Social Media has exploded so rapidly we have to run to keep up. Whilst babies are kept occupied by iPads, kids get lost in smartphones, and teens lock themselves into their own isolating VR world, we see the need for change. We're losing the art of interaction and conversation. In this multi-person simultaneous collaborative VR installation we demonstrate that social interaction is the key component to making VR something far more positive and lasting an experience. HOLO - DOODLE, an adaptation of Holojam created by Professor Ken Perlin and his next-level team at NYU, re-jigged by VR gurus Superbright, in which sensors are strapped to the extremities of a group of people in Samsung Gear VR Headsets, given virtual paint brushes and through the medium of art and conversation become acquainted in an entirely new way. As we fully explore the parameters of our being, our art, our gender and our humanity we face ever growing walls of oppression. VR is still relatively undefined. It disturbingly makes war games become ever more real, and as a format it extends much far further than the next progression of film. We need to look at the techonology differently, use it to bring people out of their shell, to dance like noones watching, to play out a fantasy. ItâĂŹs a movement for good, and we can change the emphasis of VR to something far more positive. Allow folk to interact without the shackles of how individuals can be pre-judged in this real world.


Objective: To investigate the clinical, pathological and genetic characteristics of neonatal alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of the pulmonary veins (ACDMPV). Methods: The clinical manifestations, radiographic examinations, pathology and parental genetic analysis of a newborn with FOXF1 variation induced ACDMPV, who was hospitalized in the Department of Neonatology of Shenzhen Children's Hospital in January 2020, were extracted and analyzed. Related literature up to March 2020 with the key words of "Alveolar capillaries dysplasia" "Alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of the pulmonary veins" "FOXF1" in PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang, CQVIP database and Leiden Open Variation database (LOVD) were searched. Results: A full-term male newborn (1 hour of age) was admitted due to anal atresia. Surgical repair of anal atresia and omphalocele was performed on the first day of life, and gallbladder absence and Meckel's diverticulum were identified during the operation. Respiratory distress with hypoxemia developed at about 6 hours of life, and persistent pulmonary hypertension developed and progressed after surgery, with poor response to mechanical ventilation and pulmonary vasodilators. This infant passed away at 26 days of life. Lung biopsy showed decreased alveolar units and thickened interalveolar septa, reduced alveolar capillary density and thickened walls of peripheral pulmonary arteries, and misaligned pulmonary veins adjacent to the pulmonary arterioles, which were consistent with ACDMPV. The whole exome sequencing revealed a heterozygous novel frameshift of FOXF1 gene located in chromosome 16q24.1 c376_377insT; p.(Pro126fs). According to the bioinformatics analysis, this variation was likely to be pathogenic as it was associated with coding disorder of FOXF1 Pro126, resulting in truncation of the encoded protein. This novel variation had not been reported in the human gene mutation database (HGMD), ESP6500siv2_ALL, 1000g2015aug_ALL or dbSNP147 database. Previous 6 literatures reported 54 variants, including 28 missense, 10 nonsense, 11 frameshift, 2 deletion, 1 synonymous, and 2 extensions. Only three of the reported 45 cases (24 males, 21 females) were still alive as of the time of this study. Conclusions: Typically, ACDMPV is a catastrophic disease in neonatal period with high mortality. Lung biopsy and genetic testing should be considered in infants who present with persistent pulmonary hypertension and refractory hypoxemia, especially when combined with extrapulmonary abnormalities.


We consider the lifetime maximization problem for joint estimation in wireless sensor network. In the joint estimation problem, each sensor observes a noise-corrupted version of a physical quantity, then amplifies and forwards the observation to the destination (fusion center) through a wireless channel. The fusion center combines the data and constructs a joint estimate. The sensors may communicate with the destination through either orthogonal or shared channels. We develop algorithms that jointly determine the transmit power of sensors as a function of sensor measurement noises, wireless channel coefficients, and the available battery power at sensors. The objective of the algorithm is to maximize the lifetime of the network, while a certain quality of estimation at the fusion center is maintained throughout the lifetime of the network. It is observed that the present algorithm behaves differently compared to minimum- transmit-power strategies, and performs better in terms of the longevity of the network.


The discovery of oil and the economic development and growth that followed has placed Gulf Countries on the fast path to urbanisation and modernisation, bringing an impact on traditional family relations and functions. In particular, Qatar has experienced rapid and radical changes that are clearly shaping the family structure because of modernisation. Hence, one could argue traditional ways of life are under assault from modernisation and Westernisation. In order to examine the changes and the impact of modernisation on Qatari families, it is vital to examine the perspectives of Qatari citizens and their thoughts about particular elements of their lives that are affected by modernisation. There are a few studies that examine Qataris' perspectives. This descriptive study analyses 997 completed questionnaires from Qatari families as they present their perceptions of the influence of modernisation on themselves and their families. The findings present perceived changes occurring regarding the many areas of family life in Qatar.


Our recent work has detailed a novel regulation of the IAV-specific CD8 T cell response during lethal dose or infection with high pathogenic IAV strains. During such infections, FasL+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) within the regional lymph nodes (LN) target and eliminate the developing Fas+ effector T cell response, therein limiting immunity and driving severe disease. While our studies have shown that pDC are sufficient to drive this mechanism (i.e. transfer of wild type pDC into gld mice results in elimination of activated CD8 T cells), antibody targeted elimination of pDC in wild type mice does not completely halt CD8 T cell apoptosis. This suggested that an additional cell type might contribute to the overall loss of CD8 T cells during lethal/high path IAV infections. Herein we describe a novel cell population which shares some common markers with both pDC and B cells, but can be distinguished from both based on unique marker expression. These FasL+ cells are found at 4.5x greater numbers in the LN of lethal vs sublethal dose IAV mice and are 8.5x more prevalent than pDC with those LN. Further our results suggest that the FasL+ phenotype within this cell population segregates to BST2+ cells. Our current studies are focused on determining the factors regulating this novel cell population and it's relative contribution to the overall FasL-dependent control of the magnitude of the CD8 T cell response during IAV infections.


: A kidney transplanted patient developed a nosocomial pneumonia and pleural empyema due to Legionella pneumophila. Despite erythromycin and rifampin treatment the patient died. The diagnosis was made by direct fluorescent antibody staining of pleural fluid.


Acoustic resonances are observed in high-pressure discharge lamps operated with ac input modulated power frequencies in the kilohertz range. This paper describes an optical resonance detection method for high-intensity discharge lamps using computer-controlled cameras and image processing software. Experimental results showing acoustic resonances in high-pressure sodium lamps are presented.


Background: Protease inhibitors (PIs) may inhibit Kaposi sarcoma (KS) carcinogenesis. However, PI-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) is rarely a first-line choice in people living with HIV (PLWH) because of cost and toxicities. This is the first systematic review to assess KS incidence stratified by ART type. Methods: We searched PubMed to identify original, full research reports of KS incidence in ART-treated adult PLWH, stratified by ART class, published between 1996 and 2017. For overlapping cohorts, we included only the most recent study and supplemented data with earlier relevant analyses. We described study design, sociodemographic characteristics, statistical adjustment factors, and KS incidence. Results: We identified 3 unique retrospective cohort studies, and supplemented one of the studies with results from 6 previous subgroup reports, which included 242,309 PLWH and 3570 incident KS cases. Overall, KS crude incidence decreased by a factor of 10 between untreated and ART-treated PLWH; CD4-adjusted KS incidence decreased by ∼50%, with either non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor– or PI-based ART. A single study measured a cumulative dose-/time-dependent effect of ART, which reported a relative risk reduction in only the cohort receiving boosted PI-based ART. Other studies defined ART categories by first-line therapy only. Conclusions: The risk of incident KS was significantly reduced, regardless of ART class even after adjusting for CD4 count. The quality of evidence (ie, most studies categorizing users by first-line ART) does not permit KS risk reduction comparisons across ART types. Given the limited number and retrospective nature of these studies, prospective data are indicated.


Christopher Janaway presents a full commentary on Nietzsche's most studied work, On the Genealogy of Morality , and combines close reading of key passages with an overview of Nietzsche's wider aims. Arguing that Nietzsche's goal is to pursue psychological and historical truths concerning the origins of modern moral values, Beyond Selflessness is distinctive in that it also emphasizes the significance of Nietzsches rhetorical methods as an instrument of persuasion. Nietzsche's outlook is broadly naturalist, but he is critical of typical scientific and philosophical methods for their advocacy of impersonality and suppression of the affects. In contrast to his opponents, Schopenhauer and Paul Ree, who both account for morality in terms of selflessness, Nietzsche believes that our allegiance to a post-Christian morality that centres around selflessness, compassion, guilt, and denial of the instincts is not primarily rational but affective: underlying feelings, often ambivalent and poorly grasped in conscious thought, explain our moral beliefs. The Genealogy is designed to detach the reader from his or her allegiance to morality and prepare for the possibility of new values. Janaway shows how, according to Nietzsches perspectivism, one can best understand a topic such as morality through allowing as many of ones feelings as possible to speak about it, and how Nietzsche seeks to enable us to feel differently': his provocation of the reader's affects helps us grasp the affective origins of our attitudes and prepare the way for healthier values such as the affirmation of life (as tested by the thought of eternal return) and the self-satisfaction to be attained by 'giving style to one's character'. Contents A Note on Translations and Abbreviations 1. Nietzsche's aims and targets 2. Reading Nietzsche's Preface 3. Naturalism and genealogy 4. Selflessness: the struggle with Schopenhauer 5. Nietzsche and Paul Ree on the origin of moral feelings 6. Good and evil: Nietzsche's artistic revaluation 7. Free will, autonomy, and the sovereign individual 8. Guilt, bad conscience, and self-punishment 9. Will to power in the Genealogy 10. Nietzsche's illustration of the art of exegesis 11. Disinterestedness and objectivity 12. Perspectival knowing and the affects 13. The ascetic ideal, meaning, and truth 14. Beyond selflessness


Background We conducted a prospective study to confirm our impression that incarcerated adolescents sometimes developed pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) during the brief interval between testing and treatment for gonorrhoeal and chlamydial cervicitis. Methods We performed the study at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, Texas, where PID in females is relatively common and where the prevalence of gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections is high. At the time of their mandated medical assessment, all incarcerated adolescents submitted first-catch urine samples for chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing. We used Gen-Probe NAAT assays. If at the time of testing a patient had symptoms suggestive of PID, we performed a bimanual pelvic examination and treated those who met the criteria for PID. For the diagnosis of PID, we used the criteria of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: the presence of adnexal or cervical motion or uterine tenderness. The pelvic examinations were performed by one of three experienced physicians. For the patients who did not have PID at the time of testing, we re-assessed them when we learnt that their urine test was positive. The tests were run in batches by the city health department, so that a variable length of time elapsed between the day of testing and the day that we received test results. At re-assessment, patients received a PID diagnosis if they had lower abdominal pain and met the PID diagnostic criteria on bimanual pelvic examination. Results We evaluated 99 subjects between 29 March 2010 and 27 December 2010. Their mean age was 15.8 (SD 1.1) years. Their race/ethnicity was 43% black, 32% Hispanic, and 25% white; 74% had chlamydia, 14% gonorrhoea, and 12% both. The interval between testing and treatment ranged from 2 to 17 days; the mean (SD) was 7.5 (2.9) days. During this interval, 13 of 99 (13%) developed lower abdominal pain and had bimanual pelvic examination findings that supported the diagnosis of PID. Of these 13, 10 (77%) had chlamydia, 2 (15%) had gonorrhoea, and 1 (8%) had both infections. Time from initial urine testing to treatment for PID ranged from 7 to 15 days. Conclusion In incarcerated adolescents infected with gonorrhoea and/or chlamydia, a surprisingly large proportion (13%) developed PID during the brief period between testing and treatment.


Streptococcus mutans, a major etiological agent of dental caries, frequently causes systemic disease, such as subacute bacterial endocarditis, if it enters the bloodstream. In this study, the production pathways of the proinflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), induced by S. mutans in mouse macrophage were examined using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The S. mutans stimulated the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA at a multiplicity of infection of 1 : 100, which increased at 2 and 4 h, respectively, to 24 h. It also induced the production of high levels of the TNF-α and IL-1β proteins, which increased at 2 h and reached a peak at 4 and 24 h, respectively. Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) was activated and reached a maximum level 30 min after the S. mutans treatment. The expression of TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA and protein was suppressed by the treatment with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, an NF-κB inhibitor. The S. mutans-induced TNF-α expression was suppressed by the presence of SB203580, a p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase inhibitor, or SP600125, a Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) MAP kinase inhibitor. On the other hand, IL-1β expression was inhibited by extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/p38/JNK MAP kinase inhibitor pretreatment. In addition, TNF-α production was suppressed more in the Toll-like receptor 2(-/-) (TLR2(-/-)) macrophages than in the TLR4(-/-) macrophages, whereas IL-1β production was suppressed more in the TLR4(-/-) macrophages than in the TLR2(-/-) macrophages. These results show that S. mutans stimulates the production of TNF-α and IL-1β in the mouse macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, by activating ERK/p38/JNK, and NF-κB through TLR2 and TLR4, respectively.


Typical drug discovery and development processes are costly, time consuming and often biased by expert opinion. Aptamers are short, single-stranded oligonucleotides (RNA/DNA) that bind to target proteins and other types of biomolecules. Compared with small-molecule drugs, aptamers can bind to their targets with high affinity (binding strength) and specificity (uniquely interacting with the target only). The conventional development process for aptamers utilizes a manual process known as Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX), which is costly, slow, dependent on library choice and often produces aptamers that are not optimized. To address these challenges, in this research, we create an intelligent approach, named DAPTEV, for generating and evolving aptamer sequences to support aptamer-based drug discovery and development. Using the COVID-19 spike protein as a target, our computational results suggest that DAPTEV is able to produce structurally complex aptamers with strong binding affinities. Author summary Compared with small-molecule drugs, aptamer drugs are short RNAs/DNAs that can specifically bind to targets with high strength. With the interest of discovering novel aptamer drugs as an alternative to address the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic, in this research, we developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework for the in silico design of novel aptamer drugs that can prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering human cells. Our research is valuable as we explore a novel approach for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the AI framework could be applied to address future health crises.


ABSTRACT This paper presents an up to date account of 154 mammal species recorded on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and the surrounding area, from 1883 to the present, when 128 species are known to occur. Old records are reviewed and several new records added, while four recorded species have been excluded. One species, the black rhinoceros, is reported to have become extinct; another, the klipspringer, does not now occur in the area. Evidence for its alleged former presence and extinction is assessed. Red deer, introduced to Kilimanjaro during the German colonial period, is now extinct on the mountain. Other reported extinctions and colonisations of mammal species on Kilimanjaro are discussed and 19 marginal species or taxa for which further information is needed are mentioned for completeness.


Purpose of the Study. Previous studies have shown that the combination of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) with long-acting β2 agonists improves asthma control and reduces exacerbations. The authors hypothesized that in patients already receiving daily budesonide/formoterol (B/F), replacing conventional short-acting β2 agonist (SABA) rescue with the B/F combination drug would increase antiinflammatory therapy while simultaneously giving rapid relief of symptoms. The investigators reasoned that using the B/F combination drug in this manner might reduce asthma exacerbations and improve asthma control compared with other possible regimens. Study Population. Subjects were 2760 patients with asthma (aged 4–80 years), all previously on ICSs. Methods. A double-blind parallel-group study was performed with subjects randomly assigned to 3 groups: B/F (80 mg/4.5 μg) twice daily for maintenance and also for rescue; B/F (80 mg/4.5 μg) twice daily with terbutaline 0.4 mg for rescue; or budesonide 320 μg twice daily with terbutaline 0.4 mg for rescue. Pediatric patients (11%–13% of each group) received half of the above-stated doses for maintenance. The primary outcome was time to first severe exacerbation, defined as asthma symptoms requiring an emergency department visit or hospitalization; an increase in ICS dose; use of oral steroids; or a morning peak expiratory flow rate ≤70% of baseline on 2 consecutive days. Results. Multiple positive outcomes were seen in the group using B/F for maintenance and rescue: a significant increase in the time to the first severe and mild exacerbations (P < .001); a 45% to 50% decrease in the number of severe exacerbations; significant decreases in the use of rescue medication, nighttime symptom score, and the number of nighttime awakenings; and fewer courses of oral steroids per year. The average daily dose of ICS received per patient was lower in the 2 B/F groups. All of the medications were well tolerated. Pediatric subjects receiving B/F demonstrated greater linear growth than those on higher-dose budesonide. Conclusions. Use of B/F for both maintenance and rescue is associated with a lower asthma-exacerbation rate and an improvement in several other indicators of asthma control. In addition, subjects using B/F in this manner have a decreased exposure to oral steroids and require less use of rescue medication. The authors suggest that the timing of the increase in ICS use for asthma exacerbations, rather than the total ICS dose administered, provides the greater improvement in efficacy. Reviewer Comments. The rapid onset of action of the β2-agonist formoterol suggests that it could be used as a rescue medication, although this is not a licensed indication. Use of the B/F combination as controller and rescue presents an attractive option because of the decrease in asthma morbidity compared with either B/F and SABA or ICS and SABA. Even with the use of B/F for rescue, the mean dose of ICS received was lower than in the ICS-and-SABA group (240 vs 640 μg/day in the adults) and only slightly higher than in the B/F-and-SABA group (240 vs 160 μg/day in the adults). This combination product is not yet licensed in the United States, but if approved, B/F used in this fashion will offer a novel treatment alternative for asthmatic patients. In addition, B/F maintenance and rescue therapy may provide a significant benefit for patients for whom adherence to 2 separate drugs may present serious difficulties or confusion.


Subject
 Prospects for ending global hunger.

 Significance
 The number of people classed as 'hungry' increased to 821 million in 2018, from 811 million in 2017, and a low of 785 million in 2015, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). This continues a recent trend of a slow increase in global hunger since 2015, although the proportion of hungry people globally is largely unchanged (around 11%). The trend is being compounded by a rise in obesity and overweight.

 Impacts
 Climate-sensitive agriculture will generate more interest as extreme weather events rise in intensity and frequency.
 Taxes on high-sugar, high-fat foods will rise, but without access to healthier options, the problem of poor nutrition is intractable.
 Governments will face pressure to increase investment in nutrition education to help people make healthier choices.


One of the most challenging areas in the field of automatic control is the design of automatic control devices that 'learn' to improve their performamce based upon experience, i.e., that can adapt themselves to circumstances as they find them. The military and commercial implications of such devices are impressive, and interest in the two main areas of research in the field of control, the USA and the USSR, runs high. Unfortunately, though, both theory and construction of adaptive controllers are in their infancy, and some time may pass before they are commonplace. Nonetheless, development at this time of adequate theories of processes of this nature is essential. The purpose of our paper is to show how the functional equation technique of a new mathematical discipline, dynamic programming, can be used in the formulation and solution of a variety of optimization problems concerning the design of adaptive devices. Although, occasionally, a solution in closed form can be obtained, in general, numerical solution via the use of high-speed digital computers is contemplated. We discuss here the closely allied problems of formulating adaptive control processes in precise mathematical terms and of presenting feasible computational algoritbms for determining numerical solutioms. To illustrate the general concepts, consider a system which is governed by the inhomogeneous Van der Pol equation \ddot{x} + \mu(x^{2} - 1) \dot{x} + x = r(t), 0 \leq t \leq T , where r(t) is a random function whose statistical properties are only partially known to a feedback control device which seeks to keep the system near the unstable equilibrium state x = 0, \dot{x} = 0 . It proposes to do this by selecting the value of μ as a function of the state of the system at time t , and the time t itself. By observing the random process r(t) , the controller may, with the passage of time, infer more and more concerning the statistical properties of the function r(t) and thus may be expected to improve the quality of its control decisions. In this way the controller adapts itself to circumstances as it finds them. The process is thus an interesting example of adaptive control, and, conceivably, with some immediate applications. Lastly, some areas of this general domain requiring additional research are indicated.


Section I: Introduction 1. Africa at work: transforming occupational identity and morality Deborah Fahy Bryceson Section II: New Occupational Mobility and Forms of Exchange in Globalizing Economies 2. From farmers to traders: shifting identities in rural Igbo society, Nigeria Barth Chukwuezi and Dmitri van den Bersselaar 3. Does trust travel? Horticultural trade in Kenya Tjalling Dijkstra 4. Calculated chaos or cooperation? Informal financial markets in Kinshasa Mindanda Mohogu 5. Linking irregular economies: remaking trans-urban commercial networks through new forms of social collaboration Abdou Maliq Simone 6. Social capital or social exclusion? Social networks and informal manufacturing in Nigeria Kate Meagher Section III: Changing Work Patterns and Social Dynamics in Households, Communities and Nation-States 7. Body and soul: economic space public morality and social integration of youth in Cameroon Nantang Jua 8. Between family and market: urban informal workers' networks and identities in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau Ilda Lindell 9. Sweet and sour: women working for wages on Tanzania's sugar estates Marjorie Mbilinyi Section IV: Occupational Change and Public Policy 10. Shifting out of gear: households, livelihoods and public policy on the south African wild coast Leslie Bank 11. Fair or foul play: taxation of women entrepreneurs in Cameroon Margaret Niger-Thomas 12. Occupational change, structural adjustment and trade union identity in Africa: the case of Cameroonian plantation workers Piet Konings 13. With or against the odds? Professionalization of the labour force in Tanzania Pekka Seppalla Section V: Conclusion 14. Between moral economy and civil society: Durkheim revisited Deborah Fahy Bryceson


A case of acute spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma is presented which underwent resolution of symptoms and signs before relapsing again hours later. Cases of spontaneous remission of this condition have been reported but not subsequent relapse. Conservative management of apparently resolving cases may therefore be inappropriate.


The cultivated chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) has multipinnate, simple and normal leaves, caused by mutations. About 1500 air-dried seeds (500 seeds per dose) of chickpea genotype ICC 6119 were irradiated with 200, 300 and 400 Gy gamma rays. Two new induced characteristics, compound leaf and cone stipule on internodes, were isolated in a single mutant chickpea in the M3 generation. Inheritance of the new characteristics was studied in the segregating populations of the M4 and the results indicated that the new characteristics were governed by two recessive genes designed as clcl and cscs symbols. These characteristics could be linked since they were jointly segregated. The new genes identified may be useful for gene mapping of Cicer species


Large single crystals of the new magnetic solid RbNa3Fe7(PO4)6 can be grown in a salt flux. Below the ferro-to-antiferromagnetic transition temp. of 6 K, the field (H) dependence of the magnetization (M) of an oriented crystal of exhibits equally spaced steps (arrows), which are probably a result of spin frustration.


Problem. In the event of circumstances that may cause a traffic accident (accident), drivers apply emergency braking, which usually leads to the blocking of car wheels and the formation on the road surface of track information from pneumatic tires. If automated brake force control systems are installed in the brake actuator of the vehicle, the tracking information from the pneumatic tires may be absent or weak, and the braking efficiency of the wheeled vehicle will depend on the angular deformation of the tire relative to the road surface, which in turn is limited. coupling properties in the contact spot "tire-road surface". Goal. The aim of the work is to improve the method of determining the angle of twist of the pneumatic tire of a single car wheel in the mode of its braking by taking into account the effects of the coefficient of friction-sliding on roads with high traction. Methodology the peculiarities of twisting the pneumatic tire of a car wheel with a single busbar in the mode of vehicle braking on roads with low and high coefficient of friction - sliding are considered. The analysis of the model of dynamic change of the tire twist angle depending on the sliding of the tire tread elements in the spot of contact with the road surface is performed, and the results of simulation modeling are obtained, which are confirmed by experimental experiments. Originality. An empirical dependence is proposed, which takes into account the nature of the decrease in the value of the angle of twist of the tire on roads with high traction properties. Practical value. The obtained results of simulation modeling according to the proposed dependence determine that the highest indicators of torsional rigidity of the pneumatic tire are reached at a tire pressure of 0.8 MPa and a vertical load on it of about 2.6 104 N.


The Occupy movement catalyzed public debate on the issue of growing income inequality. This paper examines recent patterns of inequality in Canada, paying particular attention to changes in the characteristics of the top 1% of income earners. At the national level, the gap between the top percentile and the other 99% has widened considerably: in 2006, 11% of the nation's income was concentrated in the hands of top earners (whose mean income of $344,000 is 11 times that of the average Canadian) compared with 7.7% just 15 years earlier. Beneath such national-level figures lie important geographical differences in the income hierarchy: the thresholds, average incomes and socio-economic characteristics of the top 1% vary widely across provinces and cities. Among the most important spatial shifts observed is the growing concentration of high-income groups in energy-rich Western Canada, where Calgary has become the most unequal city in the country.


The 19 kDa C-terminal region of the merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP119) is one of the most promising vaccine candidates against the erythrocytic forms of malaria. In the present study, a gene encoding the Plasmodium vivax MSP119 epitope (PvMSP119) and the Pan-Allelic DR epitope (PADRE) was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. A non-glycosylated form of the recombinant protein rPvMSP119-PADRE was purified from culture supernatants. This recombinant protein maintains its antigenicity, being recognized by a very high percentage (85·6%) of sera from Brazilian individuals naturally exposed to P. vivax. The antibody immune response elicited by rPvMSP119-PADRE was compared in C57BL/6 mice immunized with different adjuvant formulations. After 3 immunizing doses, antibody titres induced in the presence of the adjuvants monophosphoryl lipid A, trehalose dicorynomycolate and cell wall skeleton or alum plus CpG ODN 1826 were as high as titres generated by Complete Freund's Adjuvant. Based on these immunological studies, we concluded that rPvMSP119-PADRE deserves further evaluation in pre-clinical immunizations against P. vivax in non-human primates.


New evidence from piston cores and high-resolution seismic reflection data shows that water levels in Lake Titicaca were as much as 100 m below the present level during the early to mid-Holocene (between .6 and 3.8 14C kyr BP). Climatological and modelling studies indicate that Lake Titicaca rainfall depends on convective activity in upwind Amazonia; the lake-level data therefore suggest a drier Amazon Basin during this time. This view is bolstered by an excellent match between the Titicaca lake-level curve and decreased methane concentrations in Greenland ice, previously ascribed to drying of low-latitude wetlands (Blunier et al., 1995). The postglacial history of Lake Titicaca fits a global pattern of lake-level change in the tropics, characterized by opposite phasing between the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. This pattern is most likely the result of orbital controls over the intensity of summer insolation.


We describe the fabrication and characterization of 25–800 nm thick MgB2 films on glassy carbon substrates by Mg vapor annealing of sputter-deposited amorphous B films. Results demonstrate a critical role of both the initial B film thickness and the temperature–time profile on the microstructure, elemental composition, and superconducting properties of the resultant MgB2 films. Films with thicknesses of 55 nm and below exhibit a smooth surface, with a roughness of 1.1 nm, while thicker films have surface morphology consisting of elongated nano-crystallites. The suppression of the superconducting transition temperature for thin films scales linearly with the oxygen impurity concentration and also correlates with the amount of lattice disorder probed by Raman scattering. The best results are obtained by a rapid (12 min) anneal at 850 °C with large temperature ramp and cooling rates of ∼540 °C min−1. Such fast processing suppresses the deleterious oxygen uptake.


This study sought to investigate whether the popularity of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) would impact the behavioral intention (BI) to use of these technologies to aid in the task of academic help-seeking (AHS). Out of the ICTs available today, the most popular is text-messaging, especially among a sizable percentage of the college population. Approximately 600 students at a small, private junior college in eastern North Carolina were invited to participate in this study with a target of 248 responses needed to comprise an adequate sample. A total of 259 usable surveys (n = 259) were received and analyzed. Qualitative data collection instruments consisted of an open-ended questionnaire and other open-ended responses that were solicited throughout the data collection phase. Quantitative data collection instruments consisted of a 22-item Likert-scale survey and a forced-choice ordinal scale instrument that measured computer user self-efficacy (CUSE) and experience using technology (EUT). Situated in the context of academic help-seeking (AHS), vignettes were developed, validated and administered to offer AHS scenarios where a problem was presented and the participants were then asked to reveal which type of ICT and which source of academic help (formal or informal help) he or she would utilize in each particular situation.


Diabetes mellitus is a common disease of human body caused by a group of metabolic disorders where the sugar levels over a prolonged period is very high. It affects different organs of the human body which thus harm a large number of the body's system, in particular the blood veins and nerves. Early prediction in such disease can be controlled and save human life. To achieve the goal, this research work mainly explores various risk factors related to this disease using machine learning techniques. Machine learning techniques provide efficient result to extract knowledge by constructing predicting models from diagnostic medical datasets collected from the diabetic patients. Extracting knowledge from such data can be useful to predict diabetic patients. In this work, we employ four popular machine learning algorithms, namely Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and C4.5 Decision Tree (DT), on adult population data to predict diabetic mellitus. Our experimental results show that C4.5 decision tree achieved higher accuracy compared to other machine learning techniques.


Introduction: Malnutrition is an important complication of end-stage heart failure (HF) but is difficult to assess reliably in children because of fluid overload. In adults, CT has been used to measure muscle mass to assess muscle loss (sarcopenia), a method that is independent of fluid status. Hypothesis: Skeletal muscle index as defined by CT is lower for children with end-stage HF compared to age, gender and race-matched healthy controls. Methods: All children undergoing formal evaluation for heart transplant (HT) at Stanford University between 2013 and 2016 were identified using a hospital database. Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI) was calculated using a single CT plane at L-3 where the cross sectional area of the psoas muscle is measured. Malnutrition severity was defined using criteria adapted from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare SMI between paired subjects and healthy controls matched for age, gender and race. Results: A total of 36 children who met the study eligibility criteria were included for analysis. Patients had a median age of 9 years (IQR, 4.7-13.4), a median weight of 21.6 kg (IQR, 13.9-34.4); and 86% had congenital heart disease (CHD). Overall, 17% met criteria for mild malnutrition, 33% for moderate malnutrition, 25% for severe malnutrition, while 25% were categorized as non-malnourished. Among those who were malnourished, SMI was significantly lower for children with HF than their matched non-malnourished normal controls (27 pairs, p Conclusions: Malnourished children with end-stage heart failure appear to have significantly lower skeletal muscle mass than healthy controls. Evaluation of sarcopenia using the skeletal muscle index appears to be a promising method to evaluate nutritional status objectively in children with end-stage heart failure that is independent of volume status.


YBa2Cu3O7-x artificial grain boundary Josephson junctions have been fabricated, employing a recently implemented biepitaxial technique. The grain boundaries can be obtained by controlling the orientation of the MgO seed layer and are characterized by a misalignment of the c-axes (45° a-axis tilt or 45° a-axis twist). These types of grain boundaries are still mostly unexplored. We carried out a complete characterization of their transport properties and microstructure. Junctions and dc SQUIDs associated with these grain boundaries exhibit an excellent Josephson phenomenology and high values of the ICRN product and of the magnetic flux-to-voltage transfer parameter respectively. Remarkable differences in the transport parameters of tilt and twist junctions have been observed, which can be of interest for several applications. A maximum speed of Josephson vortices as calculated from the voltage step values of the order of 2 × 106 m s-1 is obtained.These devices could also have some impact on experiments designed to study the symmetry of the order parameter, exploiting their microstructure and anisotropic properties. High-resolution electron microscopy showed the presence of perfect basal plane faced boundaries in the cross sections of tilt boundaries.


Diplomonadida are primitive flagellate protozoa, among which both commensals and pathogens have been recorded. To date, members of the genera Hexamita and Spironucleus have been reported in the digestive system of fish in the Baikal region. We determined the genetic diversity of Diplomonadida in fish of the genus Coregonus from south-eastern Siberia using molecular-genetic methods. Fish for analysis were caught in Lake Baikal and in the Barguzin, Nepa, Chechuy, and Kirenga rivers from 2010 to 2013. Gall bladders, hindguts and foreguts of 120 specimens of Coregonus migratorius representing three morpho-ecological groups, 25 specimens of Coregonus lavaretus baicalensis, 25 specimens of Coregonus tugun and 30 specimens of Coregonus lavaretus pidschian were analysed via amplification with primers specifically designed for eukaryotes. Amplicons positive for Diplomonadida were sequenced.A phylogenetic analysis revealed that diplomonad flagellates of whitefish from Southeastern Siberia belong to Spironucleus barkhanus. Positive Diplomonadida DNA samples were analysed with primers designed in the present study for the amplification of small subunits of ribosomal DNA fragments of S. barkhanus (about 1,430 bp) and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed inside the clade of S. barkhanus besides the cosmopolitan genotype from European salmon that was detected earlier in Baikalian grayling, a new genotype unique to the fish of the genus Coregonus from Lake Baikal.


The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is neutral. It does not discriminate: the outbreak affects all countries. Yet, countries with better governance detect and report COVID-19 cases an average of 34 days earlier than countries with low governance scores. They also report a significantly higher number of cases, and more deaths but lower death-per-case ratios. Analyzing the statistical relationship between the good governance indicators devised by the World Bank with data pertaining to COVID-19 (to May 10, 2020), we present some initial yet strong statistical evidence that countries with higher levels of good governance based on the Worldwide Governance Indicators report more (cases, deaths), report earlier, and are more effective at reducing fatalities. These findings remain robust after controlling for population size, population density, old-age population, and the number of tourist arrivals. Countries with better governance are more successful in treating the disease and in reducing its deadliness. Good governance matters.


The safety aspects of the nickel-metal-hydride and high-capacity nickel-cadmium batteries used in Apple Computer's current notebook computers are discussed. No problems are anticipated with nickel-cadmium packs, which have an excellent record for safety because the cell design parameters are well understood and there is ample safety margin under abusive conditions. At its early stage of development, the nickel-metal-hydride cell is not as electrochemically robust as the nickel-cadmium, and it does not have as wide an operational temperature range. The possible hydrogen release from nickel-metal-hydride batteries on charging at low temperatures can also be a potential explosion hazard. Nickel-metal-hydride is considered less environmentally harmful than nickel-cadmium and has escaped legislated recycling requirements.<<ETX>>


Learning media is a media that can be used by teachers to deliver learning materials to students. Learning media can be developed in the form of various activities, one of which is outbound activities. Outbound is a learning method carried out in the form of experiential learning through light game activities to hone intelligence and agility. In the digital world, outbound activities can be done with the help of Virtual Reality (VR) technology. VR is a computer technology that allows users to interact in a virtual world environment. With a few modifications, VR technology can be used to support play and learning activities. This research was conducted to develop a VR-based learning media called Edubound. The development of Edubound is carried out using the Scrum method. Based on the results obtained, the scrum method used in this study proved to be quite responsive and adaptive in handling user needs. On the other hand, the speed of developing Edubound learning media which is the main focus in this research can also be accommodated well by the Scrum method. In general, it can be concluded that the Scrum method can work well in the process of developing Edubound learning media.


Across all major industrial fishing sectors, overfishing due to overcapacity and lack of compliance in fishery governance has led to a decline in biomass of many global fish stocks. Overfishing threatens ocean biodiversity, global food security, and the livelihoods of law abiding fishermen. To address this issue, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) was created to bring transparency to global fisheries using computer science and big data analytics. A product of a partnership between Oceana, SkyTruth and Google, GFW uses the Automatic Identification System, or AIS, to analyze the movement of vessels at sea. AIS provides vessel location data, and GFW uses this information to track global vessel movement and apply algorithms to classify vessel behavior as "fishing" or "non-fishing" activity. Now publicly available, anyone with an internet connection can monitor when and where trackable commercial fishing appears to be occurring around the world. Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend on our ocean for their livelihoods, and many more rely on it for food. Collectively, the various applications of GFW will help reduce overfishing and illegal fishing, restore the ocean's abundance, and ensure sustainability through better monitoring and governance of our marine resources.


Superwarfarin vitamin K antagonists are found in rat poisons and are readily available. Pediatric exposures are common but are usually asymptomatic without significant coagulopathy. Superwarfarin intoxication must be considered in any adult who presents with an unexplained coagulopathy with extreme elevation of prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time with associated depletion of vitamin K dependent factors. If superwarfarin toxicity is confirmed, intentional ingestion should be considered, as a large quantity of ingested rat poison is necessary to induce a coagulopathy. Patients with superwarfin induced coagulopathy require several months of high dose oral and parenteral vitamin K supplementation. We describe two patients with superwarfarin toxicity treated at Louisiana State University Health in Shreveport and review pathophysiology and patient management.


Synchronization and data movement are the key impediments to an efficient parallel execution. To ensure that data shared by multiple threads remain consistent, the programmer must use synchronization (e.g., mutex locks) to serialize threads' accesses to data. This limits parallelism because it forces threads to sequentially access shared resources. Additionally, systems use cache coherence to ensure that processors always operate on the most up-to-date version of a value even in the presence of private caches. Coherence protocol implementations cause processors to serialize their accesses to shared data, further limiting parallelism and performance.


Two invasive mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, have been interacting during the course of a rapid range expansion by A. albopictus. We investigated the potential for interspecific feeding interference by male mosquitoes interacting with females within and between these species. A. aegypti feeding on both sugar and blood was suppressed when females of this species were exposed to A. albopictus males, but no change was observed when exposed to conspecifics. A. albopictus feeding was not affected by males of either species. The potential consequences of these behaviors are discussed within the context of other known interspecific effects, all of which appear to favor the displacement of A. aegypti by A. albopictus.


Specialised actions realised for handicapped people can be analysed in many different aspects and dimensions. They do not only apply to the structure, aim, content, addressee, methods, forms, means and conditions of conducting multi-frequency and interdisciplinary support to a handicapped person, but also highly important elements of that person's own evaluation and effectiveness. The effectiveness of special help aimed at the handicapped validates itself in that person achieving self-reliance, social and individual maturity, high quality of life in all periods of personal development and self-fulfilment. The highlighted effectiveness consists of many factors that are rooted both in the handicapped person's personality and environment. These factors can help, but they can also hinder achieving the goals that have been set. One of the factors that hinder the process of aiding a handicapped person is the phenomenon of shamming specialised help, which can be present both in the behaviour of specialists, people from the handicapped person's environment and in the system, concept, and legal solutions. Consequently, the article elaborates on the selected problems related to shamming common social activity addressed to people experiencing the consequences of disability, which is understood in basic categories, that is without going into specifics of a particular type of disability.


Expectations following sports medicine and arthroscopic procedures have been elevated because of captivating modern-day media coverage of high-profile athletic injuries, surgery, and rapid return to sports. Unfortunately, this general perception may be misleading, and orthopedic sports medicine physicians must be aware of the harsh reality of the trials and tribulations associated with the subspecialty. The purpose of this review article is to provide an updated brief overview of the complications and failure rates associated with common arthroscopic procedures including rotator cuff repair, biceps tenodesis, Bankart procedure, Latarjet procedure, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, anterior cruciate ligament repair, meniscal repair, tibial tubercle osteotomy, and medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction. Highlighting the complications is the first step toward early recognition, enhancing preventative measures, and successful management.


Recent attempts for direct extension of ant algorithms to continuous decision space led to a new approach called ACOR. The authors of proposed method tested their algorithm on some well-known benchmark problems presented in the literature and concluded the strong performance of ACOR in comparison with other ant and non-ant based methods. In this paper, we briefly review the central idea and mathematical representation of ACOR and then present the method's application to a real-world reservoir operation optimization problem. This is the first application of ACOR algorithm to water resource problems. The comparison of results obtained by present method with which obtained by other ant-based algorithms used by different researchers, emphasizes on robust performance of ACOR in the reservoir operation optimization problem as locating the closest, among other ant methods, to the global optimal solution.


In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t We often lean toward things or people we desire. Does the converse happen as well? Does simply leaning forward increase patterns of neural activation associated with desire? Desire can be conceptualized as similar to the broader construct, approach motivation. Research has found that manipulated body postures reduce approach motivation (Harmon-Jones and Peterson, 2009; Riskind and Gotay, 1982). The present experiment tested whether leaning forward, a body posture associated with approach motivation , would increase approach motivation. We measured a pattern of neural activation associated with approach motivation, relative left frontal cortical activation, in response to pictures of appetitive (desserts) vs. neutral objects (rocks) while participants leaned forward or reclined backward. Leaning forward increased relative left frontal cortical activation to appetitive vs. neutral pictures; the reclining condition produced no differences between stimuli.


Living in a big city such as Jakarta that is densely populated and crowded is challenging. The limited open land is an obstacle for schools in urban areas, especially in the Central Jakarta region, to stimulate children's naturalistic intelligence and sometimes become a forgotten thing. The rapid progress of technology and information makes children become electronic addiction and nature deficit disorder. The teacher feels it is difficult to carry out activities related to nature.
The results of preliminary observations show that the naturalistic intelligence of early childhood still has not received attention to be developed. The lack of teacher creativity to create and design activities to improve children's naturalistic intelligence is also another obstacle. Likewise, parent involvement in children's learning activities is still not optimal.
The aims of this study was to look at the effect of hydroponic gardening activities and parents involvement on the naturalistic intelligence of early childhood. This study included an ex post facto study using a quantitative survey research approach to TK B children. The results of the studyshowed that there were hydroponic gardening activities and parental involvement had a significant influence on naturalistic intelligence in early childhood. Urban farming activities such as hydroponic gardening need to beintroduced to kindergaten teachers to get around the limited land in schools. Hydroponic gardening activities can bedesigned so parents can be involved in learning with children and teachers with a pleasant atmosphere


Photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE), and Raman spectra of Si–SiOx layers were measured as a function of Si content. Samples were prepared by co-sputtering of Si and SiO2 and post-annealing. The average size of Si nanoparticles was estimated from Raman measurements. It was shown that, in general, the PL spectra consist of two bands with maxima in the 'red' and 'green' spectral ranges. The 'red' PL band is complex and contains two (IR and red (R)) components. The shift of the peak position of the IR component from 1.38 to 1.54 eV correlates with the decrease of the Si nanoparticle size from 5 to 2.7 nm. It was shown that this PL component could be ascribed to carrier recombination in silicon nanoparticles. The R component of the 'red' band as well as the 'green' band have similar dependences of the peak positions and intensities on the Si content and can be ascribed to defect-related luminescence. It was concluded that the light absorption in silicon nanocrystallites plays the main role in PLE process. Hot-carrier participation in the excitation of defect-related bands was deduced.


diagnosis When small oesophagogastric or duodenal nodules <2 cm in size are detected, endoscopic biopsy may be difficult, and laparoscopic/laparotomic excision may be the only way to get to a histological diagnosis. Many of these small nodules, if diagnosed as GIST, will be low risk, or entities whose clinical significance remains unclear. Therefore, the standard approach to these patients is endoscopic ultrasound assessment and then follow-up, reserving excision for patients whose tumour increases in size or becomes symptomatic. Alternatively, the decision can be shared with the patient to make a histological assessment. If follow-up is the choice, an evidence-based optimal surveillance policy is lacking. A logical choice may be to have a short-term first control (e.g. at 3 months), and then, in the case of no evidence of growth, a more relaxed follow-up schedule may be selected. In histologically proven small GIST, standard treatment is excision, unless major morbidity is expected. Alternatively, the decision can be shared with the patient to follow up the lesion, in the case of a low-risk GIST. However, the standard approach to rectal (or recto-vaginal space) nodules is biopsy/excision after ultrasound assessment regardless of the tumour size, because the risk of a GIST at this site is higher and the local implications for surgery are more critical. However, a follow-up policy may be an option, to be shared with the patient, in the case of small lesions. On the other hand, the standard approach to nodules >2 cm in size is biopsy/excision, because, if GIST, they imply a higher risk. If there is an abdominal nodule not amenable to endoscopic assessment, laparoscopic/laparotomic excision is the standard approach. If there is a bigger mass, especially if surgery is likely to be a multivisceral resection, multiple core needle biopsies are the standard approach. They should be obtained preferably through endoscopic ultrasound guidance, or otherwise through an ultrasound/CT-guided percutaneous *Correspondence to: ESMO Guidelines Working Group, ESMO Head Office, Via L. Taddei 4, CH-6962 Viganello-Lugano, Switzerland; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Rhus verniciflua Stokes has long been used as a food supplement and traditional herbal medicine for various ailments in East Asia. We evaluated the anticancer effects of Rhus verniciflua Stokes extract (RVSE) on MCF-7 cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, flow cytometry, annexin V/7-AAD staining, and western blotting. In addition, the gallic acid content of RVSE was assayed using high-performance liquid chromatography. RVSE inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner by inducing apoptosis in the sub-G1 phase. RVSE also significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells and increased the expression of p53 and p21 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, RVSE treatment increased the Bax:Bcl-2 ratio and the levels of apoptosis-related factors, such as cleaved caspase-3 and -9 and PARP, in MCF-7 cells. Our findings suggest that the proapoptotic effect of RVSE on MCF-7 cells is mediated by p53, p21, and the intrinsic mitochondrial cascade. Thus, RVSE shows promise for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.


A critical analysis of the postmortem diagnostic criteria for asphyxia leads to a difficulty that has significant implications for the forensic pathologist. The difficulty is that there are no universally recognized pathognomic signs of asphyxia, but pathologists frequently make this diagnosis based on observations that individually have indeterminate significance but combined together, in the appropriate context, have diagnostic value. This leads to the question: if asphyxia has no recognizable signs at autopsy how are we able to diagnose this entity in the latter circumstances? This problem can be solved by defining the minimally adequate diagnostic criteria for compressive neck injury. These criteria are potentially well-defined but currently lacking, in part, due to incomplete morphological characterization of the injuries that frequently occur in strangulation. The problem is especially challenging because the signs of strangulation form a spectrum of degree from minimal to marked and there is no consensus as to the minimal number and nature of lesions that is required to make the diagnosis of strangulation. In the present review of lesions that are commonly encountered in strangulation, intracartilaginous laryngeal haemorrhages and laryngeal cartilage microfractures are considered to have unrecognized diagnostic value, and these lesions are described in detail. A triad of haemorrhages (subepithelial laryngeal haemorrhage, intralaryngeal muscular haemorrhage, and intracartilaginous laryngeal haemorrhage) is discussed in the context of developing a definition of strangulation based on morphological criteria in the absence of overt mechanical injuries to the neck. Although definitive criteria for cases with minimal findings are still lacking, several lesions have putative diagnostic value.


Background: Alcohol, smoking, physical inactivity, high body mass index (BMI) and menopausal hormone therapy have been shown to be associated with increased risk of breast cancer. However, it is unclear how these risk factors combined influence overall breast cancer risk, and whether they are associated with only certain subtypes. Methods: We conducted a case-control study nested within a cohort of 457,036 women who participated in the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) in 2006-2014, and who completed a questionnaire at baseline screening. In all, 4 686 breast cancer cases with information on risk factors and hormone receptor status (i.e. estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) occurred during the follow-up. The following surrogate definitions of breast cancer subtypes were used: ER+PR+HER2- ("luminal A-like"), ER+PR-HER2- ("luminal B-like, HER2 negative"), ER+ PR+/PR-HER2+ ("luminal B-like, HER2 positive"), ER-PR-HER2+ ("HER2 positive") and ER-PR-HER2- ("triple negative"). We defined risky lifestyle behaviors as ever smoking, weekly consumption of more than 2 glasses of alcoholic beverage, less than 3 hours leisure time physical activity per week, ever use of menopausal hormone (estrogen or estrogen and progesterone) therapy and BMI (kg/cm²) >25. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for age, education, age at menarche, number of pregnancies and menopausal status. Results: Number of risky lifestyle behaviors was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer overall (p-trend Conclusions: This study showed that number of risky lifestyle behaviors was positively associated with a marked increased risk for luminal A-like breast cancer. These findings suggest that healthy lifestyle choices may play an important role in the prevention of the commonest form of this cancer. Citation Format: Merete Ellingjord-Dale, Linda Vos, Steinar Tretli, Solveig Hofvind, Anette Hjartaker, Hege Russnes, Isabel dos-Santos-Silva, Giske Ursin. Number of risky lifestyle behaviors and breast cancer subtypes in a large nested case-control study from Norway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2287. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2287


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Scheda di Valutazione delle Attività di Tirocinio (SVAT).

METHOD
The degree courses in Nursing of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, site of Reggio Emilia, the University of Bologna Formative Section BO1, Imola and training center of Cesena, the University of Ferrara training centers of Ferrara and Codigoro were all enrolled in the research. For the content validation the reactive Delphi method was chosen. The panel of experts expressed a qualitative-intuitive judgment on the adequacy of language and on the stimulus material (SVAT). For internal consistency Cronbach's alpha was calculated the. The test-retest method was used for the reliability of stability.

RESULTS
all indicators of the SVAT have achieved a degree of consensus not less than 80% demonstrating its content validity. The face validity is demonstrated by an average score equal to or greater than 7 obtained by all indicators. The reliability of internal consistency of the SVAT was appraised by Cronbach's alpha that was 0.987 for the entire instrument. The reliability of the stability has been calculated through the correlation's coefficient expressed by Pearson's r that was 0.983 (p = 1.3E-198).

DISCUSSION
in Italy there is no a "gold standard" tool to evaluate the clinical performance of nursing students during and at the end of their clinical training. The SVAT proves to be a valuable and reliable tool it furthermore could stimulate the discussion and the debate among educators and nurses, so that also in our country, it may be possible develop and refine tools that support the evaluation of clinical skills of nursing students.


William Scott Owen figured prominently in Montgomeryshire history by being deeply involved with the lives of working people and active in local politics. He was an incomer from the south of England and a stalwart of the Anglican faith and the Tory party. He spent the whole of his working life in Montgomeryshire and came to be deeply respected in a part of Britain noted for its Nonconformity and Liberalism. Scott Owen was agent on the Gregynog Estate, which lies in the south east of the county, much of it now belonging to the University of Wales. This study of his life provides a vivid picture of the county in the late Victorian and Edwardian period and discusses why he became so well regarded.


C.S.F. samples of 35 patients, who suffered from verified chronic, non-tumorous organic brain syndrome, were radioimmunoassayed for T4 and T.S.H., and were compared to C.S.F.-R.I.A. samples from a control group of patients who underwent myelography because of lumbar disc. In addition T4 and T.S.H. plasma levels were evaluated in the O.B.S. patients. C.S.F. T4 and T.S.H. levels were significantly higher in 65% of the O.B.S. group of patients than those of the control group. The average determinations for T4 were: 0.77 muh/100 ml in O.B.S. group as against 0--0.4 micrograms/100 ml in the C.S.F.'s of the control group. P greater than 0,001 T.S.H. C.S.F. levels were 1.33 microU/ml in the O.B.S. group, and 0--0.6 microU/ml in the control group (P greater than 0.005). It is suggested that the elevated R.I.A. values of these hormones in the C.S.F. of the O.B.S. patients reflect a disruption of blood-C.S.F. barriers. Therefore in the organic brain syndrome there seems to exist a pathophysiological dysfunction of brain barriers in addition of the neural damage.


The gas-phase kinetics and mechanism of two channel hydrogen (H) abstraction reaction of methanol (CH3OH) by halogen monoxide (XO, X = Cl, Br) radical has been investigated using theoretical approach. The two H-abstraction channels followed are: hydroxyl H-atom or methyl H-atom of methanol (CH3OH). The geometry optimization and frequency calculations were performed at M06-2X method and cc-pVTZ basis set. Single point energy calculation of all the species were computed at high level CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ theory on the M06-2X/cc-pVTZ optimized structure. Weak intermolecular pre-reactive and post-reactive complexes were located at the entrance and exit channel respectively on the potential energy surfaces of all the H-abstraction reactions. The rate constants (k) and branching ratio (ϕ) of all possible channels were calculated as a function of temperature for a wide range of temperature 200–2500 K. The rate constants were estimated using canonical variational transition state theory (CVT) combined with an Eckart tunneling correction and hindered rotor approximation for low frequency torsional modes. The rate constant calculation shows that the reaction for the H-abstraction from methyl group of CH3OH by XO radical leading to hydroxymethyl (CH2OH) radical is predominant over the hydroxyl group H-abstraction reaction forming methoxy (CH3O) radical. Arrhenius equation using three parameters was obtained by fitting the kinetic data for the two channels of H-abstraction by ClO and BrO radicals. The overall rate expression, in units of cm3 per molecule per s, with ClO radical is found to be kov1(T) = 3.92 × 10−19T1.63 exp(−2062/T) and with BrO radical it is kov2(T) = 1.53 × 10−20T2.41 exp(−2206/T) for the temperature range 200–2500 K.


In order to improve the flame resistance and reduce the formaldehyde emission of plywood, a multifunctional formaldehyde scavenger with flame resistance (FSFR) was prepared and used to treat plywoods bonded with high molar ratio urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin. The weight percent gain (WPG), formaldehyde emission, oxygen index (OI), and bonding strength of plywoods after FSFR treated were measured to evaluated properties of FSFR. The results showed that the formaldehyde emission of the treated plywood was 0.1-0.32 mg/L, which could meet the E0 grade requirement (<0.5 mg/L ). The flame resistance of treated plywood increased significantly and the bonding strength changed little. The formaldehyde emission decreased 96.8 % and OI increased 47.2 % and the bonding strength kept unchanged when FSFR reached 8.87 % compared with that of untreated plywood.


We continue our series focusing on Personal, social, and emotional development with activities designed to get children into the habit of self-analysis – this month, developing emphatic and caring approaches.


In this paper, three different modeling and simulation methods (forward dynamic, quasi-static backwards, and inverse dynamic) will be compared and the simulation results using these methods will be analyzed. The base line vehicle used in this paper consists of a conventional drive train with a natural aspirated engine. From a Forward Dynamic (FDM) model, a Forward Quasi-static (FQM) and a Backward Quasi-static Model (BQM) for the engine will be derived. The difference in simulation results for the base line vehicle used on representative driving cycles (NEDC, FTP75) will be discussed. The forward dynamic model contains a scalable engine model based on physical laws. The accuracy of this model will be investigated by comparing simulation results with measured quasi-static efficiency data of actual engines. The work presented in this paper will form the basis to develop a modeling, simulation and design method which can be used for quick (alternative, or hybrid) drive train specification, or (supervisory) control calibration with sufficient accuracy.


The importance of echocardiography is generally known for acute coronary syndrome. However, assessing cardiac biomarker elevation is important together with echocardiography as poor images are obtained in some cases and patients may show unstable angina or angina on effort without asynergy. We examined the usefulness of high sensitive troponin I (hs-cTnI) in 60 patients from October 2014. We performed hs-cTnI and echocardiography in 10 cases (acute myocardial infarction: 8, unstable angina: 1, angina on effort: 1) among those patients. In the 8 acute myocardial infarction cases, asynergy was noted in all cases on echocardiography, but CK, CK-MB, and H-FABP cardiac biomarkers showed mixed negativity and positivity. Also, the unstable angina and angina on effort did not show asynergy but hs-cTnI was positive, the case of unstable angina showed elevation over time, but the case of angina on effort did not show elevation with time. We suggest that echocardiography and hs-cTnI are useful for acute myocardial infarction, although care may be necessary when assessing ACS patients with no detected asynergy in echocardiographs or non-ACS patients with acutely elevated hs-cTnI). In addition, it was suggested that confirmation of a change over time of hs-cTnI is necessary in angina patients.


Hierarchical architecture self-assembled three-dimensional WO3 and WO3·Ag with high uniformity have been successfully obtained using peroxopolytungstic acid as precursor and silver in a morphological engineering approach under moderate hydrothermal conditions. The as-grown samples were characterized by XRD, FEG-SEM, HRTEM, TGA, Raman, FTIR, UV-Vis, and XPS. In addition, the photocatalytic performance of the hierarchical architecture self-assembled three-dimensional WO3 and WO3·Ag has also been investigated through degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye under 467 nm LED light irradiation. Results show that the hierarchical architecture self-assembled three-dimensional shapes evolve (depending on the silver amount) from 3D irregular-platelet-like building blocks to 3D hexagonal building blocks then to three-dimensional hexagonal-football-like and finally to 3D multi-branched spiky ball-like microcrystals. Also, high-magnification FEG-SEM and HRTEM images showed that the Ag nanoparticles with diameter about 5–15 nm were anchored on the surface of the 3D hierarchical architecture. UV-Vis measurements demonstrated that the 3D hierarchical structures gradually absorbed more light when the Ag content was increased. Moreover, the band-gap energy to WO3·0.20Ag was from Eg = 2.48 eV. It was found that 3D multi-branched spiky ball-like WO3·0.20Ag (corresponding to 1.2748 g of the AgNO3) microcrystals show outstanding photocatalytic activity in the photodegradation of RhB dye compared with other 3D hierarchical architectures.


A portable X-ray fluorescence method is described for the measurement of lead and arsenic in soils based on calibration with standard reference materials. Both elements exhibited good linear calibration curves. The method was used to analyze dried and ground soil samples obtained from the metropolitan New York City area. Results were compared to measurements obtained by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with microwave assisted acid leaching. No significant difference was found for lead measurements between the two methods however, arsenic values were significantly different with XRF exhibiting higher values. It is hypothesized that incomplete leaching and spectral interference are the predominant causes of this discrepancy. The XRF method provides a simple, quick, and nondestructive method for the determination of total lead and arsenic content in soils.


Observations of the formation of multiple-mist regions on the fracture surfaces of soda-lime-silicate and fused silica glasses are reported. These regions occur only in high-strength specimens. The same empirical equationthat is applicable to the basic fracture mirror-primary mist also describes secondary and tertiary mist regions, although the proportionality constants increase as the order of the mist region increases. Results suggest that these mist radii constants may be related in specific ratios, which decrease with successive mist regions. Criteria of mist-region formation are reviewed with respect to additional restrictions imposed by the consideration of multiple mists. The authors suggest that an energy criterion is most applicable, and a schematic diagram is proposed.


Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is an important human and livestock pathogen that is well-protected against environmental insults by a thick cell wall. Accordingly, the wall is a major target of present-day antimicrobial therapy. Unfortunately, S. aureus has mastered the art of antimicrobial resistance, as underscored by the global spread of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The major cell wall component is peptidoglycan. Importantly, the peptidoglycan network is not only vital for cell wall function, but it also represents a bacterial Achilles' heel. In particular, this network is continuously opened by no less than 18 different peptidoglycan hydrolases (PGHs) encoded by the S. aureus core genome, which facilitate bacterial growth and division. This focuses attention on the specific functions executed by these enzymes, their subcellular localization, their control at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels, their contributions to staphylococcal virulence and their overall importance in bacterial homeostasis. As highlighted in the present review, our understanding of the different aspects of PGH function in S. aureus has been substantially increased over recent years. This is important because it opens up new possibilities to exploit PGHs as innovative targets for next-generation antimicrobials, passive or active immunization strategies, or even to engineer them into effective antimicrobial agents.


Although effects of biochemical modulation of stem cells have been widely investigated, only recent advances have been made in the identification of mechanical conditioning on cell signaling pathways. Experimental investigations quantifying the micromechanical environment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are challenging while computational approaches can predict their behavior due to in vitro stimulations. This study introduces a 3D cell-specific finite element model simulating large deformations of MSCs. Here emphasizing cell mechanical modulation which represents the most challenging multiphysics phenomena in sub-cellular level, we focused on an approach attempting to elicit unique responses of a cell under fluid flow. Fluorescent staining of MSCs was performed in order to visualize the MSC morphology and develop a geometrically accurate model of it based on a confocal 3D image. We developed a 3D model of a cell fixed in a microchannel under fluid flow and then solved the numerical model by fluid-structure interactions method. By imposing flow characteristics representative of vigorous in vitro conditions, the model predicts that the employed external flow induces significant localized effective stress in the nucleo-cytoplasmic interface and average cell deformation of about 40%. Moreover, it can be concluded that a lower strain level is made in the cell by the oscillatory flow as compared with steady flow, while same ranges of effective stress are recorded inside the cell in both conditions. The deeper understanding provided by this study is beneficial for better design of single cell in vitro studies.


A catalogue and discussion of the social meaning and family relationships behind the funerary monuments of Roman France. Hope aims to reconstruct the stories associated with monuments from their inscriptions, artworks, dimensions, type and location. The catalogue entries, which include descriptions and inscriptions, are preceded by a discussion of the gender, age, social status and title of the dead, funerary monuments of soldiers and people with other occupations, such as gladiators, freedmen, family tombs as well as consideration of the Roman way of mourning and commemorating the dead.


BACKGROUND
Mammographic screening has become part of routine health care. We present a first analysis of screening mammography in a dedicated breast health centre in Africa.

OBJECTIVE
To establish a performance benchmark and provide data for health care policy and funding decisions on screening mammography.

METHOD
All mammography performed between January 2003 and August 2008 was entered into a prospective database. Mammography was performed exclusively by certified mammographers and double-read by experienced readers.

RESULTS
Outcomes were classified in a simplified classification system based on the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS). In 40 - 49-year-old women, 3 192 mammograms led to a recall rate of 4.7%, a biopsy rate of 1.9% and a cancer diagnosis rate of 3.8 per 1 000 examinations; for women of 50 years and older, the corresponding figures were 4 446, 5.4%, 2.6% and 9.7 per 1 000. Of the cancers detected, 31% were in situ and, of the invasive cancers, 81% were node-negative. These figures were established by a dedicated surgeon-led team and fall within the range expected in organised screening programmes in resource-rich environments, providing a first benchmark for screening mammography in Africa.


Nitric oxide (NO) has a wide variety of physiological functions in the kidney. Besides the regulatory effects in intrarenal haemodynamics and glomerular microcirculation, in vivo studies reported the diuretic and natriuretic effects of NO. However, opposite results showing the stimulatory effect of NO on Na+ reabsorption in the proximal tubule led to an intense debate on its physiological roles. Animal studies have showed the biphasic effect of angiotensin II (Ang II) and the overall inhibitory effect of NO on the activity of proximal tubular Na+ transporters, the apical Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 3, basolateral Na+/K+ ATPase, and the Na+/HCO3− cotransporter. However, whether these effects could be reproduced in humans remained unclear. Notably, our recent functional analysis of isolated proximal tubules demonstrated that Ang II dose-dependently stimulated human proximal tubular Na+ transport through the NO/guanosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) pathway, confirming the human-specific regulation of proximal tubular transport via NO and Ang II. Of particular importance for this newly identified pathway is its possibility of being a human-specific therapeutic target for hypertension. In this review, we focus on NO-mediated regulation of proximal tubular Na+ transport, with emphasis on the interaction with individual Na+ transporters and the crosstalk with Ang II signalling.


Music cognition and real-time listening: denotation, cue abstraction, route description and cognitive maps .. Auditive analysis of the Quartetto per Archi in due tempi (1955) La psychologie cognitive face à la musique contemporaine : une contribution essentielle de Irène Deliège .. Cue abstraction, paradigmatic analysis and informative dynamics: towards Music analysis by cognitive model .. • ABSTRACT This paper addresses problems and misconceptions pertaining to the notion of the musical surface, a notion that is commonly thought to be relatively straightforward and is often taken as a given in computational and cognitive research. It is suggested that the musical surface is comprised of (complex) musical events perceived as wholes within coherent musical streams-the musical surface is not merely an unstructured sequence of atomic note events, such as score notes or a piano-roll representation. Additionally, it is maintained that the emergence of the musical surface involves rather complex mechanisms that require, not only multi-pitch extraction from the acoustic signal, but, the employment of cognitive processes such as beat-tracking, metre induction, chord identification and stream/voice separation. Such processes do not come into play after the surface has been formed, but are, rather, an integral part of the formation of the musical surface per se.


This paper discusses combinatorial mechanisms for reasoning with conceptual graphs. We focus on the combinatorial aspects of a backtracking approach to the NP-hard problem of projection, which is the main tool for reasoning with conceptual graphs. We use effective graph-theoretical look-ahead procedures, based on a conceptual forest decomposition of the graph to be projected. We believe that our approach to projection can improve the practical applicability of exponential algorithms currently used to solve NP-hard problems.


The laminin alpha3 chain LG4 module (alpha3LG4 module) has cell adhesion, heparin binding, migration, and neurite outgrowth activities. The LG4 module consists of a 14-stranded beta-sheet (A-N) sandwich structure. Previously, we identified the A3G756 sequence (KNSFMALYLSKGRLVFALG in the human laminin alpha3 chain 1411-1429) as a biologically active site in the alpha3LG4 module. The A3G756 sequence is located on the E and F strands based on a crystal structure-based sequence alignment. The Lys1421 and Arg1423 residues, critical amino acids for the biological activity of A3G756, are located on the E-F connecting loop region as a KGR sequence. In this study, we focused on the KGR sequence and investigated the structural requirements of the E-F connecting loop region in the alpha3LG4 module. We synthesized three linear peptides containing the KGR sequence at the middle and the N and C termini and also prepared three cyclic analogues corresponding to the linear peptides. cyclo-hEF3A (CLYLSKGRLVFAC), which is a cyclic peptide containing the KGR sequence at the middle, showed the strongest inhibitory effect on both the heparin binding and the cell attachment to the recombinant alpha3LG4 module protein. The cyclo-hEF3A peptide was more active for syndecan-4 binding and neurite outgrowth than the linear form. Furthermore, we found that the structure of cyclo-hEF3A is similar to that of the connecting E-F loop region in human laminin alpha3LG4 module by structural analysis using molecular dynamics simulations. These results suggest that the loop structure of the E-F connecting region of the alpha3LG4 module is important for its biological activities. The cyclo-hEF3A peptide may be useful for the development of therapeutic reagents especially for wound healing and nerve regeneration.


Vacation travel constitutes about 25% of all long-distance travel, and about 80% of this vacation travel is undertaken using the automobile. This paper contributes to the vacation travel literature by examining how households decide what vacation travel activities to participate in on an annual basis, and to what extent, given the total annual vacation travel time that is available at their disposal. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive modelling exercise in the literature to undertake such a vacation travel time-use analysis to examine purpose-specific time investments. A mixed multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model structure that is consistent with the notion of "optimal arousal" in vacation type time-use decisions is used in the analysis. The data used is drawn from the 1995 American Travel Survey (ATS). The empirical results show that most households participate in different types of vacation travel over the course of a year, and they spend significantly different amounts of time on each type of vacation travel. The model developed here can be used to predict the changes in vacation travel timeuse patterns due to the changes in demographic, economic, and residence characteristics over time. Such predictions, in turn, can be used to examine the changing vacation travel needs of households, so that appropriate service and transportation facilities may be planned.


This paper focuses on the potential of future wireless networks to support U.S. economic growth to 2030. We consider the economic implications of next generation wireless networks for long-term productivity growth and living standards, and relate those to current public policy questions. The result could be an acceleration of productivity growth in the physical industries that adds roughly $2.7 trillion (in 2015 dollars) to U.S. GDP by 2030. This translates into an 11 percent increase in economic output, which is equivalent to boosting the average annual growth rate by 0.7 percentage points. This paper makes three main points. The United States is currently stuck in a slow-growth trap, which is holding down wages and living standards. We show that slow productivity growth today is correlated with the failure of "physical" industries such as manufacturing, health care, and construction to make good use of digital technologies, compared to "digital" industries such as professional services, finance, and entertainment. We estimate that physical industries, which make up roughly 80 percent of the private sector, account for only 35 percent of private infotech investment, and only 40 percent of telecom usage. Using a top-down analysis, we suggest that successfully digitizing physical industries will require a vast increase in remote sensors and remote-controlled devices such as cars, drones, and construction equipment. True, in the short-run, machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless traffic will still only be a small portion of mobile data. Cisco forecasts that M2M wireless traffic in the United States, including wearables, will rise from 3 percent to 11 percent of all mobile data by 2020. In this paper, we further project that IoT-related M2M communications will account for roughly 35-47 percent of mobile data communications by 2030. To boost productivity of physical industries, M2M communications will occupy a much larger share of available bandwidth.Achieving this level of connectivity and productivity improvement will require a sharp increase in the capacity of the nation's mobile broadband networks. The nature of the capacity increase will depend on the development of technology. Using an analysis based on historical trends, we project that by 2030 it will be necessary to have over 1900 MHz of spectrum in the sub-mmW bands (3 times current availability) and at least 1.2 million cell sites (4 times current level) to fully enable the IoT-driven productivity gains in physical industries over the next fifteen years. By contrast, extensive use of mmW bands, if technologically and economically feasible, will require the deployment of a vast number of additional small cell sites that will require ongoing maintenance.The conclusion: Creating vastly more wireless capacity is essential for getting the United States out of the slow-growth trap we are currently stuck in. In order to catalyze the next round of spectrum-enabled economic expansion, policymakers need to focus on freeing up multiples of the current amount of spectrum — both for licensed and unlicensed uses — while creating an economic environment in which it is profitable to build and maintain a greatly expanded number of cell sites.


Abstract Leisure engagement is believed to offer emotional benefits. However, relatively few studies have examined how leisure engagement influences emotional well-being in the context of individuals' everyday lives. The current study examined the associations between leisure engagement and daily emotional well-being, as measured by participants' mean levels of positive affect (PA), PA variability, and PA reactivity to stressors. Using smartphones, participants (n = 176) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) 5 times per day for 14 consecutive days. The Pearson correlations indicated that the participants who engaged in leisure more frequently experienced higher mean levels of PA and lower PA variability in daily life compared to those with less frequent leisure engagement. However, multilevel models indicated that individuals' differences in frequency of leisure engagement did not influence their emotional reactivity in response to daily stressors. The findings extend the importance of leisure engagement to consider the dynamics of daily emotional well-being.


In this study, dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios of RC frame is determined for different construction stages using Operational Modal Analyses method under ambient vibration. Full scaled, one bay and one story RC frames are selected as an application for different construction stages such as plane, brick in-filled and brick in-filled with plaster. The RC frame is vibrated by natural excitations with small impact effects and the response signals are measured using sensitive accelerometers during ambient vibration tests. Measurement time-frequency span and effective mode number are determined by considering similar studies in literature. Sensitive seismic accelerometers are used to collect signals obtained from the experimental tests. To obtain experimental dynamic characteristics, output-only system identification technique is employed namely; Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition technique in the frequency domain. It is demonstrated that the ambient vibration measurements are enough to identify the most significant modes of RC frames.


Abstract The aim of the present study was to detect the antibacterial activity of medicinal plants against fish microflora. A total of 4 ethanolic extracts of 6 plant species were collected from local environments of Slovakia and screened for antibacterial activity against bacterial microflora. Extracts of Melissa officinalis L., Mentha piperita L., Origanum vulgare L. and Malva mauritiana were used. Bacterial strains were isolated from common bleak (Alburnus alburnus) and common rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) of Latvian origin. All bacterial strains were identified with the Matrix- Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Among fish microflora, Acinetobacter pittii, A. baumannii, Buttiauxella agrestis, Delftia acidovorans, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia liquefaciens, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Ps. oryzihabitans, Staphylococcus epidermidis, St. caprae, Pantoea agglomerans, Lelliottia amnigena, Providencia rettgeri, Escherichia coli and Rahnella aquatilis were identified. It has been shown that all plant extracts exhibit different degrees of antimicrobial activity against the tested bacteria. All bacterial strains in the present study were moderate sensitive to all extracts applied. The strongest antimicrobial effect of Malva mauritiana and Melissa officinalis L. against Pseudomonas oryzihabitans (6.67±1.53 resp. 9.67±0.58 mm) were found. The best antimicrobial activity of Mentha piperita L. was against Staphylococcus epidermis (7.33±0.58 mm) and strongest antimicrobial effect of Origanum vulgare L. was same against two bacterial strains Enterobacter cloacae and Serratia liquefaciens (9.67±0.58 mm).


High-grade gliomas are characterized with poor prognosis. To improve the clinical outcome, biomarker is urgently needed for distinguishing oncotarget in high-grade gliomas. Telomere maintenance 2 (TELO2) regulates S-phase checkpoint in cell cycle, and is involved in DNA repair. However, the role of TELO2 in survival outcome of high-grade gliomas is still not yet clarified. This study aims to investigate the correlation between TELO2 mRNA expression and survival outcome of patients with high-grade gliomas. Based on bioinformatics study, we found that Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated shorter survival in patients with higher TELO2 mRNA levels than in those with lower TELO2 expression (median survival, 59 vs. 113 weeks, p=0.0017, by log-rank test, hazard ratio: 0.3505, 95% CI: 01824.-0.6735). TELO2 mRNA expression significantly higher in World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV than in non-tumor control (p=2.85 × 10−9). Moreover, TELO2 level was greater in WHO grade III than in non-tumor controls (p= 0.017) human gliomas. We further validated TELO2 mRNA expression and protein levels by using quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemical (IHC) stain of tissue microarray. Consistently, the TELO2 mRNA and protein expression were significantly elevated in human glioma cells in comparison with normal brain control. Additionally, IHC staining showed higher TELO2 immunostain score in high-grade gliomas than in low-grade gliomas, or normal brain control. Taken together, human high-grade gliomas increase TELO2 mRNA expression, and overexpression of TELO2 mRNA expression correlates with shorter survival outcome, supporting that TELO2 is an oncotarget in human gliomas.


Land degradation is one of the main problems that threaten the limited highly fertile land in the Nile Delta of Egypt. In this research, Landsat TM satellite images of 1984 and 1992, and ETM of 2006 have been used to study the impact of urban sprawl on agricultural land in the Nile Delta. Visual interpretation using on screen digitizing and change detection techniques were applied for monitoring the urban sprawl. 42 soil profiles have been collected, morphologically described and analyzed for the study of their chemical and physical properties. The rate of salinization, and water logging were estimated following the FAO methodology for assessing land degradation. As urban sprawl is a significant degradation process, multi-temporal satellite images were used for its detection. The annual rate of salt accumulation in the soils is 0.10 dS/m, where an area of 3103.2 km (or 10.8 %) has a high salinity risk. The water table is decreased by a rate of 1.85 cm per year in the Typic Aquisalids soils and 0.37 cm per year in the Typic Calcigypsids soils. The water logged areas cover 7461.3 Km (or 25.9 %) concentrated in the Northern part of the Delta. The results show that a total expansion of urban area was 202.6 Km between 1992 and 2006 of which 37.41 km were converted from the alluvial fertile soils and 165.2 km from cultivated desert fringes. It can be concluded that salinization and the urban sprawl are the dominant degradation process in the Nile Delta.


The management of new product development (NPD) processes is a continual challenge facing organizations that develop complex, innovative products. While market trends are forcing shorter product development times in order to meet time-to-market (TTM) goals, companies are trying to develop mechanisms to streamline their NPD processes. One approach that has provided much success towards achieving shorter TTM is concurrent engineering (Winner et al., 1988; Clark and Fujimoto, 1991; Blackburn, 1991; Wheelwright and Clark, 1992; Smith and Reinersten, 1991). Concurrent engineering (CE) can broadly be defined as the integration of inter-related functions at the outset of the product development process in order to minimize risk and reduce effort downstream in the process, and to better meet customers' needs (Winner et al., 1988). Multi-functional teams, concurrency of product/process development, integration tools, information technologies, and process coordination are among the elements that enable CE to improve the performance of the product development process (Blackburn, 1991). The traditional NPD process suffers many setbacks. This process evolves in a sequential fashion, where phases follow one another serially, each one dominated by a single functional role. There is little or no crosscommunication among various functions, and information generated from one activity gets handed off to the next only after its completion. The commonly encountered problems with this type of process are increased downstream effort, process span time, i.e., the start to finish time of the process, and costs.


BACKGROUND
The use of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for cancer is increasing; however, post-discharge outcomes have not been well described. The aim of the present study was to determine rates of hospital-based, acute care utilization within 30 days of discharge after RFA.

METHODS
Using state-level data from California, patients were identified who were at least 40 years of age who underwent RFA of hepatic tumours without a concurrent liver resection from 2007-2011. Our primary outcome was hospital readmissions or emergency department visits within 30 days of discharge. A multivariable regression model was constructed to identify patient factors associated with these events.

RESULTS
The final sample included 1764 patients treated at 100 centres. Hospital readmissions (11.3/100 discharges), emergency department visits (6.0/100 discharges) and overall acute care utilization (17.3/100 discharges) were common. Most encounters occurred within 10 days of discharge for diagnoses related to the procedure. Patients with renal failure [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.98 (1.11-3.53)], obesity [AOR = 1.69 (1.03-2.77)], drug abuse [AOR = 2.95 (1.40-6.21)] or those experiencing a complication [AOR = 1.52 (1.07-2.15)] were more likely to have a hospital-based acute care encounter within 30 days of discharge.

CONCLUSIONS
Hospital-based acute care after RFA is common. Patients should be counselled regarding the potential for acute care utilization and interventions targeted to high-risk populations.