Objective: To directly examine the contribution of vitamin C to the antioxidant potential of fruits and vegetables, the antioxidant effect of orange juice consumption (8 and 16 fl. oz.) was compared to the antioxidant effect of supplemental vitamin C (dosage equivalent to that supplied by 8 fl. oz. of orange juice). Methods: Subjects (n = 11; 28.6 ± 2.1 years) received each treatment in a 3 × 3 randomized crossover design, and each two-week treatment was preceded by a two-week washout. During the entire trial, subjects restricted fruit and vegetable consumption to ≤3 servings per day except the vitamin C-rich foods (items containing >20 mg/serving), which were restricted to ≤3 servings per week. A fasting blood sample was collected at the end of each washout and each treatment period. Results: Following washouts, plasma vitamin C and lipid peroxidation (plasma TBARS) were similar by treatment group and averaged 25.4 ± 3.6 μmol/L and 3.82 ± 0.10 nmol/mL respectively. Plasma vitamin C concentrations were similar following each treatment period, 37.9 ± 8.1, 45.8 ± 9.4, and 38.3 ± 12.4 μmol/L for the 8 and 16 fl. oz. orange juice treatments and the supplement treatment, respectively. All intervention treatments reduced plasma TBARS as compared to pretreatment values: −47% (p = 0.013), −40% (p = 0.083), and −46% (p = 0.015) for the 8 and 16 fl. oz. orange juice treatments and supplement treatment respectively. Conclusions:These data indicate that the regular consumption of 8 fl. oz. orange juice or supplemental vitamin C (∼70 mg/day) effectively reduced a marker of lipid peroxidation in plasma.


This Article presents a view of the civic underpinnings of law by examining how civic interaction or the lack of such interaction facilitates or inhibits sociolegal change. The Article begins with empirical observations * Assistant Professor of Law, Creighton Law School. B.S. Stanford University (1978); J.D. Stanford University (1984); LL. M. Georgetown University Law Center (2006); Law Clerk to Justice Byron R. White, U.S. Supreme Court, OT '85. I am indebted to Arthur Pearlstein, Mark Kelman, Justin Hansford, and Pat Borchers as well as Jerry Anderson and everyone at the November 2009 Brown-Bag Lunch at Drake Law School for their comments on earlier versions of this article. Michael Hooper, Melissa Schilling, and Kari Fisk have provided valuable research assistance. I continue to owe much to Mary Clark, Susan English, Mary Hynes, Lucy Kernan-Schloss, Malka Kopell, Tony Massengale, Linda Meyer, Peg Michels, Melinda Patrician, Cheryl Robinson, Carol Skelly, Gerry Spann, Robin West, and Aneta Wierzynska for their contributions to the ideas in this article as well as to students in my Civic Organizing and Democracy seminars at Georgetown and Creighton. I owe special thanks to the students in my Spring 2009 seminar for their help in developing some of the ideas expressed in Part II. Finally, I very much appreciate the financial support provided by a Creighton Law School summer research fellowship, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Civic Organizing Foundation. 1 To Ramona, on "Another Side of Bob Dylan" (Columbia Records 1964). 2 DOROTHEE E. KOCKS, DREAM A LITTLE: LAND AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN MODERN AMERICA 175 (Univ. of Calif. Press 2000). 2 Harvey Milk, Jane Roe, and James Brady [24-Feb-10 of civic experience and engagement, which ground more general conclusions about the importance of civic relationships and civic networks as well as the way personal stories contribute to the creation of both. The Article then applies these conclusions to three currently contentious and unsettled issues: gay rights, abortion, and guns. As to gay rights, the "coming out" process identified with Harvey Milk has transformed the civic landscape, providing a foundation for shifts in law and social norms. As to abortion, privacy—symbolized by the anonymity of the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade—has suppressed the articulation and sharing of personal stories necessary for civic growth; the result has been law and social norms that remain in limbo. As to guns, James Brady as a spokesman fails to tap into a cultural world view of interconnection and egalitarianism that is increasingly seen as underlying a belief that there is a need for greater gun control. With respect to all of these issues, the Article concludes that civic organizing—the intentional creation of civic relationships and civic networks through personal stories—will facilitate the emergence of stable law and social norms.


Background: HIV-infected patients are at an increased risk for accelerated vascular disease. Abnormal endothelial function and aneurysmal dilation of the large arteries have been described; however, data is lacking on the outcomes of HIV-infected patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair on a national level. Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of hospital discharge data using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample Database from 2001 – 2009. HIV-infected patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair were  included. Results: From 2001 to 2009, we identified 23 HIV-infected patients who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, with a mean age of 56 (±12). Of these, 14 (61%) had open repair, while 9 (39%) had endovascular repair; four of the open repair patients presented with ruptured AAA. There were two postoperative deaths after open repair (9% mortality), 1 death from the ruptured AAA open repair group and 1 death from the non-ruptured open repair group. Three cases in the ruptured open group had sepsis, and one patient had both respiratory and graft complications. In the non-ruptured open group, one patient developed sepsis and cardiac complications. There were no mortalities in the endovascular group, although 1 patient developed sepsis and 2 had cardiopulmonary complications. Conclusions: Perioperative outcomes appear to be similar for HIV positive patients who undergo open and endovascular AAA repair compared to HIV negative patients.

 Keywords: abdominal aortic aneurysm, repair, HIV


This article proposes a novel and robust connectivity-preserving rendezvous control design for a group of uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems with communication constraint where each agent has a limited sensing range. The control design can work under the assumption that the communication network is initially connected and is characterized by two distinguishing features. First, a new potential function is provided not only to maintain the existing and newly added links by the hysteresis rule but also to overcome the difficulty imposed by the nonlinear terms from system dynamics. Second, by constructing a series of lemmas, a connectivity-preserving stabilizing control law is presented to solve the robust stabilization problem with connectivity preservation for a time-varying nonlinear system, which is a special case of the augmented system with both dynamic and static uncertainties obtained via internal model design. After further incorporating the adaptive control technique, regardless of uncertain parameters and external disturbances in the multiple nonlinear subsystems, the leader-following rendezvous with connectivity preservation problem is finally solved by a distributed connectivity-preserving controller with parameter update law.


We study the effect of remote hydrogen plasma on graphene deposited on SiO₂. We observe strong monolayer selectivity for reactions with plasma species, characterized by isotropic hole formation in the basal plane of monolayers and etching from the sheet edges. The areal density of etch pits on monolayers is 2 orders of magnitude higher than on bilayers or thicker sheets. For bilayer or thicker sheets, the etch pit morphology is also quite different: hexagonal etch pits of uniform size, indicating that etching is highly anisotropic and proceeds from pre-existing defects rather than nucleating continuously as on monolayers. The etch rate displays a pronounced dependence on sample temperature for monolayer and multilayer graphene alike: very slow at room temperature, peaking at 400 °C and suppressed entirely at 700 °C. Applying the same hydrogen plasma treatment to graphene deposited on the much smoother substrate mica leads to very similar phenomenology as on the rougher SiO₂, suggesting that a factor other than substrate roughness controls the reactivity of monolayer graphene with hydrogen plasma species.


Cultivated emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccon Schrank, a tetraploid species with hulled grain, has been largely cultivated during seven millennia in the Middle-East, Central and West Asia, and Europe. It has been largely replaced by hulless species and is now a minor crop, with the exception of some countries like India, Ethiopia and Yemen, where its grain is used for preparing traditional foods. Nutritional qualities and specific taste and flavor of emmer wheat products have led to a recent development of the cultivation in some European countries. Emmer wheat also possesses valuable traits of resistance to pests and diseases and tolerance to abiotic stresses and is increasingly used as a reservoir of useful genes in wheat breeding. In the present article, a review concerning taxonomy, diversity and history of cultivation of emmer wheat is reported. Grain characteristics and valuable agronomic traits are described. Some successful examples of emmer wheat utilization for the development of durum or bread wheat cultivars are examined, and the perspectives in using emmer wheat as health food and for the development of new breeding germplasm are


Ill-conditioning is serious problem in SENSE reconstruction, especially when large acceleration factors are employed. For Cartesian SENSE, Tikhonov regularization and total variation have been commonly used. However, the Tikhonov regularized image usually tends to blur edges and total variation regularization has a blocky effect. In this paper, we propose a new SENSE regularization technique that is based on nonlocal total variation with Bregman iteration. It penalizes highly oscillatory noise and allows sharp edges and fine textures in reconstruction. The method is shown to be able to significantly reduce the artifacts in SENSE reconstruction.


Following the profile decomposition of CeO2 X-ray powder data into individual structure factors, the maximum-entropy method (MEM) has been used to obtain an electron-density-distribution map. In the profile decomposition process, it is impossible to avoid the problems of overlapping peaks which have the same magnitude of reciprocal vectors, such as d*(511) and d*(333), for a cubic crystal, or very severely overlapping reflections. The formalism to treat such overlapping reflections in the MEM analysis is to introduce combined structure factors. The maximum value of the scattering vector, 4π(sinθ)/λ, which was used in the present analysis is small (about 7.8 A−1) but the resulting electron-density-distribution map is of a high quality and much superior to the conventional map. As a consequence, the ionic charge of Ce and O ions can be obtained with reasonable accuracy from the MEM density map. Furthermore, the map reveals the existence of electrons around the supposedly vacant site surrounded by eight O atoms, which is probably related to the high ionic conductivity of this substance.


Background: Among men, interest in undergoing aesthetic procedures has grown over the years. In particular, men are increasingly seeking lip procedures. However, there are still very few scientific reports involving lip treatments for men. Objective: The aim of this article is to describe a novel lip-filling technique performed on 23 male patients according to their needs. Methods: The technique described is a lip treatment developed to serve the male audience. In this technique, three possible treatments (booster effect, volumization, and beautification) are performed according to the patient's desire in synergy with the evaluation of the cosmetic professional. Thus, this study involved 23 male patients who wished to improve the labial and/or perilabial region and who had not undergone any previous lip procedures. Results: This study presented a novel approach to male lip fillers according to three main demands and successfully adapted to the sexual dimorphism of the lip region. The booster was the most often applied lip-filling treatment, used in approximately 56.5% of patients. On the other hand, the least often applied treatment was volumization, used in approximately 13% of patients. All patients reported being satisfied with the treatment performed. Only five patients experienced adverse reactions/complications post-treatment, which were ecchymosis and edema, but were resolved. Conclusion: This technique proved to be effective, safe, and personalized, with very satisfactory results, according to most patients. This study also evidenced the need for and importance of developing further studies of lip filling techniques for the male audience.


The development of humanized neural chimeric mouse models consists in grafting human neuronal progenitor cells (NPC) or differentiated neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into the mouse brain at different timepoints. As the main features of cortical networks and their alterations during brain development cannot be reproduced in vitro , these in vivo models have been used to investigate the mechanisms by which reprogrammed human neurons and non-neuronal cells integrate and migrate into the mouse brain at early stages of brain development and display functional activities several months after their grafting. Here, we describe the neonatal grafting technique of human NPC which we use in our laboratory. We also present a new method based on the grafting of human NPC into the brain of mouse embryos, in utero. A third method consists in the stereotaxic grafting of human NPC into selected brain regions of adult mice. The iPSC technology combined with the use of chimeric mouse models offers numerous possibilities to study human neural development within well-controlled and defined temporal windows and to model neuropathological disorders.


The delicacy of socio-political consequences during the recent commodities' prices spikes has given rise to stabilising measures that might have had repercussions on public policy alternatives. This effect may be worrying for developing countries, which because of the importance of the share of imports in their households' basket, have observed a remarkable increase of their food import bills. This paper attempts to evaluate the effect of food price shocks on public expenditure in level and composition on 47 African countries between 1980 and 2011. After solving for endogeneity issues, our results show that food price shocks positively and significantly affect total government expenditure and the share of current government consumption in the total government expenditure. More precisely, an additional one standard deviation of the food price shock increase is associated to an increase of 0.06 standard deviation of the percentage of current government consumption in the total government expenditure. Interestingly, this effect highly depends on the vulnerability level. Future studies will use more disaggregated data of fiscal variables, including those on revenue, to better assess food security policies.


Simple and easy-to-play casual games are flooding the mobile gaming market and are best-sellers on the mobile game charts of several cellphone network operators. Most of the titles are mobile versions of videogames developed in the '80s and '90s, which were also very simple and easy-to-play. In this article we focus on adventure and movie games, a genre simple, easy-to-play, and very popular in the past. We propose a software architecture to easily produce full-motion adventure games for the mobile scenario, and thus potentially transform any modern cellphone into an adventure game console. The games are portable and protected against un-authorized usage. The feasibility of our approach is shown through a prototype player and an evaluation that shows the suitability of the proposed approach for the mobile scenario. The simplicity of our approach along with the ubiquity of modern cell-phones may bring new life to adventure games, which can also become an exciting genre for the current mobile gaming scenario.


Eutrophication is a potential problem in any body of water containing algae. The process of eutrophication causes an increased growth in algae due to the addition of nutrients, both organic and inorganic, which can ultimately lead to a decrease of dissolved oxygen in the water. We are adding both inorganic and organic pollutants to different water samples with varying levels of algae exposure to test our hypothesis that inorganic pollutants in higher algae content cause lower levels of dissolved oxygen. Our experiment was kept neutral because we used waters with both high and low concentrations of algae. From this experiment we found that High Nutrient concentrated water showed a more significant dissolved oxygen content than Low Nutrient water when inorganic and organic pollutants were added.


Agricultural commercialization has become the centerpiece of the sector development strategy in Uganda in recent years. Nevertheless the low market participation of most smallholders in the country remains a fact. We employ semi-parametric regression techniques to analyze the current state of market participation and production diversification and to identify the determinants of commercialization in Uganda. We find that the key constraint to agricultural commercialization in Uganda is inadequate access of farmers to infrastructure and assets, both physical and human. Those with access to assets and closer to markets engage actively in the markets, while those lacking one or more of these essential ingredients largely do not. These findings are in line with the recent literature on smallholder market participation in Africa. We also find that commercialization proceeds in stages. When farmers have appropriate incentives and access to markets, they do not immediately separate production and consumption decisions. Instead they first diversify their production portfolios before subsequently increasing commercial specialization. The result is a U-shaped relationship between commercialization and diversification.


Abstract
This chapter overviews organizational neuroscience (ON), covering the past, present, and future of this growing field of inquiry. First, we define ON and clarify the boundaries of the field. Second, we describe the evolution of ON by starting with early papers that tended to discuss the potential of ON to benefit both research and practice. Throughout its development, debates have abounded about the value of ON. Such debates are often related to challenges in collecting, integrating, interpreting, and using information from the brain-level of analysis. It is time for the field to move beyond these debates to focus on applying neuroscience to further theory development and reveal more comprehensive answers to research questions of importance to both academics and practitioners. Third, we propose and describe future research directions for ON. The research directions that we propose are merely a sample of the many paths along which ON inquiry can move forward. Fourth, we outline potential practical implications of ON, including: training and development, job design, high-performance assessment, motivating communications, and conflict prevention. Finally, we draw conclusions about ON as it stands today, address challenges in developing ON, and point out opportunities. We conclude with takeaways and highlight the importance of ON for both academics and practitioners.


'Dog sledding' is a popular sport in parts of the United States and Canada. It's a challenge for most competitors. However, one racer named Racheal Scdoris faces some special challenges. What challenges does Rachael face? How does she overcome them?


Carcinoma of the duodenum is so rare that the report of another case will not be superfluous. Jefferson (1) found only 43 cases reported in a total of 109,201 autopsies. His account of the subject contains a comprehensive bibliography. Mateer and Hartman (2) have recently reported a series of 6 cases in which they emphasize the symptomatology. It is this phase of the condition that I wish to emphasize in the following report.


Introduction: Diagnosis of MDR-TB in Thailand was delayed because of insufficient investigation. Hain Test was a new easy and rapid technology.Aims: To evaluate accuracy of Hain test compared with conventional culture. To evaluate the judgment of chest physician for starting treatment.Method: Diagnostic and observational study, 100 previous TB treatment and suspected MDR-TB patients who attended Central Chest institute were inclusion between Sep- Dec 2012. They were assessed direct smear test, conventional culture and DST.Physician judgments of MDR-TB treatments were observed. Results: 53 patients of failure, 23 of relapse, 24 of default were inclusion.Periods of time from first diagnosis of TB until suspected MDR-TB were 4-240 months. 65%, 31 %, 4 % samples of Hain test were M.TB positive, negative, and MOTT positive. DST of Hain test showed 46 % were IR resistance,10 %INH and 3%RF resistance alone. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPVof MDR-TB Hain test were 85%,79%,46%,96%.7 had positive MOTT(M. abscessus) in conventional culture and only 1 patients has positive Hain test together.Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV for MOTT diagnosis of Hain test were 14%, 96%, 25%, 92%.The 63 % chest physicians judged to treat following Hain test. There was correlation between judgments of starting MDR-TB treatment and IR resistance Hain test report (p=0.03). No correlation between judgments and pattern of previous TB treatment(p=0.16), and periods of time from first to suspected MDR-TB (p= 0.18) were demonstrated.Conclusion: We recommended using Hain test in diagnosis of MDR-TB in highly suspected case and waiting for conventional culture in MOTT.Most physicians decided to start MDR-TB regimens after receive IR resistance Hain test report.


The applicability of the hydrodynamical model, obtained from the high-frequency expansion of the density-density response function, for calculating the surface plasmon dispersion relation and plasmons of higher polarity is analyzed. Of crucial importance to get any result for the dispersion coefficients is that the unperturbed electron density goes to zero at some point. The coefficients obtained for different diffuse electron profiles can be highly unphysical due to "local" plasmons in the tail of the electron gas. This is also the case for the multipolar surface plasmons. A simple theory which includes damping of the local plasmon is found to give very good agreement for the damping of the surface plasmon when compared to more extensive calculations.


Solid waste from sulfuric acid production may contain relatively high levels of metals such as Fe, Zn, Co, Cu and As that are harmful if inappropriately disposed of in the environment, but may be a valuable resource if metals can be recovered. The objective of this research was to investigate the pilot-scale acid bioleaching of metals from pyritic ashes, originating from the roasting of pyrite ores for sulfuric acid production and consisting mainly of hematite. Bioleaching was carried out at 25 °C in pilot-scale continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTR), with 50 L working volume in mineral salts medium supplemented with trace elements, 1 % (w/v) elemental sulfur and with pyritic ash pulp densities 10 % and 20 %. The reactors were inoculated with a mixed culture of iron- and sulfur-oxidising acidophiles containing Acidithiobacillus (At.) ferrooxidans, At. thiooxidans/albertensis, At. caldus, Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, Sulfobacillus (Sb.) thermosulfidooxidans, Sb. thermotolerans and some members of Alicyclobacillus genus. Metal leaching yields from pyritic ashes in the CSTR after 32 days were 54.6-56.7 % Cu, 41.7-43.2 % Zn, 1.7-1.8 % Co, 3.0-5.4 % As and 0.3-0.5 % Fe. Solution pH decreased during the experiment from 2.9 to 1.9-2.2. Elemental analysis using X-ray fluorescence showed that the contents of metals, except for As, in the leach residue were below the higher guideline values given in the Government decree on the assessment of the soil contamination and remediation needs by the Ministry of the Environment, Finland. Bioleaching facilitated the extraction of metals from pyritic ashes and the mitigation of environmental risks related to the residue disposal for other metals except for As.


A wideband, single-feed, circularly polarized, stacked, square, slotted microstrip patch antenna is proposed for radio-frequency-identification-reader applications. The proposed antenna consists of an upper square asymmetric slotted patch, stacked over a lower square asymmetric slotted radiating patch and a microstrip stub, along with a coaxial feed. The wideband circularly polarized radiation of the antenna is achieved using a microstrip stub in the lower patch and a stacked slotted square patch. The proposed antenna is designed using a combination of low-cost FR4 substrate and foam. The measured 10 dB return-loss bandwidth of the antenna was around 21% (833 MHz to 1033 MHz), and the 3 dB axial-ratio bandwidth of the antenna was around 13.4% (835 MHz to 955 MHz). The gain was around 7.0 dBic over the 3 dB axial-ratio bandwidth. The overall antenna volume was 0.601λ0 × 0.601λ0 × 0.895λ0 (where λ0 is the free-space wavelength at 900 MHz).


We have conducted a preliminary study of the optimum conditions for a therapeutic effect of ganglioside GM1 in Alzheimer's disease. Five patients with the early onset form of Alzheimer's disease (AD type I) received the ganglioside by intracerebroventricular administration for 12 months. Bilateral stereotactic punction of the frontal horns of the ventricular system was performed, and shunt catheters were implanted and connected to a programmable pump. The optimum GM1 dose varied between 20 and 30 mg/24 h. Neurological neuropsychological, psychiatric and neurochemical examinations were performed 7 days before surgery and on days 30, 90, 180 and 360. No patient found the surgery difficult and no patient or relative regretted that they participated in the study. The patients became more active and safer in relation to others and to performance of various activities from day 90. The cerebrospinal fluid level of the monoamine metabolites homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and the neuropeptide somatostatin increased.


Improving tumor accumulation and delivery efficiency is an important goal of nanomedicine. Neutrophils play a vital role in both chemically mediating inflammatory response through myeloperoxidase (MPO) and biologically promoting metastasis during inflammation triggered by the primary tumor or environmental stimuli. Herein, a novel theranostic nanomedicine that targets both the chemical and biological functions of neutrophils in tumor is designed, facilitating the enhanced retention and sustained release of drug cargos for improved cancer theranostics. 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT) is equipped onto nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with photosensitizers and Zileuton (a leukotriene inhibitor) to obtain MPO and neutrophil targeting NPs, denoted as HZ‐5 NPs. The MPO targeting property of 5‐HT modified NPs is confirmed by noninvasive positron emission tomography imaging studies. Furthermore, photodynamic therapy is used to initiate the inflammatory response which further mediated the accumulation and retention of neutrophil targeting NPs in a breast cancer model. This design renders a greatly improved theranostic nanomedicine for efficient tumor suppression, and more importantly, inhibition of neutrophil‐mediated lung metastasis via the sustained release of Zileuton. This work presents a novel strategy of targeting neutrophils for improved tumor theranostics, which may open up new avenues in designing nanomedicine through exploiting the tumor microenvironment.


Summary
The above survey based on a study of single stool specimens from 569 patients, drawn from a hospital population belonging to different ethnic groups and having different cultural backgrounds, failed to indicate an association between intestinal helminth infection and eosinophilic lung. The higher prevalence of eosinophilic lung in Indians than in the other ethnic groups, as reported previously, cannot be explained on a basis of differences in the prevalence of the intestinal helminths, Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm, Trichuris trichiura and Strongyloides stercoralis.


The use of natural gas (NG) in heavy-duty internal combustion engines can reduce the dependence on petroleum fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Diesel engines can convert to NG spark ignition (SI) by installing a high-energy ignition system and a gas injector. The diesel combustion chamber affects the flow inside the cylinder, so some existing SI combustion models will not accurately describe the operation of converted diesels. For example, the single Wiebe function has difficulties in correctly describing the mass fraction burn (MFB) throughout the combustion process. This study used experiments from a 2L single-cylinder research engine converted to port fuel injection NG SI and operated with methane at 1300 rpm and equivalence ratio 0.8 (6.2 bars IMEP) to compare the standard Wiebe function with a triple Wiebe function. Results indicated that lean-burn engine operation at an advanced spark timing produced three peaks in the heat release rate, suggesting a multi-stage combustion process. A "best goodness-of-fit" approach determined the values of the key parameters in the zero-dimensional Wiebe function model. The triple Wiebe function described the mass fraction burn and combustion phasing more accurately compared with the single Wiebe function. Moreover, it provided the duration and phasing of each individual burning stage that can then characterize the combustion in such converted diesel engines. This suggests that a multiple Wiebe function combustion model would effectively assist in analyzing such a multi-stage combustion process, which is important for engine optimization and development.


Two hundred and forty-three species of birds have been recorded from the Torres Strait. Of these 87 are resident and breed on the islands, 26 remain for the wet or dry season only, 73 cross the Strait on a regular or irregular basis and 57 are vagrant visitors or await confirmation. The number of land bird species found on islands is more a function of the area of forest or woodland than of the total area of the island. Both oceanic and land bridge islands are present in the Torres Strait. Some species found on land bridge islands appear to have been stranded there when sea levels rose. The ranges of some birds found only on land bridge islands are mutually exclusive of several wide ranging species found on most other islands., Evidence is presented that competition has determined the nature of the avifauna on some Torres Strait islands. The Torres Strait apparently represents a barrier to the movements of 28% of the species, including 38% of the land birds, that are shared by Australia and New Guinea. Many populations of Australian birds cannot, therefore, be replenished from New Guinea. Nearly half the birds seen in the Torres Strait are migratory. The most numerous Palaearctic passage migrants are the Mongolian Plover and the Grey-tailed Tattler. Many passage migrants breed in Australia and over-winter in New Guinea. Half of these cross the Strait at low altitudes and several appear to need the Torres Strait islands as resting places, especially when travelling south into the prevailing adverse trade winds. Seven migrants breed on Torres Strait islands. Human effects on the avifauna are localised although introduced species, the House Sparrow and the Common Mynah, have become resident on three islands within the last four years. Apart from these introductions, the avifauna of only Murray Island changed naturally during the study period between 1977 and 1982.


Our patient was the first registered and operated case caused by multifocal hepatoblastoma, located in the right lobe. The decision to operate, our young patient, was a certain challenge, considering local diagnostic and surgical possibilities. The results of the two-years follow up (based on every three-months check-ups), level of the alpha-fetoprotein, showed very fast normal level, even it were no so high preoperatively. We also did not have any sign of local reoccurrence or long distance metastasis. Chemotherapy does not have to be necessary prerequisite of extension surviving, specially in the fist phase, when the process is located in the lobe or segment, also resectable and without any metastasis.


In 1924, at the age of 27, manager and second baseman Stanley Bucky Harris-aka The Boy Wonder-led the Washington Senators to their only World Series championship. His incredible debut season at the helm of the Senators marked the beginning of remarkable 29-year managerial career that earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. This detailed biography chronicles Harris's road to the top of his sport, including his youth in the coal mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, his brief stint in professional basketball, his early days as a baseball player, his 1947 world championship as manager of the Yankees, and his role in the racial integration of both the Senators and the Boston Red Sox. By highlighting Harris' easy-going nature and intelligence, this profile makes it perfectly clear why one player being traded to Harris' Senators declared, Ask any ballplayer who he'd like to play for and he'd say Bucky Harris.


Stock Portfolio is a combination or a mixture of two or more individual stocks with the aim to minimize the risk. The importance of assessing the performance of a stock portfolio for investors will be valuable information for investment decisions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the condition of stock, stock performance, composition and combination of optimal stock portfolio formed in shares included Sectors and Stocks Trade Sector. Methods of data analysis used in this study is a model of Markowitz. Data research using quantitative secondary data during the period 2011 - 2015, obtained from IDX Statistic and Bank Indonesia website. The results showed that there are six stocks that are candidates portfolio, while the optimal portfolio is formed consisting of five stocks are share of UNTR, RALS, BIPI, MNCN and BMTR. The proportion of equity funds amounted to 52.48% UNTR, RALS amounted to 23.54%, Bipi amounted to 11.63%, MNCN amounted to 7.25%, and BMTR amounted to 5.10%.


The whole body clearance of norepinephrine (NE) was measured in seven patients pre- and postoperatively. L[(3)H]NE was infused intravenously for 90 min and steady-state concentrations of L[(3)H]NE were measured at 75 and 90 min in both arterial and peripheral venous blood. Preoperatively, in the resting supine position, the clearance values based on arterial and venous sampling averaged 1.4 and 2.5 liter/min, respectively (P < 0.02). The difference in clearance values was due to a peripheral uptake of NE averaging 45%. The mean plasma NE increased from 1.70 nmol/liter preoperatively to 5.20 nmol/liter postoperatively (P < 0.02). The plasma appearance rate of NE averaged 2.4 nmol/min before surgery and it increased to 9.5 nmol/min postoperatively (P < 0.02). The plasma clearance of NE averaged 1.4 and 1.6 liter/min pre- and postoperatively, respectively (not significantly different). Our study demonstrates that the calculation of plasma NE clearance based on venous sampling results in values that are too high. Furthermore, such values may be influenced by individual variations in the peripheral uptake of NE, since we found no correlation between clearance values based on venous and arterial sampling. The increase in plasma NE postoperatively was due to an increase in the plasma appearance rate of NE because the clearance rate did not change.


Abstract : As summarized in ARO Topic A09A-T004, resistance to antibiotics in current use continues to spread, while the pipeline of approved new antibiotics is shrinking. Antibiotic therapy today is a crude and increasingly ineffective weapon against infection. Current broad spectrum antibiotics notoriously stimulate the spread of resistance, and also open the way to secondary infections by MRSA and other pathogens. We offer here a solution that avoids stimulating resistance as well as collateral damage to the natural biome: a target selective antimicrobial therapy. As a proof-of-concept project, this proposal seeks to explore the possibility that non-covalently linked combinations of peptide mimetics and peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) provide a basis for a strain-selective antibacterial therapy. Initial publications suggest that conjugates of cell penetrating peptides and PNA s can overcome the barrier in transporting the PNA s into cells. The strategy is to use (RW)4D and (RW)3, both designed in our lab, to guide a PNA sequence (conjugated or not) to the appropriate target RNA and thereby silence its expression. In initial testing, we used PNA sequences designed to inhibit growth of E. coli and MRSA cells, already reported in literature previously, but using our RW motif. Our preliminary results with this experiment are positive!


A report is presented on cases of malignant melanoma of the skin recorded in the Finnish Cancer Registry between 1963 and 1968. The material consisted of 693 cases where the diagnosis of melanoma was confirmed by reclassification of the histological specimens and/or by careful perusal of the hospital records. In females melanoma was most frequent on the lower extremities (43%). One half of the tumours of males were located on the trunk and two thirds of these where on the posterior side of the trunk. Most of the tumours were in stage I at the time of diagnosis (males 75%, females 80%). The mean duration of symptoms, was 4.0 months in males and 4.2 months in females. In stage I, the duration of symptoms was under four months in 40% of cases and in stage II in 37% of cases, whereas in stage III this figure was 68%. The most common symptoms were increase in size (46%) and bleeding from the tumour (11%). Only 28 patients were treated radically while "wide" excision was the most common surgical method (48%).


In regions affected by artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), the inhalation of mercury vapor and the ingestion of fish contaminated with this metal constitute the main sources of mercury contamination that affect human health. Nevertheless, according to the World Health Organization, another source of contamination is polluted water. Although mercury in freshwater is usually found in very low concentrations because it is swiftly consumed by aquatic microorganisms, evidence shows that under specific circumstances its concentration in water can reach high levels, even surpassing the 2.0 μg/L stipulated by Colombian legislation for use as a domestic water supply. Mercury concentrations above 3.0 μg/L have been found in some Colombian municipalities, and above 8.0 μg/L in other regions around the world. Even though mercury consumption via water is a minor concern, along with other alimentary sources this low mercury concentration contributes to the total burden that affects human health.


(1) Background: Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are common among the elderly and are important because they can indicate early cognitive impairment. The factor with the greatest correlation with SMCs is depression. The purpose of this study is to examine depressive symptoms among elderly individuals with SMCs through a network analysis that can analyze disease models between symptoms; (2) Methods: A total of 3489 data collected from elderly individuals in the community were analyzed. The Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were evaluated. For statistical analysis, we investigated the features of the depressive symptoms network, including centrality and clustering; (3) Results: Network analysis of the SMC group showed strong associations in the order of Q1–Q2 (r = 0.499), Q7–Q8 (r = 0.330), and Q1–Q6 (r = 0.239). In terms of centrality index, Q2 was highest in strength and expected influence, followed by Q1 in all of betweenness, strength, and expected influence; (4) Conclusions: The network analysis confirmed that the most important factors in the subjective cognitive decline group were depressed mood and anhedonia, which also had a strong correlation in the network pattern.


Every future foreign language teacher faces at least one language methods class. This class is usually a bland mixture of the history and philosophy of teaching languages. My experience teaching Education 450F-Methods of Teaching a Foreign Language-has allowed me to create a more innovative and practical course for the future language instructor. The content of the fifteen week course falls into three interrelated areas: (1) exposing students to language activities and related programs currently operating in public schools and colleges; (2) engaging students in a microteaching program in which they prepare materials and present them before high school students; and (3) providing discussion sessions which consist of (a) the instructor and microteachers receiving feedback on teaching projects, and (b) the instructor and class collectively exploring theory and techniques utilized in the microteaching projects.


Epitaxial strain has been shown to drive structural phase transitions along with novel functionalities in perovskite-based thin films. Aliovalent doping at the A site can drive an insulator-to-metal and magnetic transitions in perovskites along with a variety of interesting structural and electronic phenomena. Using first-principles calculations, we predict the formation of a multiferroic half-metallic phase with a large magnetic moment in the double perovskite, Bi_{2}FeCrO_{6}, by coupling epitaxial strain with A-site hole doping. We also demonstrate that epitaxial strain can be used to manipulate the hole states created by doping to induce half-metal to insulator, antipolar to polar, antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic, orbital ordering and charge ordering transitions. Our work also suggests that hole doping under strain could lead to mitigation of issues related to antisite defects and lowered magnetization in thin films of the material.


Development of most epithelial tissues involves complex rearrangements as seen in the sex comb rotation of male Drosophila melanogaster. The sex comb is a compact row of bristles found on the first tarsal segment of the first leg in male D. melanogaster, which undergoes a horizontal to vertical rotation during development. Females do not have sex combs, but despite this sexual dimorphism, the first tarsal segment of the first leg undergoes similar changes during the elongation stage of leg development. This leads to the question of what mechanisms are involved in leg elongation versus the rotation of the sex comb in males, and if female legs can be used as a control to understand the cellular dynamics of male leg elongation. To better understand the development of female D. melanogaster's first tarsal segments, labeled confocal images from both sexes were studied starting from 23 hours after pupariation (AP), after the onset of the larval to pupal transition. It was found that the first tarsal segment of female D. melanogaster has fewer cases of cell intercalation and has types of cell rearrangements not previously described in males. Careful analysis of these cell rearrangements suggests that female D. melanogaster use a different mechanism for the narrowing of the distal portion of the first tarsal segment as expected due to the absence of the sex comb. We hypothesize that a global rotation of cells in the distal posterior region of the female first tarsal segment has a major role in the elongation process of the leg.


The incidence of endometrial cancer is increased in the presence of elevated circulating levels of estrogens, especially when inadequately opposed by progestins. Estrogens are catabolized via catechol estrogen formation, oxidation, glucuronidation, and sulfation. Thus, it is possible that interindividual variation in these pathways might influence a woman9s risk of endometrial cancer. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether the presence of the minor alleles in 26 SNPs in the genes CYP17, CYP1A1, CYP1B1, CYP3A4, CYP3A5, COMT, SULT1A1, UGT1A1, UGT1A8, UGT2B4, UGT2B7, and UGT2B15 was associated with risk of endometrial cancer in a population-based case-control study in Washington State, with 727 cases ages 50-74 years diagnosed between 1994-2005, and 736 controls frequency-matched to the cases by age, county and reference year. Analyses were restricted to non-Hispanic white women and adjusted for frequency matching variables. Only SNPs in CYP1A1 (involved in the formation of 2-hydroxyestrogens) and SULT1A1 (involved in estrogen sulfation) were associated with endometrial cancer risk. The CYP1A1 rs4646903 C allele was associated with a decreased risk of endometrial cancer (per C allele odds ratio (OR) 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58-0.95; ORs and 95% CIs for CT and CC vs TT were, respectively: 0.81, 0.61-1.07, and 0.38, 0.15-0.93). The SULT1A1 rs9282861 A allele was associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer (per A allele OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.04-1.42; ORs and 95% CIs for AG and AA vs GG were, respectively: 1.20, 0.96-1.50, and 1.50, 1.06-2.12). Both of these polymorphisms have been reported to be associated with alterations in the ability to metabolize estrogens; the CYP1A1 rs4646903 C allele may be associated with increased inducibility and increased endometrial expression of CYP1A1, and therefore could be associated with potentially higher levels of the 2-hydroxyestrogens in the target tissue. The SULT1A1 rs9282861 A allele is associated with reduced sulfotransferase activity, which could possibly allow the accumulation of estrogens. Thus, the observed associations with each SNP are consistent with their putative biologic function. However, several studies have examined variation in these and other genes in the steroid hormone metabolism pathways and endometrial cancer risk, and there are reports of both positive and negative findings for many of the SNPs studied. If a small effect size is expected, then additional studies and pooled analyses are needed to clarify possible associations with each of these polymorphisms. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5620. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5620


Low total rainfall and its uneven distribution during the crop season and low soil N and P levels are the principal factors limiting the production of maize in the eastern Ethiopian highlands. Thus, field experiments were conducted under rainfed conditions to study the effects of soil and water conservation treatments (tied ridges and planting methods) on the yield of improved maize variety EAH-75 on Entisols and Vertisols of the region. Five treatments (flat bed planting or control, planting on ridges of open end tied ridge, planting in furrows of open end tied ridge, planting on ridges of closed end tied ridge, and planting in furrows of closed end tied ridge) were laid down in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The experiment was conducted in two blocks (one without and another with N and P fertilizers) on both soil types to compare the effects of the treatments under natural and amended soil fertility levels. The yield of maize responded significantly (P <= 0.01) to tied ridges and planting methods both under fertilized and unfertilized conditions on both soils. However, the magnitude of the yield response and the relative efficiency of the tied ridges and planting methods varied with soil type, fertilization, and the total amount and distribution of rainfall during the cropping season. Regardless of the type of tied ridge used, furrow planting gave better grain yields than ridge planting. Specifically, open end tied ridge planting in furrows gave the highest yield across the four sets of experiments. Flat bed planting and open end planting on ridges produced the lowest grain yields on Entisols and Vertisols, respectively, both under fertilized and unfertilized conditions. Regardless of the soil fertility status, yield response to tied ridges compared with the traditional (flat bed) planting method was higher on Entisols than on Vertisols. Similarly, the grain yields accrued due to water conservation treatments were higher under fertilized than unfertilized conditions on both soils indicating the synergetic effects of soil water and NP nutrients on yield of the test crop. The study also revealed that yield responses were higher in seasons with low and poorly distributed rains and on shallow and coarse textured soil (Entisols) than in seasons with better rains and of the deeper and fine textured Vertisols. Thus, in areas of low and erratic rainfall such as the Alemaya areas of the eastern Ethiopian highlands, increasing rain fed crop yields largely depends on the use of improved soil and water conservation practices.


Non-typhoidal Salmonellae are important foodborne bacterial pathogens that can cause bacteremia, gastroenteritis, and subsequent infection. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in the live bird market and retail shops of Lahore (Pakistan). A total of 720 samples of chicken meat, chopping board, cages, hands, and transportation vans were collected. Salmonella was recovered from 103 (14.36%) samples. The highest prevalence (33.33%) was found in transportation van samples followed by chicken meat samples (17.26%). In the towns of Lahore, the highest prevalence was found in Samanabad Town (19%) followed by Data Ganj Bakhsh Town (17%) with the lowest in Gulberg Town (6.9%). Salmonella Typhimurium was most common (35.92%) followed by S. Enteritidis (25.24%), S. Dublin (14.56%), S. Gallinarum biovar Gallinarum (8.74%), and untyped Salmonella species (15.53%). This was the first baseline study of the prevalence of non-typhoidal Salmonella at the live bird market and retail shops of Lahore. Implementation of appropriate control measures is required at both the human side and poultry food production chain to reduce the burden and transmission of the zoonotic Salmonellae.


BackgroundClinical skills are important for medical students and doctors for their everyday work and faculties are expected to teach and assess clinical skills and other competencies that medical students should have at the beginning of their career. Among competencies required for a young doctor to begin with his or her career are several clinical skills. The aim of our study was to evaluate in a low-stakes formative assessment the clinical skills level improvement of finishing medical students prior to and after their 9-week Internal medicine clerkship. Methods88 final year medical students participated in the study prior and after their 9-week Internal medicine clerkship. On the first day and on their last day of clerkship, they were assessed in three different clinical skills – history taking, venipuncture and rectal examination. Clinical skills were performed on artificial simulators. Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was used to evaluate students and assessors used a prepared checklist for each clinical skill.ResultsA significant improvement was detected in total OSCE (p=0.001), history taking (p=0.001) and rectal examination results (p=0.023) on the second testing. Moreover, reduction of time needed to complete the task was also detected in all clinical skills. ConclusionsFinal year medical students have a lot of practical skills and are well prepared for the clinical environment. They are prepared to perform tested clinical skills on their own, without supervision. Additional activities should be considered to improve performance in the clinical skill.


The production of a textile yam involves the drawing out of a thick intermediate web of fibres (sliver) by a process known as drafting. In the present paper, a mathematical study is made of the dynamical mechanism of drafting, with the object of investigating the effect of relevant factors on the irregularity of the yam produced. Equations are written down to govern the drafting of a very simplified model of a wool sliver, and a particular case, when the fibre length is small, is treated in detail. It is shown that when such a sliver is drafted by passing it between two pairs of rollers moving with different speeds, a 'period' is produced in the thickness variations of the drafted sliver. The change in standard deviation of thickness is related to the properties of the sliver and of the drafting mechanism, and in particular to the spectrum of the thickness of the initial sliver.


This study aimed to investigate the diversity, abundance, intensity, and seasonal distribution of parasites of Oreochromis niloticus. A total of 254 specimens of O. niloticus was sampled in Loumbila and Ziga reservoirs in both rainy and dry season and examined for parasites. The total prevalence was 55.90% and the highest seasonal prevalence, abundance and intensity were observed during the rainy season. Recorded parasites were the myxozoan Myxobolus tilapiae, the copepode Lamproglena monodi, the monogeneans Cichlidogyrus tilapiae, Cichlidogyrus halli, the digenetic trematode Clinostomum species, the nematode Paracamallanus cyathopharynx, and the acanthocephalan Acanthogyrus tilapiae. The latter species had higher prevalence (45.67%) and high abundance. L. monodi, C. tilapiae, C. halli, and P. cyathopharynx were only observed in Loumbila reservoir. A. tilapiae, Clinostomum spp. and M. tilapiae were found in both reservoirs with a high abundance. In conclusion, it was found out that O. niloticus specimens were heavy infection with a broad number of parasites. This situation could eventually reduce performance and productivity of the species, especially in aquaculture.

 Key words: Oreochromis niloticus, parasites, Loumbila reservoir, Ziga reservoir, Burkina Faso.


In this paper, we characterize the performance of a direct-detection, avalanche photodiode-based free-space optical (FSO) communication system in terms of the overall bit-error rate. The system of interest uses pulse-position modulation (PPM) and is subjected to scintillation due to optical turbulence. Two scenarios are considered. In one case, a weak turbulence (clear-air) scenario is considered, for which the received signal intensity may be modeled as a log-normal random process. In the other case, we consider a negative exponentially distributed received signal intensity. To arrive at the desired results, it is assumed that the system uses a binary PPM (BPPM) modulation scheme. Furthermore, it is assumed that the receiver thermal noise is nonnegligible, and that the average signal intensity is large enough to justify a Gaussian approximation at the receiver. Union bound is used to assess the performance of M-ary PPM systems using the results of the BPPM scenario. Numerical results are presented for the BPPM case to shed light on the impact of turbulence on the overall performance.


Polysaccharide for producing a specific vaccine against N. meningitidis (serogroup C) is the principal product obtained from this microorganism cultures. In order to assess the polysaccharide production varying the bacteria inoculum bulk , and the initial glucose concentrations, four assays were carried out in duplicate based on factorial 22 planning design. Samples were collected from the cultures every two hours for determining cell concentration (expressed as dry biomass), pH, glucose and polysaccharide concentration. The comparative criteria were based on the final polysaccharide concentrations, and the cell/polysaccharide (YP/X) yield coefficient. The bacteria culture employing the highest inoculum bulk (optical density ≅ 0.1 at 540nm) presented the best result of final polysaccharide concentration (0.105 g/ L), and YP/X (0.078). The polysaccharide further purified on gel chromatography column following the molecular mass criterion, was the suitable antigen for vaccine production.


Abstract : Military facilities that maintain and operate underground heat distribution systems (UHDS) need to make proper, cost-effective decisions concerning maintenance and repair. A poorly maintained manhole can become flooded from rainwater runoff, infiltrating ground water, or other sources. A flooded manhole will experience boiling, producing steam and causing a significant, and avoidable, increase in energy use. This report presents a method to estimate the amount of heat loss from a boiling manhole in a wide variety of situations. A set of correlations is developed to estimate manhole heat loss given a minimum of input parameters. Estimates of the energy cost for several sample calculations of typical manholes are included. Using current Army "Red Book" energy costs, typical flooded manholes can cost the DoD between $50,000 and $125,000 per year if they remain unrepaired.


Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is highly prevalent in the elderly population and typically reduces overall quality of life. Exacerbations of COPD are commonly treated with corticosteroids, a class of drug known to cause insulin resistance. The objective of this study was to assess the rate of exacerbations requiring emergency room visits, hospitalizations or any medical encounter (a combination of emergency room and hospitalizations) between COPD patients who did and did not develop type 2 diabetes. Research Design and Methods: A case-control study of COPD patients from the 2011-2012 Medicare 5% sample Limited Data Set (LDS) was conducted. Beneficiaries with at least 1 year of continuous enrollment and evidence of > 2 COPD-related claims (>1 primary diagnosis) were included in the study. Cases were defined as a beneficiary with a new claim for type 2 diabetes, whereas controls lacked evidence of type 2 diabetes (beneficiaries with evidence of non-incident type 2 diabetes were excluded). Results: Of 27 456 COPD beneficiaries, 1274 developed incident type 2 diabetes (4.6%). After matching, 2536 beneficiaries were assigned as cases (n = 1268) and controls (n = 1268). Cases in the emergency room (1.97 claims per person) (p = <0.001) and hospitalizations (2.02 claims per person) (p = <0.001) had a higher rate of exacerbations. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that patients that were hospitalized and visited the emergency room for COPD exacerbations had a greater likelihood of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes may be associated with exposure to corticosteroids as a result of the treatment for exacerbations. Future work should investigate the risk for type 2 diabetes in COPD patients treated with corticosteroids.


BackgroundSocioeconomic adversity in early life is related to cardiovascular risk in adulthood; however, no studies have examined whether such adversity may be related to endogenous sex hormones, which are themselves associated with cardiovascular outcomes, or whether the timing of adversity exposures (childhood vs. puberty) matters. ObjectiveThe goal of the current study was to separately examine neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) during periods of childhood and puberty in relation to adulthood levels of endogenous sex hormones (estradiol [E2], testosterone), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and a derived index of bioavailable testosterone (free androgen index). MethodsIn a sample of 143 premenopausal women (mean age = 36.8 [SD = 5.5]; 51.7% White, 32.2% African American, 5.6% Latina, 7.0% Chinese, and 3.5% Filipina), retrospective reports of residential address information in designated periods of childhood and puberty were used to derive U.S. census-based neighborhood SES composite scores characterizing the socioeconomic environments of women during these periods. ResultsIn covariate-adjusted analyses, higher neighborhood SES in puberty predicted higher levels of SHBG in adulthood, but neighborhood SES during childhood did not (standardized regression coefficient = .24, p = .01 vs. standardized regression coefficient = .04, p = .75, respectively). Neighborhood SES was not predictive of other hormones (E2, testosterone, and free androgen index). DiscussionThe current findings suggest that puberty may be a time of particular vulnerability to the effects of neighborhood SES on SHBG levels, which have been linked to cardiovascular risk factor profiles and atherosclerotic disease progression.


Clostridium ramosum, despite being a common enteric bacterium, is not commonly identified as the cause of pathologic infections in humans. It was first identified by Veillion and Zuber in 1898 from a patient with pulmonary gangrene and appendicitis. After performing an extensive literature search of major databases, only a few cases of pathologic C. ramosum infection were found in the medical literature. In this piece of work, we add to existing research by presenting a case report of an 83-year-old female who presented with abdominal pain, fever, and shortness of breath, requiring ICU admission due to mesenteric ischemia and C. ramosum bacteremia.


Now published by the AAP, the new second edition will help the clinician identify behavioral and interactional problems suitable for family centered care. It describes how to plan family meetings, interview families using a family systems approach, assess family interactions, and assist families to develop adaptive behaviors. Contents include: The Child, the Family and the Pediatric Care Professional, Qualifications of Pediatric Care Professionals to Work at the Family Level, -Understanding Family Systems and Resolving Issues Within the Family Context and much more.


The question of the relationship between social values and beliefs (be them religious or cultural) and the economy has always been a subject of intense scholarly inquiry and debate. To this day, it continues to receive greater attention, especially in the contemporary era where intensifying globalisation processes have brought to light questions such as religious and cultural diversity and the challenges as well as opportunities that they present. As Ray and Sayer (1999) pointed out, there has since the dawn of the twenty first century, been a 'cultural turn' characterised by strong interest in questions of links between culture and economy. This article provides a critical review of perspectives on the links between culture, religion, economy and development. While greater attention is drawn to cultural values, some contrast between religion and culture is however provided to avoid tendency to confuse both concepts. Including religion is also necessary as its values, like cultural values, have social significance. Thus understanding their role has bearing on understanding that of cultural values. The central purpose of the review is to provide a basis for examining claims about the role of the indigenous African culture of ubuntu in South Africa's post-apartheid development.


ABSTRACT Because of their similarities to infants in mucosal immune responses and their susceptibility to human rotavirus (HRV) diarrhea, gnotobiotic pigs provide a useful model for rotaviral disease. In this study, we performed quantitative enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays to measure local and systemic isotype-specific antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses to individual structural (VP4, VP6, and VP7) and nonstructural (NSP3 and NSP4) proteins of Wa HRV. TheSpodoptera frugiperda cells expressing each recombinant baculovirus HRV protein were formalin fixed and used as antigen for ELISPOT assays. Neonatal gnotobiotic pigs were orally inoculated once with virulent Wa (WaV) or three times with attenuated Wa (WaA) HRV or mock inoculated (Mock) and then were challenged with virulent Wa (WaV/PC) 28 days after the first inoculation. The ASCs from intestinal and systemic lymphoid tissues of pigs from each group were quantitated by ELISPOT assay at the day of challenge, at postinoculation day 28 (WaV, WaA, and Mock) or at postchallenge day (PCD) 7 (WaV+WaV/PC, WaA+WaV/PC, and Mock+WaV/PC). In all virus-inoculated pigs, regardless of the inoculum, lymphoid tissue, or isotype, VP6 induced the highest numbers of ASCs, followed by VP4; ASCs specific for VP7, NSP3, and NSP4 were less numerous. At challenge, total HRV- and HRV protein-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG ASCs in intestinal lymphoid tissues were significantly greater in WaV- than in WaA-inoculated pigs, and WaV pigs were fully protected against diarrhea postchallenge, whereas the WaA pigs were partially protected. At PCD 7, there were no significant differences in ASC numbers for any HRV proteins between the WaV+WaV/PC and WaA+WaV/PC groups.


India's 1992-93 National Family Health Survey included questions about AIDS awareness in 13 Indian states that were locations of heightened concern to health officials. Results for the representative sample of 32,077 ever-married women of reproductive age revealed that only about 1/6 of the women had ever heard of AIDS. Those who had heard of AIDS were asked follow-up questions, and their responses indicated that 18% could not identify a single mode of transmission, 42% believed that AIDS could be transmitted through kissing, 55% knew AIDS could be avoided by practicing "safe sex" (28% mentioned condoms), and 23% understood the life-threatening risks associated with AIDS. AIDS knowledge was greatest among those older than 20 years, urban residents, more educated women, and those who had greater exposure to the mass media. Television was the greatest source of AIDS information; other sources were newspapers, radio, magazines, and friends or relatives. While television and radio were major sources of information, exposure frequency was not associated with increased knowledge. Women who had the greatest number of information sources had the most AIDS knowledge (these women were probably more educated and wealthier than the average). Based on these findings, it is recommended that television, radio, and the print media become more effective AIDS communicators, that the role of teachers and schools in AIDS education be expanded, and that ways be developed to convey AIDS information to the rural population and among illiterate people.


The development of MP3 and JPEG sparked an explosion in digital content on the internet. These early encoding formats have since been joined by many others, including Quicktime, Ogg, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, which poses an escalating challenge to vendors wishing to develop devices that interoperate with as much content as possible. This paper presents aspects of Reconfigurable Media Coding (RMC), a project currently underway at MPEG to define a self-describing bitstream format. In other words, an RMC bitstream contains metadata to assemble a decoder from a fundamental building-blocks, as well as a schema that describes the syntax of the content data, and how it may be parsed. RMC makes it easy to extend (reconfigure) existing codecs, for example adding error resilience or new chroma-subsampling profiles, or to build entirely new codecs. This paper addresses the bitstream syntax component of RMC, validating the approach by applying it to the recent MPEG-4 Video simple profile coder.


Endothelium-derived nitric oxide (NO) regulates hemodynamics in the fetal kidney and modulates renal perfusion during postnatal maturation. We hypothesize that NO release by renal arteries increases with fetal maturation and contributes to the increased renal perfusion before and after birth. We tested the effect of maturation on relaxation to acetylcholine (ACh; 10-9 M to 10-5 M), the prototypic endothelium-dependent relaxing agent, and sodium nitroprusside (10-9 M to 10-5 M), an NO donor, on isolated main renal arteries obtained from anesthetized fetal guinea pigs of varying gestational age (0.5-0.8, 0.8-0.9, and 0.9-0.97 gestation), and neonatal (1-50 d) and reproductively mature adult guinea pigs. The effect of NO synthase inhibition by nitro-L-arginine (LNA; 10-4 M) and cyclooxygenase inhibition by indomethacin (10-5 M) on ACh relaxation was also measured. Ca2+-dependent NO synthase activity was measured in fetal (0.5-0.87 gestation), neonatal (1-10 d), and adult (mature) renal cortex by the conversion of [L-14C]arginine to [L-14C]citrulline and the time course compared with the relaxation responses. Sensitivity and maximal relaxation to ACh increased with fetal age. In neonatal renal arteries, maximal relaxation but not sensitivity to ACh increased relative to the fetal arteries. In adult renal arteries, both sensitivity and maximal relaxation increased compared with fetal arteries. Sensitivity but not maximal responses to sodium nitroprusside increased with age but exhibited a different maturational pattern than ACh relaxation. LNA inhibited ACh relaxation in arteries of all ages. Indomethacin reduced the sensitivity to ACh only in the fetal arteries. Ca2+-dependent NO synthase activity of the renal cortex increased during fetal development reaching levels at near term similar to those found in both the newborn and adult kidneys. These results suggest that endothelium-derived NO release by the renal artery and constitutive NO synthase activity in the renal microvasculature increases with fetal and postnatal maturation. Further, the sensitivity of vascular smooth muscle to NO also increases after birth. Thus, functional adaptations in both the endothelium and the vascular smooth muscle contribute to the maturational changes in mechanisms regulating renal hemodynamics before and after birth.


1. Balance of forces acting on the joints is necessary to their proper function.

2. This balance is partly due to the force of gravity.

3. The relative value of normal joint-balance varies with age, size, and occupation.

4. Any variation from normal muscle-balance predisposes to deformity.

5. Muscle-unbalance may be a primary cause or an associated factor in joint deformity.

6. Muscle-unbalance goes through the stages of correctibility by the patient voluntarily, or by the surgeon easily, forcibly under anesthesia or requiring tenotomies.

7. The deformities therefrom may be complicated by ligamentous and bony changes.

8. Rational treatment consists in restitution of muscle-balance by correction of deformity first and by muscle development second.

9. The application of the principles of muscle-balance and unbalance to the etiology, mechanics and treatment of many orthopedic conditions is fairly general and is suggestive.


ABSTRACT The parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis causes foodborne diarrheal illness. Here, we report draft genome sequences obtained from C. cayetanensis oocysts purified from a human stool sample. The genome assembly consists of 865 contigs with a total length of 44,563,857 bases. These sequences can facilitate the development of subtyping tools to aid outbreak investigations.


Diéguez F.J., Yus E., Sanjuán M.L., Vilar M.J. & Arnaiz I. 2008. Monitoring bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection status in dairy herds. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 28(12):588-592. Unidad de Epidemiología y Sanidad Animal, Instituto de Investigación y Análisis Alimentarios, Facultad de Veterinaria s/n, Lugo 27002, Spain. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com This study was designed to assess the relationship between antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) determined in the bulk tank milk (BTM) and the within-herd seroprevalence. We also assessed the efficiency of measuring antibody levels in BTM samples to monitor BVDV infection status in a herd. In the 81 farms included in the study, BTM samples were obtained and blood samples withdrawn from all cattle older than one year. The infection status was then determined in serum and milk using a commercial blocking ELISA based on the detection of anti-p80 antibodies. Apart from these baseline serum and milk samples, another BTM sample was collected from each herd 9 months later, and a third BTM sample obtained 9 months after this. In these second and third milk samples, anti-BVDV antibodies were determined using the same ELISA kit. Statistical tests revealed good agreement between herd seroprevalences (% seropositive animals in the herd) and the antibody levels detected in the BTM samples. During the 18 months of follow-up, the farms with persistently infected cattle at the study outset (14.8% of the herds) showed a significant decrease in BTM antibody titers after virus clearance. Conversely, a significant increase in BTM antibody levels was observed in the herds infected with BVDV during the follow-up period. Our findings indicate that monitoring antibody levels in the BTM is a useful method of identifying changes in the BVDV infection status of a herd.


A fully integrated fiber-optic transmitter chip for gigabit Ethernet applications has been implemented in a CMOS technology. For controlling the transmitted optical power so to obtain reliable and constant averaged optical power, the transmitter proposed in this paper uses separated bias and modulation currents control circuits based on the feedback from the monitoring photo-diode (MPD). The chip was fabricated in a mixed-signal analog CMOS technology with 0.18mum gate length and measurements were implemented in a chip-on-board configuration (COB) using pig-tailed FP laser. Under the burst-mode operation of 1.25Gb/s PRBS, measurements show about 0.5dBm transmitted optical power with above 11dB extinction ratio over a wide temperature range. Based on the measurements, this work complies with the EPON IEEE P802.ah standard


The first technical report to be published by the FDI considered the principal requirements for controlled clinical trials of caries preventive agents and procedures. This document advocated the use of a simple reproducibility ratio as a measure of variability in caries diagnosis. In accordance with the FDI recommendations available figures from published work on duplicated examinations are presented in terms of this reproducibility ratio. The data refers to intra- and inter-examiner variability with respect to both clinical and radiographic examinations. Reproducibility studies carried out as a pre-calibration investigation and during the baseline examinations of a current clinical trial are also included. Considerable diversity is apparent, the intra- and inter-examiner variation for clinical examinations ranging from 0-13 to 0-61, and for radio-graphic assessments from 0-06 to 0-60. If an acceptable range of reproducibility ratios is to be formulated then this wide variation will have to be taken into account. Ultimately, if examiner variability cannot be maintained within reasonable limits, then the choice of an examiner could be just as important as the choice of the test substance.


Detergent residues are often accused to cause efflorescences of the skin. In the present studies different textiles were washed under standardized conditions and the residues analyzed. Textile probes were patch tested for 48 h on seborrheic and sebostatic volunteers. A second series of textiles was given to babies and small children. In all cases no reactions were observed. According to these results and further literature the contribution of detergent residues as a releaser of skin reactions is rather insignificant.


Abstract The mammalian gastrointestinal mucosa is a rapidly self-renewing tissue in the body, and its homeostasis is preserved through the strict regulation of epithelial cell proliferation, growth arrest, and apoptosis. The control of the growth of gastrointestinal mucosa is unique and, compared with most other tissue in the body, complex. Mucosal growth is regulated by the same hormones that alter metabolism in other tissues, but the gastrointestinal mucosa also responds to host events triggered by the ingestion and presence of food within the digestive tract. These gut hormones and peptides regulate the growth of the exocrine pancreas, gallbladder epithelium, and the mucosa of the oxyntic gland region of the stomach and the small and large intestines. Luminal factors, including nutrients or other dietary factors, secretions, and microbes that occur within the lumen and distribute over a proximal-to-distal gradient, are also crucial for maintenance of normal gut mucosal regeneration and could explain th...


A critical review of the different hydrodynamic mathematical models available for nonideal flow configurations of both low-rate and high-rate anaerobic reactors is presented, including upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors, anaerobic fluidized bed reactors, anaerobic biofilters, wet and dry digesters. The review highlights the role of mathematical modeling on design and operational optimization of organic waste and wastewater treatment plants. For each reactor configuration the following approaches, proposed by various authors, are presented and compared: (a) plug flow model, (b) tank in series model, (c) dispersion model, and (d) computational fluid dynamic model. The review gives a general overview on mathematical modeling of anaerobic nonideal plug-flow reactors and compares different models indicating the advantages and disadvantages to apply them for different reactor type.


—In this study, we present a novel dataset for training machine learning models translating between OpenMP Fortran and C++ code. To ensure reliability and applicability, the dataset is initially refined using a meticulous code similarity test. The effectiveness of our dataset is assessed using both quantitative (CodeBLEU) and qualitative (human evaluation) methods. We demonstrate how this dataset can significantly improve the translation capabilities of large-scale language models, with improvements of × 5 . 1 for models with no prior coding knowledge and × 9 . 9 for models with some coding familiarity. Our work highlights the potential of this dataset to advance the field of code translation for high-performance computing. The dataset is available at OpenMP-Fortran-CPP-Translation.


In most microquasars, low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (LFQPO) have been classified into three types (A, B and C depending on the peak distribution in the power density spectra and the shape of the noise) but no explanation has been proposed yet. The accretion-ejection instability (AEI) was presented in 1999 as a possible explanation for the fast varying LFQPO that occur most often. Here we look at a possible generalization to explain the characteristics of the other two LFQPO types. Methods. It was recently shown that when the disk approaches its last stable orbit, the AEI is markedly affected by relativistic effects. We focus on the characteristics of the LFQPO that would result from the relativistic AEI and compare them with the different LFQPO types. Results. The effects of relativity on the AEI seem to be able to explain most of the characteristics of the three types of LFQPO within one formalism.


How small numbers of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells suppress autoimmune responses in vivo is unclear. In this report we analyze the immunomodulatory activity of CD4+CD25+ T cells that are antigen-specifically redirected against myelin basic protein (MBP)89-101-specific autoreactive T cells by a MBP89-101-IA(s)-zeta chimeric receptor. We have previously shown that these redirected regulatory T cells are highly potent in treating a model autoimmune disease, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. We show here that they have only limited effect in vivo on autoreactive T cell proliferation and therefore do not act by deleting or suppressing the expansion of pathologic effector cells. Rather, the redirected CD4+CD25+ T cells divert the pathologic T helper 1 self-specific T cell response to one characterized by high IL-10 and lower IL-4 production. Significantly, when isolated from the inducing CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, these self-specific T cells can independently suppress the autoreactive T cell response and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis development in an IL-10-dependent manner. These results provide evidence that CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells can manipulate the adaptive immune response in vivo through the infectious induction of tolerance, specifically by promoting the formation of antigen-specific, IL-10-secreting regulatory T cells.


Dynamic models of adjustment, as well as static models of equilibrium, are important to understand economic reality. This thesis considers such dynamic models applied to economic games. The models can broadly be divided into two categories: learning and evolution. This thesis analyzes reinforcement learning and imitation dynamic on the learning side and the indirect evolution approach on the evolution side. It demonstrates the relation between the concept of Nash equilibrium and the long run outcome of the namic processes. The applications of the dynamic models to economic games include, among others, Cournot oligopoly and merger games.


Introduction: Dietary exposure and drug treatments influence gut cellular pathways and hence growth and potentially even the gut-brain-microbiome axis. Since eukaryotic mRNA presents poly-A sequence that distinguishes them from the prokaryotes mRNA, we could analyze the gene expression of human gut cells using exfoliated gut cells available in stool samples. However, the impact of the critical steps of these non-invasive methods must be analyzed. Methods: We tested prokaryote contamination in all the steps of different procedures to analyze human exfoliome by microarrays and the influence of the fecal sampling collection process. Results: The least bacterial contamination was found using RNA amplified with oligo dT from the GeneChip 3′ IVT Pico Reagent Kit or using RNA purified by both Oligotex® + oligo dT. RNAlater® collection of feces affects the microarray results compared to directly frozen fecal samples, although both methods produce similar cDNA quality. Conclusion: This technique is a potential non-invasive diagnostic tool that can be applied to larger studies to quantify intestinal gene expression in humans with non-invasive samples, but samples should always be collected and analyzed under the same procedure.


A contemporary selection of 22 African women's shortstories that vividly portray the everyday concerns of women's lives. The stories, divided into sections from north, south, east and west, cover such themes as the exploitation of serving girls, the experience of women behind veils, enduring friendships, the achievement of social power, independence of thought, and the affirmation of personal identity. These are new writers recording the new Africa with a fresh perspective. Authors whose stories are included in this landmark collection are: Northern Africa -- Nawal El Saadawi Assia Djebar Gisele Halimi Leila Sebbar Andree Chedid Southern Africa -- Tsitsi Dangarembga Bessie Head Jean Marquard Zoe Wicomb Sheila Fugard Farida Karodia Eastern Africa -- Evelyn Awuor Ayodo Violet Dias Lannoy Daisy Kabaragama Lina Magaia Western Africa -- Catherine Obianuju Acholonu Ifeoma Okoye Zaynab Alkali Orlanda Amarilis Aminata Maiga Ka


The paper has three parts. The first part concerns the solidarity principle's genesis. Its philosophical base is the personalistic
anthropology, which speaks about prosocial nature of man and its active participation in the social life. The biblical-theological base
of solidarity are: personal dignity of man comme God's image, person and learning of Christ, community of the Church. The second part
of paper discusses elements ontological-anthropological and biblical-ethical which are necessary in the realisation of solidarity's principle.
They are following: pluralism of equal persons and societies, its dialogue, co-production of common good by honest work, integral
development economic and intelectual-cultural, equality, social justice and love, peace and reciprocal settlement. The thirt part of paper
speaks about three circles of application of solidarity's principle; namely: solidarity professional-working – defend of rihts of workers,
solidarity general-social of nation and state – protection of economic and political human rihts, solidarity international of humanity – trend
towards peace and prosperity.


The objective of this effort is to develop a computer tool for drawing, editing and simulating timed Petri nets using object oriented programming (OOP). The developed C++ based Timed Petri Net Simulation Tool, TiPNet, simulates discrete systems with both deterministic and stochastic transitions and immediate transitions. Net debugging and performance result tabulation are built-in. The XView Toolkit is used for building TiPNet's interactive graphical user interface in compliance with AT&T's OPENLOOK standard on a Sun workstation running SunOS 4.1.X. Compliance with the XWindow standard makes the developed tool portable to other XWindow systems, and TiPNet can run remotely on a network.


This paper analyses a research and innovation action oriented toward creating various technologies to help people with hearing impairment in calibrating their hearing devices and examines how several design artefacts (e.g., sketches, mock-ups, motion graphic videos, prototypes) were used as a knowledge translation mechanism. In particular, the paper looks at how these design artifacts supported knowledge translation in a way that helped individuals with hearing impairment to better understand the calibration process of their hearing devices and to acquire a minimal but practical vocabulary to directly interact with their devices and communicate with the audiologist. Design-based knowledge translation increased the self-efficacy of hearing aids users and put them in the condition to carry out a fine-grained and more contextually-anchored calibration process and, consequently, to feel empowered to operate with a higher degree of autonomy.


Our return to a study on dogs exposed lifelong to cobalt-60 γ-radiation was prompted by a comment that data in dog studies have large statistical errors due to the small number of dogs. We located an earlier article on the same study that had a better mortality curve for the dogs in each dose-rate group. The median life span of the dogs in each group was tabulated, and the standard error of each was calculated. No statistically significant shortening of median life span was observed for the lowest dose-rate group at any reasonable significance level (P value: .005-.05), whereas for dogs with higher irradiation rates, life span shortening was statistically significant at highest reasonable significance level (P value: .005). The results were entered on a graph of life span versus dose rate, assuming a threshold dose–response model. The fitted line indicates that the dose-rate threshold for γ-radiation induced life span reduction is about 600 mGy per year, which is close to the value we found previously. Making allowance for the calculated standard errors, we conclude that this threshold is in the range from 300 to 1100 mGy per year. This evidence is relevant for emergency measures actions (evacuation of residents) and for nuclear waste management.


Introduction. The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020 (HESPA II 2020) described the contemporary practice of health education specialists across work settings at entry and advanced levels. The purpose of the HESPA II 2020 manuscript was to report the research process and resulting data associated with the HESPA II 2020 and to provide recommendations for future practice analyses in health education. Method. Two data collection instruments were developed with the assistance of a 17-member Health Education Practice Panel to survey practicing health education specialists on the knowledge and skills needed in their ongoing roles. The instruments were designed to assess the degree to which the elements of the model had importance to practice (Importance), how often health education specialists performed the elements of the model (Frequency), and the point in time that health education specialists were expected to perform the various elements of the model (Performance Expectation). Composite scores for Sub-Competencies were calculated and subgroup comparisons were conducted to distinguish between levels of practice. Results. A total of 3,851 health education specialists provided usable responses. The final validated hierarchical model included eight Areas of Responsibility, 35 Competencies, and 193 Sub-Competencies. Of the Sub-Competencies, 114 were Entry level, 59 Advanced 1 level, and 20 Advanced 2 level. In addition, 145 knowledge items were verified. Discussion. HESPA II 2020 produced a validated hierarchical model descriptive of current practice of health education specialists across work settings. The results have implications for professional preparation, professional development, and certification.


The article addresses the question to what extent American antitrust policy in Germany and Italy during the 1950s, was a success or not. Did these nations adopt this policy, did they adapt themselves to it, or did they completely reject it? By a detailed comparison of these two big European nations, Germany and Italy—both defeated powers of the Second World War, and both therefore strongly dependent on postwar American aid—the effects of the American antitrust policy will be analyzed. Eventually, the Germans better adapted, after initial resistance of German big business, to the American plans than the Italians, however, only in an amended and softer form. The Italian resistance—but we even use the expression prolonged rejection—to the economic reforms were much stronger. The US administration envisioned a unified free European market without cartels as early as 1943, however, it would take another fifty years before these ideas would be implemented.


High pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods were used for measurement of vitamin C and organic acid changes of forty old Romanian apple cultivars ("Prescurate","Gurguiate","Zori","Carla","Mohorat", "Trotuse", "Mere Tari","Mar Orbai" etc.) during cold storage. Harvested apples at the last stage of commercial ripeness were placed in perforated stored at 0°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity for 60 days. Vitamin C content decreased in all cultivars but no significant differences were found in the most important of them from the beginning to the end of the storage. The highest share of total acids was contributed by citric acid. The high level of vitamin C was measured in the cultivars" Trotuse", "Ancuta","Wachsman Sammeling"and "Wachsman Amalie". Malic acid content of cultivars also decreased with storage time. Tartaric, oxalic and fumaric acid contents fluctuated during storage, but at the end of cold storage these organic acids had decreased in comparison to initial values.


Intestinal graft-versus-host disease (Gut-GVHD) is one of the major causes of mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). While systemic glucocorticoids (GCs) comprise the first-line treatment option, the response rate for GCs varies from 30% to 50%. The prognosis for patients with steroid-refractory acute Gut-GVHD (SR-Gut-aGVHD) remains dismal. The mechanisms underlying steroid resistance are unclear, and apart from ruxolitinib, there are no approved treatments for SR-Gut-aGVHD. In this review, we provide an overview of the current biological understanding of experimental SR-Gut-aGVHD pathogenesis, the advanced technology that can be applied to the human SR-Gut-aGVHD studies, and the potential novel therapeutic options for patients with SR-Gut-aGVHD.


The character and appearance of English governance were changed utterly in 1649, when Charles I was executed and the monarchy abolished. At a stroke, legitimate authority in the nation was stripped of the charismatic focus from whence it had derived much of its apparently ageless dignity. This volume provides a study of how England's political culture was reinvented by the new parliamentary republic. It describes how government members colonized and revived the abandoned royal palace at Whitehall, and describes the imaginative and consistently iconographic and ceremonial languages with which they replaced the imagery and spectacle of the monarchy. It makes a case for the comprehensive revision of the historio-graphical preconceptions surrounding England's only lengthy period of kinglessness.


In combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) calculations with the QM/MM boundary at a covalent bond, the generalized hybrid orbital (GHO) method has been shown to provide a well balanced and stable connection between the QM and MM regions. The GHO method has previously been developed for semiempirical molecular orbital methods based on neglect of diatomic differential overlap (GHO-NDDO) and for the ab initio Hartree-Fock level (GHO-AIHF). In the present work, we formulate the GHO algorithm and its analytical gradients for treating the QM subsystem by the self-consistent-charge densityfunctional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) theory. To obtain a good description of the bond length at the QM/ MM boundary, a parametrized empirical correction term involving the GHO boundary atom and its QM frontier neighbor is added. Geometries and Mulliken charges obtained from GHO-SCC-DFTB calculations are compared to the fully QM results for a set of 18 molecules and ions with various functional groups close to the boundary, and we verified that we reproduced the full C-C stretch potential in ethane and in propanoate. The torsion barrier of n-butane around the central C-C bond is studied with the GHO boundary atom placed at different locations. Finally, the energetics of the method are tested for the proton affinities of a series of 15 alcohols, amines, thiols, and acids. The results indicate that the GHO treatment for combining SCCDFTB with molecular mechanics is both theoretically robust and satisfactory for practical use. In Supporting Information we present parameters for boundaries that cut through O-C and S-C bonds.


The compatibility of ALD and CVD metal deposition with mesoporous and microporous carbon-doped organosilicate glass (OSG) films was examined. Blanket film studies using TEM, TOF-SIMS, and positron lifetime spectroscopy demonstrate that ALD W and TaN penetrate deep into the mesoporous film via the film's connected pore structure. In contrast, metal penetration into microporous OSG films was not observed. He and NH3 plasma pretreatments to the mesoporous OSG film surface did not seal the mesopores to ALD/CVD metal penetration, but the plasmas did damage the bulk of the mesoporous OSG film with varying severity. The results indicate that porosity, pore size, and/or pore structure regulate ALD/CVD precursor diffusion and that ALD metal deposition is a good probe of pore sealing strategies.


Background: Nepeta depauperataBenth is an endemic species and is extensively exploited as an anti-inflammatory agent in Iranian traditional medicine. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the antinociceptive activity of methanol extract of N. depauperata in male mice. Materials and Methods: The anti-nociceptive activities of the extract were investigated by the formalin test and Hot plate test respectively. Comparisons between the groups were carried out using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and post Hoc Tukey test. Results: N. depauperata extract showed anti-nociceptive effect. Doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg reduced the paw flexing time in formalin test from the control (P < 0.05 in both phases). The doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg; 100 and 200 mg/kg reduced the paw licking time in first and second phases of the formalin test from the control, respectively (P < 0.05). The observed effect was not reversed by naloxone. In Hot plate test, doses of 160 and 250 mg/kg significantly reduced the nociception in comparisons to control (P < 0.05). All doses of the studied extract also showed antinociceptive activity. Conclusions: This study revealed that the methanol extract of N.depauperata may minimize both the acute and chronic forms of nociception and may have potent role against inflammation.


Nuclear magnetic resonance is often the technique of choice in chemical analysis because of its sensitivity to molecular structure, quantitative character, and straightforward sample preparation. However, determination of trace analytes in complex mixtures is generally limited by low sensitivity and extensive signal overlap. Here, we present an approach for continuous hyperpolarization at high magnetic field that is based on signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) and can be straightforwardly incorporated in multidimensional NMR experiments. This method was implemented in a 2D correlation experiment that allows detection and quantification of analytes at nanomolar concentration in complex solutions.


This book offers a critical synthesis on criminal law regarding women in the ancient Near East. Based on inspection of Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, and biblical documents, it attempts to answer two fundamental questions. The first deals with the nature of the offenses committed or sustained by women. As compiled, the pertinent infractions are seen to belong mainly to family and private spheres. Because ancient Near Eastern legislative sources apply to free women almost exclusively, legal deeds and narratives pertaining to women are also consulted for information on the legal condition of slaves and to complement information provided by the codes.
A second issue is the nature of criminal legislation that is specific to women. This study shows how the law conventionally evolved from cultural mores that assign women a standing in the social structure of the community. Apart from offenses commonly treated as feminine because of their very nature (such as abortion or uncontracted wet-nursing), all other provisions about women are dependent on their particular social status. As a wife, a mother, or a daughter, a woman must submit to rigorous social obligations; but she can profit also from legal stipulations that are often caring and protective. While prostitutes or innkeepers are not expected to lead exemplary lives, they pay the price of escaping male control by their inferior social standing.
The image we therefore have of women in antiquity turn out to be at once original and banal. Original, because the autonomy of women in civil or commercial matters contrasts with their dependence on men in criminal matters (especially as it concerns the honor and dignity of their status). Banal, because in such matters adultery or rape, the legislators of antiquity anticipated their modern counterpart, crafting laws that reflected permanent and universal legal concerns rather than historical connections.