This paper provides a review of the literature on the development impact of migration and remittances on origin countries and on destination countries in the south international migration is an ever-growing phenomenon that has important development implications for both sending and receiving countries. For a sending country, migration and the resulting remittances lead to increased incomes and poverty reduction, and improved health and educational outcomes, and promote economic development. Yet these gains might come at substantial social costs to the migrants and their families. Since many developing countries are also large recipients of international migrants, they face challenges of integration of migrations, job competition between migrant and native workers, and fiscal costs associated with provision of social services to the migrants. This paper also summarizes incipient discussions on the impacts of migration on climate change, democratic value and demographics. National Identity and security. In conclusion, the paper highlights a few policies in the south and the north, improving data collection on migration and remittance flows, leveraging remittances for improving access to finance of recipient households and countries, improving recruitment mechanisms, facilitating international labor mobility through safe and legal channels.


In this paper we apply multiattribute value theory as a framework for examining the use of pairwise comparisons in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). On one hand our analysis indicates that pairwise comparisons should be understood in terms of preference differences between pairs of alternatives. On the other hand it points out undesirable effects caused by the upper bound and the discretization of any given ratio scale. Both these observations apply equally well to the SMART procedure which also uses estimates of weight ratios. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the AHP can be modified so as to produce results similar to those of multiattribute value measurement; we also propose new balanced scales to improve the sensitivity of the AHP ratio scales. Finally we show that the so-called supermatrix technique does not eliminate the rank reversal phenomenon which can be attributed to the normalizations in the AHP. & 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Multi-Crit. Decis. Anal. 6: 309±319 (1997) No. of Figures: 4. No. of Tables: 2. No. of References: 40.


Regarding the green environment, it is important to boost the spread of environmentally friendly vending machines and to operate the vehicles for their inventory replenishments while minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases. In general, the vending machine management company lacks capability to operate the supply chain effectively in an integrated way under the dynamic, complex, and stochastic environment. This paper presents a decision support system, termed DSSVM, for the operations of the general and smart vending machine supply chains with stock-out-based, one stage item substitution in a green logistics environment. The DSSVM supports the estimation of item demand and substitution probabilities, determination of operation parameters, supply chain analysis, what-if analysis, and CO2 analysis for which various analytical models are employed.


A S, man aged 67 History: All his life persistent generalized blistering eruption, excepting palms and soles, which has not prevented him working as a farm labourer. No family history. 1971: Extensive squamous cell carcinoma in scar tissue on left leg, treated by mid-thigh amputation. Following this, more widespread hemorrhagic bullk. Histology: Subepidermal bullous lesion containing fibrinous material and a few inflammatory cells with eosinophils. Immunofluorescence (University Dermatology Department, Glasgow), negative for bound complement, IgG, IgA and IgM. Skin collagen profile: Collagen fractions extracted from a biopsy of the nonlesional skin of the thigh were estimated by the methods of Francis & Macmillan (1971). Total collagen was reduced (patient 165, controls > 170 ptg/mm2 skin surface), soluble collagen increased (patient 2.5 %, controls <0.7% of total skin collagen) and the stability of the major polymeric collagen to either pronase +thermal denaturation or to cold alkali treatment decreased (patient 58%, controls >78%; patient 73%, controls >79%). The patient thus had an abnormal skin collagen profile. Collagen turnover is increased and the net rate of synthesis/ degradation of collagen is shifted towards degradation.


This report primarily focuses on the data collected and analyzed from the worldwide network of sentinel military treatment facilities chosen to participate in the Department of Defense Global Respiratory Pathogen Surveillance (DoDGRS) program. Sites that participated in the 2018-2019 DoDGRS program submitted 24,320 respiratory specimens for diagnostic testing. Clinical results showed a total of 5,968 positive influenza cases. In the beginning of the season, starting in surveillance week 48, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was the predominant subtype. The predominant subtype switched to influenza A(H3N2) beginning in week 6 and continued through the end of the season. Influenza B virus detection was less common during the surveillance period (i.e., 1% of total submitted specimens and 5% of total influenza detected). In addition to routine surveillance, the DoDGRS program also conducts vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies twice per year to determine interim and end of season estimates. Overall, the adjusted end of season VE for all dependents regardless of influenza type was 30% (95% CI: 22%-38%).


Results of the chemical, microbiological and sensorial properties of Turkish white cheese samples are presented during ripening period. It was observed that dry matter, fat, sodium chloride, ash and acidity increased during ripening, whereas pH value decreased. Dry matter, fat in dry matter, salt in dry matter, ash in dry matter and acidity (lactic acid) contents of cheese samples were found between 35.41-39.48%, 42.54-46.10%, 10.80-11.46%, 12.33-13.49%, and 0.61-1.11%, respectively. The pH values were found between 4.98-5.68. Also, high counts of total mesophilic bacteria and Lactobacilli were recorded throughout the ripening of the cheese. Low pH levels and high NaCl content after 30 days affected the growth of most microbial groups resulting in considerably lower counts at 3 months. Lactobacilli constituted the dominant microflora of the cheese. According to sensory evaluations, the cheese samples were more preferred with aging. This study reported here describes chemical, microbiological and organolep...


The edge effect was evaluated in a semi-deciduous seasonal forest fragment of Araras, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The sampling took place in 20 parcels at 30 m from the edge and another 20 parcels at 100 m from the edge. The general shape of the forest fragment was evaluated by the calculation of the Circularity Index, and correlations were determined between biotic and abiotic factors to test for possible relationships. A total of 346 individuals, composing of nine species and nine genera, were identifi ed. The diversity of orchids in the studied area is low, and the abundance of species in the fragment is not distributed evenly. The edge has more species and individuals, showing it to be more benefi cial for the survival of orchids, especially when associated to the watercourse. This increase in the orchid population in the edge can be related to luminosity. However, the studied forest fragment has fewer orchid species than other, better conserved fragments of Semi-Deciduous Seasonal Forest.


Computer‐assisted drug design is evolving as a source of innovation for drug discovery. In particular, de novo design approaches are being increasingly applied to find novel drug‐like compounds, molecular scaffolds, and bioisosteric replacements for established or unwanted fragments. Although some of the early software tools had a certain tendency to generate compounds of limited chemical attraction, modern de novo design algorithms put a strong emphasis on the synthesizability and drug‐likeness of machine‐generated compounds. We give an overview of the various methodologies for virtual compound construction, evaluation, and optimization in machina, and how they can support medicinal chemistry projects in the early phase of drug discovery. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2011 1 742–759 DOI: 10.1002/wcms.49


ABSTRACT This dissertation has been produced for the research section of the Environmental Protection MSc, from Sligo Institute of Technology. The overall objective of the study was to highlight Infiltration and Exfiltration in existing sewerage infrastructure, associated problems, investigation techniques, rehabilitation techniques and a case study. As part of efficient treatment of sewage, separation of surface water and infiltration water from sewer networks is advantageous. Therefore, a high priority should be given to achieving watertight sewers. When sewers are sealed, as well as efficient treatment, exfiltration (leakage) is reduced which decreases the risk of groundwater contamination.This dissertation has been produced for the research section of the Environmental Protection MSc, from Sligo Institute of Technology. The overall objective of the study was to highlight Infiltration and Exfiltration in existing sewerage infrastructure, associated problems, investigation techniques, rehabilitation techniques and a case study. As part of efficient treatment of sewage, separation of surface water and infiltration water from sewer networks is advantageous. Therefore, a high priority should be given to achieving watertight sewers. When sewers are sealed, as well as efficient treatment, exfiltration (leakage) is reduced which decreases the risk of groundwater contamination. Rehabilitation of sewer lines can be used in many cases to achieve water tightness using trenchless technology, which can avoid construction and installation works, which would cause inconvenience to local residents and business people, especially in urban areas. From investigations undertaken for the purposes of this report, it was found that the traditional method of installing new sewer networks or replacing existing pipes with a cut trench system is still the most common form of infrastructure upgrading. However, some local authorities, together with Civil Engineering Consultants have started to incorporate sewer rehabilitation as part of their overall designs. The Castlebar Environs Sewerage Scheme, included an existing sewer rehabilitation project, as part of the total contract. It was found that when old, damaged or leaking sewer pipes were rehabilitated it reduced groundwater infiltration, which in turn reduced the flows into the sewage treatment plant. This dissertation gives examples of where rehabilitation may be considered, where it has been used and the advantages associated with his method of maintenance.


Introduction: Even though tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has unequivocally shown to improve outcomes in Acute Ischemic stroke (AIS), its utilization remains low due to various concerns/contraindications. Many clinicians are concerned about the risk of hemorrhage after tPA in patients on anti-coagulation (AC). With the rise of AC use, we aimed to explored the relationship between anticoagulation use and hemorrhagic conversions (HC) in patients treated with IV tPA in a large and representative national patient registry. Method: We analyzed Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data for years 2002-2014. We identified AIS with ICD-9-CM codes 433.xx-436, IV tPA with procedure code 99.10, and HC with ICD-9 431. Anticoagulation use was identified by previously validated ICD-9-CM codes. Parametric tests and survey logistic procedure were used to analyze group comparison and multivariate regression. Results: A total of 264,643 patients with AIS received IV tPA, of which 12,690 (4.8%) were on AC prior to admission. Unadjusted, the frequency of HC was higher among AC group (9.1% v 8.0%; p Conclusion: Our study shows, AC use prior to AIS onset is not associated with higher HC with tPA use. Moreover, no significant differences in outcomes were observed in AC and 'not on AC' group. Being on AC should not be a prohibitive factor for tPA utilization in AIS patients. Further prospective studies, that includes precise anticoagulant measurements, are required to better understand the relationship between AC use and HC.


We examine the problem of uncovering communities in complex real-world networks whose elements and their respective associations manifest as streams of data. Community detection is applied in emerging computational environments and concerns critical applications in diverse areas including social computing, web analysis, IoT and biology. Despite the already expended related research efforts, the task of revealing the community structure of massive and rapidly-evolving networks remains very challenging. More specifically, there is an emerging need for online approaches that ingest graph data as a stream. In this paper, we propose a streaming-graph community-detection algorithm that expands seed-sets of nodes to communities. We consider an online setting and process a stream of edges while aiming to form communities on-the-fly using partial knowledge of the graph structure. We use space-efficient structures to maintain very limited information regarding the nodes of the graph and the sought communities, so as to effectively process large scale networks. In addition to our novel streaming approach, we develop a technique that increases the accuracy of our algorithm considerably and additionally propose a new clustering algorithm that allows for automatically deriving the size of the communities we seek to detect. Using ground-truth communities for a wide range of large real-word and synthetic networks, our experimental evaluation shows that our approach does achieve accuracy comparable, and oftentimes better, to the state-of-the-art non-streaming community detection algorithms. More importantly, we attain significant improvements in both execution time and memory requirements.


In the changing business environment due to competition and managing changes, organizations face difficulties to maintain organizational success. However, the e mployee engagement is a concept which if implemented properly can make a lot of difference in the organization. Employee engagement is defined as the positive attitude of an employee towards the organization and its value which exert to greater discretionary effort to ensure organizational success and sustainability. It is a simple fact that the engagement of employees towards their work and organization can make a huge difference for the growth and survival of the organization. Almost all of the companies now explore the possibilities for adopting employee engagement as a strategy for organizational growth and success as employee engagement is highly associated with organizational performances. It is essential to understand employee engagement as engaged employees who are fully involved and committed to their works are willing to go the extra mile for their organization to ensure its success. This paper attempts to throw light on the nature of employee engagement to ensure organizational success in the contemporary business.


Objectives: Acute diarrhea is among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Bacteria tend to cause more fatal illnesses and complications such as septicemia and persistent diarrhea. This study aimed to determine the causes of acute diarrhea, laboratory and clinical predictors of bacterial causes, and antimicrobial resistance pattern among the isolates among children in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted in Dar es salaam Hospitals from April 2015 to March 2016 among children below five years of age who presented with acute diarrhea. Demographic characteristics and results from stool specimen analysis, complete blood count, C- reactive protein and antimicrobial resistance results were recorded using a pre-structured clinical research form. Results: Among 200 children enrolled, viruses were identified in 149 (74.5%) of the cases. Bacterial pathogens were found in 15 (7.5%) cases only. Elevated stool red blood cell count, stool white blood cell count, and fever were highly associated with enteric bacterial pathogens (p<0.001, p=0.002 and p=0.04 respectively). Most of the bacterial isolates were resistant to Cotrimoxazole and erythromycin but highly sensitive to ciprofloxacin and Ceftriaxone. Conclusion: Fever, elevated stool leukocyte and elevated stool red blood cells are significant predictors of bacterial enteric pathogens in children with acute diarrhea. These parameters may guide clinicians in resource-limited settings in the diagnosis and management of acute diarrhea. Further studies should be conducted to determine local antimicrobial resistance patterns. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2020; 10(3): 208-214.


There are 3 well-established risk factors for prostate cancer: race (specifically, African American race), family history, and age. Unfortunately, we cannot change our race or our parents nor can we stop time. Given this reality, there is much interest in identifying modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer. In a landmark study, Calle and colleagues followed up more than 900 000 persons for more than 16 years and found that obesity was linked with death from 17 different cancer types.1 Although prostate cancer was one of the cancers identified, its association with obesity was modest, with mildly obese (body mass index [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 30-34.9) and moderately obese (body mass index, 35-39.9) men being 20% and 34% more likely, respectively, to die of prostate cancer. Even so, given the large number of men who die annually of prostate cancer (258 100 worldwide and 32 600 in North America in 2008)2 and the high prevalence of obesity (35% in the United States in 2012),3 the association means that tens of thousands of men die annually of obesity-related prostate cancer. While the exact links between obesity and prostate cancer are complex, diet and lifestyle invariably play a role.


Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), a fruit vegetable consumed in several countries, especially in Africa, contributes to the fight against poverty and malnutrition due to its nutritional value. However, in Burkina Faso, its cultivation during the dry season that lasts about 9 months remains dependent on the availability of water resources. Thus, during this period that lasts about 9 months, because of this situation, okra producers are dealing with very diversified sources of water. However, the rehydration of seeds, which is the first step towards germination, depends mainly of the water. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to test the germinability of okra seeds under different irrigation waters in order to propose alternative sources. Thus, seeds of three ecotypes of okra (B2, G259, and L2) were germinated using five water types (dam water, wastewater from the sewage treatment plant (WTP), well water, dishwashing greywater, and distilled water). The results showed a significant influence of the water type on the germination velocity and the growth speed of the radicle. Indeed, using wastewater from the WTP, the germination velocity was very significantly lower than those obtained with the other sources (P<0.0001). Furthermore, seeds irrigated with WTP wastewater germinated less than other water types. Nevertheless, the germination rate obtained with dishwashing greywater (86.93 ± 0.14%), which is not used generally in agricultural production, is comparable to the rates obtained with other water types. Furthermore, the study showed a significant effect of the ecotype on the germination rate (P≤0.001). In addition, dam water significantly enhanced root growth compared to WTP (P<0.0001). In view of the results and because of water scarcity in Sahelian regions, dishwashing greywater, which is generally discarded, could be collected and used for the germination of okra.


In addition to the useful physical properties of biphasic systems (easy separation of products and catalyst, facile catalyst reuse) aqueous media may largely influence the chemistry of catalytic reactions. By appropriate pH manipulations, the selectivity of hydrogenation of unsaturated aldehydes with ruthenium(II) phosphine catalysts was controlled from the exclusive formation of saturated aldehydes to that of unsaturated alcohols. Phase separation of the constituents of catalytic systems eliminated substrate inhibition (hydrogenation of aldehydes) and helped formation of catalytically active species ([RhH(PPh(3))(3)] from [RhCl(PPh(3))(3)] in hydrogenation of acetophenone). The reactive nature of H(2)O was revealed by fast catalysis of H/D exchange and deuteration processes.


Kurut (fermented yak milk) made by natural fermentation is a very important dairy food for the local people in Tibet (China). It is important to fully understand the bacterial composition of kurut for quality improvement and industrial production. Because more than 99% of prokaryotes cannot be cultured and identified by methods currently used in taxonomy, we applied a culture-independent approach to explore the microbial biodiversity of this traditional food. In this study, a bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone library, including 460 clones, was constructed using total DNA extracted from 30 samples of kurut. After screening by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, 56 operational taxonomic units (OTU) with unique RFLP patterns were obtained. Then, 1 representative sequence of every OTU was sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. The representative phylotypes were affiliated with 5 groups, including Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis, Lactobacillus helveticus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, and Acetobacter. In addition, nearly one-third of the representative clones (132 clones) had low similarity to species in GenBank (<97%), and these phylotypes were regarded as unknown bacteria. The characteristics of kurut are determined not only by lactic acid bacteria well known by the culture-dependent approach but also by bacteria that have not yet been identified.


Hair coloring products are one of the most important cosmetics for modern people; there are three major types of hair dyes, including the temporary, semi-permanent and permanent hair dyes. The selected hair dyes (such as ammonium persulfate, sodium persulfate, resorcinol and lawsone) are the important components for hair coloring products. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of these compounds on melanogenesis in B16-F10 melanoma cells. The results proved that hair dyes resorcinol and lawsone can reduce the production of melanin. The results also confirmed that resorcinol and lawsone inhibit mushroom and cellular tyrosinase activities in vitro. Resorcinol and lawsone can also downregulate the protein levels of tyrosinase and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) in B16-F10 cells. Thus, we suggest that frequent use of hair dyes may have the risk of reducing natural melanin production in hair follicles. Moreover, resorcinol and lawsone may also be used as hypopigmenting agents to food, agricultural and cosmetic industry in the future.


Field trials were conducted during the 2006, 2007 and 2008 rainy seasons at the Institute for Agricultural Research farm Samaru, in the Northern guinea savanna zone of Nigeria to evaluate the effects of weed control and cow dung manure treatments on growth of quality protein maize. The trials consisted of factorial combinations of eight weed control treatments which include application of proprietary mixtures of (Atrazine + Acetochlor + Terbuthylazine at a ratio of 1:1:1, Atrazine + Metolachlor at a ratio of 1:2 each at 3.0 and 4.0 kg a.i/ha, Atrazine at 4.0 and 5.0 kg a.i/ha, Hoe weeded at 3 and 6 weeks after sowing and a weedy check) with four cow dung manure levels at (0, 4, 8 and 12 t/ha and a recommended NPK mineral fertilizer check at the rate of 120 kg N, 26 kg P and 50 kg K/ha. The treatments were laid out in a split plot design with three replicates. Results indicated that application of Atrazine + Metolachlor at 4.0 kg a.i/ha and the two hoe weeded produced significantly (p>0.05) higher and similar values of 140.2 and 137.3 grams respectively for total dry matter with 11.1 and 11.8 g/m2/week respectively for crop growth rate. Plots treated with Atrazine + Metolachlor at 4.0 kg a.i/ha recorded significantly the highest values of 3.05 for leaf area index and 0.41 for harvest index. Application of Atrazine + Acetochlor + Terbuthylazine at 4.0 kg a.i/ha significantly recorded the highest shoot lodging count. The highest relative growth rate was by plots treated with Atrazine + Metolachlor at 3.0 kg a.i/ha. The weedy check consistently produced the least values for all parameters. Application of cow dung manure at 12 t/ha and the NPK mineral fertilizer check significantly produced the highest values for all parameters while the least were by the 0 fertilizer control. Based on the result of this study it can be concluded that the application of Atrazine + Metolachlor at 4.0 kg a.i/ha and cow dung manure at 12 t/ha significantly increased growth indices of Quality Protein Maize. Keywords - Weed control, Cow dung manure, Growth indices, Quality protein maize


In areas of moderate seismicity, such as Mid-America, there is interest in developing alternate bridge design and construction methodologies to the typical approaches that are employed in high-seismic regions. One such method is to design so that various bearing components will exceed their ultimate capacities during a major seismic event in a specific sequence, leading to a global bridge structure response similar to a seismically-isolated system. Because the bridge would typically exhibit a stiff response, only developing an isolated response during major earthquakes, the bridge superstructure response may be described as quasi-isolated. This paper presents results for elastomeric bearing components obtained for an experimental program performed to investigate and characterize various bearing types that are being used for quasi-isolated designs. The elastomeric bearings investigated displayed approximately linear elastic response before sliding with a friction coefficient in the range of 0.3 – 0.45, at a shear strain in the range of 150 – 250%. The experiments also investigated the response of anchored retainer brackets used to prevent transverse motion for service loads and small earthquakes to characterize the combined effects of shear and overturning up to and including rupture of the concrete anchor. The test data indicate that the required horizontal force delivered by a bearing to a retainer to cause a failure of the anchor is slightly higher than the ultimate pure tensile strength of the anchor.


Background: Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) have the ability to self renew and generate the full range of cells that make up a bulk tumor. Chemokine receptor 1 (CXCR1) is almost exclusively expressed in the aldehyde dehydrogenase positive (ALDH+) BCSC population compared with its expression in bulk tumor cells. CXCR1 is a receptor for CXCL8 (previously IL8), a proinflammatory chemokine implicated in the metastasis and progression of multiple malignancies, including breast cancers. CXCL8 has also been shown to stimulate self-renewal of BCSCs in vitro. Tissue damage induced by chemotherapeutic agents may induce CXCL8 as part of the injury response. This suggests that strategies aimed at interfering with the CXCL8/CXCR1 axis, activated by conventional chemotherapy (CT), may be able to target BCSCs and increase the efficacy of current therapies. Reparixin, a low molecular weight blocker of CXCL8 biological activity, reduced ALDH-1+ cells in a human breast cancer xenograft when administered alone or in combination with taxane chemotherapy, and reduced metastases. Based on these findings, a Phase Ib study to determine the safety of paclitaxel plus reparixin therapy, and to explore the effects of reparixin on BCSCs and the tumor microenvironment, was initiated. Design and Treatment: Patients will receive a three-day run-in with reparixin oral tablets 3 times/day (tid) followed by paclitaxel 80 mg/m2/week (Days 1, 8, and 15 for 28-day cycle) + reparixin oral tablets tid for 21 days. Three dose levels of 3–6 subjects will be explored in total: Dose level 1 = 400 mg oral reparixin tid; Dose level 2 = 800 mg reparixin tid; and Dose level 3 = 1200 mg reparixin tid. An additional 6 subjects will be enrolled at the highest tolerated dose. Safety will be assessed following one cycle. Treatment continues as long as clinical benefit is observed. Main Eligibility Criteria: Patients must be female aged > 18 years with HER-2 negative MBC, eligible for treatment with paclitaxel (not taxane-refractory), have had up to 3 prior CT lines for advanced breast cancer (not including neo/adjuvant chemotherapy), must have measurable disease according to RECIST criteria version 1.1, have ECOG PS of 0–1, have adequate organ function, and have no brain metastases. Objectives: Primary: To evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of the combination treatment. Secondary: 1) To evaluate tumor biopsies for the effects of reparixin on BCSC markers and tumoral microenvironment; 2) To evaluate blood samples for a) enumeration and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), biomarker profiling for BCSC and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and b) inflammatory cytokines; 3) To assess disease response for indication of efficacy. Statistical Methods: All tumor data collected will be reviewed and listed. No formal statistical analysis of this data is planned. Safety and tolerability analysis will be applied on the safety population with descriptive statistics for the safety variables. Summary statistics will be performed for each PK parameter and correlative study parameter. Accrual status: To date, four subjects have been enrolled at the first dose level. Target accrual is 15–24 subjects. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr OT2-3-01.


Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR) has expanded substantially in scope over the past two decades. This paper provides an overview of these trends using both quantitative techniques from statistics and exploratory data analysis (EDA). Articles in CAR are classified into taxonomies and the literature tracked over 22 years. Analysis focuses on four taxonomies: foundation discipline, school of thought, research method and mode of reasoning. The paper first examines journals vis-a-vis article publication frequency and dominant taxonomies. Secondly, three assertions concerning the relative posture of the Journal of Accounting Research and the literature are examined. Next the context of the literature is examined through major taxonomies and a crosstabulation of research method vs school of thought. The last part of the analysis focuses on trends within the taxonomies in the 1963–1984 period.


An efficient gene transfer into target tissues and cells is needed for safe and effective treatment of genetic diseases like cancer. In this paper, we describe the development of a transport system and show its ability for transporting plasmids. This non-viral peptide-based BioShuttle-mediated transfer system consists of a nuclear localization address sequence realizing the delivery of the plasmid phNIS-IRES-EGFP coding for two independent reporter genes into nuclei of HeLa cells. The quantification of the transfer efficiency was achieved by measurements of the sodium iodide symporter activity. EGFP gene expression was measured with Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and quantified with biostatistical methods by analysis of the frequency of the amplitude distribution in the CLSM images. The results demonstrate that the "BioShuttle"-Technology is an appropriate tool for an effective transfer of genetic material carried by a plasmid.


The 'War on Drugs' exemplifies one way in which policing is metaphorically compared to war. As conceptual metaphor theory demonstrates, metaphors shape attitudes and behaviors toward the concept they are used to understand. It is then perhaps unsurprising that war metaphors for policing have become more common alongside the militarization of police. Still, no research has examined the link between police use of war metaphors and acquisition of military equipment. Using ecological and social media data, the study began to examine this link. Specifically, 241,084 social media posts from police departments (N = 80) were coded for the presence of war metaphors, which were then used to predict the amount of military equipment acquired through the federal 1033 Program. Building from conceptual metaphor theory, it was hypothesized that police use of war metaphors would be positively associated with their department acquisition of militarized equipment. The results did not support this hypothesis; potential reasons for this are considered. Exploratory analysis generated potentially interesting findings regarding police usage of war metaphors following acts of police violence and associations between death-related words and militarized equipment acquisitions.


Since their availability, audiovisual, multimedia, broadcast and technological devices have been used to promote language learning -to capture language samples, to provide access to authentic speech and material, to enhance worldwide communication, and the like. Likewise, as technologies continue to evolve, the tendency to shrink in size and become more portable is increasingly becoming a more than usual feature. Such portable media - referred to in popular and scholarly literature as mobile, wireless or handheld- include, among others, PDAs, cellular phones, MP3 players, digital dictionaries, etc.. Mobile learning or m-learning could be considered a subdivision of the e-learning initiatives promoted by formative programs and technological development worldwide. Focused on how students perceive mobile technology as an additional language learning practice, and what aspects of their learning were aided by the use of mobile devices, this paper outlines an analysis in progress aimed to explore some of the benefits and challenges for language learning through mobile technology.


A simple scheme is developed for the calculation of vibrational frequencies of a molecule adsorbed on a transition metal, in particular a frustrated rotational mode of adsorbed OH. It is based on the effective medium theory and the News-Anderson model for the description of the interaction between the OH molecular orbitals and the localized d-electrons of a transition metal. The frustrated rotation frequency is shown to correlate with the occupancy of the 4?*-orbital resonance, as do, e.g., the metal-OH and O-H stretch frequencies. The predicted trends of the studied quantities along the transition metal series agree with the available experimental observations.


The Great War of 1914–1918 ushered in a new era of technology on the battlefield resulting In casualties on an unprecedented scale. There had been progress In many related areas of medicine before the outbreak of hostilities but these had not been applied or fully developed In clinical practice. This is particularly true for the management of haemorrhagic shock and resuscitation. This article discusses the history and development of medical treatment of shock and trauma patients during the conflict.


Orai1 channels were reported as critical contributors to the Ca 2+ signal in hippocampal neurons underlying synaptic plasticity associated with learning and memory. We discuss the results in view of conflicting other reports that stressed the roles of Orai2 channels but failed to detect functions of Orai1 channels in these neurons


cytokine assay were used to characterize CD8+ T-cell function. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed several interesting insights: (1) Tetramer-based analysis of HBV-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells co-expressing T-bet and Eomes demonstrate distinct phenotypical signatures in acute-resolving versus chronic HBV infection. (2) In contrast to T-bet single positive CD8+ T-cells, co-expression of T-bet and Eomes is strongly associated with vigorous antiviral effector function characterized by increased IFN-c release. (3) On contrary, CD8+ T-cells lacking both molecules virtually lose their ability to produce antiviral cytokines. CONCLUSION: Taken together our results suggest that Tbet and Eomes expressing T-cells represent a unique and highly functional T-cell subset, which induction will reflect a promising approach for further therapeutic interventions in chronic persisting viral infections.


Abstract. This paper explores the consideration and implication of calibration period on the modelled climate change impact on future runoff. The results show that modelled runoff and hydrologic responses can be influenced by the choice of historical data period used to calibrate and develop the hydrological model. Modelling approaches that do not take this into account may therefore underestimate the range and uncertainty in future runoff projections. Nevertheless, the uncertainty associated with the choice of hydrological models and consideration of calibration dataset for modelling climate change impact on runoff is likely to be small compared to the uncertainty in the future rainfall projections.


Background: this study aimed to evaluate the risk communication regarding COVID-19 preventions in Ethiopian higher education institutions. Ethiopia is one of the 213 countries which affected by COVID-19. Since it appeared in the country different risk responses are underway to minimize the impacts in different sectors of the country. Ethiopian higher educations are among those sectors that are affected by the pandemic. Universities engaged as a task force in the response process. Universities are engaged in the national response scheme. Every attempt to risk communication is an endeavor to tackle the impact that transcends across the globe. Methods: the study used the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis on the experiences of Ethiopian higher education, task force, risk communication response to COVID-19 pandemic since the announcement of the outbreak by WHO as a pandemic. The government put a huge effort in risk communication to reduce the impact of COVID-19. The data sources include research conducted by the university staffs, risk communication working papers prepared to the Ethiopian contexts, different websites and media sources were used. Web-search approach used to gather most important performances and challenges of higher education. Results: the findings show that higher education as a task force contributed to the national efforts based on research, humanitarian assistance, online meetings, E-learning and conferences. Research conducted focused on KAP's. There were no clinical based research. The research by academicians are almost nil. E-learning is developed to support disrupted higher education in Ethiopia. Thus, postgraduate could be facilitated out of the campus through E-learning. However, the E-learning has the weakest to support undergraduate and even the postgraduate programs. Internet infrastructure and acculturation of students' E-Learning are problematic.Conclusion: the total effort of risk communication at Ethiopian higher education is minimal and not well organized. The challenges are the remaining home works to the universities. I suggest that risk communication strategies and research based solutions have to be evaluated and revisited to curb the impacts of COVID-19 in higher education.


We develop a novel dynamical method to examine spatial interaction models (SIMs). For each SIM, we use our dynamical framework to model emigration patterns. We look at the resulting population distributions to see if they are realistic or not. We use the US census data from 2010 and various spatial statistics to access the success or failure of each model. While we looked at over eighty different SIMs, we will focus here on two examples: the production constrained gravity model and the Radiation model. The results suggest that all these models fail to produce realistic population distributions and we identify the flaws within existing models. This leads us to suggest that we should define site attractiveness in terms of a second short range SIM leading to a new spatial interaction model - the Two-Trip model - which offers significant improvements when examined via our method. We also note that our Two-Trip adaptation can be used in any spatial modelling contexts, not just emigration.


Background and aim: The goal of this study was to investigate the association between omentin-1 and different biochemical and anthropometric parameters in obese and non-obese, also in patients with metabolic syndrome compared to the healthy control group.
Methods: A total of 81 women were included in the current case-control study. Based on their BMI they were divided into obese and non-obese groups and according to WHO criteria for metabolic syndrome they were divided in to metabolic syndrome group and healthy subjects. Fasting blood sample was collected to determine biochemical indicators and insulin resistance and sensitivity indices (HOMA-IR and Quicki). Omentin-1 plasma level was assessed by ELISA. Association of omentin-1 with biochemical markers was studied. Body composition was measured using Body composition analyzer BC-418MA- Tanita.
Results: Levels of omentin-1 were lower in obese than non-obese subjects. It was also lower in patients with metabolic syndrome than in healthy ones. In correlation analysis, omentin-1 was associated with waist circumference, fat percent and fat mass and nearly visceral fat. But there was no significant relation between omentin and any insulin resistance indices.
Conclusions: In conclusion, omentin-1 is an adipokine closely associated with visceral obesity, but not with insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism; its serum concentration is decreased in the state of obesity and the regulation of omentin-1 production in adipose tissue is probably multifactorial. Future analysis of omentin's biological actions, and measurement of omentin-1 levels in the omental depot as well as in the circulation of humans with or without obesity and its co morbidities, will help to define its role in the pathogenesis of these diseases.


The presence of the genus Fusarium was investigated in sandy soil from Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil during a period of one year in order to determine the diversity, and seasonal distribution of species. A total of 123 strains were isolated, for a total of 34 different species, with higher incidence in spring and winter. The species detected in greater numbers during the various seasons of the year were, in decreasing order, F. solani var. solani, F. oxysporum var. oxysporum and F. sacchari var. subglutinans, described in the literature (GUARRO and GENÉ 1992) as infectious agents for humans and animals. Few species were detected in summer and fall, probably due to the higher rainfull occurring during these seasons.


AIMS
We aimed to compare two-dimensional global longitudinal strain (GS) with different non-invasive imaging modalities for the assessment of left ventricular function in an ST-elevation myocardial infarction population.

METHODS AND RESULTS
GS was compared with ejection fraction (EF) determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), standard echocardiography (echo), contrast echo, and electrocardiography-gated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), as well as with MRI-determined relative infarct size and echo-determined wall motion score index (WMSI), in 163 patients participating in the NORwegian Study on District Treatment of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NORDISTEMI). The linear relation between GS and standard echo (r(2)= 0.43, P <0.001), contrast echo (r(2)= 0.38, P <0.001), and SPECT-determined EF (r(2)= 0.52, P <0.001) was almost identical as that between GS and the gold standard MRI-determined EF (r(2)= 0.47, P <0.001). GS was best associated with WMSI by echo (r(2)= 0.55, P <0.001), while the associations between GS and relative infarct size were weaker (r = 0.43, P <0.001). Receiver operator characteristics curves, used to analyse the ability of GS to discriminate low EF (≤ 40%) measured by the four different modalities, large myocardial infarction (MI ≥ 15.7%), and high WMSI (≥ 1.5), were significant for all. GS was shown to be the best predictor of low EF measured by MRI [area under the curve (AUC) 0.965], while the lowest AUC was found between GS and large MI (0.814).

CONCLUSION
Global strain is associated well with EF measured by all modalities. Global strain was found to be the best predictor of low EF measured by the gold standard MRI. Since global strain is an inexpensive test, these data may be of health economic interest.


Abstract For many developing countries, aid constitutes a large share of state revenue, a high proportion of which is vastly volatile and unpredictable. This paper focuses on the impact of shocks in foreign aid disbursement on the stability of poor countries, specially on two-sided conflict (internal armed conflict), one-sided conflict from the government (purges) and one-sided conflict from the opposition (assassination, riots and terrorism). The effect of erratic aid disbursement is conditional on how recipient governments react to these shocks and on their ability to make credible commitments. To estimate the effect of an aid shock on conflict and to test how state capacity mediates this relationship, an instrumental variable strategy is proposed based on donors' Gross National Income (GNI). The main findings indicate that (1) negative (positive) aid shocks increase (decrease) one-sided conflict from the opposition, suggesting that negative aid shocks primarily trigger social unrest from the population; and (2) the effect of negative aid shocks on one-sided conflict from the opposition is especially large in countries with weak state capacity.


The author retrospectively evaluated the outcome of the Hungarian Liver Transplant program from 1995 to 2006. Liver transplants in the context of HCV positive cirrhosis were analysed separately. Furthermore, fulminant recurrence of HCV infection in the implanted graft was also investigated. The possible association among the serum titer of the HCV RNA, the histological patterns, the clinical course and the expression of the endoplasmatic chaperones in HCV graft biopsies (which is responsible for the endoplasmatic stress response) was also investigated. The number of liver transplants showed a four-fold yearly increase in the last 10 years. The 1, 3 and 5 years cumulative patient survival were 55%, 45% and 39% (1995-1997), 72%, 64% and 61% (1998-2000), and 78%, 77% and 77% (2001-2004), respectively. Total mortality decreased from 53% to 31%, mortality within 60 days decreased from 24% to 5%. Cumulative survival for HCV positive patients was respectively 64%, 55% and 51%, versus other chronic indications, which was 73%, 66% and 63%, respectively. Virus recurrence was 43% within 1 year. Factors with an impact on patient survival were calculated with Cox-regression multivariate analysis: postoperative kidney failure, hepatic artery thrombosis, biliary necrosis, cholangitis, pulmonary infection, abdominal infection, amount of intraoperative colloid use and transfusions. All chaperones (XBP1, ATF6, HSP70, GRP98, GP96, Calnexin and Calreticulin) were upregulated in the graft biopsies of HCV positive patients, irrespectively of the serum HCV-RNA titer. This upregulation decreased significantly after 1 year of interferon treatment. In case of acute rejection, upregulation of all chaperones was significantly higher than in HCV recurrence. An association was demonstrated between the serum HCV-RNA titer and the early recurrence. An RNA cut off point was identified to predict unfavourable histological and clinical prognosis, and a worse survival as well.


SUMMARY Fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs in Tarim basin have special reflections on seismic section termed strong beadlike-reflections, which are easy to be located and are important drilling targets at present. But it is very difficult to distinguish the high yield ones from the common ones because of their complicated inner structures and fluid conditions. This paper tries to use the term of fracture-cave body to describe and classify this kind of carbonate reservoir. Enlightened by modern karstology phenomena, it begins reservoir characterization with studying reservoir distribution pattern via reservoir-development control factors analysis, and points out that the fracture prediction, volume calculation and hydrocarbon identification are essential to locate profitable targets. Both coherence analysis and azimuth anisotropy analysis are used to predict the fractures. Based on the iteration of acoustic inversion and forward modeling, it gets the relatively proper parameters for volume calculation. Both poststack and prestack techniques are combined with geological analyses to predict the oil/gas bearing conditions of the targets. The raising drilling success ratio shows that the new work flow and the techniques used in it are effective.


Inspired by ideas from optimal transport theory we present Trust the Critics (TTC), a new algorithm for generative modelling. This algorithm eliminates the trainable generator from a Wasserstein GAN; instead, it iteratively modifies the source data using gradient descent on a sequence of trained critic networks. This is motivated in part by the misalignment which we observed between the optimal transport directions provided by the gradients of the critic and the directions in which data points actually move when parametrized by a trainable generator. Previous work has arrived at similar ideas from different viewpoints, but our basis in optimal transport theory motivates the choice of an adaptive step size which greatly accelerates convergence compared to a constant step size. Using this step size rule, we prove an initial geometric convergence rate in the case of source distributions with densities. These convergence rates cease to apply only when a non-negligible set of generated data is essentially indistinguishable from real data. Resolving the misalignment issue improves performance, which we demonstrate in experiments that show that given a fixed number of training epochs, TTC produces higher quality images than a comparable WGAN, albeit at increased memory requirements. In addition, TTC provides an iterative formula for the transformed density, which traditional WGANs do not. Finally, TTC can be applied to map any source distribution onto any target; we demonstrate through experiments that TTC can obtain competitive performance in image generation, translation, and denoising without dedicated algorithms.1


Incidental findings are common in medical imaging. There is a particularly high prevalence of incidental findings within the thorax, the most frequent being pulmonary nodules. Whilst pulmonary nodules have the potential to be malignant, the vast majority will be benign, resulting in a high number of false-positive findings. Low-resolution CT images produced during attenuation correction (AC) during single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) are essentially a by-product of the process. The high number of false-positive incidental findings detected on CTAC images causes a reporting dilemma. Early detection of cancer can be beneficial but false-positive findings and over diagnosis can be detrimental to the patient. CTAC images are not diagnostic quality and further diagnostic tests are usually necessary for definitive diagnosis to be reached. Given the high number of false-positive findings, the psychological effects and harms to the patient should be given consideration. This review recommends that caution should be taken when routine reporting of CTAC images occurs.


Gastric cancer (GC) takes 5th place among the malignant neoplasms by incidence in the world. Mortality from GC is high, since in most cases the disease is diagnosed in the late stages, with distant metastases, the five-year survival in GC does not exceed 25–30 %. The standard for GC therapy is surgery with chemotherapy. There is a high resistance to chemotherapy in the late stages of GC, and this circumstance requires a fundamentally new therapy. Recently, studies have been actively conducted on the therapy of GC with the immune control point inhibitors. At the moment, the most studied are monoclonal antibodies against PD-1 (Programmed cell death 1, CD279) / PDL1 (Programmed death-ligand 1, CD274), CTLA-4 (Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4, CD152). The article discusses the characteristics of PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4 molecules and their significance in suppressing the T-cell response, as well as the antitumor effect of immune control point inhibitors. The results of clinical studies of GC therapy with monoclonal antibodies against PD-1 / PD-L1, CTLA-4 were analyzed. The immune control point inhibitors are used as both first-line therapy and subsequent ones. The negative side of immunotherapy is immune-mediated adverse events that can affect the tissues of the kidneys, heart, gastrointestinal tract, liver, lungs, skin and endocrine glands. Biomarkers of the effectiveness of the immune control point inhibitors for GC are considered, among which one can distinguish PD-L1 expression, microsatellite instability, gene expression profile, tumor mutational load and composition of the intestinal microbiome.


Introduction/Background To demonstrate the technique of resection of enlarged retrocaval lymph nodes in a patient undergoing cytoreductive surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer. Methodology A 70-year-old patient undergoing follow up for previously treated stage IIIA1 serous carcinoma of the ovary was found to have enlarged retrocaval lymph nodes extending from the level of right common iliac vein to the level of the right renal artery. A PET-CT scan showed no evidence of peritoneal or extra-abdominal disease. Results The patient underwent a midline laparotomy. Exploration of the abdomen showed no evidence of peritoneal disease. Ascending colon and mesentery of the small bowel was mobilised. The second and third part of the duodenum was mobilised and inferior vena cava (IVC) was exposed. Renal veins were identified and exposed bilaterally. Right renal artery and ureter were identified and mobilised. IVC was mobilised from the anterior surface of the tumour from the level of the right common iliac artery to the level of the right renal artery and the aorta. Lumbar veins were identified and ligated. Tumour was mobilised from the anterior aspect of the vertebral bodies and removed using bipolar diathermy. Complete tumour resection was achieved. Postoperative recovery was uncomplicated and the patient was discharged home after 5 days. Histological examination of the retrocaval lymph nodes showed metastatic high grade serous carcinoma. Conclusion Resection of enlarged retrocaval lymph nodes is feasible. Careful consideration of the relevant surgical anatomy is required and steps should be in place to deal with complications if necessary. Disclosure Nothing to disclose


Purpose: Our purpose in this study was to investigate the distinction between emotional states and the performance of the brain during different feelings by using temporal network theory. Materials and Methods: For investigating the distinction between emotions, we chose functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired during the display of an emotional audio-movie. In order to derive dynamic functional connectivity and create time-graphlets, we used spatial distance method and for studying the features of the temporal network, we applied different temporal network measures. Results: Considering statistical comparisons, two global measures of temporal efficiency and reachability latency showed a significant difference between at least one pair of emotional states and we observed different meaningful regions in each temporal centrality measure. Conclusion: The results of this analytic method showed that the brain network pattern during the expression of different emotional states is different compared to one another and also varies through time.


Context. Ground based Cherenkov telescope systems measure astrophysical γ-ray emission against a background of cosmic-ray induced air showers. The subtraction of this background is a major challenge for the extraction of spectra and morphology of γ-ray sources. Aims. The unprecedented sensitivity of the new generation of ground based very-high-energy γ-ray experiments such as HESS has lead to the discovery of many previously unknown extended sources. The analysis of such sources requires a range of different background modelling techniques. Here we describe some of the techniques that have been applied to data from the HESS instrument and compare their performance. Methods. Each background model is introduced and discussed in terms of suitability for image generation or spectral analysis and possible caveats are mentioned. Results. We show that there is not a single multi-purpose model, different models are appropriate for different tasks. To keep systematic uncertainties under control it is important to apply several models to the same data set and compare the results.


In MaY 2007 nearly all of the BMW's sold in the United States (US) will be equipped with an Automatic Crash Notification System (ACN) called "BMW Assist". The service is provided to the customer for a period of 4 years free of charge. This fleet of BMW's will notify the Telematics Service Provider (TSP) when they have been in moderate or severe crashes. This service will continue to be provided for a period of 4 years. The resulting body of information will be of unprecedented value for research purposes. For example, researchers will be able to determine the time between the initiation of the emergency call and the arrival of rescue. For cases with long rescue times research can focus on ways to shorten the time and improve the service. In addition, cases with injuries can be identified as candidates for in-depth investigation. This capability will resolve one of the greatest impediments to crash investigation research -- how to find crashes of interest. Finally, by having a complete census of all crashes involving ACN equipped vehicles less than four years old, the crash exposure can be determined and crash involvement risks can be accurately calculated. When combined with sales exposure data, the crash involvement rates will permit the benefits of accident avoidance countermeasures to be assessed. There is no other data system that will provide the resolution or accuracy of this system -- particularly for the assessment of crash avoidance countermeasures.


A captive reticulated giraffe was observed constantly for three weeks prior to, and periodically for 90 days subsequent to, the birth of her calf. Extensive observations were made of the birth sequence, feeding, drinking, sleeping and one instance of an infant distress call, as well as observations of the initiation of maternal behaviour (including licking, nursing, placentophagia, and what appeared to be helping the calf to stand, guiding the calf's movements, and attempts to respond to the calf's distress call).


A thioxanthone (TX) derivative with the additional carbazole chromophore, namely thioxanthone-carbazole (TX-C) was synthesized and characterized. The photophysical properties and its efficiency to polymerize methyl methacrylate both in the presence and absence of N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA) as coinitia- tor was investigated and compared with that of the commercially available TX. TX-C was found to display better photophysical properties and in both cases initiate polymerization more effi- ciently. Detailed real-time Fourier transform infrared studies revealed that high polymerization rates can be obtained when TX-C in conjunction with DMA was used. V C 2010 Wiley Periodi- cals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 5120-5125, 2010


Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer affects quality of life of patients, especially in our set-up in Kenya where majority of breast cancer patients are relatively young. There are several interventions that have been shown to improve quality of life in breast cancer patients.
Objective: We set out to determine the health-related quality of life of breast cancer patients receiving cancer-specific treatment at the Haemato-oncology clinic and Cancer Treatment Centre of Kenyatta National Hospital.
Methods: The study is a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out at the Haematooncology clinic and Cancer Treatment Centre of Kenyatta National Hospital over a 4 month period. Adults over the age of 18 years who had tissue diagnosis of breast cancer were interviewed using EORTC QLQ-C30/BR23, a validated tool for measuring quality of life in cancer patients.
Results: A total of 142 patients (139 female and 3 males) were studied, with a mean age of 49.4 years (rang ~ 2S-73). The mean scores for global quality of life and other domains of quality oflife screened for are as follows (possible scores range 0-100): Global quality of life 6S.S (SD 19.9), physical function 84.S(SD 14.2), role function 79.S(SD 27.3), emotional function 86.4(SD 17), cognitive function 83.6(SD 23.1), social function 89(SD 19.1), future perspective 66.9 (SD 34.2), and sexual function 19.4 (SD 2S.9). Mean scores for the domains of symptom scales were as follows: fatigue 22.1 (SD 21.2), upset by hair loss 23.1(SD 3S.9), pain 19.4(SD 2S.3), and financial difficulty 71.8(SD 33.3). Marriage and having an education were associated with better role (p 0.001 and p 0.001 respectively) and cognitive function (p O.OOS and p 0.004 respectively).
Conclusion: Quality of life and functional scale scores in ahese breast cancer patients is good, with low symptom burden. However, they have low sexual function and high financial burden.


The social community is neither a mosaic nor a sum of different identities but something akin to a new, compound being, characterised by its own genome: the mfDNA. It involves, in particular, a kind of colonisation, the outcome of events, contingencies, probabilistic dynamics, interrelationships between the individual (or society) and the environment. Furthermore, community does not imply a mere list of species but a milieu that exists to serve their relative, not simply single and bi-univocal representations and interrelationships, acting within a complex multifactorial network characterized by a preliminary mathematical-model approach. Therefore, it is possible to introduce a new perspective, driven by the mfDNA approach and biology, and suggest a wider context capable of improving our understanding of the role of individuals within societies. We propose a new tool, the "social mfDNA model", as an interior indicator of the properties, composition and dynamics of human society.


Over the course of 150 years, a combination of cultural and natural processes drove Sacramento's transition from City of the Plains to the City of Trees. This paper describes how the many authors of Sacramento's treescape have affected the health, management, and public perception of the city's trees. Local government directed early street and park tree plantings and banned problem tree species by ordinance. During the first half of the 20th century, participation in street tree planting and preservation by groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts, Science Teachers Association, and "tree enthusiasts" raised public awareness and civic pride. The large trees shading city streets became a community icon, frequently described as the "crowning jewel of Sacramento." More recently, concern about street tree health associated with declining funds for municipal tree care has spawned new partnerships that involve trained volunteers in Dutch elm disease control, residents in energy-conserving yard tree planting, and a public task force in developing policy recommendations to perpetuate Sacramento's legacy as the City of Trees.


The present work provides a summary of the recent findings obtained from the experimental investigation of the grain structure, crystallographic texture and dislocation substructure evolution in an austenitic Ni-30%Fe model alloy during dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and post-dynamic annealing. It has been found that the DRX texture characteristics become increasingly dominated by the low Taylor factor grains during DRX development, which presumably results from the preferred nucleation and lower consumption rates of these grains. The substructure of DRX grains is random in character and displays complex, hierarchical subgrain/cell arrangements characterized by accumulation of misorientations across significant distances. The stored energy within DRX grains appears to be principally consistent with the corresponding Taylor factor values. The changes observed within the fully dynamically recrystallized microstructure during post-dynamic annealing have provided a basis to suggest a novel mechanism of metadynamic softening for the current experimental conditions. It is proposed that the initial softening stage involves rapid growth of the dynamically formed nuclei and migration of the mobile boundaries. The sub-boundaries within DRX grains progressively disintegrate through dislocation climb and dislocation annihilation, which ultimately leads to the formation of dislocation-free grains, and the grain boundary migration gradually becomes slower. As a result, the DRX texture largely remains preserved throughout the annealing process.


The objectives of this study were to assess diversity and genetic structure of a collection of Spanish durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L) landraces, using SSRs, DArTs and gliadin-markers, and to correlate the distribution of diversity with geographic and climatic features, as well as agro-morphological traits. A high level of diversity was detected in the genotypes analyzed, which were separated into nine populations with a moderate to great genetic divergence among them. The three subspecies taxa, dicoccon, turgidum and durum, present in the collection, largely determined the clustering of the populations. Genotype variation was lower in dicoccon (one major population) and turgidum (two major populations) than in durum (five major populations). Genetic differentiation by the agro-ecological zone of origin was greater in dicoccon and turgidum than in durum. DArT markers revealed two geographic substructures, east-west for dicoccon and northeast-southwest for turgidum. The ssp. durum had a more complex structure, consisting of seven populations with high intra-population variation. DArT markers allowed the detection of subgroups within some populations, with agro-morphological and gliadin differences, and distinct agro-ecological zones of origin. Two different phylogenetic groups were detected; revealing that some durum populations were more related to ssp. turgidum from northern Spain, while others seem to be more related to durum wheats from North Africa


Case: A thirteen-year-old female gymnast experienced bilateral knee pain after landing from a jump off a vault during a competition. Initial radiographs revealed negative findings, but magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated periphyseal osseous edema of the proximal parts of the tibiae. The patient later developed an anterior physeal bar on the right side, with recurvatum deformity. Conclusion: Despite similar initial imaging findings bilaterally and identical mechanisms of injury, only the injury on the right side met the strict criteria for classification as a Salter-Harris type-V injury. This case illustrates the difficulty encountered with current diagnostic criteria for type-V injuries.


Although fences are designed for low-overhead concurrency coordination, they can be expensive in current machines. If fences were largely free, faster fine-grained concurrent algorithms could be devised, and compilers could guarantee Sequential Consistency (SC) at little cost. In this paper, we present WeeFence (or WFence for short), a fence that is very cheap because it allows post-fence accesses to skip it. Such accesses can typically complete and retire before the pre-fence writes have drained from the write buffer. Only when an incorrect reordering of accesses is about to happen, does the hardware stall to prevent it. In the paper, we present the WFence design for TSO, and compare it to a conventional fence with speculation for 8-processor multicore simulations. We run parallel kernels that contain explicit fences and parallel applications that do not. For the kernels, WFence eliminates nearly all of the fence stall, reducing the kernels' execution time by an average of 11%. For the applications, a conservative compiler algorithm places fences in the code to guarantee SC. In this case, on average, WFences reduce the resulting fence overhead from 38% of the applications' execution time to 2% (in a centralized WFence design), or from 36% to 5% (in a distributed WFence design).


Habitat use by the Coues white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi) was documented during the dry season of 2006, in the Sierra del Laurel, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Based on logistic regression analyses, the objective of this study was to determine which floristic-structural and topographical features influence the probability of habitat use by the Coues deer. Vegetation, slope, altitude and distance to water were significant (p < 0.01) in the probability of habitat use. The thresholds for slope, altitude and distance were estimated for a high probability of use p (y³0.5) and varied due to vegetation type. Sites on subtropical vegetation with 50 trees of Ipomoea murucoides Roem. & Schult by hectare and 350 shrubs of Eysenhardtia polystachya Ortega Sarg., and mean height of the shrub layer over the 2.0 meters, had a probability of use greater than 50 percent. However this vegetation type is scarce and threatened by agricultural development in the Sierra del Laurel. The results of this research clearly point out the need to promote management and conservation strategies of this type of vegetation since it is the preferred habitat of the Coues deer, which in turn should be considered as an asset by the state holders and an option to derive additional income from hunting fees and other economic activities pertaining to a multiple use of the land.


Traditional outlier mining methods regard outliers from overall point, and hardly find bias data in low dimensional subspace. Constrained concept lattice, with characteristics of higher constructing efficiency , practicability and pertinency, is a new concept lattice structure. Outlier mining algorithm RCLOM based on constrained concept lattice is presented for bias data in low dimensional subspace. The intension of constrained concept lattice nodes is regarded as subspace and sparsity coefficient is computed for every intension reductions of the nodes. If sparsity coefficient of k dimensional intension reduction is less than the sparsity coefficient threshold value, k-1 dimensional intensions are judged whether it is dense subspace. If all subspaces are dense, objects contained in the intension are seen as bias data or outliers in k dimensional subspace. In the end, the algorithm is feasible and effective for mining outliers in low dimensional subspace by the example.


Muscle contraction headache (tension-type headache; MCH) usually begins when a patient is looking down or bending their neck. In the case of MCH patients, EMG activity of the posterior neck muscles at a sitting posture is significantly higher than the controls when the orbito-meatal line is horizontal or bending downward. Comparing with the controls, blood flow of the posterior neck muscle decreases sharply when the head is bent downward. Decrease of the muscle blood flow continues if the muscle is passively contracted. However, in the case of active contraction, blood flow recovers reflexly in 30 seconds. This explains why postural muscle contraction is important. When a patient is ordered to bend her neck down at the orbitomeatal line 30 degrees from horizontal, patient complains of a dull feeling at her posterior neck muscles in 30 seconds. In two minutes dull headache appears at the occipital area, soon becoming more intense and spreading to the forehead and temporal area. Once she looks up, muscle contraction of the neck disappears though she still feels headache. After the local anesthesia is applied to the occipital tender point, her headache disappears completely. From this experiment, MCH is a referred pain from occipital tender point which is the insertion point of occipital neck muscles. Patients with poor stability of cervical bone, and relatively heavy head weight compared with their neck are susceptible to MCH. Psychological stress decreases blood flow of the muscle and aggravates ischemic muscle contraction. Other risk factors include hypotension, anemia, and weak muscle power.


Background It is noticed that spinal cord injury (SPI) is a difficult process associated to patient immobilization which leads to bone mass decrease, osteoporosis risk and high risk of bone fracture. In these patients a low bone mass and bone resorption is observed, even in the six months after SPI, and this situation stabilizes over the next 22–26 months after injury. Moreover there is an increased bone fracture risk due to the high risk of osteoporosis. Objectives To assess bone metabolism and bone fracture incidence in SPI patients. Methods Prospective study of SPI patients from the Spinal Cord Injury Unit of La Fe Hospital. In all cases lower backs and hips densitometry, spinal cord plain x-ray image, bone metabolism biomarkers and clinical evaluation have been performed. Statistical techniques was carried out using R software 3.2.3. Results We studied 37 patients with SCI, 46% of them women, with a mean age at SPI of 54.38±24.77 years. The 58.9% of patients showed thoracic injuries, 48.6% paraparesis and 46.7% presented level C in Asia scale. Results from biochemical markers of bone turnover and densitometry are showed in the table. We observed a statistically association between decreased vitamin D values and increased values of bCTX (P=0.002) and PTH (P=0.03). In addition, altered PTH and vit D values are associated with thoracic location of the SCI (P=0.03), total loss of mobility (P=0.02) and high levels in Asia Scale (P=0.004). Also, classic osteoporosis risk factors were evaluated, and they were significantly and inversely related to alcohol consumption (P=0,022), frequent falls in the last year (P=0.02), long-term use of anticoagulants (P=0.006), and altered values of PTH and vitamin D. Conclusions A high proportion of our SCI patients showed serum vitamin D deficit, associated to high levels of bCTX and PTH. Moreover, patients with the lowest vitamin D levels were more likely to have higher limitation of movement and higher Asia Scale levels. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Soil temperatures at four sites in Saginaw County, Michigan were monitored at 5 and 20 cm depth, on poorly-drained, loamy and clayey soils over the 1996-97 winter season. To determine the effects of land use on soil temperatures, two pairs of sites (forested and cultivated) were established. Our goal was to extend previous work that suggested that soils in Michigan freeze most frequently and for the longest duration in the Saginaw Valley area, and to present observational and quantitative data on soil freezing and fall-winterspring soil temperatures for this region. Despite the snowy, warmer than normal winter, soils froze to depths >20 cm on cultivated sites, which were windswept and barren of snow for most of the winter, facilitating heat loss. Sites insulated by forest cover and leaf litter, as well as thin but persistent snowpacks, froze to depths of only 2 to 3 cm; temperatures at depth hovered near 1-2 C for most of the winter. Nearer the surface, soils were generally colder and had higher daily temperature variability than did soils at depth (20 cm). Forested soils were more moderated with respect to diurnal and weekly temperature change than were cultivated soils on open sites. Although both sites were located on poorly-drained soils, the wetter site developed more and larger ice lenses, and was colder throughout the fall and winter. We introduce the term 'pedothermic period' for times in which soil temperatures have consistent temporal trends and characteristics, and similar within-period variability and ranges. We identified three pedothermic periods: late fall (ends in mid December), winter (mid December to early-mid March), and spring (begins in early-mid March). Soil temperatures cool rapidly in fall, remain fairly constant under mid-winter snowpacks, but fluctuate greatly in spring after the snowpack is melted.


This investigation explores the design of a multimedia-based lesson to enhance the social skills development of young learners with autism. Both interface and web accessibility guidelines are assessed throughout the implementation of the prototype, with particular attention given as to how these guidelines can be improved upon to meet the cognitive needs of our target audience. The Triad of Impairments are a set of common traits that learners with autism exhibit. These include: impairment in social communication; impairment in social interaction; and impairment in imagination. Software designers and researchers are more recently turning to computer-based learning technologies to provide support for these learners. An in-depth requirements analysis study was conducted in local special needs and autism classrooms, in order to create a user profile and design model for the prototype lesson. This 'user-centred' design approach was then implemented throughout all phases of prototype development. Thorough evaluations were conducted with tutors and expert users at each stage. During the final phase of development a nationwide online evaluation was conducted with special needs schools in order to consolidate findings. It is concluded that this software could be incorporated into current autism classroom curriculums. The theme of the lesson has an original approach for teaching self-help skills to these young learners. The clear, clutter-free and simple navigation makes the software easily accessible. The additional features of quizzes and Flash games (reinforcers) have been judged as an effective approach for encouraging and rewarding learning. A nationwide survey was conducted to consolidate the design structure of the prototype. A random sample of Irish national special needs schools was chosen to participate in the survey. The survey has resulted in positive findings regarding the prototype lesson's interface design, accessibility features, computer-based learning support and multimodal components. It is anticipated that these guidelines will contribute to a software design framework that can be used to generate further social scenario lessons.


The aim of this article is to present part of the results obtained by the intervention made from the author's Master degree project, which consisted in the development of a set of Astronomy classes for first year of High School students from a private school in the "Distrito Federal", Brasilia, Brazil, making use of a didactical material called mini-planetarium (MP) as the main resource. Using Paulo Freire's contextualization and dialogicity ideas as a theoretical framework guided by these lessons, it was proposed to the students the assembly and application of that resource in a planetarium session. During the project, some subjects such as the apparent trajectory of stars through Brasilia's sky, the location of the cardinal points beginning from the Southern Cross constellation, the color of stars and the stars being seen from a particular place were emphasized. It was found that the students showed an improvement of their understanding about these subjects, as well as a significant excitement with the developed methodology.


In this article, I explore how medical care responsibilities in the United States are shifting away from formal clinical contexts and into the home. Using organ transplant-related care as an illustrative example of this larger phenomenon, I trace the incorporation of health care into the home using three cases from ethnographic fieldwork near a major transplant center in the midwestern United States. Here, patients and loved ones transform their dwellings, lives, and relationships to attend to the demands of transplant medicine. Bringing together literature on hospitality, caregiving, houses and homes, and place and space in health care, I offer 'accommodating care' as a framework for understanding the materializing practices of home-based transplant care. This approach suggests avenues toward studying larger questions about the distinctiveness and overlap of medicine and home life.


This study reports the seroprevalence of antibodies against GII.4 norovirus among children (≤5 years) in Pune, India. Of 191 serum specimens, 98 (51.3%) tested positive with 61, 34 and 3 having IgG, IgG‐IgA and IgG‐IgA‐IgM, respectively. Histoblood group antigen (HBGA)‐blocking antibodies were detected in 33 of the 54 tested positive specimens. IgG and blocking antibody prevalence and titer varied with age and was lowest among children aged 6–23 months. Antibody‐positive children, suggesting past norovirus exposure, showed significantly lower faecal norovirus RNA detection rate than antibody‐negative children. Further investigation of the seroepidemiology of norovirus infections in India is warranted. J. Med. Virol. 88:1636–1640, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Ever since the World Health Organization classified Helicobacter pylori as a class I carcinogen, a variety of discussions over the actual role of H. pylori infection in gastric carcinogenesis has existed. Although a majority of researches support the positive correlation between H. pylori infection and the development of gastric cancer, many aspects of this association are yet uncertain, and some data even suggest that there may be no correlation between H. pylori infection and gastric carcinogenesis. However, there are proofs indicating these reports underestimated the prevalence of H. pylori infection and therefore, the association of the infection and gastric adenocarcinoma. In this report, I reviewed the epidemiology of H. pylori and gastric cancer, evidence supporting and against the positive correlation of the infection and the disease, and the possible pathological role H. pylori infection may have in gastric carcinogenesis referring particular to published literature. As a conclusion, despite a few reports of a possible negative or no relationship between gastric cancer and H. pylori infection, I was able to find that H. pylori infection did have a pathological role in the development of gastric cancer.


We consider the resolution, by a finite-volume method, of the two-dimensional model of the shallow water equations with topography and friction. Thanks to the property of invariance per rotation of the flux of shallow water equations, we show that the study of the 2D case rises from the good resolution of the monodimensional system of the shallow water equations. The numerical implementation is carried out by a finite volume scheme of Godunov type using an Riemann approximate solver of the type HLLC which preserves the positivity height of water and which is well adapted for the treatment of the shock waves. Lastly, numercal examples on academic problems are presented as well as a real case : application of the model to the phenomenon of flood of the town of Cotonou (BENIN) by the risings of the lagoon of Cotonou.


The transsphenoidal approach to the pituitary (TSA) is currently the most common approach used to treat pituitary tumors. The surgical technique necessitates an incomplete stripping of sphenoid sinus mucosa. Long‐term postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of the sphenoid sinus has not been reported. A retrospective review of patients undergoing a TSA at the University of Washington Hospitals was performed. Preoperative scans were compared with postoperative scans done during three time intervals. Group 1 had scans at 1 to 12 weeks postoperatively; 10 of 10 patients had sinus effusions. Group 2 had scans at 6 to 18 months postoperatively; 22 of 31 had mucosal abnormalities. Group 3 had scans at 2 to 3 years; 7 of 9 were abnormal. MRI evaluation indicates that a majority of patients have both acute and chronic sphenoid sinus abnormalities after TSA.


The developmental expression patterns of four genes, Hox 1.1, Hox 1.2, Hox 1.3 and Hox 3.1, were examined by in situ hybridization to serial embryonic sections. The three genes of the Hox 1 cluster, used in this study, map to adjacent positions along chromosome 6, whereas the Hox 3.1 gene maps to the Hox 3 cluster on chromosome 15. The anterior expression limits in segmented mesoderm varied among the four genes examined. Interestingly, a linear correlation exists between the position of the gene along the chromosome and the extent of anterior expression. Genes that are expressed more posterior are also more restricted in their expression in other mesoderm-derived tissues. The order of expression anterior to posterior was determined as: Hox 1.3, Hox 1.2, Hox 1.1 and Hox 3.1. Similarly, genes of the Drosophila Antennapedia and Bithorax complex specifying segment identity also exhibit anterior expression boundaries that correlate with gene position. The data suggest that Hox genes may specify positional information along the anterior-posterior axis during the formation of the body plan.


in beginning to advanced of in one HL programme were The results indicated that the respondents have both family- and career-related reasons for developing their HL, including the desire to improve communication with parents and relatives, to develop closer association with the Korean-American community, and to expand career options. These adults also reported a number of obstacles to achieving higher levels of HL proficiency, including low levels of language confidence and unre-alistic expectations of odier HL speakers.The results are discussed, and implications are presented for heritage language education.


Background: With respect to increase in the rate of gingival recession in the adults and elderly people which is considered as a risk factor for root caries ,the prevalence and attack rate of root caries may differ This study determine the prevalence of both alterations among a group under study . Subjects and methods: Three hundred and thirty six subjects ranging in age from 20 – 49 years divided into three age groups of both genders (176 males and 160 females). Four surfaces were examined in each tooth. Gingival recession was regarded as present when ever more than 1mm of root surface was exposed and its vertical width was measured in millimeters from the cemento-enamal junction to the gingival margin in addition to the presence of caries on the exposed surface. Results: Gingival recession was observed in 52.4 % of the total sample (52.8 % in males and 51.9 % in females) and at least in one dental surface in the affected teeth. The prevalence was found to increase with increasing age. First molar teeth exhibit more surfaces with gingival recession. The average value was (21.6 %). 18 .5 % of the sample have root caries .It increases as age and recession increase, it affects males (19.3 %) more than females (17. 5 %) and first molar teeth (32.3) was mostly affected. Conclusion: The high prevalence of gingival recession and root caries demonstrate attention must be provided by dentist and people themselves, preventive measures must be conducted among population to control their increase. Key word: Gingival recession, root caries, epidemiology(J Bagh Coll Dentistry 2009; 21(1): 84-87)


Cedrus atlantica (Atlas cedar) is a relict and endemic endangered species from northwestern African mountains, whose distribution range has undergone a dramatic reduction over recent decades. Long-term studies are needed for a better understanding of the development of its range as well as for assisting in the implementation of sustainable conservation measures. The multi-proxy analysis of a high-resolution fossil record of 180 cm depth allowed us to depict the final demise of an Atlas cedar population from the western Rif Mountains (Jbel Khesana), despite its high resilience during the last ~4000 years. Currently, Atlas cedar trees are not observed in Jbel Khesana but they still occur in the nearby area as scattered populations on a few mountain tops at altitudes higher than 1400 m a.s.l. Our data show an initial relatively stable period (~4000–2400 cal. yr BP) followed by a phase where both climatic and human-induced disturbances cause an alternate dominance of oaks and Atlas cedars (2400~1550 cal. yr BP). Then, the increasing aridity and human activities favoured the depletion of Atlas cedar forests (~1550–800 cal. yr BP). Our record shows that Atlas cedar forests have recovered after each deforestation event, which reveals a high resilience of the species until the mid-20th century, when they became extinct in the study area. The main driver of their local extinction may be attributed to the strong human pressure. Management measures of Atlas cedar in the Rif Mountains should aim at limiting intensive loggings and protecting the existing populations for their local regeneration.


Landscape changes in Europe's rural areas seem to generate a more visible impact. This trend raises new questions on rural management and brings about a conflict between farmers' land-use patterns and public expectations, which are often exclusively based on esthetics. The aim of the SHRUB BATTLE board game is to help tutors make future rural planners aware of the complex relationships between landscape dynamics and agricultural practices. It provides a novel illustration of vegetation dynamics. Three players each pilot a plant species. Their pawns are spread across the board to progressively shape the landscape. Opposite them, a fourth player in the role of the animal farmer implements the best grassland-management practices to fulfill a landscape purpose. The interaction between players' strategies combined with random natural or cyclical events serves to illustrate the land-use conflicts occurring in the field. This pedagogical tool can be used to instill the fundamental principles of relationships between landscape dynamics and agricultural activities. This game makes students aware of the fact that rural planning requires multidisciplinary skills and knowledge of collective processes.


The boom in telecommunications is expected to have many impacts on peoples' activities and travel behavior. Recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) make it possible to conduct activities virtually. Thus the need for physical travel for some types of activities is obviated. Accordingly, the use of ICT may contribute to reducing urban congestion and alleviating air quality problems. However, ICT may generate significant additional travel because of the increased connectivity and access to resources. Empirical insights on how the growing use of ICT affects travel patterns and vice versa have important application in planning, travel demand forecasting, and environmental analysis. The effects of ICT on household members' daily activity–travel patterns were studied in Cairo, Egypt, by using an activity and telecommunication diary survey. Structural equation models were developed to determine the relationship between ICT use, virtual participation in in-home activity, physical participation in in-home and out-of-home activity, and observed travel dimensions. The information analyzed included personal and household sociodemographics, ICT use, and effect of vehicle availability on activity patterns among household members. Virtual participation in in-home activity had both substitution and complementary impacts on out-of-home activity and travel patterns. The results have important implications for activity–travel demand estimation and forecasting, given the growing adoption of ICT among various segments of the population.


This paper presents a new type of high-speed error correction for the requirements of new high-Speed Bus. Use RS (255, 239). Not only optimization traditional algorithm, but also design bidirectional synchronous calculated adjoint form module, Fast B-M algorithm module. and full parallel Chien Search module. These design used in new high-Speed Bus, Larger than usual decoder designed to significantly shorten the critical path decoding, and achieve continuous decoding. In addition, this error correction system separated error detection and correction module modules, And after error detection module add intelligent control, which reduced the complexity and power consumption of equipment. The error correction system design for the requirements of the new bus which speed is above 400m / s.


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

Introduction: Genistein has been shown to inhibit various cancers but its mechanism of action is still unknown. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that genistein can inhibit prostate cancer (PCa) through modulation of microRNA (miRNAs) using various in vitro models. We also tested the functional significance of miRNAs in PCa cell lines and clinical significance of miRNAs in different stages and grades of PCa.

Methods: Subconfluent cells (60-70% confluent) were treated with genistein (25 μM). Genistein administered everyday along with a change of medium, and the cells were grown for 96 h. The miRNA microarray analysis was carried out and analyzed by Phalanx Biotech using the human v3 miRNA OneArray platform that is designed to contain 100% of miRBase Sequence Database Release 17.0. The expression levels of miR-574-3p were analyzed by TaqMan quantitative real-time PCR and normalized to RNU48. The 48 clinical specimens were obtained from patients in San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 1998 to 2004. For gain-of-function assay, cell proliferation (MTS assay), migration (wound healing assay), invasion (matrigel invasion assay) and apoptosis (flow cytometry analysis) were evaluated in human PCa cell lines, PC3 and DU145. Predicted target genes and their target miRNA binding site seed regions were investigated using TargetScan. To identify the biological processes or pathways potentially regulated by miR-574-3p, we performed GeneCodis analysis. To identify networks among the miRNAs and their target genes, we analyzed and characterized those genes in KEGG pathway categories.

Results: Using miRNA microarray analysis and real-time RT-PCR we observed that miR-574-3p was significantly up-regulated in PCa cells treated with genistein compared with vehicle control. The expression of miR-574-3p was significantly lower in PCa cell lines and clinical PCa tissues compared with normal prostate cells (RWPE-1) and adjacent normal tissues. Low expression level of miR-574-3p was correlated with advanced tumor stage and higher Gleason score in PCa specimens. Re-expression of miR-574-3p in PCa cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. miR-574-3p restoration induced apoptosis through reducing Bcl-xL and activating caspase-9 and caspase-3. Using GeneCodis software analysis, several pathways affected by miR-574-3p were identified, such as 'Pathways in cancer', 'Jak-STAT signaling pathway', and 'Wnt signaling pathway'. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that miR-574-3p directly binds to the 3' UTR of several target genes (such as RAC1, EGFR and EP300) that are components of 'Pathways in cancer'.

Conclusions: Our results show that genistein up-regulates tumor suppressor miR-574-3p expression targeting several cell signaling pathways. These findings enhance understanding of how genistein regulates with miRNA in PCa.

Citation Format: Takeshi Chiyomaru, Soichiro Yamamura, Shinichiro Fukuhara, Hideo Hidaka, Shahana Majid, Sharanjot Saini, Sumit Arora, Guoren Deng, Varahram Shahryari, Inik Chang, Yuichiro Tanaka, Z. Laura Tabatabai, Hideki Enokida, Naohiko Seki, Masayuki Nakagawa, Rajvir Dahiya. Genistein inhibits prostate cancer through activation of tumor suppressor microRNA-574-3p. [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 4161. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4161


The effects of aluminum casting solidification time on the intensity and distribution of surface and subsurface defects were reported nine samples of Al castings were used with different solidification time ranged from 5 to 30 minutes. Two nondestructive testing were used to study surface and subsurface defects, the penetrant testing and the ultrasonic testing. It was found that as the solidification time was
increasing for the Al casting samples, the surface defects were not significantly decreased in number but they were getting smaller in size. Longer solidification time means the sample external surfaces got solidified before the sample was removed from the casting mould. While taking the sample out of the mould before getting completely solidified
results in rapid shrinkage of surfaces and defects formed. On the other hand as the solidification time was increasing as the subsurface defects were getting less in number and they become closer to the surface of the sample. Longer solidification time gaves the sample the chance to build its microstructure with less voids and defects, and longer solidification time permits for the internal gases to escape and not forming internal voids.