Background: There is concern that information technology (IT) users are not taking cognisance of personal information security (PIS), with many keen to disclose personal identifiable information (PII) across connected and integrated IT systems that use the Internet. Compromised PII has led to many users being vulnerable to information security risks emanating from malicious software and hackers.Objective: This article elicits perspectives from IT users in the metropole area of Johannesburg, South Africa, in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of oversharing PII across the Internet.Methods: The study uses a quantitative approach to elicit data on user perspectives. The quantitative data were collected through online surveys distributed amongst IT employees working across various companies in Johannesburg.Results: The results revealed that of the four constructs drawn from the literature review, namely training, interest, awareness and action that possibly predict user predisposition to maintain information security at a personal level, of concern is that only the construct interest would not likely predict PIS.Conclusion: Dangers such as identity theft and phishing attacks are exacerbated by the willingness of users to overshare PII across social networks. A concerted user awareness campaign to promote user PIS needs to be revisited whilst incorporating innovative ways to raise interest amongst users regarding these dangers. South African companies are encouraged to invest resources in bespoke ways to increase user interest, which would be seen as an ideal starting point to making PIS great again.


The treatment aim is restoration of adequate length of the radius, adjustment of the distal radioulnar joint, alignment of the distal radius joint surface, and prevention of reflex dystrophy syndrome. Stable fractures are treated by close reduction and a cast for 3-4 weeks, depending on bone stock quality. Instable extra-articular fractures are treated by K-wiring using various methods. In case of a comminuted dorsal or palmar area, K-wiring is unstable, so additional fixation is necessary (autogeneous bone graft + external fixator + plate or cast). The external fixator alone or in combination with K-wires is the appropriate fixation method all intra- or extra-articular comminuted fractures. Palmar or dorsal plate osteosynthesis is highly recommended in palmar or dorsal rim fractures (B 3, B 2 type), whereas in C 2 to C 3 fractures additional autogeneous graft and/or K-wires or screws are necessary should be used in combination with autogeneous graft, according to the fracture pattern. Ligament injuries or luxation in the carpal row must be looked for precisely and treated according to the injury pattern.


Using a series of techniques to identify and deplete various peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, we studied the cytotoxic reactivity of normal individuals against the myeloid cell line K-562 in a 4-hr 51chromium-release assay. Depletion of lymphocytes bearing complement receptors had a variable, usually negligible effect on cytotoxicity. In contrast, depletion of lymphocytes bearing Fc receptors abrogated target cell lysis. Separation of lymphocytes with high-affinity binding of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) evidenced by rosette formation at 29 degrees C yielded a population of rosette-forming cells containing few cytotoxic cells, whereas separation of total E-RFC under optimal rosetting conditions produced a rosette fraction containing a major proportion of the effector cells. These data indicate that the cytotoxic lymphocyte in this system is Fc receptor positive, largely complement receptor negative, and may possess low density or low affinity receptors for SRBC.


A small amount of misch metal was added to CuZnAl alloy in order to study the effect of grain refinement and mechanical properties, phase transformation behavior and stabilization of martensite. It was found that the addition of misch metal was very effective for reducing the grain size. The coarse grains over 1000 μm have been refined to the size of 30 μm by the addition of 0.43wt% misch metal. The grain size of thermo-mechanically treated alloys was barely affected by cold working. The fracture strength and ductility have been significantly increased with the increase of misch metal content when tensile test is carried out below Mf temperature. Also, the fracture strength has been more increased in the case of post-quench ageing treatment than the direct quench ageing treatment. The fracture mode has been changed from transgranular brittle fracture to ductile fracture with void formation and coalescence by the addition of misch metal.


This researh aims to identify the rate of reported cases of leprosy in the elderly in a micro-region of the interior of Paraíba, as well as the state itself and the Northeast region in Brazil, in the years 2012 to 2021. Ecological study with a quantitative approach that aimed to identify the rate of reported cases of leprosy in the elderly in a micro-region of the interior of Paraíba, as well as the state and the Northeast region, in the years 2012 to 2021. The information was collected through secondary data made available by the Department of Informatics of SUS (DATASUS), on the website of the Ministry of Health. The data were obtained from the Information System of Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) and the variables chosen for analysis were: year, gender, age group, type of leprosy diagnosed, type of treatment diagnosed and type of treatment updated/performed. It was found that the main information found show a higher rate of cases in males, 60-79 years old and multibacillary, pointing to the need for training of professionals in order to facilitate the diagnosis; as well as home visits by the health team, as an important tool in maintaining control of new or existing cases, in addition to the development of educational activities in order to use the exchange of information as an aid to possible diagnosis of cases, as well as to demystify the disease for the general population.


The central unit of anthropological linguistics is a concept as a verbalized cultural sense. This article aims to study conscience in the Russian and French languages. Conscience refers to the socially regulatory concepts studied by various scientists, including psychologists, philosophers and philologists. In order to determine national specifics of the semantics of the concept "conscience" in Russian and French we use a comparative analysis of the semantic relations between conscience, shame and consciousness in both languages. Modern dictionaries of the Russian language define conscience as a feeling of moral responsibility to oneself and others for one's actions. Responsibility to others brings conscience closer to shame, which acts as a companion of conscience in many aspects of the Russian language. Nevertheless, only socialized conscience can act as a synonym for shame. Dictionary definitions highlight sensual and rational principles in shame. The sensual principle brings shame closer to conscience, the rational principle – to consciousness. Russian lexicographic sources do not record any connection between conscience and consciousness. The analysis of French dictionaries shows that in the "conscience-consciousness" doublet, expressed by one lexeme conscience, consciousness is the dominant. The analysis of synonyms of the French lexeme conscience proves that the lexeme honte (shame) is not synonymous with the lexeme conscience. This statement is proved by the analysis of parallel texts from the National Corpus of the Russian language. The lack of semantic links between shame and conscience in French lexicographic sources can be explained by a more individual character of conscience in the French language compared to the Russian one.


The performance of turbomachinery blade profiles, at low Reynolds numbers, is influenced by laminar separation bubbles (LSBs). Such a bubble is caused by a strong adverse pressure gradient (APG), and it makes the laminar boundary layer to separate from the curved profile surface, before it becomes turbulent. The paper consists on a joint experimental and numerical investigation on a flat plate with adverse pressure gradient. The experiment provides detailed results including distribution of wall pressure coefficient and boundary layer velocity and turbulence profiles for several values of typical influencing parameters on the behavior of the flow phenomena: Reynolds number, free stream turbulence intensity, and end-wall opening angle, which determines the adverse pressure gradient intensity. The numerical work consists on carrying out a systematic analysis, with Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations. The results of the numerical simulations are critically investigated and compared with the experimental ones in order to understand the effect of the main physical parameters on the LSB behavior. For RANS simulations, different turbulence and transition models are compared at first to identify the adaptability to the flow phenomena; then, the influence of the three aforementioned parameters on the LSB behavior is investigated under a typical aggressive adverse pressure gradient. Boundary layer integral parameters are discussed for the different cases in order to understand the flow phenomena in terms of flow time-mean properties.


Background In the synovial fluid of joints affected by osteoarthritis (OA),the concentration and molecular weight of hyaluronic acid (HA) is reduced,which negatively affects its viscoelastic properties and lubricity.In this regard,the possibility of stimulating β-cells of the synovial membrane of the joint in order to intensify production of own HA anabolic cytokines is of particular interest.At present two biotechnologies are used:autologous conditioned serum (ACS) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP),which reproduce the anabolic cytokines on the basis of platelet growth factors.In addition to platelet derived growth factors ACS consists of heigh levels of antiinflammatory cytokines IL-1Ra,IL-4,IL-10.IL-Ra may impede the implementation of pro-inflammatory and hondrodegenerative potential of IL-1b in OA Objectives The purpose of the study was a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of local therapy with ANS and HA of low molecular weight (synocrom forte) in patients with hip OA Methods 59 patients with hip OA at the age of 55,4±8,8 were included in the study.The basic group (ANS) accounted for 32 patients.The comparison group (HA) consisted of 27 patients.ACS made by the known method [1] and injected intra-articular 2.5 ml 2 times a week for 3 weeks.HA therapy consisted of 3 intra-articular injections of synocrom weekly.Efficacy of treatment was estimated after 1,3 and 6 months of treatment by the dynamics of the intensity of pain according to VAS,the section of "morning stiffness", Womac and Lequesne Indexes. "Area under the curve" (AUC) with the assessement of the prolongation of effectiveness of treatment after 6 months (AUC6) was used to evaluate the prolongation of clinical effect Results Decrease in the intensity of pain in hip joints according to VAS after 1,3 and 6 months of treatment in both groups was fixed.However,more substantial regression of pain was observed after ACS treatment.After 1 month pain reduction according to VAS was comparable (9.1%,p=0.40),after 3 and 6 months pain intensity was higher in HA group vs ACS group (52.5%, p=0.009 and 33.1%, p=0.047,respectively).AUC6 after treatment with ACS was 309.2±80.8%*6 months,after the treatment with HA-199.1±219.8%*6 months (p=0.011). Prolongation of clinical effect in the section of "morning stiffness" of Womac index of the AUC6 rate was better on ACS therapy-201.4±106.6%*6 months, than on HA therapy-88.7±168.1%*6 months (p=0.003).During ACS treatment functional scale of Womac index improved in all 3 control points (-23.1%,-28.5%,-39.1%, p=0.000).A similar dynamics was observed in HA group (-35.6%,-26.4%,P=0.000 and -20.4%, p=0.005).After 6 months of observation more significant improvement of joint function was fixed in ACS group vs HA group (18.3%,p=0.044).The overall clinical efficacy judging by Lequesne Index after six-month monitoring was comparable in both groups:201.8±114.9%*6 months in ACS group and 184.1±182.6%*6 months in HA group (p=0.65) Conclusions The severity of pain,stiffness,functional status and overall severity of clinical manifestations of hip OA significantly and steadily decreased after treatment with ACS and HA.However,positive changes after HA local therapy had shorter prolongation effect in comparison with ACS treatment References S.M. Noskov S.D. Dybin,L.Yu. Shirokova et al. Method of local therapy with Autologous Blood-derived Preparations in patients of rheumatological profile. Permission to use new medical technology FS a 2010/327 2010 Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Working in groups is beneficial for many complex production jobs as groups can have the cognitive and physical capacity that lacks from individuals. The group learning process is complicated when, in addition to individual learning by doing, the number of workers and knowledge transfer have their effects. Production managers need tools for analyzing and predicting group performance and learning over future production periods. Mathematical learning curve models are one of those tools that managers use, with a few are available for groups. This paper reviews potential group learning curve models for production environments. The models are fitted to data from an assembly experiment consisting of different group sizes and repetitions. The results show that more parameters improve the fit. A qualitative evaluation has been performed to answer how well the models reflect group learning and support decision making in production and how their prediction of data could be improved. The results suggest that the S-shaped model performed the best making it a potential one for describing learning in groups in production environments. The paper also suggests future directions along with this line of research.


I use a 1-D Lagrangian code which follows both a gaseous and a dark component to study the effects of a metagalactic UV background on the formation of dwarf galaxies. In the case of an ionising background consistent with the existing observational constraints no effect has been found in halos with circular velocity above 60 km/s. The effect is very mild in halos with $40 < V_{\mboxs{c}} < 60$ km/s, and the reduction in the total gas mass which cools below 8000 K never surpasses 30 %. Below the circular velocity 40 km/s there is a sharp transition towards the case in which the gas does not cool but it is gravitationally confined by the potential well of the dark halo. Halos with a virial temperature below the equilibrium photoionisation temperature cannot confine the gas.


The article elaborate on a topic of modern risk-oriented auditing approach,the work of auditor with new audit principles.The article proposed advice of How to perform the Modern risk-oriented auditing approach effectively in the new principle,how to act in concert with association in the new principle.


CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful genome editing system that has remarkably facilitated gene knockout and targeted knock-in. To accelerate the practical use of CRISPR/Cas9, however, it remains crucial to improve the efficiency, precision, and specificity of genome editing, particularly targeted knock-in, achieved with this system. To improve genome editing efficiency, researchers should first have a molecular assay that allows sensitive monitoring of genome editing events with simple procedures. In the current study, we demonstrate that genome editing events occurring in L1CAM, an X-chromosome gene encoding a cell surface protein, can be readily monitored using flow cytometry (FCM) in multiple human cell lines including neuroblastoma cell lines. The abrogation of L1CAM was efficiently achieved using Cas9 nucleases which disrupt exons encoding the L1CAM extracellular domain, and was easily detected by FCM using anti-L1CAM antibodies. Notably, L1CAM-abrogated cells could be quantified by FCM in four days after transfection with a Cas9 nuclease, which is much faster than an established assay based on the PIGA gene. In addition, the L1CAM-based assay allowed us to measure the efficiency of targeted knock-in (correction of L1CAM mutations) accomplished through different strategies, including a Cas9 nuclease-mediated method, tandem paired nicking, and prime editing. Our L1CAM-based assay using FCM enables rapid and sensitive quantification of genome editing efficiencies and will thereby help researchers improve genome editing technologies.


This paper suggests a short current control method to eradicate the short current by regulating the switchingfrequency to method the inherent frequency. When systemrunning in force resonant mode, there will exist dangerousshort current between the resonant network and the switchingnetwork when switching frequency drifts away from inherentfrequency of the resonant network.Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) systems for transmitting tens to hundreds of watts have been reported for almost a decade. Most of the work has concentrated on the optimization of the link efficiency and have not taken into account the efficiency of the driver. A novel frequency tracking method based on short current detection is proposed for IPT applications. In addition, an instantaneous short current detection method utilizing cheap comparator is proposed. Furthermore, a fast and accurate tracking method is proposed to calculate the frequency mismatch and make a correction. The method can realize accurate frequency correction in several oscillation periods.


Cells possessing a known enzymic activity may be located by fluorescent probes designed to act as competitive inhibitors of this enzyme. We have prepared a series of dansyl N-substituted guanidino derivatives which bind to the active centre of guanidinobenzoatase. 9-Aminoacridine also acts as a competitive inhibitor and behaves similarly to these guanidino derivatives. These fluorescent probes have been used to locate tumour cells possessing this enzyme in thin sections of fixed tissue by employing fluorescent microscopy.


The straightforward reformulation of special relativistic concepts about relative observer kinematics in the context of the flat affine geometry of Minkowski spacetime, so that they respect the manifold structure of that spacetime, allows one to derive the general relativistic `addition of acceleration law'. This transformation law describes the relationship between the relative accelerations of a single test particle as seen by two different families of test observers.


ABSTRACT Ninety-five samples of 18 types of oilseeds used for edible oil production were collected from different origins of China. The occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in these oilseeds was presented after the analysis by using a simplified gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method. The results indicated that some of these oilseeds were not found of indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, and benzo[ghi]perylene. Naphthalene and phenanthrene had higher concentration than other individual PAH in the same sample. The range of BaP, PAH4, and PAH16 concentration in these 95 samples was 0.1–14.1, 1.1–74.6, and 81.8–466.8 µg/kg, respectively. LPAH accounted for 87.1–99.5% of the total concentration of PAHs in all of studied oilseeds. The average concentrations of PAH16 in different types of oilseed were different. Meanwhile, the samples collected from different origins of China presented various levels of PAH16. The differences between herbaceous plant oilseeds and woody plant oilseeds in terms of PAH levels were not observed.


AIMS/HYPOTHESIS
Vildagliptin is a selective dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor that augments meal-stimulated levels of biologically active glucagon-like peptide-1. Chronic vildagliptin treatment decreases postprandial glucose levels and reduces hemoglobin A1c in type 2 diabetic patients. However, little is known about the mechanism(s) by which vildagliptin promotes reduction in plasma glucose concentration.

METHODS
Sixteen patients with type 2 diabetes (age, 48+/-3 yr; body mass index, 34.4+/-1.7 kg/m2; hemoglobin A1c, 9.0+/-0.3%) participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. On separate days patients received 100 mg vildagliptin or placebo at 1730 h followed 30 min later by a meal tolerance test (MTT) performed with double tracer technique (3-(3)H-glucose iv and 1-(14)C-glucose orally).

RESULTS
After vildagliptin, suppression of endogenous glucose production (EGP) during 6-h MTT was greater than with placebo (1.02+/-0.06 vs. 0.74+/-0.06 mg.kg-1.min-1; P=0.004), and insulin secretion rate increased by 21% (P=0.003) despite significant reduction in mean plasma glucose (213+/-4 vs. 230+/-4 mg/dl; P=0.006). Consequently, insulin secretion rate (area under the curve) divided by plasma glucose (area under the curve) increased by 29% (P=0.01). Suppression of plasma glucagon during MTT was 5-fold greater with vildagliptin (P<0.02). The decline in EGP was positively correlated (r=0.55; P<0.03) with the decrease in fasting plasma glucose (change=-14 mg/dl).

CONCLUSIONS
During MTT, vildagliptin augments insulin secretion and inhibits glucagon release, leading to enhanced suppression of EGP. During the postprandial period, a single dose of vildagliptin reduced plasma glucose levels by enhancing suppression of EGP.


Prox1, a vertebrate homologue of Drosophila prospero, encodes a divergent homeodomain protein. We have isolated and characterized full length mouse Prox1 cDNA and genomic clones. Mouse Prox1 gene mapped to position 106.3 cM from the centromere of Chromosome 1, which is very close to the retinal degeneration mutation, rd3. Although the coding sequence and exon-intron junctions of the Prox1 genes of wild type and rd3 mutant mice are identical, Northern blot analysis indicated that the ratio of the short (2.3 kb) and long (8 kb) forms of Prox1 mRNA is different in RNA isolated from wild type and rd3 retinas. Immunostaining of the eyes from wild type and rd3 animals also revealed differences in the distribution of Prox1 protein in the retina and lens. These data suggest that the rd3 mutation affects expression of the mouse Prox1 gene.


Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) expression is induced by hypertonicity in renal medullary cells. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the role of sodium chloride (NaCl), urea, betaine, and heat shock on hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression in cultured murine renal medullary-K2 (mIMCD-K2) cells. AQP1 expression was maximally induced under mild hypertonic medium supplemented with 100 mM NaCl (N100), whereas severe hypertonic medium supplemented with 150 mM NaCl (N150) caused little AQP1 induction. The reduction of AQP1 expression in N150 was associated with reduced cell viability. When cells were exposed continuously to N100, hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression was elevated, whereas the return to isotonic medium reduced AQP1 expression in a time-dependent manner. The half-life of AQP1 protein in isotonic conditions was approximately 4 h, whereas hypertonicity markedly increased its half-life. These results indicate that hypertonicity plays an important role in AQP1 induction, stability, and degradation. On the contrary, urea inhibited hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of organic osmolyte betaine in N150 enhanced hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression, whereas it decreased AQP1 expression in N100. This suggests that the excessive accumulation of betaine may counteract hypertonic stress and thus attenuate hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression. Heat shock treatment promoted hypertonicity-induced AQP1 and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression in both N100 and N150, suggesting an effect on the stability of hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression. Taken together, NaCl, urea, betaine, and heat shock that regulate hypertonicity-induced AQP1 expression are potentially important factors in urinary concentration and contribute to the steady-state level of AQP1 expression.


We have examined solvation of the singlet ground ('Al) and excited (]A2) states of formaldehyde by water using a combination of classical molecular dynamics and ab initio quantum mechanics techniques. Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for a formaldehyde solute molecule in a bath of 209 water molecules. The solute was represented by Lennard-Jones plus electrostatic terms with net atomic natural charges generated from ab initio Hartree-Fcck calculations using a 6-31G+d-type basis set. The SPC model was used to describe the water-water interaction potential. Radial distribution functions show structured binding by several water molecules at the oxygen end of formaldehyde in its ground state. This structure is largely, but not completely, destroyed for formaldehyde in its lowest excited singlet state. The 'A, 'A2 vertical transition energy of formaldehyde was calculated at the ab initio Hartree-Fock level including the electrostatic interactions with the solvent molecules for 70 configurations along the trajectory. No single water molecule or first solvation shell (cluster model) adequately describes the formaldehydesolvent interactions in both electronic states. When an ensemble of water configurations is considered, the calculated spectral blue shift and bandwidth of about 1900 and 4400 cm-', respectively, are in reasonable accord with the available experimental data.


Quantitation of low hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B is important for monitoring natural history of disease and treatment efficacy. This study aimed to compare the quantitation range and analytical sensitivity of the newly developed COBAS TaqMan™ HBV test (TaqMan test) with the COBAS Amplicor™ HBV Monitor Test (Amplicor test), using the Eurohep HBV reference plasma and serum samples from patients. Serial dilutions (2.7 × 101–2.7 × 108 copies/ml) of the Eurohep HBV reference plasma and 50 serum samples from chronic hepatitis B patients were tested by both assays. The TaqMan test could detect seven (2.7 × 102–2.7 × 108 copies/ml) of eight dilutions of the reference plasma, while the Amplicor test could only detect three of them (2.7 × 103–2.7 × 105 copies/ml). The HBV DNA values measured by the TaqMan test correlated very well with the theoretical Eurohep standard values (r = 0.998, P < 0.001). There were good correlations between the HBV DNA levels measured by the two assays on both the Eurohep reference plasma (r = 0.993, P < 0.001) and serum samples from patients (r = 0.904, P <  0.001). Compared to the Amplicor test, the TaqMan test had a higher sensitivity (50 vs. 300 copies/ml), shorter assay time (6 vs. 10 hr), and wider dynamic range (8 vs. 3 logs), and was more cost‐effective in a clinical setting. These data indicate that the TaqMan test is an excellent tool for HBV DNA quantitation. J. Med. Virol. 77:486–490, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, inc.


We introduce an ALMA band 3 spectroscopic survey targeting the brightest submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in the COSMOS field. Here we present the first results based on the 18 primary SMGs that have 870 μm flux densities of S 870 = 12.4–19.3 mJy and are drawn from a parent sample of 260 ALMA-detected SMGs from the AS2COSMOS survey. We detect emission lines in 17 and determine their redshifts to be in the range of z = 2–5 with a median of 3.3 ± 0.3. We confirm that SMGs with brighter S 870 are located at higher redshifts. The data additionally cover five fainter companion SMGs, and we obtain line detection in one. Together with previous studies, our results indicate that for SMGs that satisfy our selection, their brightest companion SMGs are physically associated with their corresponding primary SMGs ≥40% of the time, suggesting that mergers play a role in the triggering of star formation. By modeling the foreground gravitational fields, <10% of the primary SMGs can be strongly lensed with a magnification μ > 2. We determine that about 90% of the primary SMGs have lines that are better described by double Gaussian profiles, and the median separation of the two Gaussian peaks is 430 ± 40 km s−1. This allows estimates of an average baryon mass, which, together with the line dispersion measurements, puts our primary SMGs on the similar mass–σ correlation found on local early-type galaxies. Finally, the number density of our z > 4 primary SMGs is found to be 1−0.6+0.9×10−6 cMpc−3, suggesting that they can be the progenitors of z ∼ 3−4 massive quiescent galaxies.


Sodium cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) use liquid sodium as a coolant. Liquid sodium being opaque, optical techniques cannot be applied to reactor vessel inspection. This makes it necessary to develop alternative ways of assessing the state of the structures immersed in the medium. Ultrasonic pressure waves are well suited for inspection tasks in this environment, especially using pulsed electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMAT) that generate the ultrasound directly in the liquid sodium. The work carried out at CEA LIST is aimed at developing phased array EMAT probes conditioned for reactor use. The present work focuses on the experimental validation of a newly manufactured 8 element probe which was designed for beam forming imaging in a liquid sodium environment. A parametric study is carried out to determine the optimal setup of the magnetic assembly used in this probe. First laboratory tests on an aluminium block show that the probe has the required beam steering capabilities.


We studied the pharmacokinetics of ceftazidime in 3 critically ill patients undergoing continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF). Blood samples were obtained from both the arterial and venous sites of the CHDF system 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 12 h after the start of ceftazidime administration. Pharmacokinetic variables were calculated by fitting individual concentration-time curves to a two-compartment open model. The elimination phase half-life was 6.86 h, and the total elimination rate constant was 0.17 h(-1). Six hours after the start of administration, the ceftazidime concentration in the arterial site decreased from the peak level of 77.5+/-31.4 (mean+/-standard deviation [SD]) microg/ml to 26.2+/-2.5 microg/ml. The ceftazidime concentration examined in 2 cases decreased to 14.7+/-5.8 microg/ml after 12 h. The results suggested that ceftazidime should be administered at 1 g/day in patients with severe infection during CHDF.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Evidence suggests that there is a strong association between chronic inflammation and prostate cancer development and/or progression. While chronic inflammation is known to serve as an "enabling characteristic" in many cancers, the mechanism whereby it contributes to carcinogenesis and progression is still very controversial. This is particularly true for cells of the innate immune system, such as mast cells, that have been shown to possess both pro- and anti-tumor properties. The role of mast cells in prostate cancer is of particular interest, as evidence suggests that they influence cancer progression and immune modulation. The current study seeks to characterize mast cell density and mast cell-to-epithelial ratio in relation to prostate cancer recurrence using a unique set of tissue microarrays (TMAs) from a case-control study nested in a cohort of prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy. These studies are aided by novel digital image analysis using a software framework integrating whole slide imaging, virtual microscopy, and ImageJ based analysis algorithms. Our preliminary results, obtained via analysis of a prostate cancer TMA containing matched cancer and benign tissues from 727 cases of radical prostatectomy patients, correlated with the literature in that the mast cell density (mast cell number/total tissue area) was significantly higher in cancer versus benign (p = 0.0016). We will expanded this study to determine if mast cell number correlates with epithelial area in the same cohort and to examine mast cell density in correlation to the presence, grade, or progression of prostate cancer. Furthermore, we will be examining this in a large full tissue slide cohort in relation to Gleason grade and stage. Finally, we are expanding this study to explore a possible role for mast cells in the racial disparity in prostate cancer incidence and prognosis.

Citation Format: Heidi Hempel, Ibrahim Kulac, Nathan S. Cuka, Toby C. Cornish, Elizabeth A. Platz, Angelo M. DeMarzo, Karen S. Sfanos. Characterization of inflammatory markers and mast cells in association with prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2342. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2342


In this paper, we present a treatment of speech intended to the cochlear prostheses. The technique used for this approach is the speech recognition. We propose an algorithm of treatment being based on the HMM models. Some simulations are presented; they show the validity of our approach.


The enhancement of the operability range of a stand-alone single-phase induction generator scheme with an inverter-battery system connected to the auxiliary winding is the theme of this paper. The reactive power requirement of the load connected to the main winding is met by the inverter system operating with either of two proposed pulsewidth modulation techniques, in the process of which the load voltage and frequency are regulated. The proposed schemes have potential application as power sources for autonomous systems and for utility interface to single-phase power system grids. Simulation and calculation results of the generator system connected to an impedance and motor loads, confirmed with some experimental results, are also set forth to validate some of the conclusions of the paper.


It has long been argued that organisations have struggled to achieve business
benefits, and in particular sustained competitive advantage, from their information
system (IS) investments. Recently, calls have been made to apply resource based
theory to the field of IS research, to better understand how improved competitive
positioning can be derived from information systems in general, and through the
application of information systems capabilities in particular. However, such research
is predicated upon finding effective ways to actually measure improved competitive
positioning, an issue that has caused a significant amount of debate within the
literature. This study attempts to fill these gaps by constructing an IS-enabled
sustainability framework. The framework is used to explore the relationship between
the application of IS capabilities, during the introduction of an IS-enhancement, and
the extent to which an improvement in competitive positioning is attained and
sustained, as measured at the process level. Moreover, the framework is used to
investigate how the resultant levels of improved competitive positioning might be
influenced by the extent to which the improved competitive positioning is directly or
indirectly derived from an IS enhancement's introduction. [Continues.]


The edited collection Marxism and Feminism traces both the conceptual divides and political affinities between feminism and Marxism. Utilising a keywords-, or core-concepts approach, the book fleshes out the tensions and contradictions that organise and orient Marxist and feminist theories and practices of social transformation. The concepts discussed in Marxism and Feminism do not try to bridge divergent theories of exploitation or oppression; rather the tensions between feminism and Marxism are used to generate new terrains of investigation. Although the topics discussed vary widely, the book is held together by a commitment to dialectical-materialist investigation and revolutionary social transformation.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school.

Design/methodology/approach
The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females.

Findings
The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan.

Originality/value
While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.


In this paper, a method for the alignment of face images is proposed. We first extract SIFT features from the set of images, match features between each two images. Then we cluster the image according to the number of matching keypoints,in each category. We use the congealing algorithm to train and generate the model. The experiments show that the features are invariant to image scaling and rotation, and partially invariant to the change of illumination. This method has good performance in accuracy and in real-time.


Inspired by the recent advances in generative models, we introduce a human action generation model in order to generate a consecutive sequence of human motions to formulate novel actions. We propose a framework of an autoencoder and a generative adversarial network (GAN) to produce multiple and consecutive human actions conditioned on the initial state and the given class label. The proposed model is trained in an end-to-end fashion, where the autoencoder is jointly trained with the GAN. The model is trained on the NTU RGB+D dataset and we show that the proposed model can generate different styles of actions. Moreover, the model can successfully generate a sequence of novel actions given different action labels as conditions. The conventional human action prediction and generation models lack those features, which are essential for practical applications.


The purpose of this study is to know the application of Debate Method  to improve speaking skills for senior high school students of class XII -A in Ulumuddin boarding school Utenkot, Cunda - Lhokseumawe for academic years 2018 – 2019, and to know students effectivity after applicating the Debat Methode. This research is classroom action research conducted in 3 cycles. Each cycle consists of planning, action, observation / evaluation, and reflection. The subjects of this study are senior high school students of class XII-A who are 25 students and the object of this research is speaking skills. Data collection in this study are carried out by the method of observation, interviews and diagnostic tests. The data are analyzed by quantitative descriptive and statistical analysis techniques. The results showed (1) that the application of the debate Method consisted of the stages of the purpose of Debate method application in the learning process of teaching Arabic, giving titles, limiting the Debate members, making debating rooms in class, searching for information about the title of the Debate, and providing evaluation sheets activities of researchers and students in application the Debate method, (2) in the application of the Debate Method there is an increase in the percentage of speaking skills of students of class XI -A MA in terms of pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Based on the results of the analysis in the first cycle the average student's speaking skills are obtained as much as 70% ("medium" category). Then in the second cycle students' skills improved. The average speaking skills of students are 74% ("medium" category). And in the third cycle the average skill of students are 81.4% ("high" category). Based on the results of these studies it can be concluded that the application of the debate method can improve students' speaking skills in terms of pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and sentence structure.


This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) / International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications
Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport
Profile within the IETF MPLS and Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge
(PWE3) architectures to support the capabilities and functionalities
of a packet transport network as defined by the ITU-T. This document
addresses the functionality described in the MPLS-TP Survivability
Framework document (RFC 6372) and defines a protocol that may be used
to fulfill the function of the Protection State Coordination for
linear protection, as described in that document. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Due to the complexity of nuclear reaction models, current nuclear data evaluations must rely on experimental observations to constrain models and provide the accuracy needed for applications. For criticality applications, the accuracy of nuclear data needed is higher than what is currently possible from differential experiments alone, and integral measurements are often used for data adjustment within the uncertainties of differential experiments. This approach does not necessarily result in physically correct cross sections or other adjusted quantities because compensation between different materials is hard to avoid. One of the objectives of the recent CIELO project [M. Chadwick et al., Nucl. Data Sheets 118, 1 (2014)] was simultaneous evaluation of important materials in an attempt to minimize the effects of compensation. Improvement to the evaluation process depends on obtaining new experimental data with high accuracy and lower uncertainty that will help constrain the evaluations for certain important reactions. Improved experiments are accomplished by careful design with the objective of achieving high accuracy and lower uncertainty, and by designing new innovative experiments. New and unconventional experiments do not necessarily provide differential data but instead nuclear data that evaluators will find useful to constrain the evaluation and reduce the uncertainty. This also means that closer information exchange and collaboration between experimentalists and evaluators is important. For conventional experiments such as neutron transmission or capture measurements, it is important to understand the sources of uncertainty and address them in the experiment design. Such a process can also lead to the design of innovative methods. For example, the filtered beam method minimizes uncertainties due to background, and the Quasi-Differential Neutron Scattering method simplifies the experiment and data analysis and results in lower experimental uncertainty. A review of the sources of uncertainty in various experiments and examples of experimental techniques that help reduce experimental and evaluation uncertainty and increase accuracy will be discussed.


The AIBC is an Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology based large-scale decentralized ecosystem that allows system-wide low-cost sharing of computing and storage resources. The AIBC consists of four layers: a fundamental layer, a resource layer, an application layer, and an ecosystem layer. The AIBC implements a two-consensus scheme to enforce upper-layer economic policies and achieve fundamental layer performance and robustness: the DPoEV incentive consensus on the application and resource layers, and the DABFT distributed consensus on the fundamental layer. The DABFT uses deep learning techniques to predict and select the most suitable BFT algorithm in order to achieve the best balance of performance, robustness, and security. The DPoEV uses the knowledge map algorithm to accurately assess the economic value of digital assets.


This literature review aimed to discuss some current aspects related to osteoimmunology applied to maxillofacial reconstruction. Maxillary rehabilitation with implants may demand bone grafting before implant placement in the alveolar ridge. Allografts have been introduced to prevent surgery in a secondary area. Cryopreservation is an important method to decrease tissue antigenicity, but other techniques can also be used such as sterilization by gamma radiation or ethylene oxide. Immunology may participate in the incorporation or rejection process of bone grafts by increasing bone resorption. Several molecules, such as interleukins, receptor activators of nuclear factor κβ ligand RANKL, nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT), macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), early B cell factor (EBF-2), and osteopontegrin establish the relation between immunological cells and bone graft metabolism. Evidences from the literature suggest that frozen allogenic bone may be a good material for jaw onlay grafts since they do not induce immunological rejection.


The Galápagos Islands are home to 11 subspecies of large terrestrial tortoises (Geochelone nigra). All Galápagos tortoises are considered endangered and approximately 12,000 animals still exist. Until now, the reproductive cycle of the Galápagos tortoise has been studied only in captive animals, and no data from free-ranging tortoises have been available. During a one-year period, blood samples were collected from male and female G. nigra living under seminatural conditions on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos. Plasma steroid hormones were measured by radioimmunoassays (RIAs). In males, plasma testosterone and corticosterone increased a few months before the onset of the mating season. Peak levels were observed while most copulations occurred and environmental temperatures were highest. Both testosterone and corticosterone showed low levels during the cold and dry nesting season and high levels during the hot and rainy mating season. In females, testosterone and corticosterone also rose during the hot and rainy mating season. Both hormones peaked during the second half of the mating season and decreased during the cooler dry season. Female estradiol levels increased at the onset of the mating season, reaching the highest level at the peak of the mating season, which coincided with the highest annual temperatures measured. Estradiol slowly decreased within the next months and rapidly dropped at the onset of the nesting season when temperatures decreased. Progesterone levels were high close to the time of ovulation and showed clearly elevated levels at the beginning of the nesting season after some females had laid their first clutch. Progesterone decreased during the nesting season, when ambient temperatures began to decrease, and reached minimal levels in the postbreeding period shortly before the onset of the next mating season. There were significant annual variations in plasma testosterone in both males and females. Plasma corticosterone was generally higher in males than in females and varied throughout the year in both sexes.


This desk work study is based on data of some relevant survey, related reports and articles. To study benefit, the paper compares employment of major occupation and level of education and unemployment rate on level of education. It finds evidence of better job position by level of education whilst unemployment rate increases gradually from No-Education level to HSC level; Drops down at the graduation level and then gradually increase at the Masters level. Again, to study wage differentials, the paper compares wage contribution by different level of education attainment. It finds evidence of highest wage rate found in the level Class I-V whereas Technical and vocational level have the lowest wage rate. More interestingly is found that higher education level has lower wage rate than lower education level. Lastly, for both benefits and wage differentials, level of education attainment has less significance among themselves. <Key-words> Educational qualification, job market placement, labour market, wage firstname.lastname@example.com (Rajib Ahmed FAISAL; Bangladesh) Asian J Human Services, 2017, 12:17-29. © 2017 Asian Society of Human Services Received


The Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the top problems, which has been addressed extensively by mathematicians and computer scientists. In this paper, we propose two algorithms namely 'A' and 'B' based on 'Wandering Salesman' as an approach trying to find the shortest path from initial steps without taking any restrictions into account. The two proposed algorithms are based on genetic algorithm idea employing the mutation and elitism procedures. Subsequently, we show the performance of the two proposed algorithms in finding the shortest path by depicting the effective parameters. The results indicate that the algorithm 'B' which is based on just 0's and 1's probabilities has outstanding performance comparing to the algorithm 'A'.


An advanced graphic user interface (GUI) has been developed for use with the PARMILA program. PARMILA (Phase and Radial Motion in Ion Linear Accelerators) is a multiparticle simulation program that provides a detailed description of the evolution of the beam in a linear accelerator. We have ported the Los Alamos Accelerator Code Group's Cray version of PARMILA to the Macintosh and integrated it with the Shell for Particle Accelerator Related Codes (S.P.A.R.C.) GUI environment. Problem set up is accomplished graphically. The configuration of a PARMILA beamline is defined by selecting icons representing transport elements from a palette and dragging them to a window. All input parameters are set using unique Data Tables built into multiple-pane windows. Rule-of-thumb upper and lower guidance limits for each parameter are displayed to assist users in problem specification. The graphic interface is described and examples using this new approach to running PARMILA are illustrated.


A visit by the authors to Russia included research and manufacturing facilities in Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, and St. Petersburg. The purpose of the visit was to assess Russian microwave technology and the feasibility of contracting for research and development which might assist US Defense efforts. The firms visited include a wide variety of technology. The paper reports the characteristics of air defense radar which the Russians are currently marketing world-wide. Also discussed is the work on gyroklystrons Gigawatt X-band transmitters, and plasma applications and technology.


The growth of the automobile industry in recent decades and the overuse of personal vehicles have amplified problems directly related to road safety, such as the increase in traffic congestion and number of accidents, as well as the degradation of the quality of roads. At the same time, and with the contribution of climate change effects, dangerous weather events have become more common on road infrastructure. In this context, Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions emerge to overcome the limitations of human and local sensory systems, through the collection and distribution of relevant data to Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). In this paper, an intra- and inter-vehicle sensory data collection system is presented, starting with the acquisition of relevant data present on the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, collected through the vehicle's On-Board-Diagnostics II (OBD-II) port, as well as on an on-board smartphone device and possibly other additional sensors. Short-range communication technologies, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, and ITS-G5, are employed in conjunction with long-range cellular networks for data dissemination and remote cloud monitoring. The results of the experimental tests allow the analysis of the road environment, as well as the notification in near real-time of adverse road conditions to drivers. The developed data collection system reveals itself as a potentially valuable tool for improving road safety and to iterate on the current Road Weather Models (RWMs).


AbstractThe sea anemone Triactis producta Klunzinger is an inhabitant of the Red Sea. A clinical case history of a stinging by T. producta which occurred at Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba, Israel, is herein reported. The symptoms consisted mainly of pain and swelling of the affected Limb and the production of a pigmented, papular lesion, which became encrusted and indurated and remained sensitive to touch for a period of about 5 weeks. This species is one of the more dangerous species of venomous sea anemones. Aqueous extracts of the crude toxin obtained from undischarged tentacle nematocysts tested by injection in mosquito fish (Gambusia) were found to be stable to drying, room temperatures, several organic solvents and boiling for variable periods of time. This is the first report to appear in the literature on the venomous properties of this sea anemone.


Intersubband transition energies in the conduction band for strain-compensated InGaN/AlInN quantum well (QW) structures were investigated as a function of strain based on an effective mass theory with the nonparabolicity taken into account. In the case of an InGaN/AlInN QW structure lattice-matched to GaN, the wavelength is shown to be longer than 1.55 μm. On the other hand, strain-compensated QW structures show that the wavelength of 1.55 μm can be reached even for the QW structure with a relatively small strain of 0.3 %. Hence, the strain-compensated QW structures can be used for telecommunication applications at 1.55 μm with a small strain, compared to conventional GaN/AlN QW structure.


Atomic-scale thickness, molecular impermeability, low atomic number, and mechanical strength make graphene an ideal electron-transparent membrane for material characterization in liquids and gases with scanning electron microscopy and spectroscopy. Here, we present a novel sample platform made of an array of thousands of identical isolated graphene-capped microchannels with high aspect ratio. A combination of a global wide field of view with high resolution local imaging of the array allows for high throughput in situ studies as well as for combinatorial screening of solutions, liquid interfaces, and immersed samples. We demonstrate the capabilities of this platform by studying a pure water sample in comparison with alkali halide solutions, a model electrochemical plating process, and beam-induced crystal growth in liquid electrolyte. Spectroscopic characterization of liquid interfaces and immersed objects with Auger and X-ray fluorescence analysis through the graphene membrane are also demonstrated.


This article considers the situation of a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retail store which faces an uncertainty not only in consumer demand but also in inventory records. Among execution errors that induce an uncertainty in inventory records are undetected supplier unreliabilities, unrecorded item movements (either during the receiving process or within the store), theft, damaged products, etc. In our work, we assume that such inventory inaccuracies are introduced by misplacement-type errors that occur within the store, i.e. the whole quantity of products that is received from the manufacturer is not available on shelf to satisfy consumers' demand either because within the store, the replenishment process from the backroom to shelves is prone to errors (e.g. products are lost during this transfer, some of the products are forbidden in the backroom, other products are put on the wrong shelves, etc…) or products are moved and put on other shelves by consumers during their visit to the store. The framework we consider to model the misplaced products issue is a decentralised Newsvendor model. Within this setting, we analyse four scenarii. Each scenario can be characterised by (i) whether the manufacturer and the retailer are aware of misplacement errors that occur in the store or not (they are not aware of misplacement errors or even that they know the existence of errors, they choose to ignore them) (ii) whether there is a coordination between actors or not. Based on these scenarii, our aim is to evaluate the benefit of having information on errors and optimising the system by taking this information into account as well as the benefit of coordinating the channel.


The Maharashtra government has extended the transfer of development rights instrument - a market mechanism originally used to provide public amenities - for constructing houses for project-affected persons. Data indicates that a majority of these townships have come up in a city ward where many of the poor live. In a situation where the real estate market is driven by the profit motive, unregulated use of the TDR has the potential to cause further fragmentation of already socially and economically segregated urban spaces.


Max Loehr, historian of Chinese art, died on September 16, 1988, at the age of eighty-four. A professor at Harvard University (1960-74) and before that at the University of Michigan (1951-60), Loehr taught many of the specialists now active in the field. His voluminous writings are chiefly on Chinese bronzes, weapons, jades, and other early art, and Chinese painting. In his later years he published a number of articles on theoretical and methodological concerns that have added greatly to the conceptual underpinnings of our studies. Trained in the German art-historical tradition at the University of Munich, where he took the doctorate in 1936, Loehr spent the years 1940-49 in China, first as a research scholar and then as director of the Sino-German Institute in Peking, and finally as an associate professor at Tsinghua University. He made good use of this dual background to develop a broadly based approach to Chinese art that overcame, in a way unmatched by any other specialist of his generation, the "sinology vs. art history" dilemma that had plagued Chinese art studies up to that time by dividing the field into two opposing camps. His studies of Chinese bronze vessels brought archaeological and inscriptional evidence to bear on them but relied ultimately on stylistic analyses to reach levels of understanding beyond what these "hard" data would allow. His brief, famous article, "The Bronze Styles of the Anyang Period" (Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 7 {1953}) laid out in an exemplary way a sequence of styles that was in large part confirmed by later excavations at pre-Anyang sites; Loehr's pattern of stylistic development, somewhat modified, still underlies the best recent studies of the subject. His 1980 book The Great Painters of China (Oxford: Phaidon), although (many would believe) marred by an over-acceptance of traditional datings and attributions for works of the early periods, similarly remains a monument of scholarship in this difficult field. (For a fuller account of Loehr's life and achievements, with an appended bibliography, see my "Max Loehr at Seventy," Ars Orientalis, 1975.)


The article considers the theoretical foundations of training of agricultural specialists. Contradictions have been identified as factors that determine changes in the training of agricultural specialists in the process of professional training of students. The professional training of future agricultural specialists has its own specifics, which is due to the fact that most of them are representatives of rural youth. Promising areas of professional training are highlighted. An important component of the development of professional training of specialists in the agricultural sector is the internship of teachers directly in the workplace. The article considers the signs of modern theory and practice of professional training of agricultural specialists. The professional training of future agricultural specialists has its own specifics, which is due to the fact that most of them are representatives of rural youth. These students are very persistent observant, attentive to the peculiarities of the natural environment, close to the ecosystems of the local environment and slow and deeper response to external stimuli. In times of significant economic, social and geopolitical transformations of society around the world, the education system faces a global issue - to prepare young people for new living conditions and professional activities in a highly automated environment of information and communication and innovative technologies, teach them to act independently competently carry out professional activities. The future specialist-agrarian must have a broad worldview, be able to conduct a comparative analysis of models of development of countries in different eras; to see the long-term perspective, to focus on clarifying the essential, objectively necessary aspects of events and phenomena of economic development. In addition, the scientific consciousness must form in students a clear system of views and practical beliefs based on universal qualities: honor, conscience, truthfulness, humanity.


The three-dimensional structures of dioxocarbenium ions related to glycosyl cations were determined by an analysis of spectroscopic, computational, and reactivity data. Hypothetical low-energy structures of the dioxocarbenium ions were correlated with both experimentally determined (1)H NMR coupling constants and diastereoselectivity results from nucleophilic substitution reactions. This method confirmed the pseudoaxial preference of C-3 alkoxy-substituted systems and revealed the conformational preference of the C-5 alkoxymethyl group. Although the monosubstituted C-5 alkoxymethyl substituent preferred a pseudoequatorial orientation, the C-5-C-6 bond rotation was controlled by an electrostatic effect. The preferred diaxial conformer of the trans-4,5-disubstituted tetrahydropyranyl system underscored the importance of electrostatic effects in dictating conformational equilibria. In the 2-deoxymannose system, although steric effects influenced the orientation of the C-5 alkoxymethyl substituent, the all-axial conformer was favored because of electrostatic stabilization.


Abstract. This paper presents the ECCO v4 non-linear inverse modeling framework and its baseline solution for the evolving ocean state over the period 1992–2011. Both components are publicly available and subjected to regular, automated regression tests. The modeling framework includes sets of global conformal grids, a global model setup, implementations of data constraints and control parameters, an interface to algorithmic differentiation, as well as a grid-independent, fully capable Matlab toolbox. The baseline ECCO v4 solution is a dynamically consistent ocean state estimate without unidentified sources of heat and buoyancy, which any interested user will be able to reproduce accurately. The solution is an acceptable fit to most data and has been found to be physically plausible in many respects, as documented here and in related publications. Users are being provided with capabilities to assess model–data misfits for themselves. The synergy between modeling and data synthesis is asserted through the joint presentation of the modeling framework and the state estimate. In particular, the inverse estimate of parameterized physics was instrumental in improving the fit to the observed hydrography, and becomes an integral part of the ocean model setup available for general use. More generally, a first assessment of the relative importance of external, parametric and structural model errors is presented. Parametric and external model uncertainties appear to be of comparable importance and dominate over structural model uncertainty. The results generally underline the importance of including turbulent transport parameters in the inverse problem.


Abstract A method of determining surface pressures in oceanic storm systems using ERS-1 scatterometer data is employed to determine the lowest pressures in 25 storms. This method uses the surface winds as a lower boundary condition on a planetary boundary layer model to determine gradient winds and, thereby, pressure gradients. An optimization scheme referenced to a pressure outside the storm provides a pressure field and an estimate of the low pressure. The values are compared to ECMWF analyses in each case; there is good agreement, with some expected differences.


We can think of the rapidly growing electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry as an electronics manufacturing supermarket. Like their food store counterparts, EMS providers are usually geographically convenient to their major customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). They provide a smorgasbord of goods and services ranging from circuit design through final product assembly and shipping of printed circuit boards-all on a fast-turnaround basis. And, like supermarkets, EMS companies are highly competitive and differentiate themselves primarily on intangibles such as quality of service, turnaround time, and the like. The economic model of the EMS provider is also strikingly similar to the supermarket's: profitability depends on high volumes shipped at relatively low gross margins. Historically, EMS profit has hovered in the neighborhood of 5% to 10%. Operating this close to zero or even negative profitability allows an EMS sales department little room for error in pricing and quoting jobs for customers. Most of the EMS job-pricing formula depends on tangible costs such as parts, labor, and overhead consisting of the amortized operating cost of the surface mount technology (SMT) assembly line. In circuit-board manufacturing, however, ill-defined quality criteria and an imprecise understanding of test costs often result in a gap between the job cost estimate and the actual production cost.


Abstract The wheel is a very important machine part. It is very often found in the construction of the vehicles. Therefore its dynamics must be studied properly. In the paper is presented the dynamical survey of a wheel which climbs on an inclined plane under the action of an active moment produced by an engine. The case of rolling without sliding was taken under consideration in the paper. The approach of the problem is a numerical one. The differential equations describing the movement of the motor wheel were written in matrix form. The paper also presents a method of removing of the constraint forces from the differential equations of motion.


(100) oriented metal alloy films containing both body‐centered cubic (bcc) and face‐centered cubic (fcc) metals have been deposited on (100) Si using Pd/Cu seed layers. These include FeCo, FePt, FePd, FeCu, FeAu, FeAg, FeNi, VNi, and CrNi with different compositions. All the alloys show (200) spacings close to those of either the bcc or fcc component metals. To compare with Vegard's rule, a correction factor of (1.5)1/2 is needed between the fcc and bcc lattices, with the fcc spacing being 22% larger. Twenty alloy spacings are compared, assuming that both the lattice structures and spacings of the alloy films are mainly determined by the component metals whose spacings are close to those of the alloys. Good agreements with the Vegard's rule are obtained for the thirteen (100) alloys with lattice spacings close to those of their respective bcc component metals, and for the seven (100) alloy films with lattice spacings close to their fcc component metals.


The outcome economy is a relatively new economic and business paradigm that promotes focusing on the effects that the use of provided products and services create for customers in their markets, rather than focusing on these products or services themselves from the providers' perspective. This paradigm has been embraced in various fields of business but has not yet been fully integrated with the concept of smart industry. To fill this gap, in this vision paper we provide a framework that does make this integration, showing the full structure of customer outcome management in smart manufacturing, from both business and digital technology perspectives. In applying this structure, a feedback loop is created that spans the markets of provider and customer and supports data-driven product evolution, manufacturing, and delivery. We propose a business reference framework that can be used as a blueprint for designing practical scenarios. We show how integrated digital support for such a scenario can be realized using a well-structured combination of technologies from the fields of the internet of things, business intelligence and federated learning, blockchain, and business process management. We illustrate all of this with a visionary case study inspired by industrial practice in the automotive domain. In doing so, we provide both an academic basis for the integration of several currently dispersed research fields that need to be integrated to further smart manufacturing towards outcome management and a practical basis for the well-structured design and implementation of customer outcome management business cases in smart manufacturing.


We previously reported that insoles with subtalar strapping lead to valgus realignment of the femorotibial angle during the static phase in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (knee OA) with varus deformity. In a follow-up study, we assessed the effect of an insole with subtalar strapping during the dynamic phase of the gait. Twenty-eight female patients with unilateral medial compartment knee OA and thirty-eight age- and sex-matched control subjects were enrolled. Gait analysis was performed for each subject while barefoot, with the insole with subtalar strapping, and with the insole with talonavicular strapping. In the knee OA group, the average foot angle while barefoot (12.4 ± 2.3°) was significantly higher than that in the control group (10.6 ± 3.4°) (P = 0.018). In the knee OA group, the angle while barefoot was significantly reduced after wearing the insole with subtalar strapping (9.4 ± 2.3°) (P ≪ 0.0001), but not with use of the insole with talonavicular strapping (11.1 ± 2.8°) (P = 0.12). There was no significant difference in the foot angle among the three conditions in the control group (P ≫ 0.05). This result suggests that the insole with subtalar strapping contributes to an adaptive mechanism which reduces the adductive moment at the knee through decreasing both the femorotibial angle and the external rotation of the foot position during walking.


Anatase-phase TiO2 is widely recognized as an effective photocatalyst. This photocatalytic activity is ascribed to an excited electron and a hole under UV light. Asahi et al. (2000) has reported molecular-orbital bonding structure for anatase using first-principles calculations. Their calculation indicated that the excited electrons occupy Ti 3d t2g dxy non-bonding orbital, while this has not been confirmed experimentally. Natural single crystal of anatase (Tisey, Norway) was spherically ground in 200 μm in diameter and used for the experiments. A Rigaku AFC-5S four-circle diffractometer with monochromatized MoKα radiation was used for data collections. Three sets of diffraction intensities were collected; set 1 was collected under no light, set 2 under UV (λ = 253.6 nm: 4.9 eV) plus fluorescent light, and set 3, again, under no light. Structural parameters (with harmonic ADP) were preliminarily refined to attain most reliable scale and extinction factors for Fourier summation. Some of ADPs, particularly U11 at O site showed small but notable increase with UV irradiation. There was no notable difference among electron densities ρset1 and ρset3. On the other hand, characteristic differences were found on ρset2 ρset3 (ρ2-3) in the vicinity of both the Ti and O site positions. Positive densities beside the O site correspond to increase in harmonic ADP by heat with relaxation. On the other hand, appearance of positive density around the Ti site positions could not be explained by change only in harmonic ADP: electron cloud of Ti was deformed in <110>. Maximum in ρ2-3 (0.24eÅ) was found at 0.28 Å from the Ti position in <110>. These positions correspond to those of the maxima of wavefunction of Ti 3d t2g dxy orbital calculated by a DV-Xα method.


Research in psychology and accounting suggest that affect (client likeability) toward a person can impact human judgment, resulting in more favorable treatment for likeable than dislikeable individuals. This study investigates whether two debiasing mechanisms, justification and self-review, mitigate the impact of affect (client likeability) on fraud risk assessments. Consistent with prior research on nonfraud audit judgments, this study finds that in absence of any debiasing mechanism, inexperienced auditors are susceptible to affect biases in fraud judgments. Extending prior research, we find justification is not sufficient to mitigate likeability, but self-review is an effective mechanism to mitigate the effect of client likeability in a fraud judgment task. Supplemental findings indicate that general accounting experience, in itself, does not mitigate client likeability; however, the effectiveness of the self-review mechanism extends to these participants.


Ab s t r Ac t Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered "gold standard" for the treatment of gallstone disease. In spite of the increasing number of laparoscopic cholecystectomies being performed as day care surgery in the West, the surgeons of developing countries are reluctant to adopt this trend probably due to the inadequate resources and infrastructure which they consider a hindrance for safe discharge. Our study aims to assess the feasibility of day care laparoscopic cholecystectomies. Materials and methods: This is a prospective observational study. All patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were assessed postoperatively for dischargeability using post-anesthetic discharge scoring system (PADSS). We assessed the factors delaying the early discharge of laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients in terms of patient factors, intraoperative factors, postoperative factors, social factors, and logistic factors. Results: Of the total 88 patients, 57 (64.7%) were dischargeable at 6 hours and 78 (88.6%) were dischargeable at 24 hours. Factors found to affect dischargeability of patients at 6 hours were acute cholecystitis and increased duration of surgery. Difficulty of surgery and the use of drain had significant association with nondischargeability at 24 hours. Eighteen patients were fit for discharge by PADSS criteria but not discharged at 24 hours. Factors, which delayed the discharge of these patients, were continuation of intravenous antibiotics, delay in processing insurance, patients' unwillingness for early discharge, presence of drain, and surgeon's perceived fear of complications. Conclusion: Sixty-five percent of all laparoscopic cholecystectomies can be performed as day care procedure safely. Patients with acute cholecystitis and patients requiring an operative time more than 104 minutes should be observed for 24 hours.


IntroductionWorldwide, obesity is the prevalent, chronic medical condition . The rate of obesity in pregnant women is rising, increasing the significance of its impact on obesity-related pregnancy complications. (2) Maternal body mass index (BMI) is one of the predictors of the nutritional status of pregnant ladies. The problem of rising obesity is not unique to India. In earlier research, the relationship between maternal height and weight with pregnancy complications have been extensively explored, but in recent times, BMI is widely accepted as a better measure of over or underweight . Most of the developing countries, including India, are now facing double burden because of extreme socioeconomic distribution. On one side, there is overweight and obesity which has reached epidemic proportions and on the other side, there is underweight and undernourishment. In India, 26% of pregnant women are overweight, and 8% are obese .


Phototransistors based on two dimensional semiconductors have drawn increasing attention in recent years. GaSe is a typical semiconductor with a layered structure. In this work, the ultrathin GaSe nanosheets were exfoliated from commercially available crystals using a micromechanical cleavage technique. Then, the nanosheets were used to fabricate field effect transistors (FETs) on Si/SiO2 substrates with interdigitated electrodes. The electrical and optoelectronic properties of the FET were characterized. The phototransistor based on a GaSe nanosheet had a high photoresponsivity (∼2200 mA/W) and a high Iphoto/Idark (photoresponse current over dark current) ratio of almost 103.


Report on the 10th International Conference held at Monterey, California, United States of America, 30 March - 3 April 1992.


This paper presents an application of VR game-based learning, VRGBL, for packaging Technology. The VRGBL was divided into two steps, Material Packaging, MP and Pattern Packaging, PP. In the MP, students are selected an appropriate material of packages for each products from program randomly, and the selecting steps were controlled by the system in which students must selected a correct material of each product. If they can select correctly, the system will show the result and score increase. On the other hand, if students select a wrong material, the system will give the students a warning and their scores will be deducted. For the second game, the PP was designed to let students to practice their thinking by finding and matching a Pattern model of an unknown package with a set of 3D packages with which are randomly selected from the system. If they cannot choose correctly, the score will be deducted from their total scores. In addition, the system also provides material and pattern packaging tutorial such as a material selecting and other information. After students pass the VRGBL game, they can understand in material packaging and can design the good pattern of packaging. Then this system was evaluated by five experts. The Index of item Objective Congruence (IOC) is .82. The program was corrected and improved before trial with a target group. The target groups of this study consisted of 40 packaging students, and they were selected by simple random sampling. This paper describes some approaches to provide the VR game-based learning system, discusses problems, experiences and presents an outlook for the virtual game and collaborative learning of packaging design for students in the future. However, the result showed that students can select the good packaging material and design the pattern in a good level. Finally, the assessments of the performance of the program are presented.


Diatomite samples in the Pleistocene deposits collected from three different localities in El Fayoum depression, reveal the predomi-nance of Cyclostephanos and Stephanodiscus from Stephanodiscaceae. Stephanodiscus spp. were regarded with high frequencies in the western region of Lake Qarun and the dominan-cy is lowered in the eastern part while Cyclo-stephanos was present with less frequency. Stephanodiscus was represented by two species S. aegyptiacus and S. minutulus while Cyclo-stephanos found as one species C. dubius. Mor-phological variations of fossil species were de-scribed using light and scanning electron mi-croscopy. The results show both morphological differences and similarities between the ob-served species. Observing the investigated taxa with light microscope they show similarities, while observation with the SEM shows distinct differences. The presence of Stephanodiscus minutulus with large number indicates that the paleoecological environment was alkaline fresh-water nature and also suggested that the lake at this time was a different water levels or different degree of transparency. Recording of Cyclo-stephanos dubius in the diatomaceous earth of the studied site proved that this area was char-acterized by both high conductivity and high nutrients concentration during the Pleistocene era.


ABSTRACT

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a pollutant that directly harm the human respiratory system, lead to inflammation, as well as to form the secondary aerosol pollutants. The main NO2 sources, combustion or thermal processes, were well controlled. However, the metal etching operation in semiconductor industry emits flue gases with reddish-brown NO2 fume that leads to visibility reduction, acidic odor, as well as negative effects on human health. In this study, a stream of flue gases with low NO2 (230 ± 10 ppm) and NO (50 ppm) concentrations were conducted to pass through an activated carbon-packed fixed bed for analyzing the adsorptive conversion behavior of NO2 by the activated carbon (AC) at room temperature. The repeated adsorption test was carried out by washing the regenerated waste carbon with a caustic solution and water and drying. Results propose that at the beginning of adsorption, nitrogen dioxide combined with carbon to form NO and desorbed from carbon surface. The net adsorptive conversion removal capacity of NO2 by the virgin AC and regenerated AC was 224 and 155 mg g–1 AC, respectively. Regeneration restored around 70–75% of effective surface area, pore volume, and adsorptive conversion capacity of the virgin AC. Leached caustic solution obtained from the carbon regeneration contained only nitrate and the phenomena indicates the adsorbed -C2(ONO2) hydrolyzed following the Eq. (2) -C2(ONO2) + H2O → 3 -C* + -C(O) + 2 HNO3, where -C* denotes active site on the carbon surface.


A single-stranded shuttle vector containing a single 3,N4-etheno-2'-deoxycytidine (epsilon dC) or 1,N2-(1,3-propano)-2'- deoxyguanosine (PdG) DNA adduct was used to investigate translesional DNA synthesis in Escherichia coli and simian kidney (COS) cells. The presence of either exocyclic adduct was associated with reduced numbers of transformants. In E. coli, this inhibitory effect could be overcome partially by irradiating cells with UV light before transformation. Translesional synthesis past both exocyclic lesions was accompanied by targeted mutations. For PdG, the primary mutagenic events observed in both hosts were PdG-->T transversions; in preirradiated E. coli, PdG-->A transitions were also observed. The targeted mutation frequency for single-stranded DNA that contained PdG was 100% in nonirradiated E. coli, 68% in preirradiated cells, and 8% in COS cells. In contrast, the targeted mutation frequency for single-stranded DNA that contained epsilon dC was 2% in nonirradiated E. coli, 32% in preirradiated cells, and 81% in COS cells. The primary mutations generated by epsilon dC in both E. coli and COS cells were epsilon dC-->A and epsilon dC-->T base substitutions. These observations appear to reflect the variable specificity of DNA replication complexes in incorporating bases opposite certain adducts. We conclude that DNA synthesis past the same DNA adduct can have strikingly different consequences in bacteria and mammalian cells, underscoring the importance of establishing the intrinsic mutagenic potential of DNA adducts in mammalian cells.


The concept of state is fundamental to a reinforcement learning agent. The state is the input to the agent's action-selection policy, value functions, and environmental model. A reinforcement learning agent interacts with the environment by performing actions and receiving observations, resulting in the agent's data stream of experience. In many cases, the observations only provide partial information about the state, and the agent needs to learn the state directly based on the data stream of experience. We refer to the state directly learned from the data stream of experience as the agent state. Existing methods based on gradient descent, including Real-Time Recurrent Learning (RTRL) and Backpropagation Through Time (BPTT), can learn the agent state. However, these methods are computationally expensive, making them unsuitable for online learning of the agent state. In this thesis, we propose computationally efficient methods based on the generate-and-test approach to learn the agent state. We study the effectiveness of our generate-and-test methods for learning the agent state on two partially observable multi-step prediction problems—the trace conditioning problem and the trace patterning problem. The trace conditioning problem focuses on the agent's ability to remember a cue presented in the past to predict a signal in the future. The trace patterning problem is an extension of the trace conditioning problem in which a non-linear combination of observation signals triggers the arrival of a temporally distant signal. In the trace patterning problem, the agent must learn non-linear configurations of observation signals to predict ii the signal of interest accurately. Our experiments show that the proposed generate-and-test methods can learn the agent state online and make accurate predictions in both problems mentioned above.


We propose a novel on-chip platform for controlling and manipulating cold atoms precisely and coherently. The scheme is achieved by producing optically induced fictitious magnetic traps (OFMTs) with 790 nm (for 87Rb) circularly polarized laser beams and state-dependent potentials simultaneously for two internal atomic states with microwave coplanar waveguides. We carry out numerical calculations and simulations for controlled collisional interactions between OFMTs and addressable single atoms' manipulation on our designed hybrid atom chips. The results show that our proposed platform is feasible and flexible, which has wide applications including collisional dynamics investigation, entanglement generation, and scalable quantum gates implementation.


Body mass index (BMI) in conjunction with indices of energy turnover, e.g. physical activity levels (PAL), was recently proposed for classifying adult chronic energy deficiency (CED). Three deprived populations in Africa and Asia were chosen to assess the classification system. Repeated monitoring showed that the combined indicator was affected by instability in PALs and produced implausible discontinuities in the prevalence of different grades of CED. The use of BMI alone produced coherent data with changing BMI distributions, and only 5% of the population would have been wrongly classified as being malnourished, because of being thin but active. The risk of misclassification would be even smaller for populations with BMI distribution shifted towards the right. The prevalence of CED was consistently related within each country to indices of socio-economic status. Yet in Zimbabwe 18% of women and 6% of men had Grade I obesity compared with 11% and 14%, respectively, with CED. Less than 1% Indian and Ethiopian adults were obese but 61% of women and 70% of men were classified as CED in India and 57% and 50%, respectively, in Ethiopia. We propose that adult BMI alone is sufficient to provide important new insights into the problems of food availability and its control in less developed countries.


Purpose – This paper explores the role of interorganizational projects, embedded within the firm's network of relationships, in the building of competitive advantage. Projects play a relevant role in terms of accomplishing strategic objectives and developing strategies and competitive advantage. Projects can be developed in an interorganizational context within industrial networks. However, due to the complexity of industrial networks, the relevance of interorganizational projects is difficult to evaluate. Design/methodology/approach – The research was developed using a case study approach. Four cases were selected, each representing an interorganizational project. The studied interorganizational projects from the Portuguese textile and clothing industry were analyzed within the framework of industrial networks, composed of actors, resources and activities. Findings – By analyzing four interorganizational projects, this paper explores the role of project networks as a source of competitive advantage by analyzing how the set of actors, resources and activities within each project evolve over time. Originality/value – The paper describes the main features of the studied project networks (temporary nature; aims; dynamics and complexity of relationships; informality and trust) and how these features are important for competitive advantage.


BACKGROUND
Although awareness of the relevance of leprosy and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection is increasing worldwide, several aspects of this co-occurrence are not fully understood.

METHODS
We describe clinical, pathological, immunological, and therapeutic long-term follow-up of a cohort of 25 individuals with leprosy and HIV infection from Manaus, Amazonas.

RESULTS
Careful description of our cohort indicates a higher prevalence of leprosy in an HIV-positive population than that in the general population. We also observed upgrading shifting of leprosy clinical forms after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy and multidrug therapy and an impact of HIV infection on leprosy granuloma formation, among other features.

CONCLUSION
Taken together, these new insights allow the proposition of a classification system that includes (1) leprosy and HIV true coinfection, (2) opportunistic leprosy disease, and (3) leprosy related to highly active antiretroviral therapy.


Background To study the effect of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT1) on Marveld1 in hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), and explore its role in the molecular mechanism of HCC occurrence and development. Methods The expression levels of Dnmt1 and Marveld1 genes were detected by RT-PCR in the intraoperative pathological specimens. The human hepatoma Bel7402 and SMMC7721 cell lines down-regulated by DNMT1 gene expression were constructed by SiRNA transfection. The methylation level of Marveld1 promoter region was detected after RT-PCR and West-blot verification. The expression of Marveld1 gene, cell proliferation, invasion and change of cell cycle were detected by RT-PCR and West-blot. The expressions of P53, CyclinD1, and P21 and P16 protein were detected by West-blot method. Results The expression of DNMT1 gene in human hepatocarcinoma tissues was higher than that in adjacent tissues. The methylation level of the Marveld1 gene promoter region in human hepatoma cell line down-regulated by DNMT1 gene expression was decreased, the expression level of Marveld1 gene was increased, and the proliferation and invasion ability of cells were weakened. The cell cycle was showed as G1-S phase arrest; P53 and P16 protein expressions were up-regulated, and CyclinD1 and P21 protein expressions were down-regulated. Conclusions Dnmt1 gene is highly expressed in human hepatocarcinoma tissues. Down-regulation of DNMT1 gene expression can decrease the methylation level of Marveld1 promoter region, up-regulate Marveld1 gene and human P53 and P16 proteins expressions, and down-regulate CyclinD1 and P21 proteins expressions, inhibit the proliferation and invasion of human hepatoma cells and can cause cell cycle G1-S arrest.


In spite of an impressive increase in CNS drug discovery, the biggest obstacle remains the effective delivery of these agents across the blood brain barrier, hence the delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain is limited by the presence of the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). In the basic science of brain physiology and disease in the past decade, delivery issues have received minimal attention. Current estimates are that 98% of all small molecule drugs minimally cross the BBB, and negligible amounts of large molecule drugs cross the BBB, except leakage in areas of BBB dysfunction. Lipid soluble drugs with a molecular weight under 400-600 daltons are transported to through a blood-brain barrier by lipid mediated transport. This hindrance has slowed the application of pharmacotherapy and immunotherapy in brain diseases. Hence it is important to unite brain targeted drug discovery and CNS drug delivery as early as possible for CNS drug development process. In this report we review the major advances in brain drug targeting research, including approaches to circumvent the BBB for brain delivery by making use of endogenous transport mechanisms or bypassing the BBB altogether. Among all the approaches used for increasing brain delivery of drugs, the most accepted method is the use of the physiological approach. The physiological approach use specific receptors already expressed on the capillary endothelial cells forming the BBB and necessary for the survival of brain cells. This review intends to detail the recent advances in the field of brain-targeting and drug delivery to CNS.


TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome is an autoinflammatory disorder caused by autosomal‐dominant mutations in TNFRSF1A, the gene encoding for TNFR superfamily 1A. The lack of knowledge in the field of TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome biology is clear, particularly in the context of control of immune self‐tolerance. We investigated how TNF‐α/TNFR superfamily 1A signaling can affect T cell biology, focusing on conventional CD4+CD25− and regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cell functions in patients with TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome carrying either high or low penetrance TNFRSF1A mutations. Specifically, we observed that in high penetrance TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome, at the molecular level, these alterations were secondary to a hyperactivation of the ERK1/2, STAT1/3/5, mammalian target of rapamycin, and NF‐κB pathways in conventional T cells. In addition, these patients had a lower frequency of peripheral regulatory T cells, which also displayed a defective suppressive phenotype. These alterations were partially found in low penetrance TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome, suggesting a specific link between the penetrance of the TNFRSF1A mutation and the observed T cell phenotype. Taken together, our data envision a novel role for adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis of TNFR‐associated periodic syndrome involving both CD4+ conventional T cells and Tregs, suggesting a novel mechanism of inflammation in the context of autoinflammatory disorders.


This article explores the clinical value of preventing the use of PEGylated recombinant human granulocyte stimulating factor in the prevention of myelosuppression during concurrent chemoradiotherapy of cervical cancer. The study group received PEG⁃rhG⁃CSF 6mg subcutaneous injection + recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG - CSF) 150ug subcutaneous injection when ANC decreased for the first time in concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Analysis of ANC and ANC reduction at each time in each group of patients led to delayed incidence of chemoradiotherapy and time to adverse reaction. The results showed that the ANC of the study group was significantly higher than that of the control group at each time after administration, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The ANC of the study group patients returned to normal after 48 hours of administration. The incidence of delayed chemoradiotherapy in the two groups after treatment was 24% and 65%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in adverse drug reactions between the two groups after administration. The time to remission of fever and bone pain after administration was significantly shorter in the study group than in the control group (P<0.05). Prevention of PEG⁃rhG⁃CSF can reduce the incidence of ANC reduction, and it has important clinical value in reducing the treatment discontinuation caused by myelosuppression and improving the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with cervical cancer.


Indonesian dried-salted fish (DSF) was produced from skipjack tuna by soaking the flesh in 15% NaCl (DSF I) or 25% NaCl (DSF II). The DSFs were then hydrolyzed by trypsin, chymotrypsin, Pronase E, and pepsin. Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was measured. The pepsin digest showed the highest inhibitory activity (IC50; 0.63 mg protein/ml). DSF II hydrolysate had higher inhibitory activity than that in DSF I. A three-month storage period of DSF gave higher ACE-inhibitory activity than that of 6 months. An oral administration of pepsin hydrolysate significantly decreased the blood pressure of rats. From the purification steps, at least 4 inhibitor peptides were found. The amino acid sequences of the peptides were Val-Ala-Trp-Lys-Leu, Trp-Ser-Lys-Val-Val-Leu, Ser-Lys-Val-Pro-Pro, and Cys-Trp-Leu-Pro-Val-Tyr, with an IC50 value of 31.97, 156.28, 74.22, and 22.20 microM, respectively.


The main goal of this text is the study about life. The Christian brother`s thought and action G.M. Bruno, San Miguel Febres Cordero. He is one of the scholar texts authors with the highest influence on Latin America at the end of century XIX and in the first half of XX. Arimetic, Algebra and geometrics texts from Christian Brother G.M. Bruno are remembered; those texts created Colombian and Ecuatorian people and others from other Latin American countries. He wrote more that fifty texts in Spanish and Literature, Spelling, Physics, Botany, Religion, Sacred History, Logarithm Chart, Accounting among others. The collection texts from G.M. Bruno is one of the most diverse and of importance in the Latin America Textology.