Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma have become the most prevalent respiratory diseases in industrialized parts of the world (1-3). The aetiology and pathophysiology are, to some extent, well described for COPD (46) . At, present, the possibilities of preventing the development of asthma, or curing asthma, are limited and it is necessary, to a great extent, to rely on pharmacological treatments (7). Patients suffering from asthma show a spontaneous variability in the degree of airway obstruction, which can be documented by serial lung function measurements. This variability may be indicative of an increased susceptibility of the patient to environmental stimuli that cause acute narrowing. Variable airways obstruction can be mimicked in the laboratory by challenge tests with different bronchoconstrictive stimuli, in order to measure the degree of the airway responsiveness to a particular agent. Airway hyper-responsiveness describes the phenomenon of the leftward shift, and an increase in slope, respectively, of the dose-response curve obtained during a challenge test, Thereby, it refers to an exaggerated response to the bronchoconstrictor, producing a reaction in most subjects, if a sufficient dosage is given, as demonstrated with histamine and methacholine. Concerning allergens, airway response is induced only in those individuals who primarily have a specific I@-mediated sensitivity to the substance, although other immunological reactions may be involved in the response. The airway response to allergens is complex. After the stimulus, an episode of airflow obstruction occurs, predominantly airway smooth muscle contraction. This is the early asthmatic response (EAR). Later, an episode of airway obstruction caused by both airway smooth muscle contraction and d a m mation may occur the late asthmatic response (LAR). Since the bronchoconstrictive response varies from one stimulus to another, the challenging agent should always be specified. Inhalation challenge procedures are currently used in research studies as well as in clinical practice. Both circumstances need careful description of specific measurement conditions: 1. The laboratory protocol, such as selection of subjects, technical and medical precautions, the choice of and delivery-systems of bronchoconstrictor. 2. The measurement, analysis and interpretation of data, including the measurement of airway response and expression of results. 3. Calculation and expression of the reproducibility of the challenge. It has now become evident that challenge tests with each of the various bronchoconstrictor stimuli require distinct laboratory protocols, analysis and interpretation of data, and estimation of the reproducibility of the test, with each stimulus being separately addressed. Attention should also be paid to the interpretation of the results in a clinical setting compared with research studies. In recent years, these issues have been dealt with intensively, measuring the airway responsiveness to histamine and methacholine. National and international consensus on these matters has to some degree been achieved for challenges with pharmacological agents, but for allergens there remain many issues to be dealt with, as listed below. Bronchial allergen challenge may have the following indications: Clarification of the role of specific allergens in asthma, especially when other diagnostic criteria are inadequate. It should be recognized, however, that a false positive reaction is possible; that is, allergic patients may have bronchoreactivity to allergens that are clinically unrelated to their asthma. Conversely, allergen challenge may be useful to clarify the non-relevance of cutaneous or serum tests when the history is equivocal. Provocation with allergens has clinical relevance, such as the contingency of intervention by immunotherapy, specific avoidance or an occupational context. Definition of the natural history of allergen sensitivity. Evaluation of new or unrecognized allergens or provocative agents. In research, investigation of the pathophysiology of asthma, and studying new pharmacological agents. Many different methods of inducing broncho-


Tryptophan
intake at breakfast has been known to be effective on promoting better mental
health and morning-typed life through serotonin and melatonin synthesis. For
Japanese children, milk seems to be important resource for taking tryptophan at
breakfast because of limited meal time in the morning. This study tries to show
the effects of milk intake at breakfast on circadian typology and mental health
of Japanese infants aged 1 - 6 years. An integrated questionnaire was
administrated to 1100 infants aged 1 - 6 years attending nursery schools or
kindergarten in June 2012. Seven hundred and forty participants (67.3%, 360
females and 380 males, mean age: 3.5 ± 1.4) answered the questionnaire. The
questionnaire included questions on sleep habits, the diurnal type scale by
Torsvall and ?kerstedt (1980), questions on mental health (anger and
depression), and meals contents and time. Infants who took milk at breakfast
showed 21.2 (±3.4, n = 537) of the diurnal type scale scores on average which
tended to be higher (more morning-typed) than 20.7 (±3.5, n = 142) (p = 0.085) shown by those who did not
take milk. Infants who took carbohydrate (or carbohydrate and protein resource)
plus milk at breakfast were significantly morning-typed than those who took
only carbohydrate (or carbohydrate and protein resource) (p p = 0.098). Taking milk at breakfast might be effective to promote
serotonin synthesis in the morning which could improve mental health directly
and become "inner" zeitgeber for circadian clocks in infants.


Abstract. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) is a powerful tool for biological investigations. Nevertheless, the imaging resolution performance results in the combination of the magnetic field (B0) and the antenna efficiency. This latter one results in a compromise between the size of the sample, the location of the region of interest and the homogeneity requirement. In the context of spinal cord imaging on mice, a ribbon solenoid coil is used to enhance the efficiency of the MRI experiment. This paper details the calculation of the local magnetization contribution to the induced voltage of MRI coils. The modeling is illustrated on ribbon solenoid antennas used in emitter–receiver mode for the study. The analytical model, which takes into account the emitting mode, the receiving step and the imaging sequence, is compared to the measurement performed on a 9.4 T VARIAN MRI apparatus. The efficiency of the antenna, in terms of signal to noise ratio, is significantly enhanced with respect to a commercial quadrature volumic antenna, given a significant advantage for the study of spinal cord injuries.


A court in the central German town Kassel has sentenced three men to jail for fraud because in 2000-1 they sold and administered a food supplement, which they claimed was a cure for cancer, to more than 150 terminally ill cancer patients. All the patients subsequently died. The verdict was given this week after a 16 month trial.

A doctor, a businessman, and a journalist had persuaded dying people that a Russian food supplement, Galavit, was able to stop their cancer. Patients had to pay about €8500 (£6800; $13 500) for the treatment course, which …


The aim of this paper is to examine the impact to auditor independence if the mandate to appoint auditor to regulatory body and exist auditor rotation scheme. This study sampled Malaysian auditors, loan officers and senior managers of public listed companies, and questionnaire and interview surveys were used to seek the respondent's perceptions. The majority of the respondents indicated that allocation of audit clients by a regulatory authority would threaten auditor independence. On the other hand, it is found that the majority of the loan officers and senior managers of public listed companies indicated that rotation of audit firms for a specified period of time would safeguard auditor independence, while the majority of auditors disagreed with both of these respondent groups and indicated that such an initiative would threaten independence. However, the respondents in all groups agreed that rotation of audit partners would safeguard auditor independence. This might suggest that the type of rotation is not the main concern to the loan officers and senior managers of public listed companies. The significant shift in auditors' perceptions, from rejecting the rotation of audit firms to accepting the rotation of audit partners indicates their preference of the rotation of audit partners scheme.


This article contains the proceedings of a symposium at the 2006 ISBRA meeting in Sydney Australia, organized and cochaired by Martin J. Ronis and Thomas M. Badger. The presentations were (1) Effect of long-term ethanol consumption on liver injury and repair, by Jack R. Wands; (2) Alcohol-induced insulin resistance in liver: potential roles in regulation of ADH expression, ethanol clearance, and alcoholic liver disease, by Thomas M. Badger; (3) Chronic gestational exposure to ethanol causes brain insulin and insulin-like growth factor resistance, by Suzanne M de la Monte; (4) Disruption of IGF-1 signaling in muscle: a mechanism underlying alcoholic myopathy, by Charles H. Lang; (5) The role of reduced plasma estradiol and impaired estrogen signaling in alcohol-induced bone loss, by Martin J. Ronis; and (6) Short-term influence of alcohol on appetite-regulating hormones in man, by Jan Calissendorff.


The liquid state undercoolability and crystal growth kinetics of ternary Ni-5%Cu-5%Sn and Ni-10%Cu-10%Sn alloys are investigated by the glass fluxing method. In these two alloys, experimental maximum undercoolings of 304K (0.18TL) and 286 K (0.17TL) are achieved and the dendritic growth velocities attain 39.8 and 25.1 m/s, respectively. The transition of morphology from coarse dendrite into equiaxed structure occurs and the grain size of the α (Ni) phase decreases remarkably when the undercooling increases. Both the lattice constant and microhardness increase obviously with the enhancement of undercooling. The enrichment of Cu and Sn solute contents reduces the dendritic growth velocity, while enhances the lattice constant and microhardness of α (Ni) phase.


An inducer is employed in a modern rocket feed system because it allows a turbopump system to operate at a high speed with low inlet pressures so as to minimize the weight and the size of the system. Cavitation performance can be improved by installing an inducer to the pump, enabling to increase the operational speed of the pump. The main purpose of an inducer is to increase the static pressure prior to an impeller to enable the impeller to operate satisfactorily under cavitation environments. In the present study the effects of axial distance between the inducer and the impeller on the performance of the pump were studied using both experimental and computational methods. Two inducers with different axial length were used for the experiments and the pump performances were measured. The experimental results show that the suction performance decreases as the axial gap between the inducer and impeller is increased.


We have studied the stomatal response in relation to the xylem-derived abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in sunflower leaves. When ABA was introduced into detached leaves of the sunflower through xylem flux, stomatal conductance was regulated, water flux was changed as a result and at the same time the xylem-derived ABA was metabolised in the leaves. We computed the xylem-derived ABA accumulation in the leaves as a function of time by taking into account the variation of ABA flux into the leaves (the product of water flux and ABA concentration) and a continuing ABA metabolism. We found that ABA accumulation was rapid during an initial lag phase, much slowed down during the decreasing phase of stomatal conductance, but still substantial when stomatal conductance reached a new stable state. The results show a poor link between the kinetics of ABA-induced stomatal closure and the xylem-derived ABA accumulation. Xylem-derived ABA was metabolised rapidly in the leaves. Tetcyclacis, as an inhibitor, substantially inhibited this process. Two hours after ABA was fed into a leaf, about 70% of the fed ABA was metabolised, but when tetcyclacis was added into the feeding solution, less than 30% of ABA was metabolised, even after 24 h of incubation. The inhibition of ABA metabolism by tetcyclacis did not lead to more stomatal closure, which was still concentration-dependent. Since the accumulation of xylem-derived ABA was enhanced substantially by the presence of tetcyclacis, these results strongly indicate that stomata mainly respond to the prevailing ABA concentration in the xylem stream, rather than to the accumulated amount of xylem-derived ABA in the leaves.


The Hygrobates fluviatilis-complex includes the following ten species:H. fluviatilis (Ström, 1768), H.arenarius Smit Pešić, 2017, H.corsicus Pešić Smit, 2017, H. marezaensis Pešić Dabert, 2017,H. turcicus Pešić, Esen Dabert, 2017, H. persicus Pešić Asadi, 2017, H. grabowskii Pešić, Saboori, Zawal Dabert, 2019,H. ulii Pešić, Saboori, Zawal Dabert, 2019, H. balcanicus Pešić, 2020 and H. mediterraneus Pešić, 2020 (Pešić et al. 2017, 2019, 2020, respectively).This paper gives the description of one further new species of the genus, based on material collected by the author in running waters of the European part of Russia. The material was sampled with a hand net with 250 μm mesh side. Specimens were not fixed in Koenike liquid, but slides were made from fresh material. Idiosomal setae are named according to Tuzovskij (1987). The following abbreviations are used: H-height, L-length; ml-medial length, n-number of specimens measured; P-1-5, pedipalp segments (trochanter, femur, genu, tibia and tarsus); W-width; I-IV-Leg-16, first leg, segments 16 (trochanter, basifemur, telofemur, genu, tibia and tarsus) i.e. III-Leg-3 = genu of third leg.All measurements are given in micrometers(μm), length of appendage segments is given as dorsal length. The type material is deposited in the collection of the Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters (Borok, Russia).


Orbital apex syndrome is rare, but can occur as a consequence of trauma from fracture of the medial orbit. This case report highlights the fact that a high index of suspicion is needed when a patient presents with a facial injury, especially in children who cannot give an account of the actual events that transpired. Radiological investigation should be done early when an underlying injury is suspected in a trauma patient. A low threshold for computed tomography should be maintained when proptosis and vision loss are present.


Thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements have been performed on undoped stretched poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV). Two TSC peaks P1 and P2 are observed and become smaller as the stretching ratio was gradually increased. The trap depths are evaluated from the initial increasing part of each separated peak by the thermal cleaning method to be about 0.36 eV and 0.55 eV for peaks P1 and P2, respectively, regardless of the stretching ratio. However, the second peak P2 is markedly suppressed on stretching. Peak P1 is interpreted as originating from electron traps formed by impurities such as a bromine (Br2) or sulphur trioxide (SO3) which were not eliminated by heat treatment. In contrast peak P2 was confirmed to be based on defects already existing in the amorphous parts of PPV since the crystallinity in PPV increases and the spin density evaluated by integration of the electron spin resonance spectra in stretched PPV decreases on increasing the stretching ratio.


Using a multi-channel SQUID-based neuromagnetometer, we have determined the location, temporal dynamics and functional response properties of the human homologue of the primate cortical area V5 (MT). We provide evidence that area V5 in humans is located near the occipito-temporal border in a minor sulcus immediately below the superior temporal sulcus. This area is selective for low spatial frequencies ( ≤4.0 c/deg), responds to a wide range of temporal frequencies ( ≤ 35 Hz) and shows response saturation for stimulus contrasts greater than 10%. In addition, we find that this area is not responsive to purely chromatic patterns but is responsive to motion-contrast stimuli. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that area V5 in humans represents a stage of processing within the magnocellular pathway. We discuss our results in relation to the widespread belief that area V5 in humans is specifically concerned with motion perception.


Within unfolded dynamics approach, we represent actions and conserved charges as elements of cohomology of the L∞ algebra underlying the unfolded formulation of a given dynamical system. The unfolded off-shell constraints for symmetric fields of all spins in Minkowski space are shown to have the form of zero curvature and covariant constancy conditions for 1-forms and 0-forms taking values in an appropriate star product algebra. Unfolded formulation of Yang–Mills and Einstein equations is presented in a closed form.


Background Sodium chloride (NaCl) reabsorption in the cortical thick ascending limb (cTAL) is regulated by opposing effects. Nitric oxide (NO) inhibits NaCl reabsorption while 8-iso-prostaglandin-F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) stimulates it. Their interaction has not been evaluated in the cTAL. Because 8-iso-PGF2α has considerable stability while NO is a free radical with a short half-life, we hypothesized that, in the cTAL, the inhibition of NaCl absorption will be reversed by 8-iso-PGF2α. Methods Chloride absorption (JCl) was measured in isolated perfused cTALs and whether the activation of protein kinase A (PKA) is required for this interaction. Since cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a major messenger for the 8-iso-PGF2α signaling cascade, and NO inhibits JCl by decreasing cAMP bioavailability, we measured 8-iso-PGF2α–stimulated cAMP in the presence of sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Results The NO donor, SNP (10–6 M), decreased JCl by 41%, while luminal 8-iso-PGF2α (100 μM) increased JCl to 315 ± 46 pmol/min/mm (p < 0.003), reversing the effects of the NO donor. SNP inhibited JCl, 8-iso-PGF2α failed to increase JCl in the presence of H89. Basal cAMP was 56 ± 13 fmol/min/mm, in the presence of SNP 57 ± 6 fmol/min/mm, and 8-iso-PGF2α increased it to 92 ± 2 fmol/min/mm (p < 0.04). Conclusion We concluded that 1) NO-induced inhibition of JCl in the cTAL can be reversed by 8-iso-PGF2α, 2) 8-iso-PGF2α and NO interaction requires PKA to control JCl, and 3) in the presence of NO, 8-iso-PGF2α continues to stimulate JCl because NO cannot reverse 8-iso-PGF2α-stimulated cAMP level.


The current emphasis on the development of gas turbine related power plants such as combined and steam injected is on increasing the plant efficiency and specific work while minimizing the cost of power production per kW and emission. The present work deals with the thermodynamic analysis of intercooled (both surface and evaporative) gas/steam combined and steam injected cycle power plants. The intercooling has a beneficial effect on both plant efficiency and specific work if the optimum intercooling pressure is chosen between 3 and 4. The evaporative intercooler is superior to surface type with reference to plant efficiency and specific work.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


We present a game-theoretic approach that addresses the trade dispute between Boeing and Airbus. We consider the US and EU governments' simultaneous decision to provide launch aid. Our analysis demonstrates that launch aid has a positive effect on economic welfare by promoting innovation and spillovers, but has a negative effect on welfare due to competition-distortion. All of these factors affect each governments' incentives to provide launch aid. For example, if the competition-effect is sufficiently high, only one government may provide subsidized finance. Overall, a level of launch aid is preferable to none, but whether welfare is maximized by both governments, or only one government, providing launch aid, depends on the relative spillover and competition effects.


Background Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a progressive acute form of paralysis most probably secondary to an immune-mediated process. GBS among Saudis has been seldom investigated, which leaves both clinicians and researchers with scarcity in knowledge. Therefore, this study aims to assess the prevalence and clinical prognosis of GBS among pediatrics admitted with acute paralysis at a large healthcare facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods This retrospective study reviewed patients' medical records between 2005 and 2015. Eligible cases were children (<14 years old) admitted to the hospital complaining of acute paralysis and later diagnosed with one form or variant of GBS. Pearson's chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and binary logistic regression were employed to analyze the collected data. Results The prevalence of GBS was 49%. The male-to-female ratio was 1.45:1. The mean ± standard deviation age was 7±3.7 years. There were 34 (69.4%) cases with progression to maximum paralysis in ≤2 weeks, while 15 (30.6%) cases occurred beyond 2 weeks. Males (n=24, 82.8%) were more likely to endure progression to maximum paralysis in ≤2 weeks after the disease onset, compared to females (n=10, 50%), P=0.014. All cases complaining of respiratory problems exhibited a progression to maximum paralysis in ≤2 weeks, compared to those with no respiratory problems, P=0.027. Residual paralysis at 60 days post disease onset was highly associated with GBS patients of age 8–14 years (n=15, 65.2%), compared to younger patients (n=8, 30.8%), P=0.016. Patients admitted in colder seasons (n=14, 63.6%) were more likely to suffer residual paralysis too, compared to those in warmer seasons (n=9, 33.3%), P=0.035. GBS cases who complained of facial weakness (n=9, 75%) and ocular abnormalities (n=10, 71.4%) were also more likely to endure residual paralysis at 60 days post disease onset, P=0.025 and P=0.03, respectively. Conclusion Male gender could be a determinant of rapid progression to maximum paralysis, while the older age group in pediatrics is expected to endure residual paralysis at 60 days post disease onset. GBS can be accounted as a rare disease, especially in pediatrics, so confirmed cases should be investigated comprehensively for research purposes.


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The defect-diffusion model has been used to explicate dielectric relaxation and other relaxation phenomena observed in some dielectric materials. In the model it was assumed that the defects move through the system by random-walk in one-dimension and the relaxation, which is instantaneous and independent of the state of other dipole sites, can only occur when a defect diffuses to a dipole. In this study, the defect-diffusion model is reconsidered by using the fractional calculus technique, and the model is extended to one- and three-dimensional fractional defect-diffusion model. A dipole correlation function derived from the fractional approach is identical with the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) non- exponential relaxation function, which is universal for describing the relaxation data of a wide variety of polar materials. Then, a new fractional complex susceptibility obtained from the defect diffusion model assisted fractional calculus is exposed, and it is shown that the results are compatible with empirical Cole-Cole and the Cole-Davidson type behavior, and Havriliak-Negami behavior is also obtained under the certain limits. The results obtained lead to a molecular interpretation of non-Debye type behavior. This suggests possible microscopic mechanisms for relaxation in polar materials having molecular chains.


BACKGROUND
Data targeting trends in legal and illegal substance use by adolescents are scarce. Using the data from two similar large national surveys run in 1993 and 2002, this paper assesses secular trends in rates of substance use among 16-20-year-old Swiss adolescents.

METHODS
Self-reported regular use of tobacco, alcohol misuse, regular cannabis use (01 occasion over last 30 days) and lifetime use of psychoactive medication, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and heroine were assessed through identical questions using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. 9268 (1993) and 7428 (2002) high school students and apprentices were included in the analyses.

RESULTS
There is a higher proportion of regular smokers among apprentices than among students (p <0.001). Between 1993 and 2002 the increase in regular tobacco consumption was significant among both female and male apprentices (p <0.001) but not among students. Between 1993 and 2002 alcohol misuse significantly increased in all four groups (p <0.001). It is more prevalent among males than among females (p <0.001) and higher among apprentices than among students (p <0.001). Regular use of cannabis has increased in the four groups (p <0.0001). It is higher among males than among females (p <0.001), while it is largely the same among students and apprentices. While the increase in ecstasy use is highly significant in all four groups (p <0.001), the increase in LSD and cocaine use is significant among apprentices only (p <0.001). Use of LSD, ecstasy and cocaine is more prevalent among males than among females (<0.001) and higher among apprentices than among students (p <0.001).

CONCLUSION
The secular increase in psychoactive substance use among older Swiss adolescents calls for the implementation of effective strategies both from individual and public health viewpoints.


Background: For patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to provide meaningful information to support clinical care, we need to understand the magnitude of change that matters to patients. The aim of this study was to estimate minimal clinically important changes (MCICs) for the 12-item Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS-12) and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS-12) among people undergoing joint replacement for osteoarthritis. Methods: Individual-level data from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry's pilot PROMs program were used for this analysis. Preoperative and 6-month postoperative HOOS-12 and KOOS-12 domain and summary impact scores plus a rating of patient-perceived change after surgery (on a 5-point scale ranging from "much worse" to "much better") were available. Three anchor-based approaches—mean change, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) based on Youden's J statistic, and predictive modeling using a binary logistic regression model—were used to calculate MCICs based on patient-perceived change. Results: Data were available for 1,490 patients treated with total hip replacement (THR) (mean age, 66 years; 54% female) and 1,931 patients treated with total knee replacement (TKR) (mean age, 66 years; 55% female). Using the mean change method, the MCIC ranged from 24.0 to 27.5 points for the HOOS-12 and 17.5 to 21.8 points for the KOOS-12. The ROC analyses generated comparable MCIC values (28.1 for HOOS-12 and a range of 15.6 to 21.9 for KOOS-12) with high sensitivity and specificity. Lower estimates were derived from predictive modeling following adjustment for the proportion of improved patients (range, 15.7 to 19.2 for HOOS-12 and 14.2 to 16.5 for KOOS-12). Conclusions: We report MCIC values for the HOOS-12 and KOOS-12 instruments that we derived using 3 different methods. As estimates obtained using predictive modeling can be adjusted for the proportion of improved patients, these may be the most clinically applicable. These MCIC values can be used to interpret important changes in pain, function, and quality of life from the patient's perspective. Levels of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


The beam-on time for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is increased significantly compared with conventional radiotherapy treatments. Further, the presence of beam modulation devices may potentially affect neutron production. Therefore, neutron measurements were performed for 15 MV photon beams on a Varian Clinac accelerator to determine the impact of IMRT on neutron dose equivalent to the patient.


Cylindrically symmetric cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE) fibers templated by tubular confinement are reported, displaying mechanochromic, thermochromic, and thermomechanical responses. The synthesis inside a sacrificial tube secures radial orientation of the cholesteric helix, and the ground state retroreflection wavelength is easily tuned throughout the visible spectrum or into the near‐infrared by varying the concentration of a chiral dopant. The fibers display continuous, repeatable, and quantitatively predictable mechanochromic response, reaching a blue shift of more than −220 nm for 180% elongation. The cylindrical symmetry renders the response identical in all directions perpendicular to the fiber axis, making them exceptionally useful for monitoring complex strains, as demonstrated in revealing local strain during tying of different knots. The CLCE reflection color can be revealed with high contrast against any background by taking advantage of the circularly polarized reflection. Upon heating, the fibers respond—fully reversibly—with red shift and radial expansion/axial contraction. However, there is no transition to an isotropic state, confirming a largely forgotten theoretical prediction by de Gennes. These fibers and the easy way of making them may open new windows for large‐scale application in advanced wearable technology and beyond.


Abstract Long-term overgrazing has significantly changed plant species composition in rangeland ecosystems, and this change may alter ecosystem functioning remarkably. In this study, decomposition rates and nutrient dynamics of pure litter (leaf, stem, or root litter) and 11 litter mixtures (from two to five litter components), including nine aboveground litter mixtures and two root litter mixtures, of five common plant species in degraded semiarid rangelands of northern China were studied for 1 yr. We found that fine root litters generally decomposed faster and had faster nutrient turnover rates than leaf and stem litters. The decomposition rates of leaves and stems were significantly and positively correlated with initial litter nitrogen (P < 0.01) and phosphorus contents (P < 0.05), and the decomposition rates of fine roots were significantly and negatively correlated with initial litter carbon:nitrogen ratios (P < 0.05). Nonadditive effects were found in six out of the nine aboveground litter mixtures (three positive and three negative). There were only additive effects on decay rates and nutrient fluxes in the two root litter mixtures. The occurrence and direction of nonadditive effects were dependent on the properties of component litters and had no obvious correlations with litter diversity. Negative mixing effects on nutrient immobilization can facilitate the release of some important nutrients during litter decomposition processes, and further help to accelerate nutrient cycling in such semiarid rangeland ecosystems. Our results indicate that change of plant species composition by overgrazing may slow down the mass loss rates, but may not necessarily impact the release of some nutrients.


Nurses encounter patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection at various stages of their infection and in a variety of settings. This article focuses on the most common hematologic disorders associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which can precipitate complications and frequently accompany hospitalization. It is important for nurses to have a solid foundation as to the cause of these disorders, their impact on quality of life and outcomes, and management strategies.


Control arthroscopy in usually done 6-12 months after reconstruction of the ACL with ligamentum patellae transplant augmented with LAD using Marshall's technique. During these control arthroscopies the metal implants are removed and a biopsy of the synovial lining was performed in 38 cases. We normally anchor both ends of the LAD to obtain better stability and these anchors are removed after 6-12 months (release of the fixation points). Up to now control arthroscopy has been performed on 97 patients, who had their ACL reinserted and 114 patients, whose ACL were replaced by ligamentum patellae transplant, in both cases augmented with LAD. The control arthroscopy revealed 11 cases of tears of the LAD in case ACL were reinserted and 24 cases of LAD tears in case LAD were replaced by ligamentum patellae transplant. The findings of 38 biopsies of the synovial lining are as follows: In 18 cases LAD tears, in 15 cases foreign body reactions with wear particles and an instance of lymphocytic infiltration of the synovia was seen. In 20 cases arthroscopy was inconspicuous: In 2 cases wear particles were seen and lymphocytic infiltration in a single case. In all cases of LAD tears with foreign body reactions the LAD was removed.


Most of the existing noise analysis techniques in analog integrated circuits apply to only single noise source, and cannot take into account the evolving reality of multiple noise sources interacting with each other. Again the individual and relative impacts of various noise sources will determine what types of remedial steps can be taken. This paper proposes the concept of analyzing the impacts of multiple concurrent noise sources in a circuit network, and applies blind source separation technique (BSS) technique to analyze the characteristics of this compound noise effect in analog integrated circuits. The proposed algorithm extracts the time characteristics of individual noise sources from observed noise at a circuit node. The estimated noise sources can aid in timing and spectral analysis and yield better design techniques.


Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a genetically determined disorder and has an autosomal dominant pattern of transmission, with incomplete penetrance and variable expression. These alterations may predispose to the development of reentrant arrhythmias, and therefore cause ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Patients may be asymptomatic, but they are prone to develop ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation and sudden death. Many events that occur during general anesthesia, such as drugs, temperature changes, and heart rate variations, may precipitate lethal arrhythmias in these patients. Thus, an individual anesthetic plan, taking into consideration the drugs that may induce arrhythmias, must be arranged before the surgery. Furthermore, it is essential to provide an exhaustive monitoring during the entire perioperative period. We describe a case of general anesthesia in a patient with Brugada syndrome who was diagnosed with right colon neoplasia and programmed for scheduled right hemicolectomy by laparotomy.


Intratumoral accumulation of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells occurs in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but little is known about the role of tumor cells themselves in this process. Here, we showed that an immune checkpoint PD-L1 expressed by AML cells promoted the conversion and expansion of Treg cells sustaining high expression of Foxp3 and PD-1 as well as a suppressive function. Furthermore, an AML cell line HEL overexpressed PD-L1 promoted the conversion and expansion of Treg cells and CD4+PD-1+Foxp3+ T (PD-1+Treg) cells from the conventional CD4+ T cells. CD4+CD25highPD-1+ T cells secreted more IL-10 production than CD4+CD25highPD-1− T cells. IL-35, another cytokine secreted by Treg cells, promoted the proliferation of HL-60 cells and enhanced chemoresistance to cytarabine. Blockade of PD-1 signaling using anti-PD-L1 antibody dramatically impaired the generation of Treg cells and sharply retarded the progression of a murine AML model injected with C1498 cells. The frequency of intratumoral PD-1+ Treg cells was capable of predicting patient survival in patients with AML. In conclusion, our data suggest that PD-L1 expression by AML cells may directly drive Treg cell expansion as a mechanism of immune evasion and the frequency of PD-1+ Treg cells is a potential prognostic predictor in patients with AML.


Flow in the oxidizer manifold of a liquid rocket combustor has been analysed using an open source CFD toolbox, OpenFOAM. The applicability of OpenFOAM to the problems with complex geometries involving porous media zones for simulating the pressure drop induced by the injectors has been evaluated by performing turbulent, incompressible steady-state flow analysis. The usefulness and applicable area of the OpenFOAM as a design evaluation and analysis tool will be confirmed and enlarged by further evaluation with various computational cases representing major physical phenomena in rocketcombustion devices.


The Huntington's chorea mutation consists of expansion of trinucleotide CAG repeats in the recently discovered gene IT-15. In this work, for the first time in a population of Russian patients, correlations between the number of copies of CAG repeats and various clinical characteristics of the disease are investigated. It is established that the degree of triplet expansion determines the age of onset of the disease and the rate of progression of the neurological and mental symptoms of Huntington's chorea, and it is also shown that the genetic instability of the mutant allele is considerably higher upon transmission of the disease gene along the paternal line. We obtained direct confirmation of the possibility of genetic instability of a normal allele inherited paternally. In this work, the first successful direct (including preclinical) DNA diagnosis in Russia of Huntington's chorea was obtained.


Parasites exhibit the combinations of biochemical, physiological and nutritional unique adaptations and display a range of mechanisms to evade the immune system. The book possesses the most important places of lectures on parasitology. Particular attention is given to environmentally sustainable development, control and prevention of epizootic situation of parasitic diseases of humans and animals in East Africa.This manual can be read students passed entomology and zoology courses. Author express hopefulness this manual will be the useful to students qualifying in biotechnology and bioinformatics as well as to specialists involving in a broad spectrum activity like sustainable development, wild life management and conservation policy.


An H2O2-generating fraction was prepared from porcine thyroid homogenate by differential and Percoll-density gradient centrifugations. The fraction consisted of mainly fragmented plasma membranes as judged by marker enzyme analysis and electron microscopy. The fraction produced H2O2 by reaction with NADPH only in the presence of Ca2+. The Ca2+ concentration for half-maximal activation (KCa) was about 0.1 microM and the Hill coefficient was 2. Sr2+ also activated the reaction whereas Mn2+, Zn2+, and Cd2+ inhibited it. The reaction was enhanced about twice by addition of ATP but not ADP, and inhibited by addition of hexokinase together with glucose to remove ATP. The Km value for NADPH was 35 microM and was less than 1/12 that for NADH. The NADPH oxidation rate was measured and the KCa and the Km were similar to those for the H2O2 production. The stoichiometry between the oxidation and the H2O2 formation was essentially 1. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and KCN did not affect H2O2 production. The fraction catalyzed NADPH-cytochrome c reduction but the activity was SOD-insensitive. These results suggest that H2O2 was not generated through superoxide anion formation. NADPH-dichloroindophenol (DCIP) reductase activity was also observed and DCIP inhibited the production of H2O2. The cytochrome c and DCIP reductase activities were not influenced by Ca2+ or ATP. A unique electron transport system regulated by Ca2+ and ATP exists in the thyroid plasma membrane that produces H2O2. The concentrations of Ca2+ and ATP in thyroid cells may regulate hormone synthesis through activation of the production of H2O2, a substrate for peroxidase.


This paper develops a control system for a drum-boiler unit, which employs a three element cascade control (water level, steam flow, feed-water) versus a single element control for the water level loop, in order to attenuate the non-minimum phase shrink-and-swell effect. The overall control structure includes a heat flux control loop for throttle pressure stabilization. Gain scheduling technique is added to improve system responses at various operating points. The process is built around the Åström-Bell non-linear complex drum-boiler model fitted for a real 16 MW thermal power plant. The model is extended with actuators, super-heater and turbine dynamics. The implementation is carried out in Labview, employing a graphical user interface (GUI) for friendly man machine interaction with selection of manual/automatic mode. The simulation results are focused on manual/automatic control operation with satisfactory response behaviors.


In comparison with standard surgical techniques robotic-assisted surgery has the advantages of increased surgical accuracy, reproducibility, optimization of component position, and improved patient outcomes in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and total hip arthoplasty (THA) procedures. The MAKO Tactile Guidance System (TGS; MAKO Surgical Corp, Fort Lauderdale, FL) facilitates robotic-assisted arthroplasty procedures currently implemented in many operating rooms. The benefits of this technology are evident, but have not been shown to improve patient outcomes and justify the added financial burden imposed. Further research is needed to determine if this technological advancement will translate into improvements in longevity and clinical outcomes.


Opinions about the 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates have been expressed in millions of tweets that are challenging to analyze automatically. Crowdsourcing the analysis of political tweets effectively is also difficult, due to large inter-rater disagreements when sarcasm is involved. Each tweet is typically analyzed by a fixed number of workers and majority voting. We here propose a crowdsourcing framework that instead uses a dynamic allocation of the number of workers. We explore two dynamic-allocation methods: (1) The number of workers queried to label a tweet is computed offline based on the predicted difficulty of discerning the sentiment of a particular tweet. (2) The number of crowd workers is determined online, during an iterative crowd sourcing process, based on inter-rater agreements between labels.We applied our approach to 1,000 twitter messages about the four U.S. presidential candidates Clinton, Cruz, Sanders, and Trump, collected during February 2016. We implemented the two proposed methods using decision trees that allocate more crowd efforts to tweets predicted to be sarcastic. We show that our framework outperforms the traditional static allocation scheme. It collects opinion labels from the crowd at a much lower cost while maintaining labeling accuracy.


Abstract Public and school libraries in Brazil have not yet been universalized. Many are in a precarious state, and their functions are often confused. In order to demonstrate that such reality persists, some projects that were submitted to an Official Announcement (call for proposals), called "Construindo uma Minas Leitora" (Building an active reading Minas State), issued by the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, for the establishment of public libraries, were selected and analyzed. Most of the projects evaluated showed that the function, target public, collection, and services offered by public and school libraries are often confused. Based on the literature and basic documents used in the formulation of the concepts of public and school libraries, it was found that the lack of public policies related to these two types of libraries leads to a vicious circle of lack of experience and knowledge in these libraries. Thus, the same precarious and inadequately structured existing models are used. Such situation, which results from the lack of public policies since the birth of the Brazilian nation, have persisted into the 21st century.


Markov network information retrieval model integrates computer¿Atopology and possibility which is a powerful tool for representation and inference of possibility knowledge. This paper mainly introduces background and the general theory of the model. Several information retrieval models based on the Markov network are summed up from different perspective of Markov network space. Finally, the future work on the model is proposed.


Background: Sequencing quality has improved over the last decade for long-reads, allowing for more accurate detection of somatic low-frequency variants. In this study, we used mixtures of mitochondrial samples with different haplogroups (i.e., a specific set of mitochondrial variants) to investigate the applicability of nanopore sequencing for low-frequency single nucleotide variant detection. Methods: We investigated the impact of base-calling, alignment/mapping, quality control steps, and variant calling by comparing the results to a previously derived short-read gold standard generated on the Illumina NextSeq. For nanopore sequencing, six mixtures of four different haplotypes were prepared, allowing us to reliably check for expected variants at the predefined 5%, 2%, and 1% mixture levels. We used two different versions of Guppy for base-calling, two aligners (i.e., Minimap2 and Ngmlr), and three variant callers (i.e., Mutserve2, Freebayes, and Nanopanel2) to compare low-frequency variants. We used F1 score measurements to assess the performance of variant calling. Results: We observed a mean read length of 11 kb and a mean overall read quality of 15. Ngmlr showed not only higher F1 scores but also higher allele frequencies (AF) of false-positive calls across the mixtures (mean F1 score = 0.83; false-positive allele frequencies < 0.17) compared to Minimap2 (mean F1 score = 0.82; false-positive AF < 0.06). Mutserve2 had the highest F1 scores (5% level: F1 score >0.99, 2% level: F1 score >0.54, and 1% level: F1 score >0.70) across all callers and mixture levels. Conclusion: We here present the benchmarking for low-frequency variant calling with nanopore sequencing by identifying current limitations.


Prediction of an imminent catastrophic event in a driven disordered system is of paramount importance-from the laboratory scale controlled fracture experiment to the largest scale of mechanical failure, i.e., earthquakes. It has long been conjectured that the statistical regularities in the energy emission time series mirror the "health" of such driven systems and hence have the potential for forecasting imminent catastrophe. Among other statistical regularities, a measure of how unequal avalanche sizes are is potentially a crucial indicator of imminent failure. The inequalities of avalanche sizes are quantified using inequality indices traditionally used in socioeconomic systems: the Gini index g, the Hirsch index h, and the Kolkata index k. It is shown analytically (for the mean-field case) and numerically (for the non-mean-field case) with models of quasi-brittle materials that the indices show universal behavior near the breaking points in such models and hence could serve as indicators of imminent breakdown of stressed disordered systems.


The protective devices and switches play an important role in the reliability of electrical distribution systems by minimizing the impact of interruption. In this paper, a method for identifying the type and location for protection devices and switches on the prerouted distribution system using value-based optimization is proposed. The proposed method is based on the contingency analysis of various components, e.g., the faults of line sections, switches, protective devices, and the restoration through switching actions such as upstream restoration and downstream restoration. The formulation of the optimization problem in this paper is appropriate for linear integer programming, where each nonlinear term can be translated by only two additional linear constraints. The detailed design of the protection devices and the switches are determined by minimizing the total cost of reliability that comprises apparatus investment, maintenance, and interruption cost. The efficiency and validity of the proposed method are demonstrated in case studies.


We conducted an epidemiological study to examine the associations between sleep environments and sleep habits in Japanese adolescents. The targets were students attending junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. Sample schools were selected by cluster sampling. Self-reported anonymous questionnaires were then sent to the schools for all students to complete. A total of 99 416 adolescents responded, with an overall response rate of 64.0%. A total of 96 861 questionnaires were subjected to analysis. Associations between sleep environments (type of bed, lighting during sleep, sharing a bedroom) and sleep duration, bedtimes, wake-up times, sleep quality, or symptoms of insomnia were examined. In total, 65.5% of the adolescents surveyed slept on a bed, and 33.0% slept on a futon laid on the floor or tatami. In total, 66.6% slept with the light off, 31.0% slept with a dim light on, and 2.0% slept with the light on. Of those surveyed, 69.3% had their own bedrooms, 17.1% shared a bedroom with one other person, 8.0% shared a bedroom with three people, and 5.0% shared a bedroom with four people or more. The factors with high odds ratios with regard to insomnia were use of a futon laid on the floor or tatami, sleeping with the light on, and not sharing a bedroom. Sleep environments are associated with insomnia. Type of bed, lighting, and sharing a bedroom should be considered as factors that affect the sleep of adolescents.


The semi-conducting properties of an organic Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film have been investigated using two configurations of LB film and electrodes. The studied material is the copper tetraoctadecyltetrapyridino [3,4-b : 3´,4´-g : 3´´,4´´-l : 3´´´,4´´´-q] porphyrazinium bromide (CuS18). The scattering of resistance values appears to be dependent on the configuration. Films in the `down' configuration (electrodes under the LB film) present resistance values that are less scattered but higher than the ones of films in the `top' configuration (electrodes over the LB film). The good but less reproducible contact which is observed in the `top' configuration is certainly provided by the penetration of gold atoms inside the organic film. Similarly, a study on the factors which influence the stability of organic/inorganic devices suggests that these factors originate from material structural evolution mainly near the shadow area of the electrodes.


T HE FEASIBILITY of producing dissolution of thrombi by enzymatic means has been demonstrated in experimental thrombi and pulmonary emboli in animals, in experimental venous thrombi in man6 and in patients with acute venous and arterial thromboembolic disease.7 8 Of the enzymes investigated, only the two plasminogen activators, streptokinase and urokinase, have proved acceptable as thrombolytic agents for clinical use.19 Streptokinase is now available in a highly purified form but has the disadvantage of being antigenic to man. Pyrogenicity, formerly a major difficulty with the earlier preparations,19'2#{176} is no longer a serious problem if prophylactic corticosteroids are used. Streptokinase has the advantage of being considerably less expensive than urokinase and is more readily available ; however, urokinase has the advantage of being nonantigenic. The problems associated with the antigenicity of streptokinase are manifest in two ways. The first is due to the fact that streptococcal antibodies cross-react with streptokinase. These antilx)dies, the result of previous streptococcal infections, are present in most patients and must be neutralized before thrombolysis can be produced.21 The streptococcal antibodies combine with, and inactivate streptokinase, and the streptokinase-antibody complex thus formed is then rapidly cleared from the bloodstream.22 The neutralizing dose of streptokinase cannot be predicted with any certainty because the concentration of streptococcal antibodies varies over a wide range from patient to patient.21 For this reason a streptokinase resistance test is usually performed on every patient before commencing treatment. The second problem arising from the antigenicity of streptokinase is that treatment causes a marked increase in the level of streptokinase antibodies, and this precludes further therapy should this be necessary in the next one to six months.21'23 The principles of thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase, and more recently, urokinase, have been established by the important fundamental and clinical investigations of Fletcher, Sherry and Alkjaersig.2125 Streptokinase produces its


Cloned and uncloned lines of encephalitogenic rat T cells produce IL-2 when activated with myelin basic protein (MBP) in the presence of irradiated splenocytes (SPL). Although these T cells use IL-2 as a primary mediator of autocrine growth, regulatory mechanisms controlling production of IL-2 have yet to be fully defined. This study shows that T cells reactivated within approximately 7 days of a prior activation were refractory to the reinduction of MBP-stimulated IL-2 production. In contrast, T cells rested for > 7 days regained the ability to produce optimal levels of IL-2 during activation with MBP. Cultures containing both activated and resting T cells responded to MBP by producing levels of IL-2 that were similar to those obtained from control cultures of resting T cells. The lack of IL-2 production during this refractory phase was associated with lowered responsiveness to MBP in proliferative assays as evidenced by right-shifted dose-response curves. However, this refractory phase did not affect the magnitude of responses elicited by optimal concentrations of MBP. The dissociation of proliferation from IL-2 production suggested parallel pathways of autocrine growth. Indeed, anti-MBP-proliferative responses were mediated by two distinct mechanisms distinguished by differential susceptibility to the anti-CD4 mAb W3/25. The W3/25-sensitive proliferation was desensitized in chronically activated T cells as well as in T cells activated once in the presence of the anti-CD4 mAb W3/25. Conversely, MBP responsiveness of W3/25-insensitive proliferation was unchanged by both chronic activation and by a prior activation in the presence of W3/25. In cultures of T cells recently activated by MBP in the presence of W3/25, the use of nonirradiated SPL rather than irradiated SPL reversed W3/25-mediated tolerance but did not restore MBP-stimulated IL-2 production. In summary, this study reveals mechanisms whereby the engagement of TcR and CD4 negatively regulates subsequent responsiveness of IL-2 production pathways and thereby impairs restimulation of IL-2-dependent proliferation by MBP-specific T-helper cells.


Forecasting a system's behavior is an essential task encountering the complex systems theory. Machine learning offers supervised algorithms, e.g., recurrent neural networks and reservoir computers that predict the behavior of model systems whose states consist of multidimensional time series. In real life, we often have limited information about the behavior of complex systems. The brightest example is the brain neural network described by the electroencephalogram. Forecasting the behavior of these systems is a more challenging task but provides a potential for real-life application. Here, we trained reservoir computer to predict the macroscopic signal produced by the network of phase oscillators. The Lyapunov analysis revealed the chaotic nature of the signal and reservoir computer failed to forecast it. Augmenting the feature space using Takkens' theorem improved the quality of forecasting. RC achieved the best prediction score when the number of signals coincided with the embedding dimension estimated via the nearest false neighbors method. We found that short-time prediction required a large number of features, while long-time prediction utilizes a limited number of features. These results refer to the bias-variance trade-off, an important concept in machine learning.


The finite element-boundary integral method, incorporating the multilevel fast multipole method to reduce the storage cost of the boundary integral matrix, is applied to the analysis of two microstrip filter circuits illuminated by a plane wave. Simulated results indicate that significant voltages are induced across the output ports close to the filters' resonances. The study is further extended to a microstrip low-noise amplifier circuit. It is shown that, at certain field strengths, the plane wave illuminating the microstrip amplifier circuit can introduce considerable gain deviation and nonlinearity to its operation.


Complex traffic environments can affect driver stress and driving performance negatively. Driving through tunnels can be particularly stressful, and these segments have been associated with higher crash rates. However, the constraints of the natural environment (e.g., mountains, waterways) often restrict the flexibility to make major modifications in tunnels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate stress as drivers traversed along an interstate route that included tunnel and nontunnel segments, as well as a 75-m transition period before the tunnels. Data from 50 drivers, including information from electrocardiogram recordings such as heart rate and standard deviation of interbeat intervals (SDNN), were collected. Driving performance measures included vehicle speed and braking. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were used to identify increases in drivers' stress during several road segments: the transition to a tunnel entrance, within a tunnel, and open road segments. The largest variations in performance measures were observed in tunnels, followed by the periods in transition segments. Evaluation of continuous speed profiles along the route showed that drivers tended to decrease their speed before entering a tunnel and increase speed just before exiting a tunnel. The highest level of stress (denoted by the largest positive change in heart rate and lowest variability in SDNN) was observed along the transition segments, followed by the tunnel segments. Identifying situations in which drivers may experience higher levels of stress and the corresponding impact on driving performance is important for future road and tunnel designs.


This paper examines three bodies of macroscopic evidence that are relevant to testing the classical theory of production. No one of these bodies of evidence offers any persuasive support for the classical theory. Fits to data of the Cobb-Douglas and ACMS functions appear to be artifactual, the data actually reflecting the accounting identity between values of inputs and outputs. Similarly, there is little or no support for the U-shaped long-run cost curve, the data on firm size distributions being better explained by the Gibrat hypothesis and constant costs. Finally, observed distributions of executive salaries are explainable in simple sociological terms, without recourse to classical theory.


The neurophysiological basis for context conditioning is conceptually problematic because neurophysiological descriptions of activity-dependent (associative) forms of neuronal plasticity uniformly assume that a specific temporal relationship between signals is necessary for memory induction. In the present experiments, this problem is addressed empirically by presenting, as a temporally diffuse contextual signal, a stimulus that results in known neural modifications following punctate (temporally contiguous) pairings with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Hermissenda were trained to discriminate between adjoining contexts that were distinguished only in that one was lit and one was dark. Thirty unsignaled rotations were presented during each of three 15-min sessions in one of the two (lit or dark) contexts. Prior to training, animals displayed a slight preference for the lit context. After exposure to unsignaled rotation, animal's preferences shifted strongly to the dark context if unsignaled rotations were presented in the light, and tended (nonsignificantly) to the lit context if unsignaled rotations were presented in the dark. The B photoreceptors of the Hermissenda eye undergo several forms of activity-dependent facilitation (e.g., an increase in neuronal input resistance and evoked spike frequency) following pairings of punctate light (CS) and presynaptic vestibular stimulation (US). Similar facilitation in the B photoreceptor was observed following in vitro training that mimicked context conditioning in which presynaptic vestibular stimulation was presented repetitively during a continuous 7.5-min light. Subsequently, Ca(2+)-imaging experiments were conducted with Fura-2AM. It was determined that intracellular Ca(2+), the CS-induced second messenger critical for the induction of activity-dependent facilitation, was elevated in the B photoreceptor throughout the 7.5-min light presentation. These results indicate that activity-dependent facilitation within similar neural structures can underlie learning about both temporally diffuse contextual stimuli and temporally punctate CS-US pairings. These results suggest that a common mechanism may underlie learning about diffuse contextual stimuli as well as punctate-conditioned stimuli, provided that the stimuli are processed similarly in each type of conditioning arrangement. Consequently, the expression of different responses to contextual and discrete stimuli are likely to reflect a higher property of the neural network, and do not necessarily arise from unique underlying mechanisms.


This paper introduces the High Temperature Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (HTS-FCL) as a novel technology for mitigating the high fault currents and enhancing the security of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) power system. The transient model of ADWEA power system is developed using the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation program. The transient model is validated in steady state and short circuit analysis with the PSS/E model of ADWEA power system. The proposed model is used to facilitate performing the electromagnetic transient studies for installing the HTS-FCL. The detailed time domain model of the HTS-FCL considering its major components, operation control algorithm, sequence of events and fault detection techniques are developed. The implementation of the HTS-FCLs in the 132-kV network of ADWEA power system is studied. Furthermore, the short-circuit currents levels to utilize all potential system equipments and remove the limitations on the available generation are analyzed. The reduction of the fault currents are evaluated at the buses of suspected high fault currents with installing the HTS-FCL to demonstrate its effectiveness for improving the system performance, reliability and security.


We read with great interest the narrative review of Amoyel et al describing endoscopic management of non-ampullary duodenal tumors (NADTs) [1]. As suggested by the authors, the recently published European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines indicate that endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is an effective resection technique only in expert hands [2]. Indeed, the present review described high perforation and emergency surgery rates for this technique. However, it is important to consider that the higher perforation rate may have mainly been due to intraoperative complications and the endoscopic treatment was successful for closing the defect in most patients. In addition, the authors did not consider one of the largest European series published in 2018 [3], which showed that ESD can be an alternative to endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for selected NADTs, such as large duodenal tumors, for which EMR achieves low en-bloc resection rates and the rates of local recurrence may be higher. Similarly, a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Endoscopy International Open in 2018 by our group, which included 14 studies, concluded that ESD may achieve higher rates of en bloc and complete resection compared to duodenal EMR, without statistically significant differences in delayed perforation rates for the two techniques [4]. Finally, the rate of complications associated with duodenal ESD has been gradually decreasing and appropriate treatment should be chosen according to lesion characteristics and local experience [5]. Thus, the conclusion of the authors stating that "ESD has a limited contribution in management of duodenal adenomas" seems, from our perspective, very risky. This conclusion did not consider previous meta-analysis on this topic and is mainly based on non-pooled data about the intraoperative perforation rate, which probably has a low impact on clinically relevant outcomes, such as emergency surgery.


Despite the important properties of unit norm tight frames (UNTFs) and equiangular tight frames (ETFs), their construction has been proven extremely difficult. The few known techniques produce only a small number of such frames while imposing certain restrictions on frame dimensions. Motivated by the application of incoherent tight frames in compressed sensing (CS), we propose a methodology to construct incoherent UNTFs. When frame redundancy is not very high, the achieved maximal column correlation becomes close to the lowest possible bound. The proposed methodology may construct frames of any dimensions. The obtained frames are employed in CS to produce optimized projection matrices. Experimental results show that the proposed optimization technique improves CS signal recovery, increasing the reconstruction accuracy. Considering that the UNTFs and ETFs are important in sparse representations, channel coding, and communications, we expect that the proposed construction will be useful in other applications, besides the CS.


The least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) is a frequently used kernel method for non-linear regression and classification tasks. Here we discuss several approximation algorithms for the LS-SVM classifier. The proposed methods are based on randomized block kernel matrices, and we show that they provide good accuracy and reliable scaling for multi-class classification problems with relatively large data sets. Also, we present several numerical experiments that illustrate the practical applicability of the proposed methods.


BACKGROUND
The Medicare Benefits Schedule item 717 was introduced in November 2006 for health checks among Australians aged 45-49 years. This study examines current data on Medicare item 717 in order to identify trends in general practitioner and patient participation.

METHODS
Medicare data and division population and GP data was collected quarterly from November 2006 to September 2007. The number of claims and number of GPs claiming one or more item 717 health check were analysed at the division level. Associations based on location, socioeconomic status and ethnicity were sought.

RESULTS
The health check was claimed for 7.7% of the estimated population aged 45-49 years, with no significant difference by gender. These positively correlated with GP participation rates. Patient participation was higher in divisions with a higher proportion of recent migrants from non-English speaking countries. General practitioner participation increased with rurality, with the exclusion of remote areas. No significant associations were found with socioeconomic status or education.

DISCUSSION
There has been rapid uptake of the health check item by GPs in divisions with lower ratios of GPs to population, with no evidence of a socioeconomic or gender bias.


The chronic aggressive hepatitis, type II b, is attended by an elevation of the plasma and blood viscosity values, which corresponds to the degree of the mesenchymal and parenchymatous inflammation. This elevation is mainly due to a pathological increase of those immunglobuline fractions which are effective on the viscosity. During the application of a fluocortolon monotherapy, there could be noticed a regression as well as a normalisation of the primarily pathological laboratory parameters, being typical for an aggressive hepatitis. These changes were correlated to a decrease of the blood and plasma viscosity. The improved blood flow property is considered to be caused by the decrease of the IgG-fraction. The significance of an improved blood flow property will be discussed in correlation to the effect of the microcirculation, resulting in a better nutrition of the cell with the necessary nutritive substances, as well as on the regression of the inflammatory parameters hereby provoked. In addition to the possible benefits of the introduced cortison therapy will be considered in this context.


From the 1960s to the mid 1980s, the Italian film industry saw a surge in productions, with a large number of genre films released and exported to overseas distributors. This creative period is exemplified by the career of Mario Bava, a leading director in Italy during that time. However, Bava has suffered from both academic and critical dismissal which has seen his films largely ignored. By analysing three of Bava's films, this discussion hopes to highlight the visual, formal and thematic aesthetics that Mario Bava consistently produced over his career. These films include Blood and Black Lace (Bava, 1964) that analyses the advent of the Giallo and the films importance to the genre, as well as the use of colour saturation and shadow to manipulate the audience. The chapter on Lisa and the Devil (Bava, 1974) discusses the importance of the Bava narrative tool of the trickster, as well as an analysis of the use of colour and genre hybridity. Finally, Danger: Diabolik (Bava, 1968) critiques the social commentary of the period, as well as offers an analysis of the pop art and comic book aesthetic incorporated into the film, and indicates the aesthetic consistencies within Danger: Diabolik compared to the other entries in the Bava oeuvre.


Psoriasis is a common disease with a prevalence of up to 2% in the world population.1 The pathophysiological mechanism of this inflammatory disease has not been determined although it is generally accepted to have a genetic predisposition and be T-cell mediated. The lymphocytes are the target of psoriatic therapeutic strategies. Therapy resolves psoriasis for a time, but induces some severe side effects. Some cases of severe psoriasis, treated with multiple therapeutic regimens for many years, developed leukemia.


In this paper, we use a theoretical model that makes it possible to calculate the error with which the information contained in a light beam with a periodically modulated intensity is obtained when using a multichannel signal analyzer. The model is applied to level crossing spectroscopy, and the errors in determining the crossing point and signal width are compared with those obtained using the n(2)(T) measurement method.


Introduction: While it is well documented that disparities exist across racial groups of diabetes patients relative to glucose control, the underlying causative factors are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in physician orders for adjustments of glucose control medications in diabetes patients between African Americans and Caucasians. Methods: A cohort of 434 African American and 1,471 Caucasian diabetes patients was followed for a period of 18 months from 6/1/2006 through 11/30/2007. All patients were being treated in one of 6 primary care clinics within a large mid-western medical group. First and last A1c values were collected during the study period and an A1c change score was calculated. Patients were also classified as to whether English was their primary language and whether they were on medical assistance at any time during the study period. The presence of a medication adjustment was tracked for metformin, thiazolidinediones, sulfonylureas (initiation or titration) and insulins (initiation only). Medication adjustment data was from the prescribing data in the medical record and thus represents physician actions. Results: There was a significant difference between African Americans and Caucasians on their initial A1c values (8.2% vs 7.3%; P<0.0001). Adjusted for the initial A1c, mean number of visits was similar between the two groups (16.9 vs. 15.8, P=.50). When change in A1c was calculated while controlling for initial A1c African Americans had less than half the decline found in Caucasians (.20% vs .45%; P=0.0009). English as a primary language (P=.81) and medical assistance (P=.81) status were not related to the disparity in change value. Examination of medication adjustment for African Americans relative to Caucasians found that they were less likely to have adjustments of metformin (OR .69; P=.0021) and TZDs (OR .65; P=.0122) but no differences were found for Sulfonylureas (P=.49) or insulins (P=.30). Conclusions: This study suggests that part of the racial disparity in glucose control is related to physician orders for medication intensification. This indicates a need for better understanding of the reasons for medication adjustment disparities and effective interventions to reduce them.


As the volume of mortgage credit has risen in tandem with house price inflation, the sub-prime homeloan sector of this market has begun to expand in order to meet demand from those not serviced by the mainstream financial service providers. This article examines the role of local authorities in providing residential mortgages and assesses whether those who have traditionally borrowed from non-market (or public sector) lenders would be considered to be sub-prime borrowers by the private sector. It concludes that, in view of the relatively low average incomes of this cohort of borrowers, they represent a higher probability of homeloan default and as a consequence, would be subject to a higher cost of credit in the private sector. However, this paper highlights the favourable terms offered by local authorities and argues that their failure to price according to the risk profile of borrowers exposes the Exchequer to higher – and often unquantified – costs in pursuit of promoting home-ownership.


Carnations are one of the most popular ornamental flowers in the world with varied flower colors that have long attracted breeders and consumers alike. The differences in carnation flower color are mainly the result of the accumulation of flavonoid compounds in the petals. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid compound that produce richer colors. The expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes is mainly regulated by MYB and bHLH transcription factors. However, these TFs have not been comprehensively reported in popular carnation cultivars. Herein, 106 MYB and 125 bHLH genes were identified in the carnation genome. Gene structure and protein motif analyses show that members of the same subgroup have similar exon/intron and motif organization. Phylogenetic analysis combining the MYB and bHLH TFs from Arabidopsis thaliana separates the carnation DcaMYBs and DcabHLHs into 20 subgroups each. Gene expression (RNAseq) and phylogenetic analysis shows that DcaMYB13 in subgroup S4 and DcabHLH125 in subgroup IIIf have similar expression patterns to those of DFR, ANS, and GT/AT, which regulate anthocyanin accumulation, in the coloring of carnations, and in red-flowered and white-flowered carnations, DcaMYB13 and DcabHLH125 are likely the key genes responsible for the formation of red petals in carnations. These results lay a foundation for the study of MYB and bHLH TFs in carnations and provide valuable information for the functional verification of these genes in studies of tissue-specific regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis.


Hemodynamic and neurohumoral effects of intravenous captopril were studied in ten patients with severe chronic congestive heart failure (NYHA Functional Class III and IV). Incremental bolus doses of captopril, titrated to a maximum cumulative dose of 15 mg, were given at 10‐minute intervals. Systemic arterial pressure, mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, systemic vascular resistance, mean pulmonary artery pressure, and heart rate decreased (P < .05). Cardiac index and stroke volume index increased (P < .05). Maximum hemodynamic effects occurred after cumulative doses of 7 mg and were seen within 30 minutes after initiation of therapy; responses persisted for 30–90 minutes after the last dose. Plasma renin activity increased, and plasma atrial natriuretic factor concentration decreased. No adverse effects were observed with the use of intravenous captopril. Thus, intravenous captopril produces rapid and favorable hemodynamic improvement in advanced heart failure patients.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single dose of intravitreal diclofenac, a potent nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, on visual acuity and central macular thickness in patients with macular edema of various etiologies. Methods: In this prospective noncomparative case series, 10 eyes of 10 patients with clinically significant diabetic macular edema (n = 5), neovascular age-related macular degeneration (n = 2), pseudophakic cystoid macular edema (n = 1), macular edema secondary to old branch retinal vein occlusion (n = 1), and cystoid macular edema secondary to chronic intermediate uveitis (n = 1) received 500 &mgr;g/0.1 mL of intravitreal diclofenac. The primary outcome measure was change in visual acuity. Results: After 2 weeks, visual acuity improved in 3 (30%) eyes (P = 0.78), did not change in 3 (30%) eyes, and decreased in 3 (30%) eyes. After 4 weeks, improvement of best-corrected visual acuity occurred in 5 (50%) eyes (P = 0.07), but in 3 eyes (30%), best-corrected visual acuity did not change, and in 1 eye (10%), visual acuity decreased. After 8 weeks, visual acuity improved in 7 (70%) eyes (P = 0.019), got worse in 1 eye (10%), and did not change in 2 eyes (20%). Central macular thickness did not decrease significantly at 8 weeks. On the basis of electroretinography, no significant changes in the amplitude of a-wave or b-wave in relation to baseline were noticed in any eye. Conclusion: Up to 8 weeks, intravitreal diclofenac treatment of eyes with macular edema of various etiologies yielded prominent improvement in visual acuity but was not associated with a significant decrease in central macular thickness. No toxic effect of intravitreal diclofenac was observed.


The recent political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa region have exposed growing concerns about conflict risk, political stability, and reform prospects across its societies. Given the prevalence of oil and gas resource endowments in the region, which a voluminous literature suggests can be associated with adverse development consequences, this paper examines the interplay between their associated rents and political economy trajectories. The contribution of the paper is threefold: first, to examine the quantitative evidence of violent conflict in the region since 1960; second, to provide a nuanced review of the regional case study literature on the relationship between resource endowments, political stability, and conflict risk; and third, to assess how prospective political transitions have implications for the World Bank Group's work in the region on public sector management and private sector development. The authors find that resources and regimes have intersected to provide stability and limited violent conflict in the region, but that these development patterns have yielded a set of policy choices and development patterns that are proving increasingly brittle and unsustainable. A major institutional challenge for reforms will be to consolidate a requisite degree of inter-temporal credibility and stability in these regimes, while expanding inclusiveness in state-society relations.


Image processing and computer vision have been active areas of research and used in different applications. Few researchers have attempted the use of image processing techniques in the digital preservation of heritage sites. Heritage sites across the world are important sources of knowledge which introduce us to our cultural history, depicting the evolution of humankind. Digital reconstruction of ruined historic monuments and heritage sites can help in visualizing how these may have existed in the past. Also, such a process requires no physical alteration to the existing monuments. Inpainting is the process of restoring image contents imperceptibly. The contribution of this paper is patch based inpainting technique with standard deviation used as a parameter to find the pixel of highest priority. In the search strategy v vicinity patches in the neighborhood of the destination patch with center pixel of v belonging to the boundary of destination patch is used. The vicinity patches are searched merely by looking at the known and unknown pixels of the destination patch. Experimental results carried on a set of 90 images in comparison with standard techniques show improved performance.


In this issue of theArchives, Sabesin et al1report on the efficacy of famotidine twice-daily (BID) vs nocturnal therapy vs placebo in controlling the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and in healing reflux esophagitis. The authors demonstrate that dosing BID is more effective than the other regimens in relieving daytime heartburn and results in greater symptom relief as manifested by reduced antacid consumption. The authors also conclude that while both doses of famotidine were more effective than placebo in relief of reflux symptoms and healing erosive esophagitis, the BID dose results in better symptom control. The proposed mechanism of this improvement seen with BID dosing was thought to be better 24-hour pH control of esophageal acid exposure time. Although the authors conclude that famotidine is effective in relieving symptoms of GERD and in healing esophagitis, only about half of the patients were symptom free or healed at


The development of direct formate fuel cells encounters important obstacles related to the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and low tolerance to formate ions in Pt-based cathodes. In this study, electrocatalysts formed by earth-abundant elements were synthesized, and their activity and selectivity for the ORR were tested in alkaline electrolyte. The results showed that carbon-encapsulated iron-cobalt alloy nanoparticles and carbon-supported metal nitrides, characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), do not present significant activity for the ORR, showing the same half-wave potential of Vulcan carbon. Contrarily, nitrogen-doped carbon, synthesized using imidazole as the nitrogen source, showed an increase in the half-wave potential, evidencing an influential role of nitrogen in the ORR electrocatalysis. The synthesis with the combination of Vulcan, imidazole, and iron or cobalt precursors resulted in the formation of nitrogen-coordinated iron (or cobalt) moieties, inserted in a carbon matrix, as revealed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Steady-state polarization curves for the ORR evidenced a synergistic effect between Fe and Co when these two metals were included in the synthesis (FeCo-N-C material), showing higher activity and higher limiting current density than the materials prepared only with Fe or Co. The FeCo-N-C material presented not only the highest activity for the ORR (approaching that of the state-of-the-art Pt/C) but also high tolerance to the presence of formate ions in the electrolyte. In addition, measurements with FeCo-N-C in the cathode of an passive air-breathing direct formate fuel cells, (natural diffusion of formate), showed peak power densities of 15.5 and 10.5 mW cm−2 using hydroxide and carbonate-based electrolytes, respectively, and high stability over 120 h of operation.


In many engineering fields, vibration analysis is required for a safe design of mechanical structures. At an early stage, the design process relies on computer models for assessing the performance of the structure. Computational methods, such as the Finite Element Method (FEM), are typically used in order to predict the vibration behaviour of the modelled structure. These methods, however, involve a high computational cost for obtaining the dynamic response of a system model, specially when the analyses are targeted at vibrations in the mid-frequency range. Furthermore, repeated vibration analyses are often required in structural design since the model parameters may be variable, e.g. in model updating from vibration measurements, in model optimisation algorithms, or in vibration analysis of systems subject to uncertainty. Therefore, in applications where repeated analyses need to be conducted intensively, the vibration analyses cost may add up, so that the overall computation time becomes unbearable for the engineering needs. For this reason, there already exist efficient methods for the approximate vibration reanalysis of systems with varying properties. However, these approximate methods most often neglect the energy dissipation mechanisms in the structure, and just address the system dynamics through undamped modal analysis. This produces sufficiently fair approximations for lightly damped structures, but it may not be the case for locally/heavily damped structures. This thesis presents novel approximate vibration analysis methods for heavily damped structures, which are based on the state-space formulation for the modal analysis of generally damped systems. It is shown how, whereas the modal solution of the state-space equations of motion presents some added computational difficulties, linear approximations on state-space models present equivalent computational complexity to those on undamped models, while providing better estimates of the variation in the damped dynamics. In particular, the variations in (state-space) damped modes due to variations in the system model parameters are efficiently estimated through perturbation and interpolation methods. Moreover, a recently defined Rayleigh quotient for damped systems is proposed for improving the accuracy of the linear approximate methods. In order to enhance the efficiency of the approximate reanalyses, it is further proposed to reduce the state-space models through Component Mode Synthesis (CMS). Existing CMS methods based on state-space formulation are investigated for the reduction of large built-up systems which are locally and/or heavily damped. A perturbation propagation scheme on state-space CMS models is then introduced. By simplifying this general scheme for a given CMS method much efficient perturbation methods for damped systems are attained. Finally, these latter methods are used in a numerical case study in application to uncertainty analysis.


Background: Dipeptidylpeptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i′s) are considered to be safe for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, little is known about drug–drug interactions between DPP-4i′s and concurrent medications. Methods: Data on patients using DPP-4i′s for T2DM during 2011–2017 were retrieved from Chang Gung Research database provided by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Patients were excluded if they were aged <30 years or >90 years; had incomplete demographic data; had insulinoma; or had records of concomitant insulin use. A generalized estimating equation–based Poisson model was employed for statistical analysis. The primary outcome was hypoglycemia events. Results: We retrieved data on a total of 97,227 patients using DPP-4i′s. After patients were excluded according to the mentioned criteria, the remaining 77,047 DPP-4i users were studied (mean age 64 ± 12 years, men 54.4%). The most common medications coprescribed with DPP4is over all person-quarters were acetaminophen, simvastatin, fluvastatin, and colchicine (all >20,000 person-quarters). The combinations of a DPP-4i with bumetanide, captopril, colchicine, acetaminophen, cotrimoxazole, and pantoprazole were associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia. Compared with the ratios observed for person-quarters of DPP-4i use alone (reference category), the adjusted prevalence ratios per 100 person-years of hypoglycemia for person-quarters of DPP-4i use in combination with bumetanide, captopril, colchicine, acetaminophen, cotrimoxazole, and pantoprazole were 2.44 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.78–3.36), 2.97 (95% CI, 2.26–3.90), 1.87 (95% CI, 1.44–2.42), 2.83 (95% CI, 2.44–3.29), 2.27 (95% CI, 1.27–4.04), and 3.03 (95% CI, 1.96–4.68), respectively. Conclusion: Among patients taking DPP-4i′s for T2DM, concurrent use of such inhibitors with bumetanide, captopril, acetaminophen, and pantoprazole was associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia compared with the use of DPP-4i′s alone. Physicians prescribing DPP-4i′s should consider the potential risks associated with their concomitant use with other drugs.


Orthopedic surgeons are obtaining Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees at an increasing rate. This study aimed to identify the motivations, trends, and perceived value of the MBA degree for these dual degree surgeons. A total of 157 orthopedic surgeons with both MD and MBA degrees were surveyed with a 19-item questionnaire to identify surgeons' motivations for obtaining an MBA degree and the perceived value of the degree. A total of 66 responses (42%) were received. Most respondents (89.4%) viewed the MBA degree as either extremely valuable or valuable. Prior to obtaining an MBA, 71.9% of dual degree surgeons dedicated time to administrative duties outside of the clinic. This number increased to 98.4% after receiving an MBA (p < 0.001). With the growing number of surgeons pursuing MBA degrees, there is a decrease in the time spent in the clinical role suggesting that either the non-clinical burden is increasing, or surgeons choose to re-allocate their time. Despite the high direct costs of an MBA, a majority of orthopedic surgeons perceived the MBA degree as a valuable investment they would pursue again.


Due to rapid advancement in modern technology, as one of the major concerns is the stability of business. The organizations depend on their systems to provide robust and faster processing of information for their operations. Efficient data centers are key sources to handle these operations. If the organizational system is not fully functional, the performance of organization may be impaired or clogged completely. With the developments of real-time applications into data centers for data communications, there is a need to use an alternative of the standard TCP protocol to provide reliable data transfer. Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) consists of several well built-in characteristics that make it capable to work efficiently with real-time applications. In this paper, we evaluate an optimized version of STCP. The optimized version of SCTP is tested against a non optimized version of STCP and TCP in a data center environment. Simulations of the protocols are carried using NS2 simulator


This paper describes the application of advanced vibration analysis techniques and computational modeling to the design of microelectronics clean rooms. The ASAS (Atkins Stress Analysis System) and ASIST computer models were used to perform dynamic finite element analyses to determine the effects of transmitted structural forces on sensitive photolithographic equipment. The CAFE (Computer Aided Flow Evaluation) computer program was used to recirculate flow problems and evaluate the influences of representative obstructions on laminar air flow. Results of both analyses are presented.


【Objective】The effects of nitrogen fertilization rate on ammonia volatilization(AV) in paddy field were studied to provide references for improving nitrogen application rate in paddy field.【Method】Both of the AV and nitrogen contents in surface water in double-rice cropping paddy field treated with various rates of nitrogen fertilizer were investigated using dynamic chamber method.【Result】The AV loss reached peak on the fifth day in early cropping rice at basal fertilizer stage,and reached the level of the control on the ninth day.AV loss peak value of late cropping rice and topdressing period saw its maximum on the first day of fertilizing.The total amount of AV loss was less at basal fertilizer than that at the panicle initiation stage,while was more in late cropping rice than that in early cropping rice.During the whole rice growing season,AV loss accounted for 12.99% and 21.79% of applied N for early cropping rice and late cropping rice,respectively.Meanwhile,AV loss and accumulative loss increased with the increase of application rate of nitrogen fertilizer in paddy field.However,AV loss rate reduced with the increasing of nitrogen fertilizer application rate.Correlation analysis revealed that the AV loss and nitrogen fertilizer application rate had extremely significant or significant positive linear relationship with the content of water ammonium nitrogen,nitrate nitrogen and soluble total nitrogen.【Conclusion】The increasing amount of AV was mainly dominated by increase N content in water surface using N fertilizer.Therefore,the basic way for reducing AV may depend on the N content reducing in water by changing fertilizer features or applying fertilizer appropriately.


Objectives: This study aimed to survey and report on the international programs for Chinese Medicine in China. Methods: Online research was conducted based on a survey of official websites of 25 universities of Chinese medicine. In certain situations, we used e-mail or phone calls to get more detailed information. Results: Among 25 universities of Chinese medicine, 22 operate international programs for Chinese medicine. The main contents of the programs are acupuncture, moxibustion, tuina, Chinese materia medica, cosmetology or qigong, and an average 400 foreign students finish each program yearly. China has maintained the lead in international education of traditional Oriental medicine, and has already established a systematic and remarkable infrastructure for globalization of Chinese medicine. Conclusions: This study can inform the development of strategy in the process of raising the competitiveness of Korean medicine in the world market.


Morphological and morphometric analyses were conducted on the genus Paratylenchus, based on documented data in the literature and characters of Iranian populations of twelve species, including P. arculatus, P. colinus, P. conicephalus, P. coronatus, P. neoamblycephalus, P. neoprojectus, P. obtusicaudatus, P. paraperaticus, P. similis, P. straeleni, P. variabilis and P. veruculatus. Moreover, males of P. obtusicaudatus are described for the first time and additional data provided for males of P. paraperaticus. The variability of the most important taxonomic characters for species identification in the genus was estimated by calculation of coefficient of variation (CV) for 49 species and the ratio of extremes in the range of measured females (max/min ratios) for 82 species of the genus, based on 66 and 170 populations, respectively. A list of 117 valid species of Paratylenchus is provided, along with a dichotomous identification key and a diagnostic compendium.


Supernova remnants (SNRs) may regulate star formation in galaxies. For example, SNR-driven shocks may form new molecular gas or compress pre-existing clouds and trigger the formation of new stars. To test this scenario, we measure the deuteration of $N_2H^+$, $D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}$, a well-studied tracer of pre-stellar cores, across the Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) G034.77-00.55, known to be experiencing a shock interaction with the SNR W44. We use N$_2$H$^+$ and N$_2$D$^+$ J=1-0 single pointing observations obtained with the 30m antenna at the Instituto de Radioastronomia Millimetrica to infer $D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}$ toward five positions across the cloud, namely a massive core, different regions across the shock front, a dense clump and ambient gas. We find $D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}$ in the range 0.03-0.1, several orders of magnitude larger than the cosmic D/H ratio ($\sim$10$^{-5}$). Across the shock front, $D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}$ is enhanced by more than a factor of 2 ($D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}\sim$0.05-0.07) with respect to the ambient gas ($\leq$0.03) and similar to that measured generally in pre-stellar cores. Indeed, in the massive core and dense clump regions of this IRDC we measure $D_{frac}^{N_2H^+}$}$\sim$0.1. We find enhanced deuteration of $N_2H^+$ across the region of the shock, at a level that is enhanced with respect to regions of unperturbed gas. It is possible that this has been induced by shock compression, which would then be indirect evidence that the shock is triggering conditions for future star formation. However, since unperturbed dense regions also show elevated levels of deuteration, further, higher-resolution studies are needed to better understand the structure and kinematics of the deuterated material in the shock region, e.g., if it still in relatively diffuse form or already organised in a population of low-mass pre-stellar cores.


Vision chips are microelectronic devices which combine image sensing and processing on a single silicon die. In a way somewhat resembling the vertebrate retina these VLSI chips perform preliminary image processing directly on the sensory plane and are capable of very high processing speed at very low power consumption. This makes them particularly suitable for applications such as autonomous robots and other embedded machine vision systems. This paper discusses the principles of using massively parallel fine-grain SIMD processor arrays for low-level image processing and reviews the design and implementation of vision chips developed at the University of Manchester, including the SCAMP-3 chip, which contains 16,384 processors. Application examples and experimental results are presented.