The relation between exposure to low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a class of persistent organic pollutants, and cognitive and motor development in young children has been examined in several studies, and results have varied. The authors evaluated the association between prenatal exposure to PCBs and children's neurodevelopment using data from the Collaborative Perinatal Project. Pregnant women were enrolled from 1959 to 1965 from 12 sites across the United States. PCBs were measured in maternal serum taken during pregnancy. To measure children's mental and psychomotor development at 8 months of age, the authors administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (means, 87 (standard deviation, 15) and 88 (standard deviation, 18), respectively). Overall, they did not observe a relation between prenatal PCB exposure and children's mental or psychomotor scores (n = 1,207; multivariate adjusted beta = 0.1 point per micro g/liter increase of PCB, p = 0.71, and beta = 0.5, p = 0.14, respectively). The PCB-psychomotor score relation varied by study center (p < 0.05): The association was direct in some centers, inverse in others. This could not be attributed to variation in the timing or measurement of the child's neurodevelopment or analysis of PCBs because these were standardized across centers. The reasons for variation in results within this study and across other studies remain unclear.


Biliary obstruction, produced by common bile duct ligation or alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) treatment in rats, has been associated with the development of type I biliary epithelial cell (BEC) hyperplasia. However, the exact mechanism(s) by which bile duct obstruction lead(s) to this proliferative lesion are not clear. The present studies were designed to determine if cholestasis, in the absence of biliary obstruction, would result in type I BEC hyperplasia. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given a single oral dose of 150 mg/kg ANIT or i.v. doses of estradiol glucuronide (E2-17G; 21 mumol/kg/h for 48 h) to produce obstructive and non-obstructive cholestasis, respectively. E2-17G treatment resulted in cholestasis that was comparable in extent and duration to that observed following ANIT treatment. E2-17G and ANIT treatments produced comparable increases in serum bile acids (55- to 60-fold) and activities of ALT (36- to 38-fold), ALP (4- to 5-fold), and 5'-nucleotidase (7- to 11-fold), respectively, compared to controls. Both ANIT and E2-17G also increased serum bilirubin concentrations. ANIT treatment resulted in significant increases in biliary glucose concentrations that were associated with BEC damage/necrosis and obstruction of the bile duct lumen. Conversely, no evidence of BEC damage was observed in E2-17G-treated rats. Nonetheless, BEC hyperplasia was observed in the majority of rats following treatment with either ANIT or E2-17G, assessed by light microscopy and by BrdU immunohistochemistry. These data indicate that E2-17G treatment produces nonobstructive cholestasis and type I BEC hyperplasia, suggesting that biliary obstruction is not a prerequisite for type I BEC hyperplasia in rats. Differences in the time of onset of hyperplasia were observed: hyperplasia was noted immediately following 48 h of E2-17G-induced cholestasis but occurred several days after ANIT-induced cholestasis had subsided. Since the magnitude/duration of cholestasis was similar in the two models but the temporal association between cholestasis and type I BEC hyperplasia were different, these data suggest that the proliferative stimulus may be different in the two models and that E2-17G-induced type I BEC hyperplasia may not be attributed solely to cholestasis.


In this work, first principles calculations combined with advanced surface diagnostics are used to unravel the mechanisms of plasma oxygen interaction with organic films of interest for advanced patterning in semiconductor device manufacturing. Results from a combination of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) diagnosed oxygen plasma exposed polystyrene films and first principles modeling of organic films (polystyrene, polyethylene, and derivatives) provide insights into how organic films are oxidized by oxygen atoms. XPS measurements show the rapid formation of C-O structures and their saturation after oxygen exposure on both pristine and argon bombarded polystyrene samples. Quantum mechanics calculations confirm that C-OH formation can be immediate without recourse to previously formed dangling bonds. Multiple oxygen impacts are required for scission of pristine ethylene carbon strands. Therefore, ethylene films can be converted to polyols that are stable, whereas more likely strands are broken before polyol formation through the formation of water and C=O. On the contrary, intermediate compounds with adjacent C=O bonds are not likely to form stable structures. The combination of XPS measurements and modeling implies that the oxidation of polystyrene and polyethylene is self-limiting on both hydrogen saturated and dehydrogenated (after argon ion plasma bombardment) surfaces.


Human CD2+CD3−CD4−CD8− thymocytes were shown to display high in vitro growth ability although their factor requirements for activation and proliferation are not fully known. We have thus isolated these precursors and assayed their activation and proliferation potentials in response to various factors. Our results indicate that these cells proliferate in response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL 2) and rIL 4. Simultaneous addition of anti‐CD2I+III monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and rIL 2 highly increased cell growth while IL 4‐induced proliferation was not enhanced upon addition of anti‐CD2. Anti‐CD2 and PHA, but not IL 2, induced intracytoplasmic Ca2+ influx phosphatidyl inositol turnover as well as IL 2 receptor expression. Sequential studies indicated that CD2 triggering enable many more CD2+ precursors to respond to rIL 2. Endogenous IL 2 synthesis was necessary for PHA‐induced cell growth. Neither of these in vitro treatment were able to induce membrane expression of CD3, CD4 or CD8 on CD2+ cells.


This work provides the development of a powerful artificial neural network (ANN) model, for the prediction of relative humidity levels, using other meteorological parameters of the Rabat-Kenitra region. The treatment was applied to a database containing a daily history of five meteorological parameters of 9 stations covering this region for a period from 1979 to mid-2014. We have shown that for the prediction of relative humidity in this region, the best performing three-layer ANN (input, hidden and output) mathematical model is the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) model. This neural model using the Levenberg-Marquard algorithm, having an architecture [5-11-1] and the transfer functions Tansig in the hidden layer and Purelin in the output layer was able to estimate values for relative humidity very close to those observed. Indeed, this was affirmed by a low mean squared error (MSE) and a fairly high correlation coefficient (R), compared to the statistical indicators relating to the other models developed as part of this study.


Due to the vast number of stocks and the multiple appearances of developing investment portfolios, investors in the financial market face multiple investment opportunities. In this regard, the investor task becomes extremely difficult as investors define their preferences for expected return and the amount to which they want to avoid potential investment risks. This research attempts to design active portfolios that outperform the performance of the appropriate market index. To achieve this aim, technical analysis and optimization procedures were used based on a hybrid model. It combines the strong features of the Markowitz model with the General Reduced Gradient (GRG) algorithm to maintain a good compromise between diversification and exploitation. The proposed model is used to construct an active portfolio optimization model for the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) for the period from January 2010 to February 2020. This is applied to all 132 companies registered on the exchange. In addition to the market portfolio, two methods, namely, Equal Weight (EW) and Markowitz were used to generate active portfolios to compare the research findings. After a thorough review based on the Sharpe ratio criterion, the suggested model demonstrated its robustness, resulting in maximizing earnings with low risks.


The substitution of a single amino acid with its enantiomer may lead to variations in self-assembled nanostructures and biological functions. In this study, we reported three novel heterochiral peptide hydrogels, Nap-GDFFY (gel-1), Nap-GFDFY (gel-2) and Nap-GFFDY (gel-3), from Nap-GFFY via the substitution of a single amino acid with its enantiomer. We found that the resulting hydrogels possessed diverse self-assembly behaviors and adjuvant activities. Compared to the homochiral l-gel formed from Nap-GFFY, gel-1 was basically similar, gel-2 exhibited a medium improvement in immunocompetence tuning ability, and gel-3 showed the better self-assembly of nanofibers with superior mechanical properties and the ability for slow antigen release. Moreover, the adjuvant effect of gel-3 was prominent, promoting both specific antibody titers and the production of cytokines. Besides, this regulation was more remarkable with respect to enhancing cellular immune responses. Hence, we came to the conclusion in this study that the substitution of a single amino acid with its enantiomer further away from rather than closer to the end-capping group could be important and effective for biofunction regulation. Our study provides a useful strategy for tuning the properties of self-assembling peptides for different biological applications.


McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, MBDC, is a consulting firm dedicated to revolutionizing industries to ensure that products are reusable in biological or industrial cycles. MBDC analyzes the entire supply chain of materials used to make its products. All the data concerning a product is stored in a database maintained by MBDC. Prior to this project, employees of MBDC would manually sketch a map of a product's supply chain to chart ingredient relationships, identify missing links of information, indicate ingredient assessment status, and display results. The project team has created a tool that allows MBDC to automatically view the status of data in the assessment process as well as any missing links of supplier information. If MBDC has completed assessment of the material, the tool provides indicators concerning the results of the assessment. MBDC works with a large amount of customers and it would be very beneficial if they could spend more time working directly with customers versus spending time on routine work. Using the Systems methodology throughout the project, the team first worked with MBDC to understand the requested functionalities of the database and then created a list of requirements based on the functionalities. Based on the requirements, the team generated over twenty alternatives. Evaluation and client input resulted in the selection of the best alternative. The team has constructed a functional prototype of the final system which, based on testing, meets all of the high priority requirements. Based on MBDC estimates of the amount of time saved per project with this tool, the team calculated that it will save the company 2,000 hours a year (Bolton, 2006).


Recent studies reveal that the intracellular localization of pyruvate,Pi dikinase (PPDK, EC 184.108.40.206) in mesophyll cells of malic enzyme (ME)-dependent Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants varies among species, occurring not only in the chloroplasts but also in the cytosol in some species. The facultative CAM plant Kalanchoe blossfeldiana accumulates PPDK in both compartments of the mesophyll cells. In this study, the patterns of accumulation of the chloroplastic and cytosolic PPDKs were investigated for K. blossfeldiana plants with different CAM activities by immunogold labeling and electron microscopy. Greater CAM activity was found in plants grown under drought conditions with short days than under well-watered conditions with long days, and in lower leaves than in higher leaves. There was a trend that plants and leaves with greater CAM activity show denser labeling for PPDK in both the cytosol and chloroplasts. However, the ratio of the density of PPDK labeling in the cytosol to that in the chloroplasts was almost constant (2.4–3.0). Higher labeling for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (EC 220.127.116.11) in the cytosol was also correlated with higher CAM activity but there was almost no difference in the density of labeling for ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 18.104.22.168) in the chloroplasts. These results indicate that the increase in accumulation of cytosolic PPDK is closely associated with the increase of chloroplastic PPDK during enhanced CAM expression. This suggests that both PPDKs are involved in CAM function.


North–south-striking and west-dipping Basin and Range province normal faults form the western edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental plateau in northeastern Sonora. These faults and associated half-grabens extend over a distance of more than 300 km between the San Bernardino basin in the north and the Sahuaripa basin in the south. An earthquake in 1887 ruptured three neighboring segments of this major fault zone. Our field mapping in this region indicates that the surface rupture of the 1887 earthquake extends farther to the south and is considerably longer (101.4 km end-to-end length) than previously reported. A compilation of the seismicity in the epicentral region of the 1887 earthquake shows the epicenters to be distributed in well-defined clusters at the northern end of the 1887 surface rupture, in the step-overs between the three rupture segments, on a neighboring fault in the west (Fronteras fault), and on fault segments farther south along the same fault zone (Granados region). The distribution of seismicity correlates well with calculated changes in Coulomb failure stress resulting from the 1887 earthquake.


Hatred is known to be a common phenomenon and a lot has been written about this affect. However, the author believes that the more we read and write about hate the further away we find ourselves from a real sense of understanding of this so familiar and yet so elusive experience. She feels that using a single concept to describe 'hatred' seems to be a simplification of the matter, since it consists of a chain of affects that does not lend itself to easy theoretical or experiential distinction. In this paper the author aims at 'knowing' the experience of hatred as the individual's reaction to an unbearable existential excess, that is, as the psychic attempt to handle an emotional profusion in the context of human relation and in relation to it. The emotional abundance that the psyche cannot contain and process by itself is dealt with by the defensive use of simplification, detachment and distancing. An attempt is made to understand the relation between psychic existing and hatred, between craving, desiring and hate, between passionate aliveness--or a passion to live--and the difficulty in containing the excessive dimension of it. The author illustrates her thesis through a reading of Tolstoy's 'Kreutzer sonata' as a monologue of hatred.


Abstract We examined inherited sterility effects on the F1 and F2 generations of the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) after gamma sterilization. Our objectives were to identify the dose of gamma radiation that would fully sterilize F1-generation moths and result in no viable offspring when F1 males were inbred- or out-crossed to fertile females, and that would allow maximum production of F1 sterile C. cactorum adults by irradiated males. Newly emerged adults of C. cactorum were exposed to increasing doses of gamma radiation and inbred or out-crossed to fertile counterparts. Inherited effects resulting from irradiation of males and females were expressed in the F1 generation as reduced egg hatch, increased developmental time for the F1 egg, and increased F1 larval to adult mortality. These effects were most pronounced when parental adults were irradiated at 200 Gy. Survival of F1-generation offspring originating from irradiated male × fertile female crosses was greatest at 200 Gy. In addition, inbred- and out-crosses of surviving F1 adults, with 1 parent irradiated at 200 Gy, resulted in no F2 adults. Maximum production of sterile F1 adults at 200 Gy suggests this dose is the most appropriate dose for implementing the sterile insect technique (SIT)-F1 sterility for control of C. cactorum in North America and for testing host suitability and potential geographical range in the field.


The influence of the authors of the so-called "crowd psychology" on the conventional interpretation of the "irrationality" of the masses in political life has been widely recognized. More recently, Ernesto Laclau has underlined the influence of this tradition on the liberal-democratic views on direct, mass democracy. This conventional interpretation may be reconstructed starting from different intellectual traditions: crowd psychology, properly speaking, its complementary, the "classical" elite theory, and the influence of the positivist analysis of the "criminal" and "psychopathological" behaviors of the masses. However, this influence, far from being confined to the liberal distaste for mass democracy, has been relevant not only for the fascist regimes of the 20th century but also for the contemporary right-wing populist interpretation of the role of the masses in political life, in spite of its purported antielitism.


Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients have greater susceptibility to infections, they are reckoned to be vulnerable patients during the current COVID-19 pandemic. SCD patients are commonly affected by pulmonary complications such as acute chest syndrome (ACS), pulmonary embolism (PE) and pneumonia that contribute significantly to mortality risks. Aim: The study was aimed at showing the impact of SARS-COV viral pandemic on SCD patients. Presentation of Case: A 42-year-old male known sickle cell disease patient, who presented with a 5 days' history of chest pain and difficulty in breathing with a pain score of 8/10. Pain was said to be localized and, subside on the ingestion of analgesics (Tab DF118/60mg and PCM 1000mg) with no known aggravating factor, but there was associated history of difficulty in breathing. The patient was being managed as a case of vaso-occlusive crises R/O acute chest syndrome, and was commenced on adequate hydration, oxygen saturation was between 95-85%. On examination, respiratory rate was 20 cycles per minute, pulse rate -96 beats/minute, BP and chest examination were essentially normal. CBC showed the Packed Cell Volume of 31%, White Blood Cells 15.04 x 109/L, Neutrophils 7.51x10(3)/mu L Lymphocyte 6.50 x10(3)/mu L, Monocyte 0.76 x10(3)/mu L Eosinophils 0.20x10(3)/mu L, Basophils 0.05x10(3)/mu L, Platelet 358. The electrolytes (Na-135 mmol/L, K 3.5mmol/L, HCO3-20), urea -10 mmol/L and creatinine (88mmol/L) were normal, the chest x-ray showed cardiomegaly but the lung fields were clear. The patient was administered ceftriaxone (prophylactic antibiotics - 1 g daily). The patient tested positive to COVID-19 and was immediately transferred to the isolation centre for proper management. He was commenced on oral medication, azithromycin, dexamethasone, ivermectine, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, vitamin C, clexane and the analgesic was changed to paracetamol and dihydrocodeine to alternate 3 hourly with accordance to the national guidelines. In addition, he was administered subcutaneous enoxaparin due to the hypercoagulability state of SCD. The patient's health status improved within 24hours of commencement of the above medications and remained stable all through the period of isolation and a repeat covid-19 test was done 15 days of admission using and reverse transcriptase PCR and was discharged home according to the National protocol. Conclusion: Studies and clinical trials are essential to evaluate effective diagnostic and management options for SCD patients and other high-risk conditions like diabetes hypertension, cancer patients and so on that are associated with fatal complications when infected with COVID19 and similar diseases.


ABSTRACT Objective We investigated the association between demographic, socio-economic, perinatal, parental and lifestyle-related factors with general and abdominal obesity among prepubertal children aged 6 to 8 years in a Southeastern city of Brazil. Subjects and methods A total of 486 children were randomly selected from public schools in the city of Patos de Minas, and examined to determine body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). Demographic, socio-economic, perinatal, parental and lifestyle-related data were obtained and assessed as independent risk factors for overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity, using multiple regression analysis. Results Obesity/overweight (BMI percentile ≥ 85), seen in 19% of the children, was positively associated with low maternal education, being born small for gestational age, maternal BMI and screen time, whereas abdominal obesity (WC percentile > 90), seen in 9.9% of the children, was positively associated with maternal age and maternal BMI. When BMI and WC percentile were analyzed as continuous variables, birth by cesarean section, parental BMI, and lower sleep time were positively associated with BMI percentile, and birth by cesarean section, being born small for gestational age, and parental BMI were positively associated with WC percentile. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the frequency of overweight and obesity in a city in the Southeastern region of Brazil is similar to the global frequency reported by the World Health Organization. We also found that many modifiable risk factors were associated with general and abdominal obesity, and these may possibly substantiate future strategies to prevent childhood obesity and its consequences in adult life.


Korean is a morphologically rich language. Korean verbs change their forms in a fickle manner depending on tense, mood, speech level, meaning, etc. Therefore, it is challenging to construct comprehensive conjugation paradigms of Korean verbs. In this paper we introduce a Korean (verb) conjugation paradigm generator, dubbed KoParadigm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first Korean conjugation module that covers all contemporary Korean verbs and endings. KoParadigm is not only linguistically well established, but also computationally simple and efficient. We share it via PyPi.


Interferon Lambda (IFN-λ) is a type III interferon which belongs to a novel family of cytokines and possesses antiviral and antitumor properties. It is unique in its own class of cytokines; because of the specificity towards its heterodimer receptors and its structural similarities with cytokines of other classes. This renders IFN-λ a better choice for the treatment against many diseases including viral hepatitis and human coronavirus (HCoV-EMC). The present study describes a computational approach known as relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU); used to enhance the expression of IFN-λ protein in a eukaryotic expression system. Manually designed and commercially synthesized IFN-λ gene was cloned into pET-22b expression plasmid under the control of inducible T7-lac promoter. Maximum levels of IFN-λ expression was observed with 0.4 mM IPTG in transformed E. coli incubated for 4 hours in LB medium. Higher concentrations of IPTG had no or negative effect on the expression of IFN-λ. This synthetically over expressed IFN-λ can be tested as a targeted treatment option for viral hepatitis after purification.


A (3+1)-dimensional Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (KP) equation for nonlinearly interacting intense laser pulses with an electron-positron (e–p) plasma is derived. Taking into account the combined action of the relativistic particle mass increase and the relativistic light ponderomotive force, using the perturbation method, and allowing different types solution, we discuss the analytical solution of (3+1)-dimensional KP-I equation, and give the approximate solutions of vector potential of the intense laser pulse in e-p plasma. Our results may be significantly useful in understanding the nonlinear wave propagation and interaction of intense laser beams in an e-p plasma.


Parabolic partial differential equations are encountered in many diverse fields of science and engineering and even managerial sciences, like classical or quantum wave propagations, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, probabilistic and stochastic issues. In these aspects, they are unignorable components of the modellings in research areas like chemistry, biology, and even business and economy. These types of equations are generally first order in one coordinate which may be regarded as time and second order in some other coordinates which may be called space coordinates by following the most frequently encountered cases of modelling. Their first order temporal nature enforces them to be accompanied by an initial condition while certain boundary conditions should be imposed on spatial coordinates because of the ellipticity in their operator structures on spatial coordinates. Ellipticity means boundary value problem nature and therefore the expansions on certain orthonormal basis functions in appropriately defined Hilbert spaces can be used as the basic mathematical tools to construct the solutions. To this end the unknown solution can be considered as an infinite linear combination of the basis function varying in spatial coordinates only, with temporally changing linear combination coefficients. A complete set of basis functions in Hilbert space enables us to use the linear combination coefficients of a function as its matrix (or vector in a better terminology) representation. The linear operators mapping from the considered Hilbert space to the same space can also be given via their matrix representations. Matrix representations are important because they convert the abstractness of the Hilbert spaces to the concreteness of the Cartesian spaces. A mapping from a Hilbert space to itself can be described by an appropriately defined linear operator while its matrix representation arises as a tool mapping from a corresponding Cartesian space to itself. Thus elliptic PDE nature mapping from an appropriately defined Hilbert space to itself becomes a transformation by a matrix from a corresponding Cartesian space to itself by removing PDE related problematic issues from the scene and leaving us with the pleasent environment of the theory of matrices and linear algebra.

A parabolic PDE describes an evolution in one coordinate we call time, and therefore, it somehow defines a dynamical change, or in mechanical terminology, motion. When we use the matrix representation for the solution and elliptic part of the PDE under consideration time derivative of the unknown function becomes the time derivative of the vector coming from the unknown function's matrix representation whereas the elliptic part of that PDE becomes a time variant matrix when its matrix representation is used. Therefore the PDE and the accompanying boundary conditions define an infinite set of ODEs accompanied by an initial condition whose given vector function value at the beginning of the time comes from the matrix representation of the initial value function of the PDE. This infinite set of ODEs can be solved under the initial vector condition. However this may be considered as a formidable task because of the infinite dimensionality and we intend to truncate those ODEs appropriately to get an approximation. The numerical efficiency of this truncation based methodology completely depends on how the basis functions are constructed. This issue depends on rather modelling nature of the PDE under consideration.

What we have mentioned above is basically for the case of linear elliptic operator including PDEs. When the nonlinearity comes to the scene the matrix representations may become complicated and the tools of linear space may not work. Although there are of course some possibilities for these cases, they will be kept out of the content of this presentation.

Even in the linear case of ODEs the dimensionality may become an unpleasent problem if it grows undesiredly. Those cases can be treated in a different way by using fluctuation free matrix representation and the dimensionality growth can be suppressed accordingly in many cases. The fluctuation free matrix representation is based on fluctuationlessness theorem conjectured and proven by the presenter. It states that the matrix representation of an algebraic function operator which multiplies its operand with the function under consideration in the operator definition, is equivalent to the image of the universal matrix which is the matrix representation of the independent variable operator multiplying its operand by the independent variable, under the abovementioned function, over the same basis function set. This equivalence holds when the set is complete to span entire Hilbert space wheras any incompleteness coming from the usage of a subset of the complete basis function set destroys this equivalence. However, even in the case of incompleteness, the deviation from the equivalence come from the fluctuation terms which are related to the differences of the matrix representations of powers of the independent variable from the same power of the matrix representation of the independent variable alone. These fluctuation terms may tend to quite rapidly vanish when the considered set approaches or gets close to the whole basis set. Hence theorem dictates the equivalence for all cases when all fluctuations are ignored. This theorem enables us to simplify the matrix representation of the PDE's elliptic part at the threshold of fluctuation free representations and therefore to construct good quality approximations. Talk will be about these issues up to certain details which can be given as much as time allows.


Introduction Voice rest following phonotrauma or phonosurgery has a considerable clinical impact, but clinical recommendations are inconsistent due to inconclusive data. As biopsies of the vocal folds (VF) for molecular biology studies in humans are unethical, we established a new in vitro model to explore the effects of vibration on human vocal fold fibroblasts (hVFF) in an inflammatory and normal state, which is based on previously published models. Methods By using a phonomimetic bioreactor we were able to apply predefined vibrational stress patterns on hVFF cultured under inflammatory or normal conditions. Inflammatory and pro-fibrotic stimuli were induced by interleukin (IL)1β and transforming growth factor (TGF)β1, respectively. Mechanical stimulation was applied four hours daily, over a period of 72 hours. Outcome measurements comprised assessment of extracellular matrix (ECM)-related components, angiogenic factors, and inflammatory and fibrogenic markers on gene expression and protein levels. Results Under inflammatory conditions, the inflammatory cytokine IL11, as well as the myofibroblast marker alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were significantly reduced when additional vibration was applied. The desirable anti-fibrotic ECM component hyaluronic acid was increased following cytokine treatment, but was not diminished following vibration. Conclusion Our experiments revealed the effect of vibrational stress on hVFF in an inflammatory state. Elevated levels of certain pro-inflammatory/pro-fibrotic factors could be mitigated by additional vibrational excitation in an in vitro setting. These findings corroborate clinical studies which recommend early voice activation following an acute event.


"Inter-Agency cooperation and the fight against carousel fraud in the European Union" is a subject that deserves discussion. VAT carousel fraud has been a major fraud in many EU countries in recent years. Although figures are not always precise and available, specialists agree that an important part of the VAT to be collected is defrauded using various techniques which may be summed up by the phrase "carousel fraud". The EU budget is suffering from this loss and European institutions have constantly tried to improve cooperation between tax authorities in order to dismantle carousel fraud. Since carousel fraud is tackled differently in various member states of the European Union, this study has aimed at presenting the structures, results and different handlings of the fraud in a number of different countries. The objectives of this research, both literature-based and through semi-structured interviews, were to question the efficiency of a new model of cooperation, including both tax authorities and law enforcement authorities. Recommendations are positive: a stronger cooperation should be established and enhancing cooperation between tax authorities should not be the only goal developed at a policy level.


Measurements of optical properties in media enclosing Čerenkov neutrino telescopes are important not only at the moment of the selection of an adequate site, but also for the continuous characterization of the medium as a function of time. Over the two last decades, the Baikal collaboration has been measuring the optical properties of the deep water in Lake Baikal (Siberia) where, since April 1998, the neutrino telescope NT-200 is in operation. Measurements have been made with custom devices. The NEMO Collaboration, aiming at the construction of a km Čerenkov neutrino detector in the Mediterranean Sea, has developed an experimental setup for the measurement of oceanographic and optical properties of deep sea water. This setup is based on a commercial transmissometer. During a joint campaign of the two collaborations in March and April 2001, light absorption, scattering and attenuation in water have been measured. The results are compatible with previous ones reported by the Baikal Collaboration and show convincing agreement between the two experimental techniques.


With the overwhelming evidence that the majority of human neoplasms are the result of 'cdk hyperactivation' leading to the abrogation of the Rb pathway, novel direct and indirect cdk inhibitors are being developed. The first 2 direct cdk inhibitors tested in clinical trials, flavopiridol and UCN-01, showed promising results with some evidence of antitumor activity reaching plasma concentrations effective to inhibit cdk-related functions. Other indirect cdk inhibitors such as PS-341, perifosine are also being tested in the clinic. The best schedule of administration, combination with standard chemotherapeutic agents, determination of predictive markers (using novel technologies such as cDNA arrays) for response/toxicity and demonstration of cdk modulation from tumor samples from patients in these trials are important issues that need to be answered in order to obtain the best possible results with these agents.


Electroluminescence (EL) imaging is a fast and comparatively cheap method for spatiallyresolved and non-destructive analysis of photovoltaic (PV) devices. To enable a quantitative use of captured images and support a common standard on EL measurements, this paper focusses on parameters defining the quality of EL images. The image quality is determined and tracked for different EL measurements during various processing steps. It is shown, that although simple post processing methods, e.g. spatial filters, can enhance the visual appearance of EL images, they do not improve the quality of the signal itself.


This work aims to delve into the issue of integration of pupils belonging to different cultures in the Italian school from an educational point of view. Statistical data reveal that the number of foreign students is still rising and will continue to grow. In particular, the so-called 'second-generation' of foreigners are increasing more and more in the Italian school. Therefore, it is important to study the presence of foreign students more carefully, to grasp the diversity that characterizes this evolving phenomenon and to understand these students' different needs to which the Italian school is obliged to respond adequately. In this perspective, it is interesting to describe, through the analysis of some of the main ministerial texts, the specific aspects of the educational model developed by the Italian school in order to promote the integration of foreign students. In the light of this analysis, I intend to outline the possible paths which the Italian school should carry out effectively to achieve


Background : Industrial risk management plays a central role in creating supportive environments for health. This paper examines the community's trust in citizens' involvement in risk management, investigating differencesamong settings exposed to different levels of industrial risk. Additionally it aims to identify the social demographic characteristics of those manifesting high trust in citizens' involvement in risk management. Methods : The survey, performed in Sardinia between 2006 and 2007, was carried out in three representative areas this Region: a metropolitan area, an industrial area, and a rural area. A questionnaire was administered to 1,104 citizens to investigate community's trust in citizens as "risk managers". Results : Trust in citizens' involvement in risk management was expressed to a greater extent by residents in the rural area, by those with a high level of education, and by older women. The expression of high trust in citizens' involvement was more likely in older higher-educated women (58-69%) than in lower educated ones (52-63%) and, to a lesserextent, in both genders with higher education (42-51%). Conclusions : A consistent number of the community's members would entrust citizens with risk management not only in areas with a severe industrial impact, but also in those areas where industrial risk is considered of limited entity. The community's tendency towards citizens' involvement in risk management appears to be an intrinsic trait of the community itself rather than an attitude triggered by a specific problem. Older women, and adults with higher education can be recognised as categories in which potential early adopters of risk management can be easily found.


A recursive algorithm previously used in diffusion problems of geophysics and in electrostatics is extended to wave phenomena. It is used to construct a matrix representation for an infinitely long waveguide of arbitrary cross-sectional shape. This representation is used in finite-element analysis of waveguide discontinuities. In numerical tests, scattering matrices for the long guides converge to nearly full word-length in six to seven recursion steps, and discontinuity characteristics are within 1-2% of known results where they exist. >


Abstract Community based co-operatives do not have a good record. The fact that so many co-operatives fail, constitutes a real danger that the co-operative model could fall into such disrepute that it will become widely rejected. Consequently a potentially valuable mechanism for economic development and reconstruction will be lost. One of the reasons for co-operative failure stems from the past perception of co-operatives as anti-capitalist forms of association. Co-operatives were a way of releasing the poor from the yoke of oppression and giving them access to power and employment. This "socialist" view of co-operatives excluded the one important ingredient of a successful business venture: entrepreneurship. The paper investigates the "co-operative entrepreneurship" dilemma, and indicates that entrepreneurship and co-operativism are reconcilable concepts. The circumstances for a successful entrepreneur: co-operative relationship are discussed, and other critical factors associated with success in communi...


Context: In spite of advancement in anesthesia and surgery, major operative procedures are accompanied by post-operative complications. Some of them are due to intra-tracheal intubation an inevitable part of anesthesia for patient protection. At the postoperative period, sore throat, cough and hoarseness are more common and distress the patient. Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare the effect of prophylactic intravenous Dexamethasone and Lidocaine on cough and post-operative sore throat after elective laminectomy surgery. Methods and Materials: In this prospective analytic study, 90 adult patients undergoing elective laminectomy surgery were randomly allocated into three groups. The patients received either intravenous 0.1 mg/kg Dexamethasone (group D, n = 30) or 1.5 mg/kg Lidocaine (group L) or normal saline (group P, n = 30) after anesthesia induction and just before intubation with appropriate size of disposable reinforced endotracheal tubes. Follow up for the prevalence of cough and sore throat and its severity was done at 30 min, 1, 6 and 24 hours after extubation. Results: There were no significant differences in demographic data in three groups. In groups D and L, the prevalence of cough and sore throat and it's severity were significantly less than placebo group (p<0.05) . Regarding the prevalence of cough and sore throat, in comparison of group D with group L, no significant difference was seen (p>0.05). Conclusions: According to results of our study, we can conclude that both prophylactic intravenous Dexamethasone and Lidocaine can reduce the prevalence of post-operative cough, sore throat and it's severity at the first 24 hours post-extubation period and can be used safely in selective patients.


The structured model or distributed hash table (DHT) based peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are favoured in research but not in real applications. It's argued that the unstructured model is more suitable for the real world. This paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of the structured and the unstructured model, and proposed a clustered DHT (CDHT) communication scheme which addresses some of the fundamental problems of DHT by combining the structured model with the unstructured one. This combination leads to a new content location scheme which balances network traffic and improves the lookup efficiency for popular content. The experimental results show CDHT's superiority over DHT in handling dynamic network conditions and avoiding hot spots.


Abstract. Earthquake aftershocks display spatiotemporal correlations arising from their self-organized critical behavior. Dynamic deterministic modeling of aftershock series is challenging to carry out due to both the physical complexity and uncertainties related to the different parameters which govern the system. Nevertheless, numerical simulations with the help of stochastic models such as the fiber bundle model (FBM) allow the use of an analog of the physical model that produces a statistical behavior with many similarities to real series. FBMs are simple discrete element models that can be characterized by using few parameters.
In this work, the aim is to present a new model based on FBM that includes geometrical characteristics of fault systems. In our model, the faults are not described with typical geometric measures such as dip, strike, and slip, but they are incorporated as weak regions in the model domain that could increase the likelihood to generate earthquakes. In order to analyze the sensitivity of the model to input parameters, a parametric study is carried out. Our analysis focuses on aftershock statistics in space, time, and magnitude domains. Moreover, we analyzed the synthetic aftershock sequences properties assuming initial load configurations and suitable conditions to propagate the rupture. As an example case, we have modeled a set of real active faults related to the Northridge, California, earthquake sequence. We compare the simulation results to statistical characteristics from the Northridge sequence determining which range of parameters in our FBM version reproduces the main features observed in real aftershock series.
From the results obtained, we observe that two parameters related to the initial load configuration are determinant in obtaining realistic seismicity characteristics: (1) parameter P, which represents the initial probability order, and (2) parameter π, which is the percentage of load distributed to the neighboring cells.
The results show that in order to reproduce statistical characteristics of the real sequence, larger πfrac values (0.85<πfrac<0.95) and very low values of P (0.0<P≤0.08) are needed. This implies the important corollary that a very small departure from an initial random load configuration (computed by P), and also a large difference between the load transfer from on-fault segments than by off-faults (computed by πfrac), is required to initiate a rupture sequence which conforms to observed statistical properties such as the Gutenberg–Richter law, Omori law, and fractal dimension.


A growing body of research is examining how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are offering planners, politicians and engineers options to promote respond to a wide range of biophysical and socio-economic problems. However, despite the increasing popularity of NBS, there is limited analysis available on how these 'solutions' align with urban problems, at what scale they are most effective, and what costs are associated with investment in urban nature. This paper analyses current approaches to urban sustainability via an examination of the EU Funded Horizon 2020- funded project, URBAN GreenUP, in Liverpool (UK) to deconstruct how rhetoric translates to practical applications of NBS interventions. It interrogates the interactions of projects, policies and political buy-in for NBS, and argues that an integrated understanding of scale, function, and location is needed to successfully address issues of urban climate change vulnerability. This is contextualised against the wider discussions of NBS associated with other EU-funded projects. It concludes that although investment in NBS offer a useful approach to development, they cannot overcome existing barriers to investment in environmental improvements without attention to the same barriers that have always existed. Moreover, the paper argues that the promotion of NBS as solutions to problems is only effective when the problems are transparently and collaboratively defined.


Infectious PM2 virus paticles could be reconstituted in vitro from a mixture of nucleocapsid, phospholipids containing cis fatty acids, and proteins I and II. The presence or absence of acyl phosphatidylglycerol, a minor lipid component of thevirion, did not affect the reconstitution of infectious particles, even though it was incorporated into the particles when present. When phosphatidylglycerol was completely replaced by acyl phosphatidylglycerol in the reconstitution mixture, no infections particles were formed. Lipids containing either cis or trans fatty acids were also used for reconstitution in vitro of the lipid-containing bacteriophage PM2. Regardless of the ratio of phosphatidlyglycerol to phospatidylethanolamine in the reconstitution mixture, infectious particles were formed and had almost the same phospholipid composition when lipids containing cis-palmitoleic acid were used; no infectious particles were obtained when lipids containing trans-palmitoleic acid were used. In the latter case, virus-like particles were, however, formed. Reconstituted particles containing cis fatty acids were infectious when tested on wild type Pseudomonas BAL-31 as well as on the unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph grown in the presence of either cis or trans-palmitoleic acid. Reconstituted particles containing trans fatty acids were not infectious on any of these cells. When trans fatty acids as well as cis fatty acids were present in the reconstitution mixture, then there was a lower yield of infectious particles. Particles with either cis or trans fatty acids had all four viral proteins and adsorbed to BAL-31 host cells in a specific manner.


The MHC class I chain-related MICA molecule is a stress-induced, highly polymorphic, epithelia-specific, membrane-bound glycoprotein interacting with the activating NK cell receptor NKG2D and/or gut-enriched Vδ1-bearing γδ T cells. We have previously reported the presence of a MICA transmembrane-encoded short-tandem repeat harboring a peculiar allele, A5.1, characterized by a frame shift mutation leading to a premature intradomain stop codon, thus denying the molecule of its 42-aa cytoplasmic tail. Given that this is the most common population-wide MICA allele found, we set out to analyze the functional consequences of cytoplasmic tail deletion. Here, we show native expression of MICA at the basolateral surface of human intestinal epithelium, the site of putative interaction with intraepithelial T and NK lymphocytes. We then demonstrate, in polarized epithelial cells, that although the full-length MICA protein is sorted to the basolateral membrane, the cytoplasmic tail-deleted construct as well as the naturally occurring A5.1 allele are aberrantly transported to the apical surface. Site-directed mutagenesis identified the cytoplasmic tail-encoded leucine-valine dihydrophobic tandem as the basolateral sorting signal. Hence, the physiological location of MICA within epithelial cells is governed by its cytoplasmic tail, implying impairment in A5.1 homozygous individuals, perhaps relevant to the immunological surveillance exerted by NK and T lymphocytes on epithelial malignancies.


The case of a 12-year-old boy, who presented with a suprasellar cystic craniopharyngioma that freely communicated with the third ventricle, as demonstrated by ventriculography, is reported. This observation was confirmed at autopsy. The literature is reviewed briefly and the compatibility with life is discussed.


Bicarbonate (HCO 3 - ) measurement in serum or plasma from a sample of venous blood is routinely practiced in hospital patient management. HCO 3 - status can also be assumed from Blood gas analysis requiring arterial blood as sample which is cumbersome for both patients and doctors. This study was undertaken to evaluate the extent of agreement among biocarbonate values obtained during venous, arterial blood gas analysis and conventionally measured serum bicarbonate levels in a group of intensive care unit (ICU) patients to determine whether conventionally measured serum HCO 3 - (from peripheral venous blood) and calculated HCO 3 - values (from arterial blood gas [ABG] analyzers) can be used interchangeably. A total of 51 adult patients with diverse medical conditions, presenting at a tertiary health centre ICU were enrolled in this study when deemed by the treating physician to have an ABG analysis. Arterial and venous samples were taken as close in time as possible for blood gas analysis and routine blood tests. Bland-Altman analyses were used to compare the three methods. The HCO 3 - levels from ABG, Venous Blood gas (VBG) and tconventionally measured serum HCO 3 - showed acceptably narrow 95% limits of agreement using the Bland-Altman method. VBG reveals higher level of agreement with the ABG bicarbonate values compared to measured serum HCO 3 - . Thus, venous blood can be an alternate for arterial blood where ABG analyzer is available. conventionaly serum HCO 3 - measurements can also be useful and used as substitute for an expensive ABG analyzer in resource constrained health care sectors when required. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmb.v5i1.13425 Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2012; 5(1): 12-15


A curriculum is a set of related courses that constitutes the basis of a degree program. The required courses of a curriculum generally build student knowledge and skills particular to the field. In most cases, these are cumulative, meaning that as students go through their studies, they put their new knowledge on top of earlier ones, hence leading to the notion of prerequisite courses that must precede a given course. As accreditation practices gain widespread acceptance, and as uniformity among peer institutions is promoted to facilitate mobility, each course is assigned a set of learning outcomes. The learning outcomes of a prerequisite course are seen to encapsulate the skills necessary to take the downstream course. This study follows our efforts regarding the substantial revision of engineering courses throughout our college. As the task is quite involved, we developed a flexible linear programming-based tool to help the decision-making process by quickly evaluating alternative curricula. This study aims to provide an effective decision-making tool to accommodate many "what if" scenarios which would provide options to the decision-makers and help them detecting inconsistencies and oversights. This paper describes our approach and our experiences.


Objective: Defective oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and altered mitochondrial dynamics contribute to excessive mitochondrial ROS (MitoROS) production in endothelial and myocardial lesions. UCP2 plays an important role in regulating mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), which is closely related to mitochondrial OXPHOS and dynamics. TRPV1 activation could attenuate vascular and myocardial dysfunction. It is worthwhile to determine whether TRPV1 activation by capsaicin antagonizes coronary endothelium and myocardium lesions in high-fat fed mice by alleviating altered mitochondrial OXPHOS and dynamics in a UCP2-dependent manner. Design and method: ApoE-/-, ApoE-/-/TRPV1-/- and ApoE-/-/UCP2-/- mice were fed standard chow (ND), a high fat diet (HFD), or a high fat diet plus 0.01% capsaicin (HC) for 24 weeks. Echocardiography and electrocardiography were measured. The ratio of heart/body weight was measured and coronary arteries were dissected for vasoreactivity measurement. Aortas were used for ROS and NO evaluation and immunoblots of PKA, p-PKA, UCP2, eNOS, p-eNOS, and NADUFA9. Heart was used for hematoxylin-eosin staining, assessment of MitoROS production, OXPHOS and mitochondrial networks, and immunoblots of PKA, p-PKA, UCP2, Fis1, Drp1, Mfn2, and Opa1. HUVECs and H9C2 were incubated with ox-LDL alone or with capsaicin, iRTX, KT5720 and genipin for measurement of OXPHOS and MitoROS production, and immunoblots analysis. Results: HFD intake impaired coronary endothelium and cardiac function. TRPV1 or UCP2 deficiency exacerbated HFD-induced disorders, which were associated with excessive MitoROS generation. TRPV1 activation increased PKA/UCP2 expression, thereby remitting mitochondrial dysfunction and inhibiting MitoROS generation. The beneficial effect of UCP2 was related to alleviated OXPHOS and MMP. Increased UCP2 contributed to the maintenance of mitochondrial networks and decreased Fis1 and Drp1 expression. Capsaicin supplementation restored coronary and cardiac function, and prolonged the lifespan of HFD-fed ApoE-/- mice. Conclusions: Up-regulation of PKA/UCP2 signaling via TRPV1 activation protects the function of coronary arteries and heart, and prolongs the lifespan of atherosclerotic mice by ameliorating mitochondrial dysfunction.


In this text, the author constructs the mathematical apparatus of classical mechanics from the beginning, examining all the basic problems in dynamics, including the theory of oscillations, the theory of rigid body motion, and the Hamiltonian formalism. This modern approch, based on the theory of the geometry of manifolds, distinguishes iteself from the traditional approach of standard textbooks. Geometrical considerations are emphasized throughout and include phase spaces and flows, vector fields, and Lie groups. The work includes a detailed discussion of qualitative methods of the theory of dynamical systems and of asymptotic methods like perturbation techniques, averaging, and adiabatic invariance.


Regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells (Tregs) are defective numerically and functionally in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). We have investigated and compared the mechanism of action of Tregs in healthy subjects and in AIH patients using Transwell experiments, where Tregs are cultured either in direct contact with or separated from their targets by a semipermeable membrane. We also studied Treg FOXP3 expression and effect on apoptosis. Direct contact is necessary for Tregs to suppress proliferation and IFN-γ production by CD4+CD25− and CD8+ T cells in patients and controls. Moreover, in both, direct contact of Tregs with their targets leads to increased secretion of regulatory cytokines IL-4, IL-10, and TGF-β, suggesting a mechanism of linked immunosuppression. Tregs/CD4+CD25− T cell cocultures lead to similar changes in IFN-γ and IL-10 secretion in patients and controls, whereas increased TGF-β secretion is significantly lower in patients. In contrast, in patients, Tregs/CD8+ T cell cocultures lead to a higher increase of IL-4 secretion. In AIH, Treg FOXP3 expression is lower than in normal subjects. Both in patients and controls, FOXP3 expression is present also in CD4+CD25− T cells, although at a low level and not associated to suppressive function. Both in patients and controls, addition of Tregs does not influence target cell apoptosis, but in AIH, spontaneous apoptosis of CD4+CD25− T cells is reduced. In conclusion, Tregs act through a direct contact with their targets by modifying the cytokine profile and not inducing apoptosis. Deficient CD4+CD25− T cell spontaneous apoptosis may contribute to the development of autoimmunity.


Summary This article argues that theoretical discussion of different policy assumptions between social exclusion and poverty as elaborated by Silver should always be strongly grounded in their policy context. The concept of social exclusion has arisen in the European discussion at a time when the performance of welfare systems has been strongly criticised for failing to prevent poverty and hindering economic development. A comparison of the policy contexts of French 'social exclusion' and British 'poverty' concepts using social assistance as a template shows that there are crosscutting similarities as well as paradigmatic differences between such theoretical approaches. One problem with the discussion of both poverty and social exclusion is that the concepts are couched in rhetoric at the political level. The author returns to the criticisms of welfare state performance and concludes that analysis which takes into account the social and institutional context can be a tool to challenge rhetorical assumptions about welfare performance, both in the industrialised North and in the differences and comparative advantages of less industrialised countries with different welfare institutions.


Our current concept of the pathogenesis of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a synthesis of information from many sources. The main part is indirectly derived from epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory observations, as well as from deductions by analogy from findings in experimental systems. Documented facts are scarce, fragmentary, and in part contradictory. PID is defined as "the acute clinical syndrome associated with ascending spread of microorganisms (unrelated to pregnancy or surgery) from the vagina or cervix to the endometrium, fallopian tubes, and/or contiguous structures".' The definition is wide and includes a multitude of inflammatory conditions of the female pelvic organs. This review will focus upon infection of the prognostically most important anatomical structure-the Fallopian tube; that is, on acute salpingitis.


The role of protein kinase C (PKC) in luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)-induced luteinizing hormone (LH) release and in the priming effect of LHRH (the unique ability of LHRH to increase pituitary responsiveness to itself) was examined. Using pro-oestrous rat anterior pituitary pieces, incubated in vitro, the PKC inhibitors, staurosporine, Ro 31-8220 and l-(5-isoquinolinesulphonyl)-2methylpiperazine (H7) inhibited the induction of LHRH priming, but had no effect on initial, unprimed LHRH-induced release of LH. Although the primed response was readily inhibited by staurosporine and Ro 31-8220, it was unusually resistant to block by H7, suggesting that the induction of LHRH priming may involve activation of an H7-resistant form of PKC or PKC-like kinase. Since the PKC(s) which control LH release may have a distinct pharmacological profile, the effect of PKC inhibitors and activators (phorbol 12,13dibutyrate (PDBu) 1,2-dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol (DOG) and mezerein) on hormone release was examined in more detail. Mezerein and PDBu both induced LH and growth hormone (GH) release, whereas LH, but not GH, release could be induced by DOG. Thus DOG may activate at least some of the PKC forms which induce LH release, but not those which induce GH release. Although PKC activator-induced LH and GH release were readily inhibited by staurosporine, PDBuand mezerein-induced GH release were resistant to block by H7. Furthermore, PKC activator-induced LH release displayed both H7-sensitive and H7-resistant components. Cytosolic PKC activity, partially purified from anterior pituitary, was measured in a mixed micelle assay. A PDBu-induced, Ca2+-independent, histone kinase activity was detected which was relatively resistant to H7. In contrast, Ca2+-dependent PKC activity displayed the expected sensitivity to H7. Therefore, the H7-resistant PKCs which have a role in LHRH priming, LH release and GH release may be of the Ca2+independent type. Further attempts to characterise the H7-resistant kinase(s) by H7 displacement of [3H]-dimethylstaurosporine binding to sites in different tissues were


1 In order to clarify the roles of platelet‐activating factor (PAF) in histamine‐ and thrombin‐induced neutrophil adhesion to vascular endothelial cells, the effects of several PAF antagonists were examined. The effects of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone were also examined in order to gain further insight into the anti‐inflammatory actions of glucocorticoids. 2 In culture, histamine and thrombin stimulated the adherence of rat peritoneal neutrophils to human endothelial cells from the umbilical vein. They did not stimulate neutrophil adherence in the absence of endothelial cells, suggesting that the target cells for the histamine‐ and thrombin‐induced adherence of neutrophils were endothelial cells, not neutrophils. 3 Several PAF antagonists, such as CV‐3988, L‐652,731 and Y‐24,180 inhibited the histamine‐ and thrombin‐induced neutrophil adherence in a concentration‐dependent manner. Indomethacin failed to inhibit it. 4 Dexamethasone, a steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug, did not inhibit the histamine‐ and thrombin‐induced adherence of neutrophils to endothelial cells when the drug was present only during the 20 min incubation period for the adherence assay. When the endothelial cells were preincubated for 3 h with dexamethasone, the adherence of neutrophils to endothelial cells induced by histamine or thrombin was not inhibited. 5 When the neutrophils were preincubated for 3 h with dexamethasone, the histamine‐ and thrombin‐induced adherence of neutrophils to endothelial cells was inhibited. 6 Our studies indicate that: (a) adherence of neutrophils to endothelial cells induced by histamine and thrombin is mediated by PAF production since PAF antagonists inhibited the adherence of neutrophils; and (b) neutrophils, not endothelial cells, are the target cells through which dexamethasone acts to inhibit adherence.


Understanding Language Death in Czech-Moravian Texas Based on several decades of personal interaction with Texas speakers of Czech, the author's article attempts to correlate social change with some specific stages of language obsolescence and language death. Many instances of language change in that community, as well as cultural and social change, may be explained by the linguistic model known as the wave theory. One hundred and fifty years passed between the introduction of Czech and the death of that language in Texas. From the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, the Czech-Moravians represented a closed community in which individuals defined their identity primarily by the Czech language, ethnicity, and culture. In the final five decades of the twentieth century, as the social template representing Texas speakers of Czech disintegrated, spoken Czech ceased to function as a living language, and much of the ancestral culture connected with the language was lost. Today some among the elderly, described as semi-speakers, terminal speakers, or "rememberers" of language, retain a limited knowledge, but the ancestral language now has only a symbolic function.


Australian lucerne yellows (ALuY), a phytoplasma-associated disease, is a major problem in Australia that causes the pasture seed industry millions of dollars in losses annually (3). Samples were collected from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) plants exhibiting symptoms indicative of ALuY (4) in a seed lucerne paddock (cv CW 5558) at Griffith, southwestern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in November 2005 and again in January 2006. Samples were kept at 4°C and processed within 36 h of collection. Total DNA was extracted from approximately 0.3 g of leaf midribs and petioles of each plant sample and used as template in a nested PCR assay with phytoplasma universal primer pairs P1/P7 and fU5/m23sr. PCR products resulting from the first amplification were diluted (1:30) with sterile distilled water (SDW) before reamplification with fU5/m23sr. DNA of Australian tomato big bud (TBB) phytoplasma and SDW were used as positive and negative assay controls, respectively. Ten of fifteen plant samples collected in November tested positive for phytoplasma DNA. Restriction digestion profiles of nested PCR amplicons with HpaII endonuclease were the same for all symptomatic plants but differed from the control. Phytoplasma identity was determined by sequencing two nested PCR products that yielded identical sequences. One was deposited in the GenBank database (Accession No. DQ786394). BLAST analysis of the latter sequence revealed a >99.6% similarity with "Candidatus Phytoplasma australiense" (L76865) and related strains papaya dieback (Y10095), phormium yellow leaf (U43570), strawberry green petal (AJ243044), and strawberry lethal yellows (AJ243045). Direct PCR with primers FP 5'-GCATGTCGCGGTGAATAC-3' and RY 5'-TGAGCTATAGGCCCTTAATC-3' designed to specifically amplify DNA of "Ca. P. australiense" detected the phytoplasma in 8 of 40 samples collected in January. Whether this phytoplasma is the etiological agent solely responsible for ALuY is currently under investigation. "Ca. P. asteris" and stolbur group (16SrXII) phytoplasmas have been reported in lucerne in the United States (2) and Italy (1), respectively. Within the stolbur group 16SrXII, "Ca. P. australiense" and stolbur phytoplasma are regarded as separate species and both are distinct from "Ca. P. asteris", a group 16SrI strain. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a "Ca. P. australiense" related strain in lucerne. References: (1) C. Marzachi et al. J. Plant Pathol. 82:201, 2000. (2) R. D. Peters et al. Plant Dis. 83:488, 1999. (3) L. J. Pilkington et al. Australas. Plant Pathol. 28:253, 1999. (4) L. J. Pilkington et al. First report of a phytoplasma associated with 'Australian lucerne yellows' disease. New Disease Report. Online publication at http://www.bspp.org.uk/ndr/jan2002/2001-46.asp .


The 11th High-Tech Plasma Processes Conference (HTPP) was held in Brussels, Belgium, 27 June–2 July, 2010. HTPP started as a thermal plasma conference and gradually expanded to include low-temperature plasmas. The conference was founded by Jacques Amouroux and Pierre Fauchais, and aims to bring together different scientific communities to facilitate contacts between science, technology and industry, providing a platform for the exploration of elementary processes and applications in and by plasmas. The first HTPP was held in Odeillo, France, in 1990. Since then it has been held every other year in different European cities: Paris, Aachen, Athens, Strasbourg, Saint-Petersburg, Patras and Brussels. The 11th HTPP conference was attended by 125 participants from 19 countries. The program involved 14 invited talks, 34 contributed talks, 72 posters and a software demonstration and hands-on session for plasma modelling. The 12th HTPP conference will be held 24–28 June 2012, in Bologna, Italy. A larger part of the contributions to the 11th HTPP has been published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS) volume 275, 2011. All invited speakers and other contributors, as selected by the Steering, Scientific and Organizing Committee, were invited to submit a paper based on their contributions for this special issue which is peer reviewed by the journal. Both this special issue and the JPCS volume aim to bring the 11th HTPP to a wider audience. The publications are a nice example of the broad topic range of the conference. The JPCS volume contains papers covering fundamental aspects on radiative processes of thermal plasmas, modelling of thermal arcs and non-thermal RF plasma jets, plasma diagnostics including flow and heat flux measurements of thermal plasmas, radical density measurements and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. The applications-oriented contributions of the JPCS volume include plasma spraying, synthesis of (nano-sized) materials, surface modification, deposition of thin films and bio- and environmental applications. This special issue includes papers on modelling, covering arc and hollow cathode discharges, diffusion in the presence of magnetic fields, coupling techniques for particle-in-cell solvers and Stark broadening of He lines. Experimental work on plasma spraying, coatings and hydrocarbon conversion is also reported. In view of the diversity of the presented research at the conference, no attempt is made to give a full overview. We hope, nevertheless, that the readers enjoy reading the contributions and find them a useful reference for their own research. We are grateful to all participants for their valuable contributions and lively discussions. Our special thanks go to the members of the various committees for their important contributions to the success of the conference. We especially thank Joost van der Mullen who coordinated the scientific part of this conference. Financial support from the conference sponsors is gratefully acknowledged and we are particularly grateful to the Editorial Board of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics for the publication of this special issue.


Objective To examine the adjusted associations of fruit consumption and vegetable consumption with the Framingham score and its components in the non-Western setting of Southern China, considering health status. Method Linear regression was used to assess the cross-sectional associations of fruit and vegetable consumption with the Framingham score and its components, among 19,518 older Chinese (≥50 years) from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study in Southern China (2003–2006), and whether these differed by health status. Results The association of fruit consumption with the Framingham score varied by health status (P-value<0.001), but not vegetable consumption (P-value 0.51). Fruit consumption was associated with a lower Framingham score (-0.04 per portions/day, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.08 to -0.004) among participants in poor health, adjusted for age, sex, recruitment phase, socio-economic position and lifestyle. However, similarly adjusted, fruit consumption was associated with a higher Framingham score (0.05, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.09) among participants in good health, perhaps due to a positive association of fruit consumption with fasting glucose. Similarly adjusted, vegetable consumption was associated with a higher Framingham score (0.03, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.05) among all participants, with no difference by health status. Conclusion This large study from a non-western setting found that fruit and vegetable consumption was barely associated with the Framingham score, or major CVD risk factors.


In this study, the effect of out-time on the volatile content in the CYCOM® 5320-1 unidirectional prepreg tape is investigated by exposing prepregs to an elevated temperature for periods of 2 hours to 24 hours. In addition, samples based on a [0/±45/90]S stacking sequence were prepared for three exposure durations, these being 2, 24 and 48 hours. The laminates were laid using an in-house fiber placement rig and cured in an oven according to the manufacturer's recommended cure cycle. The glass transition temperature Tg and percentage of cure of the laminates were determined using dynamic mechanical analyzer in a single cantilever mode a differential scanning calorimeter, respectively. The mechanical properties of the laminates were also evaluated following manufacture. The results highlight a linear relationship between volatile uptake and out-time, with a maximum value of 0.6% being associated with an out-time of 24 hours. The exposure duration had a negligible effect on the tensile properties of the manufactured laminates, displaying a variation of ±8% from the mean values. The measured Tg values for the laminates manufactured in this study were similar to those quoted in the manufacturer's data sheet, with there being little change in Tg with prepreg out-time, within the intra-sample variations. The extent of cure of all the laminates manufactured in this work displayed cure values greater than the OEM acceptance criteria of 95%. Micrographs of laminates manufactured from tapes following an out-time of 2 hours show resin-rich areas between the plies, an observation that reduces with increased out-time. The void content in the laminates increased by more than 100% when the out-time was increased from 12 to 24 hours.


This is a well documented and detailed study, updated from an earlier edition in 1982. As a diaspora people through most of their history, the Jews have struggled to preserve their identity in hostile situations. However, they never experienced persecution or hostility in India. Hence the context of the Jewish dilemma in India was somewhat different: how to keep their identity in a favourable social environment, given their long isolation from international Jewry. By and large, the three Jewish communities in the country have succeeded in being decidedly Indian,and at the same time distinctly Jewish, though in varying degrees. The Baghdadi Jews, who arrived in the l9th century and settled around Bombay and Calcutta, were the least adapted. The older Cochini community successfully integrated both their Jewish and their local identities. Isolated for long, the Bene Israelites in coastal Maharashtra were brought into communion with the rest of Jewry after they were discovered by the Cochini Jews in the 18th century. A caste based social order can accept different peoples by assigning them their social niche, provided this does not disturb the rest of the hierarchy. This has allowed small migrant communities like the Jews and others to survive as a


Combination of STBC with OFDM has gained considerable interest and has become a promising technique for future wireless communications. However, such systems require the knowledge of the Channel State Information (CSI) at the receiver. In this paper, a new channel estimation approach is proposed using dedicated pilot subcarriers defined at fixed intervals to estimate the channel parameters. Once channel parameters at the pilot subcarriers have been estimated using known pilot symbols at the receiver, the iterative channel estimation process is initiated, and data symbols positioned at adjacent data subcarriers are recovered. Subsequently, the recovered data symbols become the new set of pilots which are then used to re-estimate the channel parameters and recover the next adjacent STBC block. Another major novel contribution of the paper is the proposal of a new group decoding method that reduces the processing time significantly via the use of subcarrier grouping for transmitted data recovery. The OFDM symbols are divided into groups to which a set of pilot subcarriers are assigned and used to initiate the channel estimation process. Designated data symbols contained within each group of the OFDM symbols are decoded simultaneously in order to improve the decoding time duration.


Based on the well-established job demands-resources (JD-R) framework, in our study we introduce the novel study demands-resources (SD-R) framework. The SD-R framework allows the study of salutogenic and pathogenic effects of university settings on students' health and well-being. Using a large sample of university students (n = 5660), our aim was to translate and validate the JD-R's essential assumptions within the university context, and thus establish the SD-R framework. We performed structural equation modelling to examine these essential assumptions. As assumed, we found that study demands—the "bad things" at university—predict student burnout (β = 0.50), whereas study resources—the "good things" at university—predict student engagement (β = 0.70) as well as burnout (β = −0.35). Also, in line with the SD-R's assumptions, student burnout predicts life satisfaction negatively (β = −0.34), whereas student engagement predicts life satisfaction positively (β = 0.29). Hence, we were able to introduce the novel SD-R framework and validate its core assumptions. The SD-R framework serves as an excellent theoretical basis to examine both the salutogenic and pathogenic effects of the study context on students' health and well-being. However, the framework needs further longitudinal and meta-analytical verification in accordance with the research on the JD-R framework.


This research aims to describe, analyze, and determine the role of social media in marketing strategies. This research used a survey method that is focused on people who are in a business that is in direct contact with social media so that it can be reviewed directly on the role of social media in marketing strategies. The implementation of social media in marketing strategies has been implemented by several companies or other business entities to market their products. Various content and network contacts are the principles behind social media. The utilization of social media itself has been done for various purposes, one of which is to do business. Businessman utilizes social media because it is considered more efficient in time and cost. Moreover, almost all people in various parts of the world use social media to support daily activities such as communicating and exchanging information. The results of this research show that social media has a significant role in marketing strategies for small- and large-scale businesses. That condition because of the ease of disseminating information and also greater efficiency in marketing activities.


Background Vardenafil, a selective phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, may affect nasal patency because of its adverse-effect profile. This double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical study sought to assess the effect of vardenafil on nasal patency in patients at a university hospital. Methods Nasal patency was assessed using a visual analog score and by measuring the minimum cross-sectional areas (MCAs) and nasal cavity volumes with acoustic rhinometry in 14 subjects before and after administration of vardenafil. Measurements were repeated after administration of a local decongestant spray. Results There was no statistically significant difference between the nasal cavity volumes, MCA, and visual analog scale (VAS) scores before and after the administration of placebo. However, there was a significant increase in the nasal cavity volumes, MCAs, and VAS scores after application of the local decongestant. A significant correlation was found between MCAs and VAS scores (r = 0.96; p < 0.001). After administration of vardenafil, there was a significant increase in the degree of subjective sense of nasal obstruction as measured by VAS scores. Total nasal volumes showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05). The congestion effect induced by the vardenafil was reversed after application of the local decongestant spray, and a significant increase in cross-sectional areas was noted. In the vardenafil group, a significant increase in MCA, total volume, and VAS scores was observed after application of the local decongestant (p < 0.05). Conclusion Objective and subjective nasal obstruction after administration of vardenafil was significantly higher in this study than in previously reported studies. The effect of congestion can be reversed by local decongestants. The role of PDE5 inhibitors in nasal physiology merits additional investigation.


Fraxin (FX) (7-hydroxy-6-methoxycoumarin 8-glucoside) is a typical natural product of the coumarin family. This compound was shown to protect endothelial cells from oxidative stress; however, the nature of its antioxidant properties is still ambiguous. In this study, we report on a systematic evaluation of the radical scavenging activity of FX using a two-tier protocol based on thermodynamic and kinetic calculations. The results show that FX has moderate activity in the aqueous physiological environment against a range of radicals including HO˙, CCl3O˙, CCl3OO˙, NO2, , and HOO˙. The latter was examined in detail due to the prevalence of HOO˙ as a source of oxidative stress in biological systems. HOO˙ scavenging activity was promising in the gas phase but low in physiological environments with koverall = 1.57 × 106, 3.13 × 102 and 2.68 × 103 M−1 s−1 in the gas phase, pentyl ethanoate and water solvents, respectively. The formal hydrogen transfer mechanism at the O7–H bond dominates the hydroperoxyl radical scavenging of FX in the nonpolar media, whereas, in the polar environment, the activity is exerted by the single electron transfer mechanism of the anion state. This activity falls behind typical antioxidants such as Trolox, ascorbic acid, and trans-resveratrol under the studied conditions. Thus FX may have multiple health benefits, but it is not an outstanding natural antioxidant.


One of the central challenges of transplantation is the development of alloreactivity despite the use of multiagent immunoprophylaxis. Effective control of this immune suppression-resistant T-cell activation represents one of the key unmet needs in the fields of both solid-organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT). To address this unmet need, we have used a highly translational nonhuman primate (NHP) model to interrogate the transcriptional signature of T cells during breakthrough acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) that occurs in the setting of clinically relevant immune suppression and compared this to the hyperacute GVHD, which develops in unprophylaxed or suboptimally prophylaxed transplant recipients. Our results demonstrate the complex character of the alloreactivity that develops during ongoing immunoprophylaxis and identify 3 key transcriptional hallmarks of breakthrough acute GVHD that are not observed in hyperacute GVHD: (1) T-cell persistence rather than proliferation, (2) evidence for highly inflammatory transcriptional programming, and (3) skewing toward a T helper (Th)/T cytotoxic (Tc)17 transcriptional program. Importantly, the gene coexpression profiles from human HCT recipients who developed GVHD while on immunosuppressive prophylactic agents recapitulated the patterns observed in NHP, and demonstrated an evolution toward a more inflammatory signature as time posttransplant progressed. These results strongly implicate the evolution of both inflammatory and interleukin 17-based immune pathogenesis in GVHD, and provide the first map of this evolving process in primates in the setting of clinically relevant immunomodulation. This map represents a novel transcriptomic resource for further systems-based efforts to study the breakthrough alloresponse that occurs posttransplant despite immunoprophylaxis and to develop evidence-based strategies for effective treatment of this disease.


The behavior of timed DES can be described by a subset of the lattice formed by sequences of event occurrence times in much the same way that logical DES behaviors are described by a language of event sequences. This viewpoint allows questions of controllability for the class of timed DES modelled by timed event graphs to be treated in much the same manner as they are for untimed systems. Conditions for the controllability of a timed event graph can be expressed as inequations on the lattice. Extremal solutions to these inequations are found using methods developed for untimed DES.<<ETX>>


This article is a review of the literature concerning efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the elderly population. In the past decade, immunotherapy deeply changed the treatment paradigm of lung cancer in particular in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC). Thus, ICIs have successively demonstrated a survival benefit as single agent in second line, and moved in first line as monotherapy for patients with high programmed death protein 1 (PD-L1) expression or in combination with chemotherapy regardless PD-L1 expression. If patients aged 70 years or older represent up to half of our patients in clinical routine, elderly population is significantly under-represented in clinical trials. This leads to a lack of knowledge concerning efficacy and safety of ICIs in a population of patients with frequent comorbidities, organs dysfunctions and a potential immune-senescence due to age. In this review, we described available data evaluating efficacy and safety of ICI either as monotherapy or in combination in elderly population treated for a lung cancer. These data derived from clinical trial evaluating ICIs in aNSCLC as single agent or in combination with chemotherapy or anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4). As monotherapy, older patients seem to derive the same benefit from ICIs than younger patients with no excess of toxicities. In combination with chemotherapy, real impact of ICIs in elderly population is still unclear. Results of dedicated studies evaluating ICIs as single agent or in combination in elderly patients are needed.


The established level of protection of basic human rights and freedoms is a key indicator of democracy and the rule of law in every European country. For decades, the Council of Europe, the European Union and the governments of the member states have pursued a consistent policy of creating and implementing various legal instruments to guarantee the fulfillment of this indicator. It is in implementation of this policy that the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU were adopted: two fundamental acts that fundamentally changed the legal systems of the countries in Europe. Although adopted in different systems, these two acts pursue a common goal: achieving real protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. This report presents a brief analysis of the stated common goal of the two acts and its practical implementation through the judicial activities of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU.


A 43-year-old male with type 2 diabetes, under treatment with 5 mg/day of dapagliflozin, was referred to our hospital with upper left abdominal pain and marked hypertriglyceridemia (triglycerides [TGs], 5,960 mg/dl). He was also on a low-carbohydrate diet that promoted ketosis under sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor administration. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a remarkable increase in very-low-den-sity lipoprotein, a TG-rich lipoprotein particle synthesized in the liver using free fatty acids derived from adi-pose tissue. Although SGLT2 inhibitors generally improve the lipid profile, under certain conditions such as a low-carbohydrate diet, they may adversely exacerbate the lipid profile via ketosis.


The energy spectrum of the quantum Klein-Gordon (KG) lattice is computed numerically for model parameters relevant to optical phonon spectra. A pairing of phonon states is found when nonlinearity is significant, which agrees with other studies on different quantum lattice models (Agranovich V. M., in Spectroscopy and Excitation Dynamics of Condensed Molecular Systems, edited by Agranovich V. M. and Hochstrasser R. M. (North-Holland Publishing Company) 1983, pp. 83-138; Eilbeck J. C., Proceedings of the Third Conference Localization and Energy Transfer in Nonlinear Systems, edited by Vazquez L., MacKay R. S. and Zorzano M. P. (World Scientific, Singapore) 2003, p. 177). It results from the lattice anharmonicity, the magnitude of which is quantified by the binding energy of phonon bound states. Our work focuses on the case of weak anharmonicity, i.e., the phonon binding energy is weaker than the single-phonon band width. We find that the phonon pairs dissociate at the center of the lattice Brillouin zone, whereas at the edge the binding energy remains comparable to the width of the single-phonon band. Consequently, a weak nonlinearity is characterized by a pseudogap in the energy spectrum of two-phonon states.


1. Twenty-two children with bone and joint tuberculosis were treated throughout the winter and spring with radiations from a high intensity carbon arc light.

2. In the majority of cases the blood counts rose under treatment. Our figures support the theory that the effect of the light upon the blood-forming tissues is a restoration of normal function, not a mere stimulation.

3. The children tended to gain weight while under treatment.

4. The favorable effect upon the local tuberculous lesion was marked.

5. We believe that our findings show that exposures to the radiations of the high intensity carbon-arc light are of value in the treatment of bone and joint tuberculosis, especially during those months when little sunlight is available.

6. While the value of this form of treatment seems to be well established many problems connected with its use remain to be solved.


Phytochemical screening and Brine Shrimp lethality test of katuk leavesextract had been done against Artemia salina Leach. The aims of this study is toscreen potentially bioactive extract of katuk leaves as an effort to find out thechemical substances responsible for the toxic effect. Katuk leaves (Saoropusandrogenus (L.) Merr.) was extracted by ethanol 96%, to find the rendemen ofkatuk leaf extract. Phytochemical screening was done qualitatively. The toxicitytest was used experimental design with 4x3 treatments. The concentration extract50 ppm, 100 ppm, 500 ppm and 1000 ppm, with 3 repetitions. Its effect was testedagainst A. salina, L (Brine Shrimp Test). The result of phytochemical screeningshowed that compounds in the extract of katuk leaves (Saoropus androgenus (L.)Merr.) contained of sterol after the addition of diethyl ether. Katuk leaf extractalso contained phenol substance such as tannin, saponin and flavonoid. The resultof the study shows that extract of katuk leaves (Saoropus androgenus) was toxicbecause it was able to kill more than 50% larva of A. salina, L at the concentrationless than 1000 ppm. The LC50 of katuk leaves extract (Saoropus androgenus (L.)Merr.) was shown at 954.01 ppm.


Measurement of land surface temperature faces many problems. For example, each pixel over land surface is likely to be heterogeneous and non-isothermal with both vegetation canopy and background soil, and the three-dimensional structure of canopy often makes the canopy radiation angular dependent. It is difficult to define an overall land surface temperature and emissivity at pixel scale for heterogeneous and non-isothermal surfaces. After recalling several definitions of effective emissivities, component effective emissivity is defined in this paper under the conditions of local thermal equilibrium and a constant material emissivity for surface temperature variation in the normal Earth environment. Component effective emissivities make it possible to retrieve the component temperature based on multi-directional measurements. The sum of component effective emissivities is equal to the overall effective emissivity, which can be used to inverse pixel-averaged effective temperature. Taking the continuous plant/soil system as an example, the Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the effective emissivities, and an analytical expression equation (AEE) of the effective emissivities including direct-line emission and single scattering contribution is developed. Monte Carlo simulated results show that the sum of direct-line emission and single scattering effective emissivity is close to overall effective emissivity when soil and leaf are set to 0.94 and 0.98 respectively. Then component and overall effective emissivities calculated by Monte Carlo method and AEE are compared, and their differences are analysed for different soil and leaf emissivities. It is shown that when soil and leaf emissivities are set respectively to 0.94 and 0.98, the differences are less than 0.006 within a 50° view zenith angle. When soil or leaf emissivity is set to 0.9, the difference reaches 0.025 or 0.016, which is large enough to introduce a 1 K error in land surface temperature inversion when this effective emissivity is used. The paper finally proposes that the linear relationship of difference with soil and leaf emissivity can be used to compensate the errors.


Background Pregnancy-related posterior pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) is one of the most important clinical manifestations of postpartum back pain. Those affected often complain of discomfort during daily activities. It is hypothesized that altered motor control is associated with perceived pain. Pelvic support can regulate possible underlying altered motor control mechanisms and decrease pain. However, the influence of a lumbosacral orthosis, which is broader support that allows for a wider contact area and more skin sensory stimulation to restore proper motor function, has not yet been investigated in women with postpartum PPGP. Objective This study investigates the efficacy of broader lumbar support and narrower pelvic support on pain, proprioception, disability, and muscle strength in women with pregnancy-related PPGP. Methods This study will be a single-center, 3-armed, participant-blinded, randomized controlled trial. In total, 84 women diagnosed with pregnancy-related PPGP will be recruited and randomly assigned into 3 groups. Intervention groups A and B will receive pelvic and lumbar supports, respectively. Group C (control) will receive only a patient education leaflet containing advice on strengthening exercises, comfortable positions, and other practical information. The study outcomes are pain, effort score during the active straight leg raising test, maximum isometric hip flexion force, maximum isometric hip external rotation force, maximum isometric trunk rotation force, and joint position reproduction of hip abduction. The study outcomes will be measured at 4 time points: baseline (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), 4 weeks following interventions began (at this time, the intervention period is completed) (T3), and 1 week after discontinuing the interventions (T4) to evaluate the possible lasting effects of wearing supports. Multivariate analysis of variance will be used to test between- and within-group differences. Results Recruitment for this study will be started in summer 2022 and is expected to be completed by the end of fall 2022. Conclusions This study will examine the efficacy of broader lumbar support as an early rehabilitative treatment for women receiving postpartum posterior pelvic pain support compared to those receiving a narrower pelvic support. We expect the broader lumbar support to impact pain management and disability better than the current narrower pelvic belt. Long-term follow-up studies will help determine whether such lumbosacral orthosis reduces pain and improves daily activities in women with pregnancy-related PPGP. Trial Registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20150210021034N11; https://www.irct.ir/trial/54808 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/40553


To elucidate factors affecting ion transport in capacitor electrolytes, five propylene carbonate (PC) electrolytes were prepared, each of which includes a salt ((C2H5)4NBF4, (C2H5)4NPF6, (C2H5)4NSO3CF3, (C2H5)3CH3NBF4 and LiBF4). In addition to conventional bulk parameters such as ionic conductivity (σ), viscosity (η) and density (ρ), self-diffusion coefficients (D) of the cation, anion and PC were measured by pulsed-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR. Interaction energies (ΔE) were calculated by density function theory calculations based on Hard and Soft Acids and Bases (HSAB) theory for cation–anion (salt dissociation) and solvent–cation/anion (solvation). ΔE values are related to the salt dissociation and solvation, which affect ion diffusion radii formed by solvation and/or ion pairs. The calculated solvation ΔE values were small (around 0.30 eV) and salt dissociation energies were also small. For comparison, the ΔE value for PC–Li+ interaction was larger than that for ammonium cations, because of strong Li+ Lewis acidity. Ammonium salts are highly dissociated and each ion forms a weakly solvated structure, which is quite different from Li+ electrolytes. Weak solvation for the cation and anion in the ammonium salts are important in enhancing fast ion transfer and electrode reactions in capacitor devices.


In the field of antithrombotics, precision medicine is of particular interest, as it may lower the incidence of potentially life-threatening side effects. Indeed, antiplatelet drugs such as P2Y12 inhibitors are one of the most common causes of emergency admissions for drug-related adverse events. The last ten years have seen a continuous debate on whether platelet function tests (PFTs) should be used to tailor antiplatelet drugs to cardiovascular patients. Large-scale randomized studies investigating the escalation of antiplatelet therapies according to the results of PFTs were mostly negative. Potent P2Y12 inhibitors are recommended as a first-line treatment in acute coronary syndrome patients, bringing the bleeding risk at the forefront. De-escalation from prasugrel or ticagrelor to clopidogrel is now considered, with or without the use of a PFT. This review covers recent advances in escalation and de-escalation strategies based on PFTs in various clinical settings. It also describes the main features of the most popular platelet function tests as well as the potential added value of genetic testing. Finally, we detail practical suggestions on how PFTs could be used in clinical practice.