PURPOSE: An apparatus and a method for fixing a deposition mask in a fabricating process of an organic electro-luminescence flat display are provided to prevent wrinkles of a mask and a sinking phenomenon of a panel by applying tension to the deposition mask. CONSTITUTION: A clamper(501) is located at a lower portion of a glass chucking plate(502). The clamper(501) is used for fixing a glass(5). A mask(504) is contacted with the glass(5). A mask holder(15) is formed at a lower portion of the glass chucking plate(502) in order to maintain tension of the mask(504). A target(507) is supplied to a deposition source(505). The target(507) is heated during a predetermined time by using a heater(506). The mask(504) is stretched on the mask holder(15). The glass(5) is fixed to the glass chucking plate(502) by using the clamper(501). A sinking phenomenon of a panel is prevented by using a rib.


A procedure to pattern thin metal films on a nanometer scale with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) operating in air is reported. A 30 nm film of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) is deposited on a 10 nm film of TaIr. Applying a negative voltage between the STM tip and the a‐Si:H film causes the local oxidation of a‐Si:H. The oxide which is formed is used as a mask to wet etch the not‐oxidized a‐Si:H and subsequently, the remaining pattern is transferred into the metal film by Ar ion milling. Metal wires as narrow as 40 nm have been fabricated. Since a‐Si:H can be deposited in very thin layers on almost any substrate, the presented procedure can be applied to structure all kind of thin films on a nanometer scale.


Abstract. Joint observations of the all-sky camera at Resolute Bay (Nunavut, Canada) and the Polar Dual Auroral Radar Network (PolarDARN) HF radars at Rankin Inlet and Inuvik (Canada) are considered to establish radar signatures of poleward moving polar cap arcs "detaching" from the auroral oval. Common features of the events considered are enhanced power or echo occurrence in the wake of the arcs and enhanced spectral width of these echoes. When the arcs were oriented along some of the radar beams, velocity reversals at the arc location were observed with the directions of the arc-associated flows corresponding to a converging electric field. For the event of 9 December 2007, two arcs were poleward progressing almost along the central beams of the Inuvik radar at the speed close to the E × B drift of the bulk of the F-region plasma as inferred from HF Doppler velocities and from independent measurements by the Resolute Bay ionosonde. In global-scale convection maps inferred from all Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar measurements, the polar cap arcs were often seen close to the reversal line of additional mesoscale convection cells located poleward of the normal cells related to the auroral oval.


This study examines the status and the functions of the medical ("embryological") argument in Pieter and Johan De la Court's treatise Considerations of State, or Political Balance. In the beginning of the second book of the treatise, the co-authors decide not to confine themselves to the Hobbesian explanation of the causes of the state of nature, setting forth their own interpretation of this phenomenon, which is the certain "impressions" or "marks" (indrukselen) the foetus receives at the moment of conception and during the mother's pregnancy. The article primarily focuses on this striking inversion of the commonplace regarding prenatal conditions, and on the particular way of merging the political arguments with medical arguments while approaching aporia,the famous state of nature. The authors proceed by sorting out the contexts of Cartesian and Harvean embryological writings (A. Deusing), popular medical texts describing the pathologies of conception and pregnancy (J. Cats and J. van Beverwijk), and treatises on "political natural philosophy" (R. Cumberland) which illuminates the reasons of using this "anomalous" argument as an explanation of the inevitability of the state of nature. The research emphasizes the ambivalence of the De la Courts' political republicanism. Though preserving some significant elements of the ethical-rhetorical paradigm (parrhesia, the idea of the "Batavian liberty"), this political philosophy does not manage to coherently represent the relationships between the biological and the civil orders, or between heroic ethos and "beneficial violence".


Visual determinants of grasping movements vision for perception and vision for action in the primate brain sensory input and control of grip motor areas on the medial wall of the hemisphere grasping objects and grasping action meanings - the dual role of monkey rostroventral premotor cortex (area 5) posterior parietal cortex and the sensory guidance of movement how does visual information instruct the motor system cortical mechanisms in directed reaching cortical control of whole-arm motor tasks the importance of the cortico-motoneural system for cortical control of grasp role of the cerebellum in co-ordinating movements construction of a reach-to-grasp cerebellum and the visual guidance of movement the cerebellum and predictive control internal models for motor control basic science and disorders of movement.


In this work we report a simulation investigation, based on OPNET code, about the use of fast MPLS restoration procedures in a wide area transport network totally based on the WDM GbE transmission format. Our network models is the Italian transport network and we verified that, by means of the fast MPLS procedures consequent to link failures, we can reach restoration comparable with SDH cases. We also simulated cases of simultaneously failures of two main nodes, representing an example of disaster event, achieving service restoration in very fast times.


Since the discovery of the first high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) in the late 1980s, many materials and families of materials have been discovered that exhibit superconductivity at temperatures well above 20 K. Of these, several families of HTSs have been developed for use in electrical power applications. Demonstration of devices such as motors, generators, transmission lines, transformers, fault-current limiters, and flywheels in which HTSs and bulk HTSs have been used has proceeded to ever larger scales. First-generation wire, made from bismuth-based copper oxides, was used in many demonstrations. The rapid development of second-generation wire, made by depositing thin films of yttrium-based copper oxide on metallic substrates, is expected to further accelerate commercial applications. Bulk HTSs, in which large single-grain crystals are used as basic magnetic components, have also been developed and have potential for electrical power applications.


A marginally excited cosmic kinematic dynamo is found in the background of a non-singular anisotropic Kasner cosmological metric solution of Einstein field equation of general relativity. The magnetic field is not amplified but is frozen inside the universe. Since a finite resistivity is assumed, a nonsingular flow velocity is orthogonal to the magnetic field plane. The model presents an inflationary phase. Magnetic field components are stretched along the orthogonal planar directions while the flow is orthogonal to this magnetic sheet. The self-induction magnetohydrodynamic field equation in Kasner universe may be written in the form of a polynomial in the time coordinate which yields a periodic flow.


We investigate the behavior of stock prices to variations in COVID19 infection rate over time. To study the inter-temporal impact of the pandemic on major stock indexes, we apply factor model, and disaggregate the sample period in three COVID19 waves. We bring interesting evidence on the so-called immune behavior of stock indexes. While no signs of stock market immunity to the disease were confirmed, the opportunities created by the pandemic would help new winners, causing a shift of sectoral gains. Distinguishing the surges from plunges in the COVID19 infections, we observe the behavior of stock indexes towards different scenarios during the pandemic. While the conventional wisdom may lead to an overall probable pessimistic outcome, we find that diversity and speedy adjustment based on new business models resulted in sizable theoretical inconsistencies and asymmetries in the response of stock indexes to the pandemic.


The field of finance is concerned with the management of money and how and where such funds are acquired and used. This article reviews the broad literature on finance related to nonprofit and voluntary organizations, identifies gaps in knowledge, and proposes potential avenues for future researchers. It examines in detail the sources of funds for nonprofit organizations, especially nonprofit agencies—including issues around revenue portfolios and interactions, the uses of these funds—with an emphasis on incentives faced by nonprofit organizations around financial disclosures, the benefits and problems of slack resources and profits, and issues of capital structure in nonprofit organizations.


AIM
This study tested the hypothesis that tacrolimus therapy limited left ventricular (LV) infarct and remodeling by suppressing the inflammatory response, oxidative stress and regulating the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Akt signaling pathways in an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mini-pig model by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD).

METHODS
Twelve male mini-pigs were equally randomized into AMI treated by saline (3.0 mL) (AMI(S)), and AMI treated by tacrolimus (0.5 mg) (AMI(T)). Thirty minutes after the procedure, intra-LAD injections were performed just beyond the ligation.

RESULTS
Inflammatory biomarkers at transcription or protein levels [matrix metalloproteinase (MMP9), plasminogen activator inhitor-1, tumor necrotic factor (TNF-α), nuclear factor (NF)-κB] and the cellular level (CD40+ cells) were markedly higher in AMI(S) than in AMI(T) animals (all p<0.001). Fibrosis biomarkers at the protein level (α-smooth muscle actin, transforming growth factor-β) and Sirius-red staining were notably higher in AMI(S) than in AMI(T) animals (all p<0.03). Antioxidant biomarkers at protein or transcription levels (heme oxygenase-1, quinone oxidoreductase-1, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase) were significantly higher in AMI(S) than in AMI(T) animals (all p<0.01). Protein expressions of ERK1, p38 MAPK and Akt were markedly increased in AMI(S) compared to AMI(T) animals (all p<0.001). Significantly aggravated LV infarction and remodeling were noted in AMI(S) compared to AMI(T) animals, whereas LV ejection fraction was markedly decreased in AMI(S) compared to AMI(T) animals (all p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Intra-coronary administration of tacrolimus attenuated inflammation and MAPK signaling, limited infarct size, and preserved LV function.


Contemporary attitudes toward risk seem paradoxical. Even as hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to protect human health by reducing environmental pollution, designing safer products, and eliminating workplace hazards, residents of the United States and other developed nations are increasingly convinced that their environment will harm them, and that the remaining risks of illness and disease are more serious than ever. At the same time, people seem to be craving risk as they never have before. This article argues that the apparent paradox of risk is the predictable response of rational actors to long-term changes in social safety brought about primarily by radical improvements in medical treatment and care. The article explains the key, policy-relevant aspects of contemporary American attitudes toward and choices about risky activities as precisely what one would expect to observe among rational economic actors confronted by such long-term changes in the causes of human mortality. When people expect to live longer and healthier lives, they have more to lose from the remaining risks of disease and illness. Activities that generate such risks but do not confer any concrete individual benefits, and so are not individually chosen, are viewed simply as "bads," something for regulators to curb or eliminate. Yet, individuals feel far differently about risky activities that do generate concrete, tangible, and immediate individual benefits. Whether hang gliding off a mountain or inhaling a supersized meal, people do not engage in such risky activities because they mistake the magnitude of the risk, or "irrationally" discount future health costs to get present benefits. Rather, they do so because such activities generate direct benefits in consumption, and because both the market and the State have and will continue to generate incentives for new technologies that both reduce the risk of death from such risky behavior and reverse the nonfatal, adverse health consequences. People increasingly choose to engage in risky activities because they rationally know that the health risks of those activities have fallen dramatically and rationally expect continued decreases in risk. The article develops this argument by first reviewing how the standard economic model of individual choice that is used to derive widely used value of statistical life (VSL) can be extended to take account of how changes in background mortality risk affect willingness to pay for specific risk reduction. A crucial distinction that emerges from this model is between risks raised by activities that individuals perceive as economic goods - as generating consumption benefits - and those that arise from economic bads - activities that cause disutility and which individuals pay to avoid. After demonstrating how this model can explain many of the most prominent cross-sectional and temporal trends in behavior toward risk, I discuss some of its many implications for risk regulation in Part II. Among these is the prediction that the demand for public risk regulation will continually increase, even as its absolute effectiveness decreases. Finally, I argue that however undesirable this may seem, technocratic approaches - the screening of actual individual risk perceptions and preferences by experts of one ilk or another - are not the way to reform risk regulation. So long as risk regulation remains political, individual preferences toward risk will drive risk regulation. The proper approach to regulatory reform is not to discount individual risk perceptions and preferences as the product of various irrationalities and cognitive imperfections, but rather to devolve regulatory authority, to replace uniform federal risk regulation with place-specific approaches that better reflect individual costs and benefits.


BACKGROUND
Magnus gluteal muscle (musculus gluteus maximus) belongs to the group of lower limb girdle muscles. It is one of the biggest muscles in human organism and is located mostly superficially in gluteal region. Literature provides discussion concerning its role in movement such as walking, running and climbing as well as plastic surgery in reconstructive operations of trochanter. Magnus gluteal muscle plays an important role in orthopaedic surgery.

OBJECTIVES
The goal of the study was to analyse the human magnus gluteal muscle in the foetal period.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The analysis was carried out on 154 muscles originating from human foetuses (including 30 females - 39%) belonging to the collection of Normal Anatomy Dept. of Wroclaw Medical University. The body length was assessed with the use of vertex-tuberal (v-tub) length and it was included in the range 107-205 mm, which corresponds with the period 17-30 weeks of foetal life. The survey incorporated the following methods: anthropological, preparational and image acquisition which was acquired with the use of high-resolution digital camera. In order to take computer measurements, the following systems were exploited: Image J and Scion for Windows. Statistical analysis was carried out with the use of STATISTICA package v. 9 (t-Student test).

RESULTS
The magnus gluteal muscle was analysed in respect to sexual dimorphism and symmetry. On the basis of elicited parameters, the model of muscle increase in foetal period was defined. The following measurements were taken: v-tub, vertex-plantare (v-pl), body mass, muscle particular sides lengths and distance between corresponding measurement points. In every muscle, the lengths of four sections forming the circumference as well as the area were measured.

CONCLUSIONS
No difference was observed in foetal magnus gluteal muscle sexual dimorphism or symmetry (p > 0.05). The correlation diagram was used to calculate the muscle weekly increase in foetal period. The results suggest that lesions and pathologies in the region of magnus gluteal muscle are acquired in post foetal period.


Powering a ventricular assist device (VAD) with skeletal muscle in a linear configuration will require the understanding of basic muscle mechanics and efficient use of available power. Accordingly, a mathematical model incorporating aspects of the Hill equation has been developed. This model relates whole muscle length, force, velocity, and time during cyclic contraction to investigate coupling with a hydraulically actuated VAD. Parameters of the model have been determined from in vivo isometric and isotonic measurements of electrically stimulated pig latissimus dorsi with the humerus insertion reattached to a hydraulic loading system. The in vivo results show an exponential passive force-length relationship and active isometric forces increasing from 2 to 8 kgf over a 5 cm change in length. The maximum shortening velocity extrapolated from isotonic data in 85 cm/sec. With the experimentally determined parameters, the model system of differential equations was optimized computationally. Predicted maximum cycle work and corresponding muscle force are nonlinear functions of contraction duration; an increase in duration yields little improvement in work output for longer contraction times. The model helps clarify VAD system design parameters for optimal muscle coupling; for example, the model predicts that operating at maximum instantaneous power does not optimize stroke work.


In stochastic games with incomplete information, the uncertainty is evoked by the lack of knowledge about a player's own and the other players' types, i.e. the utility function and the policy space, and also the inherent stochasticity of different players' interactions. In existing literature, the risk in stochastic games has been studied in terms of the inherent uncertainty evoked by the variability of transitions and actions. In this work, we instead focus on the risk associated with the \textit{uncertainty over types}. We contrast this with the multi-agent reinforcement learning framework where the other agents have fixed stationary policies and investigate risk-sensitiveness due to the uncertainty about the other agents' adaptive policies. We propose risk-sensitive versions of existing algorithms proposed for risk-neutral stochastic games, such as Iterated Best Response (IBR), Fictitious Play (FP) and a general multi-objective gradient approach using dual ascent (DAPG). Our experimental analysis shows that risk-sensitive DAPG performs better than competing algorithms for both social welfare and general-sum stochastic games.


The fine-tuning of metal-organic framework (MOF) pore structures is of critical importance in developing energy-efficient xenon/krypton (Xe/Kr) separation techniques. Capitalizing on reticular chemistry, we constructed a robust Y-based MOF (NU-1801) that is isoreticular to NPF-500 with a shortened organic ligand and a larger metal radius while maintaining the 4,8-connected flu topology, giving rise to a narrowed pore structure for the efficient separation of a Xe/Kr mixture. At 298 K and 1 bar, NU-1801 possessed a moderate Xe uptake of 2.79 mmol/g but exhibited a high Xe/Kr selectivity of 8.2 and an exceptional Xe/Kr uptake ratio of about 400%. NU-1801 could efficiently separate a Xe/Kr mixture (20:80, v/v), as validated by breakthrough experiments, due to the outstanding discrimination in van der Waals interactions of Xe and Kr toward the framework confirmed by grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. This work highlights the importance of reticular chemistry in designing structure-specific MOFs for gas separation.


Recently, some research were done with the final purpose to find a complete and innovative way to represent classical electromagnetic waves. With the continuous demand that we have been assisting around the world it is very important to discover new numerical processes to generate digital waveforms, which have an enormous importance for modern communication systems. In this paper, we present an original way to generate the classical pulse by using a numerical analytical approach, called the DNAx solver. This theoretical analysis permits to identify a sequence of bits by a particular polynomial and all linear algebraic operations needed for a train of pulses can be reduced in an equivalent operation inside the algebra of continuous real polynomials


Privileging the aesthetic aspects of knowledge organization through a feminist historical lens may open possibilities for reimagining a library's space. This paper reveals the history of a relatively unknown figure in the history of knowledge organization. I will suggest that we might regard Pamphila, a miscellanist who lived in Greece during the 1st century, as a 'radical cataloguer' who introduced a method associated with weaving and embroidery. Her organizational method privileged beauty and pleasure, along with historical accuracy and usefulness. A version of this paper was presented as a keynote speech for the annual conference of ARLIS UK & Ireland in July 2018. The author would like to thank the coordinators for their hospitality and feedback.


The sixth International Conference on Gravitation & Cosmology (ICGC-2007) was organized at IUCAA, Pune, 17?21 December 2007. This series of international meetings, held every four years under the auspices of the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG), has now spanned two decades. Previous ICGC meetings were held at Cochin University of Science and Technology (2004), Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (2000), IUCAA, Pune (1995), Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad (1991) & Goa (1987). These meetings have broad international participation and feature leading experts in the field of Cosmology, gravitational waves and quantum gravity. The frontier of research in Gravitation and Cosmology has seen remarkable progress in the past decades. On the theoretical front, black holes and cosmological singularities continue to challenge and attract quantum gravity researchers. The quest for the detection of Gravitational waves and the promise of gravitational wave astronomy continues to grow and breakthroughs of the past couple of years indicate that numerical relativity is catching up too. The past few years have also seen very ambitious experimental efforts to verify general relativity as the theory of gravitation. Cosmology has been veritably transformed into a precision science with the tremendous improvement in the quantity and quality of cosmological observations. The exquisite measurements not only allow refinement of the cosmological model parameters but have begun to allow observational tests of underlying fundamental assumptions and hunt for subtle deviations that could be the key to understanding the early universe. The sixth meeting brought together active scientists from all over the globe to present the state of the art at the frontiers of research. It also offered younger Indian researchers an opportunity for interaction with experts from within India and abroad. The meeting was attended by over 160 participants. The scientific programme had 21 plenary talks on current theoretical, observational and experimental topics in Cosmology, General Relativity, detection of gravitational waves, and various approaches to Quantum gravity. The meeting also included three intensive parallel workshops focused on Cosmology, Classical General Relativity & Gravitational waves and Quantum Gravity, respectively. The workshops had around 75 oral presentations. The immensely rich and diverse scientific programme was highlighted in the concluding remarks by the late Professor Juergen Ehlers. A public lecture on `Oldest light in the Universe' by NASA scientist, Professor Gary Hinshaw, who is a member of the WMAP team (formerly, also a member of the COBE-DMR team that won the Nobel prize in 2006) was also organized as part of ICGC-07 and drew sizable audience from the public in Pune. The proceedings contains articles by the plenary speakers, the concluding remarks and a summary of each of the three workshops. We also include an obituary for Professor Juergen Ehlers, who passed away on 20 May 2008. The sentiments expressed in the obituary are shared by the editors and members of IAGRG. Professor Ehlers had participated very actively during the meeting and delivered an excellent concluding talk on the conference. We are indeed fortunate to able to include in this volume, what is perhaps, his last article. A possible reflection of the tight schedule of researchers in the booming period of research in Cosmology and Gravitation is the number of missing articles by plenary speakers. Due to various reasons, we were able to get only 11 of the 21 plenary talks for publication in this volume. In order to ensure that the volume is published within a year of the conference, we decided to publish the proceedings with the available articles. The meeting was financially supported by generous contribution from Indian organizations: ISRO, CSIR, DST, BNRS and IAGRG; and from Indian institutes: HRI (Allahabad), IIA (Bangalore), IMSc (Chennai), RRI (Bangalore), SINP (Kolkata) and IUCAA. The conference banquet was sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and the reception dinner was sponsored by the Bank of Baroda. We thank them all. It is a pleasure to thank Professor Naresh Dadhich, Director, IUCAA, members of the IAGRG council, members of the SOC and members of the LOC for their pivotal role in the organization of the conference, and the speakers, the participants, and the IUCAA staff for their efforts which made the sixth ICGC a very successful meeting. Ghanashyam Date Institute for Mathematical Science, Chennai Tarun Souradeep Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune Scientific Organizing Committee Ghanashyam Date (Chairman, SOC, IMSc, India) Abhay Ashtekar (Pennsylvania State Univ., US) Bhuvnesh Jain (Univ. of Pennsylvania, US) Carlo Rovelli (CPT, Marseille, France) Clifford M. Will (Washington Univ., US) Gabriela Gonza'lez (Lousiana State Univ., US) Hideo Kodama (Kyoto Univ. Japan) John Ellis (CERN, Switzerland) Luc Blanchet (IAP, France) Madhavan Varadarajan (RRI, India) Masaru Shibata (Univ. of Tokyo, Japan) Narayan Banerjee (Jadavpur Univ. India) Parthasarathi Mitra (SINP, India) Rajesh Gopakumar (HRI, India) Sanjeev Dhurandhar (IUCAA, India) Somnath Bharadwaj (IITKGP, India) Subhendra Mohanty (PRL, India) Subir Sarkar (Univ. of Oxford, UK) Tarun Souradeep (IUCAA, India) T. P. Singh (TIFR, India) Local Organizing Committee Tarun Souradeep (Chairman, LOC) Biswajit Pandey Gaurang Mahajan Manjiri Mahabal Maulik Parikh Minu Joy Moumita Aich Niranjan Abhyankar Nirupama Bawdekar Ratna Rao Saugata Chatterjee Savita Dalvi Sharanya Sur Snehlata Shankar Subharthi Ray Sudhanshu Barway Tuhin Ghosh Plenary Speakers and Talks The Plenary Talks are available at http://meghnad.iucaa.ernet.in/~icgc07/ Gary Hinshaw Status of WMAP Data Andrew Jaffe The Future of CMB Studies Subir Sarkar Cosmology beyond the Standard Model HongSheng Zhao Dark Matter and Dark Energy: Puzzles and an Alternative Solution Subhabrata Majumdar Cosmology with Clusters David Langlois Cosmological Perturbations from Inflation John Conklin The Gravity Probe B Experiment and Results B. Sathyaprakash Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology with Gravitational Waves Rana Adhikari Survey of Gravitational Waves Experiments John Baker Survey of Numerical Relativity Results Maria Alessandra Papa Data Analysis for Gravitational Wave Detectors Alessandra Buonanno Interfacing analytical and numerical relativity in modeling binary black hole coalescences Andy Fabian X-ray detection of spinning black hole Alejandro Corichi Black Holes in Loop Quantum Gravity Madhavan Varadarajan Black Hole Information Loss Puzzle in LQG Parampreet Singh Big Bang Singularity Resolution in Loop Quantum Cosmology Sumit Das Cosmological Singularities in String Theory and Gauge-Gravity Duality Samir Mathur What do black holes tell us about the state of the early Universe? Martin Reuter Asymptotic Safety in Quantum Gravity Keiichi Maeda Beyond the Einstein-Hilbert Action Jurgen Ehlers Concluding Remarks


ivermectin ("horse paste") for rosacea: a survey study Dear Editor, Topical ivermectin 1% (Soolantra) cream is FDA approved for the treatment of rosacea. Ivermectin 1.87% paste is an over-the-counter (OTC) oral horse dewormer ("horse paste" or "HP"). Its increasing topical use by patients is likely under recognized by dermatologists. To understand the perspectives and motivating factors of patients using these products, we conducted an online survey of members of a rosacea support forum who had used HP. An anonymous survey created on the Qualtrics platform was distributed on a Facebook rosacea support forum with over 32,000 members. Data were maintained on the Qualtrics platform with no identifying information. Responses were collected from February 17 to June 7, 2021. This study was deemed exempt by the University of Virginia Institutional Review Board. Forty-one participants completed at least part of the survey. The majority of respondents (38 of 41; 92.7%) had a prior diagnosis of rosacea. Thirty-eight of 41 respondents (92.7%) had seen a dermatologist or other healthcare provider. Of those, 78.9% (30 of 38) had not discussed HP with their physician, reporting they did not find value in discussing the topic (6 of 25; 24%), had a poor relationship with the provider (5 of 25; 20%), or feared judgment (4 of 25; 16%). Thirty-eight of 40 participants (95%) discovered HP through social media or online forums. The cost was the most frequent reason for using HP instead of prescription ivermectin cream (29 of 39; 74.4%). Twenty-eight of 30 (93.3%) indicated they would recommend HP to others. Most respondents used Durvet apple-flavored ivermectin 1.87% paste (21 of 37; 56.8%) and used HP topically daily (24 of 32; 75%). Respondents reported it was most effective in treating papules (20 of 31; 64.5%) and pustules (19 of 31; 61.3%). HP was more effective than topical metronidazole (17 of 26; 65.4%), azelaic acid (13 of 25; 52%), sulfacetamide-sulfur (3 of 7; 42.9%), and oral antibiotics (tetracyclines and clindamycin; 5 of 15 or 33.3%). Compared to prescription topical ivermectin, HP was more effective in 50% (9 of 18) and less irritating to the skin in 82.4% (14 of 17). Fifteen of 28 respondents (53.6%) reported side effects from HP, most commonly headache (5 of 28; 17.9%) and worsening of existing rash (4 of 28; 14.3%). This study is the first on patient perceptions regarding topical use of ivermectin-containing oral horse dewormers. The use of an unapproved veterinary product for human dermatologic disease cannot be recommended. However, dermatologists have a responsibility to understand the perspectives of patients using these products. Our study highlights the role of social media in spreading information about HP. Remarkably, over 90% of patients first heard about HP on internet forums. Cost is the strongest driver in patient selection of HP over Soolantra, in 74.4% of respondents. HP is easily available OTC, and a 6.08 g tube of Durvet ivermectin 1.87% paste costs around $15. Meanwhile, Soolantra has a retail price of over $500 for a 45 g tube without insurance coverage. These cost discrepancies highlight a need for affordable therapies for rosacea. Limitations of our survey include its small numbers and lack of demographic information. Of thousands of members in the group, only 41 respondents completed it. Considerable suspicion among Facebook group members about the survey was reflected in posts suggesting we were acting on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. This lack of trust underscores the importance of understanding patient motivations for using HP and inquiring patients about use in a non-judgmental manner. In summary, the unapproved use of ivermectin-containing horse dewormers is increasingly recognized. Social media is amplifying its use, and cost is the primary patient factor in using this product over FDA-approved counterparts.


Background: Presence of bronchiectasis (BE) on chest Computed Tomography (CT) in young children with cystic fibrosis (CF) is an essential outcome measure since these patients have high risk of progressive lung disease. It is important to develop objective, sensitive and reproducible methods to detect and monitor BE in the young CF population.

Aims: To compare the sensitivity of 2 methods to quantify BE on chest CTs of young CF patients.

Methods: 10 chest CTs of patients aged 2 years were randomly selected from the Sophia Children's Hospital and 10 patients aged 3 years from the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Follow up chest CT of all patients 2 years later (age 4 and 5 years) were analyzed. CTs were randomized and de-identified (Myrian, Intrasense, France). BE was scored with the CF-CT scoring module. The airway-artery (AA) pairs on the CTs were also counted and scored in every airway generation. BE was defined as an AA-ratio> 1.

Results: No significant difference in incidence of BE was found between the 2 cohorts. CF-CT scoring: 1st CT, 11 patients with BE (55%); 2nd CT, 13 patients with BE (65%). AA>1: 1st CT 3 patients with BE (15%); 2nd CT, 10 patients with BE (50%).

Conclusion: This study supports the prevalence and progressive nature of BE in young CF patients as observed in previous studies. The AA method underestimates the prevalence of BE relative to CF-CT scoring in patients age 2-3 years. CF-CT scoring is more sensitive to detect BE since the abnormal airways not accompanied by visible arteries are included for analysis in contrary to the AA analysis. Adaptations of the AA method are being tested.

Grants: NCFS.


The discovery of the anti-proliferative activity of nelfinavir in HIV-free models has encouraged its investigation as anticancer drug. Although the molecular mechanism by which nelfinavir exerts antitumor activity is still unknown, its effects have been related to Akt inhibition. Here we tested the effects of nelfinavir on cell proliferation, viability and death in two human breast cancer cell lines and in human normal primary breast cells. To identify the mechanism of action of nelfinavir in breast cancer, we evaluated the involvement of the Akt pathway as well as the effects of nelfinavir on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and ROS-related enzymes activities. Nelfinavir reduced breast cancer cell viability by inducing apoptosis and necrosis, without affecting primary normal breast cells. The antitumor activity of nelfinavir was related to alterations of the cell redox state, coupled with an increase of intracellular ROS production limited to cancer cells. Nelfinavir treated tumor cells also displayed a downregulation of the Akt pathway due to disruption of the Akt-HSP90 complex, and subsequent degradation of Akt. These effects resulted to be ROS dependent, suggesting that ROS production is the primary step of nelfinavir anticancer activity. The analysis of ROS-producers and ROS-detoxifying enzymes revealed that nelfinavir-mediated ROS production was strictly linked to flavoenzymes activation. We demonstrated that ROS enhancement represents the main molecular mechanism required to induce cell death by nelfinavir in breast cancer cells, thus supporting the development of new and more potent oxidizing molecules for breast cancer therapy.


Muscle fatigue is exhibited in individuals who partake in repetitive movements for an extensive duration of time. The objective of this study was to identify correlation, if any, between movement kinematics and muscle electrical activity (EMG). Movement kinematics and EMG signals were measured and recorded from the lower extremities of stationary elite cyclists. Standard statistical metrics (SSM) and phase space warping (PSW) based features were extracted from the recorded fast-time time series for consecutive intermediate time intervals. The SSM based features were composed of higher moments, fractal dimension, correlation sum, power spectral density, and cross-correlation. The PSW based features were subject to quantifying short-time differences between the fatigued and unfatigued reconstructed phase spaces. The slow-time manifolds describing global fatigue dynamics in these feature spaces were extracted using smooth orthogonal decomposition (SOD). Mean and median frequencies from the EMG data were calculated to describe the local fatigue dynamics in each muscle. There were very close correlations between the EMG and kinematics data based global fatigue features. Also, the 4 and 5 dimensional slow time manifolds (corresponding to PSW and SSM based features, respectively) fully represented the local fatigue dynamics in all the muscles as described by the EMG data. Therefore, for this particular context, the fatigue information present in the standard EMG analysis was fully represented in the SOD based slow-time features extracted from the kinematic data. Furthermore, the SOD based analysis gave estimates of effective dimensionality of muscle fatigue dynamics.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Dynamic comparators are highly utilized in design of high-speed digital circuits. More precisely, Low power and high-speed dynamic comparators are the key elements in manufacturing of CPUs in many electronic devices. These CPUs consist of many comparison circuits known as comparators. This journal paper presents a low voltage thereby a low power Double Tail Dynamic Comparator (DTDC) with relatively less power consumption when compared to existing designs. In this journal paper, various types of dynamic comparators are discussed and compared with the proposed design. Dynamic comparators based on  Double Tail technique, floating inverter amplifier technique and regenerative latch technique etc., are compared to the proposed design. This design is simulated using 250nm technology with the aid of Tanner EDA simulation tool. The pre-amplification process in this proposed design is implemented using Self-biasing technique. Self-biasing technique produces low kick back noise during the operation of this proposed design. The simulated results are mentioned below.


Optimizing scheduling and communication of distributed data processing for resource and data characteristics is crucial for achieving high performance. Existing approaches to such optimizations largely fall into two categories. First, distributed runtimes provide low-level policy interfaces to apply the optimizations, but do not ensure the maintenance of correct application semantics and thus often require significant effort to use. Second, policy interfaces that extend a high-level application programming model ensure correctness, but do not provide sufficient fine control. We describe Apache Nemo, an optimization framework for distributed dataflow processing that provides fine control for high performance and also ensures correctness for ease of use. We combine several techniques to achieve this, including an intermediate representation of dataflow, compiler optimization passes, and runtime extensions. Our evaluation results show that Nemo enables composable and reusable optimizations that bring performance improvements on par with existing specialized runtimes tailored for a specific deployment scenario. Apache Nemo is open-sourced at https://nemo.apache.org as an Apache incubator project.


Proposed is a swap-aware garbage collection policy, called SCATA, for a flash-aware Linux swap system. SCATA not only introduces an improved victim block selection method to reduce cleaning cost and improve the degree of wear-levelling, but also redefines the concept of hot page and cold page according to the least-recently-used page replacement algorithm and clusters hot pages separately from cold pages, and then redistributes them to different free blocks during the migration step of garbage collection operation to reduce cleaning cost and obtain much more free space. Swap I/O traces from the Linux kernel have been collected and trace-driven simulations performed, which show that the proposed policy greatly outperforms existing garbage collection policies.


This paper discusses and presents a preconstruction testing program for a brick veneer cavity wall. It presents the testing program and the application of ASTM and industry standards to the evaluation testing of the brickmasonry materials. It provides findings on brick and mortar characteristics, steps taken to improve the performance of the selected brick wall materials, and engineering procedures for determining material compatibility and performance.


In human-isolated ventricular myocardium the alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine has a positive inotropic effect but its mechanism is largely unknown. We studied the effects of phenylephrine in trabeculae isolated from three nonfailing human hearts. We found that the force of contraction rose concentration-dependently (1-300 mumol/L), maximally, to about 235% of control (at 100 mumol/L). The inositol phosphates were increased to 195-262%, whereas the phosphatidylinositol phosphate and phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate decreased to 69-73% of control. The present results suggest that the alpha 1-adrenoceptor-mediated increase in inositol trisphosphate and the positive inotropic effect may be causally related in the normal human heart.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Sunitinib (SU) is a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). It is more effective for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treatment than conventional immunotherapy, but it causes the resistance and severe side effects in some cases. As a combination therapy might be one solution for them, we paid attention to sodium butyrate (NaBu). It is classified into histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and it is reported HDAC inhibitors can enhance anti-cancer effect of existent drugs including TKI. So, we examined combination effect of SU and NaBu. And to reveal the target of this combination, we examined effects of SU and NaBu on connexin (Cx), which is a component of gap junction (GJ) and tumor suppressors.

We assessed effect of SU and NaBu combination on ACHN (human RCC cell line) cell proliferation by MTT assay and this combination exhibited a synergistic anti-proliferative effect. By real-time PCR, we detected up-regulation of Cx32 mRNA by NaBu. Moreover, NaBu depicted the up-regulated Cx32 protein expression, which was observed by confocal fluorescence microscope. Hemi-channel (Cx hexamer) function was assessed by propidium iodide (PI) uptake into cells. We found both SU and NaBu enhanced PI uptake significantly. GJ function was assessed by scrape-loading. It was confirmed GJ didn't function in ACHN cells and neither SU nor NaBu affected its function. So, it was suggested NaBu could up-regulate Cx32 expression and both SU and NaBu could enhance hemi-channel function. However, we couldn't reveal whether GJ was related to enhancing SU sensitivity. So, we used GJ positive or negative H28 (human malignant mesothelioma cell line) to reveal this matter. As a result, GJ positive cells were more sensitive to SU than negative ones. On the other hand, inhibition of GJ function didn't restore viability of GJ positive cells.

In conclusion, we demonstrated the combination therapy of SU and NaBu had synergistic anti-proliferative effect, so it could be a prominent therapy for RCC. Furthermore, we found Cx could be involved in this combination effect, which might be performed in GJ-independent manner.

Citation Format: Miaki Uzu, Hiromi Sato, Rina Suzuki, Hiroko Okuzawa, Sana Siddig, Guligena Tuerdi, Sayumi Suzuki, Yuki Nomura, Yuko Sekine, Tomohiro Yano, Koichi Ueno. Connexin might be involved in anti-cancer combination effect of sunitinib and sodium butyrate. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1043. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1043


ABSTRACT Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a common cause of nosocomial diarrhea. TcdB is a major C. difficile exotoxin that activates macrophages to promote inflammation and epithelial damage. Lysosome impairment is a known trigger for inflammation. Herein, we hypothesize that TcdB could impair macrophage lysosomal function to mediate inflammation during CDI. Effects of TcdB on lysosomal function and the downstream pro-inflammatory SQSTM1/p62-NFKB (nuclear factor kappa B) signaling were assessed in cultured macrophages and in a murine CDI model. Protective effects of two lysosome activators (i.e., vitamin D3 and carbamazepine) were assessed. Results showed that TcdB inhibited CTNNB1/β-catenin activity to downregulate MITF (melanocyte inducing transcription factor) and its direct target genes encoding components of lysosomal membrane vacuolar-type ATPase, thereby suppressing lysosome acidification in macrophages. The resulting lysosomal dysfunction then impaired autophagic flux and activated SQSTM1-NFKB signaling to drive the expression of IL1B/IL-1β (interleukin 1 beta), IL8 and CXCL2 (chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 2). Restoring MITF function by enforced MITF expression or restoring lysosome acidification with 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 or carbamazepine suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in vitro. In mice, gavage with TcdB-hyperproducing C. difficile or injection of TcdB into ligated colon segments caused prominent MITF downregulation in macrophages. Vitamin D3 and carbamazepine lessened TcdB-induced lysosomal dysfunction, inflammation and histological damage. In conclusion, TcdB inhibits the CTNNB1-MITF axis to suppress lysosome acidification and activates the downstream SQSTM1-NFKB signaling in macrophages during CDI. Vitamin D3 and carbamazepine protect against CDI by restoring MITF expression and lysosomal function in mice. Abbreviations: ATP6V0B: ATPase H+ transporting V0 subunit b; ATP6V0C: ATPase H+ transporting V0 subunit c; ATP6V0E1: ATPase H+ transporting V0 subunit e1; ATP6V1H: ATPase H+ transporting V1 subunit H; CBZ: carbamazepine; CDI: C. difficile infection; CXCL: chemokine C-X-X motif ligand; IL: interleukin; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; LEF: lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1; MITF: melanocyte inducing transcription factor; NFKB: nuclear factor kappa B; PMA: phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; TcdA: Clostridial toxin A; TcdB: Clostridial toxin B; TFE3: transcription factor E3; TFEB: transcription factor EB.


The Caslon Analytics guide on secrecy and accountability considers secrecy principles, issues, legislation and practice. It discusses official secrets laws, trade secrets and non-disclosure regimes, whistleblowing and judicial review mechanisms. It points to major academic and government studies


Kenya became a Crown Colony of the British government on 23 July 1920. Before then, 1895 to 1919, it was a protectorate of the British Government. Between 1887 to 1895, Scot William Mackinnon (1823-1893), under the auspices of his chartered company, Imperial British East Africa (IBEA), was running Kenya on behalf of the British Government. This article sets out to trace the road to democracy in colonial Kenya, though with a bias to electoral contests, from 1920 to 1963. While democracy and/or democratic culture is broader than mere electioneering, the article considers electoral processes as critical steps in consolidating democratic gains, as societies now find an opportunity to replace bad leaders and eventually installs a crop of leadership that resonates well with their pains, dreams, fears and joys. With its own elected leaders, the article hypothesizes, a society has a critical foundation because elected people are ordinarily meant to address cutting-edge issues facing a given society. Such concerns may include: poverty, corruption, racism, marginalization of minority, ethnic bigotry, economic rejuvenation, gender justice, and health of the people among other disquiets. Methodologically, the article focusses more on the 1920 and the 1957 general elections. This is due to their unique positioning in the Kenyan historiography. In 1920, for instance, a semblance of democracy was witnessed in Kenya when the European-Settler-Farmers' inspired elections took place, after their earlier protests in 1911. They were protesting against the mere nomination of leaders to the Legislative Council (Parliament) since 1906 when the first Parliament was instituted in Kenya's history. Although Eliud Wambu Mathu became the first African to be nominated to the Legislative Council in 1944, this was seen as a mere drop in the big Ocean, as Africans had not been allowed to vote or usher in their own leaders through universal suffrage. The year 1957 provided that opportunity even though they (Africans) remained a tiny minority in the Legislative Council until the 1963 general elections which ushered in Kenya's independence. What other setbacks did the Kenyan democratic process encounter; and how were the democratic gains consolidated? While the article does not intend to focus on the voice of religious societies, or the lack of it, it is worthwhile to concede that a democratic process is an all-inclusive enterprise that invites all cadres to "come and build the barricading wall" for all of us.


Advantage may be taken of the hyperaemic response to the iodine contained in the contrast medium injected during coronary angiography to assess the functional value of the coronary tree using radioactive microspheres. This series comprises 73 selective coronary scans performed in the resting state (113 m In marked microspheres) and during the hyperaemic phase (99 m TC marked microspheres) in 70 patients. A positive hyperaemic response distal to severe truncular stenosis indicates a good distal arteriolar bed and collateral circulation for aorto-coronary bypass grafting. After aorto-coronary bypass (23 cases), the hyperaemic response gives an indication of the functional value of the revascularised myocardium. In 71% cases, the results correlate well with the measurement of the peroperative blood flow through the graft. It is usually positive when the bypass graft is implanted with good distal arterial run off.


ABSTRACT This study examines market integration between the cold and warmwater shrimp value chain in the UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, and Norway using cointegration methods. For all countries, market integration exists between cold and warmwater unprocessed shrimp imports, where the law of one price (LOP) holds in three of the five cases. For processed shrimp, the LOP holds in three of four integrated cases, and for retail sales in the UK and Denmark, the LOP fails to hold in the presence of market integration. Unprocessed coldwater shrimp leads the market in northern Europe. Downstream, prices adjust within a few months, indicating that a shrimp is a shrimp. In the short-run, the coldwater value chain seems to be protected from competition, but provides opportunities for a shift in consumer demand towards warmwater in the long-run. This implies that coldwater shrimp prices are determined by demand and supply of warmwater shrimp, which is 15 times larger. JEL Codes: C32, F15, Q21, Q22.


Refreshing and revealing in equal measure, this innovative volume conducts a critical/self--critical exploration of the impact of culture on the ill-fated Oslo peace process. The authors negotiators and scholars alike demolish stereotypes as they construct an unusually subtle and sophisticated understanding of how culture influences negotiating styles. Culture, they argue, did not cause the Oslo breakdown but it did play an influential, intervening role at several levels: coloring the thinking of political leaders, shaping domestic politics on both sides, and affecting each side s evaluation of the other s beliefs and intentions.After an overview by William Quandt of the history of the Oslo process and the impact of international factors such as U.S. mediation, the volume presents a detailed analysis of first Palestinian, and then Israeli negotiating styles between 1993 and 2001. Omar Dajani, a former legal advisor to the Palestinian team, explains how elements of Palestinian identity and national development have hobbled the Palestinians ability to negotiate effectively. Aharon Klieman, a distinguished Israeli analyst, traces a long-standing clash between diplomatic and security subcultures within the Israeli political elite and reveals how Israeli identity has helped create a negotiating style that opts for short-term gains while undermining the prospects for a lasting agreement. Drawing on these insights, Tamara Wittes concludes the volume by offering not only a fresh appreciation of culture s influence on interethnic negotiations but also lessons for future negotiators in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Read the review from Foreign Affairs."


Literature has not reached a consensus on how the firm and industry effects influence the stock price performance of publicly-traded companies over time. Based on the premise of significant changes in the stock price performance of companies listed on Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) in recent years, and the occurrence of these variations in function of the characteristics of each firm and activity industry, this study uses hierarchical modeling with repeated measures to propose an approach that permits analyzing random effects as an alternative for profitability evolution analysis. Through a sample of 45 companies working in ten industries in the period 2001-2007, totaling 272 observations, low representativeness of the activity industry is verified to distinguish the mean annual profitability and the growth rates of stock prices among companies listed on Bovespa in recent years.


We present a hardware Gaussian noise generator based on the Box-Muller method that provides highly accurate noise samples. The noise generator can be used as a key component in a hardware-based simulation system, such as for exploring channel code behavior at very low bit error rates, as low as 10-12 to 10-13. The main novelties of this work are accurate analytical error analysis and bit-width optimization for the elementary functions involved in the Box-Muller method. Two 16-bit noise samples are generated every clock cycle and, due to the accurate error analysis, every sample is analytically guaranteed to be accurate to one unit in the last place. An implementation on a Xilinx Virtex-4 XC4VLX100-12 FPGA occupies 1,452 slices, three block RAMs, and 12 DSP slices, and is capable of generating 750 million samples per second at a clock speed of 375 MHz. The performance can be improved by exploiting concurrent execution: 37 parallel instances of the noise generator at 95 MHz on a Xilinx Virtex-II Pro XC2VP100-7 FPGA generate seven billion samples per second and can run over 200 times faster than the output produced by software running on an Intel Pentium-4 3 GHz PC. The noise generator is currently being used at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA to evaluate the performance of low-density parity-check codes for deep-space communications


Dynamic absorber is a famous strategy to suppress a vibration with an additive mass without using any kind of energy. The performance is restrictive than active vibration control devices, however, it is practical use. The resonance curve of the dynamic absorber has two same level peaks which depends on damping coefficients. Hard-damper of the absorber decrease the both peaks. In anti-resonance frequency the gain of soft-damper is lower than hard-damper case. In this paper, an semi-active switching control for the dynamic absorber is considered on the basis of frequency responses by using band pass filter. The semi-active switching control designed adequately has good performance against all type of earthquake by using simulation and experimentation


The influence of actinomycin D on the implantation of blastocysts has been studied in mice. The early stages of implantation, the Pontamine sky blue reaction and stromal oedema take place normally and the blastocyst is stimulated to develop. Decidualization, however, is delayed and the degeneration of the uterine epithelium around the blastocyst is inhibited, suggesting that the latter is dependent on DNA-directed messenger RNA synthesis whereas the initial implantation changes and activation of the blastocyst are not.


A prescribed shear stress applied to the free surface of a thin liquid layer sets up a steady shear flow. When the shear flow has a linear velocity, profile, Miles, using asymptotic analysis, finds critical values Rc of the Reynolds number above which unstable travelling waves exist. However, Miles omits a term in the normal-stress boundary condition. We correct this omission and solve the appropriate Orr-Sommer-feld system numerically to obtain the critical conditions. For the case of a zero-surface-tension interface, we find that Rc = 34.2, as compared with Miles' value of Rc = 203. As surface tension increases, Rc asymptotes to the inviscid limit developed by Miles. The critical Reynolds number, critical wavenumber and critical phase speed are presented as functions of a non-dimensional surface tension. We investigate the mechanism of the instability through an examination of the disturbance-energy equation. When the shear flow has a parabolic velocity profile, we find a long-wave instability at small values of the Reynolds number. Numerical methods are used to extend these results to larger values of the wavenumber. Examination is made of the relation between this long-wave instability and profile curvature.


Although episodic wetlands are very frequent environments in Argentina, the knowledge about their ecology is scarce. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe the diversity and changes in the horizontal distribution of crustaceans and rotifers in the episodic wetland El Guanaco, Province of La Pampa, Argentina, during the hydroperiod that took place between December 2003 and March 2004. After three years during which it was dry, torrential rains made it reach a depth of 0.42 m. After 48 hours, ovigerous females and males of Metacyclops mendocinus (Wierzejeski 1892), juveniles of Moina wierzejskii (Richard 1895), and larvae of Triops longicaudatus (LeConte 1846) were recorded. The conductivity was reduced, the ionic content was dominated by bicarbonates and sodium and the concentrations of nutrients were high. The samplings were carried out in three stations, which at first were in open waters. The stations presented a homogeneous horizontal distribution of microcrustaceans and rotifers, with a predominance of limnetic species. Later, two of the stations were surrounded by Eleocharis macrostachya Britton plants, which allowed us to determine changes in the taxonomic composition and the appearance of species associated with the presence of vegetation. We recorded 35 taxa, being Moina micrura Kurz 1874 constantly present and highest in numbers. Among rotifers, the genus Brachionus was the predominant one. The species richness was higher in the station which was covered by E. macrostachya plants. After a period of high temperatures, we observed that the richness and abundance of microcrustaceans decreased, whereas those of rotifers increased.


This paper offers a theoretical framework for studying the inter-actions of energy prices and economic growth. The incorporation of energy prices and quantities in a macroeconomic setting focuses on (1)the aggregate technology; (2) the interdependence of energy producers and consumers in the world economy; and (3) the asset markets as the channel through which energy price changes affect output and capital accumulation. While several existing studies consider aspects of these issues, none provides a synthesis. In this analysis, a theoretically sound model of an oil price increase in the world economy is presented, carefully treating topics (1) - (3).The model is solved with computer simulation, as it is far too complex to yield analytical solutions.


1. The rate of output of the contractile vacuole of the suctorian Podophrya sp. was found to increase during feeding up to ten times. It decreased at the end of the meal but remained higher than it was before feeding. 2. The extra output of the contractile vacuole during feeding was approximately equal to the decrease in volume of the prey minus the increase in volume of the Podophrya . 3. In a typical meal roughly one-half of the food ingested by Podophrya was accommodated by expansion, and one half by concentration of the food taken in. This concentration was brought about by the action of the contractile vacuole.


Abstract Theories of plant invasion based on enemy release in a new range assume that selection exerted by specialist herbivores on defence traits should be reduced, absent, or even selected against in the new environment. Here, we measured phenotypic selection on atropine and scopolamine concentration of Datura stramonium in eight native (Mexico) and 14 non‐native (Spain) populations. Native populations produced between 20 and 40 times more alkaloid than non‐native populations (atropine: 2.0171 vs. 0.0458 mg/g; scopolamine: 1.004 vs. 0.0488 mg/g, respectively). Selection on alkaloids was negative for atropine and positive for scopolamine concentration in both ranges. However, the effect sizes of selection gradients were only significant in the native range. Our results support the assumption that the reduction of plant defence in the absence of the plant's natural enemies in invasive ranges is driven by natural selection.


Abstract:Di kliatshe, a novella published in 1873 by Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, has been credited as one of the first literary works to register the failure of the Haskalah to achieve Jewish integration into Russian society. However, analysis of the literary and historical contexts in which this work emerged shows how Di kliatshe also engaged in a subtle literary dialogue with non-Jewish authors in order to promote a radical ethical position on the question of human and animal suffering. The awareness of a dimension of suffering in which Jews and animals are equivalent provides an alternative account to the conventional debate on the Jewish Question. Instead of a formal affirmation of universal human rights, in Abramovitsh's work the relation to questions of Jewish identity remains informal and marked by attentiveness to the dehumanized aspects of Jewish existence.


Objectives: Malnutrition is a common condition among children and iron status varies in different types of malnutrition. So the present study is aimed to find the different iron status among severe malnourished children in our context. Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was done in the Paediatrics ward Chittagong Medical College Hospital in a period of 6 months from January to July 2013 among the 50 cases of malnourished children of age range between 1 to 5 years and Weight for Height Z score(WHZ) was <-2  SD. Sampling technique was continuous purposive sampling. Venous blood was collected to assay the different iron profile mainly serum iron level, total iron binding capacity(TIBC) and transferrin saturation(TSAT). Data was analyzed after correction by SPSS-19. Results: Among the 50 study children of different age groups 15 patients were 1 to 2 years, 18 patients were 2 to 3 years, 10 patients were 3 to 4 years and 7 patients were at 4-5 years of age groups. Among the patients, 29 (58%) of patients were female and 21(42%) of the patients were male. Most of the children were from the families of low socioeconomic status 38(76%). 2(4%) children were from upper middle class who had step mother. Among the selected patients the dominating clinical features were anemia was found among 45(90%) of patients which was mild(66.6%), moderate(26.6%) and severe(6.6%). Skin changes(32%), eye  changes (10%) and hair changes(48%) were also found. Among the 50 study subjects prelacteal feeding was given among 43(86%) children, breast feeding was given 45(90%), exclusive breast feeding was given to 24(48%) of children and complementary feeding after 6 months was given to 29(58%) patients. Among the 50 patients -2 to -3 SD weight for height was found in 20(40%) patients and <-3 SD was found in 30(60%) patients. Most of the children was found to have Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) 115-125 mm(50%). Iron status was measured among all patients where serum iron level was found 77.72 ± 11.22 mcgm/dl, TIBC was found 340.07 ± 22.67 mcgm/dl and transferrin saturation was found 22.38 ± 2.9 %. Iron status were measured among the different types of malnutrition where serum iron level and transferrin saturation was high among all patients with malnutrition while TIBC was lower than standard level in all patients. Different biochemical status were measured among the different types of malnutrition where serum total protein, serum albumin, Hb% were lower than standard level in all patients. Conclusion: Change in different iron status is a common findings in malnourished children. Screening of all children for anemia and providing iron and folic acid (IFA) or multiple micronutrients (MMN) supplements to children and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) should be addressed at all level to overcome the situation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/cmoshmcj.v13i3.21024


Magnetic, dielectric and calorimetric studies on 0.9BiFeO3-0.1BaTiO3 indicate strong magnetoelectric coupling. XRD studies reveal a very remarkable change in the rhombohedral distortion angle and a significant shift in the atomic positions at the magnetic Tc due to an isostructural phase transition. The calculated polarization using Rietveld refined atomic positions scales linearly with magnetization. Our results provide the first unambiguous, atomic level evidence for magnetoelectric coupling of intrinsic multiferroic origin in a BiFeO3-based system.


This paper attempts to give explanations of environmental collaborations, as few works have focused empirically on this topic, given the lack of precise data. We aim to explain what, why, where, and with whom firms collaborate (or not)? We used more than 300 data on environmental innovations (EI) collected through semi-directive interviews and analyzed them with a mixed method. In line with the work of De Marchi (2012), we tested the specificity of EI in comparison with innovation in general. First, a probit model reveals the importance of the type of EI in the probability of collaborating when a company produces an EI. Next, statistics and verbatim transcripts emphasize the relevance of private companies as partners to EI and the frequent requirement for technical support during collaborations. These last two results nonetheless depend on the type of EI achieved. Partners are selected mainly for their geographical proximity and the trust granted to them, whereas costs and competences appear to be secondary criteria of choice. Lastly, we observe that partners are mainly located within the region irrespective of the type of EI. JEL Codes: L19, O31, Q55


We have investigated the glycosylation, disulfide bonding, and subunit structure of mouse TRPM8. To do this, amino-terminal c-myc or hemagglutinin epitope-tagged proteins were incorporated and expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. These modifications had no obvious effects on channel function in intracellular calcium imaging assays upon application of agonists, icilin or menthol, and cold temperatures. Unmodified TRPM8 migrates with an apparent mass of 129 kDa and can be glycosylated in Chinese hamster ovary cells to give glycoproteins with apparent masses of 136 and 147 kDa. We identified two potential N-linked glycosylation sites in TRPM8 (Asn-821 and Asn-934) and mutated them to show that only the site in the putative pore region at position 934 is modified and that glycosylation of this site is not absolutely necessary for cell surface expression or responsiveness to icilin, menthol, and cool temperatures. Enzymatic cleavage of the carbohydrate chains indicated that they are complex carbohydrate. The glycosylation site is flanked in the pore by two cysteine residues that we mutated, to prove that they are involved in a conserved double cysteine motif, which is essential for channel function. Mutation of either of these cysteines abolishes function and forces the formation of a non-functional complex of the size of a homodimer. The double cysteine mutant is also non-functional. Finally, we showed in Perfluoro-octanoic acid-polyacrylamide gels that TRPM8 can form a tetramer (in addition to dimer and trimer forms), consistent with current thinking that functional TRP ion channels are tetrameric.


In recent times, pomegranate has been one of Turkey's most important commercial fruit crops for consumption and export. In this study, the chemical composition of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruits grown in the central area of Bitlis province (Eastern Turkey) was investigated. For this purpose, total phenolic content, ascorbic acid content, total anthocyanin and antioxidant activity and minerals content were evaluated. The highest total phenolic contents were determined in 13BIT1 (6477.78 mg gallic acid equivalents 100 g fresh matter). The highest ascorbic acid was determined in 13BIT2 of pomegranate genotype (60.78 mg 100 g). Radical scavenging activity (DPPH) were determined between 13BIT18 (78.15) to 13BIT1 (31.49). Total anthocyanin of genotypes was measured between 13BIT19 (156.03) to 13BIT17 (55.37), respectively. The highest mineral compositions of the pomegranate genotypes were 998.00% N, 301.00 mg 100 g P, 1708.61 mg 100 g K, 55.21 mg 100 g Ca, 116.79 mg 100 g Mg, 5.1 mg 100 g Fe, 1.91 mg 100 g Cu, 0.41 mg 100 g Mn and 1.20 mg 100 g Zn, respectively. The results indicate that pomegranate genotypes have an important value of health and nutrition for the human.


Because of the development of recent broadband access technologies, fair services among users are becoming more important criteria. The most promising scheme of router mechanisms for providing fair service is per-flow traffic management. However, it is difficult to be implemented in high speed core routers because per-flow state management is prohibitive; thus, a large number of flows are aggregated into a small number of queues. This is not a preferable situation because the more number of flows aggregated into a queue increases, the worse fairness tends to become. In this paper, we propose a new traffic management scheme called hierarchically aggregated fair queueing (HAFQ) to provide per-flow fair service. Our proposed scheme can adjust flow aggregation levels according to the queue handling capability of various routers. That means the proposed scheme is scalably used in high-speed networks. HAFQ improves the fairness among aggregated flows by estimating the number of flows aggregated in a queue and allocating bandwidth to the queue proportionally. In addition, since HAFQ can identify flows having higher arrival rates simultaneously in estimating the number of flows, it enhances the fairness by preferentially dropping their packets. We show that our proposed scheme can provide per-flow fair service through extensive simulation and experimental studies using a network processor. Since the currently available network processors (Intel IXP1200 in our case) are not high capacity, we also give extensive discussions on the applicability of our scheme to the high-speed core routers.


Information technology has made wide impact on the library services; emergence of mobile and advancement in communication technology are changed the content, information access methodologies. Mobile is become a common device to communicate and access the content over internet, user can access the information throughout the world on mobile devices. Libraries can provide content by connect with users through mobile device they can provide variety of quality services with the help of Wi-Fi technology in the campus without using the internet. This LIB-INTRANET model is based on the Wi-Fi technology, which will create the connectivity between library and users. This model helps libraries to publish their content and give accessibility to users on their handheld devices. Keywords: wi-fi services, library intranet services, library wi-fi, library hotspot Cite this Article Kalloli P. S. Designing and Developing Library Intranet Model Based On Wi-Fi: LIB-INTRANET. Journal of Advancements in Library Sciences . 2019; 6(Special Issue 1): 436s–439s.


Basic legal questions of medical treatment in unconscious emergency patients are discussed. Legal issues in the German judiciary are presented.


Visual Image Analysis (VIA) has been evaluated to estimate morphological traits and weights of live rabbits and carcasses to improve the body conformation of the new breed Leprino di Viterbo. The reliability of VIA was firstly tested on a sample of 30 does. Then, a total of 365 animal (130 additional does and 205 rabbits at slaughtering weight of kg 2.5) was utilised to calculate some surface traits and correlations between live and carcass weights that were later validated over a new sample of 112 rabbits (37 does and 75 fattened). VIA gave very good results to evaluate morphological and weight measurements. Maximum observed individual difference between data measured by metre and by VIA was only 3.6%. Since standard error (SE) of VIA was lower than SE of metre (0.06 and 0.33 respectively), VIA was considered more reliable than the instrumental measurement. A new parameter, Body Side Surface, was made available by the Image Analysis to estimate Live Weight and Carcass Weight efficiently. Correlations were high (P<0.01) both in does (R2=0.87 for live weight equation) and at slaughter time (R2=0.82 and 0.76 for live and carcass weight equations, respectively). It was concluded that VIA is a viable, quick and practical mean to measure and select for weight and morphological traits as head length, ear length, body length and body side surface.


There is a definite relation between the state of dolphin's health and the abundance of bacterial associations developing on the skin surface around the dorsal fin. The disease was accompanied by an increase in bacterium amount more than fourfold due to the enhancement of staphylococcus and pseudomonad number. The development of dystrophy in the animal resulted in a threefold decrease in bacterium number. Pseudomonas aeruginosa dominated in this case. In the vaginal mucose of female, the development of bacteria had an oscillatory character and was correlated with the dynamics of leukocyte number against the background of morphologically diverse epithelial cells discharged in different periods of observation. Periods of the abundant bacterium development were connected with the cyclic recurrence of sexual (estrous) processes in the female organism.


A single feature extractor-classifier is not usually able to deal with the diversity of multiple image scenarios. Therefore, integration of features and classifiers can bring benefits to cope with this problem, particularly when the parts are carefully chosen and synergistically combined. In this paper, we address the problem of pedestrian detection by a novel ensemble method. Initially, histograms of oriented gradients (HOGs) and local receptive fields (LRFs), which are provided by a convolutional neural network, have been both classified by multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) and support vector machines (SVMs). A diversity measure is used to refine the initial set of feature extractors and classifiers. A final classifier ensemble was then structured by an HOG and an LRF as features, classified by two SVMs and one MLP. We have analyzed the following two classes of fusion methods of combining the outputs of the component classifiers: (1) majority vote and (2) fuzzy integral. The first part of the performance evaluation consisted of running the final proposed ensemble over the DaimlerChrysler cropwise data set, which was also artificially modified to simulate sunny and shadowy illumination conditions, which is typical of outdoor scenarios. Then, a window-wise study has been performed over a collected video sequence. Experiments have highlighted a state-of-the-art classification system, performing consistently better than the component classifiers and other methods.


In 1938, Robert Gross performed the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus. This spectacular event is to a large extent responsible for setting in motion a veritable chain reaction in which investigators in many fields of biology and science have shared the experiences of the clinician and the surgeon. In an unbelievably short time, the application of surgical techniques has spread to a growing number of acquired and congenital cardiac disease states. To present a picture of the current status of surgical techniques for cardiac diseases, this survey includes information gathered by means of a questionnaire from the experiences and opinions of a number of clinicians and surgeons prominent in this field.1 For convenience of discussion, the cardiac diseases amenable to surgical treatment can be divided into three groups. 1. This group consists of those instances in which a physiological restoration to normal or near normal is


H.264 is a video coding standard which offers high data compression rate at the cost of a high computational load. This thesis evaluates how well parts of the H.264 standard can be implemented for a new multi-core digital signal processing processor architecture called ePUMA. The thesis investigates if real-time encoding of high definition video sequences could be performed. The implementation consists of the motion estimation, motion compensation, discrete cosine transform, inverse discrete cosine transform, quantization and rescaling parts of the H.264 standard. Benchmarking is done using the ePUMA system simulator and the results are compared to an implementation of an existing H.264 encoder for another multi-core processor architecture called STI Cell. The results show that the selected parts of the H.264 encoder could be run on 6 calculation cores in 5 million cycles per frame. This setup leaves 2 calculation cores to run the remaining parts of the encoder.


In distributed systems, transcoding techniques have been used to customize multimedia objects, utilizing trade-offs between the quality and sizes of these objects to provide differentiated services to clients. Our research uses transcoding techniques in wireless systems to customize video streams to the requirements of users, while minimizing the energy costs. We introduce an approach to dynamically determine which transcoders to execute and where to execute them (e.g., client or server). The goal is to select appropriate transcoders (a) to provide clients with the quality of service they desire while (b) minimizing the energy consumption of the end-hosts in accordance with application-specific global energy management directives. This paper investigates sample transcoder functions for video streaming on handheld devices and introduces a mechanism for selecting the most appropriate transcoders and transcoder parameters.


This study aims to examine whether adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with oral health conditions (denture use, difficulty in chewing, and edentulism) among middle-aged and older adults in China and if gender and adulthood education moderate the associations. Data were obtained from the 2014 and 2018 surveys from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N = 17,091) and logistic regressions were carried out. Results show that childhood hunger (OR = 1.12), loneliness (OR = 1.10) and family relations (OR = 1.07) were significantly associated with higher odds of denture use and there were significant associations between hunger (OR = 1.16) and difficulty in chewing. For the female subsample, education significantly moderated the adverse effect of childhood hunger on denture use and difficulty in chewing. Findings suggest that ACEs have long-lasting impacts on oral health conditions in later life and adulthood education might offer critical resources for females, helping them buffer the detrimental health impacts of ACEs.


Objectives
The objectives of the study were: 1) to determine whether there is food insecurity among matriculating students attending a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), 2) to investigate the associations between food security status and the demographic characteristics (gender, classification, housing status) of students, 3) to examine the relationship of food security status to the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV), 4) to investigate the association of student food security status with overweight/obesity, and 5) to assess fast food consumption among food insecure students.

Methods
Five hundred Seventy undergrad and graduate students were recruited to participate in an online survey. The survey was voluntary and anonymous. Data were collected via a 20-item survey using Qualtrics, an online software program that allows its users to create and distribute survey instruments. The main survey questions were derived the Six-item United States Department of Agriculture-Adult Food Security Survey Module (USDA-AFSSM). The survey also included questions which measured: height and weight, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, fast food purchases and potential food pantry utilization. The remaining questions in the survey determined demographic characteristics which included gender, class, meal plan, and housing status.

Results
Data indicated 77.7% (405) of the sample had experienced some level of food insecurity over the last 12 months, whereas 116 (22.2%) were determined to be food secure. The prevalence of the four categories of food security status is shown in Figure 1.Food insecure students were significantly more likely to purchase fast foods two or more times a week and had significantly lower mean fruit and vegetable intakes than food secure students.Sophomores were least likely to be food secure (11.1%), while graduate/professional students were most likely to be food secure (37.6%). Students living on campus were found to be more likely to be food insecure.

Conclusions
The present study provides evidence of significant food insecurity. More fast food and decreased fruit and vegetable consumption was found among the food insecure vs food secure. Food security on college campuses bears further investigation.

Funding Sources
Howard University.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


High-quality heteroepitaxy of CdTe is challenging due to lattice mismatches of CdTe with many substrates. Herein, we demonstrate the epitaxial growth of single crystalline CdTe films, in multilevel island format, on mica using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, regardless of large in-plane lattice mismatch (~13%) between CdTe(111) and mica(001). X-ray and electron diffractions suggest that CdTe is epitaxially aligned with mica: out-of-plane CdTe 111 //mica 001 and in-plane CdTe 121 //mica 010 . Full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curve and FWHM of X-ray azimuthal in-plane angular dispersion of CdTe are shown to be 0.11 and 0.38, respectively, better than most CdTe films reported. Electron backscattering diffraction shows that CdTe grains are tens of μm and, if twin boundaries are excluded, in excess of 250 μm in size. In contrast to the belief that overlayer growth on mica is purely through van der Waals interaction, our first-principle calculations uncover that van der Waals interaction only contributes to 20% of the total interfacial energy, and 80% of the interfacial energy comes from chemical interaction. We believe such a strong chemical interaction is accountable for the highquality epitaxy. The demonstration of epitaxial growth of high-quality semiconductor on mica with a large lattice mismatch creates opportunities for flexible optoelectronic devices.


Four day old third stage larvae of Brugia pahangi were cultured in the presence of differing concentrations of early passage dog kidney cells and inactivated foetal calf serum. After a six day culture period worm length, number of moults and worm mortality were determined. Analysis of the length data demonstrated a significant interactive relationship between cell and serum concentration. The greatest increases in length were obtained using an initial cell density of dog kidney cells of 40 x 10(4) plus a serum concentration of 10%. (The surface area of all culture vessels was 2.0 cm2). In addition moulting occurred earlier and was more prolific with higher cell and serum concentrations. The response of larvae to antiparasitic agents in the presence or absence of a confluent dog kidney feeder layer was then compared to determine whether the inclusion of cells altered drug effects. From this it was found that the killing effects of flubendazole, albendazole, furazolidone, levamisole and nifurtimox at their minimum effective concentrations were delayed under biphasic culture conditions. It is suggested that this is an advantage and will improve the selectivity of the assay over and above an assay which does not include a cell feeder layer. In addition the improved growth rates obtained in cultures containing dog kidney cells should mean an increase in test sensitivity to agents capable of disrupting biosynthesis.


Despite advances in critical care, the incidence and mortality from severe sepsis remains unacceptably high. Numerous strategies focusing on the pathophysiology of severe sepsis are being pursued. Bacteria and bacterial products that trigger sepsis are being targeted via antibodies, signaling antagonists and filtration columns. Excessive inflammation is being addressed with the use of specific blocking antibodies for injurious cytokines as well as devices and molecules that address the proinflammatory cytokine pathways. Injury to the gut and the endothelial lining that occur during sepsis and propagate inflammation and organ dysfunction is being addressed with protective molecules. Replacement strategies for protective molecules exhausted during the sepsis episode are being examined. Finally, strategies to reverse the immunosuppression of sepsis are being revived.


Objective The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical characteristics of acute pancreatitis (AP) in a prospectively collected, large, multicentre cohort and to validate the major recommendations in the IAP/APA evidence-based guidelines for the management of AP. Design Eighty-six different clinical parameters were collected using an electronic clinical research form designed by the Hungarian Pancreatic Study Group. Patients 600 adult patients diagnosed with AP were prospectively enrolled from 17 Hungarian centres over a two-year period from 1 January 2013. Main Results With respect to aetiology, biliary and alcoholic pancreatitis represented the two most common forms of AP. The prevalence of biliary AP was higher in women, whereas alcoholic AP was more common in men. Hyperlipidaemia was a risk factor for severity, lack of serum enzyme elevation posed a risk for severe AP, and lack of abdominal pain at admission demonstrated a risk for mortality. Abdominal tenderness developed in all the patients with severe AP, while lack of abdominal tenderness was a favourable sign for mortality. Importantly, lung injury at admission was associated with mortality. With regard to laboratory parameters, white blood cell count and CRP were the two most sensitive indicators for severe AP. The most common local complication was peripancreatic fluid, whereas the most common distant organ failure in severe AP was lung injury. Deviation from the recommendations in the IAP/APA evidence-based guidelines on fluid replacement, enteral nutrition and timing of interventions increased severity and mortality. Conclusions Analysis of a large, nationwide, prospective cohort of AP cases allowed for the identification of important determinants of severity and mortality. Evidence-based guidelines should be observed rigorously to improve outcomes in AP.


One of the methods to increase the efficiency of farming product is to the product to become durable product, for example, apple is processed to become vinegar through fermentation. The purpose of this research was to find out whether or not apple fermentation process can produce alcohol with khamir sacharomyces cereviceae, and further fermentation can form vinegar with acetobacter aceti bacteria. In addition, the special purpose of this study was to know the influence of the storage temperature and the fermentation process time on the quality of vinegar production. The results of this research hopefully could increase knowledge about apple processing to become acetic acid. Thus as the constant variable was volume of apple essence, the amount of ammonium sulfate, khamir, acetobacter aceti, time of storage, pH speed of stirrer and temperature of fermentation, where as change of variable was process time. From the research results it was known that the best quality of acetic acid was obteianed at the 62 nd hour in the amount of 0.91% (room temperature) and 0.54667% (freezer temperature).


In the present study, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo antitumor effects of crude extract of Scutellaria barbate (CE-SB) on mouse hepatoma H22 cells. The MTT assay was used to determine the growth inhibition of H22 cells in vitro. The in vivo therapeutic effects of CE-SB were determined using H22 tumor bearing mice. Besides, the body weight, tumor weight, thymus index and spleen index of H22 bearing mice were also measured. The tumor inhibitory rate (IR) was calculated according to the mean weight of tumor (MWT). The phagocytotic function of macrophages was examined by observing peritoneal macrophages phagocytize chicken RBC. The results showed that CE-SB could inhibit the growth of hepatoma H22 Cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, CE-SB could improve immune function of H22 tumor bearing mice. Together these results indicate that CE-SB has antitumor activity and seems to be safe and effective for the use of anti-tumor therapy.


Introduction Diabetes remains a growing public health concern in Egypt, as prevalence of Type II diabetes (TIID) has nearly tripled there in the last two decades. Egypt was ranked ninth worldwide in number of diabetes cases, with prevalence of 15.56% among adults. Recent studies have proposed that disturbance of gut microbiota could influence TIID development and indicated associations between a reduced diversity in microbiomes and Type I diabetes (TID). In the present study, we investigated the composition and abundance of the bacterial microbiome in disease state (TID and TIID) of Egyptian patients. Our goal in this study was to characterize features of the gut microbiota and possible differences associated with TID and TIID in this population. Methods DNA was extracted from fecal samples taken from 22 TID and 18 TIID outpatients of Al-Hussein hospital, Cairo, Egypt. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to characterize the bacterial taxa and these reads were processed using the software mothur with analysis utilizing packages vegan, phyloseq and metagenomSeq in R. Results and conclusions Our results highlighted a significant increase in abundance of Gram negative, potentially opportunistic pathogenic taxa (Pseudomonas, Prevotella) in all diabetic groups, compared to the control. Lipopolysccharide (LPS), a component of the gram-negative bacterial wall, can activate local immune response and may result in low-grade systemic inflammation contributing to insulin resistance. The gram-positive Gemella, which is associated with increased risk to diabetes, also had a significant increase in abundance in all diabetic groups, compared to the control. In contrast, the commensal bacterial taxa Turicibacter, Terrisporobacter and Clostridium were found to be more abundant in the control group than in TID. Further studies are needed to understand the role of these taxa in health and disease. Lower Richness and low Shannon diversity, though not statistically significant, were observed for TID subjects with no glucose control and with onset of liver disease or hypertension compared to other subjects. In addition, large variation in alpha diversity within the control group could also be observed. Future studies will include larger samples sizes to further elucidate these findings, as well as possible metagenomic studies to examine the intriguing function of significant microbes.


Primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the hand are extremely rare, and only 5 cases have been described to date. Here, we report a case of a 35 year-old male who presented a progressive swelling on the palm of his right hand. Clinical examination showed a solid mass and X-ray revealed a soft tissue mass. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed infiltrated interosseous muscles, metacarpal bones and tendons. The patient underwent surgery and the lesion was removed. On the basis of morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular biology findings, a diagnosis of primitive neuroctodermal tumor was made.


Despite significant policy drives, the wide adoption of sustainable building (SB) is hindered by factors such as high upfront cost and long payback period. Business model (BM) innovation is therefore highly demanded to help SB professionals to cope with the challenges and convert the value of SB into profit. Nevertheless, few studies examined BM innovation in the building sector and factors influencing BM innovation for SB are unclear. This paper aims to identify the critical factors that propel companies to innovate BM for SB. First, a literature review and expert interviews were conducted to identify and filter the drivers for BM innovation within the SB context. Second, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data on the significance of the selected influencing factors from 132 SB professionals. Finally, a model based on fuzzy set theory was used to ascertain the critical factors influencing BM innovation for SB. Twenty-four critical influencing factors in six categories from the external environment and internal organization were finalized, namely, market and economic, policy and legislation, technology and industry structure, social-culture, entrepreneurship, and organizational learning. The findings illuminate the motivations when developing BM for sustainability and provide strategies on BM innovation for practitioners and policy makers.


Context. The distribution of the specific intensity over the stellar disk is an essential tool for modeling the light curves in eclipsing binaries, planetary transits, and stellar diameters through interferometric techniques, line profiles in rotating stars, gravitational microlensing, etc. However, the available theoretical calculations are mostly restricted to stars on the main sequence or the giant branch, and very few calculations are available for compact stars.
Aims. The main objective of the present work is to extend these investigations by computing the gravity and limb-darkening coefficients for white dwarf atmosphere models with hydrogen, helium, or mixed compositions (types DA, DB, and DBA).
Methods. We computed gravity and limb-darkening coefficients for DA, DB, and DBA white dwarfs atmosphere models, covering the transmission curves of the Sloan, UBVRI, Kepler, TESS, and Gaia photometric systems. Specific calculations for the HiPERCAM instrument were also carried out. For all calculations of the limb-darkening coefficients we used the least-squares method. Concerning the effects of tidal and rotational distortions, we also computed for the first time the gravity-darkening coefficients y(λ) for white dwarfs using the same models of stellar atmospheres as in the case of limb-darkening. A more general differential equation was introduced to derive these quantities, including the partial derivative (∂ln Io(λ)/∂ln g)Teff.
Results. Six laws were adopted to describe the specific intensity distribution: linear, quadratic, square root, logarithmic, power-2, and a more general one with four coefficients. The computations are presented for the chemical compositions log[H/He] = −10.0 (DB), −2.0 (DBA) and He/H = 0 (DA), with log g varying between 5.0 and 9.5 and effective temperatures between 3750 and 100 000 K. For effective temperatures higher than 40 000 K, the models were also computed adopting nonlocal thermal equilibirum (DA). The adopted mixing-length parameters are ML2/α = 0.8 (DA case) and 1.25 (DB and DBA). The results are presented in the form of 112 tables. Additional calculations, such as for other photometric systems and/or different values of log[H/He], log g, and Teff can be performed upon request.


An efficient and convenient synthetic route to glycosyl phosphites and phosphates has been developed that uses dibenzyl N,N-diethylphosphoramidite as a phosphitylating reagent. Glycosyl phosphites and phosphates of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactose (GalNAc) (29), 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose (GlcNAc) (30), D-galactose (Gal) (31), D-glucose (Glc) (32), D-mannose (Man) (33), L-rhamnose (Rha) (38), L-fucose (Fuc) (35), and N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) (41) were prepared by this procedure. Compounds 29 and 30 were obtained as α anomers exclusively, whereas compounds 31,32 and 41 were β-anomers, ands compounds 33 and 34, as α-anomers, predominately. The phosphates are useful for the synthesis of sugar nucleotides and the phosphites are effective glycosylation reagents