A new non-destructive inspection tool is described for tracking and recording crack growth in test coupons and structural components. The current state of development of this device, the gel electrode, is reviewed. This hand-held inspection probe can image surface fatigue cracks in iron, titanium, magnesium, and aluminum alloys. Fatigue cracks only ∼10−2 mm long can be detected, a sensitivity which surpasses that of commercially available techniques by a factor of 100. Images of short fatigue cracks are shown for each of the above alloy systems. The examples are selected to illustrate the good visibility and repeatability of the images, as is required to monitor crack growth. Included are quantitative measurements of the growth kinetics of a short (10−1 to 1 mm) crack in a prototype component.


ABSTRACT Journalists confront terror and war to report and document what is happening. Covering traumatic events is dangerous for the reporters on the scene and may leave them with distress responses. The aim of this study is to investigate the coping strategies journalists use to deal with danger and traumatic stress and to build resilience. Through in-depth interviews with journalists covering crisis and violent events, the article looks at the physical, practical and trauma aspects of crisis journalism, and contributes to the complex understanding of risk and resilience for journalists. The study is based on interviews with nine reporters from five countries. Between them, they have covered several conflicts, terror attacks and wars. The study shows that they use a variety of strategies. Memories from unpredictable assignments stick with them. However, eight would cover traumatic events again, and the majority have experienced post-traumatic growth. My results show that informal peer support is crucial, but media organizations have a long way to go to ensure adequate support.


We report the first transition metal-free and trans-selective alkynylboration reaction of alkynes. This unprecedented carboboration reaction is enabled by pseudo-intramolecular activation of alkynylboronates using propargylic alcohols. The carboboration affords 4-alkynyl-1,2-oxaborol-2(5H)-ols, which are not only versatile building blocks but also exhibit strong violet-blue fluorescence emission.


Students (n = 328) from US and UK universities completed four self‐report measures related to intellectual competence: typical intellectual engagement (TIE), openness to experience, self‐assessed intelligence (SAI), and learning approaches. Confirmatory data reduction was used to examine the structure of TIE and supported five major factors: reading and information seeking, intellectual avoidance, directed complex problem solving, abstract thinking, and intellectual pursuits as a primary focus. These factors were significantly and positively associated with deep learning, openness, and SAI, and negatively related to surface learning. Other correlates of TIE were more factor‐dependent. In general, correlations suggested that TIE is related to, but different from, the other intellectual competence constructs examined. Results are discussed in relation to the typical performance approach to intelligence and the importance of TIE with regards to the intrinsic motivation to learn.


Hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) and spironolactone (SP), alone and in combination, were utilized in the treatment of 79 adult men with mild to moderate essential hypertension. Comparative effects were determined with regard to anti-hypertensive action, serum potassium homeostasis and BUN. Both HCT and SP, alone and in combination, produced significant anti-hypertensive effects. Anti-hypertensive response to SP was clearly dose-related. All medications produced a moderate and transient elevation of BUN. The most marked differences were observed with regard to serum potassium levels (K). HCT produced a marked decrease in K which persisted through 12 weeks of therapy. SP produced moderate dose-related elevations of K which reverted toward baseline levels between the 4th and 12th weeks of treatment. The "safety advantage" of SP is discussed relative to its role in producing K homeostasis due to its unique mechanism of action.


Abstract Forestalling sureties about what constitutes violence and feminism and the relationships between violence and feminism have been significant themes in the work of feminist International Relations theorist Marysia Zalewski. I follow how Zalewski, through her work and work with others including myself, interrupts well-trodden 'trails' of violence and feminism to open up thinking about both. I consider how her provocative work on violence and particularly feminist violence prefigures and advances cutting-edge critical thought on violence as represented in the 'Histories of Violence' project. What I call her 'palimpsestic' or multilayered and intertextual approach to violence reveals it as not only destructive, but also productive in terms of breaking with deadening conventions. I also consider her conceptualisation of feminist violence as both epistemic and militant over time in relation to some contemporary feminist insurgencies, the kinds of insurgencies that serve as her muses for breaking out of forms of 'secured' feminism and opening space for unbounded feminist thought. Consistent with her insistence that theory (and writing) should provide uncomfortable openings, not comforting foreclosures, I end not with a conclusion about her work, but rather echo her call to resist the kind of 'knowing' that suffocates critical thinking and (re)generative feminist thought.


The seafloor within the Perth Abyssal Plain (PAP), offshore Western Australia, is the only section of crust that directly records the early spreading history between India and Australia during the Mesozoic breakup of Gondwana. However, this early spreading has been poorly constrained due to an absence of data, including marine magnetic anomalies and data constraining the crustal nature of key tectonic features. Here, we present new magnetic anomaly data from the PAP that shows that the crust in the western part of the basin was part of the Indian Plate—the conjugate flank to the oceanic crust immediately offshore the Perth margin, Australia. We identify a sequence of M2 and older anomalies in the west PAP within crust that initially moved with the Indian Plate, formed at intermediate half‐spreading rates (35 mm/yr) consistent with the conjugate sequence on the Australian Plate. More speculatively, we reinterpret the youngest anomalies in the east PAP, finding that the M0‐age crust initially formed on the Indian Plate was transferred to the Australian Plate by a westward jump or propagation of the spreading ridge shortly after M0 time. Samples dredged from the Gulden Draak and Batavia Knolls (at the western edge of the PAP) reveal that these bathymetric features are continental fragments rather than igneous plateaus related to Broken Ridge. These microcontinents rifted away from Australia with Greater India during initial breakup at ~130 Ma, then rifted from India following the cessation of spreading in the PAP (~101–103 Ma).


The deficiency pattern of neurotransmitters is heterogeneous in patients with Parkinson's disease. Consequence is an individual variable expression of motor and nonmotor features. They respond to agents with a broader spectrum of mode of actions, whereas dopamine substitution only targets impaired motor behavior. The pharmacological profile of safinamide includes reversible monoamine oxidase B inhibition and modulation of voltage-dependent sodium- and calcium channels with consecutive decline of glutamate release. Safinamide improves motor and nonmotor symptoms. Combination of safinamide with the catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor opicapone in one capsule is a promising future treatment alternative, which simplifies drug therapy in Parkinson's disease. Both agents complement each other in terms of application mode and efficacy on motor complications as adjuncts to levodopa therapy.


We report on the results of the experimental investigations of the local resistive switching (RS) in the contact of a conductive atomic force microscope (CAFM) probe to a nanometer-thick yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) film on a conductive substrate under a Gaussian noise voltage applied between the probe and the substrate. The virtual memristor was found to switch randomly between the low resistance state and the high resistance state as a random telegraph signal (RTS). The potential profile of the virtual memristor calculated from its response to the Gaussian white noise shows two local minima, which is peculiar of a bistable nonlinear system.


The government's performance in the State of Myanmar raises questions about the reality of its position on what is happening to the range of its citizens who are Muslims Alrohengjian, it bear full responsibility for the protection and preservation of their rights. Despite the government's signing of Myanmar on the international agreements and conventions on human rights, despite its stated commitment to the protection of human rights and the promotion of democracy and the rule of law; the government has not taken any real action to protect the Rohingyas and address violence or stop racist policy of ethnic cleansing, which govern the Muslims of Rohingya by Buddhist extremists.      We will discuss in this paper what is really happening to the Muslims Alrohengjian in Myanmar, especially in the recent wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing against them, and we are exposed to historical backgrounds of these crimes and the role of internal constitutional provisions and the provisions of international conventions on the protection of this vulnerable minority


Two large cratonic interior basins, the Williston and Hudson, were situated within the Red River-Stony Mountain Solitary Coral Province, which occupied most of North America during Late Ordovician time. Helicelasma selectum (Billings, 1865), Deiracorallium angulatum gunni n. subsp., Lobocorallium trilobatum trilobatum (Whiteaves, 1895), and Bighornia cf. B. patella (Wilson, 1926) are known from the Stony Mountain Formation of southern Manitoba. The presence of identical species in Saskatchewan and Wyoming suggests that one assemblage inhabited the Williston Basin. The Hudson Basin assemblage comprises species that also occur in the Williston Basin, species closely resembling Williston Basin forms, and taxa that do not occur in the Williston Basin. Solitary Rugosa within the Red River-Stony Mountain Province in eastern North America are most closely related to those of the Williston Basin. Studies of Ordovician solitary Rugosa suggest that cratonic interior basins were centers of evolution, diversification, and dispersion.--Modified journal abstract.


Abstract This article indicated at erosion as one of the causes of degradation of surfaces washed by fluids and conditions of its occurrence. Corrosive – erosive theory of metal surface degradation has been discussed linking it with an instance of destructive processes taking place in cylinder liner blocks of combustion engines. Physics and conditions influencing processes on liquid – washed operational surface phase boundary have been justified. Out of the contemporary hypotheses explaining the physics of cavitation erosion, the bubble theory has been considered. A mathematical model of erosion has been presented in the context of cavitation implosion energy determining crash interactions of liquid cumulative fluxes on the washed surface. Occurring plastic deformations have been graphically explained linking them with the occurrence of fatigue micro-cracks and later with erosive pits. Influence of initial steel hardness on intensity of cavitation erosion has been checked. Discussion of ways to increase metal surface resistance to cavitation erosion has been carried out.


INTRODUCTION: Genetic data plays a key role in the healthcare area in specific, but they are typically very large in size. Many research shows that absence of DNA information at the right time is one of the major causes of error in the healthcare area. The more genomics information that analysts secure, the better the prospects for individual and general wellbeing. Persevering and retrieving genetic information in the right form within the given time is a big challenge in the field of Healthcare. Effectively, pre-birth DNA tests screen for formative variations from the norm. Before long, patients will have their blood sequenced to detect any nonhuman DNA that may flag an irresistible illness. Later on, somebody managing malignancy will most likely track the movement of the sickness by having the DNA and RNA of single cells from various tissues sequenced every day. DNA sequencing of whole population will give a complete and better prediction of population wellbeing. OBJECTIVES: Hereditary data is growing exponentially; hence it is hard to deal with the consistently developing hereditary database. The human genome in its base configuration occupies almost thirty terabyte of storage space. Computational assets are constrained. Not just storage, transmission abilities and run time memory is likewise constrained. Data Compression is a test when the hereditary information is exponentially expanding. It is critical to save the integrity of hereditary information while packing it. Hence the main objective of this paper is to develop a lossless DNA compression algorithm that not only gives better compression but also help in retrieval of Information for efficient use in the area of Healthcare. METHODS: In this paper a lossless hereditary data compression method is being proposed. The proposed calculation works in a horizontal mode and utilization a reference based substitution technique for compression. The principle thought of this paper is in the kind of similarity scanned. All the predominant hereditary Compression methods search for similarity within the chromosome. These calculations either pursue flat mode or vertical mode for accomplishing compression. But whichever method the existing genetic compression algorithms use, they are all based on searching similarities within the chromosome i.e. they exploit only inter chromosomal similarities. The current studies focus will show that compression ratio achieved by analyzing individual chromosome is always less than the method in which we analyze and compress intra chromosomal similarities. RESULTS: This study shows that by simply using exactly matching repeats amongst all the chromosomes of the same genome, not only the compression ratio is improving but also a detailed study of all the similarities and differences between two genomes of the same species can be conducted. CONCLUSION: In this study, a new compression algorithm is being proposed for compressing DNA. Along with Inter chromosomal similarities, Intra chromosomal similarities are considered for this method. The results clearly shows that intra chromosomal matches are bigger and more than inter chromosomal matches which helps us to achieve better compression ratio.


A long-term follow-up study of 130 Framingham, Massachusetts, men with newly diagnosed uncomplicated angina pectoris was undertaken in an attempt to identify medical and personal characteristics which could predict the likelihood of a future coronary event. Analyses indicated that, among the baseline characteristics, systolic blood pressure and electrocardiographic findings were the most powerful independent predictors of the outcome. Elevated blood pressure or an abnormal electrocardiogram increased coronary risk more than twofold. The lack of association between smoking at diagnosis and a new event appeared to be related to changes in habits after angina onset. Further scrutiny of the data indicated that, irrespective of blood pressure and electrocardiographic findings, those less than 60 years of age at angina onset who were nonsmokers or quitters during follow-up had a definite prognostic advantage over similarly aged continuing smokers. These results could not be explained by differences in coronary risk factors prior to symptom onset or by changes in factors other than smoking during follow-up. The findings suggest that stopping the cigarette smoking habit can improve both short-term and long-term prognosis in the younger patient and angina pectoris.


The trend towards mass customization has led to a significant increase of the complexity of manufacturing systems. Models to evaluate the complexity have been developed, but the complexity analysis of work stations is still done manually. This paper describes an automated analysis tool that makes us of multi-camera video images to support the complexity analysis of assembly line work stations.


Crystalline polymorphism occurs frequently in the solid state of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and this is problematic for the development of a suitable dose form. Rimonabant, an active pharmaceutical ingredient developed by Sanofi and discontinued because of side effects, exhibits dimorphism; both solid forms have nearly the same melting temperatures, melting enthalpies, and specific volumes. Although the problem may well be academic from an industrial point of view, the present case demonstrates the usefulness of constructing pressure-temperature phase diagrams by direct measurement as well as by topological approach. The system is overall monotropic and form II is the more stable solid form. Interestingly, the more stable form does not possess any hydrogen bonds, whereas the less stable one does.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY With the growing importance of business process outsourcing in the increasingly globally competitive world, attitude of strategic constituents toward the phenomenon merits attention. This study represents a first step toward construction of a self-report attitude scale. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the data collected from university samples yielded promising results. Resulting factor-structure captured both positive and negative attitudes toward various causes and consequences of outsourcing. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed. Future research will consider larger, diverse samples to arrive a valid and reliable instrument that serves both academics and practitioners well. INTRODUCTION Business process outsourcing (BPO) is described as the process of externalizing formerly performed in-house activities, functions and services to outside vendors. Although this is not a new business practice, the magnitude, direction and character of outsourcing has changed drastically in recent years (Jenster & Pedersen, 2000). The current interest in outsourcing in the United States is largely due to transformation in the environment of business and the changing nature of competition resulting from globalization and technology (Clott, 2004). Globalization has made the world seem smaller, with fewer barriers across countries. Technology has made instantaneous communication across the world possible. Firms have realized that work can be performed just as well in another country as it can in the United States, often at reduced cost and round the clock. BPO began with non-core activities; however, it has evolved and migrated to higher-end activities, including "...research, product development, logistics, human relations, accounting, legal work, and marketing and market research" (McDermott, 2002, p. 22). Quoting the McKinsey Global Institute and OECD, The Economist, a business periodical, predicts that by 2008, 4.1 million service jobs will be outsourced and approximately 20 percent of total employment in the 15 pre-expansion EU countries, America, Canada and Australia will be affected (The Economist, 2005). Outsourcing of jobs, particularly to overseas vendors, has become a controversial national concern (e.g., Dobbs, 2004). Some see outsourcing as a means of retaining or increasing an organization's competitiveness, while others view it in a pessimistic light, focusing on the job loss for employees. Proponents of outsourcing, based on the theory of comparative advantage, argue that it will be beneficial to shift a function to a firm that specializes in that function, resulting in lower costs and better quality (Clott, 2004). Yet, the disadvantages of outsourcing, specifically the potential loss of jobs resulting from this practice at both the organizational and national level, has attracted much attention (Marshall & Heffes, 2005). As in any new area of research, the topic of BPO has generated a lot of literature in business journals; however, there has been modest empirical research on the psychological aspects of the practice. Despite the upward trend in outsourcing, and the controversies surrounding it, there have been few attempts to systematically measure employee and managerial attitudes toward the practice of outsourcing. How employees feel about BPO is important because it may have mediating effects on employees' behavior and attitudes as well as on a variety of organizational outcomes. A better understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of attitudes toward outsourcing can have vital implications for firms regarding such things as employee commitment, involvement, and motivation. The aim of this study was to design a scale measuring employees' attitudes toward outsourcing. First, the researchers undertook a comprehensive literature review. Next, they conducted personal interviews with practicing managers and academics to generate a large number of items that could potentially capture multiple facets of outsourcing. …


Ideal formal chemical reaction network is an effective programming language to design complex system dynamical behavior. In this article, a coupled hyper-chaotic Lorenz system can be described by the ordinary differential equations of an ideal formal reaction network, which is constructed by catalysis, annihilation and adjust reaction modules, where the variables of system are represented by the difference in concentration of two chemical species. The ideal formal reaction network can be implemented by DNA strand displacement reaction network. Through Lyapunov exponent, we have analyzed hyper-chaotic dynamical behavior of coupled Lorenz system. In discussion and analysis, we have analyzed effect of noise, reaction rate control error and concentration detection error to DNA strand displacement reaction network.


The story of East of the Cape: Conserving Eden is a story about nature and people. The drama takes place in a region located on the south-eastern coast of Africa where nature?s diversity is manifest: rainforest, karoo, fynbos, grassland and savanna are juxtaposed in complex and intriguing ways. Aptly called Eden, this region is also home to thicket, a Lilliputian forest of great antiquity that harbours the ancient stock of many plant lineages found in southern Africa?s contemporary ecosystems. Eden is also home to a diversity of human cultures, each of which has left its mark on nature. From the birth of humankind to the present day, the footprint of Eden?s inhabitants has become progressively heavier. For the past 150 years, since the onset of South Africa?s industrial age, a growing population and increasing demands on nature have ravaged Eden, especially its thicket. But just as people have been the cause of Eden?s degradation, so too can they provide the solution. In East of the Cape, authors Richard Cowling and Shirley Pierce present a blueprint for conservation that seeks to engender a culture of managing natural resources wisely and safeguarding nature and its services for a sustainable Eden.


Routing attacks have been identified for single path routing in wireless ad hoc networks. The effects of routing attacks on multipath routing have not been addressed so far. In this paper, an approach have been proposed to mitigate the black hole attack using AOMDV (Ad hoc on Demand Multipath Distance Vector) routing protocol. Some improvements have been made in AOMDV protocol. These improvements make the protocol robust against black hole attack along multipath route discovery process. The performance of proposed approach has been investigated to further reduce the overhead as described in this paper.


ABSTRACT
 Weather conditions in Colombia vary greatly throughout the territory. This fact, in the context of Colombian wholesale electricity, plays a key role in the bid pricing strategies and intensity of the strategic behaviour among plants. We estimate a dynamic spatial Durbin model to factor in the effects weather conditions have on bid pricing. The results show how energy inputs become critical for setting bid prices, a fact that is reinforced by the predominance of hydraulic generation technologies. One potential policy recommendation is the need to implement balancing markets to signal efficiently the pricing strategies in these markets.


Bone disease is a major cause of morbidity post renal transplantation. The authors present a case of adynamic bone disease and atypical fractures associated with the use of bisphosphonates following renal transplantation. The uncertain role of parathyroidectomy and bone mineral density scans is also reviewed.


Pressure-induced superconductivity and structural phase transitions in phosphorus (P) are studied by resistivity measurements under pressures up to 170 GPa and by fully ab initio crystal structure exploration and superconductivity calculations up to 350 GPa. Two distinct superconducting transition temperature (TC) vs pressure (P) trends at low pressure have been reported more than 30 years ago, and we are able to devise a consistent explanation founded on thermodynamically metastable phases of black phosphorus. Our experimental and theoretical results form a single, consistent picture which not only provides a clear understanding of elemental P under pressure but also sheds light on the longstanding and unsolved anomalous superconductivity trends. Moreover, at higher pressures we predict a similar scenario of multiple metastable structures which coexist beyond their thermodynamical stability range. We observe that all the metastable structures systematically exhibit larger transition temperatures than the ground-state structures, indicating that the exploration of metastable phases represents a promising route to design materials with improved superconducting properties.


Mechatronic systems designed for monitoring and control of complex rotary machines can be implemented effectively only when alarm or critical levels of monitored parameters are well known and the sources of their devia-tions can be determined. Vibrodiagnostics is a powerful tool which can be used for the determination of machine defects. However, in case of complex rotary machines, it is very complicated to trace all sources of vibrations (e.g. internal defects). Therefore attempts of vibrations model-ling are made aiming to evaluate the influence of various parameters on the vibroactivity of certain machine.


Insect and nematode pests in ryegrass pasture with white (WC) or Caucasian clover (CC) were similar in species composition. In droughtprone soil, however, WC abundance fluctuated markedly over six years whereas CC was more persistent. Insect pest populations in autumn followed similar overall time trends in each clover though some fluctuated less markedly in CC, probably due to greater clover abundance and pasture cover rather than food quality differences. Whitefringed weevil increased to damaging levels in CC by the sixth year. Clover cyst nematode populations were suppressed by CC but root knot nematode increased to greater abundance than in WC soil. Root knot nematode and whitefringed weevil may provide the greatest pest threats to longterm productive potential and persistence of CC in northern areas of


The cyclone is widely used as air cleaning device. Many studies have been made on how to enhance its particle collection efficiency or reduce the airflow resistance, but usually the alteration of only one dimension is discussed, and only the collection efficiency or the airflow resistance is considered. Some studies have compared the 50% cut-off size under the same airflow resistance, or compared the airflow resistance under the same 50% cut-off size to obtain the optimal configuration. Yet steps like this take long time to complete, which makes it difficult to compare the cyclone efficiency comprehensively. This work adopts the cyclone quality factor as the performance index, and the cyclone designed by Stairmand is adopted as the basic configuration in the present study. With the cyclone body diameter (D) fixed, we vary the cyclone length (H), inlet height (a) and width (b), cyclone length without the cone (hb), cone height (hc), cone bottom diameter (B), and vortex finder length (S). The results show that each of these design parameters has a different impact on the cyclone performance. Based on the cyclone quality factor, equivalent to the filter quality factor, it is found that the H and S of the Stairmand cyclone are already the optimal conformations. The cyclone performance could be further improved, if further changes could be made to the other conformations, for example, narrowing down the inlet (adjusting a/b from 13/5 to 20/3.2), reducing the cone bottom diameter (adjusting B from 9 mm to 4 mm) and decreasing the vortex finder diameter (adjusting De from 13 mm to 8 mm), The cyclone quality factor appears to be a function of the volumetric flow rate. Results demonstrate that while the air flow is fixed at 15 L/min, the newly improved cyclone could perform 12 times better than the Stairmand cyclone, according to the cyclone quality factor. Keyword: Cyclone quality factor; Cyclone design; Cyclone performance.


Access to legal documents has been hampered by the lack of attention for specific user groups accessing such documents. In this article, we focus on one of these user groups (legal professionals), who can benefit from specific types of cross-lingual information retrieval for, e.g., comparative law research. We propose to use legal definitions as anchor points in legal documents. Through the body of EU legislation, these anchor points can support a network of concepts between different jurisdictions. A model is presented containing the different entity types and relations types for building such a network, which can be implemented in the WordNet architecture.


This study aimed to evaluate the association between periodontitis and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) via cone-beam-computed tomography (CBCT) using the Lund–Mackay staging system. CBCT images from different departments of the school of dentistry, at Prince Sattam University were evaluated for the presence of rhinosinusitis. All the CBCT scans were exposed for multiple indications, and no patients had a scan exposed solely for this study. The Lund–Mackay staging system was used to measure the CRS in the CBCT. Descriptive statistics for the frequencies and percentages were used to summarize the data. Logistic regression was used to examine the associations between periodontitis and CRS. Each variable was assessed individually by using multivariable analysis. Collinearity issues among the variables were solved to select a limited set of factors using a stepwise variable selection procedure. A total of 399 CBCT images were included in the current research. Logistic regression showed that only gender was significantly associated (p = 0.0001) with the presence of CRS. However, a stepwise variable selection procedure included gender and bone loss as significantly associated with CRS. No significant difference was observed between unilateral vs. bilateral CRS in gender, bone loss, medical status, and periodontitis. However, only gender showed a significant difference in both bilateral vs. no CRS and unilateral vs. no CRS. Periodontitis is not associated with CRS. However, gender has a significant influence on CRS.


A novel two-dimensional heterodyne detection technique is demonstrated for real-time, cross-sectional imaging using optical coherence domain reflectometry without lateral scanning. The present technique, which is based on a frequency synchronous detection scheme, enables parallel heterodyne detection with an imager such as a charge coupled device camera. Full-field, micrometer-scale, depth-resolved images acquired at a rate of 10 frame/s are presented.


In this column we give a brief description of some leading academic programs about ICT-law in the European Union. On the PLOTEUS-website of the European Commission one can find all relevant information about studying in Europe in general. Via its eLearning Action Plan, the European Commission wants to encourage further use of electronic means of teaching and knowledge and use of ICT-technology as a whole. Some leading European universities have organised together a European Legal Informatics Study Programme (EULISP) leading to a LL.M. degree.


We synthesized, and purified to homogeneity, four peptides with sequences corresponding to natural dermaseptins. We compared their in-vitro antibacterial potencies against growing and non-growing Escherichia coli cells under different oxygen conditions. The dermaseptins displayed different antibacterial potencies (MICs = 1-4 microM). Killing assays showed that slowly growing bacteria were more susceptible to the synthetic replicates of dermaseptins than rapidly growing cells. In addition, the peptides displayed high efficacy in strictly anaerobic incubation conditions. These results suggest that synthetic dermaseptins are of potential interest in the eradication of bacteria placed in a dormant state and/or subjected to low oxygen tensions.


Introduction Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) remains, throughout Europe, a public health issue. Under the age of 5, some 20 to 30% of bacterial microorganisms are identified. However, cost-effectiveness of routine stool cultures yielding only 2% results preclude routine stool culturing. Objective Evaluation of the value of stool culture of children with AGE. Methods Retrospective data collection from clinical records of patients less than 18 years old submitted to stool cultures over a one year period. Results Out of 322 stool culture, 56.8% fulfilled the accepted ESPGHAN criteria and 74.8% had at least 1 clinical predictor of positivity (fever, blood or mucus stools, > 10 bowel actions/24 h, abdominal pain, travelling to highly epidemic countries). There were 121 positive cultures positive, 79.3% in patients obeying the defined criteria and 91.7% with clinical predictors of positivity. Campylobacter was the most frequently identified agent (68.6%), followed by Salmonella. Campylobacter decreased within an increasing age whilst Salmonella showed an inverse pattern. Campylobacter was the most frequently identified agent throughout all seasons of the year, followed by Salmonella, except in the winter when Yersinia took the second place. Discussion Sticking to accepted criteria for stool collection and/or to defined clinical features, increasing the yield of stool cultures.


- Practical requirements for securely demonstrating identities between two handheld devices are an important concern. The adversary can inject a Man-In- The-Middle (MITM) attack to intrude the protocol. Protocols that employ secret keys require the devices to share private information in advance, in which it is not feasible in the above scenario. Apart from insecurely typing passwords into handheld devices or comparing long hexadecimal keys displayed on the devices' screen, many other human-verifiable protocols have been proposed in the literature to solve the problem. Unfortunately, most of these schemes are unsalable to more users. Even when there are only three entities attempt to agree a session key, these protocols need to be rerun for three times. So, in the existing method a bipartite and a tripartite authentication protocol is presented using a temporary confidential channel. Besides, further extend the system into a transitive authentication protocol that allows multiple handheld devices to establish a conference key securely and efficiently. But this method detects only the outsider attacks. Method does not consider the insider attacks. So, in the proposed method trust score based method is introduced which computes the trust values for the nodes and provide the security. The trust score is computed has a positive influence on the confidence with which an entity conducts transactions with that node. Network the behavior of the node will be monitored periodically and its trust value is also updated .So depending on the behavior of the node in the network trust relation will be established between two nodes.


In this thesis, I worked on an existing Virtual Conference Room that was made during my internship with the collaboration of another EMSE student. During the time I was working on my thesis, I decided to focus on techniques for collaboration in VR and elaborate the existing VR conference room by adding new features to it. Since the main purpose of this project was to create an environment for communication and collaboration, based on my investigations I came to conclusion that non-verbal behaviour is one of the most important aspects of the communication. Therefore, I decided to work on research and implementation of a non-verbal communication in this environment. Additionally, I investigated the potential of VR for managing Agile Practices and having daily meetings in this environment in the second part of the thesis.


The study ascertained the levels of Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) in the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) of mean weight 679 ± 16.05 g, from selected markets in Benin city, Nigeria, by Atomic Absorption Spectrometric technique, in order to ascertain their suitability for human consumption. The mean concentrations of heavy metals in G. morhua ranged from 0.03 mg/kg Cd at New Benin market to 52.85 mg/kg for Zn at Ramat market while there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the mean concentrations of heavy metals in fish between markets. The estimated daily intake (EDI) values for heavy metals ranged from 0.0032 mg/person/day for Cd to 1.70 mg/person/day for Zn while the estimated annual intake (EAI) values for heavy metals ranged from 1.17 mg/person/year for Cd to 620.5 mg/person/year for Zn. The estimated quantity consumed (EQC) values ranged from 0.000064 mg/meal for Cd to 0.034mg/meal for Zn while the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) was 2414 mg/person/day. The margin of exposure (MOE) values for heavy metals ranged from 0.63 for Cd to 4.19 for Cu while the total toxicity of mixtures (TTM) value was 4.82. The toxic/hazard quotient (TQ) values ranged from 0.24 for Cu to 1.60 for Cd while the total heavy metal load in fish by market, ranged from 41.26 mg/kg at New Benin market to 59.27 mg/kg at Ramat market. The mean concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in G. morhua exceeded the thresholds established for heavy metals in fish by CODEX Alimentarius, Commission Regulation and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  (FAO), thus making them the metals of critical ecological concern. The implication is that G. morhuamust be consumed with caution in order to avert health problems associated with excess concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn.Keywords: heavy metals, Gadus morhua, toxic/hazard quotient, markets, Nigeria


In this paper, energy separation effect in a vortex tube has been investigated using a CFD model. The numerical simulation has been done due to the complex structure of flow. The governing equations have been solved by FLUENT™ code in 2D compressible and turbulent model. The effects of geometrical parameters have been investigated. The results have shown that the hot outlet size and its shape, does not affect the energy distribution in vortex tube and very small diameter will decrease the temperature separation.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


SUMMARY: The growth kinetics of Neurospora in unstirred liquid culture may be accounted for by an exponential and a linear growth phase. If a cubic growth phase exists it is in addition to the exponential and linear phases of growth. A method of measuring the exponential doubling time in unstirred cultures is described which may be usefully applied to fungi which cannot be observed growing exponentially by normal methods. Rate of linear growth is shown to be proportional to the surface area of the culture. Expression of linear growth rates as μg./cm.2/hr would assist in the comparison of data from different laboratories.


The series of 1520 human skeletons at my disposal discloses separate neural arch in seventy-nine, or more than five per cent. In vertebral columns with twenty-five presacrals, the incidence is almost twice as great as in columns with the regular twenty-four, but the actual percentage in both series is an accident of the sampling rather than a criterion of the population at large.

Study of the defect, whether unilateral or bilateral, substantiates its essential origin in a skeletal anomaly and assigns a very minor role to trauma. Embryologically the defect falls into the category of anomalous ossifications, of which there are many other examples scattered over the skeleton.

It is an anomaly peculiar to the lumbar region, and may be found in any lumbar vertebra and on either or both sides, but is usually confined to the last presacral. Thus spondylolisthesis may be a sign of the anomaly. Trauma plays a secondary ro1e in this condition, finding the fibrous tissue a point of less resistance to strain than bone structure.

Separate neural arch in its origin resembles spina bifida, defective articular processes, and separate bony centers for transverse, mammillary and accessory processes which are peculiarly associated with the lumbar column; it is found more frequently when some other anomaly—such as a twenty-fifth presacral—is present. It is the ultimate result of imperfect ossification, whether this be caused by failure in the ossific process itself or by a defect of the pre-existing cartilage.


The paper describes the main approaches used in the development of predictive analytics algorithms, both of a general nature and in the field of well drilling. When describing the algorithms used, the basic assumptions of each and the ensuing limitations of the developed model are explained. The necessity of building hybrid models, involving the full amount of information collected, including calculations carried out during the construction of the well, both from the engineering and geological sides, is shown. The paper discusses the culture of working with data in the oil and gas field in general and in particular well drilling. The current level does not allow companies to create scalable solutions of predictive analysis. As a result of the work done, the basic rules were proposed, the first step was taken towards standardizing the process of collecting and analyzing information flow arising during the construction of wells.


Indian e-commerce space is experiencing a tremendous growth that India along with China together is expected to cross the US as largest online retail markets in the world, and that the drivers behind the expansion of e-commerce in India and China are almost same. Recent studies reveals that close to one-third of Internet users are already making online purchases, this growth of e-commerce will rely to a great extend on increased spending from the existing buyers than from fresh online buyers. Hence the demand for retaining existing customers has turned out to be one of the most important objectives of e-retailers. Minimizing the delivery time of the order has turned out to be one of the most important factors in achieving customer satisfaction as per the studies done by various researchers. This paper tries to identify the factors which determine the perceived satisfaction among online shoppers with regard to the delivery time featured offered by the e-retailers. In the study we find that delivery time and website information plays a key role in determining the overall satisfaction with the e-retailer. The study also reveals that people who are highly satisfied with delivery time in non-metros are more likely to be satisfied overall with the e-retailer.


We present the fabrication of three-dimensional inlets with gradually decreasing widths and depths and with nanopillars on the slope, all defined in just one lithography step. In addition, as an application, we show how these micro- and nanostructures can be used for micro- and nanofluidics and lab-on-a-chip devices to facilitate the flow and analyze single molecules of DNA. For the fabrication of 3D inlets in a single layer process, dose-modulated electron beam lithography was used, producing depths between 750 nm and 50 nm along a 30 μm long inlet, which is additionally structured with nanometer-scale pillars randomly distributed on top, as a result of incomplete exposure and underdevelopment of the resist. The fabrication conditions affect the slope of the inlet, the nanopillar density and coverage. The key parameters are the dose used for the electron beam exposure and the development conditions, like the developer's dilution, stirring and development time. The 3D inlets with nanostructured pillars were integrated into fluidic devices, acting as a transition between micro and nanofluidic structures for pre-stretching and unfolding DNA molecules, avoiding the intrusion of folded molecules and clogging the analysis channel. After patterning these structures in silicon, they can be replicated in polymer by UV nanoimprinting. We show here how the inlets with pillars slow down the molecules before they enter the nanochannels, resulting in a 3-fold decrease in speed, which would translate to an improvement in the resolution for DNA optical mapping.


BACKGROUND
The goal of this analysis was to characterize a cohort of 3000 persons who self-identified as having bipolar disorder by demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics and to document the burden that this disorder imposed on their lives.

METHOD
The Stanley Center Bipolar Disorder Registry used a variety of recruitment methods to reach people with bipolar disorder. The cohort included those currently in treatment and those active in support groups. Registrants completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire to obtain information on demographic characteristics, clinical history, and treatment history.

RESULTS
The median age of the 2839 patients who were analyzed was 40.1 years, 64.5% were women, and over 90% were white. The median age at onset was 17.5 years, and the mean was 19.8 years. Despite the fact that over 60% completed at least some college and 30% completed college, 64% were currently unemployed. The patients' family histories point to a high prevalence of mental disorder in the families, especially mood disorders. Patients were concurrently taking multiple medications, and more than one third were taking at least 3 types of psychotropic medications. This pattern of pharmacotherapy was consistent with participants' overall mood ratings, which demonstrated how unusual it was for them to be symptom-free over a 6-month period.

CONCLUSION
Our present findings point to the chronicity and severity of bipolar disorder as experienced in the community. We still need to develop better interventions, ensure access to care consistent with current consensus guidelines, and initiate care as early as possible in the course of the condition.


In order to theoretically examine electrical transport, including the effects of semi-core orbitals, we propose a submatrix inversion approach within the framework of Green's function method. The efficiency and reliability of the proposed approach is investigated for a model system of a Au6 linear chain between Au(001) surfaces using the BPW91 functional and a modified LANL2MB basis set. For the energy integration of Green's function, the large integral window ranging from -116 eV to EF (= -5.0 eV) is successfully converted into three small windows [-116 eV, -106 eV], [-67 eV, -55 eV], and [-15 eV, EF]. The computation time of the submatrix inversion approach is faster by about 40% than that for the full-matrix inversion. At the same time, excellent agreement of the computational results between the submatrix and full-matrix inversion is achieved. Further, we propose a new quantity that is useful to determine an appropriate submatrix size. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2006.484]


Concentrations in GC-MS using electron-ionization mass spectrometry can be determined without pure calibration standards through prediction of relative total-ionization cross sections. An atom- and group-based artificial neural network (FF-NN-AG) model is created to generate EI cross sections and calibrations for organic compounds. This model is easy to implement and is more accurate than the widely used atom-additivity-based correlation of Fitch and Sauter (Anal. Chem. 1983). Ninety-two new measurements of experimental EI cross sections (70-75 eV) are joined with different interlaboratory datasets, creating a 396-compound cross-section database, the largest to date. The FF-NN-AG model uses 16 atom-type descriptors, 79 structural-group descriptors, and one hidden layer of 10 nodes, trained 500 times. In each cycle, 96% of the compounds in this database are freshly chosen at random, and then the model is tested with the remaining 4%. The resulting r2 is 0.992 versus 0.904 for the Fitch and Sauter correlation, root mean square deviation is 2.8 versus 9.2, and maximum relative error is 0.30 versus 0.73. As an example of the model's use, a list of cross sections is generated for various sugars and anhydrosugars.


Background: Low Back Pain (LBP) chronic is a health problem that not only involves biomechanical factors but also involves cognitive, psychological, and social factors. The last decade has seen a shift in understanding in chronic case management that can affect physiotherapy recommendations for chronic LBP patients to return to work/activities normally. This study aims to determine the related between the characteristics of physiotherapists in Denpasar City and Badung Regency, attitudes and beliefs, as well as a diagnosis of the recommendations given in chronic LBP cases. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional web-based survey with a total of 124 physiotherapists who are members of the Indonesian Physiotherapy Association (IFI), Central Bali Branch. Characteristics data were collected through a questionnaire, attitudes and beliefs with ABS-mp and PABS-PT, diagnosis and recommendations using a scenario. Data were analyzed using SPSS univariate, bivariate and multivariate. Results: Physiotherapists in Denpasar City and Badung Regency 21.8% have a biopsychosocial orientation. Multivariate analysis showed that the variable that had a significant relationship with physiotherapist recommendations was the personal interaction attitude variable with a value of p = 0.039 (AOR = 6.511, 95% CI = 1.099-38.581). Conclusion: Factors that related on recommendations physiotherapists to return to work/activities normally in patients with chronic LBP are age, work experience, training, personal interaction attitudes, physiotherapy beliefs, and physiotherapy diagnosis


Home food production and sharing in the West are typically
framed as innovative, modern and progressive practices. In
contrast, similar practices in the East European context remain
to be viewed as a path-dependent economic strategy of
disadvantaged segments of society, set to disappear with the
development of the market economy. This context-dependent
conceptualisation highlights the unequal knowledge production
and contentions arising from the endeavour to use insights from
the post-socialist European 'periphery' to unsettle the
hegemony of concepts generated in the Western context. The aim
of this paper is twofold. First, drawing on insights from
Southern (Connell 2007) and cosmopolitan theory (Robinson
2013), the paper raises the question whether there is a
possibility for the western 'core' and the increasingly
affluent societies of the global South to learn from vast and
socially embedded sharing economies in the 'post-socialist
periphery'. Second, departing from the conceptualisation of
Central and East European informal food practices as 'quiet
sustainability' (Smith and Jehlicka 2013) - as exuberant,
appealing and socially diverse forms of sustainability which
nurtures cooperation and sense of accomplishment - the paper
questions assumptions about the relationship between class
formation, sustainability and patterns of consumption. It asks
whether it needs it to be assumed that periods of rapid
economic development, and the related expansion of middle
classes in emerging economies necessarily result in the
abandonment of the non-market sharing economies. Our evidence
suggest that it may not be the case. All social classes and age
groups in Czechia and Poland participate in the sharing economy
as they grow and exchange food. Significantly, the increasingly
affluent Central and East European middle classes continue to
grow food and, despite their greater disposable income, do not
resort to the use of industrially made fertilisers in
significantly greater numbers than the working classes. These
practices are significant in terms of environmental
sustainability – most growers generate little carbon dioxide
emissions as their gardens are next to their houses.
Furthermore, nearly half of the Czech and Polish food growers
effectively produce non-certified organic food (in that they
use neither industrially made pesticides nor fertilisers).
While the percentage of Polish food growers sharing their
produce (46 per cent) is slightly lower than the percentage of
Czech growers to do so (60 per cent), there is virtually no
difference in either country in the behaviour of the two
classes. Growing and sharing food appears to be beneficial both
for social well-being as health as people involved in these
practices tend to have more friends and consume more vegetables
than non-growers.


Search of life elsewhere in the galaxy is very fascinating area for planetary scientists and astrobiologists. Earth Similarity Index (ESI) is defined as geometrical mean of four physical parameters (Such as radius, density, escape velocity and surface temperature), which is ranging from 1 (identical to Earth) to 0 (dissimilar to Earth). In this work, ESI is re-defined as six parameters by introducing the two new physical parameters like revolution and surface gravity and is called as New Earth Similarity Index (NESI). The main focus of this paper is to search Tardigrade water-life on exoplanets by varying the temperature parameter in NESI, which is called as Tardigrade Similarity Index (TSI), which is ranging from 1 (Potentially Tardigrade can survive) to 0 (Tardigrade Cannot survive). The NESI and TSI data is cataloged and analyzed for almost 3370 confirmed exoplanets and the results are discussed.


Preventive home visits with multidimensional geriatric assessment have been shown to delay or prevent the onset of disability and reduce nursing home admissions in older people. The purpose of the present study was to develop and test a multidimensional instrument for in-home preventive assessments in older persons. In developing the instrument, we conducted a systematic literature review of risk factors for functional status decline and of appropriate instruments for measuring these risk factors. Based on an Expert Panel using a modified Delphi process [1] the risk factor domains for functional status decline were chosen, [2] the instruments for evaluating each of the included risk factor domains were selected, and [3] the individual instruments were combined into one comprehensive assessment instrument. A German language version of the original English version of the instrument was developed based on translation, backtranslation, and cultural adaptation. The feasibility of use of the new instrument was evaluated in a field test in 150 people aged 75 years and older in Hamburg, Ulm, Germany, and Bern, Switzerland. The instrument was well accepted by the older persons. The prevalence of risk factors for functional status decline in these populations (e.g., physical inactivity, urinary incontinence, vision impairment) was high. There was also a high prevalence of underuse of preventive care measures (e.g., no pneumococcal vaccination in over 95 percent of persons). These preliminary results support the possible usefulness of this instrument for conducting preventive home visits or for epidemiological purposes (e.g., prevention surveillance). In a next phase, the test-retest reliability of the instrument, and the feasibility and reliability of self-administration as compared to interviewer administration will be described in a separate paper.


Interleukin-16 (IL-16) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine released by many types of cells found in the lungs, including normal airway and alveolar epithelial cells. Though a chemotactin for CD4+ cells and eosinophils, IL-16 also modulates their production of factors that influence inflammatory lung diseases, e.g., asthma and allergic rhinitis. To date, little is known about any potential autocrine-like regulatory effects of IL-16. Using a model human alveolar basal epithelial A549 cell line, the present study sought to assess lung epithelial cell responses to IL-16. Potential induced effects on cell growth/function were assessed using MTT reduction, lactate dehydrogenase release, and 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine incorporation assays. As IL-16 (at locally high levels) can induce CD4+ cell death via apoptosis, this potential outcome among the A549 cells was also evaluated using TUNEL and changes in expression of caspase-3 and the pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins of Bcl-2 family. The data here indicated that IL-16 inhibited A549 cell growth/function and this was associated with a marked increase in apoptosis characterized by DNA fragmentation, activation of caspase-3, and altered pro-apoptotic protein expression. Since lung epithelial cells lack the CD4 that may bind IL-16, it has been suggested that CD9 may act as an alternate receptor for this cytokine (i.e., an IL-16R). Thus, these studies also sought to determine the extent of CD9 expression on A549 cells and if any/all observed IL-16-induced changes were mediated by CD9. Flow cytometric analyses revealed the cells to be CD9+CD4−. However, neutralization of the purported IL-16R with anti-CD9 antibody could not block the cytotoxic/growth inhibiting effects of IL-16. The only exception appeared to be a mitigation of a chemotactic effect of IL-16; however, studies with an equal amount of non-specific antibody (of same isotype as the anti-CD9) revealed this effect to be artefactual. The neutralization study results thus suggest to us that as-yet undefined pathway(s) exist through which IL-16 may act to exert growth inhibiting/apoptosis-inducing effects on A549 cells, a cell line routinely used as a model for lung epithelial cells.


131 Analgesia and Anesthesia with a 23-Gauge Continuous Spinal Catheter Abstract Type: Case Report/Case Series Weike Tao, M.D.; Albert P. Nguyen, M.D.; Babatunde O. Ogunnaike, M.D.; Margaret G. Craig, M.D. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at DallasType: Case Report/Case Series Weike Tao, M.D.; Albert P. Nguyen, M.D.; Babatunde O. Ogunnaike, M.D.; Margaret G. Craig, M.D. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Labor analgesia was performed with a 23-gauge continuous spinal catheter (Wiley, Epimed, Johnstown, NY) in six patients from Sept. 2009 through Jan. 2011, with one patient converting to Cesarean delivery with anesthesia using the same catheter. Patients varied in age from 16 to 25 years, all but one were nulliparous. Initial dose after the catheter insertion was 1 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine, with or without 20 mcg of fentanyl, depending on the level of pain relief achieved. Subsequent maintenance was by 0.125% bupivacaine with 2 mcg/mL fentanyl solution, given as intermittent boluses in one patient, or 1-1.5 mL/hr infusion in the rest. All patient had satisfactory pain control upon the initial dosing, subsequent redosing, or infusion. One patient had a dense motor block that required discotinuation of the infusion for one hour. The lowest mean arterial blood pressure decrease was 34% in one patient, between 20% and 30% in two patients, and less than 20% in the rest. In a 19-year-old patient, the catheter was removed immediately after a 5.3-hr labor course. The patient subsequently developed a dural puncture headache that was treated with a blood patch. The catheter indwelling time in the rest of the patients ranged from 8.1-17.3 hrs with no subsequent headaches. In the one patient converted to Cesarean delivery due to non-reassuring fetal heart tracing unrelated to maternal blood pressure, a total of 4 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine, along with 20 mcg of fentanyl, was given via the indwelling catheter to achieve anesthesia for surgery.


Viscosity anomaly is conceived and linked up with specific volume anomaly of sea water. A nomogram is prepared comprising the families of curves of isohalines and isotherms in the diagram having viscosity anomaly and specific volume anomaly at its coordinates of reference axes (rectangular coordinates). The nomogram is useful for studies of physical characteristics especially dynamic characteristics of sea water


This chapter aims to determine the factors, such as collaboration, research and development, intellectual property, product management and financing, that influence the survival of biotechnology firms in Canada. The research uses data from four biannual surveys on the use and development of biotechnology collected by Statistics Canada between 1999 and 2005, and follows these firms in the official business register of the organisation up to 2009, to build a Cox proportional hazard model of firm survival. The research finds that firms that collaborate for exploration purposes have better chances of survival than others. Results also suggest that a larger number of patents decreases the probability of survival. Investigation of the product development process shows that because of the vast resources necessary for clinical research, firms enter the production and commercialisation stage in a weak position, which may then result in firm exit.


Partial least squares (PLS) regression is a flexible data analytical approach, which can be made even more versatile and useful by various modifications. In this article we describe the extension into orthogonal PLS modeling, in terms of two new methods, called OPLS and O2PLS, with similar prediction capacity but improved model interpretation.


In this paper, we are interested in testing if the volatility process is constant or not during a given time span by using high-frequency data with the presence of jumps and microstructure noise. Based on estimators of integrated volatility and spot volatility, we propose a nonparametric way to depict the discrepancy between local variation and global variation. We show that our proposed test estimator converges to a standard normal distribution if the volatility is constant, otherwise it diverges to infinity. Simulation studies verify the theoretical results and show a good finite sample performance of the test procedure. We also apply our test procedure to do the heteroscedasticity test for some real high-frequency financial data. We observe that in almost half of the days tested, the assumption of constant volatility within a day is violated. And this is due to that the stock prices during opening and closing periods are highly volatile and account for a relative large proportion of intraday variation.


This article reviews placebo-controlled studies addressing drug efficacy for the cognitive deficits of Alzheimer's disease. Efforts to compensate for the presynaptic cholinergic deficiency in Alzheimer's disease by pharmacologically inhibiting acetylcholine degradation have been successful in several clinical trials. Two cholinesterase inhibitors are available for Alzheimer's disease, and others most likely will soon be available. Cholinesterase inhibitors represent the only therapy currently approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The antioxidant drugs alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and selegiline have been demonstrated marginally superior to placebo for slowing functional deterioration in patients with moderately advanced Alzheimer's disease. Epidemiologic studies suggest protective effects against Alzheimer's disease from postmenopausal estrogen replacement and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Placebo-controlled studies prospectively evaluating the hypotheses generated by these epidemiologic studies are ongoing.


This paper identifies the legal and economic assessments applied to resolve WTO disputes requiring an assessment of the contribution of the measure to the objective pursued, along with identifying any reasonably available alternatives. It focuses on disputes encompassing an interpretation of GATT Article XX (b), Sanitary and PhytoSanitary Agreement (SPS) Article 5.6 and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement Article 2.2. This narrow focus is because the WTO DSB has opined that there are no significant differences between the tests developed under Art. XX(b) of the GATT 1994 and Art. 5.6 of the SPS Agreement, nor that any aspect of the Art. XX(b) jurisprudence relating to the interpretation of the term "necessary" would be inapplicable to Art. 2.2 of the TBT Agreement. This provides an opportunity to compare the legal and economic assessments applied in disputes falling under these provisions. This paper identifies no significant differences between the legal tests relating to the interpretation of the term "necessary". A WTO Panel is under no obligation to quantify the measure's contribution to the objective pursued and 'a risk may be evaluated either in quantitative or qualitative terms'. However, the same cannot be said for the economic assessments determining whether the necessity of the contribution of the contested measure. After setting out the legal tests, the paper identifies those economic assessments undertaken to resolve disputes involving these three different GATT/WTO provisions. The paper finds that quantitative economic models are rarely employed in WTO dispute cases. The lack of coherent guidelines for assessing the economic dimensions of a dispute in a transparent and robust manner potentially undermines the effectiveness and the reputation of WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) recommendations.


The application of evolutionary robotics [1] to swarm robotics gives evolutionary swarm robotics [8]. The evolution or learning of multi-agent behaviors is known to be challenging [7]. Hence, new approaches still need to be explored. Examples are innovative methods to explore environment-driven, distributed evolution [2, 4]. Here, we are inspired to evolve collective behaviors following a mathematical framework by Friston et al. [3], which defines an information-theoretic analogon to thermodynamic (Helmholtz) free energy. This free energy is basically an error in the predictions that our brain makes about our environment. Evolution is related by the rationale that minimal prediction errors are achieved by limiting an agent's reactions to sensory input. This results, in turn, in better adapted behaviors: "By sampling [...] the environment selectively they restrict their exchange with it within bounds that preserve their physical integrity and allow them to last longer" [3]. The previously investigated evolution of swarm behaviors by minimizing surprisal [5, 6, 9] is subject to this study. Previous studies were limited to artificial 1-d environments, here, we report first results for 2-d. Although adding one dimension may seem a minor step, there are qualitative changes in the emergent behaviors (e.g., flocking is a collective decision with infinitely many options) and the future transition to real robots will be easier starting from 2-d.


This paper reports on a content-based elementary Chinese as a foreign language programme. It focuses on classroom language activities that are designed and implemented to serve the dual goals of language development and cultural learning. From a sociocultural perspective, it investigated how classroom activities are organized to integrate culture/content and language learning for young beginners. Two themes are highlighted in the discussion: (1) initial teacher planning vs. curriculum as experienced; (2) graphic organizers and language product. The result of the study throws light on the possibilities of a wide range of systematic form-function relations in the classroom, the integration of language and content learning, and on further directions for intentional planning in any other second or foreign language teaching programmes. It also reveals potential for implementing content-based foreign language instruction at the elementary level even in a situation where the teacher is still working on her own language proficiency.


A fully probabilistic seismic hazard model with a single domain and sufficiently accurate resolution level for national analyses has been developed, for the Caribbean and Central America, to support the design of parametric earthquake policies offered by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Financing Facility to sovereign countries. This model provides updated earthquake hazard and risk information for 34 countries in the region, allowing to obtain detailed seismic hazard results at any location within the area of analysis. Besides a detailed zonation of subduction and crustal sources, updated seismicity and tectonic data have been utilized. Different seismicity, geometric, and rupture models have been adopted using state-of-the-art methodologies and tools. The main output of this model is a stochastic event-set, which is the hazard representation utilized not only to compute a long-term overview of the seismic hazard in the region but also to probabilistically estimate earthquake modeled losses at a national level that are used as triggers for underpinning parametric earthquake insurance. Although not of direct interest for parametric insurance purposes, this model also yields hazard maps and uniform hazard spectra for different return periods. For the operational purposes of the parametric insurance coverage, a postevent tool was developed to calculate, in near-real time, the ground-motion intensities associated with any earthquake within the region under study. This is done automatically by choosing a rupture plane from the moment tensor solution based on predefined rules while maintaining full consistency with all the assumptions made in the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. The predicted ground motions in the region and the vulnerability functions developed for the exposed assets are then used to estimate whether the economic losses for each affected country exceed the trigger value stated in the country-specific insurance policy conditions and whether a payout should be issued, which is typically disbursed within 14 days.


This article looks at two processes that are affecting the characteristics of poverty in the city of Montevideo: the weakening of lower-skilled workers' attachments to the labour market and the growing concentration of such workers in neighbourhoods with a high density of poverty. While far from conclusive, the results suggest the advisability of further research into the relationship between changes in the social morphology of cities and the segmentation of their labour markets. If further research confirms both a tendency towards growing polarization in the spatial distribution of social classes in cities and the presence of feedback mechanisms reinforcing the social isolation of residents in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, it will be safe to say that these processes, if not effectively countered, will irreversibly widen the already excessive inequalities that affect large Latin American cities.


We discuss the possible consistency of the recently discovered type Ia supernovae at z>1 with models in which dark energy is strongly coupled to a significant fraction of dark matter, and in which an (asymptotic) accelerated phase exists where dark matter and dark energy scale in the same way. Such a coupling has been suggested for a possible solution of the coincidence problem, and is also motivated by string cosmology models of 'late time' dilaton interactions. Our analysis shows that, for coupled dark energy models, the recent data are still consistent with acceleration starting as early as at z = 3 (to within 90% confidence level), although at the price of a large 'non-universality' of the dark energy coupling to different matter fields. Also, as opposed to uncoupled models which seem to prefer a 'phantom' dark energy, we find that a large amount of coupled dark matter is compatible with present data only if the dark energy field has a conventional equation of state w>−1.


We commonly assert that we should be good and should not be bad. But we also say that we should - respect the rule of law, equality, liberty, democracy, and the like. Ideally, a general theory of normativity would explain all shoulds and shouldn'ts, both moral and political, in common terms. For the most part, however, contemporary ethical theories are more limited in scope. I have previously proposed a theory of normativity founded in cultural evolutionary theory and used it to explain why we are motivated to be "good." In this paper, I apply the same theory to the problem of book-burning - not commonly viewed as a moral issue. The theory predicts that behaviors should be normative if they are nonobviously adaptive. The paper concludes that a diversity of books, including "wrong," disharmonizing, and perhaps even "bad" books, should facilitate rapid adaptive evolutionary change. It should therefore be maladaptive - for nonobvious reasons - for cultures to burn books. In short, book-burning is bad.


Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have made unprecedented progress in the past ten years, the power conversion efficiency of which increased from 3.8% in 2009 to 25.5% in 2020. The choice of hole transport layers (HTLs) is a key factor for achieving efficient and stable PSCs. Recently, 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis-(N,N-di-4-methoxyphenylamino)-9,9′-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) has been proven to be the most suitable small molecule HTL material in n–i–p PSCs. However, the conductivity and hole mobility of spiro-OMeTAD are dependent on the dopants. Bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonamide lithium salt (LiTFSI) and 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) have become the standard HTL dopants to improve the charge transport properties of n–i–p PSCs. Both of these two dopants are effective but have a negative impact on the device stability (induced by ion migration, hygroscopicity, and corrosiveness). In response, lots of efforts have been devoted to the development of alternative and new dopants. In this review, the influence of different doping strategies and corresponding doping mechanisms on device performance and stability was mainly discussed. The stability issues of doped spiro-OMeTAD based PSCs were also described. Finally, we proposed some possible future research goals for dopants based on these existing results to obtain long-lasting and high-efficiency PSCs.


Abstract The present study was designed to elucidate differences in the mechanism of the induction of mouse skin tumors either by the initiation-promotion regimen or by the complete carcinogenesis process. The protocols used to elicit skin tumors were: ( a ) by the initiation-promotion regimen, a single application of 0.2 µmol of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) followed by twice-weekly applications of 12- O -tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA); and ( b ) by the complete carcinogenesis process, a single application of 3.2 µmol of DMBA without TPA treatment, or 0.2 µmol of DMBA applied once weekly, or 1, 10, 50, or 100 nmol of DMBA applied twice weekly without application of TPA. The biology of tumor formation by the initiation of tumors with a single application of 0.2 µmol of DMBA followed by twice-weekly applications of TPA differs from tumor induction by once-weekly 0.2-µmol doses of DMBA. In the latter case, papillomas developed more slowly and were less common (the tumor induction time was long; tumor yield was less), but carcinomas appeared much earlier. Retinoic acid, a potent inhibitor of tumor promotion by TPA, failed to inhibit and under some experimental conditions significantly ( p The results indicate that the nature and the mechanism of the biochemical events elicited by the presumed promoting component of carcinogenesis by a complete carcinogen are different from those of the tumor promoter TPA.


In the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment, the luminosity is determined with the counting rates of detectors called Front Counter. During the LHCf physics operation at √s = 7 TeV in 2010, two series of calibration run in the conversion factors from the counting rate to the luminosity were carried out on 26th of April and 9th of May. Using the luminosities determined in the April and May scans with 5 % and 4 % accuracy, the conversion factors were determined with 5.0 % accuracy, providing the luminosity determination at the LHCf experiment with this accuracy.


Increased B cell membrane CD23 (low affinity IgE receptor) and its soluble cleavage product (sCD23) is related to the development of resistance to re-infection with Schistosoma mansoni. CD23 occurs as two isoforms (CD23a and CD23b), whose expression by B cells responding to S. mansoni has not been investigated. On the other hand, most studies on IgE role in immunity have mainly revolved around soluble IgE, and rarely on cell surface receptor-bound IgE, although both are now known to play distinct roles. Furthermore, growing evidence indicates that toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) influences the development of adaptive immunity to helmintic infections, although its relationship with CD23 expression and IgE production remains unclear. While there is evidence of CD23, IgE and TLR4 involvement in immunity to S. mansoni, it is unclear how these molecules are co-expressed, in addition to the limited information on the preferential expression of CD23 isoforms following schistosome antigen challenge. This study specifically sought to establish the predominantly expressed CD23 isoform by B cells of individuals infected by S. mansoni. The study also determined the relationship between the level of B cell surface CD23 expression and IgE levels. Furthermore, the study established the relationship between CD23 expression and B cell activation, as well as the relationship between the level of CD23 and TLR4 expression by B cells. Study participants were 170 randomly selected adult male sand harvesters and fishermen from three beaches on Lake Victoria and 5 donors from North America. Stool samples were used to diagnose S. mansoni infection using Kato-Katz technique. Venous blood was collected for culture B cell isolation, RNA extraction, and for CD23, CD69, CD40 and TLR4 expression determination by flow cytometry. The extracted RNA was used for reverse transcriptase PCR to determine CD23 isoform mRNA expression. Whole blood was used to determine B cell-bound surface IgE. Plasma and culture supernatants were used to run ELISA for IgE and sCD23. This study found CD23b mRNA was predominantly expressed in B cells from S. mansoni infected individuals. Circulating B cells had high levels of surface-bound IgE, which positively correlated to B cell surface CD23 expression. B cell expression of TLR4 was strongly associated with CD23 (p = 0.0285), and CD69 (p < 0.0001) expression. This study concludes that CD23, TLR4 and IgE are all important dusing B cell responses to S. mansoni, and are all involved from the time of B cell activation. These findings are important since they boost the understanding on CD23 expression dynamics, revealing its plausible role on B cells in immunity against S. mansoni. This study recommends further investigation into B cell CD23 isoform expression, the role of co-expression of surface CD23 and TLR4, following S. mansoni infection.


Semi-supervised generative learning aims to learn the underlying class-conditional distribution of partially labeled data. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have led to promising progress in this task. However, it still needs to further explore the issue of imbalance between real labeled data and fake data in the adversarial learning process. To address this issue, we propose a regularization technique based on Random Regional Replacement (R$^3$-regularization) to facilitate the generative learning process. Specifically, we construct two types of between-class instances: cross-category ones and real-fake ones. These instances could be closer to the decision boundaries and are important for regularizing the classification and discriminative networks in our class-conditional GANs, which we refer to as R$^3$-CGAN. Better guidance from these two networks makes the generative network produce instances with class-specific information and high fidelity. We experiment with multiple standard benchmarks, and demonstrate that the R$^3$-regularization can lead to significant improvement in both classification and class-conditional image synthesis.


Abstract There has been considerable recent growth in supply chain (SC) traceability research due to increased Industry 4.0 solutions and the potential of traceability systems to enable SCs to bounce back from a crisis, thereby having a long-term impact on firm/SC performance. However, to date, the relationship between SC traceability and SC Resilience (SCRes) has not been fully explored. Using a systematic literature review, this paper first provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art understanding of traceability to enable an appreciation of the inherent benefits of its implementation and its role in the improvement of SCRes. Building on this understanding, a conceptual framework is developed showing that there is a direct relationship between traceability benefits, such as improved risk awareness, and SCRes. The framework also demonstrates indirect relationships between these benefits and four enablers of SCRes: flexibility, velocity, visibility and collaboration. Finally, a future research agenda is proposed, including further development of this conceptual framework.


The increasing demand on installing small generating units had resulted in focusing on advanced concern of distributed generation (DG) units located at specific points of the electrical distribution grid as a mean of reduction in real power losses. This issue had been dealt with many techniques over the last decades. This research paper is taking Genetic Algorithm technique into consideration as one of the most efficient tools in calculating the optimum value of these DG units added to the grid locations suffering from loading effect based voltage drop at the minimum real power loss. This research is also concerning the impact of increasing number of locations of DG units added to the grid the percentage of reduction in real power loss.


In this paper, a general multi-sector, multi-instrument model of financial flows and prices is developed, in which the utility function for each sector is assumed to be quadratic and constraints satisfy a certain accounting identity that appears in flow-of-funds accounts. Each sector uses conjectures of its influence upon the prices of instruments. The equilibrium conditions are first derived, and then the governing variational inequality is presented. Subsequently, a qualitative analysis of the model is conducted.


Objectives: GLUT-1 has been found to have an important role in the upregulation of various cellular pathways and implicated in neoplastic transformation correlating with biological behavior in malignancies. However, literature regarding the significance of GLUT-1 expression in pancreatic neoplasia has been limited and controversial. Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of GLUT-1 was tested in a variety of pancreatic neoplasia including ductal adenocarcinomas (DAs), pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasms (PanINs), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), and serous cystadenomas. Results: There was a progressive increase in the expression of GLUT-1 from low- to higher-grade dysplastic lesions: All higher-grade PanINs/IPMNs (the ones with moderate/high-grade dysplasia) revealed noticeable GLUT-1 expression. Among the 94 DAs analyzed, there were minimal/moderate expression in 46 and significant expression in 24 DAs. However, all 4 clear-cell variants of DAs revealed significant GLUT-1 immunolabeling, as did areas of clear-cell change seen in other DAs. Moreover, all 12 serous cystadenomas expressed significant GLUT-1. GLUT-1 expression was also directly correlated with DA histological grade (P = 0.016) and tumor size (P = 0.03). Conclusions: GLUT-1 may give rise to the distinctive clear-cell appearance of these tumors by inducing the accumulation of glycogen in the cytoplasm. Additionally, because GLUT-1 expression was related to histological grade and tumor size of DA, further studies are warranted to investigate the association of GLUT-1 with prognosis and tumor progression.


Many of the existing Named Entity Recognition (NER) solutions are built based on news corpus data with proper syntax. These solutions might not lead to highly accurate results when being applied to noisy, user generated data, e.g., tweets, which can feature sloppy spelling, concept drift, and limited contextualization of terms and concepts due to length constraints. The models described in this paper are based on linear chain conditional random fields (CRFs), use the BIEOU encoding scheme, and leverage random feature dropout for up-sampling the training data. The considered features include word clusters and pre-trained distributed word representations, updated gazetteer features, and global context predictions. The latter feature allows for ingesting the meaning of new or rare tokens into the system via unsupervised learning and for alleviating the need to learn lexicon based features, which usually tend to be high dimensional. In this paper, we report on the solution [ST] we submitted to the WNUT 2016 NER shared task. We also present an improvement over our original submission [SI], which we built by using semi-supervised learning on labelled training data and pre-trained resourced constructed from unlabelled tweet data. Our ST solution achieved an F1 score of 1.2% higher than the baseline (35.1% F1) for the task of extracting 10 entity types. The SI resulted in an increase of 8.2% in F1 score over the base-line (7.08% over ST). Finally, the SI model's evaluation on the test data achieved a F1 score of 47.3% (~1.15% increase over the 2nd best submitted solution). Our experimental setup and results are available as a standalone twitter NER tool at https://github.com/napsternxg/TwitterNER.


Earnings quality provides an explanation related to the company's financial achievement, which in turn can be used as a basis for consideration by users of financial statements. A profit has a quality meaning if the company is able to use its operating cash inflows to finance the company's operating activities. This research is intended to examine the influence of earning quality factors.
The type of research used is quantitative research. This study was conducted on the IDX by selecting the population in the large / wholesale and small / retail trade sector for the period 2016-2018. The sample obtained is 72. The required hypothesis testing is multiple linear regression. The research found that (1) profitability has no affect on earning quality, (2) liquidity affects on  earnings quality, (3) levareage has no affects on earning quality, and (4) also firmsize has no affects on earning quality.


The stereoselectivities of base-catalyzed enolizations of ketones have been studied by quantum mechanical methods. Transition structures of exo and endo deprotonation of camphor, norcamphor, and dehydronorcamphor have been located with two model bases. Stereoelectronic, torsional, and steric effects on activation energies were assessed. These calculations demonstrate the importance of torsional strain between partial bonds and vicinal bonds on the rates of deprotonation and on related reactions involving the formation of enolates or reactions of enols and enolates.


Megalitres of water with associated dissolved oxygen are injected into shale reservoirs during the hydraulic fracturing process. Pyrite oxidation, if it occurs in-situ, can generate extra H+, thereby dissolving calcite and increasing the salinity of flowback water. The process of calcite dissolution may soften the hydraulic fracture surfaces, resulting in proppants embedment and thus decreasing fracture conductivity for calcite-rich shales. Therefore, it is of vital importance to understand the impact of in-situ pyrite oxidation on fluid-shale interactions, particularly calcite dissolution, to help industry screen and design hydraulic fracturing fluids in shales. Spontaneous imbibition experiments were performed using Marcellus shale samples under three conditions: i) ambient conditions, where the fluid was in equilibrium with atmospheric air throughout the tests, ii) limited O2 condition, where the fluid was free equilibrated with air in a sealed cylinder and iii) vacuum condition, where the fluid in a sealed cylinder was degassed. The pH and ion concentrations were measured upon completion of the experiments. To further explore how pyrite oxidation affects fluid-rock interactions, we performed geochemical simulations with considerations of mineral dissolution (calcite, albite, quartz, chalcopyrite, pyrite and dolomite), surface complexation and the dissolved O2 on fluid salinity.
 The spontaneous imbibition tests show that the salinity of fluids in ambient conditions is higher than the limited or vacuumed saturation fluids, confirming that pyrite oxidation generates H+ which would dissolve minerals such as calcite and dolomite. This result is also supported by the observed pH and the concentration of dissolved Ca2+. The fluid fully saturated with O2 has the lowest pH and highest Ca2+ compared to limited O2 saturation condition and degassed condition. Scanning electron microscopy analyses show that brine saturation barely affects the morphology and elemental distribution of pyrite at ambient conditions, suggesting that pyrite oxidation plays a minor role in fluid salinity. Geochemical modelling also indicates that although pyrite oxidation can slightly increase fluid salinity, the salinity increment is less than 5% of reported flowback water salinity, confirming that the dissolved O2 in hydraulic fracturing fluids has a minor effect on fluid-rock interaction thus the salinity increment. This work demonstrates that pyrite dissolution at lab-scale would overestimate the impact of fluid-shale interactions and calcite dissolution in reservoir conditions. We prove that pyrite dissolution in in-situ conditions results in minor implications for fluid-shale interactions and calcite dissolution. Consequently, we limit intrinsic uncertainty of hydraulic fluid design associated with pyrite oxidization especially for calcite-rich shales.


In a companion paper [On semiclassical orthogonal polynomials via polynomial mappings, J. Math. Anal. Appl. (2017)] we proved that the semiclassical class of orthogonal polynomials is stable under polynomial transformations. In this work we use this fact to derive in an unified way old and new properties concerning the sieved ultraspherical polynomials of the first and second kind. In particular we derive ordinary differential equations for these polynomials. As an application, we use the differential equation for sieved ultraspherical polynomials of the first kind to deduce that the zeros of these polynomials mark the locations of a set of particles that are in electrostatic equilibrium with respect to a particular external field.


Sudden cardiac death (SCD) occurs in patients with Bartter/Gitelman syndromes. Hypokalemia and QTc prolongation are suggested mechanisms. SCD, however, has also been described at normal potassium concentration. This study reports the cases of one Bartter and one Gitelman patient, who experienced an aborted SCD, and evaluates the possible mechanisms of life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden death in these patients in order to contribute to a systematic screening/treatment protocol for them. After the episode of aborted SCD the patients underwent echocardiographic analysis at resting and during isometric exercise, complete electrophysiologic study and coronary angiography. Ventricular arrhythmias were not inducible during the electrophysiologic study, and coronary vessels were normal at angiography. Exercise induced LV dysfunction with reduction of cardiac index, paradoxical QTc prolongation and prolongation of QTc during nocturnal vagal stimulation in addition to hypokalemia might be identified as possible additional triggering factors for aborted SCD in these patients, leading to the conclusion that hypokalemia might not be the only factor capable of precipitating SCD in Bartter's/Gitelman's syndromes. The identification and recognition of other possible triggering mechanisms is extremely important in these patients and suggests the need for a systematic cardiac screening/treatment protocol for an effective prevention.


The objective of this study is to explore the benefits of donkeys for rural and urban smallholder farmers in northwest Nigeria. We visited 112 smallholder donkey farmers located in rural and urban areas from four states in northwest Nigeriathrough four focus group meetings, interviews with individual farmers and in depth interview with 12 key informants. In addition, 80 citizens were interviewed about their perception on donkeys. Donkeys were used more intensively in urban than in rural areas. The number of donkeys was higher (p<0.001) in urban (4.1) than in rural areas (1.9). The number of days per week working with donkeys was also higher (p<0.05) in urban (6.4) than in rural (2.9) areas. However, farm sizes werelower (p<0.001) in urban (0.5 ha) than in rural (1.0 ha) areas. Farmers in urban areas received 16% higherannual income from their donkeys than those in rural areas. Donkeys were mainly appreciated by farmers for their low purchasing price, low-cost equipment, ease of management, and role in ceremonies. The main constraints facing the farmers were lack of information on donkey keeping, lack of access to clean water and proper feed, and lack of money to expand the business. About 50% of citizens associated donkeys with poverty.It was concluded that donkeys play important socio-economic roles in the farming systems and should therefore be included in future livestock policy planning in Nigeria.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

The pancreatic cancer cell line, Mia PACA, lacks MTAP, and as a result is unable to salvage adenine and methionine, products of methylthioadenosine (MTA) metabolism by MTAP, and is more sensitive to de novo purine synthesis inhibitors (thiopurines, methotrexate, azaserine and L-alanosine). In addition, MTAP deficiency creates a condition where normal, but not tumor tissues, can be protected from 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) toxicity by MTA. In normal tissue, MTA is converted to adenine, consuming 5-phosphoribose-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and competitively inhibiting phosphoribosylation of 5-FU (and subsequent cellular retention and inhibition of thymidylate synthase and incorporation into RNA). In MTAP deficient tumors, MTA can not generate adenine; the relative lack of adenine, and abundance of PRPP favors phosphoribosylation of 5-FU to nucleotides. The MTAP gene is linked to the tumor suppressor p16INK4 locus on chromosome 9p21. This locus is frequently deleted in human cancer. As a result, relative or complete MTAP deficiency is common in several human cancers, including pancreatic cancer (33%). We have transfected the Mia PACA cell line with MTAP cDNA and generated three sublines that express MTAP. The parenteral cell line lacking MTAP expression is more sensitive to 5-FU (4 h treatment), and toxicity is not ameliorated by pretreatment with MTA. In contrast, the three sublines expressing MTAP are a log less sensitive to 5FU, when pretreated with MTA.

As pancreatic cancer is known to be somewhat responsive to treatment with 5-FU, but doses are limited by toxicity, the protection of the host from toxicity by MTA pretreatment may allow higher doses of 5-FU to be safely given and allow gemcitabine, another antimetabolite used to treat patients with pancreatic cancer, to be added in full doses.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3548. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3548


Background: The objective of this study was to assess nodal vascularity by Doppler sonography and to find out the correlation between clinical and various Doppler sonographic features for the detection of the metastatic nodes in oral cancer patients. Patients and Methods: A total number of 55 patients of histopathologically proven oral cancer presenting with enlarged superficial cervicofacial lymph nodes were included in the study. Patients were subjected to clinical examination according to a specially designed proforma and the TNM staging was done. If more than one enlarged nodes were present, then the node with the largest diameter was chosen for further Doppler ultrasonographic examination followed by fine needle aspiration cytology test of the same node. Results: Correlations of patterns of color Doppler flow signals with cytological diagnosis showed that central type of vascular pattern was statistically significant parameter for benign lymph nodes and peripheral type of vascularity was highly significant parameter for malignant lymphadenopathy. It was found that the cut-off value of resistive index 0.6 was statistically significant in the assessment of metastatic node (P < 0.01) with a sensitivity of 45.5% and specificity of 93.9%. On comparison of the clinical features (TNM staging) with Doppler sonographic features, it was found that the characteristic features suggestive of malignant lymph nodes on Doppler sonography such as peripheral blood flow and high resistive index were more consistently and frequently associated with the higher sub-stages of T3 and T4 and N2b and N2c of TNM staging system. Conclusion: Nodal vascularity may be used to differentiate benign from malignant lymphadenopathy. Proper judicious use of non-invasive color Doppler ultrasonographic examination provides an opportunity to eliminate the need for biopsy in reactive nodes and provide treatment in a more precise manner.