ABSTRACT Objective: Black men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer (PCa), to do so at a younger age and to experience a more aggressive form than White men. This study aims to understand the experiences of African-Caribbean men with respect to their discharge to primary care following successful PCa treatment and the challenges associated with survivorship. Design: Eight African-Caribbean men, who had been successfully treated for PCa, were recruited through the charity BME Cancer Communities. They participated in a focus group, which took place on the premises of the charity and was audio-recorded. The recording was transcribed and the data were analysed employing thematic analysis. Results: Three overarching themes were developed: Discharge – misconceptions and uncertainties; Survivorship – challenges and ways of coping; Black men and PCa: real and potential discrimination. Participants expressed concerns regarding the lack of information and clarity about what discharge meant, the quality of follow-up care, especially the levels of specialist knowledge among GPs, and the impact of side-effects, particularly erectile dysfunction (ED). Participants linked ED with stereotypes of Black male sexuality, particularly in relation to difficulties of expressing their emotions and psychological distress. African-Caribbean men face particular challenges in dealing with the side-effects of treatment for PCa, which are linked to socially-constructed ideas of masculinity. Conclusion: There needs to be a greater focus in primary care on understanding these issues and providing individualised culturally-sensitive care. In particular, GPs should be aware of sensitivities concerning help-seeking related to culturally-mediated understandings of masculinity.


Ageing of the skin results from the synergistic effects of intrinsic ageing (due to age and genetic factors), photoageing (due to ultraviolet radiation) and, for women, hormonal ageing (due to oestrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women). Oestrogens receptors and metabolism or inactivation of oestradiol have been demonstrated in the skin, and the pilosebaceous unit is a target for sexual steroids. Could hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) be a treatment for the symptoms of skin ageing (dryness, roughness, burning and atrophy of the skin, itching, cold intolerance, wrinkles, hyperpilosity, alopecia)? In some experimental studies oestrogens increase the activity of fibroblasts and water, hyaluronic acid and collagen dermal contents. Some studies have demonstrated that oestrogen treatment increases skin thickness, mitotic activity of keratinocytes, and dermal collagen content in postmenopausal women. Thus HRT could theoretically treat skin ageing. It has been shown that HRT alleviates some symptoms of skin ageing (dryness of hair and skin) and that flushes disappear. We demonstrated that non-invasive measurements of physical parameters of the skin can reveal increase in skin thickness (+10 to +20 per cent) in women treated by HRT vs non treated, especially in the application area of oestrogen and in the non-sun-exposed areas. In our study HRT alleviated the hyposeborrhoea usually seen after menopause and could contribute to the amelioration of some complaints of post menopausal women such as roughness or dehydrated skin. Hormonal ageing is quantitatively less than actinic ageing, but its treatment is easier. Moreover HRT increases skin thickness, contributing to the prevention of atrophy (with fragile and fading skin) due to intrinsic ageing, and it limits the masculinization of facial hair and skin experienced by women as a sign of ageing. In conclusion HRT treats oestrogen deficiency and can be used to treat skin ageing.


Abstract: This paper describes high-density geochemical mapping of isolated islands in southwest Japan. A total of 193 stream sediments and three volcanic ash deposits collected from isolated islands around Kyushu were analyzed to determine the content of 53 elements to supplement land and sea geochemical mapping of the Kyushu area and regional Sr isotope mapping. The relationship between the spatial distribution of elements in stream sediments and volcanic ash deposits and the geology was closely examined using geographical information system (GIS) software. Stream sediments derived from mafic volcanic and pyroclastic rocks and volcanic ash deposits were enriched with MgO, CaO, Sc, TiO2, V, T-Fe2O3, Co, and Sr. The presence of alkaline mafic volcanic rock increased the concentration of Cr, Ni, Nb, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Ta in stream sediments. Stream sediments originating from granitic rock were abundant in Be, Na2O, K2O, CaO, Sr, Y, Sn, Ln, Th, and U. Accretionary and non-accretionary sedimentary rocks caused an increase in Nb and Ta concentrations in stream sediments, and a reduction in Na2O, MgO, CaO, and Sr concentrations. These geochemical features could be explained by the relative abundance of major rock forming minerals (such as quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and mafic minerals) and accessary minerals (such as apatite and monazite) derived from the host rocks. Also, Zn-Pb deposits increased Zn, Cd, and Pb concentrations in stream sediments on Tsushima Island, and Sb deposits enhanced the Sb concentration in stream sediments on Amakusa-Shimoshima Island.


People debate on a variety of topics on online platforms such as Reddit, or Facebook. Debates can be lengthy, with users exchanging a wealth of information and opinions. However, conversations do not always go smoothly, and users sometimes engage in unsound argumentation techniques to prove a claim. These techniques are called fallacies. Fallacies are persuasive arguments that provide insufficient or incorrect evidence to support the claim. In this paper, we study the most frequent fallacies on Reddit, and we present them using the pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation. We construct a new annotated dataset of fallacies, using user comments containing fallacy mentions as noisy labels, and cleaning the data via crowdsourcing. Finally, we study the task of classifying fallacies using neural models. We find that generally the models perform better in the presence of conversational context.We have released the data and the code at github.com/sahaisaumya/informal_fallacies.


Introduction: Human spleen, embryo, and testes protein (HSET, also known as KifC1) is a minus end-directed kinesin that has recently been implicated in carcinogenesis. HSET overexpression predicts lung cancer metastasis to the brain, and HSET is upregulated in triple-negative (TN) breast cancer that most commonly occurs in African American (AA) patients. While mounting evidence links HSET to tumorigenesis, especially in the breast, HSET is yet to be evaluated as a clinical biomarker in breast cancer. Here, we investigated the association of HSET with demographic and clinicopathological factors and disease progression in breast tumors among ethnically-distinct populations. Methods: HSET expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast carcinoma core biopsies from 149 African American (AA) and 44 Caucasian (CA) totaling 193 patients. Immunostaining was assessed semi-quantitatively for the nucleus and cytoplasm separately. Weighted indices were correlated with tumor and patient characteristics (including ethnicity) along with clinical outcomes. Results: We found that nuclear HSET expression was highly associated with race, with AA women being thrice as likely to present with nuclear localization compared to CA regardless of TN status. Nuclear HSET expression was also significantly associated with the proliferation marker Ki67 and clinicopathological factors like tumor grade, stage, and size; Nottingham prognostic index (NPI); and TN status. High HSET expression was exclusively associated with poorer outcomes in AA patients and not in CA patients. Within the AA population subset, patients with the highest tertile of HSET expression demonstrated the poorest overall survival (HR = 4.1, p = 0.007), progression-free survival (HR = 3.0, p = 0.014), and metastasis-free survival (HR = 3.5, p = 0.01). These associations were also significant using HSET as a continuous variable in multivariate analysis when potentially confounding factors like age, TN status, and tumor stage were matched. Interestingly, overall, progression-free, and metastasis-free survival were significantly associated with nuclear but not cytoplasmic HSET. Conclusions: Expression of nuclear HSET is a valuable prognostic biomarker in AA but not in CA breast cancer patients, underscoring its role in the aggressiveness of this disease in the AA population. HSET overexpression appears to be correlated with poorer prognosis in AA breast cancer patients even after adjusting for age, TN status and other tumor characteristics. In summary, our study is the first to identify and report HSET as a novel clinical biomarker of worse prognosis in AA women with breast cancer. This abstract is also presented as Poster C17. Citation Format: Angela Ogden, Gabriela Oprea-Ilies, Padmashree CG Rida, Dana Nickleach, Yuan Liu, Guilherme Cantuaria, Ritu Aneja. Nuclear HSET, a predictor for metastasis, disease relapse, and poor survival, is a racial disparity biomarker in triple-negative breast cancer patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR12. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-PR12


Optical tweezers have become a powerful tool in cellular and molecule biology. Line optical tweezers enhanced its function in cell sorting. This study presents the line trap model, based on the ray-optics model, and demonstrates its accuracy for the line optical tweezers. The line optical tweezers system is established to produce the optical intensity distribution of a line pattern and to trap the micro-sized beads. The main parameter, optical intensity distribution, is used to calculate the trapping force distribution in the model. The two forces, trapping force and water dragging force, and the equation of motion is used to simulate the trajectory of micro-sized beads as they pass through the line pattern in flowing water in the microchannel. The trajectory is analyzed to determine the effective separation distance between the micro-sized beads or cells. The method will be applied in biological and medical detection.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder with significant co-morbidities and healthcare burdens. Many large studies have investigated the association between perceived stress and DM; however, none investigated this in a larger Indian population. We hypothesized stress as one of the reasons for the progression of people with prediabetes into DM. The present study was, therefore, planned to report on associations between perceived stress and blood glucose markers stratified by diabetic status. The current descriptive study was a subset analysis of the nationwide cross-sectional survey, conducted in all Indian zones under the National Multicentric Diabetes Control Program. The study examined the perceived stress levels using a perceived stress scale (PSS-10) in people with prediabetes (n=649) and DM (n=485) and then segregated them into three categories (minimum, moderate, and severe). Blood glucose markers (fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, and HbA1c) were evaluated to report their association with the perceived stress. The study revealed a significantly higher HbA1c level in people with prediabetes, particularly those with severe perceived stress (6.12 ± 0.27) compared to other categories. Those with DM had a higher fasting blood glucose level, particularly with severe perceived stress (239.28 ± 99.52). An increased HbA1c level is noted in severely stressed people with prediabetes, requiring a comprehensive analysis with a longitudinal study of the role of perceived stress in the progression of prediabetes into DM. Additionally, higher fasting blood glucose levels in patients with DM and severe perceived stress suggests the need for establishing comprehensive diabetic care inclusive of stress management.


We examine the use of multiple subphonemic differences distinguishing homophones in production and perception, through a case study focusing on the distinction between two polysemous senses of the English word "sorry" (apology vs. attention-seeking). An analysis of production data from voice actors revealed significant and substantial durational differences between the two meanings. Tokens expressing an apology were longer than attention-seeking tokens, and the situational intensity of the context also independently affected duration. When asked to identify the meaning in a two-way forced-choice task after hearing each token spliced out of its context, listeners were above chance (64.7% accuracy) in identifying the intended meaning, and their responses were significantly correlated with the duration, intensity, and intonation contour (but not mean F0) of the productions. In a second perception task, listeners heard tokens of "sorry" that had been systematically manipulated to vary in duration, intensity, and intonation contour, with responses indicating that each of these dimensions played an independent role in listeners' judgments. The results highlight the importance of broadening the scope of research on the use of subphonemic detail during lexical access and considering a wider range of lexical and non-lexical factors that condition variability on multiple acoustic dimensions, in order to work toward a more accurate picture of the systematic variability available in the input and tracked by listeners.


The connection between the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid (SVE) and the dynamical evolution of galaxies has been a matter of debate in the last years and there is no clear consensus whether different heating agents (e.g. spiral arms, giant molecular clouds, bars and mergers) leave clear detectable signatures in the present day kinematics. Most of these results are based on a single and global SVE and have not taken into account that these agents do not necessarily equally affect all regions of the stellar disc. We study the two-dimensional (2D) spatial distribution of the SVE across the stellar discs of Auriga galaxies, a set of high resolution magnetohydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations, to unveil the connection between local and global kinematic properties in the disc region. We find very similar, global, σz/σr = 0.80 ± 0.08 values for galaxies of different Hubble types. This shows that the global properties of the SVE at z = 0 are not a good indicator of the heating and cooling events experienced by galaxies. We also find that similar σz/σr radial profiles are obtained through different combinations of σz and σr trends: at a local level, the vertical and radial components can evolve differently, leading to similar σz/σr profiles at z = 0. By contrast, the 2D spatial distribution of the SVE varies a lot more from galaxy to galaxy. Present day features in the SVE spatial distribution may be associated with specific interactions such as fly-by encounters or the accretion of low mass satellites even in the cases when the global SVE is not affected. The stellar populations decomposition reveals that young stellar populations present colder and less isotropic SVEs and more complex 2D distributions than their older and hotter counterparts.


This article describes the experiences of 10 widowed women involved in the Australian sugar industry. These women- farming in their own right and involving themselves in the public world of agriculture – represent an anomaly. They are of particular sociological interest because the often-invisible gender dimensions of farming are illuminated in the absence of a male partner. The article explores the reasons why the women decide to continue farming after the death of their spouses and the changes that occur in their on-farm roles with widowhood. Of significance is the shift in identity that occurs for the widowed women as they view themselves for the first time as 'a farmer'


Despite the growing growth of technology, handwritten signature has been selected as the first option between biometrics by users. In this paper, a new methodology for offline handwritten signature verification and recognition based on the Shearlet transform and transfer learning is proposed. Since, a large percentage of handwritten signatures are composed of curves and the performance of a signature verification/recognition system is directly related to the edge structures, subbands of shearlet transform of signature images are good candidates for input information to the system. Furthermore, by using transfer learning of some pre-trained models, appropriate features would be extracted. In this study, four pre-trained models have been used: SigNet and SigNet-F (trained on offline signature datasets), VGG16 and VGG19 (trained on ImageNet dataset). Experiments have been conducted using three datasets: UTSig, FUM-PHSD and MCYT-75. Obtained experimental results, in comparison with the literature, verify the effectiveness of the presented method in both signature verification and signature recognition.


The probit-based Stochastic User Equilibrium (SUE) model has the advantage of being able to represent perceptual differences in utility across the driver population, while taking proper account of the natural correlations in these utilities between overlapping routes within the network (which the simpler logit SUE is unable to do). Its main drawback is the potentially heavy computational demands, and this has previously been thought to preclude a consideration of the sensitivity analysis of probit-based SUE, whereby an approximation to changes in the equilibrium solution is deduced as its input parameters (specifically origin/destination flows and link cost-flow function parameters) are perturbed. In the present paper, an efficient computational method for performing such an analysis for general networks is described. This approach uses information on SUE path flows, but is not specific to any particular equilibrium solution algorithm. Problems inherent in the consideration of general network topologies are identified, and methods proposed for overcoming them. The paper concludes with an application of the method to a realistic network, and compares the approximate solutions with those obtained by direct estimation methods.


On December 29, 2006, the Polish competition authority stated that Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN SA ("ORLEN"), the leading Polish petroleum company, abused its dominant position on the market and…


PURPOSE
Clinical and laboratory assessment of a new root canal filling material--Resilon-Epiphany system.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In 21 patients, 48 root canals were filled using a single-cone method or lateral condensation technique of gutta-percha with addition of Epiphany sealer. Laboratory investigations were performed on 4 extracted one-root human teeth, which were prepared by means of a crown-down technique and obturated with Resilon-Epiphany using System B and Obtura II. Next, the roots were transversely cross-sectioned in the mid-length at a 2 mm distance from the apex and analysed in SEM.

RESULTS
After a year, the treatment proved to be clinically and radiologically successful in all the patients. SEM analyses revealed good adhesion of Epiphany sealer to the canal walls with visible tags in dentine tubules. Good adherence was also found of Epiphany to Resilon and Resilon to root dentine, but few gaps were also observed.

CONCLUSIONS
Our preliminary positive results require more thorough evaluation, longer observation period and a larger group of patients. However, they allow the assumption that resin-percha will successfully replace gutta-percha in the nearest future.


The world in which we live is increasingly dominated by economics. Everything around us – as conveyed by media, politicians and experts – seems to depend on economic considerations. Even politics, it is now considered as almost an axiom, is fundamentally about decisions concerning budget. Sociology, the discipline that came into being to study the specific features of the modern world, is waging a seemingly ultimate battle against the dominance of economics, once political science all but resigned itself to accepting rational choice. Sociology proclaims that the ultimate foundations of human life are social. The argument, properly understood, still has a strong appeal; however, sociology committed three fatal errors that strongly undermined its position. To begin with, through the abstract universalism of structuralfunctionalism, going back to Durkheim, it reified 'society' into an empty abstraction. Second, through its focus on critique, it further cut itself off from the central, joyful, life-affirming aspects of daily human reality, inculcating an eye that is obsessed with negativity, searching everywhere for signs of oppression, repression, discontent and suffering, and thus fails even to consider the timeless wisdom of human existence that such an attitude only proliferates what it purportedly tries to remedy. Finally, with social constructivism it assumed a terminology that rendered it unable to properly tackle the problems posed by the technological transformation of the very conditions of human existence. In contrast to these positions, this chapter argues that such foundations are anthropological, even political-anthropological. From this perspective political anthropology is not simply a sub-discipline of politics or anthropology, or an interdisciplinary field in between these disciplines. Rather, it performs a foundational role. This idea goes against both modernist and post-modern epistemology. Modernist epistemology would attribute such foundations to economics, a claim that was mediated by the Kantian assumption of rationality as an anthropological constant. Post-modern epistemology opposes the very idea of such foundations – a position which from the perspective of political anthropology belongs to the problem itself, and offers no way out. However, the stake of political anthropology is not merely epistemological, but implies a radical (in the original etymological sense) problematisation of modernity; a


For many years, the gray leaf spot disease (GLS) caused by the fungus Cercospora zeae-maydis Tehon & Daniels, was not considered an important pathogen of maize (Zea mays, L.) in Brazil. However, the recent adoption of agronomical practices such as no-tillage and cultivation under central pivot irrigation systems increased the incidence and severity to the extent that GLS is now one of the most important diseases of maize. Isolates of C. zeae-maydis can be distinguished by two genetic groups (I and II) based on AFLP markers and on polymorphisms of the ITS and 5.8S rDNA regions. Until now, however, the biological implications of this distinction remain unclear. This study investigated whether isolates from the two genetic groups differ in aggressiveness towards maize. For this, symptoms of a susceptible hybrid were evaluated under greenhouse conditions with 9 and 11 isolates of C. zeae-maydis from groups I and II, respectively. Plants in the V3 growth stage were inoculated by placing sorghum seeds colonized with the pathogen in the leaf whorl and symptoms were evaluated with a visual rating scale 30 days later. On average, isolates of genetic group II were more aggressive than those of group I, with mean disease scores of 3.1 and 2.3, respectively. Differences were also observed between experiments, which suggested that group I and II might also differ in their fitness under different environments. This is the first report on differences in aggressiveness between the two genetic groups of C. zeae-maydis.


Aim: To evaluate the lipid profiles and hematological parameters in hypertensive patients. Study design: Cross sectional analytical study Place and duration of study: Department of Hematology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore from 1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021. Methodology: Eighty hypertensive patients within the age group of 25-65 years were enrolled. A 5-cc blood was withdrawn from each study patient for analysis of their complete lipid profile including triglycerides, cholesterol, low density lipoproteins, high density lipoproteins as well as for hematological parameters analysis which included red blood cells, white blood cells hematocrits, hemoglobin, red blood cell indices and platelets. Result: The mean age of the patients was 51.89±12.47 years. There were 45 males and 35 females in this study. Obesity was more common in hypertensive women than men. Lipid profile except high density lipoproteins was significantly higher in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure levels. High red blood cells were observed in both males and females with uncontrolled blood pressure while the platelets level decreased in uncontrolled BP males and increased in uncontrolled BP females in comparison to controlled males and females respectively. An increased level of hemoglobin and hematocrit in patients from both genders with uncontrolled blood pressure was observed. Conclusion: Disturbed lipid profile and hematological parameters imbalances are related with the hypertension Key words: Lipid profile, Hematological parameters, Hypertension


In this study the plasma level of zinc and Magnesium were determined in 50 type 2 diabetic patients and 50 healthy people. The sampling of type 2 diabetic patients were randomized. Diabetic patients studied were without any complications. Samples were analyzed using Randox kit with Spectrophotometric method. The plasma zinc (116.78±5.51 μg dL-1) and Magnesium (1.55±0.12 meq L-1) levels significantly decreased in type 2 diabetic patients (p<0.001) when compared with control groups (146.86±9.06 μg dL-1, 1.84±0.10 meq L-1, respectively). It is concluded that type 2 diabetes mellitus can result in changes in Zinc and Magnesium levels. The decreased plasma Zn and Mg that we demonstrated in this study in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus probably reduce insulin sensitivity and may increase risk of secondary complications, it maybe prudent in clinical practice to periodically monitor plasma Zn and Mg concentrations in type 2 diabetic patients. If plasma Zn and Mg were decreased, an intervention to increase of dietary intake of Zn and Mg may be beneficial for these patients.


Spectroscopic properties such as equilibrium distances, vibrational constants, rotational constants, dissociation energies, and excitation energies are calculated for nine heteronuclear diatomic molecules (PH, NF, NH, NO, CS, AlF, ClF, BeO and CF) using an interactive pair model (PNOF7s), that has been generalized for spin multiplet states, and its second order perturbation variant, NOF-MP2, which was also generalized for multiplets. The results obtained are compared with Complete Active Space (CASSCF) and Complete Active Space Perturbation Theory (CASPT2). It is shown that the potential energy curves provided by the PNOF functional for open shell diatomic molecules are in acceptable agreement with those from CASSCF and CASPT2. The spectroscopic constants depending at most on the second derivative of the potential energy are in good agreement with experiment, while those requiring the evaluation of the third and fourth derivatives show larger deviations from experiment and from those predicted by CASPT2. Thus, it is shown that the PNOF functional extension to multiplets is an alternative approach in predicting spectroscopic constants of molecules where static correlation plays an important role, like the open shell heteronuclear diatomic molecules studied in this work.


Pyrolysis and surface recession of charring composites are progressed primarily in the thickness direction. The unmixing-mixing scheme is applied to describe the in-plane and through-thickness behaviors of porous composites. The extended unmixing-mixing equations are based on transverse isotropy of unidirectionally fiber-reinforced composites. The strain components of gas pressure in pores, thermal expansion, and chemical shrinkage are included in the constitutive model. By analyzing micromechanical representative volume elements of porous composites, the validity of the derived equations are examined.


The subject of quantitative research is determining the spatial and temporal distribution of natural disasters worldwide for the period 1900-2013. Considering that it is a mass phenomenon, which consists of multiple units, most preferred scientific method for making conclusions on natural disasters is the statistical method. Thereby, a statistical survey has been conducted in the way that raw data about all natural disasters in the first step were downloaded (25.552) in the form of Excel file from the international database on disasters (CRED) in Brussels, and then analyzed in program for statistical analysis of data SPSS. Within the geospatial distribution the total number and consequences of natural disasters were analyzed by continents. According to the same principle, within temporal analysis we examined distribution of the total number and effects of natural disasters on annual, monthly and daily levels. Statistical results of analysis clearly indicate that the number of natural disasters has increased, with their recorded maximum in the period from 2000 to 2013. Certainly, one can not absolutely say this is true in view of starting to pay serious attention to quantitative indicators. Also, it can not be said that the international database (CRED) included absolutely all natural disasters in the world, considering that it was created thanks to the submission of national reports on natural disasters. Such way of data collection can have serious shortcomings, given the diverse subjectivities. In addition, the question that arises is whether most underdeveloped countries submitted their reports. Bearing in mind the increasing trend in the number and severity of natural disasters in the global geographic space, the survey results represent a good argument for initiation of serious reforms of the system of protection and rescue against natural disasters in countries around the world. Results of research impact on raising awareness among citizens about the seriousness of the consequences of natural disasters to humans, environment and their property.


[The signal processing functionality for a 2 nd Generation OFDM system is described. ] Purpose [Proposed PHY system technology is described for consideration by 802.16.3 Task group in the development of its standard.] Notice This document has been prepared to assist IEEE 802.16. It is offered as a basis for discussion and is not binding on the contributing individual(s) or organization(s). The material in this document is subject to change in form and content after further study. The contributor(s) reserve(s) the right to add, amend or withdraw material contained herein. Release The contributor grants a free, irrevocable license to the IEEE to incorporate text contained in this contribution, and any modifications thereof, in the creation of an IEEE Standards publication; to copyright in the IEEE's name any IEEE Standards publication even though it may include portions of this contribution; and at the IEEE's sole discretion to permit others to reproduce in whole or in part the resulting IEEE Standards publication. The contributor also acknowledges and accepts that this contribution may be made public by IEEE 802.16. the statement " IEEE standards may include the known use of patent(s), including patent applications, if there is technical justification in the opinion of the standards-developing committee and provided the IEEE receives assurance from the patent holder that it will license applicants under reasonable terms and conditions for the purpose of implementing the standard. " Early disclosure to the Working Group of patent information that might be relevant to the standard is essential to reduce the possibility for delays in the development process and increase the likelihood that the draft publication will be approved for publication. Please notify the Chair <mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com> as early as possible, in written or electronic form, of any patents (granted or under application) that may cover technology that is under consideration by or has been approved by IEEE 802.16. The Chair will disclose this notification via the IEEE 802.16 web site


Electromyographic recordings were taken from all heads of the triceps brachii and biceps brachii muscles and from the anconeus, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles in a chimpanzee and an orangutan as they stood still and walked quadrupedally on horizontal and inclined surfaces, engaged in suspensory behavior, reached overhead, and manipulated a variety of foods and artifacts.

Like the gorilla (Tuttle and Basmajian, 1974a), the chimpanzee and orangutan possess special close-packed positioning mechanisms that allow the bulky muscles that cross their elbow joints to remain silent during quiet pendant suspension.

We found no major myological features that would dramatically separate the arms of knuckle-walking African apes from those of the orangutan. With a few exceptions, which could as well be attributed to individual variation as to interspecific differences, the brachial muscles acted similarly during quadrupedal positional behaviors, irrespective of whether the hands of the subjects were knuckled (African apes), fisted (chimpanzee and orangutan), or placed in modified palmigrade postures (orangutan).

Evolutionary transformations, from brachial and elbow complexes like those of Pongo to ones like Pan, or vice versa, would probably be achieved quite readily as the species changed its substrate preferences and positional habits.


This paper newly proposes a modular type dynamic encoding algorithm for searches (DEAS) which partitions the whole parameters into several modules and carries out exhaustive DEAS for each module. uDEAS is used to measure parameter sensitivities to the cost function, and the variables whose sensitivities are similar are grouped to make a module. The proposed optimization method is applied to optimal trajectory generation for biped walking of a humanoid. and the optimization result is compared with those of the former versions of DEAS.


Purpose

To identify pre-, intra-, and postoperative factors influencing the improvement of the activities of daily living (ADL) in newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma (GBM), we investigated the characteristics and variable factors and overall survival.
Methods

A total of 105 patients with GBM were retrospectively analyzed and categorized into three groups according to the quartile of change of Barthel index score from admission to discharge: deterioration (n = 25), no remarkable change (n = 55), and good recovery (n = 25). We compared with the characteristics, variable factors, and overall survival of patients with deterioration and good recovery after tumor resection.
Results

There was statistically different in the pre-, intra-, and post-operative factors between the groups. Multiple regression analysis identified four significant predictor variables that may influence the improvement of ADL after surgery: the improvement of motor paralysis after surgery, mild fatigue during chemoradiotherapy, poor Karnofsky performance status at admission, and length up to early walking training onset. The median overall survival was significantly different between the patients with deterioration (10.6 months, 95% CIs, 5.19–16.00) and good recovery (18.9 months, 95% CIs, 8.61–29.18) (p = 0.025).
Conclusion

This study identified four factors influencing the improvement of ADL after surgery. In addition, a structured inpatient rehabilitation programs can be performed safely and improve functional outcomes, which may contribute to the survival prognosis.


The behaviour of transformation-induced plasticity steels subjected to combined thermomechanical loading is studied at the microscale by means of numerical simulations. The microstructure is composed of an austenitic phase that may deform plastically and/or transform into martensite, and a ferritic phase that may deform plastically. The micromechanical models capturing these effects are derived from a thermodynamical framework, which has been extended from previous work in order to adequately account for the thermal contributions to the kinematics and the Helmholtz energy. The models are used in numerical simulations on a polycrystalline sample composed of an aggregate of multiple austenitic and ferritic grains of various orientations. The thermomechanical response of the sample is studied under (i) isothermal straining at different temperatures above the martensitic start temperature, and (ii) under different paths of straining and cooling to temperatures below the martensitic start temperature. The first type of analysis shows that at lower temperatures the transformation mechanism is more dominant than the plasticity mechanism, whereas the converse occurs at higher temperatures. The second type of analysis illustrates that, in comparison to a benchmark initially stress-free sample at room temperature, the transformation rate under straining is higher when performed on a pre-cooled sample, but the transformation rate under cooling is lower when carried out on a pre-strained sample. The results of this analysis indicate that, for optimizing the formability of this class of steels, it is recommended to make a judicious choice regarding the thermomechanical loading parameters during manufacturing processes. †Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany, email@example.com


Employed technologies differ vastly across countries. Within countries many technologies that would obviously improve firms' efficiency are not adopted. This paper explains these observations by emphasizing that a new technology positively affects workers by lowering prices and increasing their real income, but also negatively by costs of getting acquainted with the new technology. If the costs of adoption for workers exceed the benefits, they will aim at keeping the old technology in place. We formalise the trade-off in a simple OLG model with majority voting. Age groups that lose from adopting resist. Successful resistance blocks adoption and hence lowers growth. Finally, we analyse the effects of tougher competition. Provided that consumption and leisure are relatively good substitutes, tougher competition mitigates resistance and thus favours economic growth as it increases the share of the rent associated with the new technology that is being captured by the workers.


CHALLENGES OF CATALYSIS ACIDITY IN SOLIDS. This study explores the similarities between solid and liquid acid catalysts highlighting the advantages and the main challenges of heterogeneous catalytic processes. We describe the main developments in technical procedures like selection of compounds and reaction models involved in: increasing acidity, characterization of solid acidity and in coke formation.Keywords: acidity; acidity in solids; acid catalysis.


This study aimed to identify alterations in the composition of surfactant phospholipids (PLP) with respect to chronic respiratory chlamydial infection.

Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was sampled from 13 calves with naturally acquired chronic, but clinically latent, chlamydial infection ( C. pecorum and/or C. abortus ). Calves without chlamydial infections of the same age and kept under identical conditions served as controls (n = 12). Prior to BAL, exhaled breath condensate (EBC) was collected in each animal. In both BALF and EBC, phospholipids were measured (triplequad tandem mass spectrometer). Phosphatidylcholine (PC), being the main phospholipid in pulmonary surfactant and measurable in both EBC and in BALF samples, was significantly reduced in animals with chlamydial infections. In addition, concentrations of lysophosphatidylcholin, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylinositol (PI) were significantly reduced in BALF (not measurable in EBC). Altogether, total concentration of phospholipids was significantly lower but ratios between PC/PI and PG/PE (PG: phosphatidylglycerol) were significantly higher in calves with chlamydial infection compared to controls.

In conclusion, chronic respiratory infections with chlamydiae were associated with significant alterations in the phospholipid composition of the epithelial lining fluid of the lung. Since surfactant is involved in both lung compliance as well as alveolar clearance, results of this study indicate chlamydia-associated deterioration of pulmonary mechanics and depressed alveolar defense mechanisms despite the absence of clinical signs or pulmonary symptoms.


In general, the properties of respiratory syncytial virus are similar to those of myxoviruses (Chanock, Roizman & Myers, 1957; Hamparian, Hilleman & Ketler, 1963). One of the interesting properties of respiratory syncytial virus infection in vitro is syncytium formation (Jordan, 1962; Kisch, Johnson & Chanock, 1962). It has also been reported that the development of syncytia is influenced by the composition of the medium, the type of host cells (Jordan, 1962) and the incubation temperature (Suto et al. 1965), but it is not inhibited by the presence of virus antibody in the medium (Taylor-Robinson & Doggett, 1963). In the present studies, we report evidence of cell to cell infection with respiratory syncytial virus by successful transfer of virus antigen from infected cells to uninfected cells in the presence of antiviral serum.
The long strain of respiratory syncytial virus supplied by Dr R. M. Chanock (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md, U.S.A.) was used throughout.


We suggest a new way of developing the representation theory of symmetric groups. The method is based on information theory. This approach enables us to obtain a number of new results in information theory including a new effective algorithm for solving Littlewood-Richardson problem.


Medellin's government wanted to raise its efficacy, legitimacy, and control. The city identified 80 neighborhoods with weak state presence and competing armed actors. In half, they increased non-police street presence tenfold for two years, offering social services and dispute resolution. In places where the state was initially weakest, the intervention did not work, mainly because the government struggled to deliver on its promises. Where the state began stronger, the government raised opinions of its services and legitimacy. If there are indeed low marginal returns to investing in capacity in the least-governed areas, this could produce increasing returns to state-building.


Rapidly solidified Al-3.9V-0.1 Zr alloy is a single sol- id solution.The metastable limited solid solubility of solute V in Al reaches 3.9 wt-% under about 10~6 K/s cooling rate.A strong age hardening response have been observed in this alloy.A large amount of dislocation lines and loops were observed in the alloy aged at 100-150℃: and an age peak occurs at 450℃,the hardness value in- creases by a factor of 2.The precipitate which is responsi- ble for age hardening is identified to be Al_V(Al).


To clarify the relationship between cholesterol homeostasis and inflammation we studied the effect of hypercholesterolaemia on in vivo cytokine production and leukocyte migration, in a murine model of local inflammation. Hypercholesterolaemia reduced of 40% the leukocyte recruitment by inhibiting interleukin-6 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 production in the pouch exudate, without affecting vascular permeability or leukocytes motility.


Gamma-ray bursts GRBs are among the most mysterious astronomical phenomenon ever discovered. Unlike most astronomical discoveries which were explained within weeks or months after their initial discovery, GRBs remain a puzzle for more than thirty years. During the last decade our understanding of GRBs has undergone two major revolutions. First, BATSE discovered that GRBs are distributed isotropically over the sky and thereby demonstrated their cosmological origin. The second revolution tool place more recently when Bep-poSAX discovered GRB afterglow. This confirmed the fireball model and led to a wealth of observational data, some of which has not been fully understood yet. The emerging picture is that GRBs are the most luminous objects and the most relativistic objects ever discovered: (i) GRBs involve relativistic motion at a velocity of 0.9999c or larger. (ii) Most current GRB models involve the formation of a black hole in one way or another. (iii) If binary neutron star mergers are the sources of GRBs then GRBs are also associated with gravitational radiation signals. Finally, (iv) as cosmological power-houses that are observed to high red-shift GRBs might be used to measure cosmological parameters and to teach us about the epoch of galaxy formation.


Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major complication in diabetic patients. Microalbuminuria testing is used to identify renal disease; however, its predictive value is questionable. We aimed to identify urinary biomarkers to early diagnosis nephropathy before identifiable alternations in kidney function or urine albumin excretion occurs. Proteomic approaches were used to identify potential urinary biomarkers and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to verify the results. The data identified haptoglobin (HPT) and α-1-microglobulin/bikunin precursor (AMBP) as two biomarkers with the highest ability to distinguish between healthy individuals and patients with nephropathy, and between diabetic patients with and without DN. Further, the HPT-to-creatinine ratio (HCR) was evaluated as an independent predictor of early renal functional decline (ERFD) in a cohort with an average follow-up of 4.2 years. The area under the curve (AUC) value for ERFD prediction was significantly improved when the HCR biomarker was included in the model with albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) and baseline characteristics (AUC values were 0.803 and 0.759 for HCR and ACR, respectively; p value was 0.0423 for difference between models). In conclusion, our results suggest that HCR represents an early indicator of nephropathy, and a marker related to ERFD among diabetic patients in Taiwan.


The interplay between ocean circulation and coral metabolism creates highly variable biogeochemical conditions in space and time across tropical coral reefs. Yet, relatively little is known quantitatively about the spatiotemporal structure of these variations. To address this gap, we use the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Wave and Sediment Transport (COAWST) model, to which we added the Biogeochemical Elemental Cycling (BEC) model computing the biogeochemical processes in the water column, and a coral polyp physiology module that interactively simulates coral photosynthesis, respiration and calcification. The coupled model, configured for the north-shore of Moorea Island, successfully simulates the observed (i) circulation across the wave regimes, (ii) magnitude of the metabolic rates, and (iii) large gradients in biogeochemical conditions across the reef. Owing to the interaction between coral net community production (NCP) and coral calcification, the model simulates distinct day versus night gradients, especially for pH and the saturation state of seawater with respect to aragonite (Ωα ). The strength of the gradients depends non-linearly on the wave regime and the resulting residence time of water over the reef with the low wave regime creating conditions that are considered as "extremely marginal" for corals. With the average water parcel passing more than twice over the reef, recirculation contributes further to the accumulation of these metabolic signals. We find diverging temporal and spatial relationships between total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (≈ 0.16 for the temporal vs. ≈ 1.8 for the spatial relationship), indicating the importance of scale of analysis for this metric. Distinct biogeochemical niches emerge from the simulated variability, i.e., regions where the mean and variance of the conditions are considerably different from each other. Such biogeochemical niches might cause large differences in the exposure of individual corals to the stresses associated with e.g., ocean acidification. At the same time, corals living in the different biogeochemical niches might have adapted to the differing conditions, making the reef, perhaps, more resilient to change. Thus, a better understanding of the mosaic of conditions in a coral reef might be useful to assess the health of a coral reef and to develop improved management strategies.


Maritime accidents around the Korean Peninsula are increasing, and the ship detection research using remote sensing data is consequently becoming increasingly important. This study presented a new ship detection algorithm using hyperspectral images that provide the spectral information of several hundred channels in the ship detection field, which depends on high resolution optical imagery. We applied a spectral matching algorithm between the reflection spectrum of the ship deck obtained from two field observations and the ship and seawater spectrum of the hyperspectral sensor of an airborne visible/infrared imaging spectrometer. A total of five detection algorithms were used, namely spectral distance similarity (SDS), spectral correlation similarity (SCS), spectral similarity value (SSV), spectral angle mapper (SAM), and spectral information divergence (SID). SDS showed an error in the detection of seawater inside the ship, and SAM showed a clear classification result with a difference between ship and seawater of approximately 1.8 times. Additionally, the present study classified the vessels included in hyperspectral images by presenting the adaptive thresholds of each technique. As a result, SAM and SID showed superior ship detection abilities compared to those of other detection algorithms.


Figure 1: Optical coherence tomography appearance of intramural hematomas. Panel A shows the longitudinal layout with cross-section images at three levels (i, ii, and iii). A biovascular scaffold was used. A‐ii (*)‐intimal flap. A‐iii (*)‐crescent shaped intramural hematoma, and A-iii (arrow)-intimomedial membrane. Panel B 3D optical coherence tomography T-reconstruction, arrow-the entry site of intramural hematomas, *-extent of intramural hematoma. Panel C cross-section optical coherence tomography image, *-exit site. Panel D arrow-intimomedial membrane, *-hematoma D B


The concept of professionalism of internal auditors is examined. A survey of a large sample of internal auditors revealed that internal auditors generally conform to a model of professionalism previously applied to other occupations. Especially notable, internal auditors strongly believe in the importance of internal auditing. The relationship between the dimensions of professionalism and levels of education, certification, and rank are also explored. Implications for professionalism in internal auditing are discussed.


This paper presents a method to obtain the pressure distribution across the surface of a tidal turbine blade, but without the extensive computational time that is required by 3D CFD modelling. The approach uses a combination of blade element momentum theory (BEMT) and 2D CFD modelling, where the inflow velocity vector for each blade element computed from the BEMT model is input to a 2D CFD model of each of the blade sections. To assess the validity of this approach, a comparison is made with both a BEMT and a 3D CFD model for three different blade profiles at full scale (NACA 63-8xx, NREL S814 and Wortmann FX 63-137). A comparison is also made of the NREL blade at smaller scale to investigate any Reynolds number effects on the model performance. The agreement is shown to be very reasonable between the three methods, although the forces are consistently slightly over-predicted by the BEMT method compared to the 2D-CFD-BEMT model, and the 2D-CFD-BEMT model over-predicts the pressure along the leading edge compared to the 3D CFD results. The proposed method is shown to be particularly useful when conducting initial blade structural analysis under dynamic loading.


University degrees currently have aspects in their curriculum such as the need to develop the students' abilities regarding teamwork, interpersonal skills and problems solving. For this reason, when making educational programming, the use of methodologies that include activities that encourage active student participation, can be of a great help. The proposal of Groups and Roles that is showed is based on the principles of active methodologies, in which the student takes an active role in their learning process, promoting a model that encourages him/her to reflect, analyze, draw conclusions, etc., seeking his/her involvement and commitment to make this process more formative. This work shows the results obtained after the application of this methodology in the lectures of the subjects from 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering at the University of Zaragoza. With the development of these activities, the following aims have been achieved: detecting the mayor learning difficulties for the students; implementing the link between the contribution of contents of the subject, under study, and the further professional development of the students; developing students' creativity; encouraging the awareness towards quality within work; developing skills in interpersonal relations and increasing motivation at work. This dynamics even though it has required an important degree of involvement, both by students and teachers, has been a positive and enriching experience.


In most applications of the stochastic Green's function simulation, am- plitude characteristics of seismic responses at target sites are taken into consideration, but phase information of them is often disregarded or just assumed to be random. However, when seismic waves from the source pass through different geological strata, they take multiple paths and, as result, the arrival times of different seismic phases to the receiver vary. Especially in basin structures, seismic waves trapped in unconsolidated deposits or secondarily induced at the basin edges elongate the du- ration of ground motion. In the present study, a simple empirical method using the Meyer-Yamada wavelet procedure is proposed for the phase-dependent site response estimation in time domain. The method reveals the amplitude and phase effects of extended duration of ground motion on site response by utilizing the wavelet trans- form. Because the wavelet transform yields a localization of a signal in both fre- quency and time domains, the phase information of the signal stays intact. Appli- cation of this method has been performed using the aftershock records of the 1999 Duzce, Turkey Earthquake (Mw 7.1). Amplitude spectra of absolute site responses were also calculated by a spectral calculation method at each station for comparison purpose. Good agreement between the amplitude spectra calculated with the wavelet method and those of the spectral calculation method supports the efficiency of the proposed method.


Introduction: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare disease that generally accounts for just 1% of all strokes. Of the multiple risk factors that have been identified, the most common are genetic or acquired thrombophilia and the use of oral contraceptives, while the less common include local infections and mechanical causes. Thyroid diseases have been described as rare risk factors for CVST (<2% of all cases), without exact knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology. This retrospective study aimed to re-evaluate the relevance of thyroid disease as risk factor for CVST, with particular emphasis on hyperthyroidism. Patients and Methods: Confirmed cases of CVST were (re-)evaluated in terms of risk factors including thyroid parameters. Results were compared to previous data from the International Study on CVST. Results: Between 1996 and 2016, 182 patients with confirmed CVST were treated in our hospital with a median age of 44 years and a female proportion of 74.7%. Genetic or acquired thrombophilia along with the use of oral contraceptives were found to be the most common risk factors. Thyroid diseases were present in 20.9% of CVST patients; this included patients with previous (9.9%) and current thyroid dysfunction (11%). Discussion and Conclusions: Thyroid diseases may represent a more common risk factor for CVST than previously described. This holds true even if patients with current thyroid dysfunction are purely taken into account. However, 58% of patients had more than one additional risk factor, suggesting a multifactorial hypercoagulability. Clinical Trials Register: Registered at the German Clinical Trials Register: http://www.drks.de, DRKS00017044.


The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus 2 or novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection pandemic continues to spread Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Wuhan (China), healthcare workers have been infected and are considered at high risk of contamination Moreover, in addition to the physical effects of COVID-19, the pandemic results in important mental health issues among healthcare workers such as anxiety, stress, depression, and further nervous or mental disorders Despite the increasing number of clinical trials aiming to develop vaccines or test antiviral molecules, till now no efficient anti- SARS-CoV-2 drugs have been validated The COVID-19 pandemic led us to call for an urgent nutritional intervention model that should be established to prevent and/or reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers In the present paper, we suggest a safe nutritional supplementation of MgZn- B vitamins (B1, B6, B9, and B12) in healthcare workers as pre-exposure and post-exposure new prophylactic treatments Furthermore, the paper reports the scientific arguments and the possible mechanisms by which the Mg-Zn- B vitamins supplementation may exert its beneficial effects in the healthcare workers facing the COVID-19 pandemic Overall, the Mg-Zn- B vitamins supplementation would enhance the immune response against SARS-CoV2, prevent inflammatory processes and oxidative stress, fight or alleviate the COVID-19-related mental health issues, or even reduce the replication Each element of the supplementation possesses important and promising effects contributing to the possible efficiency of the suggested Mg-ZnB vitamins supplementation in healthcare workers


BACKGROUND: A report has recently been published concerning a patient with a cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis who showed a striking improvement after being treated with the antiviral drug ribavirin (tribavirin, Virazid). The objective of this study was to further evaluate, in an open trial, the efficacy of rivabirin in cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis. METHODS: Ten patients (eight women) with advanced cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis received aerosolised ribavirin (6 g/day for 15 days). Chest radiographs, lung function, and severity of dyspnoea were evaluated before and after two weeks of rivabirin treatment and also at three and 12 months. RESULTS: No differences in radiographs, lung function impairment, or severity of dyspnoea were found after treatment. No side effects were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of high doses of aerosolised ribavirin has no beneficial effects in patients with advanced cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis.


Nowadays, the risk factors, improvement of diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases are of particular interest. Arterial hypertension (HTN) is known to contribute to cardiovascular disease and to be a risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases. HTN during pregnancy and in the postpartum period draws particular attention. Throughout the world, hypertension during pregnancy remains the leading cause of maternal and child morbidity and mortality. To our knowledge, only a few works studied neurological disorders associated with HTN in pregnant women. In this connection, the purpose of our review was to analyze the role of HTN in the development of cerebrovascular diseases in pregnancy. Pregnant women with HTN show 5,2-fold higher frequency of strokes than normotensive women. The risk of stroke increases from the third trimester of pregnancy to six weeks of the postpartum period. The pregnant women with HTN develop changes in the coagulation system leading to the formation of arterial and venous thromboses in the cerebrovascular circulation. The presence of preeclampsia (PE) is associated with the 7–9-fold increase in the risk of stroke. Endothelial dysfunction is one of the leading links in the pathogenesis of PE. The PE is associated with an increase in anti-angiogenic factors and a decrease in angiogenic factors. Thus, the measures preventing the development of cerebrovascular diseases in pregnant women with HTN, include identification of prehypertension in women of childbearing age, the improvement of HTB management strategies, and an interdisciplinary approach to the diagnostic and treatment process involving the obstetrician, the therapist, the cardiologist and the neurologist.


ABSTRACT Most of the members of the genus Bifidobacterium, including the related organism Alloscardovia omnicolens, are inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity of humans and animals and have been considered nonpathogenic for humans. However, the actual site of isolation and the clinical significance of A. omnicolens and of Bifidobacterium species are unclear. This may be due in part to the difficulties in distinguishing these organisms from other genera such as Actinomyces. To determine the potential disease-causing role of these organisms, we analyzed the clinical significance of 15 A. omnicolens and Bifidobacterium isolates identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing from a clinical laboratory. All of the organisms in this study were isolated from sterile sites or in significant numbers by standard clinical microbiological culture methods. Our 15 clinical strains fit into only four species: A. omnicolens (five isolates), Bifidobacterium scardovii (four isolates), B. longum (two isolates), and B. breve (four isolates). All five A. omnicolens isolates, one of the B. breve isolates, and three of the four B. scardovii isolates were cultured from urine at 105 CFU/ml. One B. scardovii isolate was from a patient with a genitourinary tract wound infection, two B. longum isolates were from abdominal wounds, and three B. breve isolates were from blood cultures. This study enlarges the spectrum of diseases and clinical sources associated with A. omnicolens and Bifidobacterium species and addresses identification problems.


In the production of pulp, paper and cardboard, a large amount of water is used daily. The water has to be purified in the internal purifying plant before it reaches the receiving body of water. In the biological purifying stage at the Stora Enso Skoghall mill, an aerated basin is used where the microorganisms, using oxygen, oxidize the organic material to carbon dioxide. The air is pumped from the bottom of the basin and the oxygen can then be transported from the air bubbles to the water through diffusion. The problem with aeration of waste water from the forest industry is that wood residues, such as fatty acids, are making the transport of oxygen in water more difficult. Previous studies show that adding salt improves aeration and the use of energy during the aeration process decreases.In many of the Swedish forest industries the electric power required for the aeration process is responsible for more than 50% of the total use of energy. The aim of this report is to study the aeration of waste water from a forest industry in order to make the aeration in the biological purification stage more energy efficient.The experimental part includes aeration experiments and measurement of surface tension when adding salt in clean and untreated process water. All experiments have been carried out in lab-scale at Karlstad University. The salts used during the study were sodium chloride, lime sludge and also precipitator dust, of which the two latter are by-products of pulping. The project has reached its goal, to compare and measure the speed of aeration when adding different salts to waste water from the forest industry in order to make the purification process more efficient. This study shows that adding by-products may increase the speed of the aeration of waste water from the forest industry and decrease the use of energy during the aerobic treatment process. Adding precipitator dust to the fabrication water increases the speed of the aeration by 60%. The standard oxygen transfer rate (SOTR) decreased from 314tonnes O2/d to 118tonnes O2/d. The energy demand during the aeration process decreased by 100 MWh per day.


CONTEXT
Mastocytic enterocolitis is a recently described entity defined by chronic diarrhea of unknown etiology and normal colon biopsy results with increased mast cells (MCs) seen on special stains. These patients may benefit from mast cell stabilizers; however, the clinical utility of MC counts remains unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the clinical utility of colonic MC counts on normal biopsies in patients with chronic diarrhea of unknown etiology.

DESIGN
Blinded MC counts using a c-Kit stain were performed in 76 consecutive patients with chronic diarrhea of unknown etiology who had normal colon biopsy results and in 89 consecutive control patients presenting for screening colonoscopy. Mast cells were counted per single high-power field in the highest-density area. A t test was used to compare the counts, and receiver operating characteristic curves were generated to examine sensitive and specific cutoff values.

RESULTS
Overall, MC counts averaged 31 MCs per high-power field in the study group versus 24 MCs per high-power field in the control group (P < .001). When stratified by location, a significant increase was seen in biopsies from the left colon only. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that overall MC counts, left-sided MC counts, and the difference between right- and left-sided MC counts did not yield discriminatory cutoff values (area under the curve, 0.68, 0.74, and 0.81, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Mast cell counts were increased in patients with chronic diarrhea of unknown etiology, primarily in the left colon. However, receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrates no discriminatory cutoff values. Quantitative MC stains yield little useful diagnostic information, and further studies are necessary to determine whether mastocytic enterocolitis truly represents a distinct entity.


Major changes have taken place in the delivery of out-of-hours primary care. There is a growing trend towards help-lines and drop in centres. Many patients will often first speak to a nurse, who will triage the calls with or without the help of guidelines or algorithms. The concern arises as to whether this is safe. In the last few years of my training, I have come across two children whose parents mentioned a 'bulging fontanelle' as part of their concerns, and who were falsely reassured over the phone.

Both infants presented with a non-specific febrile illness. They contacted NHS Direct in one case, and a local nurse-led call centre of the local GP cooperative in the other. This last centre used the same guidelines/algorithms as NHS Direct. In both cases, parents mentioned the protruding soft spot during the structured interview. Neither nurse nor protocol picked up on this significant finding, and parents were reassured and advised to give paracetamol and ensure adequate fluid intake. After presentation to the hospital, one child turned out to have a viral illness, while the other had pneumococcal meningitis and required a prolonged hospital stay. The helplines have since addressed the issue by updating their protocol and providing further training for their nurses.

In both these cases an important sign, that is the bulging fontanelle, was missed, and parents were falsely reassured. In medical school, presentation of meningitis in children is well-rehearsed, including all rare and non-specific presentations, to ensure this disastrous condition is recognised early. I doubt that any doctor would have missed this sign. I would encourage all primary care trusts to review their out-of-hours service, and to review protocols and guidelines they hold on children presenting with non-specific febrile illness, and in particular, include this subtle but important sign. I would like to advocate a low threshold for babies and infants to be reviewed by a doctor in any case.


Although poverty has been significantly decreasing in China over the last twenty years, this decrease has been highly unequal across the provinces and has brought increased disparity in urban and rural per capita income. We studied the impact of exchange rate policy on urban-rural per capita income, which was marked by strong real depreciation before 1994, followed by moderate appreciation before stabilizing. We concluded that in the inland provinces where poverty is hardest, real appreciation has attenuated disparity, whereas real depreciation had accentuated disparity. This result argues for a revaluation of the renminbi.


This study analyzed a comprehensive database including 6331 ready-mixed concrete plant mixtures to quantitatively assess the environmental impact of concrete under mixture proportions variable according to the domestic region and season. The environmental impact indicator includes global warming, photochemical oxidant creation, abiotic resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication and human toxicity, which are determined from categorization, characterization, normalization and weighting process based on Korea lifecycle inventories. The determined environmental impact indicator was also normalized by concrete compressive strength (f ck ), which is defined as impact index, to calculate the environmental impact per unit strength of 1 MPa. The most common compressive strength of concrete used in the country is estimated to be 24 MPa and 27 MPa. For f ct of 24 MPa, the lowest environmental impact indicator is observed in Ulsan, whereas the highest region is Gwangju and Daegu. This difference according to domestic region is primarily resulted from by the replacement of different supplementary cementitious materials. Furthermore, the impact index of concrete with f ck of 24 MPa is higher by approximately 5% at wintertime than at summertime and standard season. The impact index gradually decreases with the increase of f ck up to 35 MPa, beyond which it remains constant.


Metabolism of p-cresol (pCr) under nitrate-reducing conditions is mediated by the denitrifying bacterial isolate PC-07. The methyl substituent of the substrate is oxidized anaerobically by whole-cell suspensions of PC-07 through a series of dehydrogenation and hydration reactions to yield p-hydroxybenzoate (pOHB) in stoichiometric proportions. The partially oxidized intermediates in the pathway p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde can also serve as substrates for pOHB formation. Nitrate is required as the external electron acceptor and is reduced to molecular N2. Reduction of the nitrate is stoichiometric, with pCr serving as the electron donor. In addition, the molar relationship between the electron acceptor (NO3-) reduced to the electron donor oxidized decreased to approximately 2:3 and then to 1:3 when p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol or p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, respectively, served as substrates. The decreased ratios were to be expected when the partially oxidized intermediates served as substrates, because they provided correspondingly less reducing power for pOHB formation. The anaerobic oxidation of pCr by PC-07 demonstrates a mechanism whereby aromatic compounds can be transformed in anoxic environments.


To achieve multi-Gb/s data rates in 6G optical wireless access networks based on narrow infrared (IR) laser beams, a high-speed receiver with two key specifications is needed: a sufficiently large aperture to collect the required optical power and a wide field of view (FOV) to avoid strict alignment issues. This paper puts forward the systematic design and optimisation of multi-tier non-imaging angle diversity receivers (ADRs) composed of compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) coupled with photodiode (PD) arrays for laser-based optical wireless communication (OWC) links. Design tradeoffs include the gain-FOV tradeoff for each receiver element and the area-bandwidth tradeoff for each PD array. The rate maximisation is formulated as a non-convex optimisation problem under the constraints on the minimum required FOV and the overall ADR dimensions to find optimum configuration of the receiver bandwidth and FOV, and a low-complexity optimal solution is proposed. The ADR performance is studied using computer simulations and insightful design guidelines are provided through various numerical examples. An efficient technique is also proposed to reduce the ADR dimensions based on CPC length truncation. It is shown that a compact ADR with a height of $\leq0.5$ cm and an effective area of $\leq0.5$ cm$^2$ reaches a data rate of $12$ Gb/s with a half-angle FOV of $30^\circ$ over a $3$ m link distance.


Study Design. We present the case study of a 31-year-old lady who had a spontaneous cervical spinal epidural hematoma in the postpartum period and who presented with sudden onset of neck pain and lower limb weakness for which an emergency decompressive laminectomy was performed with neurological recovery. Objective. To report on the spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma in the postpartum period, which is a rare complication during pregnancy and requires early recognition and expedient intervention to prevent permanent neurological sequelae. Summary of Background Data. This complication has been described only once previously in the postpartum period. The recovery of the patient described here highlights the importance of early recognition and surgical intervention. Methods. A case report of a spontaneous cervical spinal epidural haematoma in the postpartum period is presented and the pertinent literature is then reviewed. Results. The patient had neurological recovery at 1-year follow-up, although she required clean intermittent self-catheterization once daily for bladder dysfunction. Conclusion. Early recognition and intervention for our patient allowed for neurological recovery with a spontaneous cervical spinal epidural hematoma in the postpartum period.


Abstract Objective We sought to identify the general health of college students. Participants A total of 4402 university freshmen and sophomores were recruited to report their general health through an online questionnaire. Methods Responses from the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire were analyzed. We then conducted latent class analyses to evaluate 54 different symptoms among participants. Results A four class solution was identified, consisting of a group of asymptomatic students (35.65%), a second group of students reporting mild fatigue and sleep symptoms (38.87%), a third group reporting moderate sleep and fatigue symptoms (20.36%), and a group reporting moderate and severe complaints on the majority of symptoms (5.11%). Female students had 2.07 times the relative risk of the severe symptom class of men. Indigenous students have 2.88 times the relative risk of occupying the severe symptom class than non-indigenous students. Conclusions The results suggest that about 5% of college students have varied symptoms of a moderate to severe degree. Future research is needed to better assess whether there are biological associations with these self-report findings, as well as to determine longer-term implications of these symptoms.


In this paper, we develop a new approach to tomographic reconstruction problems based on geometric curve evolution techniques. We use a low order parametric model to describe the shape and texture of the object support as well as the background. This model uses a set of texture coefficients to represent the object and background inhomogeneities and a contour to represent the boundary of multiple connected or unconnected objects. The problem of determining the unknown contour and texture coefficients of the object and background medium is then formulated as a non-linear estimation problem. By designing a new, "tomographic flow", the resulting problem is recast into a curve evolution problem and an efficient algorithm based on level set techniques is developed. The performance of the curve evolution method is demonstrated using examples with noisy Radon transformed data and noisy ground penetrating radar data. The reconstruction results and computational cost are compared with those of conventional regularization methods. The results indicate that our curve evolution methods achieve improved shape reconstruction with reduced computation requirements.


The removal of three perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs)—PFHpA, PFOA, and PFNA—in ultrapure and river water was evaluated using two anion-exchange resins—previously unreported macroporous polystyrenic A-500P and a more widely studied macroporous polyacrylic A-860. Both resins had similar properties, allowing direct comparison of PFCA removal performance between the two resin structures/matrices. This study also presents a new gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method developed for PFCA analysis in water. In ultrapure water, A-500P exhibited higher removal capacity and faster removal compared to A-860, suggesting greater effectiveness of the polystyrenic structure compared to the polyacrylic structure. In the Grand River water, the target PFCAs were well removed by A-500P but not A-860. However, both resins achieved similarly high overall reductions of dissolved organic carbon (∼75%), suggesting, later confirmed in ultrapure water experiments, that inorganic anions (sulfate particularly) were the dominant competitors for the A-860 resin. The uncharged styrenic and acrylic beads (base materials) of the two tested resins were unable to remove PFOA, implying that the dominant removal mechanism involves charge interactions between the negatively charged PFCA and the positively charged anion-exchange functional groups.


Abstract Recent advances in semiconductor materials and fabrication techniques have allowed the development of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with wavelengths extending down into the UV-C region (λ < 280 nm). A new ozone photometer has been developed utilizing these novel light sources. The application of solid-state technology to the proven dual-beam UV absorption technique has improved instrument performance while reducing power consumption and weight compared to existing instrumentation. The newly developed instrument is expected to have an accuracy of 1% at surface level pressure, a resolution better than 1 ppb, and measurement rates up to 1 Hz over the range of ozone mixing ratios encountered from the earth's surface to the middle stratosphere. Size, weight, and power consumption have also been significantly reduced, with a mass of 3 kg and a power consumption of less than 5 W. Initial development is focused on an instrument suitable for measurements from autonomous platforms and in harsh environments;...


The power line communication is used for transferring data over low voltage power line, where electrical power is transmitted over high voltage transmission line distributed over medium voltage & used inside the building at lower voltages. This technology can be extensively used in centralized electric meter reading, remote monitoring of electrical equipment, building automation and security control, stage lighting and street lighting control applications, information displays To overcome the electromagnetic strong polluted channel a direct sequence spread spectrum concept s used with its inherent processing gain.To achieve a simple design to adapt the spectrum to the channel by chip-shaping and use sub optimum detection scheme to avoid synchronization loops.


This paper presents a fully integrated 60 GHz two stage power amplifier for wireless applications using common source topology and power combining. The PA is implemented in a 90 nm low power CMOS technology. The output power of the amplifier has been improved with the help of Wilkinson power combining technique. Also the Wilkinson power combiner has been utilized as a part of input and output matching networks to match the 16 Ω at the terminals of the power amplifier to 50 Ω at the output of the Wilkinson network. At 60 GHz the power amplifier achieves 11 dBm saturation output power, 9 dBm output power at 1dB gain compression point and more than 8 dB small signal gain with a peak power added efficiency of 6%. The broadband performance of the gain has been achieved utilizing the cascaded structures. The matching networks are based on high quality factor shielded coplanar transmission lines and fixed 300 fF MIM-capacitors. The detailed design procedure and the achieved measurement results are presented in this work.


The impact factor (IF) assessment of a four-span non-prismatic continuous and an equivalent integral railway bridge under the action of high-speed moving train loads is conducted in this study. Critical analysis of the full-scale three-dimensional finite element (FE) bridge models is done to investigate the differences in the IFs of all the spans of the two-track railway bridge under various loading conditions. A simplified approach is proposed to identify the dynamic IF values. The results show that for a continuous bridge, with the increase in the load on the bridge, IF coefficients reduce from 0.195 to 0.102. However, for the integral bridge, and considered loading conditions, almost similar IF coefficients (0.100) are obtained. For the intermediate spans, the resonance phenomenon for the integral bridge is achieved at lower speeds compared to the equivalent continuous bridge.


This paper focuses on the development of techniques for modeling the competitive advantage of companies within the hotel industry in a region. The authors make the case that their proposed techniques for modeling the competitive advantage of companies within the hotel industry in a region can help to cumulatively evaluate and give a well-substantiated quantitative and qualitative assessment of the sector's competitiveness factoring in a set of specific indicators. This kind of algorithm for constructing a model for competitive advantage could help assess in real time the quality of services provided within the hospitality sphere and conduct comparative analyses across the nation's regions.


Mathematics is limitless in its dual capacity for abstraction and incarnation. To a large degree, many of the modern revolutions in technology and information rest on piers of mathematics that assist, inform, or otherwise catalyze progress. It appears that those branches of mathematics which are most easily understood and communicated are precisely those which find greatest applicability in the modern world. To conclude from this that deeper or more difficult fields are inherently less applicable would be premature. Consider for example the utility of algebraic topology. Long cloistered behind formal and categorical walls, this branch of mathematics has been the source of little in the way of concrete applications, as compares with its more analytic or combinatorial cousins. In this author's opinion, this is not due to a fundamental lack of applicability so much as to (1) the lack of a motivating exposition of the tools for practitioners; and (2) an historical lack of emphasis on computational features of the theory. These two issues are coupled. Advanceswhich demonstrate the utility of a topological theory spur the need for good computation. Good algorithms for computing topological data spur the search for further applications. Algebraic topology is the mathematics that arises in the attempt to describe the global features of a space via local data. That such tools have utility in applied problems concerning large data sets is not difficult to argue. To give a sense of what is possible, we sketch three recent examples of specific applications of homological tools. This list is neither inclusive nor ranked: these examples were chosen for concreteness, simplicity, and timeliness. This brief and woefully incomplete sketch is meant


Abstract| The EU-funded project VSAMUEL aims todevelop a versatile system for advanced neuronal record-ings with multisite microelectrodes. Within this project weare developing a data acquisition system for high channelcounts. The system will be able to acquire and processdata on 128 channels at a sampling rate of at least 32 kHz.We are utilizing multiple DSP boards to perform that task.Other project parts include development of multisite mi-croelectrodes and respective pre- and main ampli er stages.Besides data acquisition the DSP boards are used to per-form online analysis of the data, e.g. spike detection andspectrogram computation. Other project parts include de-velopment of multisite microelectrodes and respective pre-and main ampli er stages.Keywords| Digital Signal Processors, Multichannel DataAcquisition I. IntroductionThe principal goal of the project VSAMUEL sponsoredby the European Commission is to provide a versatile dataacquisition system to the neuroscience community which isable to acquire simultaneous recordings from hundreds ofcells in the nervous system. The project includes the devel-opment of silicon based microelectrodes, ampli er stages,and data acquisition software and hardware, where the lat-ter part is where we turn our attention in this paper. Thedata acquisition hardware is based on o -the-shelf DSP-boards in combination with a personal computer runningunder Windows NT. The software provides basic function-ality like acquiring data on 32 channels, and streaming thisraw data to disk. Furthermore, online visualization of ahigh channel count, and spectrogram of single channels isimplemented.II. Microelectrodes and AmplifierThe next two sections give a short description of themicroelectrodes and the ampli er stages.A. MircoelectrodesA key issue in understanding the nervous system is tomake simultaneous observations of the activity of a largenumber of cells. Therefore, it is desired to have a largenumber of recording sites inserted in the neural tissue,while the insertion causes as smallest possible tissue dam-age. The design and construction of the microelectrodes isdone by ACREO AB (Sweden) with respect to these con-straints.The microelectrodes are of fork shaped silicon with shaftsof width 25 m having a pointed end. The recording sites(Ir, 10 m 10 m) are arranged in a two dimensional


Both the Rio 1992 and Rio+20 Declarations stress that human beings are at the center of concern for sustainable development. People matter as carriers of rights and needs, as the ones who help meet these needs, and as the agents of change toward sustainability. But not all individuals have the same capabilities for doing so. They differ by age, gender, level of education, health status, and other characteristics that matter. Hence the conventional analysis and projection of populations by only age and sex are not good enough. We must also explicitly model other relevant characteristics. As an important first step in this direction, IIASA's World Population Program has over the last decade applied the methods of multi-dimensional mathematical demography (which were developed at IIASA during the 1970s) to reconstructing and projecting the changing population distributions by age, gender, and level of highest educational attainment for all countries in the world for the period 1970-2100. The reconstructed data have already been used for new assessments of the benefits of education for outcomes ranging from economic growth to health, and from quality of governance to reducing vulnerability to natural disasters. The first use of the projections, based on the input of over 600 international experts, is as the foundation for the "human core" of the new SSPs (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways), for which IIASA is supplying the population scenarios. In my remarks I will present early results of this major effort to produce the most comprehensive and most broadly expert-based population and human capital projections so far available for all countries. A few selected new and surprising insights will be highlighted.


Since it emerged as a challenger to the PLO during the Palestinian Intifada, Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) has been associated in the public mind with terror and violence. Now two Israeli experts show that, contrary to its image, Hamas is essentially a social and political movement, providing extensive community services and responding constantly to political realities through bargaining and power brokering. The authors lift the veil on Hamas's strategic decision-making methods at each of the crucial crossroads it has confronted: the Intifada and the struggle with the PLO, the Oslo accords and the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority, and the dilemmas surrounding the choice between absolute Jihad against Israel versus the option of controlled violence.


SUMMARY

We propose a seismic scanning tunnelling macroscope (SSTM) that can detect subwavelength scatterers in the near-field of either the source or the receivers. Analytic formulas for the time reverse mirror (TRM) profile associated with a single scatterer model show that the spatial resolution limit to be, unlike the Abbe limit of λ/2, independent of wavelength and linearly proportional to the source-scatterer separation as long as the scatterer is in the near-field region. This means that, as the scatterer approaches the source, imaging of the scatterer with super-resolution can be achieved. Acoustic and elastic simulations support this concept, and a seismic experiment in an Arizona tunnel shows a TRM profile with super-resolution adjacent to the fault location. The SSTM is analogous to the optical scanning tunnelling microscopes having subwavelength resolution. Scaled to seismic frequencies, it is theoretically possible to extract 100 Hz information from 20 Hz data by the imaging of near-field seismic energy.


As one of the marine resources, macroalgae presumably contains of free amino acid such as taurine. Taurine is known to be one of the most important amino acid related to hyperosmotic stress for most of living organisms. The study was conducted to explore the taurine contain from the most abundance macroalgae found in Indonesia seawater, especially in Lampung Province, namely Halimeda opuntia L., Sargassum sp. and Eucheuma cottonii L. Maceration followed by ethanol extraction was applied to those three different macroalgae and the filtrate was identified for its taurine content by using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Standard of pure taurine of 0,1 and 1 M (NOW) was used and the maximum wavelength of under the UV-Vis spectrophotometry was 630 nm. Simple correlation from the standard taurine was y = 0.001x+0.033 and used to determine the taurine content of those three macroalgae. The result indicated that potential taurine content of Halimeda opuntia L was 7.85 mg/100g dry mass, Sargassum sp was 1.21 mg/100g dry mass and Eucheuma cottonii L was 4.61 mg/100g dry mass.


This report reviews U.S. funding for programs directed toward women in Afghanistan and Iraq. Women in these two countries have faced particularly difficult conditions under the Taliban and Baathist regimes. Although there have been notable improvements since the ouster of these regimes in 2001 and 2003, respectively, women still face real challenges in the areas of education, health care, political participation, and, in many cases, basic human rights. The national and international response to the plight of Afghan and Iraqi women may have an important impact not only on the women being directly assisted, but also on their countries as a whole, in terms of more widespread access to education, health care, and political and economic participation. This report will be updated as events warrant.


Recent policy for the intracardiac repair of complete atrioventricular septal defect (CAVSD) is demonstrated on the basis of the following theoretical background. In the normal heart, the originating portion of the ascending aorta and the crux intrude between the mitral and tricuspid orifices each from the anterior and from the posterior, separating both the orifices together with a short fibrous septal junction. In CAVSD, however, the common A-V orifice takes an elliptic form without any septal junction. It is considered beneficial, therefore, to surgically produce a short septal junction by using a smaller patch to close the ventricular portion of the AVSD. When the left lateral leaflet is larger, two leaflets valve plasty is suggested and when it is smaller, three leaflets valve plasty is suggested to reconstruct the left-sided A-V valve, although competence of the valve leaflets must be finally secured by doing repeated water injection tests. The size of the orifices of the reconstructed left-sided as well as right-sided A-V valve should also be confirmed not to be stenotic by using Hegar sizers. Since 1991, we have applied this surgical concept in 7 patients with CAVSD. Postoperatively, there was no left A-V valve regurgitation in one and slight regurgitation remained in 6 patients. The result is considered to be satisfactory. Although one patient died due to PH crisis, the cause of death was not related to valve regurgitation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Introduction: Dementia poses a number of impairments in cognitive functioning impacting everyday operational tasks and functions. Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) may experience dementia earlier and at a greater rate than the general population. Dementia can pose complex challenges for individuals with ID and their caregivers. Aim: A qualitative phenomenological study was used to examine the lived experiences of caregivers of individuals diagnosed with both ID and dementia. Method: Individual interviews were conducted among six participants, who were all family caregivers of individuals diagnosed with both ID and dementia. Results: Based on the results from the content analysis of interview responses, four themes emerged: (a) difficulty getting a dementia diagnosis, (b) barriers to obtaining services, (c) caregiving realities and challenges, and (d) rewards of caregiving. Implications for Practice: To support caregivers, practitioners should be adequately trained on this dual diagnosis to assess the support needs in helping caregivers obtain adequate services. Conclusion: As individuals with ID continue to live longer and age, many will experience dementia. Caregivers of individuals with ID and dementia are often an overlooked, vulnerable population. Practitioners should be aware of their needs in order to provide adequate support to this caregiving population and individuals with ID and dementia.


Prevention of dementia is a crucial issue in this aged society. We propose coimagination method for prevention of dementia through supporting interactive communication with images. Coimagination method aims to activate three cognitive functions: episode memory, division of attention, and planning function, which decline at mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants of the coimagination program bring images according to the theme and communicate with them. The objective of the program is to make participants to focus on present and future rather than past, which is major difference between coimagination and reminiscence. We measure frequency of comments by others for each participant in order to evaluate interactivity of conversation. They take memory task whether they remember the owner or theme of images after the series of sessions. We held coimagination program successfully at the welfare institution for elderly people in Kashiwa city, Japan. Each session was held one hour per week for five times. The result of the task indicates that the participants showed empathy with each other. The effectiveness of the proposed method was validated through the experiment.


The objective of the study was to investigate familial aggregation of primary congenital hydrocephalus in an unselected, nationwide population. Based on the Danish Central Person Register, we identified all children born in Denmark between 1978 and 2008 and their family members (up to third-degree relatives). Information on primary congenital hydrocephalus was obtained from the National Patient Discharge Register. Using binomial log-linear regression, we estimated recurrence risk ratios of congenital hydrocephalus. An alternative log-linear regression model was applied to quantify the genetic effect and the maternal effect. Of 1 928 683 live-born children, 2194 had a diagnosis of idiopathic congenital hydrocephalus (1.1/1000). Of those, 75 (3.4%) had at least one other family member with primary congenital hydrocephalus. Significantly increased recurrence risk ratios of primary congenital hydrocephalus were observed for same-sex twins, first- and second-degree relatives as follows: 34.8 (95% confidence interval: 16.4-74.0), 6.2 (95% confidence interval 4.3-8.9) and 2.2 (95% confidence interval 1.6-3.1), respectively. Recurrence risk ratio for third-degree relatives was 1.5 (95% confidence interval 0.8-2.7). A maternal component was supported by the facts that recurrence risk ratios for opposite-sex twins (37.3, 95% confidence interval 11.9-116.7) were significantly higher than other first-degree relatives and that recurrence risk ratios for maternal half-siblings (8.4, 95% confidence interval 3.7-18.7) were significantly higher than for paternal half-siblings (3.0, 95% confidence interval 0.8-12.2). This population-based study found strong evidence of familial aggregation of primary congenital hydrocephalus, which supports the existence of a genetic component to the aetiology. In addition, the pattern of association suggests that a strong maternal component contributes to the familial aggregation.