Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disabling condition, for which no effective therapy currently exists. Synovitis is commonly demonstrated in knee OA imaging. Synovial inflammation due to the release of prostaglandins and cytokines is an important cause of pain. Methotrexate (MTX) helps to decrease synovitis in many inflammatory joint diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis. Objectives To assess the efficacy of MTX in decreasing pain and inflammation in symptomatic knee OA. Methods Eighty-eight patients with American College of Rheumatology (ACR) clinical and radiographic criteria of primary knee OA with knee pain, [>4 on the 24-hour average pain severity scale (0-10) using mean of daily ratings from week preceding randomization] for >14 days/month during 3 consecutive months preceding enrollment were included in this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Exclusion criteria included any other inflammatory conditions, hepatic and renal insufficiency. Patients meeting the eligibility criteria were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either 25mg/week oral MTX (n=44) or placebo (n=44) together with their usual therapy provided the dosages were kept constant for 16 weeks. The primary outcome measure was pain reduction and secondary outcome measures included improvements in physical function scores. Pain was assessed using the Visual Analogue pain Scale, (VAS, 0-100 mm). Functional assessment was performed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and Activities of daily living (ADL) scores. Alterations in dosage of analgesic/NSAID drugs used were recorded. Safety and tolerability were also assessed. Synovitis was detected by ultrasound imaging at baseline and at the end of the study. Results There was a statistically significant reduction in pain in the MTX group compared to the placebo group, p=0.007. In addition, there was a significant improvement in WOMAC and ADL scores at 16 weeks in the intervention group versus the placebo group as well as statistically significant improvement in patient and physician assessment of pain. NSAID use was significantly less in the MTX versus the placebo group, p=0.055. Statistically significant improvement in synovitis, as detected by ultrasound, occurred in the MTX group compared to the placebo group at 16 weeks. No serious side effects were reported. Conclusions MTX significantly reduced pain and improved synovitis. In addition, there was a significant improvement in physical function. MTX may be a therapeutic option in the treatment of pain and inflammation related to OA. However, further large scale longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Background: The present study was carried out for determination of amino acid content in tubers of Dioscorea bulbifera using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Methods: The method involved the vapor phase hydrolysis of the sample, automated derivatisation of the amino acids with the aid of AccQ-Fluor reagent kit, separated on a high performance liquid chromatography equipped with photo diode array (HPLC-PDA) at 254 nm having column temperature of 37 ºC. Results: The proportional molar concentration for each amino acid was calculated based on the concentration of standard amino acids and expressed as μg amino acid/mg sample. Methionine, aspartic acid and leucine were major components while as tyrosine was found minor from the plant on dry weight basis. Conclusion: The method is reliable, simple and economical for determining the amino acid content of Dioscorea bulbifera tubers.


The benefits of exercise interventions in individuals with chronic kidney disease have been widely reviewed; however, exercise has not yet been incorporated into routine clinical practice. In athletic populations, the goals of exercise training are to improve a specific aspect of physical performance such as strength or endurance, to ultimately optimize physical performance. This contrasts with many chronic kidney disease exercise studies where the goals are more aligned to a minimal effect, such as prevention of decline in physical function, frailty or protein energy wasting (PEW), weight loss for cardiovascular disease risk reduction, and risk minimization for mortality. In athletic populations, there are common targeted nutrition strategies used to optimize physical performance. In this review, we consider the evidence for and potential benefits of targeted nutrition strategies to complement well-designed exercise interventions to improve physical performance in people with chronic kidney disease and dialysis. Overall, we found a small number of studies using targeted protein supplementation in combination with a variety of exercise protocols; however, results were mixed. Future studies in people with chronic kidney disease should optimize acute (pre, during, and postexercise) and chronic nutritional status, utilizing targeted nutrition interventions proven in athletes to have benefit.


We report the case of a 30-year-old male, heroin dependent, receiving methadone treatment, who, while staying at home, ingested 50 mg of naltrexone. He immediately developed serious withdrawal symptoms and was admitted to the hospital. In the emergency department the drugs given to counteract the agitation were ineffective, and the patient developed respiratory distress. Anaesthesia with propofol was then started and the patient was intubated, ventilated and hospitalized in the intensive care unit. He was then sedated for 48 hours due to persistent withdrawal signs. When medically stable the patient was transferred to the medical ward where daily treatment with naltrexone and psychological support where started. After 4 days the patient was discharged. Afterwards he did not attend his scheduled outpatient follow-up visits. Treatment with propofol is effective in the case of a patient with a serious withdrawal syndrome secondary to naltrexone overdose during methadone therapy. Despite the actual possibility of getting through the withdrawal symptoms the patient failed to return for follow-up visits, which might be related to a lack of motivation.


The experiments carried out at the Podu-Iloaiei Agricultural Research Station, during 1986-2008, had the following objectives: the study of water runoff and soil losses, by erosion, in different crops; the annual rate of erosion processes under the influence of anti-erosion protection of different crops; the influence of water runoff and soil erosion on losses of organic matter and mineral elements from soil. The determination, in different crops, of water runoff, soil, humus and nutritive element losses by erosion was done by the help of plots for loss control, which are isolated from the rest of the area by metallic walls and have basins and devices for division; we took water and soil samples from plots for determining the partial turbidity and for chemical elements analyses. The determination of water runoff, soil, humus and nutritive element losses on fields arranged by anti-erosion was done on the whole area of the retention basin (159 ha), where experiments were conducted, since 1982, bands with grasses and field strips were set up. The erosion control was done by the help of hydrological station with triangular waste weir, rain gauge, recording rain gauge, limnigraph and devices for water and soil samples uptake during rainfalls. Mean annual losses of soil by erosion, registered during 1986-2008 were of 0.298 t•ha-1 in perennial grasses on the second growth year, 4.618 t•ha-1 in beans, 9.176 t•ha-1 in maize and 9.650 t•ha-1 in sunflower. Erosion has affected soil fertility by removing once with eroded soil, high amounts of humus and mineral elements, which reached 17.4-17.7 kg•ha-1 nitrogen, 1.1 kg•ha-1 phosphorus and 2.3 kg•ha-1 potassium, in maize and sunflower crops. From the investigations carried out on effective erosion, based on direct determinations, we found out that the effective erosion in the Moldavian Plateau, in peas-wheat-maize rotation, had a mean value of 4.502 t•ha-1•year-1. From the results obtained on erosion in different crop rotations, we have found out that in 16 % slope fields from the Moldavian Plateau, soil losses by erosion were diminished below the allowable limit of 3-5 t•ha-1•year-1 only in case of 4 year-crop rotations with one or two reserve fields, cultivated with legumes and perennial grasses, which protect soil. These elements were necessary for establishing the crop structure and dimensioning the ant erosion works, which determine the decrease of soil erosion and water runoff, soil and nutrients losses below the limit corresponding to the natural capacity of annual soil recovering, of 3-5 t•ha-1•year-1 of eroded soil.


Background: Epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) has been used as a marker for the expression of tumour margins in various glandular neoplastic lesions. Histopathologically, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may exhibit several features within the same tumour cells, portraying that these cells at the invasive margins commonly display certain features that differ from those of the superficial part of the tumour. Aim: To identify and study the invasive tumour front and also to recognise any micrometastases in an OSCC lesion. Materials and Method: A retrospective study of 30 OSCC cases with superficial and most invasive parts were sectioned at 4 μm. Routine H&E staining and immunohistochemical staining with mouse antihuman EMA were done. The OSCC cases were graded into well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (WDSCC), moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (MDSCC) and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (PDSCC). The EMA-stained slides were observed and analysed under higher magnification to identify the individual EMA-stained cells. Results: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) analysis revealed that when comparing the superficial and invasive fronts of OSCC, it was evident that the P values were significant across the groups. In WDSCC, positive predictive value was 70.6% and sensitivity was 100% when the same slide was analysed for large and small islands to individual cells in an EMA-stained section, while MDSCC and PDSCC showed both sensitivity and positive predictive value to be 100%. Conclusion: EMA could be considered a useful prognostic marker for describing the nature of the neoplastic epithelium as well as recognising the typical anaplastic cells in cases of OSCC.


The Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures. Traditionally, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to require warrants supported by probable cause in both the search and seizure contexts. In Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court recognized that not all interactions between police and citizens involve intrusions serious enough to trigger the full probable cause standard. As a result, the Court delineated a specific, narrowly applicable exception to the general rule. The Court held that in situations where the police have specific and articulable grounds that provide them with reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot, they may briefly detain an individual for purposes of investigation. Both the facts of Terry and the language of Justice Warren's opinion leave no doubt that the exception was to be construed and applied in only the narrowest of contexts. However, as lower courts interpreted and applied Terry in the following years, the standard enunciated in Terry blurred considerably. Hence came the development of the wellentrenched, but nebulous, investigative detention doctrine.


Abstract The current study was designed to examine the protective efficacy of DNA vaccines based on gp63 and Hsp70 against murine visceral leishmaniasis. Inbred BALB/c mice were immunized subcutaneously twice at an interval of three weeks with pcDNA3.1(+) encoding T cell epitopes of gp63 and Hsp70 individually and in combination. Animals were challenged intracardially with 107 promastigotes of Leishmania donovani 10 days post immunization and sacrificed 1, 2 and 3 months post challenge. The immunized animals revealed a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in splenic and hepatic parasite burden as compared to the infected controls. Maximum reduction in parasite load (P < 0.05) was observed in animals treated with a combination of pcDNA/gp63 and pcDNA/Hsp70. These animals also showed heightened DTH response, increased IgG2a, elevated Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-2) and reduced IgG1 and IL-10 levels. Thus, mice immunized with the cocktail vaccine exhibited significantly greater protection in comparison to those immunized with individual antigens.


This paper is concerned with the positive definite solutions to the matrix equation X+AX −1 A = I where X is the unknown and A is a given complex matrix. By introducing and studying a matrix operator on complex matrices, it is shown that the existence of positive definite solutions of this class of nonlinear matrix equations is equivalent to the existence of positive definite solutions of the nonlinear matrix equation W + BWB = I which has been extensively studied in the literature, where B is a real matrix and is uniquely determined by A. It is also shown that if the considered nonlinear matrix equation has a positive definite solution, then it has the maximal and minimal solutions. Bounds of the positive definite solutions are also established in terms of matrix A. Finally some sufficient conditions and necessary conditions for the existence of positive definite solutions of the equations are also proposed.


This paper presents our experiences in teaching undergraduate Computer Architecture and Organization using a low cost portable microcontroller, MSP 430 manufactured by Texas Instrument Inc. This microcontroller is hosted on a USB dongle along with necessary hardware interfaces for system configuration. The microcontroller, though simple, covers basic fundamentals of computer systems, and indeed is a great platform for beginners to start with. This low cost portable device makes it possible for students to conduct labs and projects at anytime and anywhere.


SCIENCE: A Weekly Journal, since 1900 the official organ Communications relative to advertising should be addressed of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. to THaEo. J. CHRISTENSEN, Massachusetts and Nebraska AvePublished by the American Association for the Advancement nues. Washington 16, D. C. of Science every Friday at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Communications relative to membership in the Association and to all matters of business of the Association should be Communications relative to articles offered for publication addressed to the Permanent Secretary, A.A.A.S., Smithsonian should be addressed to Editor, Massachusetts and Nebraska Institution Building, Washington 25, D. C. Avenues, Washington 16, D. C. Annual subscription, $6.00 Single copies, 15 cents Entered as second-class matter July 18, 1923 at the Post Office at Lancaster, Pa., under the Act of March 3, 1879. o n A pr il 10 , 2 01 7


The following paper is a review of the research undertaken over the last twenty years in Wilderness Areas and Nature Reserves in Nova Scotia. A brief summary is presented of the main findings of each research project conducted by the author or contributed to by the author in a significant way. Inventories have included eleven bioblitzes and over four thousand plots from systematic transects. These have revealed significant new records for species including those of conservation concern. Results suggest there are many species than have not been identified in protected areas. Geographical Information System (GIS) Ecological Land Classification was completed for Nova Scotia and this led to ecosystem gap analysis to determine ecosystems that are not well represented in the current protected areas system. Long-term monitoring, using biodiversity transects and lichens, indicates that air quality is good throughout the protected areas system. Forests are returning to a more climax condition and with the exception of a few instances, non-native plants are generally not problematic. Carbon modeling of protected areas suggests that they will be a carbon sink for the next one hundred years and would be a carbon source if managed for forestry. Protected areas are well suited to provide ideal optimal settings in which climate change adaptation and mitigation can take place.  Planning for climate change within protected areas can be facilitated by a Climate Change Adaptation Framework.Research on species of special concern in protected areas has included turtles, Mainland Moose, Canada Lynx, America Marten, Lichens, Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora, forest plants and Piping Plover. Research on rare, sensitive, vulnerable ecosystems has involved predictive modeling and identification and characterization of heathlands, forest wetlands and Jack pine woodlands. Old Growth Forest research has included predictive modeling, biological inventories, dendrochronology studies and scoring using indicators. Human activities adjacent to protected areas can cause deleterious edge effects. An ongoing study in the Cloud Lake Wilderness Area is measuring the effect of adjacent forestry on birds and plants within the Wilderness Area. Several studies on connectivity have looked at the increase in connectivity caused by the establishment of protected areas in Nova Scotia. Other efforts on connectivity have identified key nodes of connectivity within the province which require protection. Human use of protected areas can lead to damage of ecosystems and so investigations on human use of protected areas has been focussed on motorized vehicles and to a lesser extent on human foot traffic. Although there have been many ecological studies in protected areas over the last twenty years, it is evident that there still is a great deal that is unknown about the biodiversity of protected areas.


Dermoid cysts are developmental malformations due to a defect in the fusion of embryonic lateral mesenchymatic layers during the fifth week of embryological development. Thirty-four percent of dermoid cysts occur in the head and neck area, of which 6.5% are in the floor of mouth. We present a rare case of a 17-year-old female with epidermoid cyst presenting in the floor of the mouth. A working diagnosis of a "plunging ranula" was concluded following salivary gland multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting and the patient subsequently underwent an excision of lesion with right sublingual gland via an intraoral approach under GA. However, the pathology revealed the lesion consistent with an epidermoid cyst. We discuss the numerous pathological conditions that can affect the floor of the mouth, and differential diagnoses of lesions of a development, inflammatory, obstructive or neoplastic origin. Imaging aids such as ultrasound, MRI, and CT of head with contrast area are of valuable importance for estimating tumor margins and lesion composition, and assessing infiltration in surrounding tissues along with MDT which give platform with other departments to help form a working diagnosis and guide surgical approach. J Med Cases. 2017;8(6):171-173 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2762w


The experience of unity lies at the origin of consciousness research, of religion, of philosophy, of psychology: Today we note with puzzlement that the horizon of physics and cosmology, too, wants to converge onto unity. Do these parallel developments point to deeper, hidden, meaningful interconnections? Does all this touch on the problem of unification between the realms of the rational and conscious with the realms of the spiritual and hidden? In my own personal experience the unity of physical reality and consciousness reveals itself not in equations nor in a theory but in a way of thinking and living. There is no need to unify mind and matter because they are a unity already. The sooner I realize this, and the sooner I adjust my way of thinking and living to this insight, where-ever I believe I have encountered a conflict, the sooner I experience the healing power of this way of thinking. I used to believe that I am responsible for my way of living, for what I do, for my actions, but not for what I think. But the truth is that we are responsible for our thoughts, because our actions flow out of what we think.


Food waste is a serious problem with negative environmental and economic consequences. Unused food (either as waste or by-products and referred to as food residues in the present work) is a source of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds that could be used in an alternate or secondary life cycle to avoid discarding it. The present work reviews the potential use of food residues for the bioengineering of single-cell protein (SCP), addressing aspects of production, nutrition and safety, as well as the main challenges and perspectives. SCP is obtained from various microorganisms, including fungi, bacteria, yeasts and algae, in pure or mixed form. SCP generally contains a higher percentage of protein (30–80%) compared to soy (38.6%), fish (17.8%), meat (21.2%) and whole milk (3.28%). SCP is a source of essential amino acids, including methionine, threonine and lysine. The use of food residues as substrates for the production of SCP would reduce production costs (35–75%); however, optimization and industrial scaling are some of the main challenges to its sustainable production. The use food waste and agro by-products from the food industry could be a promising alternative to obtain protein according to a circular production scheme.


Description: The first complete handbook for every aspect of grouting technology The Practical Handbook of Grouting offers the most comprehensive, single–source reference covering all facets of grouting technology, including its application for control of water movement, strengthening of both soil and rock, and a wide range of structural applications. Richly illustrated with hundreds of informative photographs, graphs, and figures, this handbook provides invaluable advice on all stages of a project from initial investigation and design, through execution, monitoring, and quality control. Broad coverage in the Practical Handbook of Grouting begins with a general overview of the topic and includes design and quality control issues, injection techniques, and a thorough discussion of drilling and grouting equipment, with practical focus on building custom equipment. Enriched with real–world insights from the author, the Practical Handbook of Grouting features the latest information on: Cementitious and noncementitious grouts, including new admixtures and polymers Special construction requirements, including grouting inside structures, underground spaces, in extreme environments, and for emergency response support Grouting equipment, including pumps, mixers, agitators, and delivery and monitoring systems Pump mechanics, including the advantages and limitations of all pump types "The Games Contractors Play," including marketing efforts, proposal trickery, on–the–job issues, and defending bad work Complete with an extensive bibliography and references, the Practical Handbook of Grouting is a valuable resource for civil, structural, and geotechnical engineers, geologists, contractors, and students in related fields.


The performance of a new type of grid-supplemented corona voltage stabilizer and regulator (TCVSR) device is described. The normal corona wire-plane voltage stabilizer and regulator was provided by a grid above the anode. The slopes of the stabilization curve have been found to be strongly dependent on the grid voltage. Investigation of the TCVSR characteristics has been undertaken for different values of the grid voltage which correspond to various values of the current limiting resistance. Curves necessary for the calibration of the TCVSR are presented.


Introduction: This study evaluated our experience with dynamic computed tomography angiography (dCTA) as a diagnostic tool after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) with respect to the endoleak classification and the available literature. Methods: We reviewed all patients who underwent dCTA because of suspected endoleaks after the EVAR and classified the endoleaks in these patients based on standard CTA (sCTA) and dCTA. We systematically reviewed all available publications that investigated the diagnostic accuracy of dCTA compared with other imaging techniques. Results: In our single-center series, 16 dCTAs were performed in 16 patients. In 11 patients, the undefined endoleaks that appeared on sCTA scans were successfully classified using dCTA. In three patients with a type II endoleak and aneurysm sac growth, inflow arteries were successfully identified using dCTA, and in two patients, aneurysm sac growth was observed without a visible endoleak on both sCTA and dCTA scans. The dCTA revealed four occult endoleaks, all of which were type II endoleaks. The systematic review identified six series comparing dCTA with other imaging methods. All articles reported an excellent outcome regarding the endoleak classification. In published dCTA protocols, the number and timing of phases varied greatly, affecting radiation exposure. Time attenuation curves of the current series show that some phases do not contribute to the endoleak classification and that the use of a test bolus improves the timing of the dCTA. Conclusions: The dCTA is a valuable additional tool that can identify and classify endoleaks more accurately than the sCTA. Published dCTA protocols vary greatly and should be optimized to decrease radiation exposure as long as accuracy can be maintained. The use of a test bolus to improve the timing of the dCTA is recommended, but the optimal number of scanning phases is yet to be determined.


Reliable training of generative adversarial networks (GANs) typically require massive datasets in order to model complicated distributions. However, in several applications, training samples obey invariances that are \textit{a priori} known; for example, in complex physics simulations, the training data obey universal laws encoded as well-defined mathematical equations. In this paper, we propose a new generative modeling approach, InvNet, that can efficiently model data spaces with known invariances. We devise an adversarial training algorithm to encode them into data distribution. We validate our framework in three experimental settings: generating images with fixed motifs; solving nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs); and reconstructing two-phase microstructures with desired statistical properties. We complement our experiments with several theoretical results.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 12-16, 2008; San Diego, CA

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(Introduction) Pancreatic cancer is severe malignancy with poor prognosis of the patients. Gemcitabine(GEM) is widely used chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of the pancreatic cancer, however the significant effect prolonging patient survival has not been reported so far. In the present study, we demonstrated a striking evidence that tranilast, drug for allergic diseases, strongly enhanced the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to GEM. Furthermore, we defined that the effect of tranilast was due to the suppression of ribonucleotide reductase 1 (RRM1), which is essential to determine GEM sensitivity in cancer cells. (Materials) (1) Pancreatic cancer cell lines: KP-4, PK-8, PK-1, MiaPaca2 and PK-59. (2) Tranilast was provided from Kissei Pharmaceutical Co.Japan. Anti-cancer drugs including GEM, 5-FU, CDDP, CPT-11 and Paclitaxel were used. (3) Drug effects were analyzed by MTT assay. FACS analysis was examined in assessment of cell cycle and apoptosis. (4) MG132 was used for inhibiting proteosome system. (Result) (1) Tranilast did not affect the growth of KP-4. However, tranilast increased the drug sensitivity to GEM at 15~17 fold in KP-4 cells, compared with single GEM treatment. FACS analysis revealed that tranilast brought KP-4 cells into G1 arrest in cell cycle and enhanced apoptotic effect by GEM treatment. Tranilast did not influence the sensitivity to other drugs including 5-FU, CDDP, CPT-11 and Paclitaxel. (2) In western analysis, tranilast was revealed to decrease RRM1 expression with dose dependant manner. (3) Supression of RRM1 by tranilast in KP4 cells was completely abolished by proteosome inhibitor MG132. (4) The synergistic effect of tranilast toward GEM responsiveness was also found in other 4 cell lines PK-8, PK-1, PK-9 and PK-59, in which RRM1 expression was attenuated under tranilast treatment.On the other hand, drug sensitivity to GEM was not affected by tranilast in MiaPaca2 cells with no change in RRM1 expression. (Conclusion) We first demonstrated that tranilast destroy RRM1 protein , which is a determinant for GEM sensitivity, through proteosome pathway in pancreatic cancer cells. According to this action, tranilast specifically sensitized anti-cancer effect of GEM. Drug concentration of tranilast used in this study was ranged between 25 to 200μM, which is similar to the serum concentration from allergic diseases patients under tranilast treatment. Thus it is plausible that chemotherapy using GEM along with tranilast might be effective strategy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and improve the patient survival.


We describe the implementation of an environment for Gesturally-Realized Audio, Speech and Song Performance (GRASSP), which includes a glove-based interface, a mapping/training interface, and a collection of Max/MSP/Jitter bpatchers that allow the user to improvise speech, song, sound synthesis, sound processing, sound localization, and video processing. The mapping/training interface provides a framework for performers to specify by example the mapping between gesture and sound or video controls. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the GRASSP environment for gestural control of musical expression by creating a gesture-to-voice system that is currently being used by performers.


E-learning has been continuously present in current educational discourse, thanks to technological advances, learning methodologies and public or organizational policies, among other factors. However, despite its boom and dominance in various subject areas, this thematic does not yet exist in the world system of publications. Therefore, works in this thematic end up being published under related categories, particularly Education or categories within subject area Computer Science, thus fragmenting and make invisible the existing knowledge. This work is based on the hypothesis that the scientific communication of e-learning has a sufficient degree of cohesion to be considered as a thematic category in itself. From a bibliometric approach, its scientific production was analyzed, obtaining the bibliographic data of SCOPUS and SCImago, selecting its main descriptors and generating visualizations through VOSViewer with the mapping overlay technique, to represent its set and proximity. As a result, it was determined that a set of 219 publications show a high bibliometric interrelation among its articles and these are presented transversely between the social sciences, computer science and health. This set serves as a channel of scientific communication and structure of knowledge on the thematic and can therefore be considered as the basis for establishing the "e-learning" thematic category in the world system of scientific publications, contributing to the consolidation of the discipline, to its access and development by researchers.


A combination of experimental and computational methods was performed to investigate the defect and optical properties of S-doped and Al-doped GaSe crystals. Our experimental and calculated results indicate that the doped S and Al atoms can form SSe and AlGa + substitutional defects in the layered GaSe structure. The non-isovalent AlGa + defect can strengthen the chemical bonding within the intralayer and induce complex defects within the interlayer in the layered GaSe structure. Al-doping maximally improves the hardness of GaSe, which makes it a promising nonlinear frequency conversion material in the infrared and THz ranges. The isovalent SSe defect determines the GaSe1 xSx mixed structure. Calculated results indicate that the refractive index of GaSe1 xSx decreases with the x value, while the band gap increases. The unique properties of GaSe1 xSx may make it a potential candidate for double heterojunction photoelectric materials.


Abstract Mycobacterial spindle cell pseudotumor (MSP) is a rare benign entity characterized by tumor-like proliferations of spindle-shaped histiocytes containing acid-fast positive mycobacteria. MSPs tend to occur predominantly in immunocompromised individuals and are concerning for a malignant neoplasm. We report a case of MSP occurring in a woman with human immunodeficiency virus and a tumor-like mass in the abdomen. A subsequent biopsy revealed MSP, which was successfully treated with antimycobacterial therapy.


SUMMARY Of eight acute infections in German tourists caused by sandfly fever virus, serotype Toscana (TOS). and diagnosed clinically and serologically, seven were acquired during visits to Tuscany, Italy, and one to Coimbra, Portugal. An indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using infected cells, and a newly developed enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) using crude virus antigen prepared from infected Vero-E6 cells was used to detect anti-TOS IgM and IgG. In a seroepidemiological survey of 859 health care workers and medical students, anti-TOS IgG was detected in 1·0% by IFA, and in 0·7% by EIA. In 2034 German patients hospitalized for various diseases, 1·6% were positive for anti-TOS IgG by IFA, and 0·8% by EIA. Anti-TOS IgG was detected in 43 samples of commercial immunoglobulins at titres of 10–1000 by EIA. Although the seroprevalence of antibodies to TOS is low in Germany, TOS infection should be considered in patients returning from endemic areas who complain of fever, and headaches, and have symptoms of meningitis.


Kenya's textile and apparel sector has the potential to play a key role in anchoring the country's deeper movement into middle income status and in serving as a source of gainful employment for its fast growing, young population. As a manufactured good, it offers opportunities for increased value capture and streamlined trade logistics and for the building of skills and experience from the factory floor to management level. Based on these foundations, it therefore serves as a potential gateway to other manufactured goods, offering opportunities for Kenya to capture an increasing share of global trade and to advance economic diversification. The report is structured as follows: chapter two describes global and regional market trends in textile and apparel. Chapter three reviews the evolution, growth, and performance of the apparel sector in Kenya and then analyzes the sector in terms of markets, products, and stakeholders. Chapter four focuses on Kenya's performance in terms of relevant macro indicators and highlights the critical constraints faced by apparel manufacturers and exporters in Kenya. Chapter five concludes with recommendations. Where possible, chapters end with a summary of key points and conclusions.


ABSTRACT How much and in what ways do individual leaders matter for international politics? This article sheds new light on these questions by considering the consequences of domestic revolutions in international relations. We argue that revolutions have international effects due to two separate pathways, one associated with the event and one associated with the new leader's administration. In the first pathway, a revolutionary event disrupts established relationships and perceptions, creating uncertainty both within the state and abroad. In the second pathway, revolutions put individuals into office who are more willing to challenge the status quo and who have publicly committed to a sustained shift in policies during their administration. These two distinct pathways suggest that the important question about revolutions is not whether leaders or events matter most but rather the conditions under which they matter. Consequently, we studied these pathways on three phenomena: international economic sanctions, domestic economic growth, and interstate alliances. We find that revolutionary events have a short-term negative effect on domestic economic growth, while revolutionary leaders have a long-term effect on the probability that a revolutionary state is targeted for sanctions. Both the revolutionary leader and the revolution's immediate events alter the state's international alliances. Our findings suggest that no single level of analysis completely dominates, and the answer depends on the outcome of interest.


All of the characteristics of the batwing radiator, which is the heart of the superturnstile antenna system, are theoretically calculated by using the moment method. The matching condition is obtained on the basis of the characteristics, for the cases of changing the connection of the jumper(s) and of changing the distance between the support mast and the antenna elements. In this paper, a comparative study of the results of theoretical analyses and actual measurements is conducted to determine whether or not the construction of the batwing antenna could be simplified by eliminating the element at its central part, without detracting from its favorable characteristics.


We propose a new multiple description spherical quantization with repetitively coded amplitudes (MDSQRA) scheme suited for quantization of sinusoidal parameters. The quantization scheme is constituted by a set of spherical quantizers inspired by the multiple description spherical trellis-coded quantization (MDSTCQ) scheme. In this scheme, we apply repetitive coding on the amplitudes, while multiple description coding are applied on the phases and frequencies. Thereby, MDSQRA becomes directly implementable, as opposed to MDSTCQ, since the phase and frequency quantizers depend on the amplitudes which have dissimilar descriptions in MDSTCQ. Furthermore, we implement MDSQRA into a perceptual matching pursuit based sinusoidal audio coder. Finally, we evaluate MDSQRA through perceptual distortion measurements and MUSHRA listening tests. The tests show that MDSQRA outperforms MDSTCQ with respect to a expected perceptual distortion measure. The same results are obtained through the MUSHRA tests performed on sound clips coded using MDSQRA and MDSTCQ.


Several properties of the salivary glands of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were analysed. The amount of protein in female salivary glands increased from 0.26 microg on day one after emergence to about 1.4 microg on day seven. The major polypeptides found in the female salivary glands had molecular weights of 35.7, 28.3, and 20.5 kDa. Antibodies produced by mice immunized by bites of Culex quinquefasciatus female mosquitoes reacted with the 35.7 and 28.3 kDa polypeptides, showing that these molecules were secreted by mosquitoes during blood feeding. The salivary glands of C. Quinquefasciatus females displayed the same morphological and biochemical organization as that of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, accumulating apyrase in the distal portions and alpha-glucosidase in the proximal portions of the gland. Arch.


The article compares the legal nature of "medical examination for intoxication of person who drives vehicle" and the main type of the procedural form of using special knowledge in proceedings on administrative violations carried out by police officers – examination. The author puts forward the suggestions, which implementation will fully contribute to the further development of the procedural component of proceedings on administrative violations carried out by police officers.


Enforcing safety in the presence of stochastic uncertainty is a challenging problem. Traditionally, researchers have proposed safety in the statistical mean as a safety measure for systems subject to stochastic uncertainty. However, ensuring safety in the statistical mean is only reasonable if system's safe behavior in the large number of runs is of interest, which precludes the use of mean safety in practical scenarios. In this letter, we propose a risk sensitive notion of safety called conditional-value-at-risk (CVaR) safety. We introduce CVaR barrier functions as a tool to enforce CVaR-safety and propose conditions for their Boolean compositions. Given a legacy controller, we show that we can design a minimally interfering CVaR-safe controller via solving difference convex programs (DCPs). We elucidate the proposed method by applying it to a bipedal robot locomotion case study.


Large deep wounds on the ventral side of a flatworm (Planaria) will not heal. Instead, the damage to the parenchyma in the wound's roof will result in a differentiated swelling in the dorsal epidermis, above the wound which will eventually disappear with the disintegration of the underlying damaged tissue and a ventrodorsal hole appears in place of the wound. The dorsal epidermal outgrowth is formed by a number of excrescences, the development of which involves four successive stages. Their analysis suggests that epidermal cells are continuously produced by their own stem cells which remain unnoticed because their nuclei are hardly stainable. The daughter cells differentiate without information from either the underlying tissues or the basal epithelial membrane. During the first stage of this differentiation the cells become ciliated and motile, with some embryonic features. They then produce rhabdites and take up a columnar shape as they may become attached to the basal membrane. After wound setting the production of epidermal cells increases and the overcrowding of the basal membrane results in (1) detachment of stem cells and motile ciliated cells from the basal tissues, i.e. outgrowths; (2) stretching of columnar cells at the base of the outgrowths. When in the process of tissue disintegration the basal membrane of the epithelium also disappears, the cells remain in a single-layered epithelial configuration and retain their original polarity. These results are at variance with the generally accepted hypothesis that, in planarians, epidermal cells originate from the parenchyma and the epidermis is not an autonomous tissue.


The corrosion behavior of A3 carbon steel in 0.5mol/L H2SO4 solution and in the mixture of 0.5mol/L2SO4 and thiourea was studied respectively in this project by means of the method of stable state polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in order to investigate the inhibition effect of thiourea in H2SO4 Solution and providing importance reference to the evaluation of the feasibility of thiourea as an inhibitor in practice. An evaluation on the effect of thiourea on the inhibition of A3 carbon steel in the solution was demonstrated, showing that thionrea was a kind of mixed-type inhibitor which could hinder both the anode and cathode reaction.


Coconut plantation is very dominating in South Minahasa regency seen from its production of 49,907.33 tons in 2010. The land under coconut trees can be used for food crops or forage. The waste from food crops is the source of animal feed, while the livestock's manure is used to improve soil fertility under coconut tree. The research objective was to analyse the carrying capacity of the agro-ecosystem of coconut- cattle. Regency and district were determined purposively. A total of 86 farmers as respondents were determined based on the ownership of at least 2 cattle and cattle selling experience. Data were analyzed using effective potential of livestock development and land capability index (IDD). The result showed that the maximum potential of land resources (PMSL) was 30,872.94 animal unit (AU). The capacity increase in cattle population based on the soil resources was 18,208.94 AU. The maximum potential based on farmer house holds was 127,023.00 AU. The value of land capability index was 2.14. The conclusion was South Minahasa Regency was still potential for cattle development regarding land resources or workforce potentials. Development of cattle can be integrated with the coconut to maintain and improve agro-ecosystem sustainability of coconut plantation.


Abstract This article describes a new ant colony optimisation algorithm for the facility localisation problem with a new heuristic pattern proposed by the author, which consists of three parts: the function of the average cost of client servicing; the total minimum cost of servicing from a site, which is selected and included into the solution; the function of improving the cost of already serviced clients. In this comparison, simulations were presented, and two parameters were observed: the number of sites and the cost of client servicing. The new algorithm allowed to improve the solution in both of these parameters.


This exploratory study examined satisfactions and work experiences of managerial and professional women as a function of the gender composition of their organizations. Gender composition considered both the number of women (predominantly women, 50% women, predominantly men) and their location (at every level, in senior management). Data were collected from 792 managerial and professional women using questionnaires completed anonymously. Most respondents worked in organizations with predominantly men in senior management, although women were as likely as men to be present at other organizational levels. There was a fairly consistent pattern throughout the findings. Managerial and professional women employed in male dominated organizations (defined as mostly men at all levels or mainly men at the top) were less job and career satisfied, differed on several demographic and situational variables, but reported similar levels of emotional well‐being for managerial women employed in organizations that were not male‐dominated.


The analysis of disease occurrence over the smallest unit of a region is critical in designing data-driven and targeted intervention plans to reduce health impacts in the population and prevent spread of disease. This study aims to characterize groups of local communities that exhibit the same temporal patterns in dengue occurrence using the Fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm for clustering spatiotemporal data and investigate its performance in clustering data on dengue cases aggregated yearly, monthly and weekly. In particular, this study investigates similar patterns of Dengue cases in 129 barangays of Baguio City, Philippines recorded over a period of 9 years. Results have shown that the FCM has promising results in grouping together time series data of barangays when using data that is aggregated weekly.


Long-term relationships between business firms and investment banks are pervasive in developed security markets and there is evidence that better monitoring and information result from these relationships. Therefore, security markets should allocate resources better when an investment banking industry exists. We study the necessary conditions for the emergence of sustainable relationships and explore whether policy can foster them. We show that policy can help alleviate the costs of relationships, but an investment banking industry will not emerge with only a small number of large firms.


Using data for 70 countries in the 1980s, this study investigates the impact of socioeconomic and political characteristics of a country on the vulnerability of expenditure categories during budget cuts. Greater democracy is associated with less vulnerability of the social and productive sectors and with more vulnerability of the administrative/defense, infrastructure, and miscellaneous sectors. Political instability reduces the vulnerability of the social, administrative/defense, and miscellaneous sectors and increases that of the productive sector. Fiscal federalism increases the vulnerability of the infrastructure and administrative/defense sectors and reduces that of the productive sector. The relative size of the budget cuts is also a determining factor. Copyright 2000 Blackwell Publishers Ltd..


An effect of accession of Poland to European Union on the form of the right of legal preemption of rural estates in Polish agricultural legislation (by Aleksander Lichorowicz) - ABSTRACT: The particular regulation of the right of preemption of rural estates in Polish agricultural legislation appears for the first time after the Second World War. Initially, this right was vested exclusively in State (in case of liquidation of co-ownership) but in 1971 it was extended on tenants of rural estates, under the condition that they had concluded tenancy contract for three years or had effectively performed this contract for at least ten years (ex art. 695 §2 of civil code). At first all the tenants were authorized to perform this right of preemption, however in 1999 it was limited to the tenants of private rural estates. Tenants of state rural estates were provided with so-called right of priority in case of sale of an estate they held in tenancy. The right of preemption has become particularly interesting for Polish government in the course of negotiations with European Union before the final accession. It was seen as the perfect instrument to prevent an excessive acquisition of Polish rural estates by foreigners citizens of EU. That was the reason why, one year before the Accession Treaty of 16th March 2003 came in force, Polish Parliament had enacted the law of 11th April 2003 on forming of agricultural system. This law foresee right of preemption as the fundamental instrument of influence on agricultural structures. In the first order, this right is vested in the tenants of rural estates, on condition that they perform the tenancy contract for at least three years and have a special status of so-called individual farmer, conducting a family farm. In the second order so-called Rural Estates Agency, acting on account of State may exercise the right of preemption of alienated rural estate. Consistently, almost all sale contracts in Poland, which have as an object rural estate, are at moment restricted by the right of state legal preemption. The number of exceptions from this general rule is strictly limited (e.g. transactions between family members). To the main features of this institution one may include: absolute invalidity of sale contracts not respecting the right of state preemption, complete discretionality of Agency in taking decisions whether it should exercise its right or not and finally the full freedom of Agency in governing and commanding the rural estates purchased in result of exercising of the right of preemption. The above-mentioned features may call in question conformability of this institution with previsions concerning free movement of capital resulting from EC Treaty and other fundamental principles of European Law.


In this paper, a quick and low power marked MAC Unit is proposed with reconfigurable Modified stall calculation (MBE). The proposed engineering depends on adjusted corner radix-8 with consolidated 2's supplement and MUX units with a low basic way postponement and low equipment multifaceted nature. Here corner-based methodology for incomplete items ages and Tree based methodology for halfway items decrease in increases. The new decreases design the equipment intricacy of the summation arrange utilizing consolidated swell convey viper and convey look forward (CLA), along these lines lessens the general power and multifaceted nature. Expanding the speed of activity can be broadened utilizing marked corner radix-8 based MAC unit with noteworthy execution enhancement. We can stall augmentation into two sections, incomplete item age and halfway item amassing. Accelerating augmentation, hence, must point (I) accelerating fractional item age, (ii) decreasing the quantity of incomplete items, (iii) accelerating halfway item summation or (iv) a combination of the above.


Background. CD19 is a cell surface membrane protein expressed in most mature and immature B cell neoplasms, making it a promising target for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapy for B cell malignancies. Here we describe the preclinical activity of a novel CD19-targeting ADC, based on the potent indolinobenzodiazepine DNA-alkylating payload DGN462. Methods. The humanized anti-CD19 antibody, huB4, was conjugated to DGN462 via a cleavable disulfide linker, sulfo-SPDB. In vitro activity of the huB4-DGN462 ADC or the unconjugated DGN462 toxin was evaluated in 54 lymphoma cell lines [27 diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL); 10 mantle cell lymphomas; 6 marginal zone lymphomas; 5 anaplastic large T-cell lymphomas; 6 others]. Cell proliferation/viability after 72h of exposure was measured using a MTT assay. Apoptosis activation was defined by at least 1.5-fold increase in caspase 3/7 signal activation in respect to controls using the Promega ApoTox-Glo Triplex Assay. Gene expression profiling (GEP) was performed with the Illumina HumanHT-12 Expression BeadChips on untreated cell lines followed by GSEA (NES > |2|, P |1.2|; P Results. huB4-DGN462 was cytotoxic against a broad panel of 48 B cell lymphoma cell lines (median IC50 100 pM; 95%CI, 38-214). The cytotoxic activity was not limited by P53, BCL2, MYC or CDKN2A status, or associated with DLBCL cell of origin. Consistent with overall lower CD19 expression, huB4-DGN462 was significantly (p-value=0.007) less active in eight T cell-derived lymphomas (median IC50 of 1.75 nM (95%CI, 0.5-5.75)) than in B cell lymphomas. huB4-DGN462 induced caspase 3/7 activation in 48/54 cell lines (89%) consistent with an apoptotic mechanism of action. huB4-DGN462 demonstrated compelling anti-tumor activity after a single intravenous dose in two diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cell line xenograft models: DoHH2 (a subcutaneous model) and Farage (a disseminated model). In the DoHH2 model, huB4-DGN462 resulted in a significant, dose-dependent tumor growth delay and survival benefit at 1.7 mg Ab/kg compared to a non-targeted control DGN462 ADC. In the disseminated Farage model, a significant dose-dependent increase in survival was observed in mice treated with as low as 0.17 mg Ab/kg of huB4-DGN462. At 1.7 mg Ab/kg, the life span was increased >400% compared to untreated mice. Conclusions. The novel ADC huB4-DGN462 presented strong preclinical anti-lymphoma activity, which provides evidence for further study. Citation Format: Eugenio Gaudio, Chiara Tarantelli, Alberto J. Arribas, Roberta Pittau Bordone, Andrea Rinaldi, Georg Stussi, Emanuele Zucca, Davide Rossi, Anastasios Stathis, Min Li, Alan Wilhem, Kate Lai, Qifeng Qiu, Stuart Hicks, Callum Sloss, Francesco Bertoni. A novel CD19 targeting antibody-drug conjugate, huB4-DGN462, shows promising in vitro and in vivo activity in CD19-positive lymphoma models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2651. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2651


Wireless electrophysiology opens important possibilities for neuroscience, especially for recording brain activity in more natural contexts, where exploration and interaction are not restricted by the usual tethered devices. The limiting factor is transmission power and, by extension, battery life required for acquiring large amounts of neural electrophysiological data. We present a digital compression algorithm capable of reducing electrophysiological data to less than 65.5% of its original size without distorting the signals, which we tested in vivo in experimental animals. The algorithm is based on a combination of delta compression and Huffman codes with optimizations for neural signals, which allow it to run in small, low-power Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), requiring few hardware resources. With this algorithm, a hardware prototype was created for wireless data transmission using commercially available devices. The power required by the algorithm itself was less than 3 mW, negligible compared to the power saved by reducing the transmission bandwidth requirements. The compression algorithm and its implementation were designed to be device-agnostic. These developments can be used to create a variety of wired and wireless neural electrophysiology acquisition systems with low power and space requirements without the need for complex or expensive specialized hardware.


Compounds which give rise to the 2-methyl ether of triose reductone (2-methoxymalonaldehyde) have been reported to undergo non-stoicheiometric 'over-oxidation' reactions. The behaviour of four such compounds, 3-O-methyl-D-xylose, 3-O-methyl-D-glucose, (–)-quebrachitol [5-O-methyl-(–)-inositol-(1,2,4/3,5,6)], and (+)-pinitol [6-O-methyl-(+)inositol-(1,2,5/3,4,6)], towards periodate in 0·1N-sulphuric acid at 0°, has been examined. Under these conditions, the methoxymalonaldehyde formed as the result of glycol cleavage reacts stoicheiometrically with periodate: it reduces two molar equivalents of the oxidant and yields one equivalent each of formic and glyoxylic acids. The possible pathways for this oxidation are discussed.


Recent transformations in the European Union have been putting significant pressure on the management function of the European Commission. Examining its brokerage position in policy networks, this article asks what kind of role does the Commission have in the political interactions in Brussels after the year 2000. Developing a conceptual framework about brokerage roles in EU policy, the article uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data in an empirical analysis of two extreme cases where the Commission has been embattled the past years. The article argues that previous reports of the Commission's demise are much exaggerated, because it continues playing a leading role in managing interaction between multiple actors at different levels of governance. The empirical results show that the Commission is a resilient central network broker.


In this paper, we designed and implemented black box terminal with wireless communication function and cloud server for more efficient usage of black box video. Our system can store and manage all vehicle black box videos so public institutions can select videos with various conditions such as object, time-based and location based like integrated CCTV management system.


Practice simulation exercises involve interaction with people who portray standardized clients in typical social work practice contexts. They are followed by feedback from these "clients " and from peers and instructors. This article delineates the conceptual background and previous use of this educational methodology and illustrates its application within a graduate health social work practice class. A preliminary evaluation found enthusiastic endorsement of this approach among students, with very strong agreement that all three components of the project—interaction with simulated clients, receipt of feedback, and participation as observers—prove useful. Practice simulations can allow transformative learning for participants and provide a useful classroom method for incorporating conceptual foundations into practice behaviors.


A novel methodology is presented for a practical problem of balancing a round object about its contact point posing pure rolling constraint at the tip of a redundant manipulator. Two-layer controller, the objective of the first of which is to balance the object as long as the manipulator stays in a singularity-free predefined task-space, is designed. We call that a "static balance." At the second layer, the contact point of the balanced object is aimed at repositioning at a close neighborhood of an, also predefined, conceptual center of task space where the dynamic manipulability is the greatest. We call this transition a "dynamic balance." In order to achieve the dynamic balance, one needs to disturb the static balance in a controlled manner. We, then, introduce the concept of an "equilibria cone" formed by the collection of static and dynamic equilibria


The purpose of the research is studying the efficacy of FOS and Fitoverm drugs against ixodid ticks.Materials and methods. The study objects were ixodid tick species Ixodes persulcatus (Schulze, 1930), Dermacentor reticulatus (Hermann, 1804) and D. marginatus (Schulzer, 1776) in the imago stage. Ticks were collected in the environment of the Altai plains and mountains from vegetation to the flag under the methodology. The efficacy of drug acaricidal activity was assessed according to the methodological guide. In the laboratory, the ticks were placed in a chamber at a temperature of 7 оC. The effect of drugs was assessed by observation every hour for 2-3 days. Live ticks (20 individuals) were contacted with the drug by immersion three times in the working solution in a permeable fabric container. Neostomosan was used as control. Further tests of FOS and Fitoverm were carried out in the field environment. Briz 25% e.c. was used as control. The plots on which the number of Ixodes had previously been recorded was treated using a sprayer on June 1-2 in the morning. The number of live ticks in the plots was counted 1-2 days after the treatment. The biochemical composition of grass stand on various treated grounds was studied according to standard methods. The results were processed statistically.Results and discussion. The Siberian Scientific-Research Institute of Horticulture has developed a series of environmentally friendly drugs based on natural biologically active substances that have shown high efficacy against Ixodes. These are FOS and Fitoverm, which provided a 100% lethal effect against Ixodes in working concentrations of 3–4% and 0.1–0.3% under laboratory conditions. Treatment with Fitoverm 0.3%, FOS 3% and synthetic industrial drug Briz 25% of e.c. 0.75% of grass stand at the stage of grazing for cattle in pasture conditions statistically significantly reduces the number of ticks by 71–79%.


This letter presents the comparison of three novel structure supports for on-chip complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-based micromachined inductors by using a proposed two-step maskless post-CMOS process. A 3-D electromagnetic inductor simulation model is established and calibrated with inductor fabrication. The proposed inductors are applied in the matching network of the double-balanced Gilbert mixer to improve the performance and the mechanical stability. The mixers, with and without micromachined process inductors, are fabricated in a 0.5-mum CMOS process and compared in this letter. The measurement results show a 28.12% increase in conversion gain, a 31.7% improvement in third intercept point, and a 44% reduction in the noise figure.


ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels are present on the sarcolemma (sarcKATP channels) and mitochondria (mitoKATP channels) of cardiac myocytes. Amiodarone, a class III antiarrhythmic drug, reduces sudden cardiac death in patients with organic heart disease. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of amiodarone on sarcKATP and mitoKATP channels. Single sarcKATP channel current and flavoprotein fluorescence were measured in guinea pig ventricular myocytes to assay sarcKATP and mitoKATP channel activity, respectively. Amiodarone inhibited the sarcKATP channel currents in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting its unitary amplitude. The IC50 values were 0.35 μM in the inside-out patch exposed to an ATP-free solution and 2.8 μMin the cell-attached patch under metabolic inhibition, respectively. Amiodarone (10 μM) alone did not oxidize the flavoprotein. In addition, the oxidative effect of the mitoKATP channel opener diazoxide (100 μM) was unaffected by amiodarone. Exposure to ouabain (1 mM) for 30 min produced mitochondrial Ca2+ overload, and the intensity of rhod-2 fluorescence increased to 246 ± 16% of baseline (n = 9). Amiodarone did not alter the ouabain-induced mitochondrial Ca2+ overload (236 ± 10% of baseline, n = 7). Treatment with diazoxide significantly reduced the ouabain-induced mitochondrial Ca2+ overload (158 ± 15% of baseline, n = 8, p < 0.05 versus ouabain); this effect was not abolished by amiodarone (154 ± 10% of baseline, n = 8, p < 0.05 versus ouabain). These results suggest that amiodarone inhibits sarcKATP but not mitoKATP channels in cardiac myocytes. Such an action of amiodarone may effectively prevent ischemic arrhythmias without causing ischemic damage.


We study the frictional drag between two graphene layers placed inside a cavity. We show that the drag has two contributions: the well-known Coulomb drag, and a novel photon-mediated drag. The latter arises from a cavity-mediated interaction in which the backscattering is not suppressed and the screening is relatively weak. As a result, the photon-mediated drag resistivity in the Fermi-liquid regime acquires corrections to the usual quadratic temperature dependence, has a slow decay as the interlayer separation d increases, and depends on the carrier density n as ρD∼1/n2 . Thus, whereas for small d and n the Coulomb drag dominates, as these parameters increase the drag transitions to a purely photon-mediated drag. The onset of this transition depends on the electromagnetic field enhancement inside the cavity.


Several researchers have proposed a causal relation between biased attention to threat and the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in both children and adults. However, despite the widely documented correlation between attention bias to threat and anxiety, developmental research in this domain is limited. In this review, we highlight the importance of taking a developmental approach to studying attention biases to threat and anxiety. First, we discuss how recent developmental work on attention to threat fits into existing theoretical frameworks for the development of anxiety and how attention biases might interact with other risk factors across development. Then we review the developmental literature on attention bias to threat and anxiety and describe how classic methodologies can be modified to study attention biases in even the youngest infants. Finally, we discuss limitations and future directions in this domain, emphasizing the need for future longitudinal research beginning in early infancy that tracks concurrent developments in both biased attention and anxiety. Altogether, we hope that by highlighting the importance of development in the study of attention bias to threat and anxiety, we can provide a road map for how researchers might implement developmental approaches to studying a potential core mechanism in anxiety.


A phytochemical investigation on the aerial parts of Euphorbia helioscopia resulted in the isolation of 27 macrocyclic diterpenoids, including three previously unreported lathyrane derivatives, euphohelioscopoids A-C (1-3). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data interpretation. Three jatrophanes, euphoscopin C (4), euphorbiapene D (6), and euphoheliosnoid A (5), showed cytotoxicity against a paclitaxel-resistant A549 human lung cancer cell line with IC50 values of 6.9, 7.2, and 9.5 μM, respectively, but were inactive against the parent A549 human lung cancer cell line (IC50 > 10 μM). It was found that jatrophanes with a benzoyloxy or a nicotinoyloxy substituent at C-7 showed more potent cytotoxic activity than their analogues containing acetyloxy and hydroxy groups at this position.


Severe osteopetrosis was diagnosed in utero in two successive pregnancies resulting from an intermarriage. Hydrocephaly and skeletal hyperdensity were detected at 18 weeks of gestation, and fractures at 24 weeks. We report on extensive ultrasound, radiological, and pathological findings, including those on brain and bone. The markedly reduced number of osteoclasts observed in these sibs and the very early fetal involvement suggest that this form of osteopetrosis might represent a new entity: autosomal recessive lethal osteopetrosis.


The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) Flight Service Station (FSS) management and the leadership of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS) requested a baseline assessment of organizational climate prior to full implementation of NAATS/FAA Partnership (NFP) teams. The stated purpose of the NFP teams is to increase employee empowerment and improve decision-making and coordination within the organization. Fifty-eight percent of FSS personnel returned surveys assessing eight dimensions of organizational climate. These dimensions include purpose, structure, leadership, helpful mechanisms, relationships, attitude toward change, partnership, and environment/quality. The results indicate that the respondents are satisfied with relationships in the workplace, understand the purpose of FSS, and report there are resources available to help them at work. In addition, NFP non-participants and lower tenure FSS employees indicate that the facility may be resistant to change; the same employees reflect less belief in adequate leadership to achieve the stated goals of NFP, rate as less adequate communication of organizational goals and priorities, and report less satisfaction with the organization's structure. Finally, most respondents "agree" that participation is an effective way to resolve problems.


The power loss is calculated by a multiscale approach in the pressure driven mass transfer in a micro slit pore where there are the physical adsorbed layers respectively on the coupled walls and intermediate between them is a continuum fluid flow. The flow factor approach model for nanoscale flow is taken to simulate the flow of the adsorbed layer, and conventional hydrodynamic flow theory models the continuum fluid flow. The calculation shows that the adsorbed layer on the wall surface can have a very significant effect on the power loss in this multiscale mass transfer, and it can greatly reduce the power loss on the channel owing to heavily reducing the flow rate through the channel because of the strong fluid-wall interaction. In the case of the interfacial slippage on both the wall surfaces, there is a critical power loss in the channel to generate the interfacial slippage, and the power loss on the channel is proportionally increased with the increase of the interfacial slipping velocity, which significantly enlarges the mass flow rate through the channel.


Models for decomposing averaged event-related potentials in component functions are discussed. Biophysical considerations motivate a sample model, which is shown to lead to unique identifiable components, thereby overcoming a major drawback of the customary approach by principal components analysis.<<ETX>>


The cochlea is organized tonotopically: each frequency between 20 Hz and 20 kHz has its own location on the basilar membrane. In addition the cochlea has a large dynamic range (sound intensity). Active movements of the outer hair cells of the sensory organ of Corti play a crucial part in determining hearing acuity and frequency selectivity. Long-known properties such as combination tones and more recent observations like spontaneous and evoked otoacoustic emissions (the cochlea as sound source) fit in the same concept of a cochlea acting as a non-linear fine-tuned amplifier. Most sensorineural losses in people with diminished hearing are caused by injury to the hair cells, e.g. by medicines. Damage of outer hair cells impairs the cochlear amplifier, leading to loss of sensitivity to soft sounds and loss of frequency selectivity. Damage to the inner hair cells has much the same effect as conductive hearing loss. Tinnitus is not caused by otoacoustic emissions, but probably by denervation hypersensitivity following loss of cochlear input.


At the Ohio State University Medical Center, a significant amount of valuable data pertaining to a patient's visit is stored in the form of dictated reports such as discharge summaries, cardiology reports, and radiology reports. We have implemented conceptual search capability to facilitate more comprehensive content mining from clinical free text.


Call centres (or telephone 'contact centres') of various kinds have become an increasing fact of life for many people in Europe, North America and other developed economies. Although telephone contact centres may be dated back to the 1960s and 1970s in the US, their intrusion into the lives of British and US consumers has grown exponentially since the 1980s. Since the early 2000s, however, a significant number of call centre operations have been outsourced to such destinations as India and the Philippines, thereby raising a number of issues relating to language and globalisation and the politics of English as an international language.


48 children between the ages of 16 and 32 mo. were observed climbing out of a crib. Each child was observed four times climbing out of the crib. All the children were able to walk independently and were less than 35 in. tall. Two different climbing patterns were identified and associated with a location of the climbing event within the crib environment. Most children (90%) climb from a crib by first moving to a corner of the crib and then start climbing from the crib. The remaining 10% of the children used a side-climbing pattern in at least one of the four observations. Crib safety standards have eliminated the most common catch-point, the cornerpost extension, from cribs. Since at least 10% of the children climbed over the side of the crib rather than at the corner, any potential catch-points should be eliminated from the complete perimeter of the crib.


Whether autoimmune mechanisms play a role in the pathogenesis of inclusion body myositis (IBM) is unknown. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) analysis in 52 patients, including 17 with autoimmune disorders (AIDs), showed that patients were more likely to have antigens from the autoimmune-prone HLA-B8-DR3 ancestral haplotype than healthy control subjects, irrespective of the presence of AIDs. Patients lacked the apparently protective HLA-DR53 antigen. The results provide further support for an autoimmune basis in IBM.


) chondrite, we performed trace and major ele-mental analysis of serial Allende sections analyzed by X-ray mi-crotomography. With this work we hope to: 1) obtain information about the homogeneity of Allende, 2) shed light on the issue of complementary chemical relationships among chondrite compo-nents, and 3) verify assumed information on reservoirs of major and trace elements.


ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of intramammary infections, which frequently become chronic, associated with the ability of the bacteria to produce biofilm. Here, we report a relationship between the ability to produce chronic bovine mastitis and biofilm formation. We have classified bovine mastitis S. aureus isolates into three groups based on the presence of particular genetic elements required for biofilm formation: group 1 (ica+bap+), group 2 (ica+, bap negative), and group 3 (ica negative, bap negative). Overall, animals naturally infected with group 1 and 2 isolates had a lower milk somatic cell count than those infected with isolates of group 3. In addition, Bap-positive isolates were significantly more able to colonize and persist in the bovine mammary gland in vivo and were less susceptible to antibiotic treatments when forming biofilms in vitro. Analysis of the structural bap gene revealed the existence of alternate forms of expression of the Bap protein in S. aureus isolates obtained under field conditions throughout the animal's life. The presence of anti-Bap antibodies in serum samples taken from animals with confirmed S. aureus infections indicated the production of Bap during infection. Furthermore, disruption of the ica operon in a bap-positive strain had no effect on in vitro biofilm formation, a finding which strongly suggested that Bap could compensate for the deficiency of the PIA/PNAG product (a biofilm matrix polysaccharide). Altogether, these results demonstrate that, in the bovine intramammary gland, the presence of Bap may facilitate a biofilm formation connected with the persistence of S. aureus.


Objective(s)
This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the toxicity and clinical outcomes in patients of locally advanced cervical cancer treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and concurrent chemotherapy.

Material and methods
Two hundred and ten newly diagnosed patients of locally advanced cervical cancer of FIGO 2009 Stage II-III treated with 3DCRT (46 Gy/23 fractions/4½ weeks) and weekly concurrent Cisplatin (40 mg/m2), from January 2013 to 2015 were analyzed. A planning computed tomography was performed and contouring was done according to published guidelines. External radiotherapy was followed by Intracavitary brachytherapy delivered to a dose of 9 Gy HDR in 2-fractions, given one week apart. The endpoints were treatment related toxicities and clinical outcomes. Local control (LC), overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were evaluated and toxicities were documented using the common terminology criteria for adverse events (v3.0) (CTCAE).

Results
The median follow up time was 37 (range, 19-54) months. The 3 year OS, DFS and LC were 84.2%, 80.6% and 81% respectively. Grade ≥3 acute skin, upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) toxicity was observed in 3 (1.4%), 11 (5.2%), 12 (5.7%) and 0 (0%) patients, respectively. Grade ≤2 hematological toxicity was observed in 154 (73.3%) patients. Grade ≥3 late GI and GU toxicity was seen in 9 (4.2%) patients and 2 (0.9%) patients, respectively.

Conclusion
3DCRT with concurrent chemotherapy results in good loco-regional control with acceptable normal tissue toxicity. In the background of indeterminate evidence regarding routine practice of intensity modulated radiotherapy in carcinoma of the cervix, 3DCRT may be considered as the treatment of choice.


The nature of anatomy education has changed substantially over the past decade due to both a new generation of students who learn differently from those of past years and the enormity of advances in anatomical imaging and viewing. At Mount Sinai School of Medicine, our anatomy courses have been designed to meld classic dissection with the tools physicians and surgeons will use tomorrow. We introduce students to the newest technologies available for viewing the body, such as minimally invasive approaches, ultrasonography, three‐dimensional visualizations, multi‐axial computerized image reconstructions, multi‐planar magnetic resonance imaging, and plastinated prosections. Students are given a hands‐on, team‐building experience operating laparoscopes in the laboratory. A great strength of our program is the important and active participation by faculty from 15 different basic and clinical departments, including several chairs and voluntary faculty. This interdisciplinary approach brings to our students direct, one‐on‐one encounters or presentations by our finest physicians and surgeons and our core anatomy faculty. In addition, the presence of many teaching assistants drawn from upper classmen and advanced graduate students adds an additional, vibrant dimension. Our anatomy programs for medical/graduate students and postgraduates are structured around three simple principles: (1) it is a privilege to teach, (2) we enlist only passionate teachers, and (3) it is our role to instill appreciation and respect for human form. Anat Rec (New Anat) 269:81–88, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Anisotropic and directional filters can smooth noisy images while preserving object boundaries. Data from remote sensing instruments often have missing pixels due to geometric or power limitations. In such cases, these nonisotropic filters are very inefficient, because transform methods cannot be used when there is missing data or when logical operations need to be performed. A directional filter is introduced in this letter that retains the ability to handle missing data and is separable, making it computationally efficient. We demonstrate the directional filter on weather radar data where it can be used to smooth along fronts. Since the filter introduced here can be parameterized for scale, orientation, and aspect ratio, this filter can be used in any directional filtering application where transform methods cannot be used, but computational efficiency is desired.


Ethics training is becoming increasingly common in pre-professional contexts to address ethical misconduct in business, medicine, science, and other disciplines. These courses are often taught by philosophers. The question is whether such ethics training, which involves philosophical reflection, is effective in cultivating ethical behavior. This paper takes a closer look at the goals of teaching ethics and how our current methods are ineffective in achieving the affective and active goals of teaching ethics. This paper then suggests how experiential learning and, specifically, service learning may be one way forward in achieving these goals. While some pre-professional programs have implemented service learning, the ethics courses offered by philosophers also may be improved by giving students more opportunities to engage their communities through service learning.


India's bank-linkage programme has been running for 10 years and now provides savings and loan services to 7.8 million households. The system is based on self-help groups which organize loans and savings for their members, then deposit group savings or access group loans from the bank. The national development bank, NABARD, provides refinancing and NGOs help form and nurture the self-help groups. This article looks at how the groups are formed, what are the advantages of the bank-linkage system, the extent to which different players in the sytem can operate sustainably and future challenges.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are the most frequent and aggressive primary brain tumors in adults. Uncontrolled proliferation and abnormal cell migration are two prominent spatially and temporally disassociated characteristics of GBMs. In this study, we investigated the role of the receptor tyrosine kinase EphB2 in controlling the proliferation/migration dichotomy of GBM. We studied EphB2 gain-of-function and loss-of function in glioblastoma-derived stem-like neurospheres (GBM-SCs), whose in vivo growth pattern closely replicates human GBM. EphB2 expression stimulated GBM neurosphere cell migration and invasion, and inhibited neurosphere cell proliferation in vitro. In parallel, EphB2 silencing increased tumor cell proliferation and decreased tumor cell migration. EphB2 was found to increase tumor cell invasion in vivo using an internally controlled dual-fluorescent xenograft model. Xenografts derived from EphB2 overexpressing GBM neurospheres also showed decreased cellular proliferation. The non-receptor tyrosine kinase focal adhesion kinase (FAK) was found to be co-associated with and highly activated by EphB2 expression and FAK activation facilitated focal adhesion formation, cytoskeleton structure change and cell migration in EphB2-expression GBM neurosphere cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that EphB2 has pro-invasive and anti-proliferative actions in GBM stem-like neurospheres mediated, in part, by interactions between EphB2 receptors and FAK. These novel findings suggest that tumor cell invasion can be therapeutically targeted by inhibiting EphB2 signaling and that optimal anti-tumor responses to EphB2 targeting may require the concurrent use of anti-proliferative agents. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4311. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4311


Drug can be useful tools in the prevention and treatment of Symptoms and Diseases, but if not used properly, they may be Harmful and cause new symptoms (or) produce suboptimal effects. Most drugs have multiple pharmacologic effects in patients, specially the newer, more complex drugs being marketed. Clinically significant drug interactions can occur when two or more drugs are taken in combination. The resulting pharmacological action (either potentiation or antagonism of the interacting drugs) can be lesser or greater than the total effects of the drugs individual actions. Drugs identified as having a high risk of being involved in a clinically significant drug interaction frequently have a narrow therapeutic index, a very steep doseresponse curve or potent pharmacologic effects. A toxic dose of these drugs may be only slightly above the therapeutic dose. A slight increase in the dose may produce a large increase in serum drug levels and clinical effect. Conversely, a slight decrease in the plasma level of drugs with a steep dose-response curve may result in a significant loss of therapeutic effect. More than 30 medications are introduced each year, and physicians receive frequent mailings about discovered drug interactions. As a result, many physicians feel overwhelmed and question the safety of multiple drugs Regimens. Some drug interactions may seriously harm to the patients.


Abstract. Mobile mapping systems (MMS) can capture dense point-clouds of urban scenes. For visualizing realistic scenes using point-clouds, RGB colors have to be added to point-clouds. To generate colored point-clouds in a post-process, each point is projected onto camera images and a RGB color is copied to the point at the projected position. However, incorrect colors are often added to point-clouds because of the misalignment of laser scanners, the calibration errors of cameras and laser scanners, or the failure of GPS acquisition. In this paper, we propose a new method to correct RGB colors of point-clouds captured by a MMS. In our method, RGB colors of a point-cloud are corrected by comparing intensity images and RGB images. However, since a MMS outputs sparse and anisotropic point-clouds, regular images cannot be obtained from intensities of points. Therefore, we convert a point-cloud into a mesh model and project triangle faces onto image space, on which regular lattices are defined. Then we extract edge features from intensity images and RGB images, and detect their correspondences. In our experiments, our method worked very well for correcting RGB colors of point-clouds captured by a MMS.


The purpose of the present research is defining TPACK education competence and epistemological beliefs of pre-service teachers, and presenting the relationship between TPACK education competence and epistemological belief. In accordance with this purpose, TPACK education competence scale and Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire were conducted on 342 (222 female-65%, 120 male-35%) pre-service teachers studying senior year at Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Education in 2012-2013 academic-year. According to the findings obtained from the present designed in quantitative method, pre-service teachers' epistemological belief scores are ranked as learning process-casting doubt on authority/expert knowledge, learning effort, innate/fixed ability, and certainty of knowledge. As for TPACK education competencies, preservice teachers perceive themselves as advanced level. Another finding is that, gender is not an effective variable in terms of epistemological beliefs and TPACK education competencies among pre-service teachers. For the correlations between TPACK education competencies and epistemological beliefs among pre-service teachers, only learning process and doubt on expert knowledge factors are positively correlated with TPACK competencies at medium level. From this perspective, it can be claimed that TPACK education competencies are higher among pre-service teachers who tend to believe that acquiring knowledge process is important in learning.


Increasing the temperature of the tropical coldpoint region through heating by volcanic aerosols results in increases in the entry value of stratospheric water vapor (SWV) and subsequent changes in the atmospheric energy budget. We analyze tropical volcanic eruptions of different 5 strengths with sulfur (S) injections ranging from 2.5 Tg S up to 40 Tg S using EVAens, the 100-member ensemble of the Max Planck Institute – Earth System Model in its lowresolution configuration (MPI-ESM-LR) with artificial volcanic forcing generated by the Easy Volcanic Aerosol (EVA) 10 tool. Significant increases in SWV are found for the mean over all ensemble members from 2.5 Tg S onward ranging between [5, 160] %. However, for single ensemble members, the standard deviation between the control run members (0 Tg S) is larger than SWV increase of single ensem15 ble members for eruption strengths up to 20 Tg S. A historical simulation using observation-based forcing files of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, which was estimated to have emitted (7.5± 2.5) Tg S, returns SWV increases slightly higher than the 10 Tg S EVAens simulations due to differences in 20 the aerosol profile shape. An additional amplification of the tape recorder signal is also apparent, which is not present in the 10 Tg S run. These differences underline that it is not only the eruption volume but also the aerosol layer shape and location with respect to the cold point that have to be 25 considered for post-eruption SWV increases. The additional tropical clear-sky SWV forcing for the different eruption strengths amounts to [0.02, 0.65] Wm−2, ranging between [2.5, 4] % of the aerosol radiative forcing in the 10 Tg S scenario. The monthly cold-point temperature increases leading 30 to the SWV increase are not linear with respect to aerosol optical depth (AOD) nor is the corresponding SWV forcing, among others, due to hysteresis effects, seasonal dependencies, aerosol profile heights and feedbacks. However, knowledge of the cold-point temperature increase allows for an 35 estimation of SWV increases of 12 % per Kelvin increase in mean cold-point temperature. For yearly averages, power functions are fitted to the cold-point warming and SWV forcing with increasing AOD.


Chemoresistance is a major concern in cancer erradication; it involves various mechanisms, including defects in the apoptosis program induced by anticancer drugs. In order to further explore the mechanisms underlying the development of chemoresistance in ovarian carcinoma after cisplatin treatment, we established an in vitro model, mimicking a clinical protocol of administration of cisplatin. Therefore, IGROV1 ovarian carcinoma cells were exposed for 2 hr to the drug and allowed to recover for several weeks; this way of exposure was reiterated with escalating doses. We followed changes in cytotoxicity of the drug, cell cycle kinetics and long‐term survival of cells after cisplatin treatment, and found that resistance to cisplatin was not associated with altered apoptosis pathway, since both cisplatin sensitive and resistant cells underwent apoptosis in a similar way. Acquisition of resistance to cisplatin was associated with the ability of the treated cells to progress through the cell cycle beyond the G1/S checkpoint; although most cells died by apoptosis, a few surviving cells proliferated and recolonized the cultures. Compared to sensitive cells, the chemoresistant variants were able to override the G1/S checkpoint whatever the dose, and the recurrent cells recolonized the cultures much faster. Analysis of alterations in gene expression suggests that the defect in cell cycle regulation could take place at the level of the cdk inhibitor p21CIP1/WAF1. Int. J. Cancer 78:454–463, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In Europe many indigenous local breeds of domestic animals are at risk of extinction; the European Union supports multi-functionality activities (as the growth of Social Farms) in agriculture, also with the aim of save the biodiversity. In Italy, Social Farms are still in a pioneering phase; there are no pre-established models and the different realities of social farming, in recent years, have tried to put together some good practices referring to a personal field experience rather than coded models. The Animal Farm, social farm in Ladispoli (Rome, Italy), has developed a functional model, which is proposed in the present work, which consists in realizing together reproduction of rare breeds, educational activities and social farm activities. The innovative idea is to employ rare domestic animals in rehabilitative activities (AAA animal-assisted activities), encouraging their dissemination and preservation. The workshops are organized in daily activities where the various institutions of the territory (rehabilitation centers for disables, hospitals, etc.) bring their users (individual assets or groups) to carry out animal-assisted activities and practical workshops. The processed path type is aimed at people with medium and severe mental disabilities. The workshop is structured in two levels of activity: routine works and creative work. The experiments implemented within the AAA paths in the Animal Farm of Ladispoli (Rome, Italy) confirm the key role of animals as a facilitator in rehabilitation programs for the disabled. The Animal Farm proposes a model, repeatable in other realities, that allows the realization of animal-assisted activities with rare domestic breeds, preserving them from extinction. It is reported a preliminary study about the positive effects of using endangered races for AAA laboratories.


Self-esteem, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms in girls with Turner's syndrome (TS) were compared to those in girls with familial short stature (FSS) and healthy controls (NC). Eleven girls with TS, 9-17 years of age, all with 45,X0 karyotype, who were matched with 11 girls with FSS and 11 NC girls who had similar socio-demographic characteristics, were enrolled in the study. The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), and Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale (PHSCS) were used to assess the extent of depression, anxiety and self reported self-esteem. The PHSCS means and standard deviations of the TS, FSS and NC groups were 56.2 +/- 6.7, 62.7 +/- 6.9, and 69.3 +/- 6.0, and the STAIC-state anxiety means and standard deviations were 30.6 +/- 4.5, 28.8 +/- 6.1, and 25.7 +/- 3.7, respectively. Study findings showed that girls with TS had lower self-esteem and higher state anxiety levels than NC (p <0.05). In spite of the small sample size, findings showed that girls with TS were at risk of psychological problems. Therefore, in addition to medical treatment and monitoring, girls with TS should also be supported psychologically by social, educational and psychotherapeutic interventions which aim to address their self-esteem and emotional difficulties.


Field experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of different colored pheromone-baited traps in capture of Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda , males and nontarget Hymenoptera. Plastic Universal Moth Traps (Unitraps) of different colors were baited with commercial sex pheromone and were placed in peanut and corn fields in northern Florida. In one study, standard-colored (green canopy, yellow funnel, white bucket) traps collected more moths than all-white or all-green traps. More Sphecoidea were found in white traps while more Vespoidea were collected in standard traps. In another study, trap capture was compared among standard, all-white, and standard traps with buckets painted two different yellow colors. Results showed that there were few differences in capture among traps with different colors, however, contrasts between traps with yellow buckets or traps with white buckets suggested more moths could be captured in yellow-bucket traps. Very few Hymenoptera were collected, although more Apoidea were found in white traps.


The authors draw on sociometer theory to propose that self-esteem is attuned to traits that garner others' acceptance, and the traits that garner acceptance depend on one's social role. Attunement of self-esteem refers to the linkage, or connection, between self-esteem and specific traits, which may be observed most clearly in the association between self-esteem and specific self-evaluations. In most roles, appearance and popularity determine acceptance, so self-esteem is most attuned to those traits. At the same time, interdependent social roles emphasize the value of communal qualities, so occupants of those roles have self-esteem that is more attuned to communal qualities than is the general norm. To avoid the biases of people's personal theories, the authors assessed attunement of self-esteem to particular traits indirectly via the correlation between self-esteem and self-ratings, cognitive accessibility measures, and an experiment involving social decision making. As hypothesized, self-esteem was generally more attuned to appearances than to communal qualities, but interdependent social roles predicted heightened attunement of self-esteem to qualities like kindness and understanding.


BACKGROUND
Elevated total homocysteine (tHcy), a risk factor for many chronic diseases, can be remethylated to methionine by folate. Alternatively, tHcy can be metabolized by other 1-carbon nutrients, ie, betaine and its precursor, choline.

OBJECTIVE
We aimed to assess the association between the dietary intakes of betaine and choline and the concentration of tHcy.

DESIGN
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis in 1477 women by using linear regression models to predict mean fasting tHcy by intakes of of betaine and choline.

RESULTS
tHcy was 8% lower in the highest quintile of total betaine + choline intake than in the lowest quintile, even after control for folate intake (P for trend = 0.07). Neither choline nor betaine intake individually was significantly associated with tHcy. Choline from 2 choline-containing compounds, glycerophosphocholine and phosphocholine, was inversely associated with tHcy. These inverse associations were more pronounced in women with folate intake < 400 mug/d than in those with intakes >or=400 microg/d (P for interaction = 0.03 for phosphocholine) and in moderate alcohol drinkers (>or=15 g/d) than in nondrinkers or light drinkers (<15 g/d) (P for interaction = 0.02 for glycerophosphocholine and 0.04 for phosphocholine). The strongest dose response was seen in women with a low-methyl diet (high alcohol and low folate intake) (P for interaction = 0.002 for glycerophosphocholine and 0.001 for phosphocholine).

CONCLUSIONS
Total choline + betaine intake was inversely associated with tHcy, as was choline from 2 water-soluble choline-containing compounds. Remethylation of tHcy may be more dependent on the betaine pathway when methyl sources are low as a result of either inadequate folate intake or heavier alcohol consumption.