The highly restricted distribution of human folate receptor-alpha (FRalpha) in normal tissues and its high expression in some tumors, along with its putative role in tumor cell transformation, make this antigen a suitable target for antigen-specific, monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapy for oncology indications. We have developed a therapeutic humanized monoclonal antibody with high affinity for FRalpha, named MORAb-003, which was derived from the optimization of the LK26 antibody using a whole cell genetic evolution platform. Here we show that MORAb-003 possesses novel, growth-inhibitory functions on cells overexpressing FRalpha. In addition, MORAb-003 elicited robust antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) in vitro, and inhibited growth of human ovarian tumor xenografts in nude mice. Because of its multimodal activity in vitro and its safe toxicology profile in non-human primates, MORAb-003 development has recently been advanced to clinical trials involving ovarian cancer patients.


One of the implicit assumptions considered in the majority of investigations performed in the area of inventory management is that the physical flow of products that passes through an inventory system as well as the associated information flow are free from defects, i.e. for a given type of product, the quantity received matches exactly the quantity ordered or there are no errors occurring during the data capture process such that the level of the available inventory shown by the information system corresponds exactly to the physical quantity available. However, various factors can create a difference between the expected and the effective physical and information flows and perturb the synchronized evolution between these two flows. The performance of such inventory systems whose flows are disturbed by defects can be improved by using advanced product identification and data capture technologies such as the RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology. This paper deals with the impact of inaccuracies on inventory and supply chain performances. We first give an overview of potential errors that may occur within an inventory system. Then, we propose a general framework to model the impact of errors and we provide analytical optimal solutions for both centralized and decentralized supply chains. For the centralized case, we evaluate the performance improvement enabled by the RFID technology on such inventory systems


The thesis argues that language research in education
is implicitly positivistic, and that in:'focussing on
communicative functions, most ,investigations ignore
the processes of expression. This imbalance has influenced
theory and method in English Studies, which
should acknowledge both aspects. After a review of
linguistic influences, a phenomenological epistemology
is developed. This provides the basis for an account
of language which restores the element of expression.
The centre of the work comprises two parallel strands
of enquiry which have an elaborated distinction of de
Saussure's langue and parole as their common structure.
After sketching a simple model of some of the features
of langue, one part draws on phenomenological writing.
It shows how the formal structure of language has its
roots in experience; langue, therefore, - as a science
of elements - is ,extended to comprehend the relationship
of those necessary abstractions to the structures
of experience underlying them. The other part shows
how such a philosophical account has an empirical and
useful validity; literary method is used to describe
the expressive acts of students as they discuss poetry.
Consonant with the first part, parole is viewed as so
many instances of experience disposed to sharing meaning.
This illumination of parole suggests some);"truths
which research methodology must respect if it is to
recognise the character and event of meaning. In conclusion,
several principles of art which the expressive
nature of language shares are elaborated with examples
from 'literature, and pedagogic implications illustrated
from the author's experience. Finally, phenomenological
enquiry is characterised as a method which can investigate
the experience of language in education; such
work respects the personal, experience of meaning, and
so the moral dimension of research lies in the problem
of communicating that effort for meaning to others.


Amylase-specific cDNA probes were used to assay amylase mRNA levels in third-instar larvae of Drosophila melanogaster. It is shown that there is a difference, of the order of 100-fold, in the mRNA levels between larvae that are fed 10% glucose and larvae of the same wild-type strain that are fed an equivalent diet lacking glucose. In fact, the glucose-fed larvae have barely detectable levels of amylase mRNA. This large difference in transcript abundance indicates that the glucose effect, which we previously characterized at the level of enzyme activity, probably reflects a change in the transcriptional activity of the amylase gene.


We present a logspace algorithm to compute path decompositions of bounded pathwidth graphs, thus settling its complexity. Prior to our work, the best known upper bound to compute such decompositions was linear time [Bod96, BK96]. We also show that deciding if the pathwidth of a graph is at most a given constant is L-complete. Besides being of fundamental interest, our results represent an important step to gain a better understanding of the complexity of Graph Isomorphism of bounded pathwidth graphs.


One patient with multiple myeloma and four patients with acute leukemia presented with severe abdominal pain. Pertinent findings included numerous petechiae in the skin and buccal cavity, and diffuse abdominal guarding and tenderness, suggesting peritoneal involvement. Severe thrombocytopenia was found in all patients. Laparotomy was performed in the patient with multiple myeloma, and revealed numerous petechiae throughout the peritoneum. All five patients responded to platelet transfusions with disappearance of the abdominal signs and symptoms. Severe thrombocytopenia should be considered among the causes of acute surgical abdomen in patients with malignant hematological disorders, and platelet transfusions should be administered before any surgical intervention.


Background:  Acute mesenteric vascular event can be thrombotic, embolic, vasospatic, or venous thrombosis. These patients present with nonspecific signs disproportionate to symptoms making early diagnosis difficult. Mortality remains high (30-100%). This prompted us to undertake this study to find predictors of mortality in these patients. Methods: This was prospective non-study carried out at our tertiary referral hospital over defined period of 22 months during which all patients operated for acute mesenteric ischemic bowel gangrene were included. Variable data regarding demographics, clinical and biochemical parameters, operative findings and their association with mortality was recorded in predesigned case sheets. Chi-square test was applied to determine significance. Results:  Advanced age, presence of co-morbid conditions, delayed (>24 hours) presentation, hypotension, tachypnea, hypoxia, more than two system failures, more than three feet length of resected gangrenous bowel, < 100 cms of remnant viable bowel, need for second look surgery, complications of surgery and more than one mesenteric arterial involvement are negative predictors of mortality. Whereas laboratory parameters like haemoglobin, leucocyte count, serum creatinine and metabolic acidosis have no statistically significant correlation to mortality. Similarly presence of perforation of gangrenous intestine, ileocaecal resection, amount of contamination have no effect on morality rate. Conclusions:  One of the reasons for persistant high mortality of this disease is it's occurance in higher age group and frequent association with comorbidities. Difficulties in diagnosis leads to delayed treatments; adding to mortality burden. Mesenteric angiography is underutilised diagnostic tool. Endovascular revascularisation procedures are not widely available and many patients are unsuitable due to clinical condition and risk of reperfusion injury. In presence of peritoneal signs and suspicion of disease urgent exploratory laparotomy is the gold standard.


The discrete choice experiment (DCE) is introduced in sports economics by empirically investigating soccer attendees' preferences for facilities at a soccer stadium in Denmark. The appropriateness of the strategy of differentiating prices based on quality of opponents (A vs. B matches) is investigated. The results indicate that respondents are capable of understanding the exercise. The DCE is a useful and valid tool in assessing the strength of preferences for stadium facilities. The study found positive preferences for the investigated facilities, except for the use of cheerleaders where the authors observed some heterogeneity.


As datasets continue to grow, neural network (NN) applications are becoming increasingly limited by both the amount of available computational power and the ease of developing high-performance applications. Researchers often must have expert systems knowledge to make their algorithms run efficiently. Although available computing power increases rapidly each year, algorithm efficiency is not able to keep pace due to the use of general purpose compilers, which are not able to fully optimize specialized application domains. Within the domain of NNs, we have the added knowledge that network architecture remains constant during training, meaning the architecture's data structure can be statically optimized by a compiler. In this paper, we present SONNC, a compiler for NNs that utilizes static analysis to generate optimized parallel code. We show that SONNC's use of static optimizations make it able to outperform hand-optimized C++ code by up to 7.8X, and MATLAB code by up to 24X. Additionally, we show that use of SONNC significantly reduces code complexity when using structurally sparse networks.


This article reviews methods based on direct observation of proton NMR in macromolecules containing 13C or 15N labels. The resonances and Overhauser effects of protons attached to the labels can be edited or filtered from the remaining overlapping resonances. This leads to simplification of the spectra when labels are incorporated selectively. In 2D and related methods the label's chemical shift provides a second dimension which is useful for spectral differentiation and identification. The methods are useful for larger proteins and we describe our progress on studies of T4 lysozyme, mass 18.7 kD, in which we have already identified a large number of resonances.


Retinoblastoma (RB) is a rare embryonic tumour that represents 1/16,000 births in France. In Mali, a study showed the characteristics of a hospital series of cases seen in Bamako in the Pediatric Oncology Unit of Gabriel Touré Teaching Hospital and in the Tropical Ophthalmology Institute of Africa (IOTA) between January 2005 and June 2007. Median age was 4 years versus 2 years in France for unilateral disease. Near two third of children with RB had extra-ocular extension at diagnosis, which is now exceptional in France. Only 11% were bilateral versus 35% in France. Cure rate was around 50%, but it is estimated only on the cases arriving in Bamako and with at least 20% lost of follow-up. Cure rate is over 95% in France within an exhaustive register. RB appears as an exemplary tumor and rapid improvements could be obtained in low-income countries with relatively limited means. This is why, the Alliance mondiale contre le cancer (AMCC), the Institut Curie in Paris, which is the reference center in France for RB, and teams in Bamako were proposing a program to help the development of early diagnosis, treatments, including eye preservation, and rehabilitation of children with RB in sub-Saharan Africa in collaboration with the Groupe franco-africain d'oncologie pédiatrique (GFAOP). The official launching of this program was held in Bamako November 4, 2011 for Mali and the surrounding regions. After this first experience, this program is now implemented in other countries.


Background Previous studies have failed to agree on the risk factors for excessive daytime sleepiness in Parkinson's disease and the relative contribution of each as the disease progresses. Methods We studied two community-based incident Parkinson's disease cohorts. Cohort 1 (n=128) were newly-diagnosed patients and Cohort 2 were assessed at 3.5 years (n=118), 5 years (n=90) and 7 years (n=45) following diagnosis. Using Epworth Sleepiness Scale score as the outcome variable, multivariate linear regression was used to identify risk factors for excessive daytime sleepiness at each assessment. Results Epworth Sleepiness Scale score was significantly lower at diagnosis (Cohort 1) compared to 3.5, 5 and 7 years following diagnosis (Cohort 2). In Cohort 1, the proportion of patients with excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale score >10) was 20%. In Cohort 2, this rose to 49%, 53% and 44% at 3.5, 5 and 7 years respectively. In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, a non-tremor dominant motor phenotype, dopamine agonist use and depression were associated with excessive daytime sleepiness, whereas later on, motor disability and impaired quality of life became the most significant factors. Conclusions This is the first study to map the temporal evolution of excessive daytime sleepiness and its risk factors in an incident Parkinson's disease cohort. We found that hypersomnolence is present throughout the course of the disease and increases with disease progression. The link between non-tremor dominant motor phenotype and excessive daytime sleepiness, but lack of association with cognitive function, implicates brainstem rather than cortex as the principal site of underlying pathology. Dopamine agonists appear to play a contributory role.


When evaluating dyspnea in patients with heart or lung disease it is useful to measure the quantity of ventilation needed to eliminate metabolically produced CO2 (i.e., the ventilatory efficiency). Mathematically, the relationship between ventilation (VE) and CO2 output is determined by the arterial CO2 pressure and the physiologic dead space-tidal volume ratio. We decided to determine how age, sex, size, fitness, and the type of ergometer influenced ventilatory efficiency in normal subjects. Three methods were compared for expressing this relationship: (1) the VE versus CO2 output slope below the ventilatory compensation point, commonly used by cardiologists for estimating the severity of heart failure; (2) the VE/CO2 output ratio at the anaerobic threshold, commonly used by pulmonologists; and (3) the lowest VE/CO2 output ratio during exercise, the latter parameter not previously reported. We studied 474 healthy adults, between 17 and 78 years of age during incremental cycle and treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise tests at three test sites, correcting the total VE for the equipment dead space. The lowest VE/CO2 output ratio was insignificantly different from the ratio at the anaerobic threshold, less variable than that for the slope relationship, and unaffected by the site, ergometer, and gas exchange measurement systems. The regression equation for the lowest VE/CO2 output ratio was 27.94 + 0.108 x age + (0.97 = F, 0.0 = M) - 0.0376 x height, where age is in years and height is in centimeters. We conclude that the lowest VE/CO2 output ratio is the preferred noninvasive method to estimate ventilatory inefficiency.


Fovea centralis in the human retina was studied with light and electron microscopes on a glutaraldehyde-osmium tetroxide fixed and epoxy resin embedded specimen. A relatively large amount of Muller cell processes is recognized at the center of the fovea. These cells constitute the floor of the fundus and possess a watery cytoplasm among central cone fibers in an area about 50μ in diameter. The mitochondria of the foveal cone tend to be dispersed in the inner segment and outer cone fiber. At the center, no ellipsoid is discernible in the inner segment of the foveal cone. The basal lamina along the vitreal surface is extremely thin at the fundus of the fovea. The center of the fovea externa, about 80μ in diameter, shows a slight convex elevation.


Podolepis omissa Jeanes, a new species endemic to north-eastern New South Wales and closely related to P. neglecta G.L.Davis, is described and illustrated. Its distribution, habitat and ecology are discussed.


PURPOSE
The issue of perfusion imaging using a temporal decomposition model is to enable the reconstruction of undersampled measurements acquired with a slowly rotating x-ray-based imaging system, for example, a C-arm-based cone beam computed tomography (CB-CT). The aim of this work is to integrate prior knowledge into the dynamic CT task in order to reduce the required number of views and the computational effort as well as to save dose. The prior knowledge comprises of a mathematical model and clinical perfusion data.

METHODS
In case of model-based perfusion imaging via superposition of specified orthogonal temporal basis functions, a priori knowledge is incorporated into the reconstructions. Instead of estimating the dynamic attenuation of each voxel by a weighting sum, the modeling approach is done as a preprocessing step in the projection space. This point of view provides a method that decomposes the temporal and spatial domain of dynamic CT data. The resulting projection set consists of spatial information that can be treated as individual static CT tasks. Consequently, the high-dimensional model-based CT system can be completely transformed, allowing for the use of an arbitrary reconstruction algorithm.

RESULTS
For CT, reconstructions of preprocessed dynamic in silico data are illustrated and evaluated by means of conventional clinical parameters for stroke diagnostics. The time separation technique presented here, provides the expected accuracy of model-based CT perfusion imaging. Consequently, the model-based handled 4D task can be solved approximately as fast as the corresponding static 3D task.

CONCLUSION
For C-arm-based CB-CT, the algorithm presented here provides a solution for resorting to model-based perfusion reconstruction without its connected high computational cost. Thus, this algorithm is potentially able to have recourse to the benefit from model-based perfusion imaging for practical application. This study is a proof of concept.


The diversity of neuronal nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) in addition to their possible involvement in such pathological conditions as Alzheimer's disease have directed our research towards the characterization of these receptors in various mammalian brain areas. Our studies have relied on electrophysiological, biochemical, and immunofluorescent techniques applied to cultured and acutely dissociated hippocampal neurons, and have been aimed at identifying the various subtypes of nAChRs expressed in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), at defining the mechanisms by which CNS nAChR activity is modulated, and at determining the ion permeability of CNS nAChR channels. Our findings can be summarized as follows: (1) hippocampal neurons express at least three subtypes of CNS nAChRs--an alpha 7-subunit-bearing nAChR that subserves fast-inactivating, alpha-BGT-sensitive currents, which are referred to as type IA, and alpha 4 beta 2 nAChR that subserves slowly inactivating, dihydro-beta-erythroidine-sensitive currents, which are referred to as type II, and an alpha 3 beta 4 nAChR that subserves slowly inactivating, mecamylamine-sensitive currents, which are referred to as type III; (2) nicotinic agonists can activate a single type of nicotinic current in olfactory bulb neurons, that is, type IA currents; (3) alpha 7-subunit-bearing nAChR channels in the hippocampus have a brief lifetime, a high conductance, and a high Ca2+ permeability; (4) the peak amplitude of type IA currents tends to rundown with time, and this rundown can be prevented by the presence of ATP-regenerating compounds (particularly phosphocreatine) in the internal solution; (5) rectification of type IA currents is dependent on the presence of Mg2+ in the internal solution; and (6) there is an ACh-insensitive site on neuronal and nonneuronal nAChRs through which the receptor channel can be activated. These findings lay the groundwork for a better understanding of the physiological role of these receptors in synaptic transmission in the CNS.


Practical work facilitates the process of acquisition of basic knowledge and practical skills that prepare students for occupation in Agriculture. The West African Examination Council's policy with respect to Science Subjects stipulates that practical work should form the basis of teaching their syllabus (WAEC Syllabus, 2007-2009). Students are expected to be introduced to several practical sessions. The study assessed the rate of exposure of Senior School Students to Practical Lessons in Agriculture. The population of study comprise all SS3 students in Ikwerre and Obia/Akpor Local Government Areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The sample comprises 320 male and female SS3 students selected through multistage sampling technique. Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of data analysis reveal that students were exposed to less than 34% of Agricultural Science Practical lessons prescribed in the WASCE/SSCE Syllabus. The frequency of Crop-related Practical lessons ranked first, followed by Tools and Equipment-related Practical. The frequencies of Soil-related Practical ranked last, implying that it was receiving the least attention. Significant differences observed in the frequencies of practical work were in favour of Schools located in Rural Areas and the Private-owned Senior Schools. It was concluded that Teachers adoption Learner-Centred rather than lecture method in teaching Agricultural Science and ensure that the frequency of students' exposed to practical lessons in Agriculture be significantly improved. More emphasis should be placed on Soil-related and Field-trip-related Practical work that are currently receiving the least attention while the stakeholders should ensure that the student to teacher ratio drastically reduced so that teachers will have enough time to attend to Practical Agricultural lessons.


The hippocampal formation consists of the Ammon's horn (cornu Ammonis with its regions CA1-4), dentate gyrus, subiculum, and the entorhinal cortex. The rough extension of the regions CA1-3 is typically defined based on the density and size of the pyramidal neurons without clear-cut boundaries. Here, we propose the vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) as a molecular marker for the CA3 region. This is based on its strong labeling of the stratum lucidum (SL) in fluorescently stained human hippocampus sections. VGLUT1 puncta of the intense SL band co-localize with synaptoporin (SPO), a protein enriched in mossy fibers (MFs). Owing to its specific intensity profile throughout all hippocampal layers, VGLUT1 could be implemented as a pendant to Nissl-staining in fluorescent approaches with the additional demarcation of the SL. Furthermore, by high-resolution confocal microscopy, we detected VGLUT2 in the human hippocampus, thus reconciling two previous studies. Finally, by VGLUT1/SPO co-staining, we provide evidence for the existence of infrapyramidal MFs in the human hippocampus and we show that SPO expression is not restricted to MF synapses as demonstrated for rodent tissue.


England needs a single ringfenced budget for health and social care to repair the growing rift between the two systems, says a commission established by the health think tank the King's Fund and chaired by the economist Kate Barker.1

Without such change, the systems are no longer fit for purpose, the commission has concluded in an interim report. A reformed system would cost more, but how exactly those costs should be divided between the public and the private purse must wait for its final report in the autumn.

At present, the commission says, people face a lottery, with the type of ailment they have largely determining whether their care will be funded by the NHS free at the point of use or by a social care system that is free only to those with the greatest needs. That means that developing dementia rather than cancer, say, results in very different costs to the patient. This situation is inequitable, says the commission.

Efficiency …


The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of image modality and observer characteristics on radiographic caries diagnosis with particular emphasis on the false positive (FP) test outcome. Eighty human teeth were radiographed by eight digital modalities and film. Eight observers scored caries lesions in each approximal tooth surface. Their use of image enhancement and time spent in assessing an image was recorded. Microscopy served as validation for the presence/absence of a lesion. Of 160 approximal surfaces, 63% were sound and 37% had lesions. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed with the FP test outcome as the dependent variable and the radiographic modality and observer's gender, experience, employment, image enhancement, and time use as the independent variables. The significant risk factors for an FP test outcome were: (1) gender: males scored fewer FP than females (OR 0.26, CI 0.18–0.36); (2) experience: observers with no experience with digital radiography had a six times higher risk for an FP (OR 6.09, CI 4.9–8.1); (3) radiographic modality: two of the digital systems had a significantly lower risk for an FP [a phosphor plate system (OR 0.55, CI 0.37–0.73) and a sensor-based system (OR 0.65, CI 0.46–0.93)] and one phosphor plate system had a higher risk (OR 1.57, CI 1.17–2.13) than film; (4) time use: more time was spent when scoring an FP (OR 1.05, CI 1.03–1.05) than for any other test outcome. Type of employment and the use of image enhancement had no significant impact on the risk for an FP diagnosis.


Abstract We reported that γ-methylthiocrotonate ester anion is a versatile bifunctional enolate1; however, the hydrolysis of the methylthioenol products was difficult. To circumvent this problem and to demonstrate an extended versatility of this enolate system, the chemistry of the γ-methoxycrotonate ester anion was studied.


Varying types of shots is a fundamental element in the language of film, commonly used by a visual storytelling director to convey the emotion, ideas, and art. To classify such types of shots from images, we present a new framework that facilitates the intriguing task by addressing two key issues. We first focus on learning more effective features by fusing the layer-wise outputs extracted from a deep convolutional neural network (CNN), pre-trained on a large-scale dataset for object recognition. We then introduce a probabilistic fusion model, termed as error weighted deep cross-correlation model (EW-Deep-CCM), to boost the classification accuracy. Specifically, the deep neural network-based cross-correlation model (Deep-CCM) is constructed to not only model the extracted feature hierarchies of CNN independently but also relate the statistical dependencies of paired features from different layers. Then, a Bayesian error weighting scheme for classifier combination is adopted to explore the contributions from individual Deep-CCM classifiers to enhance the accuracy of shot classification. We provide extensive experimental results on a dataset of live concert videos to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed EW-Deep-CCM over existing popular fusion approaches. The video demos can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/ewdeepccm2/demo.


The management of inpatient blood glucose control requires expertise among many healthcare providers. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to involve all processes of care, from patients calling to order a meal, to delivery at bedside. Learning about management of patients with diabetes in the hospital requires the participation of dietary personnel, dietitians, nurse assistants, nurses, physicians, diabetes educators, and patients. To reduce hypoglycemic events, physicians participated by chart reviews, evaluation of standardized order sets, improve insulin regimen to match intake. Nurses education was conducted via competencies on safe insulin management, annual updates, daily unit meetings. Regular feedback was provided by quality on glucometrics, timeliness of hypoglycemia management and monthly recurrent hypoglycemic events. Dietary participated by placing a 3x5 card "insulin tray tent card" at eye level, to encourage patient call the nurse when tray was delivered. Avoiding hypoglycemia requires coordination of insulin and meals and prompt response to concerns raised by the patients or their families. The inpatient setting is a rich learning environment, where also patients learn to improve clinical practice and facilitates a collaborative learning environment. Disclosure S. Chmelnik: None. S. Abdollahi: None. C.N. Neal: None. D.R. Cameron: None.


New Richmond, Ohio, March 16, 1906. To the Editor: —In 1874 I read, at a meeting of the American Medical Society in Cincinnati, my translation of an article from "Volkmann's klinische Vortrage," written by Jurgenson in 1872, in which he advocates the use of large doses of quinin in the treatment of pneumonia in conjunction with cold water baths. He gave from 25 to 40 grains at one dose, or if this was not advisable owing to an idiosyncrasy of the patient, he divided the dose in three or four equal portions, giving each at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, but so that the entire quantity was taken within an hour, or the reduction of temperature would not take place. I followed out this quinin treatment for two years, but found that it did not influence the course of pneumonia either favorably or otherwise, and it was often followed


Pulsed light is an emerging non-thermal technology viable for foodstuff sanitation. The sanitation is produced through the use of high energy pulses during ultra-short periods of time (ns to µs). The pulsed light induces irreversible damages at the DNA level with the formation of pyrimidine dimers, but also produces photo-thermal and photo-physical effects on the microbial membranes that lead to a reduction in the microbial populations. The reduction caused in the microbial populations can reach several fold, up to 4 log CFU/mL decrement. A slight increase of 3 to 4 °C in temperature is observed in treated food; nonetheless, this increase does not modify either the nutritional properties of the product or its sensory profile. The advantages of using pulsed light could be used to a greater extent in the winemaking industry. Experimental trials have shown a positive effect of reducing native yeast and bacteria in grapes to populations below 1–2 log CFU/mL. In this way, pulsed light, a non-thermal technology currently available for the sanitation of foodstuffs, is an alternative for the reduction in native microbiota and the later control of the fermentative process in winemaking. This certainly would allow the use of fermentation biotechnologies such as the use of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in mixed and sequential fermentations to preserve freshness in wines through the production of aroma volatile compounds and organic acids, and the production of wines with less utilization of SO2 in accordance with the consumers' demand in the market.


The genome is constantly undergoing DNA damage from endogenous and environmental sources. DNA damage response pathways detect and repair DNA damage and signal to cell cycle checkpoints to allow repair to take place, thus promoting genomic stability. Multiple DNA repair pathways exist: single-strand damage or base errors are repaired by base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair or mismatch repair, while DNA doublestrand breaks are repaired by nonhomologous end joining or homologous recombination repair. These pathways may be used to repair damage caused by anticancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Some defects in DNA damage responses are associated with the genomic instability that is a characteristic of cancer. Targeting the remaining DNA damage response pathways could potentially result in tumor selective therapies. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have shown great promise in this respect, and early clinical data are beginning to emerge. PARP inhibitors enhance the activity of several DNA damaging and crosslinking chemotherapeutic agents and ionizing radiation. An exciting aspect is the selective toxicity of PARP inhibitors in DNA defective tumors, such as those associated with BRCA mutations or breast cancers exhibiting the triple-negative phenotype. This discovery has led to a paradigm shift in cancer therapy representing a targeted, tumor-specific, nontoxic therapy that is supported by emerging clinical data. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr ES2-1.


The invention is based on a wiper blade adaptor device, in particular for a wiper blade (14), with a wiper blade adaptor (10) and a coupling element (12) for coupling the wiper blade adaptor (10) to a wiper blade (14). It is proposed that the wiper blade adaptor (10) be releasably connected to the coupling element (12).


Osteoma in the region of the mastoid is believed to be a rarity. It can be classified as a true osteoma, or bony neoplasm, rather than as an exostosis or hyperostosis. The osteoma seen by the otolaryngologist is usually in the lumen of the frontal sinus or in the ethmoid capsule. A hurried and incomplete search of the literature and personal communications from a number of pathologists and otologists confirm the impression that few reports of similar growths in the region of the mastoid cells have been made. REPORT OF A CASE J. K., aged 39, an executive in an insurance company, in 1927 had his attention called by his barber to a painless swelling on the left side of the head, behind the ear and just within the hair line. He was unable to associate any trauma with this growth, there was no pain and the skin over the


To identify up-regulated genes in adult rat cardiac fibroblasts (CF) induced by angiotensin II (Ang II), suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was performed between the CF stimulated by Ang II (tester) and unstimulated CF (driver) to generate subtractive cDNA library. The library was screened with dot blots hybridization to further verify the differentially expressed cDNA clones. Partial positive clones (19 up-regulated genes) were sequenced and BLAST analyzed. Twelve up-regulated genes related to extracellular matrix, cell cycle, intracellular signal transduction, cell cytoskeleton, cell metabolism and 7 new expressed sequence tags (EST) were acquired (GenBank accession number: CN382808, CN382809, CN382810, CN382811, CN382812, CN382813, CN382814). Our data reveal that SSH is a powerful technique of high sensitivity for the detection and cloning of up-regulated genes expressed in CF induced by Ang II, which may be helpful to clarify the mechanism of cardiac remodeling.


Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) are the next "big thing" in high-temperature structural materials. In the case of jet engines, it is widely believed that the metallic superalloys currently being utilized for hot structures (combustors, shrouds, turbine vanes and blades) are nearing their potential limits of improvement. In order to allow for increased turbine temperatures to increase engine efficiency, material scientists have begun looking toward advanced CMCs and SiC/SiC composites in particular. Ceramic composites provide greater strength-to-weight ratios at higher temperatures than metallic alloys, but at the same time require greater challenges in micro-structural optimization that in turn increases the cost of the material as well as increases the risk of variability in the material s thermo-structural behavior. to model various potential CMC engine materials and examines the current variability in these properties due to variability in component processing conditions and constituent materials; then, to see how processing and constituent variations effect key strength, stiffness, and thermal properties of the finished components. Basically, this means trying to model variations in the component s behavior by knowing what went into creating it. inter-phase and manufactured by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) and melt infiltration (MI) were considered. Examinations of: (1) the percent constituents by volume, (2) the inter-phase thickness, (3) variations in the total porosity, and (4) variations in the chemical composition of the Sic fiber are carried out and modeled using various codes used here at NASA-Glenn (PCGina, NASALife, CEMCAN, etc...). The effects of these variations and the ranking of their respective influences on the various thermo-mechanical material properties are studied and compared to available test data. The properties of the materials as well as minor changes to geometry are then made to the computer model and the detrimental effects observed using statistical analysis software. The ultimate purpose of this study is to determine what variations in material processing can lead to the most critical changes in the materials property. The work I have taken part in this summer explores, in general, the key properties needed In this study SiC/SiC composites of varying architectures, utilizing a boron-nitride (BN)


Fourier-domain (FD) mode locking of integrated laser diode structures is studied theoretically and their application for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) comb generation for future terabits per second interconnects is discussed. Twenty-five-gigahertz FD mode-locked structures with ring and Mach-Zehnder-based bandpass filters show comb widths of 1.0-1.8 THz, i.e., 40-72 comb lines, but the mode comb is not flat, which increases the mode relative intensity noise (RIN). It is shown that by combining AM and FD mode-locking wide and flat combs (down to 7 dB) can be achieved, with mode RIN values of less than 0.3%, suitable for error-free transmission. These novel structures have been simulated using experimentally verified parameters and technologically feasible configurations.


Given a network of nodes, minimizing the spread of a contagion using a limited budget is a well-studied problem with applications in network security, viral marketing, social networks, and public health. In real graphs, virus may infect a node which in turn infects its neighbor nodes and this may trigger an epidemic in the whole graph. The goal thus is to select the best k nodes (budget constraint) that are immunized (vaccinated, screened, filtered) so as the remaining graph is less prone to the epidemic. It is known that the problem is, in all practical models, computationally intractable even for moderate sized graphs. In this paper we employ ideas from spectral graph theory to define relevance and importance of nodes. Using novel graph theoretic techniques, we then design an efficient approximation algorithm to immunize the graph. Theoretical guarantees on the running time of our algorithm show that it is more efficient than any other known solution in the literature. We test the performance of our algorithm on several real world graphs. Experiments show that our algorithm scales well for large graphs and outperforms state of the art algorithms both in quality (containment of epidemic) and efficiency (runtime and space complexity).


Background Amlodipine is used for the treatment of hypertension, but reports on its use in early pregnancy are limited. Methods and Results In the present study, we recruited 231 women with chronic hypertension, including those who received amlodipine or other antihypertensives during early pregnancy, and investigated frequencies of morphologic abnormalities in their 231 offspring. Specifically, we evaluated 48 neonates exposed to amlodipine in the first trimester (amlodipine group, Group A), 54 neonates exposed to antihypertensives other than amlodipine (other antihypertensive group, Group O), and 129 neonates not exposed to antihypertensives (no‐antihypertensive group, Group N). The number of morphologic abnormalities of offspring in each group were 2 in Group A (4.2%; 95% CI, 0.51–14.25); 3 in Group O (5.6%; 95% CI, 1.16–15.39) and 6 in Group N (4.7%; 95% CI, 1.73–9.85). The odds ratio of the primary outcome comparing Group A and Group O was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.118–4.621) and Group A and Group N was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.174–4.575). Conclusions The odds of birth defects in Group A in the first trimester were not significantly different from those with or without other antihypertensives.


The municipal sewage sludge typically has very high water content and low shear strength. Conventional methods of lime and cement solidification of municipal sewage sludge often suffer high cost, significant drying shrinkage, frequent cracking, high hydraulic conductivity, and low strength. To overcome these shortcomings, in this paper a skeleton-building method was used to solidify municipal sewage sludge in which coal gangue, cement and clay, and fiber were used as skeleton materials, cementation materials, and filling materials, respectively. Comprehensive laboratory tests including cracking, nitrogen adsorption, triaxial shearing, and permeability tests were performed to determine cracking, pore structure, shear strength, and hydraulic conductivity of municipal sewage sludge solidified with different proportions of coal gangue, cement, fiber, and clay. Based upon the experimental results, the mechanisms of the skeleton building using cement and coal gangue were discussed and factors controlling the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of the solidified soils were analyzed at both microscopic and macroscopic levels. Based upon the test results and analyses, recommendations were made for solidifying municipal sewage sludge through skeleton building using cement and coal gangue. The solidified soils have high soil strength, high resistance to cracking, and low hydraulic conductivity which are sufficient for being used as landfill liner.


So far, numerous genes have been found to associate with various strategies to resist and transform the toxic metalloid arsenic (here, we denote these genes as "arsenic-related genes"). However, our knowledge of the distribution, redundancies and organization of these genes in bacteria is still limited. In this study, we analyzed the 188 Burkholderiales genomes and found that 95% genomes harbored arsenic-related genes, with an average of 6.6 genes per genome. The results indicated: a) compared to a low frequency of distribution for aio (arsenite oxidase) (12 strains), arr (arsenate respiratory reductase) (1 strain) and arsM (arsenite methytransferase)-like genes (4 strains), the ars (arsenic resistance system)-like genes were identified in 174 strains including 1,051 genes; b) 2/3 ars-like genes were clustered as ars operon and displayed a high diversity of gene organizations (68 forms) which may suggest the rapid movement and evolution for ars-like genes in bacterial genomes; c) the arsenite efflux system was dominant with ACR3 form rather than ArsB in Burkholderiales; d) only a few numbers of arsM and arrAB are found indicating neither As III biomethylation nor AsV respiration is the primary mechanism in Burkholderiales members; (e) the aio-like gene is mostly flanked with ars-like genes and phosphate transport system, implying the close functional relatedness between arsenic and phosphorus metabolisms. On average, the number of arsenic-related genes per genome of strains isolated from arsenic-rich environments is more than four times higher than the strains from other environments. Compared with human, plant and animal pathogens, the environmental strains possess a larger average number of arsenic-related genes, which indicates that habitat is likely a key driver for bacterial arsenic resistance.


Tipping point feedback structures can push a series of product development projects into firefighting mode in which rework overwhelms progress. Similar dynamics also threaten the performance of individual development projects. The current work extends previous tipping point dynamics research to single projects and demonstrates how a simple, common feedback structure can cause complex tipping point dynamics, trap projects in deteriorating modes of behavior, and cause projects to fail. Basic tipping point dynamics in single projects are described, demonstrated, and analyzed with a model. The concept of applying robustness to project design is preliminarily tested and system robustness to tipping point-induced failure is quantified for a simple project and analyzed with sensitivity analysis. Impacts of tipping points on project performance and future research opportunities concerning tipping point and robustness in project management are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We had previously developed surface-modified poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) for use as a cellular drug delivery system. The cellular uptake of PLGA-NPs was mediated predominantly by endocytosis, and this uptake was increased by surface modifications with polymers, such as chitosan (CS) and polysorbate 80 (P80). In the present study, we prepared a cell-sized giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) that mimics a cell membrane to investigate the interaction between cell membranes and NPs. Endocytosis-like uptake of NPs into a GUV was observed when the NPs were modified with nonionic surfactant P80 probably due to change in viscoelasticity and enhanced fusion activity of the membrane induced by P80. In contrast, unmodified NPs and those modified with CS were not internalized into a GUV. These results suggest that surface properties of PLGA-NPs are an important formulation parameter for their interaction with lipid membranes.


Objectives Pain with intrauterine device (IUD) insertion may be a barrier to widespread use. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of 1% lidocaine paracervical block for pain relief with IUD insertion compared with NSAIDs. Background The IUD provides long-term, reversible contraception equal in efficacy to tubal sterilization. The IUD is one of the safest, least expensive, and most effective contraceptive methods available. The IUD is often an excellent choice for women who do not anticipate future pregnancies but wish not to be sterilized. Patients and methods We performed a randomized clinical controlled trial of women undergoing IUD insertion. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 10 ml of 1% lidocaine paracervical block or oral naproxen or placebo tablets before IUD insertion. Pain scores were measured using a 10-point visual analogue scale at various time points of procedure (speculum placement, tenaculum placement, during IUD insertion, and 15 min after the procedure). Results Of the 150 participants randomized, 50 women received the paracervical block, 50 women received NSAIDs, and 50 women received placebo tablets before IUD insertion. Groups were similar in age, parity, ethnicity, education, and complications. Pain scores were similar among the three groups at tenaculum placement (mean ± SD = 4.84 ± 1.39, 4.76 ± 1.28, and 4.70 ± 1.21, respectively; P = 0.938) as well as during insertion (mean ± SD = 5.30 ± 1.61, 4.90 ± 1.24, and 5.16 ± 1.20, respectively; P = 0.460). These results did not differ during speculum placement and after procedure. Conclusion 1% lidocaine paracervical block, as well as NSAIDs, before IUD insertion does not decrease pain scores.


Twenty-three cases of disseminated candidiasis (DC) were observed between 1965 and 1981. In 23 cases the DC was a complication of a preexisting disease process (16 abdominal surgery, 18 bacterial septicemia, 16 acute renal failure, 4 carcinoma) requiring polytherapy (23 antibiotherapy, 5 parenteral nutrition, 4 corticotherapy). The most frequent foci were ocular (6), peritoneal (5), renal (4), and pulmonary (3). Diagnosis was confirmed by blood culture (20), urine culture (12), culture of the catheter tip (7), isolation of candida from a localised focus and by anti candida antibodies in some patients. Nine patients were not treated and died; 14 patients were given antifungal agents: 6 died, three despite cure of DC. The recognition of favouring circumstances, early diagnosis and systematic treatment of all foci of candidiasis allow effective prophylaxis against DC; the last case in our series was in 1978.


We investigate the D0-D4-brane system for different B-field backgrounds including the small instanton singularity in noncommutative SYM theory. We discuss the excitation spectrum of the unstable state as well as for the BPS D0-D4 bound state. We compute the tachyon potential which reproduces the complete mass defect. The relevant degrees of freedom are the massless (4, 4) strings. Both results are in contrast with existing string field theory calculations. The excitation spectrum of the small instanton we find to be equal to the excitation spectrum of the fluxon solution on Rθ×R which we trace back to T -duality. For the effective theory of the (0, 0) string excitations we obtain a BFSS matrix model. The number of states in the instanton background changes significantly when the B-field becomes selfdual. This leads us to the proposal of the existence of a phase transition or cross over at self-dual B-field. ∗ firstname.lastname@example.com


Abstract—The mixed convective flow of MHD incompressible, steady boundary layer in heat transfer over a curved stretching sheet due to temperature dependent thermal conductivity is studied. We use curvilinear coordinate system in order to describe the governing flow equations. Finite difference solutions with central differencing have been used to solve the transform governing equations. Numerical results for the flow velocity and temperature profiles are presented as a function of the non-dimensional curvature radius. Skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number at the surface of the curved sheet are discussed as well.


BACKGROUND
We present a case of a facial palsy as the initial symptom of a bronchogenic carcinoma.

METHODS
Case-report. A 56-year-old patient presented with a peripheral facial palsy. The clinical picture as well as the temporal bone CT were without pathological findings. A 10-day rheologic therapy as well as anti-viral medication were not successful. Five days after rheological therapy had been completed, the patient presented a swelling of the neck. In the computer tomography we found a bilateral thrombosis of the internal jugular vein. In addition, the clinical picture of a left-sided glossopharyngeal palsy appeared. The following thorax CT as well as the diagnostic extirpation of an enlarged cervical lymph node lead to the diagnosis of a metastasized smallcell neuro-endocrine bronchogenic carcinoma with a compression of the right primary bronchus and the vena cava superior as well as an upper inflow congestion. In the cMRT we furthermore found a metastasis in the area of the foramen stylomastoideum. The patient underwent emergency radiation and chemotherapy.

RESULTS
According to the present findings, this metastasis lead to the facial palsy as the initial symptom of the bronchogenic carcinoma.

CONCLUSION
Therefore, therapy resistant facial palsy should be further diagnosed in detail, especially examined by imaging procedures.


State of the art microelectronics fabrication achieves both high dimensional resolution as well as precision in positioning of structures by using photolithography at relatively high cost / area. There exist, however, numerous applications which only require microor nanostructures of well defined dimension without the need for precise positioning. In addition, some of those applications such as filtration membranes or antireflective coatings call for low cost / area, which is not achievable using photolithography. Also, patterning of non-planar surfaces is not feasible by this technology. Materials other than silicon or glass, particularly polymers often are incompatible with solvents and processes employed in conventional micro fabrication. Diverse and commercially important applications are currently being pursued such as filtration membranes (Fuchsberger, Burkhardt et al.), biosensors (Musil, Jeggle et al. 1995; Neugebauer, Muller et al. 2006; Lohmuller, Muller et al. 2008), optical filters based on plasmon resonance of metallic nanoparticles (Jensen, Duval et al. 1999; Jensen, Schatz et al. 1999; Jensen, Malinsky et al. 2000; Traci R. Jensen 2000; Malinsky, Kelly et al. 2001), model catalysts (Gustavsson, Fredriksson et al. 2004), antireflective coatings (Lohmuller, Helgert et al. 2008; Min, Jiang et al. 2008; Xu, Lu et al. 2008), and model surfaces to study cell / substrate interaction on well defined surface topologies (Hanarp, Sutherland et al. 1999; Dalby, Berry et al. 2004). Consequently, self assembly of nanoparticles as a means to create nanostructures on surfaces has been investigated by numerous research groups and great effort has been dedicated to devising reproducible deposition techniques as well as to elucidating the physico-chemical effects involved (Denkov, Velev et al. 1992; Adamczyk, Siwek et al. 1994; Kralchevsky & Denkov 2001; Goedel 2003; Hanarp, Sutherland et al. 2003) Polymers, metals or even liquids may be used as substrates. Chemical functionalization of substrates may be applied to aid in the attraction and assembly of particles. Electrostatic, van der Waals, capillaric, and steric interactions control particle adhesion and density. Capillary forces (Denkov, Velev et al. 1992; Adamczyk, Siwek et al. 1994; Kralchevsky & Denkov 2001) occurring during drying tend to cause aggregation of particles.


ABSTRACT The relationship between headache and stressful life events experienced in childhood has been found mostly associated with recurrent primary headaches and headache chronicity. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, clinical characteristics, daily life impact of migraine and tension-type headache in orphaned children with low income in a boarding school. Four hundred and fifteen permanent boarders aged 12–17 years were evaluated using the Structured Headache Questionnaire, the Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (PedMIDAS), the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Prevalence of primary headache was 59.8%; 24.1% for migraine; 35.7% for tension-type headache; 4.1% for chronic migraine; and 2.4% for chronic tension-type headache. Prevalence of probable diagnoses was found to be higher in early ages; however, definite diagnoses became more common with age. Sex distribution was affected by age in migraineurs. The most distinctive features separating migraine were high frequency, pain severity, throbbing/pounding nature, photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, vomiting, and aggravated by physical activity. Prodromal symptoms and triggering factors were more closely associated with migraine. Sleep was the most common method to relieve of headache, taking medicines was preferred more commonly in migraineurs with a higher mean number of analgesics. Mean VAS, PedMIDAS, and total difficulty scores were higher in migraineurs, emotional problems were found increased in migraine. Headache is underestimated in pediatric population when probable diagnoses are not evaluated. The prevalence of primary headaches and the risk of chronic headaches are high in orphaned students, especially in older adolescent girls, and the effect of headache on daily life is evident.


One of the most important problems in anti-aging medicine, family medicine, gynecology and sexology are disorders of the statics of female genital organs, usually resulting in sexual dysfunction and urogynecological problems. Although in the era of a pandemic, the fight against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections is a priority. COVID-19, and in this context one of the most important problems also related to family medicine are geriatric issues - issues related to aging societies, and the more elderly people there are, the more attention should be paid to them in the context of their health - also in terms of sexual health.


At present, urban environments tend to register high temperatures that exceed the normal average, displacing the green areas by asphalt and concrete, whose thermal properties contribute to the formation of Urban Heat Islands (UHI). The UHI is indicative that temperatures within the city are higher compared to those recorded in the surrounding rural areas. This effect gives rise to what is known as urban microclimate that affects the thermal comfort of the population but it is known that such temperature variation can also affect the microstructure of concrete. In this investigation, the thermal capacity of such material at strategic points within the city was analyzed, and then compared with the ambient temperature, in order to determine how the formation of a microclimate is influenced by concrete. The results of this research indicate that in the city of Riobamba the UHI is formed because the ambient temperature exceeds the average temperature of the rural areas and should be taken into account when setting the concrete and taking samples for testing.


The present study describes a simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of molybdenum in real water samples. The method is based on the hyperchromic and bathochromic effect of an ionic liquid namely, 1-methyl-3-octadecyl-imidazolium bromide (C18mimBr), on molybdenum ion (Mo(VI)) and pyrogallol red (PGR) complex. The ternary complex of Mo–PGR–C18mimBr displays a distinct absorption peak with excellent analytical characteristics and offers the advantages of simplicity for the determination of Mo(VI) ions, without any need for a solvent extraction step. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method were calculated as 0.74 ng mL−1 and 2.47 ng mL−1 respectively. The method was validated and applied successfully to the determination of Mo(VI) ions in real water samples. The interference of ferric ions was shown to be removed from samples with less ionic content by using an ion exchange resin prior to the analysis, and the performance of the method was compared with that of ICP-MS.


A total of 8772 dive durations were recorded during 117 diving bouts in five Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo and five Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis breeding at the Chausey Islands, France. Diet of the birds was assessed by analysis of 526 pellets containing 13,016 otoliths. Radio-tracking data indicated that Cormorants fed exclusively on pelagic fish during social fishing (5% of the trips) and executed 11% pelagic and 60% benthic dives during the remaining 95% of the trips. In Shags, 44% of all trips were pelagic, and the remaining 56% included 9% pelagic and 67% benthic dives. The proportions of benthic to pelagic dives varied widely between dive sequences of single birds and between individuals and sexes in both species. The prey spectrum of the Cormorants contained both pelagic (29%) and benthic fish (67%) and confirmed considerable flexibility in foraging. In Shags, birds may adjust their diving patterns to accommodate the behaviour of their main prey, sandeels Ammodytidae (87% of all prey). We propose that the wetability of plumage may explain this flexibility.


Fanconi anemia (FA) is the most common inherited bone marrow failure syndrome. FA patients develop bone marrow failure during the first decade of life due to attrition of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). FA patients also develop other hematologic manifestations, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) due to clonal evolution. FA is caused by biallelic mutants in one of sixteen FANC genes, the products of which cooperate in the FA/BRCA DNA repair pathway and regulate cellular resistance to DNA cross-linking agents. Bone marrow failure in FA may result, directly or indirectly, from hyperactivation of cell autonomous or microenvironmental growth suppressive pathways induced due to genotoxic stress. Recent studies suggest that one suppressive pathway may be the hyperactive p53 response observed in HSPCs from FA patients. In order to further identify suppressive mechanisms accounting for bone marrow failure in FA, we performed a whole genome-wide shRNA screen in FA cells. Specifically, we screened for candidate genes whose knockdown would rescue cellular growth inhibition and genotoxic stress induced by a DNA cross-linking agent mitomycin C (MMC). We transduced a FA-deficient human fibroblast line with pools of shRNAs and screened for rescue of MMC-inhibited growth. Selected shRNA inserts were identified by next generation sequencing. The top hits in the screen were shRNAs directed against multiple components of the TGF-β signaling pathway. Consistent with this, disruption of the TGF-β signaling pathway by shRNA/sgRNA-mediated knockdown of SMAD3 or TGFR1 (downstream components of the TGF- β pathway) rescued growth of multiple cell lines from several FA complementation groups in presence of genotoxic agents (e.g. MMC or acetaldehyde). Pharmacologic inhibition of the TGF- β pathway using small molecule inhibitors resulted in improved survival of FA-deficient lymphoblast cells in presence of MMC or acetaldehyde, suggesting that a hyperactive, TGF-β-mediated, suppression pathway may account, at least in part, for reduced FA cell growth. Interestingly, genes encoding TGF-β pathway signaling components were highly expressed in the bone marrow from FA patients and FA mice. Moreover, disruption of the TGF- β pathway by shRNA-mediated knockdown of SMAD3 rescued the growth defects of primary HSPCs from FA-deficient murine bone marrow. To further implicate the TGF-β pathway, we established primary stromal cell lines from the bone marrow of FA-deficient mice as well as human FA patients. We confirmed that TGF-β signaling was hyperactive in these stroma cells resulting in growth suppression and elevated phospho-ERK levels due to non-canonical signaling of the pathway. Inhibitors of TGF-β signaling partially rescued the growth defects and reduced phospho-ERK levels in these FA stroma cells. The deficiency of FA DNA repair pathway leads to cellular defects in homologous recombination (HR) repair and hyperactivation of toxic non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)-mediated repair. We therefore tested whether inhibition of the TGF-β pathway in FA cells could rescue HR defects and account for the improvement of FA cellular growth. Interestingly, disruption of the TGF-β signaling pathway caused a decrease in NHEJ activity. Disruption of the TGF-β pathway also resulted in reduced MMC-mediated DNA damage and increased HR. Taken together, our results demonstrate that primary FA hematopoietic and bone marrow stromal cells exhibit hyperactive TGF-β signaling accounting at least in part for the bone marrow failure in FA. Inhibitors of the TGF-β signaling pathway may therefore be useful in the clinical treatment of patients with bone marrow failure and Fanconi anemia. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Abstract DNA topoisomerases are essential enzymes involved in all the DNA processes and among them, type IA topoisomerases emerged as a key actor in the maintenance of genome stability. The hyperthermophilic archaeon, Sulfolobus solfataricus, contains three topoisomerases IA including one classical named TopA. SsoTopA is very efficient at unlinking DNA catenanes, grouping SsoTopA into the topoisomerase III family. SsoTopA is active over a wide range of temperatures and at temperatures of up to 85°C it produces highly unwound DNA. At higher temperatures, SsoTopA unlinks the two DNA strands. Thus depending on the temperature, SsoTopA is able to either prevent or favor DNA melting. While canonical topoisomerases III require a single-stranded DNA region or a nick in one of the circles to decatenate them, we show for the first time that a type I topoisomerase, SsoTopA, is able to efficiently unlink covalently closed catenanes, with no additional partners. By using single molecule experiments we demonstrate that SsoTopA requires the presence of a short single-stranded DNA region to be efficient. The unexpected decatenation property of SsoTopA probably comes from its high ability to capture this unwound region. This points out a possible role of TopA in S. solfataricus as a decatenase in Sulfolobus.


The tentative identification of seed extracts from 3 cultivars of blackberry (blackberry seed extracts [BSEs]) constituents was performed by LC/UV/MS technique. The identified compounds belonged to ellagitannins, galic acid derivatives, and ellagic acid derivatives. Two ellagitannins, Lambertianin C and Sanguiniin H-6, and an ellagic acid derivative, 4-α-L-arabinofuranosylellagic acid, were isolated using semipreparative High-performance liquid chromatography. The structure elucidations were based on high resolution-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance studies. The BSEs and 3 isolated pure compounds were tested for in vitro protective effect on chromosome aberrations in peripheral human lymphocytes using cytochalasin-B blocked micronucleus (MN) assay. The frequency of MN was scored in binucleated cells, and nuclear proliferation index was calculated. Among the tested extracts, the seeds of cv. Thornfree at concentration of 1 μg/mL exhibit the most prominent effect decreasing the frequency of MN by 62.4%, when compared with the controls cell cultures. Antioxidant potential of pure ellagitannins cannot explain the strong effect of BSEs. The assumption was that better antioxidant effect of BSEs result from synergistic effects of individual compounds contained in the extracts and/or some minor components possessed strong activity. PraCTICAL APPLICATION: Our results provide evidence of protective effects of BSEs and isolated pure compounds on cytogenetic damages in human lymphocytes. Thus, BSEs could exert beneficial effects in quite a few diseases, because many of the biological actions have been attributed to their antioxidant properties.


Pakistan is facing major problem of viral based hepatitis which is increasing day by day, and is considered to be the major cause of mortality and morbidity. The present study investigated the frequency of Hepatitis B patients referred to Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar from the different regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The blood sample was collected from the referred 1,33,193 patients and used for in vitroimmuno chromatographic assay (qualitative determination of HBsAg in serum or plasma), and ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay).Our results showed that 81(2.03%) out of 3,977 patients referred forHBsAg and anti-HCV screening presented positive test results for HBsAg. Similarly Co-infection with HCV was found in six patients (i.e. 4 females and two males). We conclude that transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products, use of contaminated syringes, lack of awareness about hepatitis and absence of hygienic conditions leads to its widespread occurrence.


Iodine supply remains the global problem due to the wide prevalence and a wide range of clinical manifestations in all age groups of population. However, iodine deficiency is a nutritional deficiency and the solution of this problem lies in the organization of rational nutrition of the population. The purpose of this study was to examine the food features of the population of the mild iodine-deficient region from the standpoint of adequacy of iodine sufficiency. The analysis of nutrition of the population of Tyumen Region in 2005 and 2016 was carried out according to official statistics of Tyumenstat; results of sanitary-hygienic and biomedical monitoring for the period from 1994 to 2016. A sociological study was conducted on a representative nested sample using the questionnaire method. The study involved schoolchildren (n=744) and their parents (n=677), students and full-time students (n=623). Probabilistic was sampling and nesting. Statistical sampling error does not exceed 4%. Analysis of the level of food consumption by residents of the Tyumen region over the period from 2005 to 2016 showed an increase in consumption per capita of fish and fish products (from 23.8 kg in 2005 to 33.1 kg in 2016 at recommended level of 22 kg). At the same time, a sociological study showed that only 1-4% of the population consumed iodine-rich products daily and only 53% of respondents regularly used iodized salt. The analysis of the results of biomedical monitoring over the 20-year period of the existence of preventive programs in the Tyumen region showed significant improvements in the situation in the region: median of ioduria increased significantly from 77 to 125 μg/l and the incidence of goiter in pre-pubertal children decreased from 85% in 1994 to 6.8% in 2016 (р=0,001); the incidence of neonatal hyperthyrotropinemia significantly decreased from 44.3% in 1994 to 3.9% in 2017 (р=0,001). However, most indicators did not reach the target values recommended for iodine-rich region, which indicated the insufficient effectiveness of the existing voluntary prevention system. The solution of this problem is using of iodine-enriched foods of mass consumption, such as bread and bakery products.


Over millions of years of evolution nature has produced structures such as bone, tooth and nacre that are durable and mechanically strong while also performing a multitude of other biological functions. Inspired by nature, chemists and materials scientists have been employing bottom-up soft chemistry approaches to synthesise organic–inorganic hybrid materials which show much promise in mimicking nature's complexity. Organic–inorganic hybrid materials are defined as 'multifunctional organised matter' that has molecularly interpenetrating networks of organic and inorganic moieties where no distinct phase boundaries are observable at the nano-to-macro scale. In this chapter, we introduce the different classes of organic–inorganic hybrid materials, the various organic and inorganic precursors used to synthesise hybrid biomaterials and their structure–property relationships.


Owing to automation trends, research on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has become prevalent. In addition to static sinks, ground and aerial mobile sinks have become popular for data gathering because of the implementation of WSNs in hard-to-reach or infrastructure-less areas. Consequently, several data-gathering mechanisms in WSNs have been investigated, and the sink type plays a major role in energy consumption and other quality of service parameters, such as packet delivery ratio, delay, and throughput. However, the data-gathering schemes based on different sink types in WSNs have not been investigated previously. This paper reviews such data-gathering frameworks based on three different types of sinks (i.e., static, ground mobile, and aerial mobile sinks), analyzing the data-gathering frameworks both qualitatively and quantitatively. First, we examine the frameworks by discussing their working principles, advantages, and limitations, followed by a qualitative comparative study based on their main ideas, optimization criteria, and performance evaluation parameters. Next, we present a simulation-based quantitative comparison of three representative data-gathering schemes, one from each category. Simulation results are shown in terms of energy efficiency, number of dead nodes, number of exchanged control packets, and packet drop ratio. Finally, lessons learned from the investigation and recommendations made are summarized.


Preliminary morphologic and morphometric study of the encephalon of the tiburoncito Ariopsis seemanni (Pisces: Ariidae) Objective. To describe morphologically and morphometrically the encephalon of Ariopsis seemanni. Materials and methods. We worked with 10 juvenile specimens which were processed according to the ethical standards for handling fish. Measurements of the total and standard length (cm) and weight (g) were taken for each individual. Specimens were fixed in 4% formaldehyde. The encephalon was removed, the different regions were identified and the measurement of the different lobes was done, indicating their location, morphology, length and area using lateral, dorsal and ventral digitalized images that were measured with the Scion Image program. We calcul ated means and standard deviations, and obtained the percentage equivalence of each structure in relation to the entire encephalon. These data were then related to the habits of the species. Results. We identified the olfactory bulbs, telencephalic hemispheres, optic lobes, cerebellum, among others. Of the cranial nerves, only the optic nerve was observed. The largest structure of the encephalon is the cerebellum (44 ± 1.2% and 0.23 ± 0.03 cm 2 area), followed by the telencephalic hemispheres (28 ± 0.57% and 0.13 ± 0.02 cm 2 area). Conclusions. The encephalon morphology of A. seemanni presented the general pattern of teleosts of the order Siluriformes, with the cerebellum as the largest structure of the encephalon. Based on the morphology and morphometry observed in the encephalon, we suggest that A. seemanni uses primarily vision and taste to explore the environment.


During the orthopaedic surgery, the insertion of metallic implants or screws is often performed under mobile C-arm systems. However, due to the high attenuation of metals, severe metal artifacts occur in 3D reconstructions, which degrade the image quality significantly. Therefore, many metal artifact reduction algorithms have been developed to reduce the artifacts, and metal inpainting in the projection domain is an essential step. In this work, a score-based generative model is trained on simulated knee projections, and the in-painted images are obtained by removing the noise in the conditional resampling process. The result implies that the inpainted images by the score-based generative model have more detailed information and achieve the lowest mean absolute error of 0.069 and the highest peak-signal-to-noise ratio of 43.07 compared with the inverse distance weighting interpolation method and the mask pyramid network. Besides, the score-based model can also recover projections with large circular and rectangular masks, showing its generalization in in-painting tasks.


Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL), initially proposed in the Machine Learning (ML) literature, is an efficient and well-studied framework for sparse signal recovery. SBL uses hierarchical Bayes with a decorrelated Gaussian prior in which the variance profile is also to be estimated. This is more sparsity inducing than e.g. a Laplacian prior. However, SBL does not scale with problem dimensions due to the computational complexity associated with the matrix inversion in Linear Mimimum Mean Squared Error (LMMSE) estimation. To address this issue, various low complexity approximate Bayesian inference techniques have been introduced for the LMMSE component, including Variational Bayesian (VB) inference, Space Alternating Variational Estimation (SAVE) or Message Passing (MP) algorithms such as Belief Propagation (BP) or Expectation Propagation (EP) or Approximate MP (AMP). These algorithms may converge to the correct LMMSE estimate. However, in ML we are often also interested in having posterior variance information. SBL via BP or SAVE provides (largely) underestimated variance estimates. AMP style algorithms may provide more accurate variance information. The State Evolution analysis may show convergence of the (sum) MSE to the MMSE value. But we are interested also in the MSE of the individual components. To this end, utilizing the random matrix theory results, we show that in the large system limit, under i.i.d. entries in the measurement matrix, the per component MSE predicted by BP or xAMP converges to the Bayes optimal value.


In forensic sciences, radiocarbon found in modern human nails and hair is evaluated to determine the year of death. However, 14C analyses presented herein of fingernails and hair from the same infant demonstrated 14C values of hair that were lower than would be expected (e.g. depleted relative to the fingernails by at least 10‰). These results prompted a series of 14C measurements on infant hair strands, fingernails, and infant shampoo, which suggested the presence of C contamination due to cosmetic products. To further evaluate these discrepancies, several hair strands and fingernail samples from multiple donors were collected, pretreated by several approaches, and measured using isotopic analysis (δ13C, δ15N, and C/N as well as 14C accelerator mass spectrometry). SEM images of the surface of chemically pretreated hair strands were also taken to inspect the performance of the chemical pretreatments applied. Our 14C and stable isotope results show that modern human hair is likely contaminated with fossil-fuel-derived carbon, which is found in most hair care products. Currently, the various chemical pretreatments available in the literature and presented herein show that it is not possible to completely remove foreign carbon contaminates. Thus, the human 14C and δ13C values between keratinous tissues (fingernails and hair) arc not in agreement. From these observations, it becomes apparent that isotopic interpretations using human hair should be used with extreme caution and additional work is needed for its use in forensic and dietary research.


G3-PLC, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) power line communication solution, has recently gained a lot of attention. It supports the application of four types of baseband mapping modes in different environments. These modes typically require a hard-decision demodulation, which will lead to nearly 3dB preference loss. In this paper, we propose an improvement scheme for the baseband mapping modes by changing the constellation encoding method. The optimal soft decision algorithm which makes use of log likelihood ratio (LLR) of the probabilities is used in the demodulators. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can outperformer previous algorithm.


Chillies are widely used throughout the world in the form of spice and are also used in making beverages and medicines. They are rich in vitamins, especially in vitamin A and C. Chillies contain lots of minerals like potassium, magnesium, and iron. They have been employed for pain relief as they are known to inhibit pain messengers and hence their extracts are used to alleviate the pain of arthritis, headaches, burns, and neuralgia. It is also claimed that they have the power to boost the immune system and lower cholesterol. They are also helpful in getting rid of gut parasites. In this regard we attempted to do a geographical survey about the chilly varieties and chilly growing states in India. We collected the local varieties of chillies available in Karnataka and performed genetic variation studies to understand their relationship at the genetic level. PCR analysis was done using the selected random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker to identify the polymorphic loci between the genotypes taken. DNA Barcoding was done to validate the species using basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) and Clustal Omega, further dendrogram was constructed which guide the joining linkage rule of unweighted pair group average (UPGMA) and the genetic distance to compute from matrix table. The results obtained highlight the relationship between species of Capsicum annum, Capsicum frutescens which are closely related followed by Capsicum pubescens and Capsicum baccatum providing knowledge about its application in genetics and plant breeding in developing efficient hybrid variety.


Comorbid diseases co-occur and progress via complex temporal patterns that vary among individuals. In electronic health records we can observe the different diseases a patient has, but can only infer the temporal relationship between each co-morbid condition. Learning such temporal patterns from event data is crucial for understanding disease pathology and predicting prognoses. To this end, we develop deep diffusion processes (DDP) to model "dynamic comorbidity networks", i.e., the temporal relationships between comorbid disease onsets expressed through a dynamic graph. A DDP comprises events modelled as a multi-dimensional point process, with an intensity function parameterized by the edges of a dynamic weighted graph. The graph structure is modulated by a neural network that maps patient history to edge weights, enabling rich temporal representations for disease trajectories. The DDP parameters decouple into clinically meaningful components, which enables serving the dual purpose of accurate risk prediction and intelligible representation of disease pathology. We illustrate these features in experiments using cancer registry data.


The OPERA neutrino experiment is designed to detect νμ → ντ oscillations in direct appearance mode. The hybrid apparatus consists of an emulsion/lead target complemented by electronic detectors. It is placed in the long-baseline CERN to Gran Sasso neutrino beam (CNGS) 730 km away from the source. The running of the experiment and the extraction of data recorded in the emulsion will be described, together with the special procedures used to locate interaction vertices and detect short decay topologies. New oscillation search results with increased statistics will be presented. Up-to-date results of the neutrino velocity measurements will also be reported.


Identification of high-risk patients for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after sustained virological responses (SVR) is necessary to define candidates for long-term surveillance. In this study, we examined whether serum markers after 1 year of SVR could predict subsequent HCC development. Total 734 chronic hepatitis C patients without a history of HCC who achieved SVR with direct-acting antivirals were included. The regular surveillance for HCC started from 24 weeks after the end of treatment (SVR24). Factors at SVR24 and 1 year after SVR24 were analyzed for predicting HCC development. During the mean observation period of 19.7 ± 10 months, 24 patients developed HCC. At SVR24, Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive mac-2 binding protein (WFA±M2BP) ≥ 1.85 and α-fetoprotein (AFP) ≥ 6.0 ng/mL were independent factors of HCC development. However, at 1 year after SVR24, WFA±M2BP ≥ 1.85 was associated with subsequent HCC development (hazard ratio: 23.5, 95% confidence interval: 2.68–205) but not AFP. Among patients with WFA±M2BP ≥ 1.85 at SVR24, 42% had WFA±M2BP < 1.85 at 1 year after SVR24 (WFA±M2BP declined group). Subsequent HCC development was significantly lower in the declined group than in the non-declined group (1 year HCC rate: 0% vs. 9.4%, p = 0.04). In conclusion, WFA±M2BP but not AFP could identify high and no-risk cases of HCC at 1 year after SVR. Therefore, it was useful as a real-time monitoring tool to identify the candidates for continuous surveillance for HCC.


Assessments and predictions of patient quality of life (QoL) permeate many veterinary decisions, including (1) whether to perform a procedure due to concurrent QoL issues, (2) whether a procedure will negatively affect QoL in the near or distant future, and (3) whether QoL is poor enough to warrant euthanasia. In order to understand how veterinarians manage decisions relating to patient well-being, interviews with 41 veterinarians and over 100 hours of observations of 10 veterinarians were conducted. Participants held diverse views regarding the type of parameters that should be included when defining QoL. Interestingly, they also held differing views about who should be assessing patient QoL, with some participants believing that animals' owners were better able to assess patient QoL than veterinarians. For these veterinarians, respecting the client's autonomy in deciding what was best for the patient weighed heavily in their decisions. Other veterinarians felt that they, rather than the client, were the best assessors of QoL and felt justified in persuading clients to follow a certain course of action (often considered a paternalistic approach). These findings raise some interesting questions for the profession. What role should veterinarians play when assessing patient QoL? When is paternalism acceptable or even mandatory in veterinary medicine? Does respecting client autonomy also require an evaluation of the client's abilities to make appropriate decisions for the patient? The lack of uniformity in defining and assessing patient QoL highlights the need for increased dialogue with respect to veterinarians' responsibilities to both animals and clients.


Systematic experiments are conducted to measure heat transfer enhancement and pressure loss characteristics on a square channel (simulating a gas turbine blade cooling passage) with two opposite surfaces roughened by 45 deg parallel ribs. Copper plates fitted with a silicone heater and instrumented with thermocouples are used to measure regionally averaged local heat transfer coefficients. Reynolds numbers studied in the channel range from 30,000 to 400,000. The rib height (e) to hydraulic diameter (D) ratio ranges from 0.1 to 0.18. The rib spacing (p) to height ratio (p/e) ranges from 5 to 10. Results show higher heat transfer coefficients at smaller values of p/e e and larger values of e/D, though at the cost of higher friction losses. Results also indicate that the thermal performance of the ribbed channel falls with increasing Reynolds numbers. Correlations predicting Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f) as a function of p/e, e/D, and Re are developed. Also developed are correlations for R and G (friction and heat transfer roughness functions, respectively) as a function of the roughness Reynolds number (e + ), ple, and elD.


The Radegast Station Holocaust Monument - Its History, Contemporary Function and Perception in the Eyes of Tourists and Lodz Inhabitants The article presents the problems of the Lodz Ghetto organized by the Germans during World War II and the role of the ghetto railway station - called Radegast Station. The author also describes the contemporary function of the station, paying particular attention to the initiative of the local authorities, which led to building a monument within its premises, commemorating the Holocaust of the Lodz Jewish population. Following that, the author presents the results of a survey conducted in the monument area in 2007, which allowed the local authorities' activity and its indirect influence on the image of Lodz to be assessed.


This document demonstrates an example of a temperature regulation loop, developed with the SysML (System Modeling Language) plug-in of MagicDraw TM UML. It introduces and describes the different specific diagrams used in SysML (Requirement, Block Definition, Internal Block, and Parametric diagrams) as well as the specific SysML features (blocks, flow ports, value types, items flow, etc.). This document also provides guidelines for the creation of a SysML model and the utilization of the specific SysML features using MagicDraw UML 15.5 with the SysML 15.5 plug-in.


The ground state of the bilayer Kitaev model with the Heisenberg-type interlayer exchange interaction is investigated by means of the exact diagonalization. Calculating the ground-state energy, local quantity defined on each plaquette, and dynamical spin structure factor, we obtain results suggesting the existence of a quantum phase transition between the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) and dimer singlet states when the interlayer coupling is antiferromagnetic. On the other hand, increasing the ferromagnetic interlayer coupling, there exists no singularity in the physical quantities, suggesting that the $S=1/2$ Kitaev QSL state realized in each layer adiabatically connects to another QSL state realized in the $S=1$ Kitaev model. Thermodynamic properties are also studied by means of the thermal pure quantum state method.


Location and Geological Relations Concretions of various kinds are abundant in several formations in the Great Plains region, and their prominence is so marked that facts which throw light on their origin are greatly to be desired. Recently there has been discovered in one of the Tertiary formations an exposure which exhibits in a most instructive manner the development of concretions by evident crystallization, which it is the purpose of this paper to describe. The Tertiary of the Great Plains region comprises the White River group of the Bad lands, mainly of Oligocene age, and a great series of deposits which originally were included under the term Loup Fork. The greater portion of this series, extending through Nebraska into South Dakota, has been separated by Darton under the designation of Arikaree formation. It is believed to be of Miocene age. This formation consists mainly of sand which locally is consolidated . . .


The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia postulates hyperactivity of dopaminergic neurotransmission in the mesolimbic system. However, the possible underlying causes for this dopaminergic overfunction are not well understood. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to examine the effect of central cholinergic denervation on dopamine-mediated functions. We also examined the effect of neonatal cholinergic denervation upon adult brain function. The immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin causes severe lesions of the basal forebrain cholinergic system when infused into the lateral ventricles by targeting neurons expressing the p75 neurotrophin receptor. The toxin may also damage p75-expressing Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum. We have compared the behavioral effects of intracerebroventricular injections of 192 IgG-saporin to adult rats with that of injections to neonate rats. As expected, adult treated rats displayed an almost complete cholinergic denervation of forebrain corticohippocampal areas concomitant with a marked impairment in the Morris water maze. When tested as adults, neonatally treated animals had a less complete cholinergic denervation and showed lesser impairments in water maze behaviors. Interestingly, adult treated rats showed increased spontaneous horizontal activity and a remarkable increase in locomotor response to d-amphetamine as evidenced by increased horizontal and vertical activity. There were no marked changes of spontaneous or drug-induced locomotor activity in adult rats treated with 192 IgG-saporin as neonates. These results suggest that cholinergic denervation of the forebrain causes a marked enhancement of behavioral responses related to dopaminergic activity, probably mainly mediated presynaptically. However, it cannot be fully excluded that damage to noncholinergic systems, e.g., Purkinje cells, might contribute to the effects. The striking overreaction to dopaminergic stimuli, presumably caused by the cholinergic deficit, is discussed in relation to the suggested role of cholinergic malfunctioning in schizophrenia.


A serendipitous cure in a 73-year-old woman of Hunner's ulcer, urge, nocturia, apical prolapse by a tissue fixation system tensioned minisling (TFS) which reinforced the cardinal, and uterosacral ligaments (USLs) led us to analyse the relationship between Hunner's ulcer and known pain conditions associated with USL laxity. The original intention was to cure the "posterior fornix syndrome" (PFS), uterine prolapse, and associated pain and bladder symptoms by USL repair. A speculum inserted preoperatively into the posterior fornix alleviated pain and urge symptoms, by mechanically supporting USLs. Hunner's ulcer, along with pain and other PFS symptoms were cured by USL repair. The concept of USL laxity causing chronic pelvic pain and bladder problems is not new. It was published in the German literature by Heinrich Martius in 1938 and by Petros in the English literature in 1993. These findings raise important questions. As PFS symptoms are identical with those of interstitial cystitis (IC), are PFS and IC similar conditions? If so, then patients with IC who have a positive speculum test are at least theoretically, potentially curable by USL repair. These questions need to be explored.


Two patients who each had a paralysed left vocal cord are discussed. Both had poor coughing ability preoperatively. The affected cords had been injected with tetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) paste 3 days before operation and this had given immediate improvement in coughing and speech. During induction of anaesthesia, respiratory obstruction occurred that was related to the injected cord. This cause of obstruction has not been reported previously. The potential benefits of cord injection for voice, cough and laryngeal competence are reviewed.


Objective: To analyze and compare the preoperative factors that potentially influence the outcome of stapedotomy in our study group. Materials and Methods: 161 cases were enrolled. Clinical variables considered to influence functional results – air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) pure-tone average (PTA), air-bone gaps (ABG), sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), ABG gain and ΔSNHL – were gender, age, case type (unilateral vs. bilateral), ear side (right vs. left), pregnancy, vascular disease and family history of otosclerosis. The audiometric variables were preoperative AC- and BC-PTA, SNHL and ABG. Results: Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the probability of obtaining a ≥10 dB gain is significantly affected by the following factors: age <50 years, AC-PTA ≥50 dB and preoperative ABG ≥30 dB. All the other factors included into the registration (gender, familiarity, side, bilateral vs. unilateral, pregnancy, vascular diseases and preoperative BC-PTA) were not found to significantly affect postoperative gain (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, multivariate logistic regression analysis maintained a statistically significant correlation only between gain ≥10 dB and both preoperative ABG ≥30 dB and age <50 years. Conclusions: The accurate knowledge of predictive factors is a valuable tool that permits the surgeon to plan surgery with a better case selection as well as assisting in counseling the patient with regard to the likelihood of success of the procedure.


Pattern and movement of historical surface faults in western Nevada—typical Basin-Range structures—suggest a control related to strike-slip faulting. Surface faults associated with seven major earthquakes in the past 60 years form a coherent arcuate linear zone (the "Churchill arc"), which appears to have resulted from a specific deformation acting at a single instant in geologic time. The Churchill arc transgresses several mountain ranges, demonstrating that Basin-Range fault-block mountains have not grown independently of one another. A progressive change from dip-slip normal faulting at the north end of the arc to dominantly right-lateral strike-slip faulting at the south end suggests a relationship to the Walker Lane at the south end. The Walker Lane is a major northwest-trending structural zone along which significant right-lateral strike-slip movement has occurred. A surface fault that formed during one other historical earthquake in this part of western Nevada, in the Excelsior Mountains, is oriented northeasterly and is characterized by left-lateral strike-slip movement. A possible relationship between block faulting and strike-slip faulting is supported by other evidence besides the historical faults. Experimental evidence of near-surface faulting related to underlying strike-slip faulting, as well as the common association of horst-and-graben structures with large-scale strike-slip faults in several places around the world, implies a genetic relationship between the two different types of structures. Moreover, geologic evidence shows an association between the two contrasting structures in several other parts of the Basin-Range province. A broad system of conjugate northwesterly and northeasterly strike-slip structures parallel to the San Andreas-Garlock system in California may be present in a large part of the western United States: if so, Basin-Range mountains in general may have formed near zones of horizontal deformation. These transverse lineaments may represent a fundamental structural framework in and near the Basin-Range province. The general northerly orientation of Basin-Range mountains may be in part related to a structural "grain" established prior to the development of the block-faulted mountains. Pre-Cenozoic structures within and along the western boundary of the Basin-Range province are dominated by nearly north-trending foliations and fold axes that are commonly almost parallel to the present ranges. A few structures older than the Basin ranges are transverse fault zones that trend northwest and northeast; these structures may be ancestral to those of the present regional conjugate strike-slip system here proposed. Most of the faults in the Churchill arc probably formed above a branch fault of the Walker Lane having right-lateral strike-slip movement. Possibly faults at the north end of the arc resulted merely from north-northeasterly propagation of an inter-montane graben along pre-existing structures.


Every human being must become acquainted with the issues, conflicts and situations / unpleasant occurrences associated with self, others and the environment. This is normal as a stage of life experiences and the development of a person. Therefore, we all must have experienced or have times when we are feeling down (sad, disappointed, discouraged, stress, depression, etc.) or even otherwise feel scared, anxious, overly excited and others. Many events in life that can not be avoided and that makes us feel things like the above. There are times when we can also solve the problem or feeling well but there are times when we feel stuck, confused, anxious, not knowing where to complain and think that no one can help. Counseling is one way to help solve a variety of problems in life. Counseling helps us to identify the problem, find a solution or an appropriate alternative and will realize the potential of every human being to be able to overcome its problems.