This paper supplements a previous study. Its purpose is to clarify the position occupied by the supercharged-and-intercooled cycle variant of the free-piston-and-turbine compound engine relative to the simple cycle. Two points of view are employed in these considerations—one relating to question of whether or not to supercharge an existing simple-cycle prototype; and the second relating to the basic decision of whether to develop a supercharged-and-intercooled cycle, or alternatively to develop the simple cycle for the same degree of pressure charging of the engine cylinder. From the first viewpoint, as an example, it appears to be attractive to supercharge a 6:1 pressure-ratio simple cycle up to 8:1 by a blower of 1.33 pressure ratio. The gain is roughly 50 per cent in power output and this must be weighed against the additional complexity, bulk, weight, and cost associated with the supercharger and its turbine drive, together with the intercooler and its ducting. Moreover, the cylinder combustion rate is increased in proportion to the power gain so that cylinder and piston heat problems are more severe. From the second viewpoint, the supercharged-and-intercooled cycle possesses no significant advantages and many disadvantages.


Whether nonhuman primates avoid copulating with close kin living in their social group is controversial. If sexual aversion to relatives occurs, it should be stronger in females than in males because of females' greater investment in each offspring and hence greater costs resulting from less viable offspring. Data presented here show that adult male rhesus macaques breeding in their natal groups at Cayo Santiago experienced high copulatory success, but copulated less with females of their own matrilineages than with females of other matrilineages. Adult females were never observed to copulate with males of their own matrilineage during their fertile periods. Although natal males sometimes courted their relatives, examination of two measures of female mate choice showed that females chose unrelated natal males over male kin. Female aversion to male kin was specific to the sexual context; during the birth season, females did not discriminate against their male relatives in distributing grooming. Evolved inbreeding avoidance mechanisms probably produce different outcomes at Cayo Santiago than in wild rhesus macaque populations. Gender differences in sexual aversion to relatives may be partly responsible for differences between studies in reported frequency of copulations by related pairs.


We present an implementation of the inverse compositional algorithm for parametric motion estimation. It computes a global motion between two images using a non-linear least square technique. Our implementation allows computing several types of planar transformations, such as translations, similarities, affinities or homographies. The algorithm is iterative so it typically yields solutions with high accuracy. The use of robust error functions, different from the L 2 norm, improves the stability of the method under the presence of noise and occlusions, and allows it to detect the predominant motion, even if there are several types of displacements. The method works with multi-channel images and makes use of a coarse–to–fine strategy for dealing with large displacements.


We provide a comprehensive investigation of different custom and off-the-shelf architectures as well as different approaches to generating feature vectors for offensive language detection. We also show that these approaches work well on small and noisy datasets such as on the Offensive Language Identification Dataset (OLID), so it should be possible to use them for other applications.


Sparse matrix-matrix multiplication (SpGEMM) is a computational primitive that is widely used in areas ranging from traditional numerical applications to recent big data analysis and machine learning. Although many SpGEMM algorithms have been proposed, hardware specific optimizations for multi- and many-core processors are lacking and a detailed analysis of their performance under various use cases and matrices is not available. We firstly identify and mitigate multiple bottlenecks with memory management and thread scheduling on Intel Xeon Phi (Knights Landing or KNL). Specifically targeting multi- and many-core processors, we develop a hash-table-based algorithm and optimize a heap-based shared-memory SpGEMM algorithm. We examine their performance together with other publicly available codes. Different from the literature, our evaluation also includes use cases that are representative of real graph algorithms, such as multi-source breadth-first search or triangle counting. Our hash-table and heap-based algorithms are showing significant speedups from libraries in the majority of the cases while different algorithms dominate the other scenarios with different matrix size, sparsity, compression factor and operation type. We wrap up in-depth evaluation results and make a recipe to give the best SpGEMM algorithm for target scenario. A critical finding is that hash-table-based SpGEMM gets a significant performance boost if the nonzeros are not required to be sorted within each row of the output matrix.


Preservation effects of modified atmosphere package (MAP) combined with nisin on fresh Atlantic salmon was determined. Six groups of farmed Atlantic salmon were purchased from local market and treated with using MAP (19 % CO2 / 70 % N2 /11 % O2 , 38 % CO2 / 51 % N2 /11 % O2 and air) with and without nisin (400 IU/g). Microbiological enumeration (aerobic plate count, psychrotrophic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria) and the TVB-N test were determined on Day 0, 2, 4, 7 and 10. Package headspace and sensory evaluation were also conducted on Day 0, 2 and 4. The presence of CO2 effectively inhibited the growth of all three types of bacteria while nisin significantly inhibited the growth of aerobic microorganisms and had less impact on lactic acid bacteria. TVB-N test indicated that CO2 delayed the spoilage of Atlantic salmon while nisin had a lesser but measurable impact on Atlantic salmon shelf-life. The experiments support the potential for the combination between modified atmosphere package and nisin as an effective method to limit the spoilage of Atlantic salmon compare to traditional preservation methods.


During the recent years the performance of high power diode lasers in terms of output power and lifetime has increased significantly. However, for many applications not only a high output power but also a good beam quality is necessary -- in other terms, high brightness is required. While the beam quality of classical broad area-type high power diode lasers is poor, special laser structures have been developed to achieve an improved beam quality. Examples are the tapered laser, the alpha-DFB-laser and -- the latest development -- the so-called "z-laser." The z-laser uses internal total reflection for the suppression of higher-order modes. The effectiveness of this working principle was first demonstrated by performing extensive numerical simulations. During the last year the first z-laser structures have been processed and characterized. The experimental results of these first test lasers are compared with the predictions from the numerical simulations and show a very good agreement. With these first lasers, approximately 500 mW output power at 6-times diffraction limited beam quality have been demonstrated. Nevertheless, there are also some not well understood features of the z-laser to be investigated, like a reduced conversion efficiency and untypical characteristic curves showing kinks. Understanding these features, demonstrating the reproducibility of the structure and further performance improvements are the goals of current rsearch.


A large number of genetically modified mice are now available that can be used to elucidate the role of the deleted, mutated, or over-expressed genes for regulation of physiological functions. The impact of anaesthesia on physiological parameters in the mouse is such that it could overshadow subtle changes induced by gene manipulation. Therefore, many approaches have been attempted to measure physiological parameters in conscious mice (Janssen and Smits, 2002). A major control mechanism is the sympathetic nervous system, yet there have been few reports of its successful measurement in the conscious mouse. In the present study, we report a method to reliably measure renal sympathetic nerve activity in freely moving mice. C57BL/6J mice (n=4), weighing over ~ 25g, were used for all experiments. Procedures were undertaken in accordance with National guidelines. Mice were anaesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (45 mg Kg-1 I.P.). Electrodes were implanted for the measurement of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA), using an adaption of the method employed in rats (Miki et al. 2002). Briefly, the left kidney was exposed retroperitoneally. The sympathetic nerves running alongside the renal artery or vein were carefully dissected free of connective tissue. A piece of laboratory film (~1 mm x 2 mm) was placed under the dissected nerve. The two tips of the electrodes were hooked onto the nerve by placing the electrodes between the renal nerve and the sheet. The exposed nerve and the electrode were embedded in a two-component silicone gel (932, Wacher-Chemie, Munich, Germany). Subsequently, the electrode for the measurement of the electrocardiogram (ECG) was also implanted. After 2 days of recovery, recordings were carried out in a sound attenuated, temperature (24°C) controlled chamber. Animals were killed with an anaesthetic overdose. Data (means ± S.E.M.) were subjected to the Fisher's least significant difference test and significance taken as P<0.05. The renal sympathetic nerve activity was recorded successfully without contamination by external noise such as that from the electrocardiogram and/or electromyogram. The renal sympathetic nerve activity was increased to 299 ± 12 % (P<0.05) during movement from 100% of the non-REM and quiet awake state and heart rate was concomitantly increased from 576 ± 3 beats min-1 of the non-REM sleep and quiet awake level to 706 ± 3 beats min-1 (P<0.05). Successful recordings could be made for up to 5 days. This novel method for measurement of the RSNA could be usefully employed in studies on the role of sympathetic nerve activity in regulating physiological function in genetically modified mice.


Copper is an essential trace element for organisms, but when in excess, copper's redox potential enhances oxyradical formation and increases cellular oxidative stress. Copper is a major pollutant in Jamaica Bay and other aquatic areas. Bivalves are filter feeders that accumulate heavy metals and other pollutants from their environment. Previously it was determined that seed from the bivalve Crassostrea virginica, transplanted from an oyster farm to Jamaica Bay readily accumulated copper and other pollutants into their tissues. In the present study we utilized Atomic Absorption Spectrometry to measure the uptake of copper into C. virginica gill in the presence and absence of three potential copper -blocking agents: diltiazem, lanthanum, and p-aminosalicyclic acid. Diltiazem and lanthanum are known calcium-channel blockers and p-aminosalicylic acid is an anti-infammarory agent with possible metal chelating properties. We also used the DMAB-Rhodanine histochemistry staining technique to confirm that copper was entering gill cells. Our result showed that diltiazem and p-aminosalicyclic acid reduced copper accumulations in the gill, while lanthanum did not. DMAB-Rhodanine histochemistry showed enhanced cellular copper staining in copper-treated samples and further demonstrated that diltiazem was able to reduce copper uptake. The accumulation of copper into oyster gill and its potential toxic effects could be of physiological significance to the growth and long term health of oysters and other marine animals living in a copper polluted environment. Identifying agents that block cellular copper uptake will further the understanding of metal transport mechanisms and may be beneficial in the therapeutic treatment of copper toxicity in humans.


The demonstration by Anitschkow1that cholesterol is the biochemical factor responsible for the experimental production of atherosclerosis marked the beginning of modern experimental and clinical investigation into the cause, prevention, and treatment of atherosclerosis. The extent and variety of studies initiated by those original findings almost half a century ago is evidenced by the profuse bibliography appended to any of the recent reviews of the subject. Although the observations noted in this mass of reports are often contradictory and controls adequate to allow for correlation between different studies has been lacking, the general idea is well established that there is an important relationship between the concentration of cholesterol in the blood plasma and the development of atherosclerosis. Recent studies, notably those by Kellner and his associates,2stressed the importance of the physiochemical phenomenon associated with the maintenance of cholesterol and serum lipids in a stable emulsion. The present


MOTIVATION
Biomarkers with prognostic ability and biological interpretability can be used to support decision-making in the survival analysis. Genes usually form functional modules to play synergistic roles, such as pathways. Predicting significant features from the functional level can effectively reduce the adverse effects of heterogeneity and obtain more reproducible and interpretable biomarkers. Personalized pathway activation inference can quantify the dysregulation of essential pathways involved in the initiation and progression of cancers, and can contribute to the development of personalized medical treatments.

RESULTS
In this study, we propose a novel method to evaluate personalized pathway activation based on signalling entropy for survival analysis (SEPA), which is a new attempt to introduce the information-theoretic entropy in generating pathway representation for each patient. SEPA effectively integrates pathway-level information into gene expression data, converting the high-dimensional gene expression data into the low-dimensional biological pathway activation scores. SEPA shows its classification power on the prognostic pan-cancer genomic data, and the potential pathway markers identified based on SEPA have statistical significance in the discrimination of high-risk and low-risk cohorts and are likely to be associated with the initiation and progress of cancers. The results show that SEPA scores can be used as an indicator to precisely distinguish cancer patients with different clinical outcomes, and identify important pathway features with strong discriminative power and biological interpretability.

AVAILABILITY
The MATLAB-package for SEPA is freely available from https://github.com/xingyili/SEPA.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Background An increasing body of evidence supports early palliative care involvement in oncology as improving quality of life, advance care planning and decision making. Patients with brain tumours experience high symptom, social and psychological burden and those with lower grade tumours may struggle to access palliative care services earlier in their disease trajectory. This tumour site has not been studied in any previous work on early intervention or joint working. This service review looks at a joint oncology/palliative care, consultant delivered, brain tumour clinic. Methods Records of 133 consecutive consultations (82 patients) were analysed for demographics, diagnosis, clinician seen, primary purpose of appointment and additional topics addressed. For a cohort of patients from each diagnostic group, all consultations since diagnosis were reviewed to establish any patterns of engagement over time and disease progression. Results 43.6% of consultations were with the palliative care consultant (PCC). Longitudinally, 81.8% of patients saw the PCC at least once. Whilst PCC (60.3%) and oncologist (62.6%) had a similar proportion of complex consultations (those dealing with at least one additional topic) for the oncologist these were concentrated in new patient consultations and treatment decisions (63%) and for patients with glioblastomas (60.1%); whereas for the PCC, complex consultations were distributed across all tumour types except pituitary and predominantly occurred in routine reviews (76.5%). Levels of complexity were comparable in patients with lower grade gliomas or meningioma to those with glioblastomas. Conclusions This analysis demonstrates a high level of complex need in patients with brain tumours and particularly for those with lower grade tumours over the very prolonged course of their disease. Integrated working appears to facilitate early involvement of palliative care and collaborative care, with patients accessing the most appropriate clinician for their current needs.


This paper illustrates the design and realization of a novel measurement system for the acquisition and dynamic analysis of interface pressure data and continuous monitoring of the center of pressure of a seated person. The system is composed of a capacitive sensor matrix, the electronics for the acquisition and preprocessing of the signal, and a software application for displaying data on a personal computer screen. The scope of this device is to obtain a system that is able to detect important parameters without being perceived by the subject and to evaluate the feeling of discomfort, pain and, eventually, to early detect the development of pressure ulcers. The continuous and automatic measurement of the individual's movements contributes to the assessment of the psychological-physical condition of the person and in particular to the detection of the level of comfort and discomfort during long periods of sitting.


In health and disease, biomolecules, which are involved in gene expression, recombination, or reprogramming have to traffic through the nucleoplasm, between nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) and genomic DNA (gDNA). This trafficking is guided by the recently revealed nuclear routing networks (NRNs).In this study, we aimed to investigate, if the NRNs have established associations with the genomic DNA in situ and if the NRNs have capabilities to bind the DNA de novo. Moreover, we aimed to study further, if nucleoplasmic trafficking of the histones, rRNA, and transgenes' vectors, between the NPCs and gDNA, is guided by the NRNs.We used Xenopus laevis oocytes as the model system. We engineered the transgenes' DNA vectors equipped with the SV40 LTA nuclear localization signals (NLS) and/or HIV Rev nuclear export signals (NES). We purified histones, 5S rRNA, and gDNA. We rendered all these molecules superparamagnetic and fluorescent for detection with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).The NRNs span between the NPCs and genomic DNA. They form firm bonds with the gDNA in situ. After complete digestion of the nucleic acids with the RNases and DNases, the newly added DNA - modified with the dNTP analogs, bonds firmly to the NRNs. Moreover, the NRNs guide the trafficking of the DNA transgenes' vectors - modified with the SV40 LTA NLS, following their import into the nuclei through the NPCs. The pathway is identical to that of histones. The NRNs also guide the trafficking of the DNA transgenes' vectors, modified with the HIV Rev NES, to the NPCs, followed by their export out of the nuclei. Ribosomal RNAs follow the same pathway.To summarize, the NRNs are the structures connecting the NPCs and the gDNA. They guide the trafficking of the biomolecules between the NPCs and the gDNA.


A neural network method for reducing data dimensionality based on the concept of input training, in which each input pattern is not fixed but adjusted along with internal network parameters to reproduce its corresponding output pattern, is presented. With input adjustment, a property configured network can be trained to reproduce a given data set with minimum distortion; the trained network inputs provide reduced data.

A three-layer network with input training can perform all functions of a flue-layer autoassociative network, essentially capturing nonlinear correlations among data. In addition, simultaneous training of a network and its inputs is shown to be significantly more efficient in reducing data dimensionality than training an autoassociative network The concept of input training is closely related to principal component analysis (PCA) and the principal curve method, which is a nonlinear extension of PCA.


Background Blau Syndrome (BS) is a rare autosomal dominant inflammatory disease characterized by early-onset granulomatous arthritis, dermatitis and recurrent uveitis (1). Mutations in the nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) of CARD15/NOD2 gene (mainly R334W, R334Q and L469F) have been identified in Blau syndrome (2). Despite advances in BS knowledge, patients' functional prognosis remains uncertain, BS potentially leading to visual impairment or joint deformities. Optimal treatments have not been determinated yet. Objectives To assess the efficacy of several biologic agents in this affection Methods We conduct an observational, international, retrospective cohort of BS collecting clinical, biological and histological data. Results Among the twenty-three patients included in the cohort, 14 patients were treated by one or several lines of biologic agents, mostly by TNF blockers (80%), IL1 blockers (16%) or treatment targeting CTLA-4 (4%). Fifty-seven percent of patients achieved remission after almost two lines of treatment (1.75 lines; [0.8–2.7]). Association with csDMARDs did not significantly improved response to biologics. Considering the 3 mains symptoms independently, TNF blockers were associated with a better response in case of articular or skin features but less effective in case of ocular involvement, a clinical situation in which IL-1 targeting should be preferentially chosen. Conclusions Biologic treatments appeared to be effective in BS but additional data prospectively collected are still needed in order to define their place in the therapeutic strategy in order to minimize functional consequences. References Blau EB. Familial granulomatous arthritis, iritis, and rash. The Journal of pediatrics. 1985 Nov;107(5):689–93. PubMed PMID: 4056967. Epub 1985/11/01. eng. Miceli-Richard C, Lesage S, Rybojad M, Prieur AM, Manouvrier-Hanu S, Hafner R, et al. CARD15 mutations in Blau syndrome. Nature genetics. 2001 Sep;29(1):19–20. PubMed PMID: 11528384. Epub 2001/08/31. eng. Disclosure of Interest None declared


A digitally tunable laser using a ladder filter and a ring resonator has been developed. The widely tunable ladder filter selects one channel from the periodic channels of the ring resonator. The fabricated device connected with a fiber amplifier acts as a 31-channel 100-GHz-spacing digitally tunable laser.


Abstract The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a key initiative aimed at improving water quality throughout the EU. The development of the computer technologies enables us to solve the ecological problems in water management practice very efficiently. The mathematical and numerical modelling allows evaluating various situations of contaminants spread in rivers (from everyday wastewater disposal through the fatal discharges of toxic substances) without immediate destructive impact on the environment. The paper deals with 1-dimensional numerical model HEC-RAS and its response on various values of dispersion coefficient. This parameter is one of the most important input data for simulation of pollution spread in streams. There were performed tracer experiments in the Malá Nitra River and results of these measurements are compared with results of numerical simulations. The values of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient were estimated from this comparison. The range of mean values of this coefficient determined on the base of numerical model application was 0.05 – 0.13 m2 s−1, for the other flow condition it was 0.07 – 2.5 m2 s−1 or 0.28 – 0.6 m2 s−1. The next task was carrying out the model sensitivity analysis, which means to evaluate input data influences, especially longitudinal dispersion coefficient, on outputs computed by 1-dimensional simulation model HEC-RAS. According to the results it can be said that the model HEC-RAS responds to longitudinal dispersion coefficient value changes adequately, suitably and proportionately. The application of the model HEC-RAS demonstrated the eligibility for simulation of pollution spread in streams, which means that it is a suitable tool allowing a reasonable support in decision making process connected to river water quality management.


The wavelength filter synthesis problem in distributed feedback reflection filters is solved using variational optimization. Near ideal response is achievefi by using appropriate window functions. These responses have the narrowest stopband widths for a particular side-lobe suppression level. In particular, an analytic design formula approximating these ideal windowing functions is given for filters requiring -30 dB to -60-dB sidelobe suppression.


In the past ten years, a number of important studies synthesizing scholarship on gender and colonialisms have been published, providing complex and multilayered insights into power relations between men and women, colonizers and colonized, post-independence leaders and postindependence populations 1 – which in turn enable us to have a much more nuanced understanding of such binary oppositions. The challenge of applying a gendered perspective to the study of colonial experiences has not only been to reintegrate women into colonial narratives - "women" is of course not synonymous with "gender" – but also and above all to engage in an epistemological rethinking of the categories, methodologies, and sources we use. Approaching colonialisms through gender is one means of moving away from the opposition between metropole and periphery, multiplying and provincializing metropolitan sites. The gendered approach is key in demarginalizing colonial experiences, analyzing these as highly complex issues, and highlighting the ambiguities which lie at the heart of colonial systems and their practices. We consider here colonialism as the ability of a polity to project its influence beyond its own geographical borders and render selectively permeable the boundaries of other polities through domination. One of the objectives, therefore, of this special issue is to trace some of the responses to the experiences of European rule in Africa, highlighting the differences between gendered discourses and practices. Another aim is to surpass the


In order to improve the reliability of urban road network operation evaluation, the road network regional Partition methods were launched in this paper. The geographic grid was introduced first, and a 4-level road network model was defined. Then, the spatial analysis based urban road network division method was proposed by analyzing the characteristics of road network operation. This method can reflect the influence between adjacent regional units, and improve the reliability of urban road network division. Finally, this research took a certain area in Beijing as a case study, and divided the road network as several regional units. Macroscopic evaluation result shows that it is effective for scientifically describing the road network operation status.


BACKGROUND
Studies of different vaccine constructs have demonstrated variable efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in animal models. Despite the fact that these vaccines have used one or another of a very small number of immunodominant antigens, a direct comparison of the relative efficacy of the antigens and delivery systems has been difficult, because the studies have used different parameters for assessment.

METHODS
We compared the efficacies of the most commonly used vaccine constructs--adjuvanted protein, plasmid DNA, and live bacterial vectors--bearing the immunodominant secreted antigens early secreted antigen target-6 and antigen 85B, either alone or as a fusion protein. Mice were vaccinated with these constructs, and the effects of different delivery systems on protective efficacy (as assessed by survival studies and by monitoring bacterial load) and antigen-specific responses (including the contribution of CD4 and CD8 T cells to these responses) were assayed by various methods.

RESULTS
The relative efficacy of different vaccines is dependent on the delivery system, the antigen, and the animal model. Likewise, the relative immunodominance of individual antigens in the fusion molecule is altered by the choice of delivery system.

CONCLUSION
These results clearly demonstrate the importance of assessing vaccine function by use of multiple parameters and indicate which parameters are most reliable for assessing vaccine efficacy.


AIM
To search for compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases through prodrug structural modifications of cyclovirobuxine D, a single efficient composition distilled from Box plant in China, which was used to treat angina and myocardial infarction.

METHODS
According to prodrug design principle, a series of cyclovirobuxine D analogues were prepared, suc as succinate, phosphate and amino acid ester, and their biological activities were tested.

RESULTS
Seven new compounds were obtained and confirmed with 1H NMR, MS, and element analysis.

CONCLUSION
In pharmacology experiment, for treating arrhythmia induced by aconitine, succinate and amino acid ester of cyclovirobuxine D (I and VII) showed better activities than that of cyclovirobuxine D. The normal rhythm of the heart duration of I and VII were ( 11.53 +/- 7.62) min and (12.68 +/- 9.25) min, compared with 0.9% NaCl solution and cyclovirobuxine D, (2.36 +/- 1.68) min and (10.25 +/- 6.59) min (P < 0.01), respectively. Another pharmacology experiment, for treating arrhythmia induced by chloroform, the negative ratio of I and VII were 80% and 82%, compared with 0.9% NaCl solution and cyclovirobuxine D, 43% and 52% (P < 0.05), respectively. The difference between new compounds and cyclovirobuxine D was distinct.


A high adherence to a Mediterranean diet has been related to numerous beneficial effects in human health, including a lower incidence and mortality of prostate cancer (PCa). Olive oil is an important source of phenolic bioactive compounds, mainly hydroxytyrosol (HT), of this diet. Because of the growing interest of this compound and its derivatives as a cancer chemopreventive agent, we aimed to compare the in vitro effect of HT isolated from olive mill wastewaters and five semisynthetic alkyl ether, ester, and nitro-derivatives against prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines. The effect in cell proliferation was determined in RWPE-1, LNCaP, 22Rv1, and PC-3 cells by resazurin assay, the effect in cell migration by wound healing assay, and tumorsphere and colony formation were evaluated. The changes in key signaling pathways involved in carcinogenesis were assessed by using a phosphorylation pathway profiling array and by Western blotting. Antiproliferative effects of HT and two lipophilic derivatives [hydroxytyrosyl acetate (HT-Ac)/ethyl hydroxytyrosyl ether (HT-Et)] were significantly higher in cancerous PC-3 and 22Rv1 cells than in non-malignant RWPE-1 cells. HT/HT-Ac/HT-Et significantly reduced migration capacity in RWPE-1 and PC-3 and prostatosphere size and colony formation in 22Rv1, whereas only HT-Ac and HT-Et reduced these functional parameters in PC-3. The cytotoxic effect in 22Rv1 cells was correlated with modifications in the phosphorylation pattern of key proteins, including ERK1/2 and AKT. Consistently, HT-Ac and HT-Et decreased p-AKT levels in PC-3. In sum, our results suggest that HT and its lipophilic derivatives could be considered as potential therapeutic tools in PCa.


Abstract At present synchrotron and neutron sources are the preferred choice for PDF analysis, but there is clearly an increasing need for a PDF solution based on inhouse diffraction equipment. Such a solution, though limited, will benefit areas where quick feedback about the materials properties is important and will allow the routine application of PDF analysis for materials characterization in university laboratories as well as industrial R&D departments. One interesting application is the use of the PDF technique for comparing amorphous pharmaceutical substances [1]. It is worth mentioning that the use of in-house diffraction equipment for PDF analysis has been reported on numerous occasions (see for example [2–4]). This article describes the latest developments of laboratory X-ray equipment for PDF analysis and discusses some results obtained with such equipment. Three examples — C60, amorphous MoS3 and crystalline CeO2 — were chosen to demonstrate different aspects of PDF data collection optimization.


For pt.II see J. Phys. C: Solid State Phys., vol.21, p.4437 (1988). A formalism for an effective-Hamiltonian description of electron dynamics in inhomogeneously distorted crystal lattices which was recently developed by Brown in 1983 and Brown and Oldfield in 1988 is extended to include the effects of an externally applied magnetic field with slow spatial variation. Spatially averaged distortion-modified operators for velocity and acceleration are derived for wavepackets constructed from suitably defined Wannier functions and simplified expressions appropriate to the small-wavevector approximation are presented for these operators. The formalism is well suited to applications concerning the effects of lattice defects on magnetic orbits and magnetotransport properties.


Superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) X-ray spectrometers have been developed for synchrotron-based high-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy. We are quantifying the improvements in sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio that STJ spectrometers can offer for the analysis of dilute specimens over conventional semiconductor and grating spectrometers. We present analytical equations to quantify the improvements in terms of spectrometer resolution, detection efficiency and count rate capabilities as a function of line separation and spectral background. We discuss the implications of this analysis for L-edge spectroscopy of first-row transition metals.


Renal production of ammonia by the left kidney was studied in 31 acidotic dogs (NH(4)Cl) after acute constriction of the renal artery. Renal ammoniagenesis fell in direct proportion with the reduction in glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow. The renal extraction of glutamine by the experimental kidney fell in direct proportion with the reduction in renal hemodynamics. Extracted glutamine remained greater than filtered glutamine indicating that both the luminal and antiluminal transport sites were operative. The relationship between renal extraction of glutamine and ammoniagenesis observed during control was maintained after renal artery constriction (1.7 mumol NH(3) produced for each mumol of glutamine extracted). Systemic venous or renal intra-arterial infusion of glutamine during arterial constriction increased renal production of ammonia to or above control values. These observations indicate that the mechanisms responsible for glutamine extraction and ammonia production were operating normally despite reduced hemodynamics. When measured immediately after arterial clamping, the renal venous pNH(3) was found to rise significantly decreasing progressively thereafter towards control values. The extracted fraction of total glutamine delivered to the kidney (31%) did not change after acute reduction of the glutamine load. Thus, the antiluminal extraction site was incapable of lowering renal venous plasma glutamine concentration below 0.33 muM/ml. In a second series of experiments, the properties of the antiluminal site of transport for glutamine were studied after complete occlusion of the left ureter in acidotic and nonacidotic animals. Under these circumstances, it was demonstrated that the antiluminal site is capable of extracting sufficient glutamine to maintain total ammonia production at 60% or more of control. In acidotic animals, changes in cellular pNH(3) appeared to play a key role on the antiluminal extraction of glutamine since the significant rise in renal blood flow often observed after ureteral occlusion prevented the rise in pNH(3) noted when blood flow remained constant. Thus, when renal blood flow rose glutamine extraction and ammonia production were maintained at control values. In these acidotic animals, glutamine infusion failed to influence ammonia production until luminal transport was restored by release of ureteral clamp and resumption of glomerular filtration. The latter observation establishes that reabsorbed glutamine is utilized at least in part for ammonia production.


The success of tumor oncolytic virotherapy is limited by the poor penetration of virus in tumors. Interstitial collagen fibers and the narrow spacing between cancer cells are major barriers hindering the movement of large viral particles. To bypass the cellular barrier, we tested the hypothesis that the void space produced by cancer cell apoptosis enhances the initial spread and efficacy of oncolytic herpes simplex virus (HSV). In mice with mammary tumors, apoptosis was induced by doxycycline-regulated expression/activation of CD8/caspase-8, paclitaxel, or paclitaxel plus tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). In both collagen-poor and collagen-rich tumors, apoptosis or necrosis increased the initial intratumoral spread of HSV. Compared with the isolated pattern of HSV infection generally located in the center of control tumors, apoptosis induction and a single i.t. injection of virus produced an interconnected and diffuse pattern of infection, which extended from the tumor center to the periphery. This interconnected pattern of viral infection correlated with the formation of void spaces and channel-like structures in apoptosis-rich tumor areas. We also show that the i.t. injection of HSV after caspase-8 activation or paclitaxel-TRAIL pretreatment retards tumor growth, whereas HSV administration before tumor cell death induction did not improve therapeutic efficacy. Hence, our findings show that the induction of cancer cell death before the injection of oncolytic HSV enhances intratumoral virus delivery/penetration and antitumor efficacy.


Racial Capitalism's attempt to cast "diversity" as an impediment, perhaps the impediment, to our collective ambition to achieve racial reconciliation exposes Leong's fundamental misapprehension of diversity in both theory and practice. Leong attempts to indict diversity for our present system of exchanging racial identity in social status markets. The problem is that the commodification of race pre-existed the rise of diversity and will likely survive long past its demise if the late Derrick Bell's prediction about the permanence of racism holds true. Critiques of diversity are nothing new, even those from the left, but Leong does more than just assail the efficacy of diversity's means or the legitimacy of its ends. Racial Capitalism goes beyond prior critiques in attempting to render diversity not only bereft of its instrumental value, but also laden with harmful effects. On the former point Leong's critique is familiar even if more cynical. But the latter critique is novel and reveals the error of Leong's assumptions about the ways in which diversity operates both conceptually and practically. The trap into which Leong falls is not an unfamiliar one. She fails to recognize how diversity's instrumental approach to race diverges substantially from the remedial/corrective justice approach to race under affirmative action theory and practice. She critiques only some watered-down and ineffectual version of diversity. The more robust version of diversity has more instrumental value than Leong admits and less harmful effects. Rather than creating or even exacerbating the problems Leong has identified, diversity is instead endeavoring to achieve the egalitarian goals to which Leong herself says we should be aspiring, and it is producing tangible results along the way. Leong's theory of Racial Capitalism fails because, in essence, it sells diversity short.


The Sigma mine at Val d9Or, Quebec, in the Abitibi belt is typical of vein-type gold deposits in Archcan greenstone belts. Although the relative timing of gold mineralization with respect to magmatism, metamorphism, deformation, and hydrothermal events in the mine is well documented, precise isotopic age constraints have, until recently, been lacking. This paper presents the results of a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating study of the Sigma mine and of the Davidson-Tisdale deposit in the Abitibi belt. In the Sigma mine, dates on metamorphic amphibole indicate that the regional metamorphism, which predates the vein formation, occurred at ca. 2.68 Ga. Muscovite from the gold-bearing quartz veins yields a "plateau" date of 2579 + or - 9 Ma (2Sigma ), whereas biotite from the veins shows disturbed, saddle-shaped, age spectra. The mild disturbance of the biotite is attributed to later diabase dike emplacement, and a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar date on a dike indicates that this event is younger than 2.3 Ga. Thermal effects of the Grenville orogeny (1.2-1.0 Ga) may also be present. A muscovite separate from a gold-bearing quartz vein at the Davidson-Tisdale deposit yields a 2607 + or - 10 Ma (2Sigma ) plateau date. Although the amphibole and muscovite dates at the Sigma mine bracket the gold mineralization event at between ca. 2.68 and 2.58 Ga, a number of tectonothermal histories are possible for this time interval. It is concluded, based on all evidence, that the muscovite plateau dates are the time of vein and gold formation, which thus occurred in the Sigma mine ca. 100 m.y., and in the Davidson-Tisdale deposit ca. 70 m.y., after syn- to post-tectonic magmatism and regional metamorphism.


The idea of using oxidative iron (Fe6+) to manage fouling and potentially invasive and pathogenic species in ballast water has merit and is attractive when viewed in the broadest context. Ferrate (Fe6+) has potential in ballast water management because it reduces a complex global problem to a single issue, viz.how to dispose of the waste which is predominantly Fe3+. Waste iron disposal must be considered carefully because iron limits photosynthesis in oligotropthic oceans, alters physiological processes in bacteria and animals, produces reactive oxygen species, causes nitrosative stress and increased availability enhances the virulence of pathogenic bacteria. The case is made that the oxidative iron waste should be recycled rather than discharged into the ocean.


OBJECTIVE
To study impact of extra waters on immunosystem in mice-alkaline ionized water, mineral-ecology water, activated water, and pure water.

METHODS
According to Function Assessment and Experiment for Function Food, 1996, the ratio of spain and body weight, the ratio of thymus and body weight, the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), the phagocytosing functions by cock RBC, the plaque forming cell (PFC) and HC50 testing were assessment with 120 male Balb/c mice of 17.8 - 23.3 g (group I), the mice were divided into four group, and drank daily the four kinds of waters respectively until 50 days. The lymph cell transformation by ConA and NK cell activity were assessment with other l20 male Balb/c mice of 17.8 - 23.3 g (group II), the mice were divided into four group and drank daily the four kinds of waters respectively until 50 days. The phagocytosing functions by carbon powder were assessment with other 120 female Balb/c mice of 16.7 - 22.0 g (group III) were divided into four group and drank daily the four kinds of waters respectively until 50 days. The data were statisticed by Stata soft.

RESULTS
Other three waters compared with the pure water: (1) Alkaline ionized water and activated water can alleviate the body weight increase of male Balb/c mouse (P < 0.01 & P < 0.05), but alkaline ionized water, mineral-ecology water, activated water don't impact on the female Balb/c mouse body weight (P > 0.05). (2) Activated water can remarkably increase the ratio of thymus and body weight (P < 0.05), and increase the phagocytosing ability by cock RBC (P < 0.01), and increase the NK cell activity (P < 0.01). (3) The three extra waters don't impact on other items for the Balh/c mouce.

CONCLUSION
The study must be continued to impact on immunosystem in mice for extra waters.


Administration of a P2X4 receptor antagonist to asthma model mice improved asthma symptoms, suggesting that P2X4 receptor antagonists may be new therapeutics for asthma. However, the effects of these antagonists on tracheal/bronchial smooth muscle (TSM and BSM) have not been investigated. This study examined the effects of NP-1815-PX, a selective P2X4 receptor antagonist, on guinea pig TSM and BSM contractions. In epithelium-intact TSM, NP-1815-PX (10-5 M) strongly suppressed ATP-induced contractions. ATP-induced contractions were strongly suppressed by indomethacin (3 × 10-6 M) and ONO-8130 (a prostanoid EP1 receptor antagonist, 10-7 M). ATP-induced contractions were partially suppressed by SQ 29,548 (a prostanoid TP receptor antagonist, 3 × 10-7 M), although the difference was not significant. In contrast, ATP-induced contractions were not affected by AL 8810 (a prostanoid FP receptor antagonist, 10-5 M) or L-798,106 (a prostanoid EP3 receptor antagonist, 10-8 M). NP-1815-PX (10-5-10-4 M) strongly suppressed U46619 (a TP receptor agonist)- and prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α)-induced epithelium-denuded TSM and BSM contractions, which were largely inhibited by SQ 29,548. Additionally, NP-1815-PX (10-5-10-4 M) strongly suppressed the U46619-induced increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentrations in human TP receptor-expressing cells. However, NP-1815-PX (10-4 M) did not substantially inhibit the TSM/BSM contractions induced by carbachol, histamine, neurokinin A, or 50 mM KCl. These findings indicate that NP-1815-PX inhibits guinea pig TSM and BSM contractions mediated through the TP receptor, in addition to the P2X4 receptor, whose stimulation mainly induces EP1 receptor-related mechanisms. Thus, these findings support the usefulness of NP-1815-PX as a therapeutic drug for asthma.


Virtual environments are effective tools for the representation and communication of cultural heritage. We suggest that an interactive, immersive and dynamic navigation of the virtual representation of the urban environment will not only convey the essence of the culture and the changes it underwent in a more comprehensible manner, but will engender a 'sense of place'—genius loci— in the visitors. This cognitive mode will help them learn about much more than the geometry and materiality of the city: it will make them 'feel' part of the event itself. By presenting a socially shareable experience, we aim to introduce the medium the character of a genuine place, and make it a social venue for active exploration, discussion and interaction.

Virtual reality surpasses both traditional media and 3D-models and offers what they cannot. The affordances of the medium, however, also have the potential to destroy the sense of place it strives to engender. It can do so by allowing a kind of 'time travel,' to different periods in the history of the site. This ability locates visitors not
only spatially, but also temporally. Everyday experience helps us understand the meaning of spatial boundedness, but does not prepare us to deal with temporal boundedness: sensing the presence of fellow visitors at different times.
In this paper we describe our experiences in producing spatio-temporally navigable virtual reconstructions of two distinct culturally significant historic sites: the neolithic village of Catalhoyuk, and the medieval city of
Cairo. We demonstrate the use of spatio-temporal navigation through a dynamic, chronologically layered model that can be browsed by multiple users at the same time. Such a dynamic system for representing chronological architectural events requires the extension of our conception of place into the temporal domain. We introduce a new concept, temporal field of view (t-FOV) and discuss how it can aid us in resolving an intrinsic challenge introduced by the representation of the temporal dimension in virtual environments.


We present an efficient algorithm for simultaneously training sparse generalized linear models across many related problems, which may arise from bootstrapping, cross-validation and nonparametric permutation testing. Our approach leverages the redundancies across problems to obtain significant computational improvements relative to solving the problems sequentially by a conventional algorithm. We demonstrate our fast simultaneous training of generalized linear models (FaSTGLZ) algorithm on a number of real-world datasets, and we run otherwise computationally intensive bootstrapping and permutation test analyses that are typically necessary for obtaining statistically rigorous classification results and meaningful interpretation. Code is freely available at this http URL


The present invention relates to novel extracts of Piliostigma thonningii Schum. having antiviral action, the process for the preparation thereof, the therapeutical use thereof and formulations containing said extracts. These novel extracts are used in the treatment of pathologies of viral origin, such as herpetic, influenza and broncho-pulmonary diseases and they also proved to be active on HIV virus.


To the Editor:— Dr. Conroy questions our values for the O 2 concentrations obtained with the nasal cannulas and further doubts that the nasal cannula is an effective method for oxygen administration. It should be pointed out that our O 2 concentrations are not materially different from those previously reported with the older, heavy metal nasal cannulas and that, in our hospital, oxygen administration by this method has been effective clinically. Concern was expressed about our method for obtaining end-expiratory alveolar gas samples. As stated in our paper, each subject at the time of sampling exhaled completely into a Haldane-Priestley tube. In this technique the subject exhaled continuously, his expired gas bubbling through a sampling tube containing slightly acidified water. These sampling tubes provided for the trapping of the last 125 cc. of the forced expiratory volume under the water seal. This end-expiratory gas was then transferred into a mercury-sealed


In recent years, credit and debit cards have become a very convenient method of payment. The growing use of card payments, hereafter referred to as credit cards, is evident in the daily use with many applications, such as withdrawing money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and making payments in a store. Online payment has been very common these days, where the transaction is made across a great distance, allowing for online shopping. This has increased chance of credit cards experiencing a risk of cybersecurity attacks, particularly if the transaction amount is big enough. Another problem that arises is the potential fraud should a thief try to impersonate the credit card owner's identity. To overcome these obstacles, we propose a BioPay scheme that uses the fingerprint biotoken to replace the current plastic credit card. The BioPay scheme uses the biometric data (fingerprint), revocable fingerprint biotokens (Biotope), and Bipartite token to provide high authentication, non-repudiation, security and privacy for all payment transactions including money withdrawal from an ATM. The BioPay scheme collects biometric data (i.e. fingerprint) from users and embeds four-digit authentication numbers inside the encoding biometric data (i.e. fingerprint), finally distributing them over clouds. In the payment/withdrawal process, a user provides his/her fingerprint to complete the transaction. BioPay scheme insures that the transaction process performs on an encrypted form to provide security and privacy for the customer's bank information. Our experiment shows that BioPay has comparable accuracy and significant performance gain for performing the transaction process.


The forecast uncertainty was one of the causes of the recent economic crisis and its evaluation became more necessary nowadays. The aim of this paper is to build and assess different types of forecast intervals for quarterly inflation rate in Romania. The Bootstrap Bias-corrected-accelerated (BCA) forecast intervals outperformed the intervals based on historical errors, four out of six values of inflation rate being placed in the first type of intervals during Q3:2013-Q4:2014. The likelihood ratio tests and the chi-square test indicated that there are significant differences between the ex-ante probability of 0.95 and the real probabilities for both types of forecast intervals. As a methodological novelty, Monte Carlo and bootstrap simulations were used for assessing the uncertainty in inflation rate forecasts in Romania.


An on-load tap-changer (OLTC) is the most maintenance-intensive subassembly on a power transformer. Vibration monitoring is an effective technique that can be used to assess the condition of an OLTC effectively and nonintrusively. The authors have developed a condition monitoring system for common types of OLTCs that enables the condition of tap changer contacts and associated drive system to be inferred from vibration signals. A number of prototype systems have been installed onto OLTCs in distribution zone substations for field trials. Particular emphasis has been given to the detection of faults in a particular type of older tap-changer that had been prone to a range of faults associated with the switching contacts and drive mechanism. For this type of tap-changer, it is possible to determine not only that the tap-changer is aging but also to identify the particular part that is degrading.


Silent thyroiditis (ST) is the second major cause of thyrotoxicosis, following Graves' disease (GD) in Japan. Thyrotoxicosis develops differently in these two disorders: GD stimulates TSH receptors through antibody binding, while ST destroys follicles, probably through an autoimmune mechanism. Distinguishing between ST and GD depends mainly on serum TSH receptor antibody titer and radioactive iodine uptake. In our long-term observation of ST patients, ST recurred with a high incidence (65%, 35/54). Some ST patients developed GD later, and ST developed in patients with a history of GD. Thus, the differential diagnosis between these two diseases is very important, even when a patient has a history of either ST or GD. A simpler diagnostic test specific to ST would be of great use.


Background: Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is a heterogeneous disease with a poor prognosis. By using high resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and mRNA gene expression microarray of mCRC samples, we found up-regulation of RASAL2, a RAS GAP gene that is located on chromosome 1q, in colorectal tumors. Oncogenic RAS represents one of the most common molecular changes in human colorectal adenocarcinoma. However, the role of RASAL2 in colorectal adenocarcinoma metastasis and the related mechanisms are still unclear. We analyzed its aberrant expression, clinical significance and biological effects in colorectal cancer. Methods: Expression of RASAL2 was examined by QRT-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry in CRC cell lines, primary and metastatic CRC and the corresponding normal colonic mucosa. The biological effects of RASAL2 on proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, and cell motility and invasiveness were evaluated by siRNA knock down and RASAL2 reconstitution in CRC cell lines. Results: Up-regulation of RASAL2 mRNA was observed in CRC cell lines (n = 9) than normal colon mucosal tissues. Interestingly, significantly higher RASAL2 mRNA was found in cell lines derived from advanced stage tumors (n = 4, Dukes' C and D) than those from early stage tumors (n = 5, Dukes' A and B) (P = 0.0317). Up-regulation of RASAL2 mRNA was also found in primary CRCs (n = 77) compared with normal colon mucosa (n = 18, P We knocked down RASAL2 by siRNA in 2 CRC cell lines (DLD1 and HCT116) with high endogenous RASALs level. Successful knockdown was demonstrated by western blot analysis. SiRASAL2 significantly inhibited cell proliferation (P Conclusions: Up-regulation of RASAL2 was frequently found in CRC cell lines and primary and metastatic tumors. Our experimental findings suggested that RASAL2 might play an oncogenetic role in CRC and promotes tumor invasion and metastasis. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of RASAL2 in promoting CRC cell metastasis may lead to a more effective management of mCRC patients. Citation Format: Yi PAN, Joanna Hung Man TONG, Raymond Wai Ming LUNG, Samantha Wei Man LUN, Kwok Wai LO, Anthony Wing Hung CHAN, Ka Fai TO. RASAL2 promotes tumor progression and metastasis in colorectal cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1529.


Objectives The primary objective of this study was to describe the frequency of the most common presenting signs and symptoms of pericardial effusions, particularly with relation to the size of the effusion. The secondary objective was to review the final etiology of the pericardial effusion in those patients who had presented to a tertiary care pediatric emergency department. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of patients younger than 17 years who presented and were evaluated at the pediatric emergency department and subsequently diagnosed with a pericardial effusion during a period of 10 years. Results A total of 23 patients matched the inclusion criteria. The most common symptom was shortness of breath (65%), followed by fever (52%), fatigue (44%), and chest pain (44%). Shortness of breath (60%) and chest pain (60%) were the most frequent symptoms among patients with a small pericardial effusion. Fever (86%), cough (71%), and shortness of breath (71%) were the most frequent symptoms among patients with moderate pericardial effusion. In patients with large pericardial effusions, the most frequent symptoms were shortness of breath (63%) and abdominal pain (63%). Tachycardia (52%) and tachypnea (52%) were the most common abnormal vital signs. The most common etiology was cardiac (44%) and autoimmune disease (26%). Conclusions This study suggests that the presence of certain symptoms should be associated with a high index of suspicion for pericardial effusion for the pediatric emergency care physician.


Misalignment can be an important error source in the integration of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and an inertial navigation system (INS). This paper presents car test results to estimate alignment errors in the integration of a low-grade inertial measurement unit (IMU) with accurate GPS measurement systems. Car tests were conducted with a low-cost solid-state IMU and carrier-phase differential GPS measurement systems. Test results confirmed that the angular motion of the test car improves the estimation of the lever arm between the GPS antenna and IMU. They also showed that changes in acceleration improve the estimation of the relative attitude between the reference frames of a GPS antenna array and IMU. The lever arm was estimated with a ten-centimeter error. The relative attitude was estimated with a half-degree error. An iterative scheme was used to estimate the alignment errors during post-processing. The scheme was shown to be useful when the test car could not have sufficient changes in motion due to limitations in its path. With the given set of test data, the estimation error decreased as the number of iterations increased.


Many NLP learning tasks can be decomposed into several distinct sub-tasks, each associated with a partial label. In this paper we focus on a popular class of learning problems, sequence prediction applied to several sentiment analysis tasks, and suggest a modular learning approach in which different sub-tasks are learned using separate functional modules, combined to perform the final task while sharing information. Our experiments show this approach helps constrain the learning process and can alleviate some of the supervision efforts.


OBJECTIVES
The authors aim to present when to do physical therapy or surgery in geriatric patients with degenerative lumbar stenosis.

METHODS
The authors retrospectively analyzed 250 patients who underwent physical therapy due to lumbar degenerative stenosis between December 2014 and April 2017. The patients were divided into two groups: Central canal stenosis and lateral recess/foraminal stenosis groups. Visual analogue scale and neurological claudication values of both patient groups were evaluated before and after physical therapy. The association between comorbid diseases and the frequency of surgery was also evaluated.

RESULTS
142 of the patients were female and 108 were male, and the mean age of these patients was 69 years. The mean onset of symptoms was 55 months. In the visual analog scale value of patients after physical therapy, the authors observed decreases of 4-6° in patients with central canal stenosis and 2-3° in patients with lateral recess/foraminal stenosis. In addition, the authors observed that patients with lateral recess/foraminal stenosis together with diabetes mellitus benefit less from physical therapy.

CONCLUSION
Physical therapy and rehabilitation play an important role in the treatment of lumbar stenosis. Physical therapy is the primary treatment option for patients who do not have motor muscle strength losses and incontinence and who have pain control through medications. The authors can consider surgical interventions in patients with lateral recess/foraminal stenosis who do not benefit from physical therapy at a satisfactory level.


Myocardial fibrosis is closely associated with heart failure because myocardial fibrosis may cause the loss of normal cardiac function. Endoglin is a homeodimeric membrane glycoprotein, a co-receptor of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and β3. Endoglin is a potent mediator of profibrotic effects of angiotensin II on cardiac fibroblasts and can modulate the effect of TGF-β1 on extracellular matrix synthesis. These data indicate that endoglin plays an important role in fibrogenesis in cardiac remodeling. Endoglin induced by TGF-β1 is largely through PI-3 kinase, Akt, Smad3/4 and endoglin promoter pathways. Endoglin was upregulated in pressure- overload, volume-overload heart failure and acute myocardial infarction and was associated with myocardial fibrosis. Silencing endoglin expression could attenuate myocardial fibrosis and improve survival in animal study. Endoglin expression was increased in failing left ventricle before use of left ventricle assist device, and reduced back to control levels after use of left ventricle assist device. Targeting endoglin may provide a potentially unique and novel therapeutic approach for reducing myocardial fibrosis in patients with heart failure.


Electroporation is used to create pores within the membrane of living cells in order to deliver a substance, for example, a gene, into the cytoplasm. To achieve the high electric field gradients required to porate the membrane, current electroporation devices deliver voltage pulses in the kV range to the cell medium. We describe a new device based on gold-microtube membranes that can accomplish electroporation with voltage pulses that are orders of magnitude smaller, ≤5 V. This is possible because the voltage pulses are applied to the gold microtubes resulting in large electric field gradients down the length of the tubes. We used COMSOL simulations to calculate the electric field gradients, and these theoretical results were compared with known experimental values required to electroporate Escherichia coli. We developed two fluorescence-based methods to demonstrate successful electroporation of E. coli. The percentages of electroporated bacteria were found to be more than an order of magnitude higher than obtained with a commercial electroporator, although the voltage employed was 500 times lower. Furthermore, this microtube membrane device is flow through and is therefore capable of continuous, as opposed to batch-wise, electroporation and cell analysis. Cell throughput of >30 million cells per min, higher than any previously reported device, were obtained.


Theodor Kocher is credited with refining the technique of thyroidectomy and reducing the incidence of postoperative hemorrhage. He also recognized the importance of preservation of the parathyroid glands. His accomplishments led to a reduction in surgical mortality, from 50% to less than 4.5%. Additional improvements in technique have reduced the mortality rate to near zero. Morbidity, however, remains a concern for surgeons who perform thyroid surgery. Complications and sequelae of thyroid surgery are reviewed, including recurrent and superior laryngeal nerve injury, temporary hypocalcemia, permanent hypoparathyroidism, thyroid storm, bleeding, wound infection, and hypothyroidism. The association between the volume of thyroidectomies performed by a surgeon and outcome is also discussed in this chapter.


The single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian study faces a serious limitation and difficulty as we move away from finite - size lattices to larger N - dimensional lattices. Thus there is the need to develop the means of overcoming the finite - size lattice defects as we pass on to a higher dimension. In this work, a quantitative approximation to the one-band Hubbard model is presented using a variational analytic approach. The goal of this work, therefore, is to explore quantitatively the lowest ground-state energy and the pairing correlations in 3D N x N x N lattices of the Hubbard model. We developed the unit step model as an approximate solution to the single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian to solve variationally the correlation of two interacting elections on a three-dimensional cubic lattice. We also showed primarily how to derive possible electronic states available for several even and odd3D lattices, although, this work places more emphasis on a 3D 5 x 5 x 5 lattice. The results emerging from our present study compared favourably with the results of Gutzwiller variational approach (GVA) and correlated variational approach (CVA), at the large limit of the Coulomb interaction strength (U/4t). It is revealed in this study, that the repulsive Coulomb interaction which in part leads to the strong electronic correlations, would indicate that the two electron system prefer not to condense into s-wave superconducting singlet state (s = 0), at high positive values of the interaction strength.


Silver nanoparticles, the new generation of antimicrobial agents, are becoming one of the progressively growing products in nanotechnology. Meanwhile, the potential side effects of these nanoparticles have not been studied thoroughly yet. Macrophages, one of the most important immune cells in innate and acquired immune responses, are a key component of the clearance mechanisms in semi-open interfaces of human body against nanosilver (nano-Ag). In this experimental study, we assessed the effect of commercial colloidal nano-Ag on murine peritoneal macrophages by MTT and nitric oxide (NO) production assay in vitro. A significant decrease in cell viability was observed for 1 ppm (part per million) to 25 ppm of nano-Ag concentrations compared to the control group (P < 0.01) after 24 h of cell culture. Also, a significant decrease in the cell viability was observed for 2–25 ppm of nano-Ag concentrations after 48–72 h, respectively (P < 0.05). In our study, exposure to 0.4–25 ppm of colloidal nano-Ags brought about a considerable decline (P < 0.05) in NO production by macrophages. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of substantial difference at lower concentrations. This acute cytotoxic dose-dependent effect of nano-Ag particles on peritoneal macrophages which declines cell viability and NO production urges caution about the usage for sensitive surfaces. It is highly recommended to carry out the in vivo investigation for human to confirm its use.


Current results from the Lyman α forest assume that the primordial power spectrum of density perturbations follows a simple power-law form. We present the first analysis of Lyman α data to study the effect of relaxing this strong assumption on primordial and astrophysical constraints. We perform a large suite of numerical simulations, using them to calibrate a minimally parametric framework for describing the power spectrum. Combined with cross-validation, a statistical technique which prevents overfitting of the data, this framework allows us to reconstruct the power spectrum shape without strong prior assumptions. We find no evidence for deviation from scale-invariance; our analysis also shows that current Lyman α data do not have sufficient statistical power to robustly probe the shape of the power spectrum at these scales. In contrast, the ongoing Baryon Oscillation Sky Survey will be able to do so with high precision. Furthermore, this near-future data will be able to break degeneracies between the power spectrum shape and astrophysical parameters.


The present study examined the relation between individual cognitive structure and several key career decision variables. Specifically, in a sample of college students enrolled in a career development class, the usage of the RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) circumplex (adherence) was examined as it varied across individuals and with career certainty, career decision-making self-efficacy, and interest-occupation congruence. Individual adherence to the RIASEC circumplex as a cognitive structure was related to better career decision outcomes. Changes in adherence as a function of taking a career class were found to be associated with changes in career certainty, career decision-making self-efficacy, and interest-occupation congruence. The results support the importance of thinking about careers in a manner similar to the RIASEC circumplex and the potential value of direct instruction of this model.


Imidazolium-based ionic liquids have the ability to undergo a variety of chemical reactions through an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) intermediate, which has expanded the chemical toolbox for new applications. Despite their uses and exploration, the carbene-forming properties and applications of their polymeric congeners, poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs), is still underdeveloped. Herein, we explore the NHC-forming properties of a theophylline-derived PIL for nanogel synthesis. Using silver oxide as both the carbene-forming reagent and cross-linker, nanogels containing individually stabilized ions can be created with different sizes and morphology, including large "galaxy-like" superstructures. Using high-resolution TEM techniques, we directly observed the sub-nanometer structure of these constructs. These features combined exemplify the unique chemistry of poly-NHCs for single-metal-ion-stabilization nanogel design.


This study used Medicare data for people living in New South Wales (NSW) (1993-1997) to examine the impact of rural isolation on the utilisation of diabetes health care services. The relative odds of attending a specialist was slightly higher for people in urban areas when compared to their rural counterparts but reached as high as 1.85 in regard to attendance to consultant physicians. Surveillance of diabetes parameters over the 5 year period showed greatest improvement in rural areas. The proportion of patients each year with glycaemic control assessed by quantification of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) or renal function and vascular risk by microalbuminuria estimation rose to 57.4% and 12.3%, respectively, in rural areas compared to 55.2% and 11.3% in major urban areas. This study has shown that the level of monitoring in rural areas is equal to urban areas, despite decreased access to medical care, highlighting the vital role GPs play in diabetes management in rural NSW.


Abstract iRGD (internalizing RGD) with high affinity to αν integrins was reported to enhance tumor penetrability by binding to neuropilin-1 (NRP-1). Based on our previous study, chitosan surface-modified poly (lactide-co-glycolides) nanoparticles (PLGA/CS NPs), loaded with carmustine (BCNU) and its sensitizer (O6-benzylguanine, BG) showed stronger anti-tumor effect than free drugs. In present study, PLGA/CS NPs (NPs) with core-shell structure were prepared and modified with iRGD or mPEG. F98, C6 or U87 cell lines with different receptors levels were selected for in vitro and in vivo studies. After administration of iRGD-mediated NPs, including iRGD-modified NPs (iRGD-NPs) and co-administration of iRGD and NPs (iRGD + NPs), their effects on glioma were compared with NPs. iRGD-NPs showed stronger cytotoxicity and cellular uptake than other groups. iRGD-NPs and iRGD + NPs displayed deeper tumor penetration and stronger anti-invasion effect on three dimensional (3D) glioma spheroids than NPs. On F98 glioma-bearing mice model, iRGD-mediated NPs showed enhanced crossing BBB ability and brain tumor accumulation levels. Correspondingly, the median survival time of iRGD + NPs, iRGD-NPs and NPs groups were 58, 49 and 34.5 days, respectively. Present studies supported the iRGD-mediated strategy to improve the efficacy of antitumor drug delivery system. Importantly, co-administration of iRGD may be a greater way over the conjugation of iRGD.


The Visual Turing Test is the ultimate goal to evaluate the realism of holographic displays. Previous studies have focused on addressing challenges such as limited étendue and image quality over a large focal volume, but they have not investigated the effect of pupil sampling on the viewing experience in full 3D holograms. In this work, we tackle this problem with a novel hologram generation algorithm motivated by matching the projection operators of incoherent (Light Field) and coherent (Wigner Function) light transport. To this end, we supervise hologram computation using synthesized photographs, which are rendered on-the-fly using Light Field refocusing from stochastically sampled pupil states during optimization. The proposed method produces holograms with correct parallax and focus cues, which are important for passing the Visual Turing Test. We validate that our approach compares favorably to state-of-the-art CGH algorithms that use Light Field and Focal Stack supervision. Our experiments demonstrate that our algorithm improves the viewing experience when evaluated under a large variety of different pupil states.


There was performed an estimation of the protein inanition and possibilities for its resolution by means of capture of plant sources. There were analyzed the composition and properties of domestic agricultural crops in comparison with soy and there are established prospects of their use in technology ofconcentration of the protein component.


Meniscal tears are a common source of knee pain in military personnel. We aimed to investigate the arthroscopic findings of isolated meniscal tears in soldiers younger than 30 years of age. Between May 2011 and April 2014, a total of 36 soldiers with 37 knees who underwent arthroscopic surgeries for isolated meniscal tears were included in this study. All patients were male soldiers and average age was 22 years (range, 19 to 30 years). Thirty patients (83%) were identified as having trauma in sports activity or military training, but no definite trauma was documented in six patients. We analyzed whether medial or lateral meniscus, the location and type of tear according to the arthroscopic findings. The incidence of meniscal tears was nearly same for both knees (right 18 and left 19). Twentysix of 37 tears (70%) were found in the lateral meniscus and 11 (30%) in the medial meniscus. Twenty-five tears (68%) were located in mid body and traumatic vertical type tears (65%) were more common than degenerative horizontal type tears (35%). Although our study based on relatively small cohort, isolated meniscal tears in young soldiers were usually resulted from trauma such as sports or ranger training and commonly located in lateral meniscus. Regarding the type of tear, traumatic vertical type was more common than degenerative horizontal type.


In this work, KMnO4-modified biochar was prepared from spirulina residue as the research object. Herein, we report the synthesis, characterization, and catalytic degradation performance of KMnO4-modified biochar, given that heterogeneous catalytic oxidation is an effective way to treat dye wastewater rapidly. The Mn/SRBC catalyst prepared by KMnO4 modification was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption and laser Raman spectroscopy. In addition, we compared the results with that of the unmodified SRBC. The results showed that the Mn/SRBC catalyst prepared by KMnO4 modification had a rich pore structure, which provided sufficient contact area for the catalytic reaction. In the presence of H2O2, the catalyst could be used to catalyze the oxidative degradation of malachite green in aqueous solution with ultra-high efficiency. In the experiment, the initial pH values of the reaction system had a significant influence on the reaction rate. The removal effect of biochar on the malachite green was poor in an alkaline environment. Within a specific range, the removal rate of malachite green was proportional to the concentration of H2O2 in the reaction system. The degradation rate of malachite green dye at 8000 mg L−1 was about 99% in the presence of the catalyst over 5 mmol L−1 hydrogen peroxide for 30 min. These results show the potential application of algae residue biochar and carbon-based composite catalysts for degrading and removing dye wastewater.


Abstract In this study 23 former students of special classes for the emotionally and behaviorally disordered (EBD) located in mainstream school were interviewed about their school experiences. The qualitative data were gathered in two in-depth interviews in 1991 and 1995 in southern Finland. The pros and cons of special education are presented as positive and negative elements of special class treatment.The most positive elements were the special teacher and the small teaching group. The most common and signi?cant negative element was the experience of being labeled. The placement of students with special needs in special classrooms has been criticized during recent years. The positive experiences of former EBD pupils shows that there is still need for this kind of intervention for some pupils and in certain phases of their school careers. However, the quality of education must be guaranteed with the help of individualized education plans (IEPs) in cooperation with the regular class teachers.


An experimental investigation was undertaken to determine those scaling parameters applicable to measuring the mass flow rate of gas-particle suspensions through venturis. It was found that Stokes number and the particle/gas loading ratio are the two most important parameters. The results show that pressure drop increases linearly with loading ratio and decreases monotonically with increasing Stokes number. The results also indicate that β-ratio and orientation of venturi do not significantly affect the pressure drop. Data for irregularly shaped pulverized coal particles show higher pressure drop compared with those for spherical particles. A quasi one-dimensional numerical model overpredicts the pressure drop, but a two-dimensional model demonstrates improved agreement.


An optical backbone network based on WDM (or OTDM) technology may become an economical choice for providing future broadband services. To achieve a balance between the coarse-grain optical circuit switching (via wavelength routing) and ne-grain optical packet/cell switching, optical burst switching is proposed. We study an one-way reservation protocol called Just-Enough-Time (JET), which is suitable for switching bursty traac in a high speed optical backbone network. The JET protocol has two unique, integrated features, namely, the use of delayed reservation (DR) and buuered burst multiplexers (BBM). By virtue of DR, the JET protocol not only increases the bandwidth utilization, but also facilitates intelligent buuer management in BBMs, and consequently results in a high through-put. Both analysis and simulation results show that the JET protocol can signiicantly outperform other one-way reservation protocols lacking one or both of these features.


In the early 1970s, a few computer companies began to form partnerships with other firms in the international computer industry for the purpose of sharing research and development (R&D) resources. This trend did not take hold in a meaningful way until the beginning of the 1980s. Our study focuses on this particular sector because it represents a major industry in which interfirm R&D partnering occurs.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
As climate change drives more frequent and intense weather events, older adults face disproportionate impacts, including having the highest mortality rates from storms, wildfires, flooding, and heat waves. State governments are critical in deploying local resources to help address climate change impacts. This policy study analyzes states' climate adaptation plans to assess the methods through which they address the impact of climate change on older adults.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This study uses content analysis to analyze available climate change adaptation plans for all U.S. states for strategies designed to increase resilience of older adults to impacts of climate change.

RESULTS
Nineteen states have climate adaptation plans, of which 18 describe older adults as a population group with specific health impacts and risks factors. Four categories of adaptation strategies for older adults include communications, transportation, housing, and emergency services. State plans vary in terms of the risk factors and adaptation strategies included.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
To varying degrees, states' climate change adaptation planning address health, social and economic risks specific to older adults, as well as strategies for mitigating those risks. As global warming continues, collaborations between public and private sectors and across regions will be needed to prevent negative outcomes such as forced relocation and other social and economic disruptions as well as disparate morbidity and mortality.


Tooth components of 1st and 2nd erupted permanent molars were measured from standardised radiographs of Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Enamel height was greater in Homo sapiens sapiens but pulp height and width and the height of the enamel to floor of the pulp chamber were greater in Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Dentine height, crown width and enamel width showed similar results in the two groups. Unerupted first molars were measured to analyse the influence of function on tooth components and the results obtained were always within the range measured for the erupted teeth. Discriminant analysis between groups, using tooth components, showed accuracy of 93% for identification of Homo sapiens sapiens and 94% for identification of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. The results support the hypothesis of a distinct evolutionary line for the Neanderthals.


Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is one of the notable causes of heart failure. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been studied in association with cardiac hypertrophy; however, the mechanisms by which circRNAs regulate cardiac hypertrophy remain unclear. In this study, we identified a new circRNA, named circCacna1c, in cardiac hypertrophy. Adult male C57BL/6 mice and H9c2 cells were treated with isoprenaline hydrochloride (ISO) to establish a hypertrophy model. We found that circCacna1c was upregulated in ISO-induced hypertrophic heart tissue and H9c2 cells. Western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that silencing circCacna1c inhibited hypertrophic gene expression in ISO-induced H9c2 cells. Mechanistically, circCacna1c competitively bound to miR-29b-2-5p in a dual-luciferase reporter assay, which was downregulated in ISO-induced hypertrophic heart tissue and H9c2 cells. MiR-29b-2-5p inhibited the nuclear factor of activated T cells, cytoplasmic, calcineurin-dependent 1 (NFATc1) to control hypertrophic gene expression. After silencing circCacna1c, the expression of miR-29b-2-5p increased, which reduced hypertrophic gene expression by inhibiting NFATc1 expression. Together, these experiments indicate that circCacna1c promotes ISO-induced pathological hypertrophy through the miR-29b-2-5p/NFATc1 axis.


This article describes successful insertion the cDNA glucoamylase from Aspergillus awamori into the integrative vector for filamentous fungi pH4Hyg using the CPEC (circular polymerase extension cloning) strategy. The prior step was the PCR amplification of the cDNA glaA gene cloned into a vector based on the plasmid pBluescript II SK(-) and the amplification of linear pH4Hyg vector with promotor and terminator of the glaA gene. The PCR products were purified and used for CPEC reaction. The CPEC product was formed after 20 cycles of the reaction. It is proposed to use the final plasmid pH4HygPTgla in engineering of filamentous fungi strains producing stable forms of glucoamylase with biotechnological interest.


In this study, the authors aimed at the cost analysis for Demand Responsive Transport systems (DRTs) considering operation characteristics. DRTh are expected to accommodate in low-demand-areas, and may provide flexibility responding to each user's reservation. As results, we observed the influence of each operation types upon the cost. In addition, we indicated the needs for cost analysis of Semi-Dynamic systems with considering the relationship between operational costs and level of services for users.Finally, we tried to compare operational cost of DRTs with other modes. As a result, we found DRTs can be operated in low costs in low-demand-areas.


Kurixalus is a rhacophorid genus of tree frogs that are similar in morphology but vary in reproductive behavior. We investigated the cytogenetic features and genome size using conventional G-banding, C-banding and silver-staining techniques, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and flow cytometry in two representatives of Kurixalus ( K. eiffingeri Boettger, 1895 and K. idiootocus Kuramoto and Wang, 1987) and compared the data between species and sex. The two Kurixalus species share a diploid chromosome number 2n = 26 and fundamental number FN = 52. Prominent differences between species were noted in the distribution of secondary constriction (SC)/nucleolus organizer region (NOR) and dense heterochromatin. Other interspecies differences including variations in the number of metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes and staining intensity of heterochromatin were also found. The cytogenetic results are consistent with the observed differences in their genome sizes. FISH with telomeric motif (TTAGGG)n for both species detected signals in the terminal regions. Intersex comparisons revealed no differences in terms of cytogenetic features and genome size in the two species. Despite the apparent highly conserved diploid chromosome number, data on the karyotype microstructure characterize the cytogenetic profile of the two Kurixalus species that contribute to clarification of the chromosomal homologies and the rearrangement mechanisms occurring during the karyotype evolution of Kurixalus . No heteromorphic chromosome pair in both species is consistent with the view that homomorphic sex chromosome is common in amphibians.


Immune-mediated necrotising myopathy is a rare autoimmune myopathy characterised by severe progressive muscle weakness, elevated levels of creatine kinase (CK), and necrosis with minimal inflammatory cell infiltration on muscle biopsy. We report a case of a previously healthy 42-year-old woman who presented with progressive muscle weakness 2 weeks after immunisation for yellow fever, tetanus/diphtheria and hepatitis B. Her symptoms started from the lower limbs and progressed to the upper limbs and cervical region associated with dysphagia, making her wheelchair bound. Electromyography showed a myopathic pattern, with a CK level of 12.177 U/L (reference value: 26–190 U/L), and biceps brachial muscle biopsy confirmed necrosis and regeneration fibres. The immunoblot test was positive for antisignal recognition particle. She was successfully treated with prednisone (1 mg/kg/day). Although considered safe, vaccines may cause allergic reactions or trigger autoimmune disorders. Currently, a causal relationship between them cannot be established.


We analyzed the data on age at onset and CAG size of 319 patients clinically diagnosed with Huntington disease (HD) and 86 presymptomatic subjects recorded by four Italian Centers over the last 14 years. To overcome the problem of different CAG numbers found in each subject, also in the same family, the data were analyzed in terms of deviations from the average exponential relationship between onset and CAG number. The subject's year of birth was also considered to quantify possible sampling biases. Observations between relatives were compared with those of the whole group. The deviations were equal, on average, in subjects who inherited their HD gene from their fathers or mothers. Overall, our data argue in favor of a greater similarity across the same generation than across successive generations. In particular, an excess of parents with later than expected age of onset was observed, paralleled by a CAG-independent anticipation of onset in parent-child transmissions. These results can be interpreted in terms of a shared environment determining similar departures from the average CAG-onset relationship but also of a systematic effect that differentiates the two generations here examined.


Using the dual Vth characteristics of a multi-layer SiO2/SiO2/Cu-GST conducting bridge (CB) structure we can construct a one-resistor cell without an access device (0T1R). Like 1T Flash memory the Vth is used to store the logic state thus leaving all devices always at high resistance state and a separate isolation device is not needed. The Vth of the cell is determined by the presence of CB in the SiO2 layer only. The CB in the SiO2 is present only temporarily during reading, and is spontaneously dissolved afterward. This spontaneous rupture of the filament in the SiO2 layer greatly reduces the switching current as well as reducing the read disturb. The mechanism for the spontaneous rupture phenomenon is investigated.


This article presents the results of an experiment carried out in laboratory which aims at finding an experimental method to determine the mechanic behavior of compressed earth blocks through a very simple compressive test. As a matter of fact, the evaluation of the deformation of blocks under a progressively increasing load, by the means of a load cell and the Linear Variable Displacement Transducer (LVDT) put together on a manually operated press, has indeed enabled us to realize a strain-stress curve. Here, the analysis of this curve shows that the mechanic behavior of the earth blocks in compression is pseudo-elastic and ends off by a macro-brittle rupture because the stress is homogeneously distributed all over the surface of blocks. Therefore, we can use this device to draw up the behavior's law of compressed earth blocks.


In current content delivery service, contents are usually encrypted for access control mechanism, so several key distribution schemes have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a new key derivation scheme for hierarchy-based access control. We assume that content consumers are listed in digraph structure, and all nodes are assigned seeds(pre-keys) for decryption keys. All decryption keys are generated from initial keys assigned in root nodes, and a decryption key is derived from seeds of an ancestor node only using the one-way hash function. The proposed scheme includes conventional hierarchy-based key derivation schemes and can be implemented with low cost in computation for decryption keys because we do not need exponential calculations.


Although diversification strategies in the US restaurant industry are actively implemented with strategic importance, research on the effects of diversification on firm value has been rare. This study investigates the individual effect of geographical diversification and brand diversification on firm value in the US restaurant industry context. Furthermore, to investigate the effects of diversification more comprehensively, this study examines whether or not brand diversification moderates the relationship between geographical diversification and the value of US restaurant firms. The study finds an insignificant effect of geographical diversification on firm performance, a negative effect of brand diversification on performance and a negative moderating effect of brand diversification on the geographical diversification–firm performance relationship.


Thorium atoms react with H2O2, H2 + O2 mixtures, and H2O in excess argon to form the Th(OH)2 and Th(OH)4 molecules as minor and major products, respectively. The vibrational frequencies observed in the matrix infrared spectra are in excellent agreement with MP2 computed values, which confirms the identification of these highly ionic thorium hydroxide molecules. Our MP2 calculations converge to slightly bent and tetrahedral structures, respectively. This investigation reports the first evidence for pure actinide dihydroxide and tetrahydroxide molecules.


OBJECTIVES
1) To study the variations in the use of erythrocyte, platelet and plasma transfusion in Spain between regions, within a single region (Andalusia), and between hospitals; and 2) To determine any correlation between transfusion and blood donor rates within these areas.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The data were gathered from the Administrations of 17 regions, 8 Andalusian provinces, and 30 Andalusian hospitals. The variables selected for the study were the rates of donation, the rates of transfusion of each component/1000 inhabitants, and the rates of transfusion/1000 hospital stays.

RESULTS
Among regions, the greatest variability was in platelet transfusion [Variation coefficient (VC) = 54.8%] and the least was in erythrocyte transfusion (VC = 21.2%). Donation rates correlated (r) strongly with erythrocyte and platelet transfusion rates, but not with those for plasma. Among the Andalusian provinces there was also a greater variability in the transfusion of platelets (VC = 61.3%) and a lesser one in erythrocyte transfusion (VC = 19.5%), and the correlation with donation rates was positive and significant for all the components (for erythrocytes, r = 0.93).

CONCLUSIONS
There are significant variations in transfusion practice in Spain at all the levels we analysed. Variations are greatest in platelet transfusion, followed by erythrocyte and finally plasma transfusion. Blood donation rates correlate strongly with transfusion rates for most of the components.


Abstract. Aerosol emissions from biofuel combustion impact both health and climate; however, while reducing emissions through improvements to combustion technologies will improve health, the net effect on climate is largely unconstrained. In this study, we examine sensitivities in global aerosol concentration, direct radiative climate effect, and cloud-albedo aerosol indirect climate effect to uncertainties in biofuel emission factors, optical mixing state, and model nucleation and background secondary organic aerosol (SOA). We use the Goddard Earth Observing System global chemical-transport model (GEOS-Chem) with TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics. The emission factors include amount, composition, size, and hygroscopicity, as well as optical mixing-state properties. We also evaluate emissions from domestic coal use, which is not biofuel but is also frequently emitted from homes. We estimate the direct radiative effect assuming different mixing states (homogeneous, core-shell, and external) with and without absorptive organic aerosol (brown carbon). We find the global-mean direct radiative effect of biofuel emissions ranges from −0.02 to +0.06 W m−2 across all simulation/mixing-state combinations with regional effects in source regions ranging from −0.2 to +0.8 W m−2. The global-mean cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect (AIE) ranges from +0.01 to −0.02 W m−2 with regional effects in source regions ranging from −1.0 to −0.05 W m−2. The direct radiative effect is strongly dependent on uncertainties in emissions mass, composition, emissions aerosol size distributions, and assumed optical mixing state, while the indirect effect is dependent on the emissions mass, emissions aerosol size distribution, and the choice of model nucleation and secondary organic aerosol schemes. The sign and magnitude of these effects have a strong regional dependence. We conclude that the climate effects of biofuel aerosols are largely unconstrained, and the overall sign of the aerosol effects is unclear due to uncertainties in model inputs. This uncertainty limits our ability to introduce mitigation strategies aimed at reducing biofuel black carbon emissions in order to counter warming effects from greenhouse gases. To better understand the climate impact of particle emissions from biofuel combustion, we recommend field/laboratory measurements to narrow constraints on (1) emissions mass, (2) emission size distribution, (3) mixing state, and (4) ratio of black carbon to organic aerosol.


The effects of various adrenergic blocking agents on the cardiac positive inotropic action of epinephrine were studied in isolated perfused rabbit and turtle hearts. Some of the newer adrenergic blocking agents, including pronethalol (PRON), the N-isopropyl and n-butyl derivatives of p-nitrophenylethanolamine (INPEA and BNPEA, respectively) and N-isopropylmethoxamine (IMA) were compared with dichloroisoproterenol (DCI).

It was found that under the conditions of this study, all of these agents possess beta adrenergic receptor blocking activity in rabbit and turtle hearts. DCI and pronethalol were approximately equieffective and superior in their blocking ability to the other compounds tested. INPEA provided better blockade of the positive inotropic action of epinephrine than BNPEA and IMA, both of which possessed only weak beta blocking action.