMX-0370 induces significant TNF-mediated apoptosis while sparing non-TNF treated cells. In mouse DMPK studies, OMX-0370 was found to be orally bioavailable with a favorable pharmacokinetic profile and was well tolerated at 100 mg/kg twice daily dosing in wild type C57BL/6 mice. Having shown a potent and favorable biochemical, functional as well as pharmacokinetic profile of the molecule, we next investigated the ability of OMX-0370 to inhibit the growth of established tumors in multiple syngeneic tumor models, including MC38, EMT6 and RENCA. Notably, OMX-0370 showed significant tumor growth inhibition as a single agent, which was found to be even superior to anti-PD-1 antibody treatment in RENCA and EMT-6 models. Immune profiling showed enhanced activation of intratumoral T cells, improved ratio of CTLs to Tregs and depletion of tumor-associated M2 macrophages, while no effect on peripheral leukocyte counts was observed. To monitor target engagement and pharmacodynamics of OMX-0370 in vivo, we developed a reporter MC38 cell line expressing luciferase under a NF-κB promotor. Using this reporter cell line, we could show that OMX-0370 inhibits TNF-induced NF-κB activation in a dose-dependent manner. Encouraged by the strong single-agent activity of OMX-0370 in solid tumor models, we have developed follow-on variants that exhibit higher potency as well as improved exposure in vivo. In summary, we here report that OMX-0370, a first-in-class inhibitor of SIK3 kinase, is an active immunotherapeutic drug in vivo which effectively abolishes the TNF-driven NF-κB activity in tumors and re-sensitize them to TNF-induced apoptosis. OMX-0370 and its follow-on improved variants address the high unmet medical need of effective immunotherapeutic agents that neutralize clinically relevant and key orthogonal immune evasion axes in solid tumors as a monotherapy regimen. Citation Format: Tillmann Michels, Stefan Bissinger, Peter Sennhenn, Hannes Loferer, Catarina Martins Freire, Olivia Reidell, Sebastian Meier-Ewert, Apollon Papadimitriou, Philipp Beckhove, Nisit Khandelwal. A first-in-class SIK3 inhibitor, OMX-0370, effectively inhibits tumor growth in syngeneic tumor models, as single agent, by abolishing tumor resistance to immune-derived TNF [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 6698.


The article is a translation into Russian of another piece of "Theory of Communicative Action" by J. Habermas. Habermas continues his critical examination of M. Weber's theory of rationalization (see beginning in Vol. 8, № 3 and Vol. 9, № 1) by discerning in this third section the logic of Weberian analysis of modernization and showing that it is Weber's initial point of analysis (institutionalization of subsystems of purposive-rational action in the forms of the capitalist enterprise and the modern governmental institution) that allows Weber to approach modernization as societal rationalization. Habermas argues that Weber's analysis of modernization does not exhaust the explanatory potential of his own theory. If we call to mind the systematic construction that underlies the last (which Weber, according to Habermas, did not himself make), we will finally have to suggest that path of rationalization taken in Europe is just a particular historical form of rationalization which Weber, however, equates with rationalization of society as such.


This book contains useful reviews and recent research results on shale/mudstone properties, particularly in their relation to fluid flow and consequent impact on near-surface and sedimentary basin-scale phenomena. It should be of most use to academic and industrial research specialists working in a wide range of disciplines from environmental systems to subsurface fluid pressure development, petroleum migration and rock mechanics. The book is divided into thematic sections on physical properties, experimental studies and case studies. For physical properties, the topics include porosity, permeability, thermal conductivity and mechanical behaviour, as well as the impact of chemical diagenetic processes. The experimental …


We report a congenital anomalous fetus with holoprosencephaly, prenatally diagnosed by sonography and MR scan at the twenty-sixth week during the gestational period. Chromosome analysis by amniocentesis revealed trisomy 13 (47,XY,+13). The diagnosis was confirmed by autopsy. After induction, external examination showed a proboscis-like nose on the normal nose position. The right foot showed polydactylia with wide separation of the fifth and sixth toes. We found that the mother was an abuser of amphetamine at an early gestational age. The teratogenic effect of D-amphetamine on animals has been noted, but no previous clinical case of a congenital anomalous fetus and maternal abuse of amphetamine has been reported. This case report is the first to reveal holoprosencephaly and trisomy 13, with maternal early gestational abuse of amphetamine.