Analysis of ∼1,500 km of high-resolution, single-channel air-gun seismic-reflection profiles, correlated with two drill cores, demonstrates that the central west Florida carbonate-ramp slope experienced an oceanographic event in the middle Miocene that resulted in a major stratigraphic break or succession of depositional sequences. During the long-term eustatic sea-level rise in the early to middle Miocene, carbonate shelf-margin deposition was characterized by seaward-prograding, sigmoidal clinoforms that built both laterally and vertically. Shelf-margin sediments were relatively fine grained and rich in dolomite, total organics, and clay minerals. Approximately 12–15 m.y. ago, tectonically controlled oceanographic closure of the Isthmus of Panama, and/or increased climatic gradients, resulted in an intensification of oceanic circulation. Increased flow velocity of the Loop Current truncated antecedant clinoforms along the mid-Miocene shelf margin as the Loop Current, for the first time, became a dynamic oceanographic barrier to off-shelf sediment transport. Carbonate deposition along the west Florida slope changed dramatically from a series of prograding clinoforms to a pelagic slope-front-fill system bounded on its landward margin by contour-current flow of an invigorated Loop Current. Shelf-margin sediments, presently represented as a condensed sequence, became more carbonate rich, coarser grained, lower in organic content, and depleted in dolomite. Our results suggest that oceanographic events can generate major seismic stratigraphic breaks that result in the succession of depositional sequences and systems along continental margins and that they may be as important as eustatic oscillations. Our data also suggest that "modern" Loop Current/Gulf Stream circulation was initiated in the middle Miocene, controlled by tectono-oceanographic and/or climatic processes. The challenge now is to identify seismic stratigraphic-scale oceanographic events in the rock record, differentiate them from eustatic responses, and evaluate their paleoenvironmental significance.


The effect of seasonal changes and ecological aspects of Afrodiplozoon polycotyleus (Paperna, 1973) collected on Labeobarbus marequensis (Smith, 1841), Enteromius trimaculatus (Peters, 1852) and Enteromius radiatus (Peters, 1853) was investigated from January to October 2008. Fish were collected at the Nwanedi-Luphephe dams, Limpopo River System, South Africa using gill, cast and seine nets and electrofishing gear. Enteromius radiatus and E. trimaculatus were the most infested compared with L. marequensis. Seasonal changes had an influence on the intensity of A. polycotyleus, with infestation rates higher in spring, summer and autumn. The adults predominantly infected the medial region of the second gill arch, whereas diporpae were mainly found on the first gill. Neither sex nor water quality changes had an influence on the intensity of the parasite. The health condition of the hosts was not affected by the parasite. The different infestation rates of the parasite between the species could be attributed to host characteristics, behaviour and habitat preferences. The selection of a particular gill/region could be attributed to space for attachment organs and food supply, as well as flow and velocity of the water over the gills. The occurrence of A. polycotyleus on E. radiatus constitutes a new host record.


Performing effective software development and maintenance are best achieved with effective tool support. Provided by a variety of tools, each one presenting a specific kind of information supporting the task at hand. The goal of the first PLOMO was to develop new meta tools to improve and bring synergy in the existing infrastructure of Pharo (for software development) and the Moose software analysis platform (for maintenance). With PLOMO2, we build on top of this work and invent a new generation of tools to navigate and profile programs.


The traditional characterization of charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) can suffer from a number of deficiencies: CTI is often only calculated for a limited number of signal levels, CTI is calculated from a limited number of pixels, and the sources of CTI are usually assumed to occur at every pixel-to-pixel transfer. A number of serial CTI effects have been identified during preliminary testing of CCDs developed by Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL) for use in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera focal plane that motivated a more comprehensive study of CTI for these sensors. Our study describes a more detailed examination of the serial deferred charge effects in order to fully characterize the deferred charge measured in the serial overscan pixels of these sensors. The results indicate that in addition to proportional CTI loss that occurs at each pixel transfer, ITL CCDs have additional contributions to the deferred charge measured in serial overscan pixels, likely caused by fixed CTI loss due to charge trapping, and an electronic offset drift at high signal.


Multiple myeloma is a low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Treatment is palliative, and an individually adapted strategy for therapy is needed for each patient. A review about diagnostic methods for staging, prognostic factors and different aspects of therapy is presented.


In this paper, we present WenetSpeech, a multi-domain Mandarin corpus consisting of 10000+ hours high-quality labeled speech, 2400+ hours weakly labeled speech, and about 10000 hours unlabeled speech, with 22400+ hours in total. We collect the data from YouTube and Podcast, which covers a variety of speaking styles, scenarios, domains, topics and noisy conditions. An optical character recognition (OCR) method is introduced to generate the audio/text segmentation candidates for the YouTube data on the corresponding video subtitles, while a high-quality ASR transcription system is used to generate audio/text pair candidates for the Podcast data. Then we propose a novel end-to-end label error detection approach to further validate and filter the candidates. We also provide three manually labelled high-quality test sets along with WenetSpeech for evaluation – Dev for cross-validation purpose in training, Test_Net, collected from Internet for matched test, and Test_Meeting, recorded from real meetings for more challenging mismatched test. Baseline systems trained with WenetSpeech are provided for three popular speech recognition toolkits, namely Kaldi, ESPnet, and WeNet, and recognition results on the three test sets are also provided as benchmarks. To the best of our knowledge, WenetSpeech is the current largest open-source Mandarin speech corpus with transcriptions, which benefits research on production-level speech recognition.


Experimental data relating ciliary nerve stimulation and lens motion are used to identify the open-loop plant dynamics of the lens accommodation system via a parameter identication variation of the Kalman filter equations. Using the resultant minimum variance plant model, experimental closed-loop responses of the human accommodative system are predicted by synthesizing the system closed-loop controller. The resultant control signals are shown to minimize the time required to change the refractive state of the eye. The plant dynamic model and the closed-loop model are further verified by comparing their frequency responses to experimental data. The optimal performance of the lens system is compared to analogous performance of another ocular control system, and a possible general theory of optimal control is discussed.


Mycotic aneurysms are a rare finding in the
post-antibiotic era but must still be considered as a cause of abdominal pain
in a patient with endocarditis. We present a
case of a 47-year-old man with a history of IV drug use and a prior episode of endocarditis who developed a mycotic aneurysm while hospitalized on IV
antibiotic therapy for aortic valve endocarditis. Due to their
life-threatening character and often lack of evident clinical picture,
mycotic aneurysms should still remain in high suspicion for a patient with
abdominal pain in the setting of endocarditis.


Genomic loci that control the variance of agronomically important traits are increasingly important due to the profusion of unpredictable environments arising from climate change. The ability to identify such variance quantitative trait loci (vQTL) in association studies will be critical for future breeding efforts. Two statistical approaches that have already been used to detect vQTL are the Brown-Forsythe test (BFT) and the double generalized linear model (DGLM). To ensure that they are deployed to variance genome-wide association studies as effectively as possible, it is critical to study the factors that influence their ability to identify vQTL. We used genome-wide marker data in maize (Zea mays L.) and Arabidopsis thaliana to simulate traits controlled by variance quantitative trait nucleotides (vQTNs) and then quantified true and false positive detection rates of the BFT and DGLM. We observed that the DGLM yielded similar or higher true positive vQTN detection rates than the BFT, regardless of the effect size or minor allele frequency (MAF) of the vQTNs. Low true positive detection rates were noted for QTNs with low MAFs (~0.10), especially when tested on subsets of n = 500 individuals. We recommend that larger data sets than those used in our study (i.e., n > 2,532) be considered to overcome these low observed true positive detection rates. Such an undertaking should maximize the potential of the BFT and DGLM to highlight which vQTLs should be considered for further study.


Background & Aim : lack of organizational commitment of nurses would lead to low job performance and consequently result in deterioration of hospital care. The aim of this study is to determine the level of organizational commitment of nurses in the hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Material & Methods : It was a descriptive, cross- sectional study. The sample consisted of 262 nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences recruited by random stratified proportion to size sampling. Data was collected by demographic information form and the 24-item organizational commitment questionnaire of Allen and Meyer and analyzed by SPSS-PC (v. 17) using independent t-test, chi-square and ANOVA. Results: Organizational commitment of most of the nurses (%80.9) was moderate. Among dimensions of commitment, the lowest score was related to normative commitment (%38.9) and the highest score was given to continuance commitment (%42.4). Organizational commitment was significantly correlated with age, work experience, employment and marital status (p<0.001). Conclusion : Recognizing the dimensions and levels of organizational commitment of nurses to the organization provides an appropriate base for the decisions of organizations' managers in different levels of human resource management process.


The K-12 classroom applications of mindfulness as developed by Ellen Langer are discussed in a case study of a first-year charter school. Langerian Mindfulness, which is the act of drawing distinctions and noticing novelty, is deeply related to well-being and creativity, yet its impact has yet to be tested at the primary or secondary school level. The objective of the article is to display how Langerian Mindfulness strategies could increase 21st century skills and Social-Emotional Learning in primary classrooms. The New School San Francisco, an inquiry-based, socioeconomically and racially integrated charter school, serves as a model for mindful teaching and learning strategies. It is concluded that when mindful strategies are implemented, students have significant opportunities to exercise the 21st century skills of creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Langerian Mindfulness is also considered as a tool for increasing Social-Emotional Learning in integrated classrooms. It is recommended that mindful interventions be further investigated in the primary and secondary school context.


Most of the current pitch detection algorithms can not work well under the high noise environment. For this reason, a pitch detection algorithm for noisy speech signal based on pre-filtering and weighted wavelet coefficients is proposed. Firstly, the noisy speech signals are pre-filtered. Secondly, the speech pre-filtered is decomposed by the quadratic spline wavelet. Thirdly, the wavelet coefficients of three consecutive scales are weighted to emphasize the sharp change points. Fourthly, three candidate pitch periods are extracted from the weighted signals. Finally, the pitch period is calculated by autocorrelation function. Experiments show that this algorithm can increase the performance of pitch detection in noisy environment and decreases computational complexity compared with DWT-NCCF method.


Cl- transport was studied in human nasal epithelium, a predominantly Na+-absorbing proximal airway epithelium. Intracellular Cl- activity (aClc) and the electrical potentials across the apical (Va) and basolateral (Vb) membranes were measured with double-barreled, Cl- -selective microelectrodes to characterize the driving forces for Cl- flow across each membrane. Under control conditions (bilateral Krebs-bicarbonate Ringer), Va was -26.1 +/- 1.2 mV, Vb was -36.2 +/- 1.2 mV, and aCL(c) was 42.7 +/- 2.0 mM (n = 34), indicating that Cl- is near electrochemical equilibrium across the apical membrane but significantly above equilibrium across the basolateral membrane. Reduction of luminal [Cl-] from 120 to 3 mM reduced aClc from 42.7 +/- 4.0 to 27.0 +/- 3.5 mM, depolarized Va, and increased fractional apical membrane resistance (fRa) and transepithelial resistance (Rt). Serosal bumetanide reduced aClc by 10 mM without affecting electrical parameters. Reduction of serosal [Cl-] from 120 to 3 mM resulted in a rapid decrease in Vb, a decrease in fRa and an increase in Rt. Also, serosal [Cl-] reduction led to a slow decrease in aClc rom 45.5 +/- 2.5 to 31.1 +/- 4.2 mM) that could be inhibited by bumetanide. The data are consistent with the following conclusions: 1) Cl- is transported across the apical membrane through a conductive pathway; and 2) Cl- is translocated across the basolateral membrane by an electrically silent bumetanide-sensitive cotransport system and by a minor conductive path.


Granulosa cell steroidogenesis has been reported to be modulated by transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) and its biochemical and physiological analog, epidermal growth factor (EGF). In this report, we studied whether TGF alpha or EGF mRNA is produced by granulosa cells, examined the morphological effects of TGF alpha or EGF on granulosa cell cultures, and measured the changes in granulosa cell progesterone production in cells cultured with TGF alpha or EGF. RNA from fresh granulosa cells and from those incubated overnight and for 4, 7, and 10 days with FSH was studied with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for TGF alpha and for EGF. Only TGF alpha mRNA appeared to be present in the granulosa cells. Phase-contrast microscopy revealed that the combination of FSH plus TGF alpha or EGF resulted in cell shape changes and an increase in lipid droplets in the granulosa cells. Electron microscopy revealed that the endoplasmic reticulum increased in the granulosa cells incubated with either EGF or FSH plus EGF. Mitochondria of granulosa cells incubated with growth factors possessed ultrastructural features consistent with those found in preovulatory granulosa cells. Culture of the granulosa cells with FSH plus TGF alpha or with FSH plus EGF resulted in significantly elevated progesterone and 20 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone levels. The highest level of progesterone production was on the eighth day of culture. We conclude that TGF alpha mRNA is produced by granulosa cells and that granulosa cell differentiation, as defined by morphological and biochemical criteria, is significantly stimulated in vitro by the combination of FSH and TGF alpha.


The aim of this work is to demonstrate that it is possible to use a single camera to solve the problem of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping in dynamic environments obtaining, at the same time, the estimation of the moving objects trajectories. Specifically, we show that it is possible to segment the features belonging to independently moving objects from a moving camera using a MonoSLAM algorithm together with a Bearing-Only Tracker. The idea is to exchange between two parallel working systems, i.e. the SLAM filter and the bearingonly tracker, information about the pose of the camera and the motion of the feature to improve the robustness of the SLAM algorithm and maintain a consistent estimation of both the pose, the map, and the features trajectories. Experiments in simulated and real environments substantiate that the proposed technique is able to maintain consistent estimations in a fast and robust way suitable for a real-time application, even in situations where classical MonoSLAM algorithms are deemed to fail.


Using carbon markets to eliminate substances that deplete stratospheric ozone could pay huge dividends in combating global warming. Because of the growing need for near-term, feasible, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement options (1), there is increasing interest in the scale and cost-effectiveness of potential emission reductions from destruction of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) (2). Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ODSs not only damage stratospheric ozone, but also are powerful GHGs, with global warming potentials (GWPs) up to 11,000 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2) (3). The Montreal Protocol eliminates production of these chemicals but does not control their emissions or require destruction of ODSs produced before phaseout deadlines. The Kyoto Protocol targets emissions of CO2 and other non-ODS GHGs. Because of these regulatory gaps, large quantities of ODSs remain in legal use or storage in older refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, building and appliance insulation, fire suppression systems, and government and industrial stockpiles (4). Without requirements or incentives for destruction, these ODSs will ultimately be released to the atmosphere and contribute to anthropogenic climate change.


Two silicon ingots with different seed plate configurations were crystallized by directional solidification. Seed plates with high performance multicrystalline structure varying in their mean grain area were used as well as seed plates with comparable mean grain area varying in their grain structure (standard and high performance multicrystalline). All grown materials show an increase of grain size and saturation at different levels with ingot height. Additionally, a dependence of the growth behavior on the mean grain area was observed implying a faster coarsening for smaller grains. The material grown on the standard multicrystalline seed plate shows a larger area fraction limited by dislocations than the material with high performance multicrystalline seed plates, showing less dislocation structures on samples with smaller grains. The minority carrier lifetimes measured on passivated samples after a boron diffusion, as used in high efficiency solar cell processes for n-type silicon, showed a benefit for the material grown on a high performance multicrystalline seed plate with smaller grains compared to the other materials. The harmonic mean lifetime values are even higher than corresponding ones for high performance multicrystalline material nucleated on granular beads. The same trend was seen in ELBA, a combination of injectiondependent lifetime measurements on processed samples with PC1D simulations, which estimates material-related efficiency losses of only 0.4 % compared with the solar cell limit of an n-type solar cell structure on material nucleated on the fine grained seed plate with high performance multicrystalline structure.


As a denture base, acrylic resin in intimate contact with a large area of the oral mucosa. Thus, it is important to know the biocompatibility of the resin. After polymerization small amount of methyl metacrylate monomer remain in the acrylic resins. Part of the residual monomer is gradually leached out and may react against the oral mucosa. The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the biocompatibility of conventional and microwave cured acrylic resins that immersed and not immersed in running water for 17 hours after polymerization process, on viability of cultured baby hamster kidney (BHK 21) cell line. The data were analyzed with t-test. The result of this study indicated that there is significant difference between cell viability of conventional and microwave cured acrylic resin which are immersed and not immersed in running water for 17 hour. The conclusion immersed had the same cytotoxicity. The best result is acrylic resin microwave cured that immersed in running water for 17 hours.


Abstract:In the process of drafting and adopting international legal documents, each participating state should ensure its participation is effective, i.e. it should ensure that its views and national interests are incorporated. However, this article argues that China's participation in the activities of the International Law Commission as well as at the International Court of Justice has not been effective, in contrast to the practice of the United Kingdom and the United States. In order to be a true leader in international affairs that has the capability to influence the course of legal developments, China should improve the quality and extent of its participation.


Construction industry design standards are increasingly calling for new construction to be inspected and tested for compliance with design specifications after the project is built; otherwise known as the commissioning process. As part of this trend, owners, sensitive to the acoustics
 of their facilities, are seeking confirmation via measurements that their buildings meet sound isolation and background noise requirements, particularly when pursuing certifications under the US Green Building Council LEED standard, the WELL Building Standard, or other green building or wellness
 standards. In general, the error of sound isolation measurements is not officially established. This poses challenges to designers tasked with specifying assemblies and components to meet field verification requirements. This paper will briefly review current research and standards on the
 error of measurements such as Noise Isolation Class (NIC) and the Weighted Level Difference (D) and discuss example design standards and guidelines which do or do not account for this error. It will also propose further research topics to better define the error in sound isolation measurements
 and best practices when establishing or designing to sound isolation criteria in new or renovated buildings.


To investigate the mechanism of the vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) in the neurodegenerative diseases, the intrinsic laryngeal muscles (the crycothyroid, the interarytenoid, and the posterior crycoarytenoid muscles) from 41 autopsied cases were histologically examined: 10 cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 10 of Parkinson's disease (PD), 9 of multiple system atrophy (MSA), 4 of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), 4 of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 1 of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP), and 3 of cerebrovascular diseases as a control. According to the distribution of the neurogenic changes among above-described three intrinsic laryngeal muscles, three forms were raised: 1. The totally paralytic form showing that all the three muscles developed neurogenic atrophy. This form includes ALS, MJD, and FAP. 2. The posterior muscle-paralytic form showing that only the posterior crycoarytenoid muscle was selectively involved. This form includes MSA. 3. The nonparalytic form showing no morphological abnormalities in any of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. This type includes PD and PSP. In this nonparalytic form, supranuclear mechanism such as pyramidal or extrapyramidal tract involvement may cause VCAP through the increased laryngeal muscles tone. Considering that VCAP can be seen in any of the above-described forms, our results indicate that the mechanism of VCAP is different among the neurological disorders.


The synthesis of nickel borate acylate (NBA), a kind of rubber-steel cord adhesion promoter (AP), through nickel carbonate, borate and mixed carboxylic acid was studied. Nickel carbonate could be prepared by the reaction of nickel sulfate with sodium carbonate in aqueous solution. After strong stirring for 2h, the mixed nickel carboxylate could be synthesized by the reaction of nickel carbonate with isooctanoic acid and acetic acid. The mole ratio of these chemicals was 1∶1∶1.1. NBA was synthesized by reaction of mixed nickel carboxylate with tributyl borate under strong stirring at 200~250℃ for 6h. By detecting and comparing with 680C product from Manobond Company of England, the NBA synthesized through isooctanoic acid and tributyl borate is very similar with 680C in IR data, 300% fixed extension strength, tensile strength, hardness and cure curve. However, tensile failure extensibility and hot air aging of NBA are a little lower than those of 680C. The experimental results show that NBA can be used as rubber-steel cord AP.


These notes comprise the first of two articles devoted to the construction of exact solutions of noncommutative gauge theory in two spacetime dimensions. This first part deals solely with the classical theory on a noncommutative torus. Topics covered include a mathematical introduction to the geometry of the noncommutative torus, the definition, properties and symmetries of noncommutative Yang-Mills theory, and the complete solution of the classical field equations.


SOS is a new model for the online in situ characterization and analysis of complex high-performance computing applications. SOS employs a data framework with distributed information management and structured query and access capabilities. The primary design objectives of SOS are flexibility, scalability, and programmability. SOS provides a complete framework that can be configured with and used directly by an application, allowing for a detailed workflow analysis of scientific applications. This paper describes the model of SOS and the experiments used to validate and explore the performance characteristics of its implementation in SOSflow. Experimental results demonstrate that SOS is capable of observation, introspection, feedback and control of complex high-performance applications, and that it has desirable scaling properties.


AbstractA new dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction procedure combined with UV–visible spectrophotometry is described for sensitive and selective determination of rhodamine B. Various analytical parameters such as pH, extraction and dispersive solvents type and volume, sample volumes, and extraction time were optimized. Matrix effects of concomitants were also examined. Preconcentration factor was found to be 330. Detection limit was calculated as 2.1 μg L−1. The relative standard deviation was found to be 4%. The validation of the developed procedure was checked by the addition/recovery tests. The procedure was successfully performed to the determination of trace levels of rhodamine B in drug, ink, food, cosmetic product, and waste waters.


Toxoplasma gondii is a highly successful global pathogen that is remarkable in its ability to infect nearly any nucleated cell in any warm‐blooded animal. Infection with T. gondii typically occurs through the ingestion of contaminated food or water, but the parasite then breaches the intestinal epithelial barrier and spreads from the lamina propria to a large variety of other organs in the body. A key feature of T. gondii pathogenesis is the parasite's ability to cross formidable biological barriers in the infected host and enter tissues such as the brain, eye and placenta. The dissemination of T. gondii into these organs underlies the severe disease that accompanies human toxoplasmosis. In this review, we will focus on seminal studies as well as exciting recent findings that have shaped our current understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which T. gondii journeys throughout the host and enters organs to cause disease.


Study Design. Proteinases were immunohistochemically stained to analyze degenerated discs and paradiscal tissues in comparison to contiguous control tissues in an experimental porcine model of intervertebral disc degeneration. Objective. The aim was to analyze plasmin and metalloproteinases known to participate in mutual activation cascades. Summary of Background Data. Comparison of the degenerated discs and paradiscal structures with control tissues disclosed accumulation of plasmin and induction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), MMP-1 and MMP-2 in the discs, but some other MMPs in reactive and remodeling tissues. Material and Methods. In 6 domestic pigs, the cranial L4 endplate was perforated to penetrate the nucleus pulposus. Three months later, the animals were killed and the experimental and the contiguous control vertebrae, complete with their intervertebral discs, were excised and subjected to histologic and immunohistochemical examinations. Results. Immunohistochemical analysis disclosed increased expression of MMP-1 and MMP-2 in the traumatized and degenerated intervertebral discs. Some MMPs were also induced in all paradiscal structures (bone marrow, vertebral bone, and spinal ligaments), or decreased in already scarred areas. The common denominator for all the anatomic sites studied was accumulation of plasmin. Conclusion. Fibroblast collagenase (MMP-1) and gelatinase A (MMP-2), capable of degrading native and denatured collagen, were induced in degenerating intervertebral discs. Use of an experimental model enabled demonstration that biomechanical destabilization and degeneration of the disc also affects all other paradiscal structures, which are subjected to proteolysis and/or reparative fibrosis apparently representing remodeling of the spine subjected to pathologic stress. Profiling of various MMPs and plasmin, known to participate in mutual activation cascades, suggests that plasmin could activate pro-MMP-1, pro-MMP-2, pro-MMP-3, pro-MMP-7, pro-MMP-9, and pro-MMP-13 and alone or/and in cooperation with MMP-3 initiate at least 2 mutual MMPs activation cascades driven by activated MMP-3 and MMP-7.


The linear plasmid SCP1 of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) is one of the genetically more studied linear streptomycete replicons. Although the genetics of SCP1 and its interaction with the host chromosome have been analyzed for nearly three decades no information exists on its replication. With the help of an ordered cosmid contig for the complete 360-kb element, we have localized a 5439-bp fragment from the central region that confers autonomous replication in Streptomyces lividans. The minimal origin contains two overlapping ORFs which are separated from an AT-rich region which might correspond to the replication start point. ORF1 revealed intensive similarity to a class of DNA-primase/helicases of actinophages and archael plasmids. In addition, we have identified a region in both terminal inverted repeats of SCP1 that shows significant homology to the transposable element Tn4811 located near the ends of the S. lividans 66 chromosome.


Self-assembly of asymmetric block copolymers (BCPs) around active pore edges has emerged as an important strategy to produce smart membranes with tunable pathways for solute transport. However, thus far, it is still challenging to manipulate pore shape and functionality for directional transformation under external stimuli. Here, a versatile strategy by mesoscale simulations to design stimuli-responsive pores with various edge decorations in hybrid membranes is reported. Dopant BCPs are used as decorators to stabilize pore edges and extend their function in reconfiguring pores in response to repeated membrane stretching/shrinking caused by external stimuli. The decoration morphologies are predictable since the assemblies of dopant BCPs around pore edges are closely related to their self-assemblies in solution. The coassembly between different BCPs in the hybrid membrane for the control of pore morphology is featured, and the parameter settings, including block incompatibility and molecular architecture for the construction of a specific pore, are determined. Results show that harnessed dopant BCPs in the hybrid membrane can enhance pore formation and induce directional pore shape and functionality transformation. Diversified pore decorations exhibit potential that can be further explored in selective solute transport and the design of stimuli-responsive smart nanodevices.


The feature selection is a method of data analysis commonly used as a preliminary step in the techniques of classification and pattern recognition. It is particularly important in situations when data are represented in high-dimensional feature space. Examples of these are collections of bioinformatics data, particularly data obtained from DNA microarrays. The paper presented two methods of feature selection based on minimizing the CPL criterion function: basic SEKWEM/GENET method, in which the selection of features is done in conjunction with the construction of a linear classifier separating objects from different decision classes, and the RLS method extending the primary method by linear separability relaxation stage in order to obtain a subset of features with better generalization ability. The results of the SEKWEM/GENET and RLS methods were confronted with the results obtained from other common feature selection methods in application to the state of the art microarray data sets.


Digital holographic microscopy is a promising imaging technique for visualizing label-free transparent cells [1]. Its drawback is a bulky optics to introduce reference light. We have proposed reference-free holographic imaging with randomly encoded diffraction [2-5]. This approach simplifies the optical hardware in holographic imaging. In this study, we extend the method to a three-dimensional case while keeping its simplicity.


The wear resistance and hardness of stainless steel (SS) balls formed by cold skew rolling are effectively improved due to the change in internal microstructure. In this study, based on the deformation mechanism of 316L stainless steel, a physical mechanism-based constitutive model was established and implemented in a subroutine of Simufact to investigate the microstructure evolution of 316L SS balls during the cold skew rolling process. The evolution of equivalent strain, stress, dislocation density, grain size, and martensite content was studied via simulation during the steel balls' cold skew rolling process. The corresponding skew rolling experiments of steel balls were carried out to verify the accuracy of the finite element (FE) model results. The results showed that the macro dimensional deviation of steel balls fluctuates less, and the microstructure evolution agrees well with the simulation results, which proves that the established FE model has high credibility. It shows that the FE model, coupled with multiple deformation mechanisms, provides a good prediction of the macro dimensions and internal microstructure evolution of small-diameter steel balls during cold skew rolling.


Abstract : This DOD-funded project Neural Development in tsc2-deficient zebrafish has made excellent progress over the first year of funding. We have essentially completed Task 1 of our Statement of Work with a focus on Neural Development. We have also begun Task 2 determining cell autonomous phenotypes. Using this zebrafish model of tuberous sclerosis complex, we have shown that the tsc2 gene sequence is highly conserved and also has a conserved function. The mutant tsc2vu242 allele encodes a truncated tuberin protein lacking the GAP domain. This resulted in loss of the ability to inhibit Rheb and of the TOR kinase within TOR complex 1 (TORC1). Homozygous mutant zebrafish have enlarged cells in the brain and liver. Of relevance to Task 1, forebrain neurons are poorly organized in homozygous mutants with extensive gray and white matter disorganization and ectopically positioned cells. Ongoing experiments with chimera zebrafish demonstrate that tsc2 limits TORC1 signaling in a cell-autonomous manner. However, wild-type host cells in the forebrain mislocalize in a non-cell-autonomous manner. Overall, our results demonstrate a highly conserved role of tsc2 in zebrafish during neural development. These findings are the basis for a recently accepted manuscript Kim et al. published in Disease Models and Mechanisms (Appendix).


Objective: To make analysis on the curative effect on the technique of endoscopic closure and laparoscopic closure, and explore the effect and safety of acute perforation of the endoscopic closure technique. Methods: Analysis on the 40 therapeutic cases of laparoscopic repair and endoscopic closure treatments, respectively, to submucosal tumours (SMT) of the stomach removed through ESE/EFR. According to the double-sample t-test, the differences of operation time and medical expenses between the two closure methods were compared and analyzed. And used the chi-square test to compare the difference in terms of operational difficulty and effects. Results: Postoperative pathology of 76 therapeutic cases operated through ESE and EFR was diagnosed as mesenchymal tumor and 4 cases as leiomyoma, among which 34 cases were in fundus ventriculi, 30 in corpus ventriculi and 16 in antrum. Endoscopic closure is significantly lower than laparoscopic closure in operation time span (endoscopic closure VS laparoscopic repair 74.70±23.55min vs 178.35±38.98min, p < 0.001) , medical expenses (endoscopic closure VS laparoscopic repair 28463.55±8228.96rmb vs 61848.75±8812.12rmb, p < 0.001) and inpatient days (endoscopic closure VS laparoscopic repair 10.50±3.49days vs. 16.95±4.58days, P < 0.01), while there is no significant difference in terms of technical difficulty and effects (P > 0.05). Conclusion: With the training and technical progress of endoscopic closure, it is safe, effective and quick in recovery to have non-laparoscopic assisted surgery on gastric wall closure.


The kidney and the vasculature play crucial roles in regulating blood pressure. The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), a multienzyme process mediating covalent conjugation of the 76-amino acid polypeptide ubiquitin to a substrate protein followed by proteasomal degradation, is involved in multiple cellular processes by regulating protein turnover in various tissues. Increasing evidence demonstrates the roles of UPS in blood pressure regulation. In the kidney, filtered sodium is reabsorbed through diverse sodium transporters and channels along renal tubules, and studies conducted till date have provided insights into the complex molecular network through which ubiquitin ligases modulate sodium transport in different segments. Components of these pathways include ubiquitin ligase neuronal precursor cell-expressed developmentally downregulated 4-2, Cullin-3, and Kelch-like 3. Moreover, accumulating data indicate the roles of UPS in blood vessels, where it modulates nitric oxide bioavailability and vasoconstriction. Cullin-3 not only regulates renal salt reabsorption but also controls vascular tone using different adaptor proteins that target distinct substrates in vascular smooth muscle cells. In endothelial cells, UPS can also contribute to blood pressure regulation by modulating endothelial nitric oxide synthase. In this review, we summarize current knowledge regarding the role of UPS in blood pressure regulation, focusing on renal sodium reabsorption and vascular function.


Graphene is a highly desirable material for a variety of applications, in the case of nanocomposites, it can be functionalized and added as a nanofiller to alter the ultimate product properties, such as tensile strength. However, often the material properties of the functionalized graphene and the location of any chemical species, attached via different functionalization processes, are not known. Thus, it is not necessarily understood why improvements in product performance are achieved, which hinders the rate of product development. Here, a commercially-available powder containing few-layer graphene (FLG) flakes is characterized before and after plasma or chemical functionalization with either nitrogen or oxygen species. A range of measurement techniques, including tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and NanoSIMS, were used to examine the physical and chemical changes in the FLG material at both the micro- and nanoscale. This is the first reported TERS imaging of commercially-available FLG flakes of sub-micron lateral size, revealing the location of the defects (edge versus basal plane) and variations in the level of functionalization. Graphene-polymer composites were then produced and the dispersion of the graphitic material in the matrix was visualized using ToF-SIMS. Finally, mechanical testing of the composites demonstrated that the final product performance could be enhanced, but differed depending on the properties of the original graphitic material.


Gnotobiotic (germfree, defined colonized) rodents have become powerful tools to advance our understanding of the host-microbiome relationship. However, the maintenance and ultimately the monitoring of gnotobiotic rodents is a critical, labor-intensive, and costly process (e.g., sterility, not absence of specific pathogens, must be demonstrated in germfree animals). Here, we provide information on the housing and maintenance of gnotobiotic animals, elucidate prophylactic measurements to avoid contamination, and make specific recommendations for sampling procedures, sampling frequencies, and test methods.


Aged beef is more tender and flavourful than beef that has not undergone the aging process. The characteristics of raw meats are influenced by a variety of factors, e.g. animal, environmental and processing. During the ageing, beef muscles undergo several changes that can affect their quality, as colour, tenderness, flavour and juiciness. Since the ageing process provides high added values that manifests in price, a quick, non-contact measurement method would be useful in industry to check ageing state. The objective of this study was to estimate the ageing time of beef sirloin samples by their reflected NIR spectra and hyperspectral datacube as well. The hyperspectral signal-to-noise ratio had to be improved. Controlling software was developed to help proper calibration, data-acquisition and pre-processing. During 4-week ageing experiments, samples were measured by both spectral method. The ageing time and also the location of slices were registered, for making difference between the two influences. The suitability of two methods, the more accurate instrumentaland the non-contact hyperspectral measurment was proved.


Scintigraphy with 123I-Tyr-3-octreotide has several major drawbacks as regards its metabolic behavior, its cumbersome preparation and the short physical half-life of the radionuclide. The use of another radiolabeled analog of somatostatin, 111In-DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide, has consequently been proposed. DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide can be radiolabeled with 111In in an easy single-step procedure. DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide is cleared predominantly via the kidneys. Fecal excretion of radioactivity amounts to only a few percent of the administered radioactivity. For the radiation dose to normal tissues, the most important organs are the kidneys, the spleen, the urinary bladder, the liver and the remainder of the body. The calculated effective dose equivalent is 0.08 mSv/MBq. Optimal 111In-DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide scintigraphic imaging of various somatostatin receptor-positive tumors was obtained 24 hr after injection. In the six patients studied, tumor localization with 123I-Tyr-3-octreotide and with 111In-DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide were found to be similar. However, the normal pituitary is more frequently visualized with the latter radiopharmaceutical. In conclusion, 111In-DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide appears to be a sensitive somatostatin receptor-positive tissue-seeking radiopharmaceutical with some remarkable advantages: easy preparation, general availability, appropriate half-life and absence of major interference in the upper abdominal region, because of its renal clearance. Therefore, 111In-DTPA-D-Phe-1-octreotide may be suitable for use in SPECT of the abdomen, which is important in the localization of small endocrine gastroenteropancreatic tumors.


Modern database management systems are complex programs which get user queries, translate them in internal representation necessary for data access and provide results in best possible way; that is, results which take less execution-time and consume fewer resources. However, as the data is increasing at rapid pace, there is always a need of systems which meet organizational requirements. Better systems can only be developed if internal working of (existing) systems is understood very well. This paper presents a tool that helps in understanding how (high-level) user queries are translated in internal representation necessary for data access. Furthermore, the tool also implements few optimization techniques to produce alternative execution plans and their corresponding execution time. Paper also presents a discussion on which plans are better based on the computational analysis.


Due to the increasing complexity of new multiprocessor systems on chip, flexible and accurate simulators become a necessity for exploring the vast design space solution. In a streaming execution model, only a well-balanced pipeline can lead to an efficient implementation. However with dynamic applications, each stage is prone to execution time variations. Only a joint exploration of the application space of parallelization possibilities, together with the possible MPSoC architectural choices, can lead to an efficient embedded system. In this paper, we associate a semi-automatic parallelization workflow based on the Par4All retargetable compiler, to the SESAM environment. This new framework can ease the application exploration and find the best tradeoffs between complexity and performance for asymmetric homogeneous MPSoCs and dynamic streaming application processing. A use case is performed with a radio sensing application implemented on a complete MPSoC platform.


We give a pedagogical introduction to dynamical invariant formalism of shortcuts to adiabaticity. For a given operator form of the Hamiltonian with undetermined coefficients, the dynamical invariant is introduced to design the coefficients. We discuss how the method allows us to mimic adiabatic dynamics and describe a relation to the counterdiabatic formalism. The equation for the dynamical invariant takes a familiar form and is often used in various fields of physics. We introduce examples of Lax pair, quantum brachistochrone and flow equation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Shortcuts to adiabaticity: theoretical, experimental and interdisciplinary perspectives'.


Tillandsia landbeckii Phil. is a typical plant of the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile. There is no genetic data available at the population level for this species, and this information is critical for developing and implementing effective conservation measures. In this study, we investigated for the first time the genetic diversity and population structure in 2 natural populations of T. landbeckii using AFLP markers. Seven primer combinations produced 405 bands and of them, 188 (46.42%) were polymorphic. The Pampa Dos Cruces population (Pp = 88.30%, He = 0.327, and I = 0.483) showed a higher genetic diversity level than Pampa Camarones population (Pp = 71.28%, He = 0.253, and I = 0.380). Analysis of molecular variance (Amova) revealed that 25.12% of the total genetic diversity resided among populations, while 74.88% within populations. A moderate-high genetic differentiation coefficient (F st = 0.251) and a moderate population gene flow (N m = 1.490) were also observed. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA), Neighbor-net and STRUCTURE analysis supported the grouping of the sampled populations into 2 moderate genetic clusters. This first study provides data that will allow assist and support conservation decisions taken for this species.


About 60 million people worldwide work in the textile or clothing industry. The conditions of working and the dust that produced from processing of cotton in industries can cause many morbidities to the health of workers. Many recent studies have found a high ratio of chronic diseases especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in those workers. This study was done to assess the effect of working in textile industry from physiological and clinical points of view. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 75 randomly selected textile factory workers, all subjects were females. Information was collected through interview, in addition to physical examination and some needed investigations were performed including: packed cell volume (PCV),white blood cell count (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), random blood sugar (RBS), blood urea (Bur), serum creatinine (Scr), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), electrocardiography (ECG), echocardiography, chest x-ray (CXR) and general urine examination (GUE), in addition to pulmonary function tests (PFTs) using portable medical spirometer. The results of this study was shown that the mean duration of exposure of workers to cotton dust was 15.67±4.86 years, the higher percentage of workers had low back pain (LBP) (85%), while lower percentage of them had contact dermatitis (27%), urinary tract infection (23%), while 2% of workers had left ventricular hypertrophy as revealed by ECG and echocardiography. Regarding the mean values of blood parameters, the study showed no significant difference between workers and control groups apart from ESR changes (26.8 ± 15.95 vs. 8.3 ± 3.3 with P ≤ 0.05). Regarding the respiratory findings, the highest percentage of workers complained from shortness of breath (45.3%), some of them had no symptoms (17.3%), severity of symptoms was moderate restriction in most workers (24%), the study also showed negative non-significant relation between duration of exposure and severity of respiratory impairment (r = 0.1, P= 0.2). In conclusion; this study provides evidence of a strong relationship between exposure to cotton dust and respiratory impairments, also there was a considerable percentage of workers had muscular and dermatolo


This double-blind crossover study compared the therapeutic value of bronchodilator procaterol hydrochloride at 5 micrograms per puff by aerosol inhalation using a metered-dose inhaler and at 25 micrograms by oral administration using tablets with respective inert placebos in preventing exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) in 10 children with bronchial asthma. The two active dosage formulations produced a significant EIB inhibitory effect compared with the placebos. In a comparison of the two active preparations, the aerosol was more efficacious than the tablet in improving all respiratory parameters examined, and statistical significance was obtained in FEV1, MMEF, PEFR, V50, and V25 5 minutes after exercise. Further, the aerosol was beneficial in all subjects, while the tablet was beneficial in seven of 10.


Epitaxial c-axis oriented (YBCO)m/(PrBCO)n superlattices have been grown on SrTiO3 (100) substrates using high pressure DC sputtering. The modulation length Lambda =(mY+nPr) is varied between 2.3 nm and 12.0 nm. Satellite peaks up to third order have been observed in X-ray diffraction. The critical current density jc (B,T, phi ) of such YBCO/PrBCO heterostructures has been measured between 4.5 K to 90 K in magnetic fields up to 6 T and as a function of field direction phi . Measurements have been carried out for a range of modulation lengths. Even for an ultrafine modulation length Lambda =4.5 nm (Y:Pr=1:3), the superlattice has a high critical current density of the order 3.8*106 Acm-2 at low temperatures. The resistive transition in a magnetic field was measured for range of Lambda in order to evaluate possible dependence of the pinning activation energy on the sample structure. The results show that samples with larger decoupling exhibit a lower activation energy.


In this research, we have developed the batch and flow-based system of titrimetric analysis by using a mobile phone as a detector. The digital image colorimetric detection system was set up with economic devices and to be easy to use by taking photograph with mobile phone camera, then the RGB signals were read from the RGB color picker application to calculate the RGB-based value and plot titration curve for evaluating the equivalence point. This method was applied to analyze samples of acid-base on daily basis, compared with the potentiometric and photometric titrations that using pH meter and spectrophotometer as a detector, respectively. The method was highly reproducible with the relative standard deviation of 1.14 % (n=11) for 0.5 %w/v of acetic acid standard solution. The proposed method was applied to the determination of acetic acid in vinegar and titratable acidity in fruit juices. Concentrations of acetic acid were found to be in a range of 5.23-5.35 %w/v. Concentrations of titratable acidity in the juice samples were found to be in a range of 0.27-0.50 %w/v. Thereafter, an analytical application involving the determination of the total alkalinity in mineral waters was performed, and it was found in the range of 11.50-18.50 mg/L of CaCO3 which were in good agreement with the results obtained from the standard method at the 95 % confidence level.


Background Children are the risk group for severe disease of Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infection. A case of disseminated manifestation of pandemic H1N1 influenza has been rarely reported. Methods We present a case of a-3-month-old male infant who manifested with clinical sepsis and can be demonstrated the evidence of disseminated pandemic H1N1 influenza in bone marrow prior having respiratory symptoms. Results The patient presented with high fever for 1 day. The initial diagnosis was sepsis but he had persisted fever with hepatosplenomegaly. Complete blood count persistently showed pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy on day 8 showed predominant population of maturing myeloid precursors. In contrast, erythroid precursors were virtually absent. PCR tested in serum was negative for Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, dengue virus and parvovirus. On day 11, he developed respiratory distress and required ventilator support. Bronchoalveolar lavage was positive for pandemic H1N1 influenza by both RT-PCR and viral culture. The staining marrow specimens performed on day 8 with immunofluorescence technique to detect nucleoprotein (NP) antigens and RT-PCR were positive for pandemic H1N1 influenza. The virus antigen was also detected by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibody specific for NP labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). Interestingly, most of positive cells were CD14+ cells and the amounts of positive cells were 10% of total marrow cells. His immunological profiles were normal. Conclusion This infant demonstrated the evidence of disseminated pandemic H1N1 influenza prior having pneumonic symptoms. Infant is more susceptible to have disseminated manifestation and can present initially as clinical sepsis.


Evolutions of diamagnetic magnetization (Mdia), critical current density (Jc) and irreversibility field (Hirr) for MgB2 have been investigated by changing the water-exposure time. The evolutions are found to follow a universal exponential law of AN(tR) = AN(0) exp(−tR/tN), where AN represents Mdia, Jc and Hirr for N = 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and tN is the corresponding time constant. When Mdia shows the most rapid decay with exposure time, Hirr exhibits the slowest degradation, with a difference between the decay-time constants of more than two orders of magnitude. For the case of Ti-doped MgB2, the exponential decay law can be still applied, but with a much longer decay-time constant. Microstructure analyses reveal that the grain boundaries of MgB2 are corroded by water when the exposing time is long enough. However, Ti doping significantly enhances the resistance to the corrosion of water.


The concept of nanopublications was first proposed about six years ago, but it lacked openly available implementations. The library presented here is the first one that has become an official implementation of the nanopublication community. Its core features are stable, but it also contains unofficial and experimental extensions: for publishing to a decentralized server network, for defining sets of nanopublications with indexes, for informal assertions, and for digitally signing nanopublications. Most of the features of the library can also be accessed via an online validator interface.


We propose a revisited approach to estimating sea level change trends based on the integration of two measuring systems: satellite altimetry and tide gauge (TG) time series of absolute and relative sea level height. Quantitative information on vertical crustal motion trends at six TG stations of the Adriatic Sea are derived by solving a constrained linear inverse problem. The results are verified against Global Positioning System (GPS) estimates at some locations. Constraints on the linear problem are represented by estimates of relative vertical land motion between TG couples. The solution of the linear inverse problem is valid as long as the same rates of absolute sea level rise are observed at the TG stations used to constrain the system. This requirement limits the applicability of the method with variable absolute sea level trends. The novelty of this study is that we tried to overcome such limitations, subtracting the absolute sea level change estimates observed by the altimeter from all relevant time series, but retaining the original short-term variability and associated errors. The vertical land motion (VLM) solution is compared to GPS estimates at three of the six TGs. The results show that there is reasonable agreement between the VLM rates derived from altimetry and TGs, and from GPS, considering the different periods used for the processing of VLM estimates from GPS. The solution found for the VLM rates is optimal in the least square sense, and no longer depends on the altimetric absolute sea level trend at the TGs. Values for the six TGs' location in the Adriatic Sea during the period 1993–2018 vary from −1.41 ± 0.47 mm y−1 (National Research Council offshore oceanographic tower in Venice) to 0.93 ± 0.37 mm y−1 (Rovinj), while GPS solutions range from −1.59 ± 0.65 (Venice) to 0.10 ± 0.64 (Split) mm y−1. The absolute sea level rise, calculated as the sum of relative sea level change rate at the TGs and the VLM values estimated in this study, has a mean of 2.43 mm y−1 in the period 1974–2018 across the six TGs, a mean standard error of 0.80 mm y−1, and a sample dispersion of 0.18 mm y−1.


Uncertainty in measurement of point correspondences negatively affects the accuracy and precision in the calibration of head-mounted displays (HMD). In general, the distribution of alignment errors for optical see-through calibration are not isotropic, and one can estimate its distribution based on interaction requirements of a given calibration process and the user's measurable head motion and hand-eye coordination characteristics. Current calibration methods, however, mostly utilize the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) method which minimizes Euclidean distances for HMD projection matrix estimation, disregarding the anisotropicity in the alignment errors. We utilize the error covariance in order to take the anisotropic nature of error distribution into account. The main hypothesis of this study is that using Mahalonobis distance within the nonlinear optimization can improve the accuracy of the HMD calibration. The simulation results indicate that our new method outperforms the standard DLT method both in accuracy and precision, and is more robust against user alignment errors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that anisotropic noise has been accommodated in the optical see-through HMD calibration.


The creep deformation of type 2205 duplex stainless steel in industrial continuous annealing conditions was analyzed and compared with the creep behavior of its constituent phases, ferrite and austenite. The bulk ferrite phase deformed by viscous glide. The deformation of the bulk austenite phase was by lattice diffusional creep at low applied stress and by dislocation climb at higher applied stress. Grain boundary sliding was the rate controlling mechanism of creep deformation of duplex stainless steel. The value of the stress exponent and the grain size exponent of the creep rate equation both strongly support the possibility that cold rolled type 2205 duplex stainless steel deforms superplastically during recrystallization annealing in industrial continuous annealing furnaces.


The decades before and after the turn of the twentieth century, like those surrounding the turn of the twenty-first, are often understood as periods of globalization. The two periods share key features that characterize the global as a motif, including high mobility of goods, services, people, ideas and, perhaps most centrally, capital. An important distinguishing feature between the periods is the monetary regime: the gold standard for the turn of the twentieth century; managed flexibility (ranging from currency pegs to floating exchange rates) for the turn of the twenty-first. This paper examines the legal infrastructure of these two monetary regimes in order to illuminate two distinct yet related issues. The first is the connection between the form of rulemaking (e.g., legislation versus technocratic regulation) and the means of isolating monetary policy decisions from political influence. The second is the role of the monetary regime in mediating value. Both the gold standard and the managed flexibility regime aim to shield money from partisan intervention, but they do so in different ways; attention to the legal framework sheds light on how these differing regimes pursue the goal of insulating money from politics.


Introduction: In India, cervical cancer is the most common cancer among females. Persistence infection with high risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) is an etiological agent for cervical cancer development, especially HPV-16 is found to be exclusively high in cervical cancer cases in Indian population. The continuous expression and transforming ability of HPV E7 helps in progression of cervical cancer and other HPV related disease, which make E7 as a suitable targets for the development of therapeutic vaccines. Objectives: Identification of T-& B-cell epitopes HPV-16 E7 gene isolated from in cervical cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 cervical cancer tissue biopsies were collected and processed for DNA extraction, HPV diagnosis and genotyping. E7 gene of HPV-16 positive samples were amplified and sequenced. Epitopes in E7 gene sequence were predicted by online freely available tools. Results: In the present study we got 72 samples (90%) were positive for HPV and out of which 68 samples (94.4%) were positive for the HPV-16. HPV-16 positive samples were sequenced and translated. IEDB server was used for epitope analysis; 12 potent epitopes for the MHC-I alleles were identified in isolated E7 gene of HPV-16. The most potent epitopes were MHGDTPTLHEYM for HLA-C*07:01; LLMGTLGIVCPI for HLA-A*02:01 and MHGDTPTLHEYML for HLA-C*07:01; having percentile rank 0.2 for all three and antigencity score of 0.20011, 0.15358 and 0.10735, respectively. Conclusion: This is an effective strategy to design immuno-therapeutics and therapeutic vaccine against HPV using E7 as target. These findings will be helpful in the development of effective vaccine for particular geographical region.


Hypothalamic fragments from 21-day-old fetal rats were cultured in Maximow double-coverslip assemblies for 1 to 2 months. Neurons containing LH-RH were demonstrated immunohistochemically using an antiserum to LH-RH (Dermody; 1:500--1:4,000). LH-RH was demonstrable only in neuronal perikarya (8--13 micrometer) and in small (less than 1 micrometer) round structures nearby, primarily in explants of the median eminence-arcuate nucleus region. Reactive neurons were not found in explants of the preoptic area and could not be demonstrated in fetal hypothalami at the time of explantation. The presence of mature-looking LH-RH containing neurons in these cultures suggests that this tissue culture system can be used for the study of hypothalamic development.


The field of political brands has developed a host of approaches and explored a variety of cases over the last years. However, less attention has been devoted to brand measurement—specifically efforts to construct a measure that attempts to explain the relationship between voters and parties. Against this backdrop, this article discusses how to measure a political brand by first selecting one part of the diverse brand concept for further investigation. Next, the two existing brand measures in the literature are evaluated, and the article proposes an alternative measure that underlines a stronger connection to the immense political science literature on voters and parties. Then, the three measures are compared by empirically investigating which measure is best at explaining voters' party sympathy. Here, it is demonstrated that the alternative measure seems to be the most valid and reliable construct when it comes to explaining voters' sympathy for a particular party. Finally, the proposed alternative measu...


The larval transfer theory challenges the assumption that larvae and adults gradually evolved from common ancestors. It claims that larvae were later additions to life histories. Instead of evolving from within the same lineages as their associated adults, larvae are adult forms from foreign taxa that were transferred by hybridization. Larval transfer offers explanations for many anomalies in animal development, as shown here by examples from insects and echinoderms. Hybridogenesis (evolution by hybridization) and symbiogenesis (evolution by symbiosis) are examples of evolution by merger of lineages. They are quite distinct from Darwinian 'descent with modification', which is evolution within separate lineages.


A test for the coincidence in the multidimensional case of the class of functions of bounded -variation with the class of functions continuous in -variation is obtained for a large variety of sequences (such that the ratio has a limit as ).


Hemarthrosis is a chronic arthropathy responsible for irreversible joint damage, disability, and acute joint pain in hemophilia patients. Hemarthrosis is caused by spontaneous or traumatic bleeding into joints, which when recurrent, leads to synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration. Although release of erythrocyte-derived damage associated molecular pattern molecules (eDAMPs) is believed to promote sterile inflammation in the synovium, the innate immune mechanism of hemarthrosis remains poorly understood and the current therapy is limited to factor replacement and pain management. Here, we use factor 8 total knock-out (F8TKO) hemophilia A mice (C57BL/6J background) that manifest a complete deletion of the F8 coding region, expressing no detectable F8 mRNA and exhibiting a severe hemophilia phenotype. Right knee joint capsules of F8TKO mice were punctured with a 30-g needle below the patella between the anterior portions of the femur and tibia, followed by assessment of bleeding severity score and histological analysis one-week post injury. Intravital multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscopy of injured synovium was performed to assess the role of thrombo-inflammatory events in promoting hemarthrosis. Neutrophil, platelets, and blood vessels were visualized by intravenous administration of fluorescent anti-Ly6G mAb, anti-CD49b mAb, and dextran, respectively. Protein and mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines were measured in plasma, joint, synovium, and cartilage tissue using Real-Time PCR and ELISA, respectively. F8TKO but not wild-type (WT) control (C57BL/6J) mice manifested unresolved joint bleeding, cartilage degeneration and synovitis leading to impaired mobility and high bleeding severity scores. Significantly more recruitment of neutrophils and neutrophil-platelet aggregates as well as elevated IL-1b levels were observed in the synovium of F8TKO compared to WT mice. These results are the first to suggest that sterile inflammation contributing to hemarthrosis in hemophilia involves enhanced neutrophil-platelet recruitment to the synovium. Currently, experiments are underway to identify the role of eDAMPs (heme and hemoglobin) mediated activation of TLR4 and inflammasome pathway in promoting IL-1b generation, neutrophil-platelet aggregation, and progression of joint injury in F8TKO mice

 Ragni: OPKO: Research Funding; Sangamo: Research Funding; Shire/Takeda: Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding; Spark Therapeutics: Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding; Alnylam/Sanofi: Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding; BioMarin: Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding; Bioverativ/Sanofi: Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding. Gladwin:Globin Solutions, Inc: Patents & Royalties: Provisional patents for the use of recombinant neuroglobin and heme-based molecules as antidotes for CO poisoning; Bayer Pharmaceuticals: Other: Co-investigator; United Therapeutics: Patents & Royalties: Co-inventor on an NIH government patent for the use of nitrite salts in cardiovascular diseases .


It is highly desirable to upgrade viscous heavy oil, such as bitumen extracted from Canadian oil sand, to be transportable by pipeline. Conventionally, this is achieved by expensive catalytic hydrogenation under a hydrogen pressure of 15–20 MPa. In this study, it is reported that by using zinc and silver cation-modified HZSM-5 as the catalyst, methane can be activated at a low temperature of 380 °C and a pressure of 5 MPa to efficiently upgrade heavy oil, leading to the formation of partially upgraded crude oil which is more desirable for pipeline transportation and downstream refining. In addition, methane activation and its participation in the upgrading process were further evidenced by employing butylbenzene, styrene, and benzene as model compounds to represent heavy oil. This study opens a door for upgrading heavy oil with natural gas under fairly mild operation conditions instead of expensive hydrogen under rather stringent ones.


This article explores the subject of computer vision systems – a technology that allows vehicles to identify, track, and also classify objects on the roadway. The objectives of the study are to consider the principle of operation of these automated systems, their advantages in comparison with modern road regulation, as well as the problems of implementation and development of these systems. The research was carried out on the basis of the analysis of information from open information resources. The statistics of accidents at work are presented, the high rates of which are due to large volumes of production and an outdated system for monitoring compliance with safety rules and the availability of personal protective equipment for employees. The scheme of interaction of the components of a computer vision system is considered, which will allow monitoring of events occurring in production during operation, monitoring the situation at the enterprise for the occurrence of a potentially dangerous situation for personnel and equipment, and, accordingly, this system will be able to prevent an emergency, as well as avoid personal injury by reacting even to minor deviations from operating parameters. The research was carried out on the basis of the study and analysis of materials published in open information sources.


Throughout time, evolutionary biologists have attempted to classify human beings according to a nomenclature based on supposed patterns of biological differences that have been used to suggest hierarchical categories. Recent genetic evidence disproves the assumption that races are genetically distinct human populations. Several studies refute human categorization as a severely flawed yardstick. For many, race is a construct that must be overcome in order to eradicate racism. Personal experiences of racism, harassment and discrimination are associated with multiple indicators of poorer physical and mental health status. Additionally, socio-economic differentials are likely to be a fundamental explanation for the observed inequalities in health status among minority groups. This commentary examines the discrepancies that race, ethnicity and similar human nomenclatures present. Furthermore, the potentially harmful consequences of the "scientific" use of race, in the form of stereotyping and racism, are discussed.


In 16 patients with hypertension, BP could not be controlled satisfactorily by treatment with propranolol alone (mean dosage 325 mg/day). Plasma volume (PV) (T-1824) and extracellular fluid volume (ECV) (82Br-distribution space) were determined in these patients before and after the addition of hydralazine for three months (mean dosage 135 mg/day). After the addition of hydralazine, PV and ECV increased significantly, by 9% and 3%, respectively. Systolic and diastolic BPs decreased, by 15% and 13%. The mechanisms inducing fluid retention during treatment with hydralazine and the clinical significance of the problem are discussed. It is concluded that the addition of a diuretic to propranolol-hydralazine treatment is often well indicated.


This letter presents a distance-based formation control with the goal assignment for multiple nonholonomic mobile robots. One of the most challenging issues in the distance-based formation control is the convergence to undesirable formations caused by the gradient-based control law. Even though the target formation is globally rigid, only the local stability is guaranteed. In order to overcome this restriction, we present a novel goal assignment algorithm switching the goal positions of two agents in the target formation. This assignment algorithm helps to avoid the convergence to undesirable formations and thus the global asymptotic convergence can be achieved. To show the effectiveness of the proposed distance-based formation controller with the goal assignment algorithm, simulation and experimental results are provided.


We have modelled wavelength scale micro-pillar microcavities of group III-V semiconductor materials using the 3-D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. A broad band dipole source within the microcavity probes the microcavity mode structure and spectrum. We then investigated the modifications to spontaneous emission of photons form narrowband emitters (e.g. quantum dots) at the centre of the resonance. We find strongly enhanced emission due to small modal volumes and high quality factor (Q-factor). A large fraction of the quantum-dot spontaneous emission is coupled into the fundamental cavity mode. Increasing the number of mirror pairs in the bottom distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) obviously reduces the bottom light leakage, leading to light collection efficiency up to 90%. Moreover, we are now looking at more sophisticated structures with both lateral and perpendicular confinements based on annular and photonic crystal defect cavities in order to suppress the remaining sidewall scattering.


We focus on the link prevailing between credit default swap spreads and the U.S. financial market. We apply the Flexible Least Squares regression method to investigate the relationship between CDX spreads and Dow Jones Composite index return. We care about bad scenarii where a decrease in the U.S. market index triggers an increase in CDX spreads...


Euphausiids are abundant, although little studied components of the zooplancton in the Humboldt Current ecosystem. For instance, the effect that large scale ocean variability may exert on their population dynamics, abundance and distribution is unknown. In this work, based on 2-year time series data and two spatial surveys on December 1996 and July 1997, the distribution of euphausiids in coastal zone off Mejillones Peninsula was assessed. 10 species were identified, of which the most abundant were Euphausia mucronata, E. distinguenda and a non-identified species of the genus Euphausia. In July 1997 (El Nino conditions) fewer species were observed as compared to December 1996 (prior to the El Nino). In both situations (prior and during the El Nino) the abundance of various species was associated with surface dissolved oxygen and water density. There was no correlation between euphausiids abundance and phytoplankton biomass. Previous to the El Nino 1997-98 a Diel Vertical Migration (DVM) pattern was observed for most species, with greater abundance in the upper 0-50 m layer at night. Under the El Nino conditions DVM was apparently altered by intrusion of the warm water mass. E. mucronata, E. distinguenda, Euphausia sp. and Nematoscelis megalops, were found during the time series study. The abundance of adults of these species was significantly reduced during the warm conditions of the El Nino. By contrast, juveniles and larvae (furcilia and calyptopis), not identified to the species level, were significantly more abundant during the El Nino phase, suggesting that reproduction was continuous throughout the study and even incremented during the El Nino. During the warm conditions of the El Nino we also observed a decrease in body length of adults, juveniles and larvae. When comparing equal months in both periods (El Nino and non-El Nino), the body lengths of juveniles, larvae and at least for one species in adults, were significantly smaller during the El Nino period.


: The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of military expenditure on the relationship between terrorism and investment in twenty-four African countries for the period 2001 to 2018. The study utilizes fixed effects regression with Driscoll and Kraay standard error and cushions the effect of simultaneity and reverse causality using the lags of the regressors as instruments. The empirical results reveal the negative effect of terrorism on both domestic investment and foreign direct investment (FDI). The study further reveals a negative net effect of military expenditure on the relationship between terrorism and investment. Furthermore, it was discovered that a threshold of 2% to 5% of military expenditure in GDP is required for military expenditure to offset the negative effect of terrorism on FDI. The study recommends that counterterrorism initiatives be tailored more towards inclusive growth policies, increasing ac-cess to education, and improving the quality of governance.


The presented dendroclimatological study on Teak (Tectona grandis L.) was carried out in northern Thailand by using earlywood vessel density and latewood conductive area and other anatomical variables. The vessel density is determined using an image analysis system. The anatomical variables are used to calibrate and verify temperature during the March period. The regression equation explains about 44% of the relationship among calibrated variances. The study also suggests that a more detailed study of El Nino via anatomical variables and tree-ring widths might be possible.


Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF), as a fatal genetic condition, is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. In Iran, limited studies exist on this disease. This study aims to compare the demographic, clinical and paraclinical data of CF patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014-2015 on 174 CF patients referred to the Tehran Children Medical Center hospital, which is the main referral center for CF. Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was measured in 174 patients. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data of patients were recorded. Results: Overall, 59% of studied patients were boys (n=102) and 41% were girls (n=72). The mean (standard deviation) age of patients was 7.1 (5.7) years, with a range of 10 days to 28 years. In 67% of cases, the disease was diagnosed before their first birthday. Among patients in whom FEV1 was measured, mild, moderate, and severe involvement were documented in 62%, 33%, and 5% of cases, respectively. Cultures of respiratory secretions were reported to be positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, in 23% and 16% of cases, respectively. In total, 61% of patients (n=83) used oral azithromycin for prophylaxis. Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (35%), osteopenia (22%) and nasal polyps (13%) were the most common complications in the study population. Conclusion: Regarding the complex nature of cystic fibrosis and the necessity of constant monitoring of patients during the life-span, the demographic, clinical and laboratory analysis of patients and registering and standardization of patients' data, can be a major step in the better understanding of the disease and thereby increasing the quality of life and life expectancy in the affected population.


Short interference RNA (siRNA) is widely used in mammalian cells. In insects, however, reports concerning the suitablility of siRNA in vivo is very limited compared with that of long dsRNA, which is thought to be more effective. There is insufficient information on the essential rules of siRNA design in insects, as very few siRNAs have been tested in this context. To establish an effective method of gene silencing using siRNA in vivo in insects, we determined the effects of siRNA on seven target genes. We designed siRNAs according to a new guideline and injected them into eggs of Bombyx mori. At the mRNA level, the expression of most of these genes was successfully silenced, down to less than half the constitutive level, which in some cases led to the development of distinctive phenotypes. In addition, we observed stronger effect of siRNA both on the mRNA level and the phenotype than that of long dsRNA under comparable conditions. These results indicate that direct injection of siRNA is an effective reverse-genetics tool for the analysis of embryogenesis in vivo in insects.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Regeneration of large bony defects is an unmet medical need. The therapeutic effect of fully developed bony constructs engineered in vitro from mineralized scaffold and adult stem cells is hampered by deficient long-term graft integration. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the regenerative capacity of a bony primordial construct consisting of human oral mucosa stem cells (hOMSC)-derived osteoprogenitors and absorbable Gelfoam® sponges.

METHODS
Gingiva and alveolar mucosa-derived hOMSC were differentiated into osteoprogenitors (Runx2 and osterix positive) and loaded into Gelfoam® sponges to generate primordial hOMSC constructs. These were implanted into critical size calvaria defects in the rat. Defects treated with human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) constructs; Gelfoam® sponges and untreated defects served as controls.

RESULTS
After 120-day post-implantation defects treated with hOMSC constructs, HDF constructs and gelatin and untreated defects exhibited 86%, 30%, 21%, and 9% of new bone formation, respectively. Immunofluorescence analysis for human nuclear antigen (HNA), bone sialoprotein (BSP), and osteocalcin (OCN) revealed viable hOMSC-derived osteoblasts and osteocytes that formed most of the cell population of the newly formed bone at 30 and 120 days post surgery. Few HNA-positive HDF that were negative for BSP and OCN were identified together with inflammatory cells in the soft tissue adjacent to new bone formation only at 30 days post implantation.

CONCLUSION
Collectively, the results demonstrate that primordial in vitro engineered constructs consisting of hOMSC-derived osteoprogenitors and absorbable gelatin almost completely regenerate critical size defects in an immunocompetent xenogeneic animal by differentiating into functional osteoblasts that retain the immunomodulatory ability of naïve hOMSC.


Oral cavity is a gateway to the entire body and protection of this gateway is a major goal in dentistry. Plaque biofilm is a major cause of the majority of dental diseases and although various biomaterials have been applied for their cure, limitations pertaining to the material properties prevent achievement of desired outcomes. Nanoparticle applications have become useful tools for various dental applications in endodontics, periodontics, restorative dentistry, orthodontics and oral cancers. Of these, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been used in medicine and dentistry due to its antimicrobial properties. AgNPs have been incorporated into biomaterials in order to prevent or reduce biofilm formation. Due to greater surface to volume ratio and small particle size, they possess excellent antimicrobial action without affecting the mechanical properties of the material. This unique property of AgNPs makes these materials as fillers of choice in different biomaterials whereby they play a vital role in improving the properties. This review aims to discuss the influence of addition of AgNPs to various biomaterials used in different dental applications.


The results of a biometric study of gypsum models of 174 people of the first period of adulthood with physiological occlusion of permanent teeth made it possible to calculate the boundaries of variability under normodontism, macrodontism, and microdontism for upper and lower dental arches. The length of the upper dental arch during normodontism with an interval of 'three sigma' varied from 109 to 117 mm, and the length of the lower dental arch was 101 to 114 mm. A decrease in biometric values by odontometric indicator beyond the limits of sigmal deviations for normodont indicators made it possible to distinguish a micro-type of dental arches, and an increase in biometric values – macro-standard. The calculated data on the relative morphometric values of the dental arches, the index of the ratio of the length of the dental arch to the transversal sizes (normodontism: upper jaw at 1.85 ± 0.20 cu, lower jaw at 1.94 ± 0.20 cu; macrodontism: upper jaw at 1.86 ± 0.03 cu; lower jaw at 1.88 ± 0.02 cu; microdontism: upper jaw at 1.82 ± 0.01 cu, the lower jaw at 1.83 ± 0.02 cu), as well as the index of the ratio of the length of the dental arch to the sum of the diagonal dimensions of both sides (normodontism: upper jaw at 1.05 ± 0.02 cu, lower jaw at 1.10 ± 0.02 cu; macrodontism: upper jaw at 1.07 ± 0.01 cu, lower jaw at 1.08 ± 0.02 cu; microdontism: upper jaw at 1.06 ± 0.02 cu, lower jaw at 1.09 ± 0.02 cu), it is advisable to use for the diagnosis of anomalies in the shape and size of the dental arches in clinical orthodontics and orthopedic dentistry.


In this paper, a direct writing method for gallium‐indium alloys is presented. The relationships between nozzle inner diameter, standoff distance, flow rate, and the resulting trace geometry are demonstrated. The interaction between the gallium oxide layer and the substrate is critically important in understanding the printing behavior of the liquid metal. The difference between receding and advancing contact angles demonstrates that the adhesion of the oxide layer to the substrate surface is stronger than the wetting of the surface by the gallium‐indium alloy. This further demonstrates why free‐standing structures such as the traces described herein can be realized. In addition to the basic characterization of the direct writing process, a design algorithm that is generalizable to a range of trace geometries is developed. This method is applied to the fabrication of an elastomer‐encapsulated strain gauge that displays an approximately linear behavior through 50% strain with a gauge factor of 1.5.


It is rare that the dwelling buildings designated as cultural assets owing to the demands of the rapid-changing times and their residences are conserved as their original shapes, though the extent varies. Meanwhile, there has been a continuous effort to preserve and take over our traditional dwelling culture. Yet, the effects were not tangible because the viewpoints are different between the conservation promoters and related residents-officials-experts and because the conservation method is not decided in advance. Thus, in conserving the traditional dwelling culture containing the history of human life, this study tries to find out the reasonable ways for conserving traditional residence based on the consciousness research of citizens on conserving and utilizing the cultural assets. Furthermore this study also tries to suggest to contemporaries - who should live side by side with the historic cultural assets - what attitude they should have. On the basis of above survey, the objective of this study is said to consist in presenting the directions - what efforts are needed - for the more active and participant conservation.


Clinical trials designed to achieve tolerance in humans by selectively antagonizing one of the T-cell costimulatory pathways, CD40-CD40L or CD80/CD86-CD28, are pending. However, simultaneous blockade of both pathways synergistically prevented graft rejection and successfully induced donor-specific tolerance in animal models. Synergism is also supported in human T-cells in vitro following anti-CD86 mAb and anti-CD40 mAb blockade. Therefore, in our view the most promising clinical strategy would be to antagonize both CD40 and CD86. Fast clinical entrance of this anti-CD86 and anti-CD40 bidirectional concept is highly facilitated by a single molecule approach. In the present study, a single bispecific fusion protein was constructed that specifically binds human CD40 and CD86 and which combines the antagonistic activities of both anti-CD40 and anti-CD86 humanized mAb. The anti-CD40/86 fusion protein showed tolerance inducing potential as it prevented both allogeneic T-cell expansion and generation of cytotoxic effector T cells and induced anergic antigen specific regulatory T cells. These data provide proof of concept in successfully combining the antagonistic activity of two humanized mAb with great clinical potential in transplantation and autoimmunity, in one single molecule.


The incidence and mortality of skin melanoma in the world and in Russia is growing every year. It should be noted that the proportion of patients with melanoma of late stages remains high. Until recently, only ineffective chemotherapy regimens were available for such patients. That is why the possibility of using modern drugs in real clinical practice for the treatment of this cohort of patients is an urgent issue of modern clinical oncology. The appearance in a real clinical practice of a new group of immunological drugs (anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-1) for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma allows to increase both the time to progression and the life span of this cohort of patients. In this article, we present the experience of St. Petersburg Regional Clinical Hospital "City Clinical Oncology Clinic" in the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma under the conditions of real clinical practice with the preparation of ipilimumab as part of the expanded access program from February 2014 to March 2017. In total, 31 patients with disseminated melanoma (12 men and 19 women) were treated with ipilimumab during this period. The average age was 57 years (from 39 to 81 years), in 8 patients there were metastases to the brain. Patients with ECOG status 1 at the time of initiation of treatment were the majority 28 patients (90%), three patients (10%) had ECOG status 2. All patients had previously received 1 to 4 lines of systemic chemotherapy. The median of the observation period is currently 12 (3-35) months. The median time to progression was 6 months. At 5 of 31 patients at the time of analysis, signs of progression were not identified. The median overall survival (OB) was 12 months 9 of 31 patients were alive at the time of the analysis. The annual OM was 56.5%, the 2-year period was 29.4%. The article presents a clinical case of treatment of a patient with metastatic melanoma, which will have an effect against the progression of the disease after four lines of therapy, including ipilimumab. The patient was included in the program of expanded access to the PD-1 inhibitor, nivolumab. In all, the patient received 65 nivolumab injections. The life expectancy of the patient from the moment of diagnosing the metastatic stage of the disease is 3.5 years, while 2.5 years on the background of nivolumab therapy. Patient monitoring continues.


Invasive treatment for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) has changed dramatically. Medicare claims data from 1996 to 2006 reveal an almost doubling of lower-extremity vascular procedures: The use of endovascular repair increased 3-fold, bypass surgery decreased 42%, and the amputation rate decreased by 29%.1 For patients admitted to hospital for PAD between 1996 and 2005, the likelihood of undergoing surgery decreased from 34.5% to 26.3%.2 Although the rate of bypass is decreasing, surgery remains an important component in the armamentarium for treating patients with advanced vascular disease. Surgical revascularization is indicated in patients with acceptable surgical risk who require a more durable repair, in those with lesions technically unsuitable for endovascular repair, and in patients who experienced failure of endovascular repair. Despite significant increases in patient morbidity, surgical bypass has become safer over the past 2 decades. Nationally, mortality after surgical bypass decreased from 7% to 4% from the 1980s to mid-1990s. From 1998 to 2003, mortality for open and combined procedures stabilized at 3% to 4%.3 Data from the National Inpatient Survey comparing outcomes in 1998 and 2007 show significant reductions in complication rates across all categories except infection.4 Several factors may account for improved outcomes: a shift to endovascular therapy or "limited" open surgery to achieve revascularization in high-risk patients; better patient selection; more effective medication regimens consisting of a statin, an antiplatelet agent, and -blocker; and improved intraoperative care and postoperative management. This review examines the risk of adverse events after vascular surgery, identifies strategies for determining and decreasing cardiac risk, and describes contemporary surgical approaches to treating patients with PAD.


Edge Computing (EC) offers a superior user experience by positioning cloud resources in close proximity to end users. The challenge of allocating edge resources efficiently while maximizing profit for the EC platform remains a sophisticated problem, especially with the added complexity of the online arrival of resource requests. To address this challenge, we propose to cast the problem as a multi-armed bandit problem and develop two novel online pricing mechanisms, the Kullback-Leibler Upper Confidence Bound (KL-UCB) algorithm and the Min-Max Optimal algorithm, for heterogeneous edge resource allocation. These mechanisms operate in real-time and do not require prior knowledge of demand distribution, which can be difficult to obtain in practice. The proposed posted pricing schemes allow users to select and pay for their preferred resources, with the platform dynamically adjusting resource prices based on observed historical data. Numerical results show the advantages of the proposed mechanisms compared to several benchmark schemes derived from traditional bandit algorithms, including the Epsilon-Greedy, basic UCB, and Thompson Sampling algorithms.


In the field of space wireless communication,laser and microwave technology have become mature,but bottleneck problems such as the limited transmission distance,the limited communication rate and so on already exist,which restrict the future applications in deep space.As a result of its short wavelength and great penetrability,X-ray has no attenuation for transmission in space when its photon energy is more than 10keV(λ0.1nm).Thus,via X-ray,a communication technology of long distance signal transmission in space can be achieved with smaller volume,lower weight and lower power.However,studies on X-ray communication and its applications still remain blank in China presently.X-ray communication was proposed and defined as a"revolutionary concept"by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of USA just a short time ago.Thus,the study on this novel space communication method with a new conception by using X-ray as information carrier will have a great scientific significance and applicable prospect.X-ray communication technology will not only be a good complement to laser and microwave communications,but will also have a unique performance on those occasions where laser and microwave could have been shielded.Study on space wireless communication technology based on X-ray will include:the theoretical research on X-ray space transmission;the research on a high power and wide bandwidth(GHz)modulated X-ray source for pulse signal;the research on high speed,week signal of X-ray detection technology;the research on acquisition,tracking and pointing technology of X-ray space communication;the research on high efficient coding theory and technology.