Above the top of the solar corona, the young, slow solar wind transitions from low-β, magnetically structured flow dominated by radial structures to high-β, less structured flow dominated by hydrodynamics. This transition, long inferred via theory, is readily apparent in the sky region close to 10° from the Sun in processed, background-subtracted solar wind images. We present image sequences collected by the inner Heliospheric Imager instrument on board the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO/HI1) in 2008 December, covering apparent distances from approximately 4° to 24° from the center of the Sun and spanning this transition in the large-scale morphology of the wind. We describe the observation and novel techniques to extract evolving image structure from the images, and we use those data and techniques to present and quantify the clear textural shift in the apparent structure of the corona and solar wind in this altitude range. We demonstrate that the change in apparent texture is due both to anomalous fading of the radial striae that characterize the corona and to anomalous relative brightening of locally dense puffs of solar wind that we term "flocculae." We show that these phenomena are inconsistent with smooth radial flow, but consistent with the onset of hydrodynamic or magnetohydrodynamic instabilities leading to a turbulent cascade in the young solar wind.


Abstract The metabolic syndrome is a group of factors associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and diabetes. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is classified into 2 major types - type 1 DM and type 2 DM - characterized by chronic hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion and insulin action, respectively. Several synthetic pharmaceuticals have been developed and clinically used for treating DM; however, these pharmaceuticals continue to cause side effects. Recently, we proposed that oxovanadium(IV) (vanadyl) and zinc(II) (zinc) complexes are potent antidiabetic agents for both type 1 and type 2 DM therapy. This article reviews the vanadyl- and zinc-allixin and their related complexes that are being currently developed as novel types of antidiabetic metal complexes, focusing on their action mechanism in terms of regulation of the insulin signaling pathway and inhibition of lipolysis signaling in adipocyte cells.


Bivalves frequently withstand shell boring attempts by predatory gastropods that result in shell damage that must be quickly repaired to ensure survival. While the processes that underlie larval shell development have been extensively studied within the context of ocean acidification (OA), it remains unclear whether shell repair is impaired by elevated pCO2. To better understand the stereotypical shell repair process, we monitored mussels (Mytilus edulis) with sublethal shell damage within both field and laboratory conditions to characterize the deposition rate, mineral composition, and structural integrity of repaired shell. These results were then compared with a laboratory experiment wherein mussels (Mytilus trossulus) repaired shell damage in one of seven pCO2 treatments (400–2500 µatm). Shell repair proceeded through four distinct stages; shell damage was first covered with an organic film, then mineralized over the course of weeks, acquiring the appearance of nacre after 8 weeks. OA did not impact the ability of mussels to close drill holes, nor the strength or density of the repaired shell after 10-weeks, as measured through mechanical testing and µCT analysis. However, as mussels progressed through each repair stage, significant interactions between pCO2, the length of exposure to treatment conditions, and the strength, inorganic content, and physiological condition of mussels within OA treatments were observed. These results suggest that, while OA may not prevent mussels from repairing shell damage, sustained exposure to elevated pCO2 may induce physiological stress responses that impose energetic constraints on the shell repair process.


Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is a privacy mechanism implemented by Apple's Safari browser, released in October 2017. ITP aims to reduce the cross-site tracking of web users by limiting the capabilities of cookies and other website data. As part of a routine security review, the Information Security Engineering team at Google has identified multiple security and privacy issues in Safari's ITP design. These issues have a number of unexpected consequences, including the disclosure of the user's web browsing habits, allowing persistent cross-site tracking, and enabling cross-site information leaks (including cross-site search). This report is a modestly expanded version of our original vulnerability submission to Apple (WebKit bug #201319), providing additional context and edited for clarity. A number of the issues discussed here have been addressed in Safari 13.0.4 and iOS 13.3, released in December 2019.


Neutron Compton scattering measurements have the potential to provide direct information about atomic momentum distributions and adiabatic energy surfaces in condensed matter. First applied to measuring the condensate fraction in superfluid helium, the technique has recently been extended to study a variety of classical and quantum liquids and solids. This article reviews the theoretical background for the interpretation of neutron Compton scattering, with emphasis on studies of solids.


The waterwheel evolved over two millennia to become an efficient machine. We analyse the physics of waterwheels, and construct simple models that show why the two most important types had very different efficiencies. Our analysis reveals the important design parameters, and captures the essential features of our oldest mechanical power source.


The purpose of this report is to describe the endovascular exclusion of an internal iliac artery (IIA) aneurysm in emergency setting, long after abdominal aortic aneurysm surgical repair. An 85-year-old male presented with a contained rupture of a huge IIA aneurysm, ten years after aortoiliac bifurcated grafting. Because of poor clinical conditions an emergency endovascular treatment was planned. A stent-graft was positioned from the proximal right branch of the bifurcated surgical prosthesis to the distal external iliac artery, covering the hypogastric aneurysm neck. One month after the procedure, CT scan demonstrated the complete exclusion of the aneurysm. Endovascular treatment of IIA aneurysms is an excellent option to reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality in high risk patients, particularly in an emergency setting.


Recently, the author defined and classified rectifying submanifolds in Euclidean spaces in [12]; extending his earlier work on rectifying curves in Euclidean 3-space done in [6]. In this article, first the author introduces the notion of rectifying submanifolds in an arbitrary Riemannian manifold. Then he defines torqued vector fields on Riemannian manifolds and classifies Riemannian manifolds which admit a torqued vector field. Finally, he characterizes and studies rectifying submanifolds in a Riemannian manifold equipped with a torqued vector field. Some related results and applications are also presented.


Our study aims to establish whether CXorf67 has a role in the pathogenesis of posterior fossa (PF) ependymoma. Among molecular groups of ependymoma defined by DNA methylation profiling, PF type-A (PFA) is the commonest. PFA ependymomas present mainly in infants and are difficult to treat, having a 10-year overall survival of approximately 40%. Published genomic studies have not identified a recurrent driver mutation in PFA ependymomas, but they do show widespread epigenetic alterations, including global loss of histone H3 K27-trimethlyation (H3K27-me3). Another childhood PF tumor, the diffuse pontine glioma (DPG), also shows loss of H3K27-me3. In DPGs, loss of H3K27-me3 is associated with H3 K27M mutation, but the mechanism in PFA ependymomas is not yet established. We reexamined published PF ependymoma sequencing data and discovered recurrent mutations in a novel gene, CXorf67. Targeted sequencing in a series of PFA ependymomas revealed CXorf67 mutations in 22/234 (9.4%). CXorf67 is a single-exon gene of unknown function. Its protein product is predicted to be "disordered," apart from one region towards the N terminus. Mutations in PFA ependymomas are missense, and there is a mutation hotspot in the "ordered" region. CXorf67 mutations are not present in other molecular groups of ependymoma and are rare in other cancers. Analyzing the DNA methylation profiles of 675 PFA ependymomas, we have discovered two subgroups, PFA-1 and PFA-2, and nine subtypes among these two subgroups. All PFA subtypes harbor CXorf67 mutations with the exception of PFA-1f and PFA-2c. Targeted sequencing in our tumor series also revealed H3 K27M mutations in PFA ependymomas at a frequency of 3.9%. Two thirds of mutations in HIST1H3B, HIST1H3C, and H3F3A were found in PFA-1f ependymomas, among which H3 mutations were present at a frequency of 35%. Mutations in H3 genes and CXorf67 were mutually exclusive across our series of PFA ependymomas. We used Affymetrix u133v2 arrays to establish that CXorf67 is expressed at high levels in PFA ependymomas, in contrast to low levels in other ependymomas from the PF and supratentorial compartments. A mechanism for CXorf67 overexpression was revealed in a similar comparative analysis of CpG island methylation profiles, which showed that the promoter region of CXorf67 is hypomethylated in PFA tumors, but not in other ependymomas. Using immunohistochemical preparations, we detected expression of CXorf67 at the protein level in the nuclei of PFA ependymomas; PFB and supratentorial tumors were immunonegative. CXorf67 overexpression is found in all PFA molecular subtypes, except PFA-1f, which shows similar levels to those in supratentorial and PFB ependymomas. CXorf67 expression is unrelated to mutation status. Elevated CXorf67 expression is found in the Daoy and U2-OS cancer cell lines. We used immunoprecipitation (IP)/mass spectrometry (MS) to study proteins bound to CXorf67 in Daoy and U2-OS. Analysis of enriched peptides following immunoprecipitation of CXorf67 indicated that it binds EZH2, SUZ12, and EED, three core components of the PRC2 complex. Complementary immunoprecipitation of SUZ12 detected CXorf67. Detecting CXorf67 mutations in almost 10% of PFA ependymomas led to the discovery of overexpression related to promoter region hypomethylation in these tumors. Overexpression of CXorf67 was detected in all PFA ependymoma subtypes except PFA-1f, 35% of which harbor an H3 K27M mutation. The protein product of CXorf67 is found in tumor cell nuclei, where our IP/MS data suggest it is bound to PRC2. Our findings suggest that global loss of H3K27-me3 in PFA ependymomas could be related to overexpression of CXorf67 and its interaction with PRC2, except in tumors where alterations in histone H3 genes are responsible. However, the selective advantage of CXorf67 mutation is yet to be explained. Citation Format: Ji Wen, Jens-Martin Hubner, Wilda Orisme, Gang Wu, Bo Tang, Sujuan Jia, John Easton, Kelly Haupfear, Brian D. Freibaum, Hong Joo Kim, Anthony High, Junmin Peng, Ruth G. Tatevossian, J. Paul Taylor, Stefan M. Pfister, Jinghui Zhang, Kristian W. Pajtler, Marcel Kool, David W. Ellison. Overexpression and mutations of CXorf67 in "infant-type" posterior fossa type-A ependymomas [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Pediatric Cancer Research: From Basic Science to the Clinic; 2017 Dec 3-6; Atlanta, Georgia. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(19 Suppl):Abstract nr PR08.


Many children grow up in an environment in which the language spoken in everyday communication is not the standard language but a regional variety. The implications of linguistic situations with co-existing varieties for teachers and speech therapists are illustrated by the example of the acquisition of the written language in Ger-man-speaking Switzerland. In the Canton of Fribourg 1641 first through sixth graders were tested using the Hamburger Schreib-Probe. A comparison to the scores of children from Germany shows that for certain graphemes the Swiss children have an ad-vantage when using the alphabetic strategy. This is due to the fact that the pronunciation of these sounds in the Swiss variety of Standard German corresponds more closely to the written language than the pronunciation variants in Germany.


Proposes a multicarrier orthogonal CDMA signaling scheme for a multiple-access communication system, such as the reverse channel of a cellular network, as an alternative to the multi-user interference cancellation approach. The average variance of cross-correlations between sequences is used as a measure for sequence design. The authors search for sets of sequences that minimize the probability of symbol detection error, given that there is imperfect synchronization among the signals, that is, the signals are quasi-synchronous. Orthogonal sequences based on the Sylvester-type Hadamard matrices (Walsh functions) are shown to provide a significant improvement over the case where a Hadamard (orthogonal) matrix is chosen at random. Computer searches suggest that this set of codes is optimal with respect to the above measure. The issue of chip pulse shaping is investigated. Optimal pulses designed to minimize multiple-access interference in quasi-synchronous systems are obtained for various bandwidths and are shown to provide a large improvement over the raised cosine pulses. A multicarrier signaling scheme is introduced in order to reduce chip level synchronization offsets between the users. >


The purpose of this study was to determine the immunodominant antigens of P. gingivalis 381 and to examine their composition and molecular weight. Fourteen periodontal patients, with high antibody titers to P. gingivalis 381 sonicated extract, were selected. Whole cell fraction, sonicated extract and outer membrane protein of P. gingivalis 381 were used as antigens in the untreated form as well as in the heated form and treated with papain. Total volume of sugar, protein and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was estimated in each one of the three antigens. Antibody binding capacity to the three antigens was evaluated, before and after heat and papain treatment, by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, the immunoblotting analysis was performed. The quantitative assays showed that the whole cell fraction contained about ten times more LPS than the other two preparations while the outer membrane protein contained twice the amount of carbohydrates than the other two preparations. The 14 sera were classified into three groups according to the rate of reduction of antibody binding under heat and papain treatment. Concerning heat treatment, most of the sera showed a high reduction of antibody binding when reacting with the sonicated extract. However, antibody binding to the outer membrane protein antigen was hardly decreased by heat treatment in three sera. Also, these three sera showed almost the same response to the whole cell fraction antigen under heat treatment. Under papain treatment, almost all sera showed a moderate reduction of antibody binding when they reacted with the sonicated extract and whole cell fraction while they showed a low reduction of antibody binding when they reacted with the outer membrane protein. From the present study it could be concluded that a main proteinaceous antigen of P. gingivalis was recognized by the majority of the patients suggesting that the proteinaceous portion is an important part of the antigen, while some patients seemed to recognize the LPS or carbohydrate as the antigenic determinant.


The relationships of the yellow-pigmented hydrogen-oxidizing species Pseudomonas flava, Pseudomonas pseudoflava, Pseudomonas palleronii, Pseudomonas taeniospiralis, and "Pseudomonas carboxydoflava," which are all members of the acidovorans ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) complex in rRNA superfamily III, were studied by using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA):rRNA hybridization, immunotyping, numerical analysis of biochemical and auxanographic features, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cellular proteins, numerical analysis of fatty acid patterns, and DNA:DNA hybridization. Our results show that these five yellow-pigmented hydrogen-oxidizing Pseudomonas species are more closely related to each other than to other taxa belonging to the acidovorans rRNA complex. We propose the transfer of these species to a new genus, Hydrogenophaga, with the following four species: Hydrogenophaga flava (formerly Pseudomonas flava), Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava (to accommodate both Pseudomonas pseudoflava and "Pseudomonas carboxydoflava"), Hydrogenophaga taeniospiralis (formerly Pseudomonas taeniospiralis), and Hydrogenophaga palleronii (formerly Pseudomonas palleronii). The type species is H. flava, with monotype strain DSM 619 (= LMG 2185 = CCUG 1658). Because H. flava grows slowly and unreliably, but is genotypically and protein electrophoretically very similar to H. pseudoflava, the latter species can be used as an alternative reference taxon for the new genus. The type strains of H. pseudoflava, H. taeniospiralis, and H. palleronii are strains GA3 (= LMG 5945 = CCUG 13799). DSM 2082 (= LMG 7170 = CCUG 15921), and Stanier 362t1 (= LMG 2366t1 = CCUG 20334), respectively.


Osteopontin (OPN), a secreted phosphoprotein, has been implicated in various biological phenomena (e.g. bone development, sepsis, tumor progression, and metastasis). Its role in any context is poorly understood. OPN contains a conserved Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) sequence, and binds to cells via integrin-mediated mechanisms. Using recombinant human osteopontin-glutathione S-transferase fusion protein and our improved hybridoma fusion partner (Sp2/mIL6), we raised murine monoclonal antibodies against osteopontin. We characterized two antibodies that recognize not only recombinant but also native human osteopontin. These antibodies do not cross-react with mouse osteopontin (recombinant protein or that secreted by ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells), or bovine bone osteopontin, suggesting that they recognize epitopes unique to human OPN. One antibody specifically inhibited adhesion of MDA-MB-435 human breast cancer cells and ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells to human osteopontin. This antibody failed to recognize osteopontin cleaved by thrombin, which cleaves adjacent to the cell binding domain. We previously showed that thrombin cleavage reduces osteopontin cell binding activity. Thus we postulate that this monoclonal antibody recognizes and interferes with the function of the RGD/thrombin cleavage region of human OPN.


In the finite element integration of the convection-dispersion equation over a groundwater domain, boundary conditions of the third (or Cauchy) type may or may not be incorporated with the variational statement. While the former development (formulation A) requires the application of Green's first identity to both the convective and the dispersive terms, the latter (formulation B) does not. Although both approaches are equivalent at the theoretical level, they behave differently from a computational standpoint. The numerical solution proves more accurate and stable if Green's lemma is not applied to the convective term, since significant errors arising from the representation of the Darcy velocity over the elements are avoided. Point sources or sinks representing injection or pumping wells can be treated as either sources (sinks) distributed over a small volume or external boundaries with prescribed contaminant flux. It is shown that when the well bore is excluded from the flow field, formulation A yields the same matrix addition for an injection (abstraction) well as formulation B does for an abstraction (injection) well (reciprocity of the results). The computational behaviors of these alternative modeling procedures are illustrated with a number of significant numerical examples.


Illumination estimation is an important component of color constancy and automatic white balancing. A number of methods of combining illumination estimates obtained from multiple subordinate illumination estimation methods now appear in the literature. These combinational methods aim to provide better illumination estimates by fusing the information embedded in the subordinate solutions. The existing combinational methods are surveyed and analyzed here with the goals of determining: 1) the effectiveness of fusing illumination estimates from multiple subordinate methods; 2) the best method of combination; 3) the underlying factors that affect the performance of a combinational method; and 4) the effectiveness of combination for illumination estimation in multiple-illuminant scenes. The various combinational methods are categorized in terms of whether or not they require supervised training and whether or not they rely on high-level scene content cues (e.g., indoor versus outdoor). Extensive tests and enhanced analyzes using three data sets of real-world images are conducted. For consistency in testing, the images were labeled according to their high-level features (3D stages, indoor/outdoor) and this label data is made available on-line. The tests reveal that the trained combinational methods (direct combination by support vector regression in particular) clearly outperform both the non-combinational methods and those combinational methods based on scene content cues.


Changes in live weight and in the water, Na + and K + content of the tissues and faeces have been examined in adult male Periplaneta americana in various states of hydration. During dehydration the haemolymph volume decreases markedly, but the Na + and K + concentrations rise only slightly. Less than 25% of the Na + removed from the haemolymph during dehydration was found to be excreted, but the K + excreted during dehydration was in excess of that removed from the haemolymph alone. It seems likely that the major tissue for regulating the haemolymph Na + during dehydration and rehydration is the fat body, in which dehydration causes an increase, and rehydration a decrease, in the Na:K ratio. The Na + and K + content of the fat body was found to be variable in both hydrated and dehydrated animals and absolute changes in the ion content of the tissue could not be estimated because of unknown changes in the amount of food reserves and excretory products.


Introduction: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is higher among children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) households. Legislation banning smoking in public places has been linked with reduced SHS exposure in children. However, socioeconomic patterning in responses to legislation has been little explored. Methods: A total of 3,083 children aged 10–11 years, within 75 Welsh primary schools, completed questionnaires either before legislation or 1 year later. Saliva samples were provided by 2,787 of these children for cotinine assay. Regression analyses assessed socioeconomic differences in SHS exposure, and associations of legislation with exposure among children from low, medium, and high SES households. Changes in parental smoking in the home, car-based exposure, and perceived norms were assessed. Results: SHS exposure was highest among children from lower SES households. The likelihood of providing a sample containing an undetectable level of cotinine increased significantly after legislation among children from high [relative risk ratio (RRR) = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.04–2.00] and medium SES households (RRR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.20–2.30), while exposure among children from lower SES households remained unchanged. Parental smoking in the home, car-based SHS exposure, and perceived smoking prevalence were highest among children from low SES households. Parental smoking in the home and children's estimates of adult smoking prevalence declined only among children from higher SES households. Conclusions: Post-legislation reductions in SHS exposure were limited to children from higher SES households. Children from lower SES households continue to have high levels of exposure, particularly in homes and cars, and to perceive that smoking is the norm among adults.


ABSTRACT Most empirical research on the relationship between peer victimization, aggression, and mental health has been conducted with correlational designs. Much of this research has also focused primarily on linking peer victimization with either the potential aggressive behaviors of victims or a deterioration in their mental health. This study analyzes the relationship between peer victimization, peer aggression, and depressive symptoms in adolescents over time. The participants are 194 adolescents (49.2% boys, 50.8% girls) aged between 10 and 13 years (M = 10.88, SD = 0.84). The results of the growth modeling analysis indicate that the trajectories are interconnected: as victimization decreases, adolescent aggression and depressive symptoms also decrease. In addition, it is observed that victimization decreased in the same way in boys and girls, while aggression and depressive symptoms showed a smaller reduction in girls. Finally, the results and their potential practical implications are discussed.


This chapter presents a procedure to design and control power electronic converters (PECs), which includes a zero-based analysis as a dynamical system response criterion for dimensioning converter passive elements. For this purpose, a nonideal boost DC-DC converter (converter considering its parasitic losses) is dynamically modeled and analyzed in steady state as an application example. The steady-state model is obtained from the average nonlinear model. The steady-state model allows deducing expressions for equilibrium conversion ratio M D ð Þ and efficiency η of the system. Conditions for the converter conduction modes are analyzed. Simulations are made to see how parasitic losses affect both M D ð Þ and η . Then, inductor current and capacitor voltage ripple analyses are carried out to find lower boundaries for inductor and capacitor values. The values of the boost DC-DC converter passive elements are selected taking into account both steady-state and zero-based analyses. A nonideal boost DC-DC converter and a PI-based current mode control (CMC) structure are designed to validate the proposed procedure. Finally, the boost DC-DC converter is implemented in PSIM and system operating requirements are satisfactorily verified.


Carl Schmitt, who died in 1985, did not live long enough to witness the heyday of globalization after the Cold War, especially in the field of constitutional law. In the decades following his death, new developments of constitutional law around the world have been fermenting. Judicial review, along with written constitutions with bills of rights, has been established in most countries or regions. In constitutional practice, the political salience of higher courts or constitutional courts looms large. Constitutional judges have been learning from their international colleagues in deciding hard cases like abortion, same-sex marriage, and even national election disputes. The power of the judiciary has expanded globally.
Old ideas, however, can be as powerful as new ones. Against the contemporary backdrop of the globalization of constitutionalism, this chapter tries to somberly reflect on the new constitutionalism, especially the judicialization of highly political issues, by thinking with an old constitutional thinker, Carl Schmitt. Two prominent features of the new constitutionalism — judicial centrism and constitutional globalism — can be better understood and better evaluated with Carl Schmitt's insights.


40 years ago the outcome of computer programs was in the form of long listings covered by numbers; even the format of those numbers was determined by developers. Throughout the latest 30 years program views and results are shown in a wide variety of shapes and variants, but all these possibilities are predefined and fixed in code by developers; nothing outside of their approved solutions is allowed. My vision from now on into the future: developers are responsible only for correct work of a program (calculations, link with the database, etc.) and suggest a good default interface but not determine all possible scenarios; only users decide WHAT, WHEN, and HOW to show. This will be a revolution in our interaction with computers, but there are obvious questions. How this step can be made? Do all users need such change? Is it going to be a burden for users or a welcome revolution?


Rasmussen syndrome affects previously normal people and forever changes their lives and the lives of their families. Although understood as a probable autoimmune condition, medical treatment remains limited and surgery remains the only cure, although with inevitable functional consequences. Difficulties remain in deciding on the optimal timing of surgery. Here, we review data available to aid clinicians faced with making the decision of when to recommend hemispherectomy. Not all patients have rapidly progressive disease, however, and such patients may benefit from immunomodulatory treatment. Thus, a patient's clinical course requires careful evaluation in order to identify those who would benefit most from early surgery.


Introduction Increasingly, health care is delivered through a patient-centered model, and patients engage in shared decision-making with their medical providers. As a result, medical educators are placing more emphasis on patient-centered communication skills. However, few published curricula currently offer a comprehensive discussion of skills for providing patient-centered education (PCE), a key component of shared decision-making. We developed an interactive, two-session workshop aiming to improve students' abilities to provide PCE. Methods Our workshop included didactic instruction, group discussion, and interactive simulations. The workshop was delivered to 50 clinical clerkship medical students. The first session concentrated on educating patients about their diagnoses, while the second session focused on providing patients with information about medications and other treatments. We used detailed and realistic role-play exercises as a core tool for student practice and demonstration of confidence. To evaluate the workshop, we used pre- and postsurveys. Results The sessions were well received by students, who strongly agreed both before and after the workshop that PCE was an important skill. Students also strongly agreed that the role-play exercises were an effective tool for learning PCE. They demonstrated significant improvements in their confidence to name important elements of PCE and to deliver PCE in the future. Discussion This workshop fills a curricular gap in offering a comprehensive and interactive curriculum for improving students' abilities to provide critical PCE. The format and content should be easily adaptable to various disciplines, learners, and teaching modalities.


The paper introduces deterministic timing schema or formulae for predicting the best and worst case execution times of real time parallel programs. Timing schema (J. Kim and A.C. Shaw; H.R. Callison and A.C. Shaw) are formulae based on source program elements to calculate the execution time of programs. The total execution time is computed from the schema provided for a variety of parallel program constructs in distributed message passing systems as well as using remote procedure calls. As an initial attempt to validate the proposition, we have conducted a series of experiments on a distributed memory multiprocessor system based on transputer nodes. We present deterministic timing schema for a variety of Occam constructs and test them for their validity with real systems in the parallel processing. An automated program for the determination of timing schema for parallel programs has been developed, which gives quite tolerable predictions.


Growth in the legal profession has had different implications on access to lawyers worldwide. National Taiwan University College of Law is honored to have Professor Ethan Michelson in this roundtable discussion to compare and contrast the trend in supply and access to lawyers in the U.S. and China. Based on his survey, Professor Michelson highlights the expansion of the legal profession in the U.S. and China, and explains the migration of lawyers. Professor Wen-Chen Chang presents a brief comparison of the developments in the legal profession of China and Taiwan. In answering to comments and questions raised by Professor Yun-Chien Chang and other participants, Professor Michelson compares the type of cases practiced by lawyers that make the bulk of work in legal practice in the U.S. and China. He further explains registration of lawyers in China, and their potential roles in public policy and human rights.


Breast cancer is the deadliest neoplasm in women globally, resulting in a significant health burden. In many cases, breast cancer becomes resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapies. It is believed that genetics is not the major cause of breast cancer. Other contributing risk factors include age at first childbirth, age at menarche, age at menopause, use of oral contraceptives, race and ethnicity, and diet. Diet has been shown to influence breast cancer incidence, recurrence, and prognosis. Soy isoflavones have long been a staple in Asian diets, and there appears to be an increase, albeit modest, compared to Asian populations, in soy consumption among Americans. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens that have antiestrogenic as well as estrogenic effects on breast cancer cells in culture, in animal models, and in clinical trials. This study will investigate anticancer and tumor promoting properties of dietary isoflavones and evaluate their effects on breast cancer development. Furthermore, this work seeks to elucidate the putative molecular pathways by which these phytochemicals modulate breast cancer risk by synergizing or antagonizing the estrogen receptor (ER) and in ER-independent signaling mechanisms.


In this nuanced revisionist history of modern American poetry, John Lowney investigates the Depression era's impact on late modernist American poetry from the socioeconomic crisis of the 1930s through the emergence of the new social movements of the 1960s. Informed by an ongoing scholarly reconsideration of 1930s American culture and concentrating on Left writers whose historical consciousness was profoundly shaped by the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, Lowney articulates the Left's challenges to national collective memory and redefines the importance of late modernism in American literary history. The late modernist writers Lowney studies most closely - Muriel Rukeyser, Elizabeth Bishop, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Thomas McGrath, and George Oppen - are not all customarily associated with the 1930s, nor are they commonly seen as literary peers. By examining these late modernist writers comparatively, Lowney foregrounds differences of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and social class and region while emphasizing how each writer developed poetic forms that responded to the cultural politics and socioaesthetic debates of the 1930s. In so doing, he calls into question the boundaries that have limited the scholarly dialogue about modern poetry. No other study of American poetry has considered the particular gathering of careers that Lowney considers. As poets whose collective historical consciousness was profoundly shaped by the turmoil of the Depression and war years and the Cold War's repression or rewriting of history, their diverse talents represent a distinct generational impact on U.S. and international literary history.


Background To investigate the changes of cross sectional area (CSA) in paraspinal muscles upon magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal osteoporotic spinal compression fractures. Methods We reviewed 81 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, who had underwent MRI examination. The patients were divided into 51 patients who had osteoporotic spinal compression fractures (group I), and 30 patients who without fractures (group II). Group I were subdivided into IA and IB, based on whether they were younger (IA) of older (IB) than 70 years of age. We additionally measured body mass index and BMD. The CSA of multifidus, erector spinae, paraspinal muscles, psoas major (PT), and intervertebral (IV) discs were measured. The degree of fatty atrophy was estimated using three grades. Results The BMD and T-score of group I were significantly lower than those of group II. The CSA of erector spinae, paraspinal muscles, and PT in the group I was significantly smaller than that of group II. The CSA of paraspinal muscles in group IB were significantly smaller than those of group IA. The CSA of erector spinae, mutifidus, and PT in group IB were smaller than those of group IA, but the difference was not statistically significant. Group 1 exhibited greater fat infiltration in the paraspinal muscle than group II. Conclusions Postmenopausal osteoporotic spinal compression fracture is associated with profound changes of the lumbar paraspinal muscle, reduction of CSA, increased CSA of IV disc, and increased intramuscular fat infiltration.


Complex chromosome rearrangements (CCRs) involve more than two breakpoints on two or more chromosomes are uncommon occurrences. We report a female with developmental delay with a complex three-way balanced translocation [46,XX,t(1;4;20)(p32;q32;q12)] identified by karyotyping.This paper is the first report of reciprocal translocation involving 1p, 4q and 20q associated with the developmental delay. The developmental delay may be due to the rearrangement of genetic material at these breakpoints and this incident may cause developmental delay.


Background: Evidence suggests that lower serum undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) may be negatively associated with cardiometabolic health. We investigated whether individuals with a suppression of ucOC following an increase in dietary vitamin K1 exhibit a relative worsening of cardiometabolic risk factors. Materials and Methods: Men (n = 20) and women (n = 10) aged 62 ± 10 years participated in a randomized, controlled, crossover study. The primary analysis involved using data obtained from participants following a high vitamin K1 diet (HK; 4-week intervention of increased leafy green vegetable intake). High and low responders were defined based on the median percent reduction (30%) in ucOC following the HK diet. Blood pressure (resting and 24 h), arterial stiffness, plasma glucose, lipid concentrations, and serum OC forms were assessed. Results: Following the HK diet, ucOC and ucOC/tOC were suppressed more (p < 0.01) in high responders (41 and 29%) versus low responders (12 and 10%). The reduction in ucOC and ucOC/tOC was not associated with changes in blood pressure, arterial stiffness, plasma glucose, or lipid concentrations in the high responders (p > 0.05). Discussion/Conclusion: Suppression of ucOC via consumption of leafy green vegetables has no negative effects on cardiometabolic health, perhaps, in part, because of cross-talk mechanisms.


We show that wild-type human p53 transactivates the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) promoter in vivo in a dose-dependent manner, implicating p53 in promotion of cell proliferation. This activation is sensitive to the expression of cellular oncoprotein MDM2 and human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV-18) E6 protein. The p53 response element is localized within -15 and -569 of the promoter. The EGFR promoter does not have a TATA box, and has low activity in Saos-2 cells in the absence of p53. Results from our in vivo transient transfection assays suggest that p53-binding sites, without any other known promoter element, can act as bidirectional promoters in the presence of wild-type p53. Gel retardation analyses suggest that p53 may serve to nucleate TBP on a promoter. We propose that p53 successfully nucleates the transcription complex, possibly via direct interaction with TFIID, and activates the EGFR promoter.


A bi-objective optimization problem for flapping airfoils is solved to maximize the time-averaged thrust coefficient and the propulsive efficiency. Design variables include the plunging amplitude, the pitching amplitude and the phase shift angle. A well defined Kriging model is used to substitute the time-consuming high fidelity model, and a multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed as the search algorithm. The optimization results show that the propulsive efficiency can be improved by reducing the plunging amplitude and the phase shift angle in a proper way. The results of global sensitivity analysis using the Sobol's method show that both of the time-averaged thrust coefficient and the propulsive efficiency are most sensitive to the plunging amplitude, and second most sensitive to the pitching amplitude. It is also observed that the phase shift angle has an un-negligible influence on the propulsive efficiency, and has little effect on the time-averaged thrust coefficient.


Fluctuations in the time-averaged mean-square displacement for random walks on hypercubic lattices with static disorder are investigated. It is analytically shown that the diffusion coefficient becomes a random variable as a manifestation of weak ergodicity breaking. For two- and higher- dimensional systems, the distribution function of the diffusion coefficient is found to be the Mittag-Leffler distribution, which is the same as for the continuous-time random walk, whereas for one-dimensional systems a different distribution (a modified Mittag-Leffler distribution) arises. We also present a comparison of these two distributions in terms of an ergodicity-breaking parameter and show that the modified Mittag-Leffler distribution has a larger deviation from ergodicity. Some remarks on similarities between these results and observations in biological experiments are presented.


AbstractIn this paper we extend the literature on the relationship between public debts, deficits and government bond yields in the following directions: we examine a set of 11 Central and Eastern European countries during the period 2006–2015; we apply a novel econometric technique that allows for spatial effects; and we test forward-looking instead of current values of explanatory variables thus addressing endogeneity problem. We find that there is overall a highly significant positive effect of both public debt and deficit on long-term interest rates. This effect is found to be larger in CEECs than in developed countries. Moreover, deficits are found to exert a large and significant indirect effect, and these spillovers amount to more than 50% of the overall effect.


Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are rapidly developing as an alternative energy source globally and in the Greater Atlantic region of the United States. Despite the pace of development, there are still many uncertainties surrounding best practices in assessing the economic impacts of offshore wind on regional fi shing industries. This work aims to provide an overview and assessment of industry perceptions, methods, results, and knowledge gaps pertaining to economic areas of concern related to interactions between OWFs and fi shing industries in the region. We provide a compilation of studies focusing on industry perceptions and impacts of OWFs on the fi shing industry, focusing on four key economic areas of interest: fuel expenditures; insurance costs; fi shing industry revenues, income, and livelihoods; and fi shing support businesses. Our fi ndings suggest four overarching knowledge gap themes that persist across all economic areas of focus: (1) a lack of economic data or economically centered data collection efforts, (2) minimal works aiming to quantify the economic impacts of key areas of concern, (3) a lack of peer-reviewed models and meth-ods in quantifying economic impacts, and (4) limited syntheses containing best practices or lessons learned associated with quantifying the comprehensive economic impacts posed by OWFs on fi sheries. This article aims to build awareness in areas where interdisciplinary collaboration can take place as well as serve as a foundation for informing best practice guidance as it pertains to assessing economic impacts imposed by OWFs on the fi shing industry.


Pulmonary hyaline membranes commonly found in the lungs of prematurely born infants who succumb soon after birth have been shown to result from necrosis of the epithelial cells lining respiratory bronchioles, and to form in situ. Additional material incorporated into the membranes is assumed to be part of an exudate caused by injury to the bronchiolar walls. Rarer cases of infants surviving for 72-96 hr., instead of the usual 12-24, have provided indirect evidence for injury also to the alveolar linings, indicated by the emergence of a characteristic cuboidal epithelium similar to that which can be readily induced experimentally. The initial changes in alveoli cannot be observed with the light microscope but they are suggested to be the cause of the loss of surfactant, which has been repeatedly demonstrated by other means. Terminal bronchioles in a large proportion of affected infants also show patchy necrosis of the columnar lining. Further evidence of more widespread injury has come from cases surviving longer than 96 hr. The lung of an infant born 6 wk. prematurely (by dates) who suffered from respiratory distress since birth and died aged 5 days showed lesions in alveoli, bronchioles and even in bronchi. Typically, there are hyaline membranes in respiratory bronchioles, collapse of alveolar tissue and congestion, but additionally the bronchioles and bronchi show necrosis of the epithelial lining and there are also reparative changes in the alveolar lining. Detailed consideration of the purely morbid anatomical changes is wanting and their significance in regard to the pathogenesis of the disease, particularly of the early stages, remains to be fully evaluated. The idea that alveolar epithelial injury occurs and is the cause of the collapse through loss of surfactant makes much clearer the apparent paradox of an identical clinical syndrome occurring with or without hyaline membranes in the lungs. A progressive necrosis ascending the respiratory passages and dependent on the duration of survival seems the most probable basis of the disease.


Summer precipitation patterns of Shandong Province are relatively independent with regard to the whole eastern China region.To study the rules and causes of precipitation variations,three main climate modes-on the annual,seasonal,and climatic intra-seasonal oscillation(CISO) scales-are extracted using a harmonic analysis method based on daily precipitation of Shandong during 1965-2009 and multi-year averaged pentad precipitation at 722 stations in China during 1971-2000.Among the three precipitation climate modes,the annual mode is closely related to the annual cycle of Earth-Atmosphere thermal system,which is characterized by the periodic dry and wet seasons.The seasonal mode reflects the monsoon effect on precipitation and the main flood season's contribution to annual precipitation variations.As an important climatic signal,the CISO mode is more evident during summer monsoon.The gradual modulations of the CISO mode,seasonal mode,and annual mode control the annual variation of precipitation.To study the relationship between precipitation climate modes and atmospheric circulations,an East Asian Westerly Jet Index(EAWJI) is defined in this paper.It is revealed that precipitation of Shandong is closely related to EAWJI in all climate modes.A wet or dry phase of each climate mode corresponds to a specific atmospheric circulation pattern.The phase of the annual mode is reverse to that of EAWJI.During the wet phase of the seasonal mode(weak phase of EAWJI),the atmospheric circulation in and around Shandong is characterized by upper-level divergence and low-level convergence.A reversed atmospheric circulation exists for the dry phase(strong phase for EAWJI).In the summer wet phase of CISO mode(strong phase of EAWJI),Shandong is controlled by upper-level divergence and low-level convergence.Again,the dry phase is corresponding to a reversed circulation structure.The methodology employed in this research,i.e.studying the precipitation climatic variations in terms of independent components of different temporal scales,


We consider zero-delay or fixed finite-delay joint source channel coding of Markov sources using finite memory encoder and decoder. The objective is to choose designs that minimize expected total distortion over a finite horizon, expected discounted distortion over an infinite horizon and average distortion per unit time over an infinite horizon. The above problem is a dynamic team with non-classical information structure. We develop a sequential decomposition for this problem. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a systematic methodology for determination of optimal joint source-channel encoding-decoding strategies for zero-delay or fixed finite-delay point-to-point communication with limited memory


We tested the hypothesis that the level of protein adsorption onto polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) is influenced by the chain stiffness of the polymers forming the multilayer. The implication being that by altering the chain stiffness, PEMs can be formed that promote or inhibit protein adsorption. Protein adsorption to PEMs consisting of flexible and semi-flexible polyelectrolytes was investigated. The flexible polyelectrolytes were poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and the semi-flexible polyelectrolytes were sulfated chitosan (SC) and cationic guar gum (CGG). Polyelectrolytes were used in pairs to produce four types of polyelectrolyte multilayer films. Moreover, each of these films could be terminated with either of the polyelectrolytes resulting in protein adsorption being studied on 8 systems. Protein adsorption was investigated by optical reflectometry and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation using bovine serum albumin as the test protein. We found that when a pair of semi-flexible polyelectrolytes was used very little protein adsorption took place, irrespective of which polyelectrolyte was used to terminate the film. When the film was formed by flexible polyelectrolytes, significant protein adsorption took place and the degree of adsorption depended strongly on which polyelectrolyte was used to terminate the film. We explain these observations by considering the conformation of the polyelectrolyte in the outermost region of the film and relate this to the flexibility of the polyelectrolyte chains employed to produce the polyelectrolyte multilayer.


Introduction In patients with septic shock, low levels of circulating immunoglobulins are common and their kinetics appear to be related to clinical outcome. The pivotal role of immunoglobulins in the host immune response to infection suggests that additional therapy with polyclonal intravenous immunoglobulins may be a promising option in patients with septic shock. Immunoglobulin preparations enriched with the IgM component have largely been used in sepsis, mostly at standard dosages (250 mg/kg per day), regardless of clinical severity and without any dose adjustment based on immunoglobulin serum titres or other biomarkers. We hypothesised that a personalised dose of IgM enriched preparation based on patient IgM titres and aimed to achieve a specific threshold of IgM titre is more effective in decreasing mortality than a standard dose. Methods and analysis The study is designed as a multicentre, interventional, randomised, single-blinded, prospective, investigator sponsored, two-armed study. Patients with septic shock and IgM titres <60 mg/dL will be randomly assigned to an IgM titre-based treatment or a standard treatment group in a ratio of 1:1. The study will involve 12 Italian intensive care units and 356 patients will be enrolled. Patients assigned to the IgM titre-based treatment will receive a personalised daily dose based on an IgM serum titre aimed at achieving serum titres above 100 mg/dL up to discontinuation of vasoactive drugs or day 7 after enrolment. Patients assigned to the IgM standard treatment group will receive IgM enriched preparation daily for three consecutive days at the standard dose of 250 mg/kg. The primary endpoint will be all-cause mortality at 28 days. Ethics and dissemination The study protocol was approved by the ethics committees of the coordinating centre (Comitato Etico dell'Area Vasta Emilia Nord) and collaborating centres. The results of the trial will be published within 12 months from the end of the study and the steering committee has the right to present them at public symposia and conferences. Trial registration details The trial protocol and information documents have received a favourable opinion from the Area Vasta Emilia Nord Ethical Committee on 12 September 2019. The trial protocol has been registered on EudraCT (2018-001613-33) on 18 April 2018 and on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04182737) on 2 December 2019.


Objectives
Infant cereal consumption among 6-11.9 month old infants has declined from 72% in 2002 to 52% in 2016. This is especially concerning for breastfed infants since infant cereal is a top source of iron and other key nutrients. The purpose of this study is to determine how infant cereal consumption impacts nutrient intakes of breastfed infants.

Methods
FITS 2016 is a cross sectional survey of caregivers across the U.S. assessing food and nutrient intakes. A 24 hour dietary recall was administered to caregivers of children aged 0-47.9 months (n = 3235). For this analysis, only infants aged 6-11.9 months who were either breastfed (no infant formula provided, n = 296) or mixed fed (breastmilk and infant formula provided, n = 102) were included. If any amount of infant cereal was consumed, the infant was considered a cereal user. Dietary supplements were excluded to determine usual nutrient intakes from diet only. Infants were categorized as a breastfed cereal user, breastfed non-user, mixed fed cereal user, or mixed fed non-user. The percentage of infants with dietary nutrient intakes below the adequate intake (AI) or estimated average requirement (EAR) were analyzed for significant differences between cereal users and non-users among breastfed and mixed fed infants using paired T-tests.

Results
Among breastfed infants, a significantly higher percentage of cereal users had intakes above the EAR or AI level for iron, vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin A, zinc, potassium, and choline compared to non-users (See Figure 1). Among mixed fed infants, a significantly higher percentage of cereal users had intakes above the EAR or AI level for iron, magnesium, and choline (See Figure 2). Most infants had inadequate intakes of vitamin D.

Conclusions
Breastfed and mixed fed infants who consume infant cereal are more likely to have adequate intakes of iron, choline, and magnesium than their non-infant cereal consuming counterparts. Among breastfed infants, infant cereal consumers are also more likely to consume adequate amounts of 12 other nutrients compared to non-users. Infant cereal is a source of many key nutrients and is an important complementary food, especially for breastfed infants.

Funding Sources
Nestlé Research Center, Switzerland.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


In harsh manufacturing environment, the twin goals of minimising downtime and maximising productivity are vital for all companies. Not only is it necessary to maximise returns for shareholders, for many companies it is as simple as whether they stay in business or not. As part of this quest for improved productivity, OEMs and systems integrators are looking to push their machines and processes to ever-increasing speeds. In modern machinery applications (such as packaging, palletising or conveying), it would not be considered unusual to switch three-phase electric motors every second or so. Even under almost ideal operating conditions, and specifying high-quality products, the electrical life of an electromechanical contactor is typically exceeded in fewer than two million operations. At this point, the contactor would have to be replaced, resulting in lost production time and increased costs with respect to labour and replacement devices. The whole life cost, including machine downtime and repair, needs to be included in any calculations when it comes to making the decision between the solid state and the more traditional electro-mechanical contactor.


Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. In recent years a consistent increase in the prevalence, and concomitantly, in the social and economic impact of the disease, has been reported. In order to provide data for the cost of pediatric asthma and its determinants in Turkish children, a study was performed in a single outpatient clinic, which encompasses a questionnaire-guided interview and retrospective evaluation of the last year files. From the 183 patients enrolled, most were males (65.6%) and atopics (63.5%), with a disease severity of mild intermittent (67.7%). Mean annual total costs per patient was US $991.7 +/- 73.2 (median = 688.8) and the largest proportion of the direct costs was due to outpatient clinic costs (48.5%). Mean cost of any hospitalization per patient was US $955.5 +/- 16.5. In multivariate analysis, the disease severity, current use of preventive drugs and current use of emergency sevice and/or current hospitalization appeared to be the main determinants of direct costs. Adequate control of the disease plays a key role in decreasing the total direct costs of pediatric asthma although it increases the medication and outpatient costs.


Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a common infectious disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. Successful treatment of the disease requires prolonged intake (6–8 months) of multiple antibiotics with potentially detrimental consequences on the composition and functional potential of the human microbiome. The protocol described in the current study aims to identify microbiome (oral and gut) signatures associated with TB pathogenesis, treatment response and outcome in humans. Methods and analysis Four hundred and fifty, newly diagnosed patients with TB from three district levels (Peshawar, Mardan and Swat) TB diagnosis and treatment centres, will be recruited in this non-interventional, prospective cohort study and will be followed and monitored until treatment completion. Demographic and dietary intake data, anthropometric measurement and blood, stool and salivary rinse samples will be collected at baseline, day 15, month-2 and end of the treatment. Additionally, we will recruit age (±3 years) and sex-matched healthy controls (n=30). Blood sampling will allow monitoring of the immune response during the treatment, while salivary rinse and faecal samples will allow monitoring of dynamic changes in oral and gut microbiome diversity. Within this prospective cohort study, a nested case–control study design will be conducted to assess perturbations in oral and gut microbiome diversity (microbial dysbiosis) and immune response and compare between the patients groups (treatment success vs failure). Ethics and dissemination The study has received ethics approval from the Ethic Board of Khyber Medical University Peshawar, and administrative approval from Provincial TB Control Programme of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The study results will be presented in national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number NCT04985994.


This study examines the market reaction to the announcement of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) measured by abnormal return. The study sample consisted of 55 CEO turnover announcements using the t-test to test information content of the announcement. The author groups the changes into two factors: (1) change process (routine and non-routine) and (2) substitute origin (inside and outside). The market reacts significantly positively to the announcement of CEO turnover routinely with the origin of the replacement from inside (inside) the company. Different reactions occur in the announcement of routine outside and non-routine insidediary CEO turnover where announcements are responded negatively and significantly. The market does not react to the announcement of non routine outside CEO changes. These results show that investors in Indonesia react positively to routine CEO turnover inside because investors believe that new CEOs will continue their strategy and leadership style and have lower levels of uncertainty. Negative reactions to routine outside CEO turnover are caused by the market belief that the successor will not continue the previous CEO's strategy and has a high degree of uncertainty. The cause of a negative market reaction to the announcement of a non-routine inside CEO turnover is that a replacement CEO will continue the old leadership style and jointly be responsible for the company's poor performance.


BACKGROUND
Workplace surveillance identifies chronic beryllium disease (CBD) but it remains unknown over what time frame mild CBD will progress to a more severe form.

METHODS
We examined physiology and treatment in 229 beryllium sensitization (BeS) and 171 CBD surveillance-identified cases diagnosed from 1982 to 2002. Never smoking CBD cases (81) were compared to never smoking BeS patients (83) to assess disease progression. We compared CBD machinists to non-machinists to examine effects of exposure.

RESULTS
At baseline, CBD and BeS cases did not differ significantly in exposure time or physiology. CBD patients were more likely to have machined beryllium. Of CBD cases, 19.3% went on to require oral immunosuppressive therapy. At 30 years from first exposure, measures of gas exchange were significantly worse and total lung capacity was lower for CBD subjects. Machinists had faster disease progression as measured by pulmonary function testing and gas exchange.

CONCLUSIONS
Medical surveillance for CBD identifies individuals at significant risk of disease progression and impairment with sufficient time since first exposure.


Existing floorplanning algorithms compact blocks to the left and bottom. Although the compaction obtains an optimal area it may not be good to meet other objectives such as minimizing total wire length which is the first-order objective. It is not known in the literature how to place blocks to obtain an optimal wire length. In this paper, we first show that the problem can be formulated as linear programming. Thereafter, instead of using the general but slow linear programming, we propose an efficient min-cost flow based approach to solve it. Our approach guarantees to obtain the minimum of total wire length in polynomial time and meanwhile keep the minimum area by distributing white space smarter for a given floorplan topology. We also show that the approach can be easily extended to handle constraints such as fixed-frame (fixed area), IO pins, pre-placed blocks, boundary blocks, range placement, alignment and abutment, rectilinear blocks, soft blocks, one-dimensional cluster placement, and bounded net delay, without loss of optimality. Practically, the algorithm is so efficient in that it finishes in less than 0.4 seconds for all MCNC benchmarks of block placement. It is also very effective. Experimental results show we can improve 4.2% of wire length even on very compact floorplans. Thus it provides an ideal way of post-floorplanning (refine floorplanning).


This review paper discusses the properties of nanomaterials, namely graphene, molybdenum disulfide, carbon nanotubes, and quantum dots for unique sensing applications. Based on the specific analyte to be detected and the functionalization techniques that are employed, some noteworthy sensors that have been developed are discussed. Further, biocompatible sensors fabricated from these materials capable of detecting specific chemical compounds are also highlighted for COVID-19 detection purposes, which can aid in efficient and reliable sensing as well as timely diagnosis.


Release of specific vasoactive peptides occurs upon activation of perivascular parasympathetic (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and peptide histidine isoleucine), sympathetic (neuropeptide Y) and sensory (calcitonin gene-related peptide and tachykinins) nerves. These peptides may serve as cotransmitters with acetylcholine and noradrenaline with interactions both at the pre- and postjunctional levels. Some long-lasting nonadrenergic, noncholinergic vascular effects upon nerve activation may thus be peptide-mediated. Strong activation seems to be necessary for peptidergic transmission in the parasympathetic and sympathetic system while local sensory mechanisms may occur even at single impulses.


Researches of the microbiological preparation Vetom 3 made on the basis of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in NPF «Research center» LLC, on the larvae of the Altai mirror carp received in the conditions of factory reproduction in the research center of aquaculture of NSAU are carried out. To achieve this goal, 2 experimental groups and 1 control group were formed from the larvae of the Altai mirror carp. In a production experiment investigated the effect of different doses 200 mg/kg diet and 300 mg/kg diet and patterns of use the preparation on the safety of the larvae, the absolute mass, relative and average daily gain. Immediately before use, the preparation was diluted in water and mixed with feed. The duration of the preparation was 12 days. The water temperature during the experiment period was in the range of 18,8–20,9 ˚С. All groups were kept in similar conditions. It was found that the probiotic preparation Vetom 3 contributes to the safety, average daily and relative growth of larvae the Altai mirror carp; the maximum safety data amounted to 97,7 %, absolute weight – 156,15 mg; average daily and relative growth – 10,99 mg and 6,07 %. These results were obtained when using Vetom 3 at a dose of 300 mg / kg of feed daily 1 time per day for 5 days, then a day later for another 7 days before the end of the experiment.


Feeling of meaning at work and existence of unity between work and life are among concepts which are proposed recently in organizational spirituality paradigm. Accordingly, investigating elements of organizational spirituality and their effect on organizational setting is important. Current study is carried out focusing on specifying the role of organizational spirituality on teachers' job stress. The research method is correlational and its' goal is applied. The whole population of the study was 326 which includes all Birjands' first grade high school teachers in 2014-2015 academic year. 196 persons were chosen from the population as the sample group based on stratified random sampling. To gather the required data two questionnaires of (Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson, 2003) organizational spirituality and (Doa, 1994) job stress questionnaire were used. The result of the study while confirming the negative effect of (the feeling of meaning at work) and (the feeling of relatedness at work|) on job stress revealed that alignment of personal values with organization does not have an impact on the rate of persons' stress at work.


We report the efficacy of telbivudine in a patient with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who demonstrated high viremia and evidence of liver fibrosis and had no family history of liver disease. The patient was a 21-year-old man. Laboratory studies at the time of diagnosis showed that, in addition to being HBeAg negative, he was positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and negative for antibody to hepatitis B e antigen. His hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level was 6.9 × 10 9 copies/mL and his alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level was 87 IU/L. Liver biopsy showed significant necroinflammation with mild piecemeal necrotic fibrosis. Telbivudine 600 mg QD was started, and the patient underwent monitoring every 24 weeks. The patient's HBV DNA level was reduced to 1.5 × 10 3 copies/mL at 24 weeks and to <500 copies/mL at 1 year. Corresponding ALT levels were 45 and 25 IU/L. No adverse events were reported and no virologic/biochemical breakthrough was observed. Regular monitoring of HBV DNA and ALT levels was continued. One year of treatment with telbivudine monotherapy produced undetectable HBV DNA and normalized ALT levels in this young patient with high viremia. Keywords: Chronic hepatitis B; hepatitis B e antigen; telbivudine; viremia; fibrosis. International Journal of Hepatology Vol.1(3) 2010 pp.36-38


A geostatistical survey for soil requires rational choices regarding the sampling strategy. If the variogram of the property of interest is known then it is possible to optimize the sampling scheme such that an objective function related to the survey error is minimized. However, the variogram is rarely known prior to sampling. Instead it must be approximated by using either a variogram estimated from a reconnaissance survey or a variogram estimated for the same soil property in similar conditions. For this reason, spatial coverage schemes are often preferred, because they rely on the simple dispersion of sampling units as uniformly as possible, and are similar to those produced by minimizing the kriging variance. If extra sampling locations are added close to those in a spatial coverage scheme then the scheme might be broadly similar to one produced by minimizing the total error (i.e. kriging variance plus the prediction error due to uncertainty in the covariance parameters). We consider the relative merits of these different sampling approaches by comparing their mean total error for different specified random functions. Our results showed the considerable benefit of adding close‐pairs to a spatial coverage scheme, and that optimizing with respect to the total error generally gave a small further advantage. When we consider the example of sampling for geostatistical survey of clay content of the soil, an optimized scheme based on the average of previously reported clay variograms was fairly robust compared to the spatial coverage plus close‐pairs scheme. We conclude that the direct optimization of spatial surveys was only rarely worthwhile. For most cases, it is best to apply a spatial coverage scheme with a proportion of additional sampling locations to provide some closely spaced pairs. Furthermore, our results indicated that the number of observations required for an effective geostatistical survey depend on the variogram parameters.


: The research discussed the application potential of adhesive bonding in the joining of 3D printed structures made using the Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) state-of-the-art additive technology (HP). The research involved the performance of technological tests aimed to assess the adhesive properties of 3D printout surfaces in the function of a surface layer treatment method as well as to evaluate adhesives used in the joining of 3D printed structures. The tests performed within the research included roughness measurements, contact (wetting) angle measurements, peel strength tests, shear strength tests and bend tests. The results obtained in the tests made it possible to assess the joinability of MJF printouts as well as to identify reasons for problems accompanying the joining of such elements.


A trans-impedance amplifier integrated with an InP PIN photodiode has been demonstrated for 10 Gb SONET receiver. The shunt feedback trans-impedance amplifier is fabricated in 0.25 /spl mu/m modular Si BICMOS technology. The feedback resistance of 870 /spl Omega/ is achieved with a bandwidth of 8.5 GHz. The sensitivity of the trans-impedance amplifier at 10 Gb/s is -17 dBm at a bit-error-rate (BER) of 10/sup -12/ with 2/sup 31/-1 pseudo-random bits.


Abstract We study the magnetic field structure and evolution for 26 X-ray brightening events in coronal holes and quiet Sun regions, including bright points and jets. We found that all brightening events are associated with bipolar regions and caused by magnetic flux emergence followed by cancellation. The emission fluctuations seen in the X-ray bright points are associated with reoccurring magnetic cancellation in the footpoints. An X-ray jet presents similar magnetic behaviour in the footpoints but its magnetic flux cancellation rate is much higher than in the bright point. Comparing coronal holes and the quiet Sun, we do not find differences in their corresponding magnetic field behavior.


We propose that the rich isotropic multipath environment should be a reference environment for OTA (over-the-air) characterization of wireless stations for use in multipath, in the same way as the anechoic environment is a reference environment for antennas mounted on masts and rooftops. The rich isotropic multipath environment is emulated by a well designed reverberation chamber, but also by a spherical array of probes in an anechoic chamber. The present paper describes a ray-based simulation tool, ViRM-Lab, which enables users to study the performance of arbitrary user-defined multiport antenna located in user-specified multipath environment. The antennas are defined by their far-field functions of the embedded element (with the other ports matched-load terminated). The environment can be determined by its Angle-of-Arrival (AoA) distribution, richness, and polarization balance. The code is made in such a way that the convergence of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) received on all ports can be studied, as well as the convergence of the statistical expectations when estimating the ergodic Shannon capacity and diversity gain.


N-polyhedrin of inclusion bodies of two nucleopolyhedrosis viruses of Orgyia pseudotsugata was characterized. Alkali-dissolved N-polyhedrin from both virus strains was of similar size and consisted of 12S molecule of 209 000 daltons. Eight subunits of approximately 26 000 daltons were found to form the 12S molecules. N-polyhedrin from both viruses showed two main antigens by immunodiffusion. The subunits appear to possess one antigen and, upon formation of the 12S molecule, a new antigen is created. Both the subunit and 12S antigens from the two virus strains were shown to be antigenically related. The 12S molecule of both viruses also appears to possess a minor antigen unique to each virus.


The author describes a new type of negotiated land reform that relies on voluntary land transfers negotiated between buyers and sellers, with the government's role restricted to establishing the necessary framework for negotiation and making a land purchase grant available to eligible beneficiaries. This approach has emerged-following the end of the Cold War and broad macroeconomic adjustment--as many countries face a second generation of reforms to address deep-rooted structural problems and provide a basis for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. The author describes initial experiences in Brazil, Colombia, and South Africa. It is too soon to know whether negotiated land reform can rise to the challenges administrative land reform failed to solve but the data so far suggests that: 1) Negotiated land reform can succeed only if measures are taken to make the market for land sales and rentals more fluid transparent. 2) Productive projects are likely to be the key to market-assisted land reform. The potential for project productivity establishes an upper bound on the price to be paid and a basis for financial intermediaries to evaluate the project. It also requires beneficiaries to familiarize themselves with the realities they're likely to confront as independent farmers and the limits to how much land reform can help them achieve their goals. 3) The only way to effectively coordinate the entities involved in the process is through decentralized, demand-driven implementation. 4) The long-run success of land reform depends on getting the private sector involved and using the land purchase grant to"crowd in"private money.


The study uses a structured questionnaire to gather information on librarians' perception towards monetary andnon-monetary incentives in university libraries in Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed to 45 librarians in the selecteduniversity libraries through the use of simple random sampling techniques to understand the attitude of librarians towardsmonetary and non-monetary incentives. The findings revealed that librarians are aware of both monetary and non-monetaryincentives and that majority of the librarians benefited from monetary incentives. Motivation, job satisfaction and increase inorganizational commitment are some of the benefits librarians derive from monetary and non-monetary incentives.Recommendations include linking of reward directly to performance and the need to pay reasonable salary and wages tolibrarians in order to make them more effective.


Perfusion processes have gained interest as mammalian cell culture mode. Due to the high complex issues and variability regarding such culture mode, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the data was used to characterize such variable process patterns and to achieve a better understanding. The transfected NS0/1B8 cell line was fermented in a 500 L bioreactor in perfusion culture mode to obtain a desired monoclonal antibody against CD20 molecule. Given the high variability of the process, an exploratory data analysis based on a multivariate analysis technique such as PCA was applied. The variables were selected by a risk model analysis based on the cause-effect matrix, the experience accumulated in the process, over the critical quality attributes, and parameters focus on the fermentation process. As a result, it was obtained that two main components were able to explain more than 95% of the total variance, and it was possible to select between the critical parameters those that have the greatest contribution to the variability of the fermentation process. Furthermore, the practical experiences of the specialists matched with the results and new process recommendations were projected to improve the control strategy for a further Continuous Process Verification. Keywords: Monoclonal antibody, Principal Component Analysis, Fermentation, Critical parameters.


The action of the tail of a spermatozoon is discussed from the hydrodynamical point of view. The tail is assumed to be a flexible cylinder which is distorted by waves of lateral displacement propagated along its length. The resulting stress and motion in the surrounding fluid is analyzed mathematically. Waves propagated backwards along the tail give rise to a forward motion with velocity proportional to the square of the ratio of the amplitude of the waves to their length. The rate at which energy must be supplied to maintain the waves against the reaction of the surrounding fluid is calculated. Similar calculations for the case when waves of lateral displacement are propagated as spirals show that the body is propelled at twice the speed given it by waves of the same amplitude when the motion is confined to an axial plane. An externally applied torque is necessary to prevent the reaction of the fluid due to spiral waves from causing the cylinder to rotate. This is remarkable because the cylinder itself does not rotate. A working model of a spermatozoon was made in which spiral waves could travel down a thin rubber tube without rotating it. The torque just referred to was observed and was balanced by an eccentric weight. The performance of the model while swimming freely in glycerine was compared with the calculations. The calculated speed of the model was higher than was observed, but this discrepancy could be accounted for by the fact that the model has a body containing its motive power while the calculations refer to a disembodied tail.


The assesment of the postoperative changes in patients have undergone reduction mammaplasty with USG and MRI Objective: Our study aimed to investigate the roles of ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging in postoperative screening of patients who have undergone reduction mammaplasty. Material and Methods: The patients included the study were examined clinically and radiologically on the postoperative 6th months. Results: In USG imagings, skin thicknesses were increased and locule fluid were accumulated in all patients. Also in MR imagings, parenchyma distortion, asymmetry, focal fibrosis, postoperative locule fluid accumulation and fat necrosis were the most screened findings. Conclusion: In the literature review, there is no study which asseses the changings occur in breast tissue. With high resolution ultrasonography, the difference of benign or malignant characteristic of lesion can be made even in a very small lesions. In our study we did not find any superiority of MRI to USG. When the the cost were considered into account, USG might be more advantageous.


Microbiological contamination from nonpoint sources of pollution is usually related to animal faecal wastes through urban, pastureland and forest run-off of stormwater. Currently-used bacterial water quality indicators cannot discriminate between human and animal faecal contamination and, therefore, it is common practice to treat the risk associated with exposure to water polluted by animal or human wastes as equally hazardous. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a risk of gastrointestinal illness after a swimming exposure to water contaminated with animal faecal wastes. The health status and swimming activity of volunteer study participants was followed for 49 days during June, July and August. Multiple bacterial indicators of water quality were monitored daily during the course of the study. Swimming-associated symptomatic gastrointestinal illness was observed in individuals who swam in animal nonpoint source contaminated water. Swimmer illness was not associated with high densities of common faecal indicator bacteria or high volume rainy days. Swimmer illness was associated with high numbers of swimmers per day and high densities of staphylococci. The observed illnesses appeared to be caused by a swimmer to swimmer transmission via the water.


An acute clinical experiment was carried out with 34 patients with chronic refractory cardiac insufficiency with stasis and idiopathic dilating (stasis) cardiomyopathy so as to follow up the hemodynamic effect of the vasodilators prazosin and erythrityl tetranitrate. The values of the central and peripheral vascular hemodynamics were followed up before and one hour after the peroral intake of 2 mg prazosin and half an hour after the peroral intake of 40 mg erythrityl tetranitrate. The results indicate that a statistically significant decrease of the arterial pressure and the total peripheral vascular resistance developed after prazosin intake. The systolic arterial pressure was decreased from 121,80 +/- 3,52 to 102,40 +/- 3,71 (p less than 0,001) and the diastolic--from 80,20 +/- 2,41 to 68,20 +/- 2,56 (p less than 0,01). The values of the total peripheral vascular resistance were decreased from 2629,65 +/- 174 to 1865,53 +/- 153 (p less than 0,001). The indices of the pump function--Stl and SI were increased (Stl from 22,74 +/- 1,85 to 30,37 +/- 2,14 with p less than 0,025 and Sl--from 1,90 +/- 0,08 to 2,64 +/- 0,19; p less than 0,02). The indices of the pressure in the left ventricular filling had no statistically significant change. After the administration of erythrityl tetranitrate, a statistically significant improvement of the indices of the cardiac output was also observed as well as of the total peripheral vascular resistance. The systolic index grew from 1,74 +/- 0,20 to 2,70 +/- 0,16 (p less than 0,01); stroke index--from 18,35 +/- 2,82 to 32,99 +/- 2,88 (p less than 0,01), and the total peripheral vascular resistance was decreased from 2897,0 +/- 186,0 to 1556,0 +/- 154,0 (p less than 0,001). Prazosin and erythrityl tetranitrate led to a considerable decrease of the counter load of the heart and improvement of the pump function of left ventricle in an acute experiment in case of chronic cardiac insufficiency with stasis.


Objective Uterine leiomyoma is not a rare pathological condition in pregnant women; thus the aim of the study was to evaluate the recent progress in the treatment of these pregnant women on the basis of the association of leiomyoma in pregnancy (LP) with pregnancy complications and birth outcomes including structural birth defects, i.e. congenital abnormalities (CA) in the offspring. Design Cases with CA and matched controls without CA in the population-based Hungarian Case-Control Surveillan- ce System of Congenital Abnormalities (HCC SCA) were evaluated. Only women with prospectively and medically recorded LP in prenatal maternity logbook and medically recorded birth outcomes (gestational age, birth weight, CA) were included to the study. Setting the HCCSCA, 1980-1996 contained 22,843 cases with CA and 38,151 matched controls without CA. Population Hungarian pregnant women and their informative offspring: live births, stillbirths and prenatally diagnosed malformed fetuses. Methods Comparison of birth outcomes of ca- ses with matched controls and pregnancy com- plications of pregnant women with or without LP. Main outcome measures Pregnancy complications, mean gestational age at delivery and birth weight, rate of preterm birth, low birthweight, CA. Results A total of 34 (0.15%) cases had mothers with LP compared to 71 (0.19%) controls. There was a higher incidence of threatened abortion, placental disorders, mainly abruption placentae and anaemia in mothers with LP. There was no significantly higher rate of preterm birth in the newborns of women with LP but their mean birth weight was higher and it associated with a higher rate of large birthweight newborns. A higher risk of total CA was not found in cases born to mothers with LP (adjusted OR with 95% CI = 0.7, 0.5-1.1), the spe- cified groups of CAs were also assessed versus controls, but a higher occurrence of women with LP was not revealed in any CA group. Con- clusions Women with LP have a higher risk of threatened abortion, placental disorders and anaemia, but a higher rate of adverse birth outcomes including CAs was not found in their offspring.


Can we design an interface to help people make use of the idle time spent looking at progress bars? We propose to augment progress bars with user-controlled functionalities facilitating the switch to temporary activities. We propose a taxonomy of waiting period contexts and possible temporary tasks, then report on participatory design sessions, and a follow-up survey. Finally we describe an early prototype of active progress bar and report a small controlled experiment used to identify the impact of the tool on primary task satisfaction. The findings suggest that Active Progress Bars lead to significantly higher satisfaction when compared to a control condition.


Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of tumor mutation burden (TMB) in gastric cancer (GC) and its relationship with prognosis. Methods A total of 262 patients with GC from January 2018 to December 2019 were included in this study. All patients were in the advanced stage and were treated with surgical removal of D2 lymph nodes and dissection. Clinical data and gene expression profile data of the GC dataset in The Cancer Genome Atlas were collected. Patients were randomly divided into a high-level group and a low-level group according to the TMB of 8 mutations/Mb. TMB of GC was calculated based on cell mutation data. Cox regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between TMB and prognosis of GC patients. Results The total mutation rate of 262GC patients was 92.85%. The top 5 mutant genes were TP53, RB1, ARID1A, KMT2B, and RET. The expression level of TMB in GC patients was statistically significant with age, drinking history, and differentiation type. 94 of the 262 patients died, and 168 survived during the follow-up period. Patients with a high level of TMB had a worse prognosis than those with low level of TMB. The results of univariate and multivariate logistic analysis showed that the overall survival rate of GC patients was statistically significant with age, drinking history, clinical stage, differentiation type, and TMB. Conclusion GC patients are often accompanied by changes in TMB, and its expression level is closely related to the degree of pathological differentiation, which is an independent factor affecting the prognosis of GC patients. High TMB value can evaluate the prognosis and provide a reference for the formulation of clinical treatment plans for GC patients.


Mobile clients feature increasingly sophisticated wireless networking support that enables real-time information exchange with remote databases. Location-dependent queries, such as determining the proximity of stationary objects (e.g., restaurants and gas stations) are an important class of inquiries. We present a novel approach to support nearestneighbor queries from mobile hosts by leveraging the sharing capabilities of wireless ad-hoc networks. We illustrate how previous query results cached in the local storage of neighboring mobile peers can be leveraged to either fully or partially compute and verify spatial queries at a local host. The feasibility and appeal of our technique is illustrated through extensive simulation results that indicate a considerable reduction of the query load on the remote database. Furthermore, the scalability of our approach is excellent because a higher density of mobile hosts increases its effectiveness.


This study explored the aspirations of undergraduate engineering students in regard to helping others, examining potential differences between disciplines and institutions. Over 1900 undergraduate students from 17 U.S. universities responded to a survey in spring 2014. In open-ended responses, 15.5% of the students included some form of helping people and/or the world as one of the factors that motivated them to select their engineering major; for 6.7% of the students this was the primary or only motivating factor listed. Helping as a motivation was not equally prevalent among different engineering disciplines, being much more common among students majoring in biomedical, environmental, materials, and civil and less common in computer and aerospace. Different disciplines also varied in the priority for helping people relative to other future job factors - highest in chemical/biological, moderate in civil and related majors, and lowest among electrical/computer and mechanical. Institutional differences were found in the extent to which students indicated an importance that their career would help people and the extent to which an ability to help others was a central message in their major. The results indicate the percentages of engineering students who are most likely to embrace humanitarian engineering; fostering these aspirations in students could help with attraction and retention.


The main objective of this work was to examine the electrical properties of the XLPE insulation system subjected to very high temperatures in wet environments. The test program included thermo-electrical ageing of XLPE cable models. The ageing was carried out at temperatures up to 128 /spl deg/C in both tap water and nitrogen atmosphere for up to 12 months. The results show that increasing the service temperature above 90 /spl deg/C in wet environments can result in severe degradation of the XLPE insulation even at relatively low electric fields. However, no such degradation was observed during ageing in dry conditions with low concentrations of oxygen. Hence, an outer sheath system with a low permeability to water and oxygen should be applied at very high temperatures above 90 /spl deg/C.


Civic, Social and Political Education, or CSPE, was introduced into Irish post-primary schools in
1996. The nineteen nineties are looked upon as a period of great innovation in Irish education. One
of the prime aims of CSPE is the promotion of active and participative citizenship. CSPE is a new
curricular initiative, which requires the teacher, a key agent of change, to deliver this programme of
civic education at classroom level.
Firstly, this study reviews the literature associated with educational change in order to get an overall
picture of the challenges facing those who must implement change at classroom level. It then
reviews the literature associated with a renewed interest in civic education in the final decade of the
twentieth century and presents a history of civic education in Ireland.
This study explores the factors that affect the implementation of CSPE in five post-primary schools.
Five research sites were chosen. The researcher explored the attitudes, perceptions and opinions of
both teachers and students to identify and explore any factors which militate against the successful
implementation of CSPE. The research instruments employed by the research included a CSPE
Teacher questionnaire, a CSPE Teacher interview and a series of focus group interviews with both
current and former students of CSPE. . The research findings are presented in chapters four, five and
six and the analysis of the data collected occurs in chapter seven.


Camellia japonica L., a kind of rare flowers in China, is abundant in variety and difficult to classify and identify systematically. In order to find a technique for the classification and identification of Camellia japonica L. in DNA level and improve its molecular biological research, the optimal condition of DNA extraction and RAPD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA) amplification system were specially studied. In the experiment, the genomic DNA obtained from leaves by the method of modified CTAB had a fine purity with OD260/OD230 value about 1.90~2.0 and OD260/OD280 value about 1.80~1.83, a high yield with 150~200 μg·g-1, and a good integrity of fragments above 20 kb. For the RAPD amplifying conditions of Camellia japonica L., the perfect reaction system in a 20 μL volume was considered to be 100 ng template DNA, 1× Buffer, 1.2 mmol·L-1 Mg2+, 125 μmol·L-1 dNTP (each), 0.5 μmol·L-1 primer and 1 U Taq DNA polymerases. The anneal temperature was about 37℃, being adjusted lightly according to the different arbitrary primers. Presuming the phenolic compounds were excessive in leaves of Camellia japonica L., which needs to increase the quantity of β-Mercaptoethanol (4%) and add 2% PVP (Polyvinylpyrrolidone) in the DNA extraction solution to inhibit the oxidation of the phenolic compounds ultimately. It was also recommended that DNA extraction without 10% CTAB could still obtain the DNA with high purity and yield, moreover, the method was easy and steady. To get the good identical results in repeating experiments of RAPD amplification, it also should be noticed that each condition and step must be kept as consistent as possible, and make sure each reagent of reaction comes from the same source with the same concentration.


Although minimally invasive glaucoma surgery using different types of implants is a promising strategy for treating glaucoma, potential long-term complications require further evaluation. Here, we report a case of the anterior chamber displacement of a Xen implant due to a maneuver aimed at correcting a dysfunctional and bent subconjunctival implant.


The human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is a major cause of serious lower respiratory infections and poses a considerable risk to public health globally. Only a few treatments are currently used to treat RSV infections, and there is no RSV vaccination. Therefore, the need for clinically applicable, affordable, and safe RSV prevention and treatment solutions is urgent. In this study, an ion-activated in situ gelling formulation containing the broad-spectrum antiviral 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) was developed for its antiviral effect on RSV. In this context, pH, mechanical characteristics, ex vivo mucoadhesive strength, in vitro drug release pattern, sprayability, drug content, and stability were all examined. Rheological characteristics were also tested using in vitro gelation capacity and rheological synergism tests. Finally, the cytotoxic and antiviral activities of the optimized in situ gelling formulation on RSV cultured in the human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) cell line were evaluated. In conclusion, the optimized formulation prepared with a combination of 0.5% w/w gellan gum and 0.5% w/w sodium carboxymethylcellulose demonstrated good gelation capacity and sprayability (weight deviation between the first day of the experiment (T0) and the last day of the experiment (T14) was 0.34%), desired rheological synergism (mucoadhesive force (Fb): 9.53 Pa), mechanical characteristics (adhesiveness: 0.300 ± 0.05 mJ), ex vivo bioadhesion force (19.67 ± 1.90 g), drug content uniformity (RSD%: 0.494), and sustained drug release over a period of 6 h (24.56% ± 0.49). The optimized formulation demonstrated strong anti-hRSV activity (simultaneous half maximal effective concentration (EC50) = 0.05 µg/mL; selectivity index (SI) = 306; pre-infection EC50 = 0.154 µg/mL; SI = 100), which was significantly higher than that of ribavirin (EC50 = 4.189 µg/mL; SI = 28) used as a positive control against hRSV, according to the results of the antiviral activity test. In conclusion, this study showed that nasal in situ gelling spray can prevent viral infection and replication by directly inhibiting viral entry or modulating viral replication.


As carbon nanotubes are incorporated into commercial products in ever-increasing amounts, it is important to produce nontoxic nanotubes and have a reliable method for testing their toxicity. This article reports the synthesis and characterization of cysteine-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes and the usefulness of toxicity tests employing the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The cysteine-functionalized nanotubes have good aqueous solubility and are nontoxic to C. elegans. Additionally, the cysteine-functionalized nanotubes are shown to be capable of delivering a pharmaceutical compound through a cleavable disulfide bond. This work presents a straightforward synthesis of an easily synthesized, biocompatible carbon nanotube that will have applications in biomedicine.