A thermal barrier coating (TBC) is used for protecting hot gas path parts, and is useful for allowing the turbine inlet gas temperature to be increased. In order to quantitatively evaluate the performance of TBCs, the thermal conductivity of TBCs on the combustor of a gas turbine were measured. The results indicate that the thermal conductivity of age-deteriorated TBCs were higher than that of the as-sprayed TBC. This finding suggested that the thermal barrier performance of the TBC had deteriorated. When the thermal barrier performance of a TBC deteriorates, the temperature of the metal substrate rises, shortening the service life of hot gas path components. Accordingly, using experimental TBCs, laboratory-scale studies were performed to identify the causes of the deterioration of thermal barrier performance in TBCs. Six types of TBCs, prepared from six grades of plasma spray powder of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ), were tested. Average powder size, powder configuration, and percentage of yttria were the parameters of plasma spray powder taken to measure the thermophysical properties and carry out microstructural analyses on the as-sprayed TBCs and heat-treated TBCs.The results of the thermophysical property measurements indicate that the thermal barrier performance of heat-treated TBCs were two to three times greater than that of the as-sprayed TBCs. The results of the microstructural analyses revealed that the deterioration in performance was caused by changes occurring in the crystalline structure and the reduction of the non-contact area as in TBCs. The changes in thermal conductivity of TBCs were expressed as coefficients of porosity, crystalline structure, and heating time and temperature.Copyright © 2001 by ASME


Online vendors could use website personalization to build a closer relationship with their customers. Based on the theory of planned behavior and theoretical works in psychology, marketing, and communication, we propose a conceptual model for exploring the underlying behavioral process of relationship building with website personalization and for testing the efficacy of website personalization.


Background: Looked after children (LAC) placed in either a foster care, kinship, residential or adoption care settings continue to develop debilitating disorders that significantly impact their future overall wellbeing. Prevalence of these disorders are often depicted under broad categories such as mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Limited in research, is the prevalence of specific disorders that fall under these broad categories.NDDs such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which cannot be medically tested for and fall under an umbrella group in the current, expert field of genetics and neuropsychiatry will be explored. Unsupported, these disorders can lead to suboptimal health and social outcomes for both the child and family. In the general population, prevalence of these NDDs and impacts on health and social wellbeing are relatively well documented but for minority groups such as LAC; research is extremely limited. This review will aim to estimate the prevalence of NDDs in LAC and compare to those children who are not looked after. Additionally, it will identify if NDDs have any impact on the health and social wellbeing of this vulnerable group.Methods: This review will report in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. PubMed, ASSIA, IBSS, Web of Science, PsychINFO, Scopus, Psych articles, Social Care Online, secondary, grey literature and government publications will be searched to identify any eligible studies. No restrictions will be placed on age or design of publication. Eligible studies must include participants, 25 years of age or under and have confirmed diagnoses using standardised international diagnostic codes or tools. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals using the random-effects model will be utilised to analyse the data. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools will be utilised to assess quality and bias.Discussion: Attaining an estimated prevalence of these NDDs in the LAC group and identifying any impacts on health and social wellbeing will contribute to the existing but limited LAC literature. From a preventative perspective, the results will inform key stakeholders in health, educational and social sectors with important information to aid in safeguarding and meeting the unique needs of these vulnerable children.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO Registration number: CRD4201913103


Aim To evaluate ventricular synchronization and function in patients
with right bundle-branch block after left bundle-branch-area pacing
(LBBAP) by echocardiography. Methods Forty patients who successfully
received LBBAP were selected and divided into the right bundle-branch
block group (RBBB group) and the non-RBBB group by pre-operation ECG.
Echocardiography and follow-up were performed 1 month after operation.
Interventricular synchronization was evaluated by tissue Doppler (TDI),
tissue mitral annular displacement (TMAD), and interventricular
mechanical delay (IVMD). The ventricular longitudinal strain and the
standard deviation of peak time of longitudinal strain were analyzed by
two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI) to evaluate
intraventricular synchronization and ventricular function. Results (1)
The deviation of systolic time to the peak of the tricuspid and mitral
valves, namely ΔPTTV-MV measured by TMAD and ΔTsTV-MV measured by TDI,
were statistically different between the two groups (P <
0.05). (2) Compared with the non-RBBB group, there were no statistically
significant differences in longitudinal strain (LS), peak strain time,
standard deviation of peak strain time (SDt), and global longitudinal
strain (GLS) in the right and left ventricle in the RBBB group (P
> 0.05). Conclusion Echocardiography technology including
2D-STI, TDI, and TMAD can effectively analyze interventricular
synchronization, intraventricular synchronization, and ventricular
function. Although the movement of the right ventricular myocardium in
the RBBB group treatment was slightly later than that of the left
ventricular myocardium after LBBAP, LBBAP is still an effective pacing
therapy for RBBB patients with pacing indication.


This paper aims to assess the impact of the use of credit in rice farming on productivity and income in Benin. It applies the potential outcomes framework to data collected from 342 rice farmers in Benin to estiamte the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE). Findings show that the use of credit in rice farming has positive and significant impact on farmers' rice yield, rice output, rice income, per capita rice income, annual household income and per capita annual household income. Therefore, facilitating access of rice farmers to agricultural credit is a good strategy for supporting rice sector development, and therefore contributing to food security and poverty alleviation in Benin. Moreover, the impacts were higher for female farmers than male farmers. Therefore, it is important to control for heterogeneity in impact assessment studies in order to appreciate the real effect of interventions on different social categories in the target population.


This article is an initial elaboration of the screen persona of the American actor Humphrey Bogart at the film The Maltese Falcon of 1941. I argue that the notion of the Hollywoodian person produces the mediation between the image of the artist and his/her social trajectory. It is a kind of symbolic power, capable of establishing the artist within the structure of cinematographic production. In this manner, I use a scene from the The Maltese Falcon to relate the two analytical axes of this argument: on the one hand, the sign of gender that characterizes Bogart's persona, alternating between apparent indifference and sudden vulnerability; on the other, the visual culture - unthinkable as separated from a local social experience - a symbolic dimension that constrains the geometry of the eyes (audience, camera, cast). My narrative searches through a series of clues collected from various sources (films, literature, biographies, historiography), sharing with the Hollywoodian classic its most characteristic trait: the detective mode of knowledge.


The thesis proposes two types of sewer systems, that are built in Slovenia. These are the so-called negative pressure or vacuum sewerages and gravity sewerages. I compare the costs of constructing each of the selected sewer systems to make findings about the investition. I present the process of dimensioning gravity sewer, where the sewage is discharged by gravity lows in the appropriate longitudinal falls and through intermediate pumping stations, that are necessary because of the roughness and slope of the terrain. I present the vacuum sewerage project, that is currently being bulit in the village of Ponikve in Dobrepolje, the procedures for dimensioning separate sewer system for disposal of waste water with a detailed hydraulic adjustment of all sections of the system. I also dimension the pumps, that are needed to overcome the terrain. The estimation of the investment for the new wastewater treatment plant with 800 PE and the proposition of the most appropriate solution is


The overwhelming demand for food requires the application of technology on field. An important issue that limits the productivity of crops is related to insect attacks. Hence, several studies have evaluated the application of different compounds to reduce the field losses, especially insecticide compounds from plant sources. Among them, plant protease inhibitors (PIs) have been studied in both basic and applied researches, displaying positive results in control of some insects. However, certain species are able to bypass the insecticide effects exerted by PIs. In this review, we disclosed the adaptive mechanisms showed by lepidopteran and coleopteran insects, the most expressive insect orders related to crop predation. The structural aspects involved in adaptation mechanisms are presented as well as the newest alternatives for pest control. The application of biotechnological tools in crop protection will be mandatory in agriculture, and it will be up to researchers to find the best candidates for effective control in long-term.


Using a modified gravity model and the cross-sectional data of East Asian economies, the present paper presents evidence that supports the view that the effect of distance-related transaction costs on trade tends to fall over time. Overall religious influence on foreign trade exists in the post-Cold War period but not during the Cold War period. The effects of language on inter-regional trade and of religion on intra-regional trade both weaken over time. In all cases, religion tends to have more significant influences on intra-regional trade than language, and language tends to exert more significant influences on inter-regional trade than religion. Finally, from 1985 to 1995 there is an indication that: (i) English becomes more important for inter-regional trade; (ii) Bahasa, English and Khmer become less important for intra-regional trade; and (iii) Chinese plays an increasing role in both intra-regional and inter-regional trade. Copyright 2007 The Author Journal compilation 2007 East Asian Economic Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd .


A murine alpha4, identified in lymphocytes, binds to protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). We found another murine alpha4-related gene (named alpha4-b) expressed selectively in the brain and testis. The alpha4-b transcript is expressed in the brain and testis, but is not detected in the spleen, thymus, bone marrow, liver, kidney, lung, heart or muscle. In-situ RNA hybridization analysis suggested that alpha4-b is expressed in most neuronal cells in the brain, but it is not expressed in the glial cells. The alpha4-b cDNA encodes a putative protein that is highly homologous (66% identity in amino-acid sequence) to the alpha4 molecule. The alpha4-b protein associates with the catalytic subunit of PP2A (PP2Ac), suggesting that the alpha4-b protein is involved in the regulation of phosphatase activity in neuronal cells.


Tumor control of hepatocellular carcinoma by radiotherapy remains unsatisfactory. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway plays a critical role in inhibiting cancer cell death. Elevated PI3K/Akt activity is associated with increased cellular resistance to irradiation. Our aim was to determine whether the inhibition of PI3K/Akt activity by a PI3K inhibitor, BKM120, contributes to the increased sensitivity of liver cancer cells to irradiation. The hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (Huh7 and BNL) were used to evaluate the in vitro synergism between BKM120 and irradiation. Balb/c mice bearing ectopic BNL xenografts were treated with BKM120 and/or radiotherapy to assess the in vivo response. BKM120 increased cell killing by radiation, increased the expression of apoptotic markers, and suppressed the repair of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks. BKM120 pretreatment inhibited radiation-induced Akt phosphorylation and enhanced the tumor-suppressive effect and radiation-induced tumor cell apoptosis in ectopic xenografts. Inhibition of mTOR phosphorylation by rapamycin enhanced the radiosensitivity of BKM120-treated hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The synergism between BKM120 and irradiation likely inhibits the activation of Akt by radiation, leading to increased cell apoptosis and suppression of DNA-double-strand breaks repair in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. These data suggest that the BKM120/radiation combination may be a strategy worthy of clinical trials.


Ion and electron heating in the earth's bow shock region is studied in terms of the modified two stream instability by treating the electron's response to be electromagnetic and that of ions to be electrostatic. The modified two stream flute mode, driven unstable by the density and temperature gradients, can heat the ions to about 50 times their upstream temperature. However, the electrons are heated mainly by the non-flute mode and their temperature can be increased by a factor of 1·5 or more. Consequently the ions will be hotter than the electrons downstream of the shock, as observed by satellites.


The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of different fuels in the preparation of Ni-Zn ferrites by combustion reaction. The catalysts were prepared according to the propellants chemistry, in stoichiometric composition, using a vitreous silica container. Carbohydrazine, monohydrated citric acid and glycine fuels were used. During the synthesis parameters as flame combustion time and temperature were measured. The structural and morphological characteristics of the powders were evaluated by XRD, textural analysis by nitrogen adsorption and SEM. The fuel monohydrated citric acid presented the greatest time and temperature of combustion reaction. The results show that the type of fuel changed the final characteristics of the powders. The XRD results showed the formation of Ni-Zn ferrite phase for all fuels used in this study. The powders prepared with carbohydrazine resulted in largest value of surface area. All powders showed morphology constituted by soft agglomerates of nanoparticles.


The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relationships among strains of the anaerobic Lactobacillus species L. ruminis and L. vitulinus, other lactobacilli with meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall peptidoglycan, and L. jensenii were studied by DNA-DNA hybridization experiments. The DNA of strains assigned to L. ruminis had a high degree of homology. However, strains which have been assigned to L. vitulinus were genotypically heterogenous, three different unrelated groups being included. There was a very low level of homology between these two species and between them and L. plantarum subsp. mobilis, L. plantarum, and L. jensenii.


The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of the expatriate hero as an expression of the spirit of expatriatism through a critical analysis of six selected stories published in The Dial during the twenties. The content of the thesis includes a preface and two chapters. The first chapter, "The Expatriate and the Advance Guard", is divided into two sub-sections. The first of these, under the sub-title "Tumbleweeds and Misfits", is a discussion of the causes and characteristics of expatriatism in the twenties. The second section, "Something New Under the Sun", focuses upon the advance guard magazine with special emphasis on The Dial as an important vehicle for the publication of expatriate writing. The second and most vital chapter, "Echoes of Expatriatism", presents an analysis of the expatriate hero in six stories selected form 1920s Dial fiction. The stories analyzed are Kenneth Burke's "Mrs. Maecenas", Sherwood Anderson's "The Door of the Trap", Clarkson Crane's "The Fall of Soissons", Conrad Aiken's "The Last Visit", Elizabeth Coatsworth's "The End of the World", and Glenway Wescott's "In a Thicket". A conclusion appears at the end of this chapter which sums up the findings of the analyses. The critical analyses of the six selected stories for The Dial show the emergence of the expatriate hero as a dramatic expression of certain expatriate attitudes including the expatriate's sense of being cut off form the past, his emphasis upon personal vision, his emphasis upon personal vision, his alienation and detachment from his world, his sense of boredom, his desire to formulate new codes to replace those in which he could no longer believe, and his need to devise rituals to enable him to live in a world he neither understand nor believes in.


ABSTRACT Multistage cycling races are very demanding and may profoundly affect the body's fluid homeostasis. This study aimed at monitoring body fluid volume and plasma volume (PV) changes during multi-stage cycling and to investigate whether changes are associated to work output and perceived exertion during the competition. During the Tour of the Alps cycling stage race 2017 daily hematocrit and hemoglobin evaluations, body weight, bioimpedance, RPE and power output measurements were performed on eight professional road cyclists. Results show modest to large changes in bioimpedance and blood hematocrit values during the race. Work accomplished during stage one was related to changes in vector length and body weight (n = 6, r = 0.821, p = 0.045 and r = ‒0.852, p = 0.031, respectively). Additionally, PV changes were associated with vector length changes (r = ‒0.759, p = 0.029). During the last stage, PV changes were related to reactance (Xc/H) changes (r = ‒0.716, p = 0.046). The physical work performed during the first stage seems to strongly influence fluid volumes, which on the other hand showed some associations to PV changes. These associations were not evident during the following stages but instead a relationship between Xc/h and PV changes occurred, possible indicating fluid shifts. Bioimpedance thus could be a useful tool to identify fluids shift during such competitions.


Via a block copolymer-assisted sol–gel synthesis route, zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films are obtained with a nanogrid-like morphology. During annealing of the hybrid ZnO films, the templating polymer undergoes structural rearrangements. Solvent annealing is done using tetrahydrofuran (THF) vapor and hence used as a tool to tune the pore size of the final grid-like films. A calcination step is performed to remove the polymer template and to study the effect of solvent annealing on the final ZnO nano-grid film. The surface structures of the films are investigated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition, the evolution in the structural length scales in the film volume is probed using grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS).


In this work we propose to use fuzzy prototypes for classification tasks. We create the prototypes by first clusterizing, separately, the available data for each class. Then we create a fuzzy set around each class center, according to clusterization indices that take into account both local and global data. We also investigate the use of an index to guide the process of obtaining a suitable number of clusters for posterior classification. We illustrate the approach using a simple example and show some results for some well-known data sets.


This article discusses the design and implementation of a course management enterprise system, the Oncourse project, at Indiana University. The Oncourse project presented the concept and provided a technical framework for the dynamic creation of Web environments for every course section offered in the university. The conceptual definition to the full university-wide implementation of Oncourse (http://oncourse.iu.edu/) is described herein. It was a hot July day in Phoenix, Arizona when the directors of the Community Learning Network and the WebLab at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) discussed a revolutionary idea with their Dean of Faculties at the 1997 AAHE Summer Institute on Teaching, Learning and Technology. "We can dynamically create a Web site for every course offered at the university," said the directors. "We can write a simple computer program to migrate Student Information System data into our WebLab course management software and give every student and faculty dynamic access to their course Web sites. We can make the environment so easy to use that most faculty will not need to attend any training workshops nor will the university need to spend millions to maintain and operate the system." The effort to develop a computer program to create a Web environment for every university course began in the fall of 1997 at the WebLab (now called CyberLab)(1) Laboratory at IUPUI campus. The project was called "Oncourse."(2) Although the original idea was only to design a simple "cookie making machine" to automatically produce Web sites, the WebLab Oncourse design group(3) concluded with the conceptualization and design of a big picture solution for teaching and learning needs in the twenty-first century. The big picture solution evolved into the research and development of a comprehensive teaching and learning enterprise that offers a "one stop shopping" Web solution to all online teaching and learning needs. From a technical perspective, the Oncourse Environment was designed as an "add on" program to the university legacy system and/or to the Student Information System (SIS) to dynamically create a personal homepage and a course Web site for every individual and every course section in the university. From a business perspective, the Oncourse Environment offers millions of dollars in savings by not creating and maintaining duplicate database systems, nor duplicating existing IT services already in a university, not to mention savings realized by automatic Web site creation and maintenance. From a faculty perspective, Oncourse introduces a new and useful technology with a Toolbox that can be easily learned and maintained without, for most users, the need to attend workshops or receive technical consultation. Drawing the Conceptual Framework The Oncourse theory of operation is based on the following conceptual frameworks. Every student and faculty member at the university owns an Oncourse Personal Profile, something like a personal homepage that is dynamically generated for every member of the university. Every university member may access his/her profile via a Web browser by visiting a Web site and entering their existing university computing ID, normally the same username and password used to check the university e-mail (See Figure 1). After a successful logon, the user will be presented with the Personal Profile page (See Figure 2). The Personal Profile includes major categories like My Courses, My Files, My Bookmarks, etc. For instance, once a student registers for a course, the course hyperlink dynamically appears on the student's Personal Profile page. Similarly, once a department identifies a course offering for an upcoming semester, the system automatically places a hyperlink on the instructor's Personal Profile page, pointing to that instructor's teaching assignments. All of this happens automatically based on the data entered and maintained by the university registrar. …


This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different silicon supplements and postharvest treatments on growth and yield of gerbera in a greenhouse experiment. Silicon supplements were including potassium silicate at three concentrations (0, 140 and 200 mg L−1), sodium silicate at three concentrations (0, 50 and 100 mg L−1) and rice hull ash (RHA) at three concentrations (0, 50 and 100 mg L−1). Also, postharvest treatments were including sucrose, salicylic acid (200 and 400 mg L−1), methyl jasmonate (15 and 25 mg L−1) and distilled water (as control). The application of potassium silicate, RHA and sodium silicate led to decrease in dry weight of flower. Shoot length and diameter were substantially higher in 140 mg L−1 potassium silicate than those in control treatment. The maximum inflorescence diameter was observed in rice husk ash (50 mg L−1). Capitulum diameter was far greater in sodium silicate at 50 mg L−1 compared to other treatments. Vase life of gerbera flower was greater in 400 mg L−1 salicylic acid and 15 mg L−1 methyl jasmonate than in control treatment. The maximum inflorescence diameter was observed in 400 mg L−1 salicylic acid. This study confirmed that the studied sources of Si, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate increased marketable quality of cut gerbera flowers.


This paper analyses mutual perceptions and stereotyping of Swedes and Croats as they are attested in language resources– dictionaries and text corpora. The descriptions of selected words related to Swedes and Croats in dictionaries and the context in which they appear in the corpora were analysed. The analysis included semantic domains, value (positive/negative), and elements of stereotyping. Additionally, the circumstances that may have influenced the emergence of stereotypes were discussed. While dictionary descriptions proved to be mostly neutral, examples of positive and negative stereotyping about both ethnic groups were found in the corpus material. Negative stereotypes about Croats as immigrants in Sweden were particularly pronounced.


An established tumor is a complex tissue composed of tumor cells, stromal cells, inflammatory cells, vasculatures, and extracellular matrices, all of which are defined together as the tumor microenvironment. Successful tumor control by immunotherapy requires activation of the immune system, expansion of the effector cells, infiltration of activated effector cells to the tumor tissue, and destruction of the tumor cells. Our previous studies have showed that anti-tumor effect of current tumor immunotherapies, such as checkpoint blockade, relies on a significant number of spontaneous tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. However, established tumors often inhibit peripheral lymphocytes entering tumor tissues for tumor destruction. Inflammatory mediators, especially cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules, play important roles in the recruitment and activation of various types of innate and adaptive immune cells. As a proof-of-concept study, we targeted tumor tissues with LIGHT, a member of the tumor necrosis factor super family. Our data suggested that targeting tumor with LIGHT is able to induce the production of several cytokines/chemokines, which recruit T cells into tumor microenvironment, leading to tumor regression. Furthermore, combination therapy with LIGHT is able to overcome tumor resistance to checkpoint blockade. Thus, these data suggested that manipulating tumor microenvironment with cytokines/chemokines that are able to recruit effector cells represents a promising strategy for tumor immunotherapy. To better understand the role of individual cytokine/chemokine, we utilized chemokine array to systemically analyze tumor microenvironments. By comparing chemokine profiles from immunotherapy-sensitive and -insensitive tumors, we found a significant difference which might be responsible for their sensitivity to immunotherapies. Sensitive tumor is characterized with a higher level of chemokines associated with lymphoid cell trafficking, such as CXCL9 and CCL22. In contrast, insensitive tumor is characterized by a higher levels of chemokines associated with myeloid cell, such as MCP-1 and CCL11. The contributions and their therapeutic potentials of these cytokines/chemokines will be studied in the next step. Citation Format: Haidong Tang, Xiangyan Qiu, Yang Wang, Yang-Xin Fu. Manipulating tumor microenvironment for immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A112.


In the title compound, C16H11NO4, the dihedral angle between the ten-membered chromen-4-one ring system (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0095 Å) and the benzene ring is 86.16 (5)°. In the crystal, molecules are linked into a three-dimensional network by weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The crystal studied was a non-merohedral twin, with the minor twin component refining to 0.093 (1).


PDAPP transgenic mice have been shown to develop age dependently much of the cerebral histopathology associated with Alzheimer's disease. PDAPP mice (3-10 months old) were tested in a battery of memory tasks to determine whether they develop memory-behavioral deficits and whether these deficits occur before or after amyloid deposition. PDAPP mice manifest robust impairments in a radial-maze spatial discrimination task at all ages tested. Mild deficits were observed in a barpress learning task in 3-month-old PDAPP mice. In contrast, PDAPP mice show an age-dependent decrease in spontaneous object-recognition performance that appears to be severe at ages when amyloid deposition is known to occur. Thus, the PDAPP mouse shows severe deficits in the radial maze well before amyloid plaque deposition, whereas object-recognition performance decreases with age and may be associated with amyloid deposition.


The presence and extent of myocardial fibrosis are key determinants of response to treatment and prognosis in a number of cardiac conditions. Until recently, myocardial fibrosis could only be detected ante mortem by endomyocardial biopsy, which is associated with procedural risk and sampling error. The development of novel cardiac imaging techniques and serum assays now permits the accurate detection and quantification of myocardial fibrosis. These have yielded new insights into disease prognosis and response to treatment.

Myocardial fibrosis develops in response to a cardiac insult, which may include ischaemia, pressure or volume overload, viral infection, or genetically mediated injury as in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Net collagen deposition results from an imbalance of its synthesis relative to degradation. A number of enzymes have been identified as potential mediators of myocardial extracellular matrix turnover. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of at least 20 calcium dependent endopeptidases that digest interstitial constituents. The various MMPs have different substrates—MMP-1 and -13 are collagenases and MMP-2 and -9 gelatinases. Left ventricular (LV) myocardial MMP activity in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and ischaemic cardiomyopathy has been shown to be greater than in normal hearts.1 Abolition of MMP-9 synthesis has been associated with reduced myocardial fibrosis and improved LV function in a rodent model of pressure overload.w1 The tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMPs) are a family of four proteins that bind to and inhibit the effects of MMPs (figure 1). TIMP-1 expression is reduced in explanted hearts from patients with both ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy.w2

Figure 1
Enzymatic cascade resulting in collagen synthesis and degradation. MMP, matrix metalloproteinase; PICP, carboxy-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I; PINP, amino-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I; TIMP, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase. The dashed line represents inhibition.

Regardless of the aetiology and/or molecular cascade resulting in collagen deposition, the presence …


Context: In vitro propagation or tissue culture of plants offers a rapid means of producing large quality of clonal planting stock and propagation that are difficult to establish conventionally. Biotechnological tools are important for multiplication and genetic enhancement of the plants by adopting techniques such as in vitro regeneration and genetic transformations. Objective: Effect of different plant growth regulators (PGRs) and their concentration on multiple shoot regeneration and callus formation was studied in Indigofera viscosa . Materials and Methods : In vitro plant regeneration was achieved in nodal and shoot tip explants. The explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with BAP and NAA. Results: The nodal explants exhibited a greater number of healthy multiple shoots. The maximum callus induction was observed on MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg L -1 2,4-D. NAA and BAP combination proved to be the most effective treatment for promoting shoot multiplication. IBA was found to be the best rooting hormone than IAA or NAA. The plantlets showed high survival rate in the soil. Conclusion: The present investigation clearly established and demonstrated the method of obtaining the new plantlets in Indigofera viscosa supported by different hormone concentrations J. bio-sci. 22: 53-58, 2014


Introduction: South Asia has noted an increasing prevalence of obesity and employment of bariatric surgery (BS) procedures. Prior studies have shown improvement in memory, executive function and attention, after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) operation in the Western population. However, there is a scarcity of data on cognitive improvement following BS in a non-Western population. Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate changes in cognitive functions of patients with severe obesity, after BS. Study Setting: Tertiary-care Academic Center, India. Methodology: A prospective study of patients undergoing BS was conducted. Specific neurocognitive tests (Mini-mental Status Examination, Standard progressive matrices, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Post Graduate Institute Memory Scale test) were used to assess cognitive status at baseline (preoperatively), and at 3, 6, and 12 months. Results: Fifty-three patients were enrolled in the study, out of which 50 had completed 1 year of follow-up at the time of analysis (n = 50). Thirty-six patients (72%) were females. The median age was 42 years, and the mean preoperative body mass index (BMI) was 45.5 ± 6.3 kg/m2. 40 patients underwent SG, while 10 underwent RYGB procedure. At baseline, the study cohort had impairment of abstract reasoning, attention, and verbal retention, as compared to normative data. At 1 year after surgery, the mean BMI was 29.1 ± 2.6 kg/m2. There was a significant (P < 0.05) improvement in most cognitive domains (global cognitive functioning, abstract reasoning, attention/concentration, and memory function). However, improvement in language function was not found to be significant across the follow-up duration of 12 months (P = 0.35). Conclusions: Individuals with severe obesity experience baseline impairment in cognitive functions. Similar to results from the Western population, BS (RYGB and SG) results in a significant improvement in multiple cognitive domains even in a non-Western population.


This paper first presents a comparison between China and India with respect to their overall economic and social development conditions and finds that China is currently at a higher development stage than India in terms of key economic indicators or social indicators.This paper also conducts an assessment of the international competitiveness of the Chinese and Indian manufacturing industries and finds that the Chinese manufacturing industry is more competitive than its Indian counterpart.This paper then conducts an evaluation of the international competitiveness of the Chinese and Indian service industries and finds that(1)the Indian service industry has remained more globally competitive than its Chinese counterpart in most of the years examined;(2)the Chinese service industry has derived its international competitiveness primarily from its competitive advantages.In spite of its weaker comprehensive competitiveness,the Chinese services industry has consistently secured a stronger competitive edge over its Indian counterpart.The Chinese service industry's comparative competitiveness is weaker than India's simply because the Chinese manufacturing industry has grown at a faster pace.Last but not least,this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the causes of competitive difference between China and India in respect of labor quality,infrastructure,government role,social heterogeneity,religion and culture as well as overseas compatriots.


Cells, in order to thrive, make efficient use of metabolites, proteins, energy, membrane space, and time. How, for example, should they allocate the available amount of protein to different metabolic pathways or cell functions? To model metabolic behaviour as an economic problem, some flux analysis model, kinetic models, and cell models apply optimality principles. However, due to their different assumptions these models are hard to compare and combine. Benefits and costs of metabolic pathways – e.g. favouring high production fluxes and low metabolite and enzyme cost – can be derived from general fitness objectives such as fast cell growth. To define pathway objectives, we may assume "optimistically" that, given a pathway state, any cell variables outside the pathway will be chosen for maximal fitness. The resulting fitness defines an effective pathway objective as a function of the pathway variables. Here I propose a unified theory that considers kinetic models, describes the set of feasible states as a state manifold and score each state by cost and benefit functions for fluxes, metabolite concentrations, and enzyme levels. To screen the state manifold and to find optimal states, the problem can be projected into flux, metabolite, or enzyme space, where effective cost and benefit functions are used. We reobtain existing modelling approaches such as enzyme cost minimisation or nonlinear versions of Flux Balance Analysis. Due to their common origin, the different approaches share mathematical optimality conditions of the same form. A general theory of optimal metabolic states, as proposed here, provides a logical link between existing modelling approaches and can help justify, interconvert, and combine metabolic optimality problems.


AIMS
The aims of this study were to provide a detailed descriptive analysis of pre-intervention morphologic and functional echocardiographic parameters in a large, unselected, multicentre cohort of neonates diagnosed with critical left heart obstruction and to compare echocardiographic features between the different subtypes of left-sided lesions.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Pre-intervention echocardiograms for 651 patients from 19 Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society (CHSS) institutions were reviewed in a core lab according to a standardized protocol including >150 morphologic and functional variables. The four most common subtypes of lesions were: aortic atresia (AA)/mitral atresia (MA) (29% of patients), AA/mitral stenosis (MS) (20%), aortic stenosis (AS)/MS (26%), and isolated AS (iAS) (18%). Only 17% of patients with AS/MS had an apex-forming left ventricle, compared with 0% of those with AA/MA and AA/MS (P < 0.0001). Aortic arch hypoplasia and coarctation were common across all four groups, while those with AA/MA and AA/MS had the smallest ascending aorta diameters. Flow in the ascending aorta was retrograde in 43% and 10% of the patients with AS/MS and iAS, respectively. The right ventricle was apex forming in 100% of patients with AA/MA and AA/MS, 96% with AS/MS and 70% with iAS (P < 0.0001). Moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation was present in 13% of all patients.

CONCLUSION
This large multi-institutional study generates insight into the distribution of the functional and morphologic spectrum in patients with critical left-sided heart disease and identifies differences in these functional and morphologic characteristics between the main anatomic subtypes of critical left heart obstruction.


Clear filamentary structures are observed at the edge of tokamak plasmas. These filaments are ejected out radially and carry plasma in the far scrape off layer (SOL) region, where they are responsible for producing most of the transport. A study has been performed of the characteristics of the filaments observed in L-mode plasma on MAST, using visible imaging. A comparison has then been made with the observed particle and power profiles obtained at the divertor as a function of the plasma current. The radial velocity and to a lesser extent the radial size of the filaments are found to decrease as the plasma current is increased at constant density and input power. The results obtained in this paper on the dependence of the average filament dynamics on plasma current are consistent with the idea that the filaments are responsible for determining the particle profiles at the divertor.


Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are membrane-embedded gatekeepers of traffic between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Key features of the NPC symmetric core have been elucidated, but little is known about the NPC basket, a prominent structure with numerous roles in gene expression. Studying the basket was hampered by its instability and connection to the inner nuclear membrane (INM). Here, we reveal the assembly principle of the yeast NPC basket by reconstituting a recombinant Nup60-Mlp1-Nup2 scaffold on a synthetic membrane. Nup60 serves as the basket's flexible suspension cable, harboring an array of short linear motifs (SLiMs). These bind multivalently to the INM, the coiled-coil protein Mlp1, the FG-nucleoporin Nup2, and the NPC core. We suggest that SLiMs, embedded in disordered regions, allow the basket to adapt its structure in response to bulky cargo and changes in gene expression. Our study opens avenues for the higher-order reconstitution of basket-anchored NPC assemblies on membranes.


Young, inexperienced drivers have the highest risk of traffic accidents. In this paper, we examine a targeted intervention in Australia that banned first-year drivers from carrying multiple passengers between 11pm and 5am. Using daytime outcomes as controls, we find that the reform reduced late-night accidents with multiple passengers by 54% and deaths by 75%, with passengers and other drivers accounting for most of the lives saved. We do not find offsetting effects for other types of accidents. The effects persist beyond the first year, suggesting that the intervention changed the habits of young drivers throughout their highest-risk years.


The competition for land between forest and agriculture has been a long-time issue. The tropical forest has been greatly reducing due to agricultural activities. There are few studies on the quantification of forest carbon stock loss caused by encroaching agricultural activities. Therefore, this study compared the biomass in the areas encroached by farming activities and forested areas; and also analyzed the forest cover change in Cross River South Forest Reserve, Nigeria. Data were obtained through forest inventory and satellite imageries. Eight sample plots of 0.25 ha were used (plots were laid in the forested and the encroached parts of the reserve). Established allometric equation was used to estimate the biomass. Satellite images from Landsat between 2002 and 2017 were used for the forest cover change. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the mean aboveground carbon density of the forested part (108.6571 tC ha) and the encroached part (44.1567 tC ha) of the reserve. The forest cover change of Forest Reserve showed that about 6,750 ha was deforested within the period with an annual rate of forest cover loss of 0.54%. It was concluded that the farming activities have negatively impacted the quantity of carbon stock of the forest reserve.


Outdoor Recreation Self-Efficacy: Scale Development and Reliability Bandura's theory of self-efficacy holds much promise for understanding the value of participation in outdoor recreation. This study evaluated the factor structure and internal consistency of a new outdoor recreation self-efficacy measure. Factor analysis revealed two subscales; Enjoyment/Accomplishment (61.84%) and Skills/Competence (12.71%) accounting for 74.54% of the explained variance in outdoor recreation self-efficacy. Reliabilities for the Enjoyment / Accomplishment (I±=.95) and Skills/Competence (I± =.94) subscales, and 17- item scale (I± =.96) show a high degree of internal consistency. A significant relationship exists between ORSE scores and participation in outdoor recreation (r = .52; p < .001). Results indicated having fun and enjoying oneself during outdoor recreation activities contributed more to a woman's self-efficacy than feeling skilled or competent, confirming Bandura's thoughts about the nature of self-efficacy. Researchers can use this instrument with confidence; it provides a reliable and valid measure for assessing the self-efficacy of women who participate in outdoor recreation activities.


This article assesses recent empirical evidence on efficiencies and competitive harm that are associated with vertical mergers. It evaluates both ex post or retrospective empirical studies that rely on post merger data and ex ante or forecasting techniques that use premerger data. It develops the idea that, although there is a need for vertical merger screening tools, there are a number of problems that are associated with attempts to adapt horizontal screens to the vertical context. Mergers in the technology, media, and telecom sectors are emphasized because they tend to dominate contested vertical mergers.


An optical seeding source with a single phase modulator is used for cost-effective upstream transmission in a super-dense WDM-PON (SDWDM-PON) in conjunction with reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) at the optical network units. The scheme is suited for simple upgrade from a 100 GHz channel spaced DWDM-PON. The scheme is experimentally demonstrated in an SDWDM-PON with 12.5 GHz channel spacing and 1.25 Gbit/s data rate per channel.


The city of Al Ain (Abu Dhabi, UAE) has a significant amount of mixed-use mid-rise buildings, especially in the city's central district. Because of the harsh arid climate of Al Ain, many of these buildings have high energy demands to accommodate the cooling load. By taking inspiration from the traditional Islamic architectural element, Mashrabiya, this study is concerned with exploring and identifying various, optimal Islamic geometric pattern (IGP) configurations used in cladding systems, with respect to energy consumption, daylighting, and quality views. The main objective of this study is to formulate a repertoire of IGPs that can be used in façade cladding systems that achieve significant reductions in energy consumption, while also providing sufficient daylighting and quality views. After a comprehensive literature review and local climate analysis, ten commonly-used IGPs will be modelled using the parametric software language Grasshopper and applied to the selected building modelled in Rhinoceros 3D, a 3D modelling program. Next, energy, daylight, and view quality simulations will be conducted using different orientations and during different seasons. The modelling process and simulations, along with the obtained results should give stakeholders a catalogue of optimal IGPs to refer to when selecting a passive exterior perforated cladding system. The study should also add to the knowledge of employing vernacular patterns to façade cladding systems in the hopes of strengthening the link to local culture.


Objectives: The study aimed to look at the demographic information, size and location of intracranial aneurysms, treatment rendered and the outcomes in Zimbabwe. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Avenues Clinic, Harare, Zimbabwe. Subjects: Adult intracranial aneurysm patients. Interventions: Craniotomy and aneurysm clipping. Results: Seventeen patients were seen during the period of study. Twelve were female patients while five were male with a male to female ratio of 1:2. The age ranged from 25-73years, with the average age being 50 and median being 58 years. Fourteen patients were black Africans, two patients were Caucasian while one was Chinese. Ten of the seventeen (58.8%) had hypertension while two had a history of aneurysms in the family. Sixteen presented after rupture of the aneurysm while one was seen at diagnosis with an unruptured posterior communicating artery aneurysm. Most aneurysms were in the anterior communicating artery and the internal carotid artery territories (35% each). Nine of the seventeen patients did undergo craniotomy and clipping of the aneurysm. Three patients had intra-operative rupture of the aneurysm. Conclusion: There is need to improve patient and medical personnel education and so that more patience with this condition are seen and diagnosed in hospitals. This will also help to make surgery for brain aneurysm more acceptable in Zimbabwe.


An attempt to describe the dose dependence of cell inactivation by a stochastic differential equation is made. For this, a stochastic variable in dose radiosensitivity is introduced. Some solutions of the stochastic equation are obtained and and analyzed. How to obtain the value of the noise intensity of radiosensitivity from the experimental data is shown. Comparison of the theory with experimental data gives good results.


This paper considers the problem of choosing the optimal linear measurement for the estimation of a state vector X in a Bayesian context where the prior distribution for X is multivariate Gaussian. The motivation for this comes from waveform-agile active sensing systems that have the capability of choosing transmit or illumination waveforms in real time. The measurement is characterized by a measurement matrix B with an energy constraint along each row. Qualitatively, the optimal solution applies the available transmit energy to each of the eigenmodes of the prior covariance of X, such that more energy is applied to modes with higher prior variance, in an attempt to bring the posterior variances down to a small common value. The allocation of the energy along the various eigenmodes requires the solution of a straightforward waterfilling problem.


Caries experience was assessed at D 1 /d 1 level (the authors called it C1) by one experienced examiner. However, caries diagnosis at this initial level requires much experience by the examiner, which must be well documented [see e.g. Jablonski-Momeni et al., 2008], while in the present case no information was provided on how the examiner was trained and which was the reproducibility of caries and non-caries diagnoses. With a statistical analysis using presence/absence of caries as outcome variable and in a sample characterised by high caries experience, such potential unreliability of diagnoses is likely to produce an excessively high proportion of false negatives, with detrimental consequences on the results of the statistical analysis investigating variables associated to caries diagnosis [Shoukri and Pause, 1999]. Food intake was assessed by parents without the help of their children using a self-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), which was based on another FFQ 'used in a similar population' [García-Closas et al., 1997]. However, FFQs (including the FFQ cited by the authors) refer to a precise period, such as the previous year, month or week and not merely to average consumption, require pictures of the portion sizes, not only of the food items; they must be administered by a trained and calibrated interviewer, generally a nutritionist or a dietician, and not self-administered, and, if used in schoolchildren, require additional information concerning food/beverage intake consumed at school, which is generally provided by the teacher [Livingstone and Robson, 2000; Fumagalli et al., 2008]. In addition, the authors, who sought to assess the effect of sugar only, starch only and sugar plus starch on caries, made their nutritional investigation assuming that these food categories were consumed alone, not in association with foods from other categories, but this is very unlikely in real life. For example, how did the authors classify a breakfast based on milk (category 4 or 5), industrial bread (category 8) with honey or jam (category 1)? This information bias is enough to invalidate the results of the study concerning the effect of sugar alone and starch alone on caries, because the FFQ used in this study did not allow to assess whether sugar or starch were consumed alone or in association. A serious limit of FFQs is that they are subjected to reporting bias. For example, obese subjects are more likely to under-report energy intake than their normal-weight counterpart [Champagne et al., 1998]. Selective misreporting of certain types of foods affects reporting accuracy and is particularly detrimental to understanding the role of nutrition in health [Heitmann and Lissner, 1995; Johansson et al., 1998]. For instance, subjects who underreport energy intake also report eating less sugar and carbohydrate, particularly from biscuits/pastries/puddings and sugar/ confectionery [Pryer et al., 1997]. The non-significant association between confectionery intake and dental caries found by the authors cited by Llena and Forner [2008], which inspired them to design their FFQ, also was explained by selective under-reporting Letter


The metabolism of the peripheral leucocyte has been studied in a child presenting with mental retardation and hypervalinemia. A defect in the transamination of valine was demonstrated. Evidence is presented that the transamination of value is dependent on an enzyme that is specific for valine. Transamination of valine is demonstrable in placenta, suggesting the possibility that the diagnosis may be made before birth.


The highly variable levels of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) reactivation among patients with sickle cell disease is not well understood. We previously determined that pancellular reversal of gamma-globin gene silencing is achievable through the activation of specific signal transduction pathways using stem cell factor (SCF) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-B). Based upon the reliability of this culture assay for HbF reactivation, the culture system is additionally being utilized to screen for inhibitors of HbF reactivation. As an initial screening strategy, published reports, high-throughput sequencing efforts, and array-based transcription profiles were examined to identify erythroblast-expressed receptors with known ligands that may serve a signaling role in the regulation of globin expression. A dose-escalation strategy was used to screen seventeen ligands that bind to a subset of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR). Among those ligands, oleoyl-lysophosphatidic acid (OLPA) and neurokinin A (NKA) were identified as potential inhibitors of HbF reactivation. Lysophosphatidic acid is a lipid metabolite that is released after tissue injury and may play a role in vascular remodeling. Neurokinin A is a small neuropeptide mainly involved in pain signaling. OLPA inhibited HbF reactivation in a dose-dependent manner (HbF/HbF+HbA ratios: EPO: 0.7±0.01%; EPO+SCF+TGF-B (EST): 36.3±0.1%; EST+10nM OLPA: 36.5±0.1%; EST+100nM OLPA: 31.6±0.1%; EST+1uM OLPA: 12.7±0.1%, p=1.9E-03). NKA also inhibited HbF reactivation, but the magnitude of the NKA effect was donor-specific. Cells from one donor demonstrated a robust response (HbF/HbF+HbA ratios: EPO: 1.7%; EST: 26.7%; EST+10nM NKA: 24.5%; EST+100nM NKA: 8.8%; EST+1uM NKA: 7.8%). Since OLPA and NKA may both act through adenylate cyclase, the role of this enzyme was examined further using the activator, forskolin (0.8 uM-20uM) and inhibitor, SQ22536 (40uM – 600uM). While we were unable to demonstrate a significant increase in HbF among cultures grown in forskolin, the addition of SQ22536 resulted in a profound, dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the expression of HbF (EPO: 1.3±1.2%; EST: 36.7±11.3%; EST+40uM SQ: 30.3±10.2%; EST+200 uM SQ : 14.5±4.5%, p=1.9E-02; EST+600uM SQ: 2.3±2.7%, p=4.1E-03). Flow cytometry revealed that the inhibitory effects of SQ22536 on HbF were pancellular. Importantly, inhibition of the main downstream target of adenylate cyclase (protein kinase A) with H89 (10nM-1.0 uM) did not result in a significant reduction in HbF. However, phosphorylation studies demonstrated that SQ22536 altered the kinetics of MEK activation. MEK is a kinase that helps mediate the HbF-activating effect of SCF [Blood 2004, 1;103(5):1929–33]. These data suggest that inhibitory effects upon HbF reactivation in adult erythroblasts can be mediated by endogenous signaling molecules. Based upon these results, we propose that patient-specific responses to tissue injury and pain may play a negative role in HbF reactivation in sickle-cell disease.


Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising new technology that is having a very fast growth from home workshops to high-tech cutting-edge factories. As any manufacturing technique, adequate metrology services are needed to assure the quality of items manufactured by AM. One of the most widely used instruments to measure the characteristics of surfaces manufactured with AM is the confocal microscope. In this paper, authors present a whole calibration procedure for confocal microscopes designed to be implemented preferably in workshops or industrial environments rather than in research and development departments. Because of that, it is as simple as possible. The procedure is designed without forgetting any of the key aspects that need to be taken into account and based on classical reference material standards. These standards can be easily found in industrial dimensional laboratories and easily calibrated in accredited calibration laboratories.


The seasonality hypothesis states that climates characterized by large annual cycles select for large body sizes. In order to study the efiects of seasonality on the evolution of body size, we use a model that is based on physiological rules and flrst principles. At the ecological time scale, our model results show that both larger productivity and seasonality may lead to larger body sizes. Our model is the flrst dynamic and process-based model to support the seasonality hypothesis and hence demonstrates the importance of basing models on physiological processes. We focus not only on variability at the ecological time scale, but also on the temporal variations in seasonality existing at geological time scales. A particularly strong forcing of seasonality exists on the scale of 20,000-400,000 years, the scale of Milankovitch cycles. Therefore, we simulated the evolutionary response of body size to a Milankovitch-type of forcing of climate and food density. Results illustrate that for a given level of investment in reserves body size may track climatic cycles, and that below a certain seasonality threshold the body size will decrease rapidly, leading to extinction.


Language models based on artificial neural networks increasingly capture key aspects of how humans process sentences. Most notably, model-based surprisals predict event-related potentials such as N400 amplitudes during parsing. Assuming that these models represent realistic estimates of human linguistic experience, their success in modelling language processing raises the possibility that the human processing system relies on no other principles than the general architecture of language models and on sufficient linguistic input. Here, we test this hypothesis on N400 effects observed during the processing of verb-final sentences in German, Basque, and Hindi. By stacking Bayesian generalised additive models, we show that, in each language, N400 amplitudes and topographies in the region of the verb are best predicted when model-based surprisals are complemented by an Agent Preference principle that transiently interprets initial role-ambiguous NPs as agents, leading to reanalysis when this interpretation fails. Our findings demonstrate the need for this principle independently of usage frequencies and structural differences between languages. The principle has an unequal force, however. Compared to surprisal, its effect is weakest in German, stronger in Hindi, and still stronger in Basque. This gradient is correlated with the extent to which grammars allow unmarked NPs to be patients, a structural feature that boosts reanalysis effects. We conclude that language models gain more neurobiological plausibility by incorporating an Agent Preference. Conversely, theories of human processing profit from incorporating surprisal estimates in addition to principles like the Agent Preference, which arguably have distinct evolutionary roots.


We investigated whether foreign-born and foreign-educated scientists and engineers are disproportionately represented among individuals making exceptional contributions to science and engineering in the United States. Using six criteria, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, we found that, in almost all instances, contributors are disproportionately foreign born and foreign educated.


Evidence suggests that obesity is strongly associated with low physical activity (PA). Overcoming the obesity problem requires that individuals adhere to prescribed PA programs. Therefore, in this paper we review the factors affecting adherence. On the basis of the review we recommend a strategy for developing movement competence and enjoyment of PA to improve adherence and long term participation in PA. The relationships among childhood obesity, level of PA, and movement competence indicated by motor coordination (MC) and development of fundamental movement skills (FMS) were reviewed, followed by an assessment of current pedagogical and psychological principles leading to the proposal of a strategic approach to improve long term PA adherence. Many children are affected by a "vicious cycle of obesity", low PA, and low levels of movement competence perpetuating avoidance of PA. Intervention programmes to break the vicious cycle should be based on skill development needs of individuals. The program should be designed and delivered in a manner that fosters a task-based psycho-social climate based on self-determination and achievement goal theories. MC training reinforced by a favourable psycho-social climate can be effective in breaking a "vicious cycle of obesity" and increasing PA adherence.


This paper presents the IP mode intelligent measuring & controlling system (IMIMCS). Based on object-oriented modeling technology of UML and XML Schema, the innovative methods and technologies of some key problems for XML data modeling in the IMIMCS were especially discussed, including refinement for systemic business by means of use-case diagram of UML, the confirmation of the content of XML data model and logic relationship of the objects of XML Schema with the aid of class diagram of UML, the mapping rules from the UML object model to XML Schema. Finally, the application of the IMIMCS based on XML for a modern greenhouse was presented. The results show that the modeling methods of the measuring & controlling data in the IMIMCS involving the multi-layer structure and many operating systems process strong reliability and flexibility, guarantee uniformity of complex XML documents and meet the requirement of data communication across platform.


An econometric model that has been developed to investigate the effects of demographic change on the US economy is described. The specific demographic features examined are the sizes of age sex groups in the US working age population. The size of these groups from now through the end of the 20th century will be determined primarily by past and current levels of fertility so they can be forecast with some degree of confidence. The model expands both the domain and accuracy of longterm economic forecasting by making use of the considerable quantity of demographic information that can be forecast, at least through this century, with a fairly great degree of confidence. In addition to economic forecasting, this study of the impact of demographic changes on the US labor market contributes to the investigation of the interrelationships among economic and demographic changes. The task of the model is as follows: given an exogenous projection of fertility and mortality rates and net immigration and given exogenous forecasts of variables such as rates of technical change, government demand for goods and services, and tax rates, the model forecasts variables characterizing the labor market and the macroeconomy. The model uses the fundamental principles of supply and demand, the economic theory of production, and the theory of household allocation of time and income to draw the implications of changes in demographic variables for the labor market and the economy. The crux of the model is a set of relationships depicting the behavior of the US labor market. In the labor market submodel, the input of labor of each of 16 age sex groups and its piece in each period is determined by the interaction of supply and demand. The 16 demographic groups are males and females, respectively, of ages 14-15, 16-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65 and over. Equations depicting the supply of and demand for labor of various demographic groups are estimated and provide the behavioral relationships of the labor market submodel. The following description of the model is in 3 parts: the demand for labor; the labor supply equations; and the intergration of the 2 and the complete growth model. Some illustrative forecasts are included. In all 3 forecasts, the proportion of the labor force accounted for by workers in the middle age groups, 25-54, increases, reaching the highest levels in the post World War 2 period in the 1990-2000 decade. The proportion accounted for by males in that age group does not rise notably and remains lower than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The proportion accounted for by women age 25-54 rises markedly. This trend is possible the most salient feature of the forecasts.


The World Health Organization Collaborative Study on Psychological Problems in General Health Care examined the form and frequency of, and disability associated with, psychiatric disorders in primary care attenders in 14 countries worldwide. This large multicenter study showed that psychiatric disorders are frequent (24%) among primary healthcare attenders and that significant disability is associated with the mental illness. We present further data from this study, focusing on the comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and the relevance of panic attacks in the primary care setting. Panic disorder is frequently comorbid with depression and this comorbid condition represents a severe form of mental illness. Patients diagnosed with both panic disorder and depression are more likely to have a long-lasting disorder that has an increased severity, results in higher disability levels and is associated with increased suicidality. Panic attacks are indicative of the presence of a depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder or a subthreshold diagnosis in 99 % of patients with current panic attacks. A high symptomatic severity and disability, and increased suicide risk were found in subthreshold cases, particularly if associated with depressive episodes. Thus, panic attacks, which are readily recognized, are characteristic of psychiatric illness and should indicate a high probability that treatment is needed.


Massive pericardial effusion in the neonatal period is uncommon. When present, intrapericardial teratoma and viral pericarditis are the most common causes. 1 The following report describes a newborn infant with cardiac tamponade and massive pericardial effusion caused by Mycoplasma hominis . She was successfully treated with pericardiocentesis, antibiotics, and creation of a pleuropericardial window. Report of a Case .—A female infant was born to a 24-year-old primigravida who was well throughout most of her pregnancy except for a "flu-like" illness two weeks before delivery, characterized by fever, malaise, myalgia, and cough. Cesarean section was performed at 37 weeks' gestation because of developing preeclampsia and premature rupture of fetal membranes. Birth weight was 3,680 g. Initial Apgar scores were 4 at one minute and 4 at five minutes. Because of cyanosis and severe respiratory distress, an endotracheal tube was inserted and the infant was immediately transferred to the North Central Illinois Regional


This paper analyzed the concepts and the fundamentals of information coordinated and uncoordinated mechanism. The key roles of information-coordinated mechanism in supply chain were emphasized and information was pointed out as valuable resources for decision-making. Then the coordinated mechanism based on maximum profits was discussed. The structures of optimal solution for order quantity and sale price on various conditions were studied. Finally the effects of coordination and un-ordination on profit distribution were described.


Parasympathetic neurons, when cultured alone, lose sensitivity to acetylcholine, but if striated muscle is included in the culture, neuronal chemosensitivity is maintained. The membrane remnants of myotubes ruptured by osmotic shock also supported the responsiveness of the cultured neurons to transmitter, whereas muscle-conditioned medium or membrane remnants of nonmuscle embryonic skin cells did not support this responsiveness. The regulation of chemosensitivity by contact of neurons with the target cell membrane may be important in the formation and maintenance of neuronal circuitry.


Instead of just recording thoughts, printing itself can be used as a means of communicating ideas. Writer and publisher should collaborate to produce an article or a book in such a way as to make its organization and meaning more clear. `Discourse punctuation' encompasses the inclusion of an outline; underlining, both thick and thin; boldface words, phrases, and sentences; brackets or boxes around important sections; marginal markers and notes; various printing styles, type fonts and sizes; and the use of color. The intent of these effects is to increase the reader's immediate understanding and thereby to increase the speed and efficiency of reading. The author demonstrates some of these suggestions.


An approximation study was conducted using a socio-agricultural approach to determine the current status of maize stover production and use in the Frailesca region of Chiapas. Field work conducted in 2012 consisted of semi-structured interviews to gather information from all stakeholders involved in the maize- livestock farming relationship. Three classes of maize-livestock farmers by scale were identified in the region depending on the criteria of crop surface and maize yield. All three classes of farmers were found to be energy efficient, with balances above 9 Mcal produced per Mcal consumed. The primary form of using maize stover at all stages of cattle raising except fattending was direct grazing, due to low yields that make mechanical operations hardly feasible.


Backgrounds: Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant cancers in humans and has a high fatality rate. In recent years, researchers have verified that the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway affects the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with HCC. Although many studies have investigated the relationship between Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and HCC, the prognostic value of β-catenin in HCC remains inconclusive. CTNNB1 (Catenin Beta-1) is an important factor in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. However, no consensus has been reached on the clinical and prognostic significance of CTNNB1 mutations in HCCs. Methods: Eligible studies and relevant data were obtained from PubMed, Web of Science, Elsevier, Cochrane Library, Ovid, and Embase databases. The correlation between CTNNB1 mutations and clinical/prognosis of patients were evaluated. A fixed- or random-effects model was used to calculate pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Seventeen studies matched the selection criteria, and 1828 patients were included. This meta-analysis demonstrated that patients with HCC with CTNNB1 mutations had favorable clinicopathological features and survival. The combined ORs of 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival were0.52 (n = 6 studies, 95% CI: 0.34–0.81, Z = 2.89, P =0.004, 0.28 (n =6 studies, 95% CI: 0.18–0.42, Z = 6.03, P<0.00001), -0.22 (n = 6 studies, 95% CI: 0.37–0.06, Z = 2.78, P = 0.005), respectively. Additionally, CTNNB1 mutation might be significantly associated with differentiation (OR = 0.54, 95% CI:0.36–0.81, Z = 2.98, P = 0.003), TMN stages (Tumor, Node, Metastasis staging classification) (OR = -0.25, 95% CI:-0.33–-0.18, Z = 6.60, P<0.00001), liver cirrhosis (OR = 0.21, 95% CI:0.11–0.39, Z = 4.94, P< = 0.00001), and HBV (Hepatitis B Virus) infection (OR = 0.44, 95% CI:0.31–0.64, Z = 4.37, P<0.0001), but not with tumor size, metastasis, vascular invasion, and HCV infection. Conclusions: CTNNB1 mutation can serve as an indicator of favorable prognosis as well as a novel target for treatment in HCC.


Styrax benzoin fumes have a spiritual aspect from ancient times, magical essence like a pleasant perfume, and are employed in religious ceremonies in India. This study aims to identify the volatile compounds in S. benzoin extract, their binding affinity to the bacterial target proteins, and study the antibacterial activity of the potential extract. The compounds obtained from GC-MS analysis of S. benzoin extract were subjected to molecular docking studies against DHFR of Staphylococcus aureus, tRNA synthetase of Escherichia coli, DHPS of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Molecular docking studies revealed that seventeen compounds out of 20 compounds exhibited higher binding affinity than co-ligand (-7.00 kcal/mol) against the Staphylococcus aureus enzyme DHFR. Consequently, the crude extracts were evaluated for antibacterial activity against S. aureus, and the acetone extract showed promising findings. S. benzoin fumes might replace synthetic room fresheners, and promising compounds could be exploited in the cosmetics industry.


A consistent injury mechanism involving multiple joints has been highlighted in athletes experiencing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. However, if and to what extent healthy athletes incur an unsafe biomechanical profile during high-dynamics movements is unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the occurrence of the ACL risk profile in a competitive pivoting sports population.Thirty-four athletes (22.8 ± 4.1 y) performed a frontal deceleration and a change of direction at 90°. Full-body kinematics was collected through 15 wearable inertial sensors (Awinda, Xsens). Nine ACL risk factors were defined based on four categories: limited lower limb flexion, valgus collapse, foot rotation and trunk rotation. A movement trial was considered 'at-risk' in the presence of at least 5 simultaneous risk factors. The rate of athletes with at-risk movements was assessed and multivariate regression for associated outcomes was conducted.The overall rate of injury profile occurrence was 9-12%. The injury profile was identified at least in one trial in 24 athletes (71%) and three trials in 5 athletes (15%). Significant associations were found for higher approaching speed (OR = 4.3) and female sex (OR = 4.8). A large occurrence of the typical ACL injury biomechanical profile was noticed. Large screenings are advisable to identify at-risk athletes and promote preventative strategies.


Four novel π-conjugated chromophores with an azobenzene core (1–4) have been synthesized exploiting Pd-catalysed cross-coupling reactions between ethynyl-bearing azobenzene cores and suitably-designed peripheral groups. While in molecules 2 and 3 the azobenzene core is equipped, respectively, with ethynyl and 1,3-butadiyne spacers terminated with a substituted aniline, molecule 4 is an homologue of derivative 2 in which the terminal moieties are replaced by meso-substituted Zn-porphyrins. X-Ray crystallographic studies of substituted azobenzene 2 reveal a nearly planar arrangement of the four phenyl rings and the trans configuration of the NN central unit. The UV-Vis absorption spectrum of molecule 1 in cyclohexane (CHX) is very similar to that of unsubstituted azobenzenes; upon irradiation at the maximum of the intense π–π absorption feature (360 nm), 1 undergoes trans → cisphotoisomerization reaching a photostationary state. The process is fully reversible both photochemically and thermally (ca. 120 min in the dark). The UV-Vis electronic absorption features of 2–4 are dramatically different compared to those of 1, but the photochemical process can still be traced and exhibits full reversibility in CHX. Also in the case of compound 4, where the photoreactive azobenzene excited states might be quenched by the low-lying porphyrin electronic levels, the photoreaction does occur. Extensive STM investigations of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 2 and 3 at the solid/liquid interface were performed by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). It is evidenced that only the trans isomer can be physisorbed on the surface whereas the cis form, either produced under illumination in situ or prepared by irradiation of the solution prior to deposition (ex-situ), is never observed on the surface. The smallest azobenzene 1 and the bisporphyrin system 4 did not physisorb onto the surface because of the very small size and the bulky 3,5-di(tert-butyl)phenyl groups hindering flat adsorption on HOPG, respectively.


The Personal Environment Controller (PECo) is a digital assistant system that provides the user with a unified facility for organizing as well as accessing the different media repositories at his disposal and direct manipulation of the physical environment (projectors, TV sets, hi-fi systems, Lights, shutters, etc.). To interact with the environment, PECo´s user interface is based on the 3D visualization of the room, allowing the user the intuitive selection of a device, basing his selection on the device position and orientation within the 3D model of the room. The main purpose of this thesis is the development and implementation of a system that can dynamically update this user interface, providing PECo with a model that describes the environment. It will be based on the UPnP architecture and the Ubisense system. UPnP allows us to perform the discovery and control of the available devices. Ubisense is a commercial indoor location system. They will inform us of the changes in the environment through some events that our system will receive and process to automatically generate the 3D user interface model. The main application area are for PECo is AmI meeting rooms. Unfortunately, UPnP is oriented to the house automation. Consequently, a generic UPnP Presentation Architecture for AmI meeting rooms has been developped. This architecture introduces besides standard lighting devices also a UPnP design for complex projection settings, analog audio-video devices, shutter blinds and media repositories. Using this architecture, AmI developers benefit form UPnP device discovery as well as standardized access to devices and media repositories.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

The risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma is 60X greater in the HIV-infected population when compared to non-infected individuals despite the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The primary difference between lymphoma in non-infected individuals and those with AIDS related lymphoma (ARL) is that ARL is high-grade and metastatic. Since the introduction of HAART the incidence of ARL has decreased but not the same extent as other AIDS-related malignancies and there has been little change amongst the CD4 strata. Therefore, with the increase in life expectancy afforded by HAART, the overall number of ARL cases is expected to rise in the future. Preliminary reports have suggested that some ARLs contain HIV-infected macrophages that may contribute to ARL pathogenesis. A recent study evaluating HIV sequence evolution in the contest of metastatic ARL found lymphoma specific HIV compartmentalized within sites of lymphoma that was distinct from HIV present in non-lymphoma sites (Salemi et al, PLOSone Dec 3, 2009). These data suggested the existence of a lymphoma specific form of HIV evolving within individuals who develop ARL. The goal of this research was to determine the incidence of HIV infected lymphomas in the pre and post-HAART eras and if HIV-positive lymphomas have a specific immunophenotype. A tissue microarray containing ∼150 of ARLs (from 1982-2007) was obtained through the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) and was used for HIV p24 and macrophage CD68 immunohistochemistry. Double staining techniques confirmed that p24 expression was localized to tumor associated macrophages (TAM). There was a highly significant (p<0.001) increase in the frequency of p24+ ARL cases post-HAART (after 1996; 49%) as compared to pre-HAART (before 1996; 26%). Using antigen expression data CD20, CD3, CD10, BCL6, BCL2, MUM1, Ki67, blimp, p53 and EBV, provided by the ACSR, we were able to determine that p24+ ARLs were generally of B cell origin but did not have a specific immunophenotype. In contrast, EBV+ ARLs were more likely to express MUM1 or blimp and less likely to express CD29, CD10 or BCL6. EBV status was not associated with a pre/post HAART diagnosis (44 vs. 40%). However, a subset of EBV-/p24+ tumors was identified. In the pre-HAART era, 13% of the tumors were EBV-/p24+ compared to 30% in the post-HAART era suggesting, that the incidence of this tumor type is increasing (p<0.05). These data describe for the first time the existence of potentially tumor specific HIV in up to 1/3 of all post HAART ARLs, a class of tumor that is immunophenotypically distinct from EBV+ ARLs.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5353.


Introduction Chronic cough is a troublesome condition that reduces patient quality of life. Recent evidence suggests that healthy females cough more than healthy males but the mechanism underlying this in unclear.1 We hypothesise that opiate-sensitive inhibitory control mechanisms determine capsaicin-evoked cough responses in healthy subjects. Aim To show that in healthy males the number of capsaicin-evoked coughs is increased following administration of naltrexone, an opiate receptor antagonist, compared with placebo. Method 15 male subjects (median age 30 yrs (21–59)) were recruited in to a randomised double blind cross-over trial of single doses of naltrexone vs. placebo given 1 week apart. A capsaicin inhalational challenge (doubling doses 0.48 to 125[micro]M) was performed 60 min after ingestion of naltrexone/placebo using a dosimeter. Four inhalations 30 seconds apart were performed at each concentration and the total coughs evoked at each dose were recorded and verified using a cough monitor. Results There was a tendency for subjects to cough more when treated with naltrexone (16.7 ± 2.7 (SEM) compared with placebo (13.7 ± 1.6), (p = 0.11, general estimating equations). See Figure 1 Conclusion This small pilot study suggest that opiate sensitive inhibitory mechanisms may have a role in controlling the cough reflex even in healthy subjects. References Hilton EC, Baverel PG, Woodcock A, Van Der Graaf PH, Smith JA. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Oct;132(4):847–55 Abstract P10 Figure 1


Reversible data hiding (RDH) is desirable in applications where both the hidden message and the cover image need to be recovered without loss. Among many RDH approaches is prediction-error expansion (PEE), containing two steps: i) prediction of a target pixel value, and ii) embedding according to the value of the prediction error. In general, higher prediction performance leads to larger embedding capacity and/or lower signal distortion. Leveraging on recent advances in graph signal processing (GSP), we pose pixel prediction as a graph-signal restoration problem, and design non-local graph-based prediction schemes where the appropriate edge weights of the underlying graph are computed using a similar patch searched in a semi-local neighborhood. Specifically, for each candidate patch, we first examine eigenvalues of its structure tensor to estimate its local smoothness. If sufficiently smooth, we pose a maximum a posteriori (MAP) problem using either a quadratic Laplacian regularizer or a graph total variation (GTV) term as signal prior. While the MAP problem using the first prior has a closed-form solution, we design an efficient algorithm for the second prior using alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) with nested proximal gradient descent. Finally, hidden message will be embedded into the image according to the resulting prediction errors. Experimental results show that with better quality GSP-based prediction, at low capacity the visual quality of the embedded image exceeds state-of-the-art methods noticeably.


One of the crucial elements in the Internet's success is its ability to adequately control congestion. The paper defines and solves several optimization problems related to Internet congestion control, as a step toward understanding the virtues of the TCP congestion control algorithm currently used and comparing it with alternative algorithms. We focus on regulating the rate of a single unicast flow when the bandwidth available to it is unknown and may change over time. We determine near-optimal policies when the available bandwidth is unchanging, and near-optimal competitive policies when the available bandwidth is changing in a restricted manner under the control of an adversary.


The paper deals with the segmentation of brain tumours in Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. The segmentation method developed is based on the analysis of three MR series namely: T1-weighted (T1W), contrast enhanced T1W (CE-T1W) and perfusion maps images. The differential images after and before contrast agent administration are segmented with the use of the Kernelised Fuzzy C-Means (KFCM) method, yielding a binary mask of the suspected tumour. Next, the mask is superimposed over the perfusion maps. The perfusion intensities of corresponding areas in both brain hemispheres are compared. The results obtained for ten subjects with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) are discussed.


ABSTRACT Nakashita, S.; Woo, H.; Kim, K.; Kim, K.; Lee, I.-C.; Kim, D.-S., and Hibino, T., 2018. Influence of Kuroshio path on Salinity distribution in Seto Inland Sea. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 21–25. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This study analyzes residual current and salinity distribution in Seto Inland Sea induced by Kuroshio Path variation. The salinity ranged 30 - 34 PSU and it decreased by approximately 1 - 2 PSU at near center of Bisanseto during non-meandering period. Sea level height variations at both boundary of Seto Inland Sea which induces residual current mainly depends on distance between boundaries and Kuroshio Path because of higher sea level hight at Kuroshio path than than that at northern part of Kuroshio path approximately 1 m. Westward residual flow during the non-meandering period (year 1997) was estimated to be faster than that during the meandering period with maximum relative velocity of 4.5 cm/sec. Decrease of salinity at near center of Bisanseto is due to the westward movement of the river water plume from the eastern Bisanseto. From the results obtained above, it is concluded that location of low salinity water at Bisanseto is mainly depends on the residual current due to variation of Kuroshio Path.


Supervised person re-identification methods rely heavily on high-quality cross-camera training label. This significantly hinders the deployment of re-ID models in real-world applications. The unsupervised person re-ID methods can reduce the cost of data annotation, but their performance is still far lower than the supervised ones. In this paper, we make full use of the auxiliary information mined from the datasets for multi-modal feature learning, including camera information, temporal information and spatial information. By analyzing the style bias of cameras, the characteristics of pedestrians' motion trajectories and the positions of camera network, this paper designs three modules: Time-Overlapping Constraint (TOC), Spatio-Temporal Similarity (STS) and Same-Camera Penalty (SCP) to exploit the auxiliary information. Auxiliary information can improve the model performance and inference accuracy by constructing association constraints or fusing with visual features. In addition, this paper proposes three effective training tricks, including Restricted Label Smoothing Cross Entropy Loss (RLSCE), Weight Adaptive Triplet Loss (WATL) and Dynamic Training Iterations (DTI). The tricks achieve mAP of 72.4% and 81.1% on MARS and DukeMTMC-VideoReID, respectively. Combined with auxiliary information exploiting modules, our methods achieve mAP of 89.9% on DukeMTMC, where TOC, STS and SCP all contributed considerable performance improvements. The method proposed by this paper outperforms most existing unsupervised re-ID methods and narrows the gap between unsupervised and supervised re-ID methods. Our code is at https://github.com/tenghehan/AuxUSLReID.


The present investigation was carried out to study dairy animal housing practices followed by dairy animal owners in the Anand district of middle Gujarat region. The data were collected from randomly selected 120 dairy animal owners interviewed personally with a well-prepared questionnaire. The study revealed that all the respondents provided housing shelter with the all-time placement of their animals in the house. Majority of respondents (74.17%) constructed animal sheds nearby their own house followed by 25.83% were at a distance from farmer's house. It was found that 64.17% of animal houses were oriented in east-west while 35.83% respondents had houses in a north-south orientation. The respondents provided pucca floor (63.33%) and galvanized iron sheets as a roofing material (49.17%) in their animal sheds, whereas 34.17% farmers had no provision of the wall in their animal sheds. The vast majority of respondents (85.00%) had the provision of good ventilation in their animal sheds and 72.50 % of the respondents had the provision of artificial light in their animal houses. Majority of dairy animal owners (72.50%) kept distance between manure pits and their animal sheds and 66.67 % respondents had provision and practice to protect animals from extreme weather. About 1/5th respondents used a curtain to reduce cold and very few owners (5.00%) provided bedding material to their animals. It was concluded that dairy animal owners of Anand district possess better knowledge regarding animal housing management and follow different practices of scientific animal husbandry.


Mahuang Fuzi Xixin Decoction (MFXD), a Chinese traditional herbal formulation, has been used to treat allergic rhinitis (AR) in China for centuries. However, the mechanism underlying its effect on AR is unclear. This study investigated the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effects of MFXD on AR. Ovalbumin-induced AR rat models were established, which were then treated with MFXD for 14 days. Symptom scores of AR were calculated. The structure of the gut microbiota was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and qPCR. Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content in rat stool and serum was determined by GC-MS. Inflammatory and immunological responses were assessed by histopathology, ELISA, flow cytometry, and western blotting. Our study demonstrated that MFXD reduced the symptom scores of AR and serum IgE and histamine levels. MFXD treatment restored the diversity of the gut microbiota: it increased the abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes and decreased the abundance of Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria. MFXD treatment also increased SCFA content, including that of acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Additionally, MFXD administration downregulated the number of Th17 cells and the levels of the Th17-related cytokines IL-17 and RORγt. By contrast, there was an increase in the number of Treg cells and the levels of the Treg-related cytokines IL-10 and Foxp3. MFXD and butyrate increased the levels of ZO-1 in the colon. This study indicated MFXD exerts therapeutic effects against AR, possibly by regulating the gut microbial composition and Th17/Treg balance.


Objectives Studies in several sub-Saharan geographies conducted early in the COVID-19 pandemic suggested little impact on contraceptive behaviours. Initial results may mask widening disparities with rising poverty, and changes to women's pregnancy desires and contraceptive use amid prolonged health service disruptions. This study examined trends in contraceptive behaviours in four sub-Saharan African settings 1 year into the pandemic. Design Nationally and regionally representative longitudinal surveys. Setting Burkina Faso, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) and Nigeria (Lagos). Participants Women aged 15–49 years with sample size ranging from 1469 in Nigeria to 9477 in Kenya. Outcome measures Fertility preferences, contraceptive use and unintended pregnancies measured before COVID-19 (November 2019 to January 2020) and during COVID-19 (November 2020 to January 2021). Analysis We described population-level and individual-level changes by socioeconomic characteristics using generalised equation modelling. We used logistic regression models to identify factors related to contraceptive adoption and discontinuation and to experiencing an unintended pregnancy. Results At the population level, we found no change in women's exposure to unintended pregnancy risk, alongside 5–9 percentage point increases in contraceptive prevalence in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Lagos. Reliance on provider-dependent methods dropped by 2 and 4 percentage points in Kenya and Burkina Faso, respectively, although these declines were not statistically significant. Between 1.0% and 2.8% of women across sites experienced an unintended pregnancy during COVID-19, with no significant change over time. Individual-level trajectories showed contraceptive adoption was more common than discontinuation in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Lagos, with little difference by sociodemographic characteristics. Women's COVID-19-related economic vulnerability was unrelated to unintended pregnancy across sites. Conclusions This study highlights the resilience of African women across diverse settings in sustaining contraceptive practices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with reports of rising poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, there is continued need to monitor access to essential sexual and reproductive health services.


Antimicrobial resistance is a public health concern resulting in high rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Furthermore, a high incidence of food poisoning diseases besides harmful implications of applying synthetic food additives in food preservation necessitates fabrication of safe food preservatives. Additionally, damaging effects of free radicals on human health has been reported to be involved in the incidence of serious diseases, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; hence, finding safe sources of antioxidants is vital. Therefore, the present study was carried out to assess the antibacterial, antiradical and carcinopreventive efficacy of different solvent extracts of pomegranate peels. Agar disk diffusion assay revealed that Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, E. coli and S. typhimurium were highly susceptible to methanolic fraction of Punica granatum L. peels recording inhibition zones of 23.7, 21.8, 15.6 and 14.7 mm respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the methanolic fraction of Punica granatum L. peels against S. aureus were 0.125 and 0.250 mg/mL, respectively. In addition, the pomegranate acetonic and methanolic fractions revealed an impressive antiradical efficiency against DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical recording radical scavenging activity percentages of 86.9 and 79.4%, respectively. In this regard, the acetonic fraction of pomegranate peels revealed the highest anti-proliferative efficiency after 48 h incubation against MCF7 cancer cells recording IC50 of 8.15 µg/mL, while the methanolic extract was highly selective against transformed cancer cells compared to normal cell line recording selectivity index of 5.93. GC–MS results demonstrated that 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural was the main active component of methanolic and acetonic extracts of pomegranate peels recording relative percentages of 37.55 and 28.84% respectively. The study recommends application of pomegranate peel extracts in the biofabrication of safe food preservatives, antioxidants and carcinopreventive agents.


A 2.4 GHz CMOS Hartley image-reject receiver utilising the area-efficient inductors and a digitally calibrated 90/spl deg/ delay network is proposed. Compared with the conventional planar inductor, the proposed area-efficient inductor saves 80% of the silicon area without degrading the quality factor. In addition, employing the digitally calibrated 90/spl deg/ delay network rather than the RC-CR network can make the traditional Hartley receiver tolerant to temperature and process variations. A prototype chip with a fully integrated low-noise amplifier followed by the proposed image-reject mixer has been fabricated in a 0.35 /spl mu/m single-poly-four-metal standard CMOS technology and the active area is 3.13 mm/sup 2/. While operating at 2.4 GHz, this receiver achieves a 30 dB image-rejection ratio, a -3 dB third-order input intermodulation intercept point, and an 11 dB noise figure with 54 mW power consumption from a 3.3 V supply