The book discusses in a comparative way legal approaches to euthanasia.
Although it primarily uses the constitutional law method to analyze the
controversy, it also considers the moral and penal law aspects of the problem.
It covers around 15 jurisdictions (including the developments on European
level) and refers to the both common forms of euthanasia (passive and
active). The analysis is principally concerned with the legal construction
of permissible euthanasia - that is with the values and ideas in terms of
which law reform may be framed. The book endeavors to advance the
common understanding of the link between passive and active euthanasia.
It also illuminates the view that what the law has condoned under the
various types of passive euthanasia already broke some ground regarding
the legalization of its active form.
Assessing that the present legal asymmetry is indefensible, the book also
confronts the issues of a right strategy to legalize active euthanasia and a
right authority to do the job. It demonstrates that constitutional arguments
failed to convince courts to mandate the legalization. On the other hand,
by using the Dutch example, it shows that criminal jurisprudence might
result in a democratically enhanced entitlement to physician assistance in
dying.
The final analysis has triggered the issue of who should decide on whether
active euthanasia is to be legalized: should the courts be catalysts or citizens
themselves or is it entirely up to democratically elected representatives to
decide if there is any reason for legalization? The author argues in favor
of the last option because only a legislative reform achieved through a
deliberative democracy may bring some peace to the issue involving a strong
but reasonable disagreement.


The aim of the present study was to specify guilt eliciting situations for Japanese adolescents, and examine the relationship between guilt-proneness in the situations and personality traits. With an open-ended questionnaire, 315 guilt experiences were collected and categorized into 37 situations. Situational Guilt Inventory (SGI) for the 37 was developed and administered to 500 Japanese adolescents. Factor analysis found four factors: hurting others, inconsiderate to others, acting selfishly, and debt feeling toward others. SGI scores had positive correlations with private and public self-consciousness and depression. However, correlations with the Big Five were low, none higher than .2, except those with conscientiousness. The factors were similar to those of Dimension of Conscience Questionnaire (DCQ; Gore & Harvey, 1995) and Situational Guilt Scale (SGS; Klass, 1987), except that they do not have the fourth: debt feeling. These results showed some characteristics of guilt among Japanese people, as well as reliability of the inventory.


Purpose To identify exposure-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of individuals occupationally exposed to diesel exhaust (DE); to reveal strengths, knowledge gaps and misperceptions therein. Methods A Mental Models approach was used to gather information about current scientific understanding of DE exposure hazards and the ways in which exposure can be reduced. Thirty individuals in British Columbia who were regularly exposed to occupational DE were interviewed. The audio was recorded and transcribed. Data was grouped together and examined to draw out themes around DE awareness, hazard assessment and risk reduction behaviors. These themes were then compared and contrasted with existing grey and research literature in order to reveal strengths, gaps and misperceptions regarding DE exposure. Results Study participants were aware and concerned about their exposure to DE but had incomplete and sometimes incorrect understanding of exposure pathways, health effects, and effective strategies to reduce their exposures. The perceived likelihood of exposure to DE was significantly greater compared to that of other work hazards (p<0.01), whereas the difference for their perceived severity of consequences was not significant. There was no universally perceived main source of information regarding DE, and participants generally distrusted sources of information based on their past experience with the source. Most of the actions that were taken to address DE exposure fell into the area of administrative controls such as being aware of sources of DE and avoiding these sources. Conclusions This study of the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of those occupationally exposed to DE found, most notably, that more education and training and the creation of a health effects inventory regarding DE exposure were desired.


A novel superimposed phase selector aiming at improving the performance of phase selector in the event of a wide range change of power system operation mode is presented. In this new scheme, the fault component of phase-phase voltage difference is polarized with the fault component of the third phase current. With this arrangement, this element not only adapts to various operating modes of power systems, but is superior to the traditional superimposed phase selectors. For instance, the superimposed phase-phase current difference based phase selector or the superimposed phase-phase voltage difference based phase selector, in terms of selectivity and sensitivity. The advantages of this phase selector can be highlighted especially in the case of the positive-sequence impedance not being equal to the negative-sequence impedance. In addition, this phase selector can reliably identify the single-phase-earth fault and the phase-to-phase fault. The results of electro-magnetic transient in DC system (EMTDC) simulation show that the outstanding phase selection performance can be achieved even when the negative-sequence system impedance is extremely unequal to the positive-sequence system impedance. Besides, this phase selector has higher reliability compared to the traditional superimposed based schemes


Angular and linear parameters, characterizing symmetry of occlusional plane position from the left and the right sides with regard to poL-n-poR reference plane, and also relative to PL plane were determined and offered using complex "Head-Dentitions" 3D-model.


Early-diagenetic calcitic concretions of latest Bajocian ( parkinsoni Zone, bomfordi Subzone) age in the Polish Jura contain an extremely rich and well-preserved macrofauna. In addition to bivalves and brachiopods, there are numerous ammonites of the (sub)genera Parkinsonia , Nannolytoceras , Lissoceras ( Lissoceras ), L. ( Microlissoceras ), as well as rare representatives of Vermisphinctes , Strigoceras ( Strigoceras ) and Phylloceras . Carapaces of primitive prosopid crabs are found associated. Such a diverse and well-preserved fauna (previously unknown from Bajocian epicratonic deposits of the Polish Jura), is typical of Konzentrat-Lagerstatte-type deposits. The random distribution of the concretions in exposure and the small size of the fauna may suggest that all remains were concentrated by bottom-current action in small depressions on an uneven sea-floor. The presence of numerous small-sized ammonites may be regarded as reflecting post-spawning assemblages which suffered mass-mortality. Although cause of their death remains unclear, storm events are a possibility. Such depressions acted as natural "traps" as well as constituted a size-limiting factor for the accumulating fauna. The fact that all elements are well preserved indicates brief post-mortem transport and rapid burial, followed by early diagenesis that protected them from compaction. The absence of such fossil-rich concretions higher in the Middle Jurassic sequence clearly shows that our current assessment of biotic diversity may be an underestimate. The carbonate concretions contain a predominantly terrestrial type of organic matter (OM). Samples analysed are extremely immature, but early diagenetic transformations of OM occurred prior to concretion formation.


This study investigated the influence of high-pressure processing on the morphology and permeability of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films used for food packaging. This was done by monitoring the crystallinity, melting temperature (Tm), and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the materials before and after the pressure treatments. A first set of pouches made from the LDPE films were filled with 95% ethanol then pressured at 200, 400, 600, and 800 MPa for 5 and 10 min at 25 and 75°C. The crystallinity and Tm of the films were measured using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). X-ray diffraction (XRD) was also used to determine the crystallinity. A second set of LDPE pouches were similarly made but a half of them were filled with 95% ethanol and the other half filled with distilled water. These second set of pouches were pressured at 200, 600, and 800 MPa then their OTR tested. Results of the DSC experiments showed that the Tm increased with increasing pressure intensity but the crystallinity changes were not detectible. The XRD method on the other hand, showed significant (P < 0.05) crystallinity increases with increasing pressure treatments. The gas permeability analyses showed decreasing OTR's with increasing high-pressure intensity treatments. The OTR in the pouches filled with the 95% ethanol was slightly lower than that of the pouches filled with water. These findings allowed us to better anticipate the behavior of LDPE films used to package high-pressure processed foods. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


This paper presents a 20-Gs/s track-and-hold amplifier (THA) fabricated InP HBT technology. This THA is capable of operating under relatively high input voltages. The THA uses a fully differential architecture with a switched emitter-follower. To mitigate the pedestal error due to the feedthrough attenuation network, we added degeneration resistors in the feedthrough attenuation block. Measured total harmonic distortion is below -40 dB at low input frequencies, and -18 dB at frequency of 9.9 GHz.


Research on infectious diseases constitutes a transversal scientific field. A specific corpus is designed by combining a controlled language (Medline MeSH thesaurus) and the categorization of journals (Web of Science). From this global corpus, the article characterizes the publications from the top 20 countries publishing in the field and evolutions between 2000 and 2020. Topic maps show the research themes within the field of infectious diseases both in the world and in France. The explosion of publications on Covid-19 in 2020 has a quite visible impact on the topic map in infectious diseases and changes the position of some countries in this field of research. The conclusion points to issues for further research as more complete data will become available on the Covid-19 period.


We generalize a class of magnetically charged black holes holes non-minimally coupled to two scalar fields previously found by one of us [gr-qc/9910041] to the case of multiple scalar fields. The black holes possess a novel type of primary scalar hair, which we call a contingent primary hair: although the solutions possess degrees of freedom which are not completely determined by the other charges of the theory, the charges necessarily vanish in the absence of the magnetic monopole. Only one constraint relates the black hole mass to the magnetic charge and scalar charges of the theory. We obtain a Smarr-type thermodynamic relation, and the first law of black hole thermodynamics for the system. We further explicitly show in the two-scalar-field case that, contrary to the case of many other hairy black holes, the black hole solutions are stable to radial perturbations.


We introduce a self-passivation of single lead (Pb) and oxygen (O) vacancies in the α-PbO compound through formation of a Pb-O vacancy pair. With help of the first-principles methods we found that the preferential mechanism for pair formation involves initial development of the single Pb vacancy which, by weakening the covalent bonding, sets up the crystal lattice for an appearance of the O vacancy. Binding of the Pb and O vacancies occurs through the ionization interactions. Since no dangling bonds appear at the Pb-O pair site, this defect has a minor effect on the electronic properties. In such, vacancy self-passivation offers a practical way to improve the transport properties in thermally grown PbO layers.


A strength prediction method is presented for double-lap single fastener bolted joints of cross-ply carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite laminates using cohesive zone elements (CZEs). Three-dimensional finite element models were developed and CZEs were inserted into subcritical damage planes identified from X-ray radiographs. The method makes a compromise between the experimental correlation factors (dependant on lay-up, stacking sequence and joint geometry) and three material properties (fracture energy, interlaminar strength and nonlinear shear stress-strain response). Strength of the joints was determined from the predicted load-displacement curves considering sub-laminate and plylevel scaling effects. The predictions are in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data.


Various hydrophobic hairy carbonaceous fibers are obtained by a low-temperature CVD process on catalyst-patterned surface patches which are selectively coated with silica to make the surface superhydrophobic and yet allow strong water adhesion for the "Salvinia effect". The versatility of the functional hairy fiber surfaces is demonstrated with a liquid barrier grid for cell microarray, a gas retaining capability under water/liquid for a membrane-free microfluidic chemical process, and functionalized papillae for cell immobilization with green algae.


Harm reduction originated as a framework for dealing with substance use and abuse (Riley 1993 : 1) and has gained impetus over the past decade because of the spread of AIDS. Although general belief has it that HIV is spread through sexual contact, injection drug use has become one of the primary risk factors for HIV infection (Inciardi & Harrison 2000 : 2). Harm reduction, therefore, began as a strategy to intervene in injection drug use communities to allow drug users to adopt risk reduction practices that prevent the spread of HIV. As a front-runner in terms of incarceration, America declared war on drugs during the late 1980s. Drug-related offences ignited an explosion in prison population growth. According to Schmalleger and Smykla (2001 : 325) the number of American inmates who needed substance abuse treatment rose from 688 000 in 1993 to 840 000 in 1996.
Lately, South Africa has become one of the lucrative new drug markets of the world. Drug use increased in public as well as in institutional settings. The number of people arrested in South Africa for dealing in hard drugs like cocaine rose from 15 in 1995 to 75 in 1997 (Volksblad 2001 : 1). According to the findings in a study by the University of Cape Town (Mans 2000 : 12) Grade 11 pupils spent more than 22 million rands on mandrax, dagga (marijuana), alcohol and cigarettes in 1999 alone. At the same time the country's struggling with the high incidence of HIV behind bars. The discussion about harm and risk reduction aims at giving perspective of the role of prisons in this particular area.


The development of the respiratory system in the embryonic period of man has been carefully worked out by a number of observers and the features of the process are well known. On the other hand, the development of this system from the third fetal month to birth, in early infancy, later infancy and childhood has received little attention. The present report is a study of the topographic relationships of the larynx, trachea and lungs, with especial emphasis on the changes in this relationship during the entire developmental period. All the available data on the subject, for infancy, childhood and adult life, have been correlated with my findings in the fetus, the new-born infant and the child. It is hoped that in this way a picture may be sketched of the relation of the parts of the respiratory system to the vertebral column, beginning with early fetal life and ending with


Background: Tumors of lung are common in Nepal. The risk of malignancy has to be judged prior to surgery for which bronchoscopy is often done. Brocho-alveolar lavage and bronchial biopsy are routine procedure done for diagnosis of lung cancer during bronchoscopy. This study was done to correlate the cytology of broncho-alveolar lavage specimen with histopathology in malignant tumors of the lug in our setup.
Materials and methods: This study was conducted at department of pathology, Nobel Medical College from August 2017 to December 2018. Histopathology reports with malignancy were compared to their cytological diagnosis.
Results: A total of 141 cases were included in the study. Among the study population,  Bronchogenic carcinoma was found more prevalent in female. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and overall accuracy of broncho-alveolar lavage in the diagnosis of lung cancer were 88.1%, 97.98%, 94.7%, 95.1% and 95.03% respectively.
Conclusions: Brochoalveolar lavage cytology has a greater accuracy for the diagnosis of lung cancer; however, benign cases need regular follow up as there are false negative cases.


Quasars powered by massive black holes (BHs) with mass estimates above a billion solar masses have been identified at redshift 6 and beyond. The existence of such BHs requires almost continuous growth at the Eddington limit for their whole lifetime, of the order of one billion years. In this paper, we explore the possibility that positively skewed scale-dependent non-Gaussian primordial fluctuations may ease the assembly of massive BHs. In particular, they produce more low-mass haloes at high redshift, thus altering the production of metals and ultraviolet flux, believed to be important factors in BH formation. Additionally, a higher number of progenitors and of nearly equal-mass halo mergers would boost the mass increase provided by BH–BH mergers and merger-driven accretion. We use a set of two cosmological simulations, with either Gaussian or scale-dependent non-Gaussian primordial fluctuations to perform a proof-of-concept experiment to estimate how BH formation and growth are altered. We estimate the BH number density and the fraction of haloes where BHs form, for both simulations and for two popular scenarios of BH formation (remnants of the first generation of stars and direct collapse in the absence of metals and molecular hydrogen). We find that the fractions of haloes where BHs form are almost identical, but that non-Gaussian primordial perturbations increase the total number density of BHs for both BH formation scenarios by a factor of 2. We also evolve BHs using merger trees extracted from the simulations and find that both the mean BH mass and the number of the most massive BHs at z = 6.5 are up to twice the values expected for Gaussian primordial density fluctuations.


The life history of man is summarized as a birth-aging-disease-death. Man eventually ages and dies. How long can humans live? What is aging? Why do we age? Is aging inevitable? Can we rejuvenate? Recent researches on biological aging suggest that humans might overcome aging and rejuvenate. In this paper, we review the biologic characteristics of aging and the latest results of biological aging research, implicating that aging can be controlled, further treated, and that humans can ultimately be rejuvenated.


The species diversity of benthic Foraminifera contained in 67 sediment samples from the central Arctic Ocean is investigated to determine diversity patterns in a deep-sea, high-latitude environment. The samples range in depth from 1,069 to 3,709 m. Species diversity and equitability, as measured by the number of species, S , the Shannon-Wiener index, H ( S ), the Buzas-Gibson index, E , and the Lloyd-Ghelardi index, e , decrease with depth in this interval. Comparison with previously published data suggests that species diversity decreases with depth throughout the entire depth range of the Arctic Ocean. The diversity of the deep Arctic benthic Foraminifera is less than that of faunas from comparable depths at lower latitudes. Current theories of species diversity do not completely explain the observed diversity patterns. The youthfulness of the Arctic ecosystem and instability of resource supplies may be important contributing factors.


A theory is outlined leading to the prediction that the rate of LO-phonon-mediated inter-subband transitions in quantum well structures can vary significantly with varying well widths and attains a maximum at a threshold well width. Using typical parameters for GaAs/Ga0.7Al0.3As superlattices with a fixed barrier width d1=100 AA, the authors demonstrate that the transition rate between the lowest subbands varies by two orders of magnitude for well widths between 50 AA and 180 AA. Results for the corresponding variation of transition rate with well width for the case of an infinite potential well are also given and compared with those for the superlattice.


As a mediator of neurogenic inflammation and pain, we hypothesized that levels of the neuropeptide Substance P (SP) would be elevated in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) with vaso-occlusive pain crisis. SP is a known stimulator of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) release and a promoter of interleukin-8 (IL-8), which are reported to be increased in SCD. These cytokines enhance adhesion of leukocytes to endothelium and may play a role in vaso-occlusive events. Serum levels of IL-8, TNFalpha, and SP were studied in three groups of children aged 2 to 18 years: 30 well children with SCD, 21 with SCD in pain crisis, and 20 healthy age-matched controls. Serum levels of SP were elevated in all SCD patients and were highest in patients in pain crisis. The percentage of sera with detectable levels of IL-8 (>5.0 pmol/L) was increased in SCD patients as compared with the control group. IL-8 levels were similar for well SCD patients and those with pain. TNFalpha levels were not significantly different among the three groups. In three children with SCD, SP was measured at baseline and again during pain crisis. In each case, serum levels during pain crisis were higher than they were when the patient was well. We conclude that levels of SP are high in patients with SCD and increase during pain crisis. These results imply that SP plays a prominent role in the pain and inflammation of SCD and may be a measurable laboratory marker of vaso-occlusive crisis. We speculate that neurokinin receptor antagonists may have a therapeutic potential in the treatment of crisis pain.


The deformation and failure mechanisms of tunnels in jointed rock mass with variable orientation and overburden pressures were studied by physical modelling. The deformation and expansion characteristics and regularities of joints and its influence on the stability of tunnels were analyzed. The results shown that the effects of unloading and reactivation of joints, and subsequent shear slip and deformation induced by excavation cause the structural instability of tunnels. The deformation, failure, and instability of surrounding rocks are essentially the continued deformation and repeated failure of joints in varied stress field caused by excavation and overburden pressure. When the dip angle of the joint sets is 75°, the joints have extremely striking influence on the stability of tunnels. In addition, with the increasing of the overburden pressures, the deformation extent and failure rate are sped up prominently due to the rapid increasing of the shear stresses on joint planes.


Compact Local Integrated Radial Basis Function (CLIRBF) methods based on Cartesian grids can be effective numerical methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) for fluid flow problems. The combination of the domain decomposition method and function approximation using CLIRBF methods yields an effective coarse-grained parallel processing approach. This approach has enabled not only each sub-domain in the original analysis domain to be discretised by a separate CLIRBF network but also compact local stencils to be independently treated. The present algorithm, namely parallel CLIRBF, achieves higher throughput in solving large scale problems by, firstly, parallel processing of sub-regions which constitute the original domain and, secondly, accelerating the convergence rate within each sub-region using groups of CLIRBF stencils in which function approximations are carried out by parallel processes. The procedure is illustrated with several numerical examples of PDEs and lid-driven cavity problem using Message Passing Interface supported by MATLAB.


A new family of organometallic p-cymene ruthenium(II) and osmium(II) complexes conjugated to ethacrynic acid, a glutathione transferase (GST) inhibitor, is reported. The ethacrynic acid moiety (either one or two) is tethered to the arene ruthenium(II) and osmium(II) fragments via strongly coordinating modified bipyridine ligands. The solid-state structure of one of the complexes, i.e. [Os(η6-p-cymene)Cl][(4′-methyl-[2,2′-bipyridin]-4-yl)methyl-2-(2,3-dichloro-4-(2-methylenebutanoyl)phenoxy)acetate]Cl, was established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, corroborating the expected structure. The complexes are efficient inhibitors of GST P1-1, an enzyme expressed in cancer cells and implicated in drug resistance, and are cytotoxic to the GST-overexpressing chemoresistant A2780cisR ovarian cancer cell line.


ABSTRACT With increasing levels of globalization and changing patterns of migration, there is a growing interest in the nature of citizenship. Dual citizenship is of particular interest because it is a category that connotes symmetrical ties between an individual and two states, but few studies have examined state attachment among dual citizens. We address this question by comparing American dual citizens' attitudes and behaviors toward the US in two ways: by comparing US single and dual citizens and by comparing dual citizens' attitudes and behaviors regarding their two countries of citizenship. Comparisons are made using both self-report measures and implicit measures. By using the implicit association test (IAT), we capture implicit self-state associations while largely circumventing the issue of social desirability. Results indicate that single citizens are more attached to the US compared to dual citizens. Dual citizens showed symmetrical attachment toward their two countries of citizenship, but participated more in US politics than in their other country. The findings provide a better understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of dual citizens and suggest new directions for research on the relationship between individuals and the state.


This paper analyzes some methods and existing problems of measuring flux characteristics of SRM,and presents a indirect method of measuring flux characteristics based on DSP.By measuring current and voltage on the phase winding circuit and transfer them to PC by communication program,combined with a numeric integration,the magnetization characteristics are obtained.The experimental instruments needed in this method are common,and the test platform is easy to be built,thus the expense is lowered in measurement of flux.The test indicates the measuring process is simple to implement,and the experimental results are accurate.


There is an expectation that should use evidence to inform practice, but having access to this evidence requires other nurses to write about and publish their work to generate new evidence. There is also an expectation that nurses publish to improve knowledge, although for some the thought of writing can seem challenging. This article presents a reflection on the author's experience of writing, from her first attempt at publishing through to becoming a published author, and then publishing continuing professional development articles. It provides insight into the work involved in becoming a published author.


Average statistical characteristics of internal gravity waves (IGWs) with horizontal wavelengths longer than 60 km are obtained at the altitudes 65–80 km from the observations with the middle and upper atmosphere radar at Shigaraki, Japan (35°N, 136°E) in 1986–1995. The numbers of signals selected with narrow frequency band filters attributed to IGW having periods 0.1–6 hours vary between 870 and 2300 for different seasons and altitudes. Long-period IGWs have larger amplitudes and larger vertical wavelengths than short-period IGWs. For waves with periods 0.1–6 hours the mean values of the horizontal and vertical wavelengths are 100–300 km and 6–10 km, respectively. IGW amplitudes and momentum fluxes have maxima in winter and summer and minima in spring and autumn. Distributions of the azimuths of IGW horizontal wave vectors and momentum fluxes are nearly isotropic with maxima in zonal directions in summer. The westward momentum flux is larger than the eastward flux in winter and is smaller than that in summer. The differences between eastward and westward wave momentum fluxes are larger for long-period IGWs. The net zonal IGW momentum flux is mainly directed opposite to the mean wind in the mesosphere.


Social work programs in primary health care (PHC) agencies have been well patronized and effective, but the expansion of social worker involvement in PHC depends on cost-benefit evaluations that satisfy the financial requirements of those who run PHC--the physicians. This article outlines a model for determining the cost-benefit performance of PHC social work programs.


Summary The Lives of Saints as well as fairy-tales eventually tell of animals which have the gift to speak. The categorization of phenomena like speaking animals is dependent on the epistemic structure of the narrated world. On the example of 'speaking deers' the paper outlines, that in hagiographic literature speaking animals are reported as miracles, which are to testify either the holiness of a place or the person they are speaking to. On the contrary, in fairy-tales speaking animals are part of the expected actors to appear in the structure of the narrated world and are not marked as miracles, at all. Consequently, the semiotic status of such phenomena can be differentiated: hagiography tends to symbolical or metaphorical meaning, fairy-tales to allegoric meaning. The difference between symbolic and metaphorical meaning in hagiography is shown in comparing two episodes including a speaking deer as if Christ himself is speaking. In Vita Placida, the deer has the specific and contextually supported gnostic meaning 'soul', while in Vita Huberti the deer only takes iconically induced metaphoric meaning (wearing cross-like antlers = carrying the cross), but in the fairy-tale the deer is an allegory of a human character trait and thus can be substituted by another allegory without change of context.


. Electron impact ionization cross sections (EIICS) of K-shell have been evaluated for light atoms (C, N, O) at incident energies ranging from ionization threshold to 1 GeV. The plane wave Born approximation is used in the proposed model by incorporating it in exchange, coulomb and relativistic effects along with the contributions of transverse interaction to ionization cross sections. In present model, we require two constants for each atom, ionization energy ( I ) and the electron occupation number ( N ) . Adequate compar-isons have been made with other theoretical methods, empirical formulae. The predicted EIICS of K-shell also compared with experimental data. Obtained results are in good agree-ments with available experimental data.


This paper investigate the determinant of profitability of Islamic banks from the MENA region and how Global Financial Crisis (GFC) impacts on their performance. The study covers 117 banks for periods of 2003 to 2011. To examine the determinant of Islamic banking profitability (ROA), we apply a balanced and dynamic panel data regression model. We conclude that the profitability of Islamic banks in the MENA countries is determined positively by asset size, equity to total asset, liquidity risk and negatively by capital adequacy ratio, innovation and global financial crisis. Positive and significant of asset size underlines the viability of economies of scale and scope. Foremost, Dummy for crisis is negative and significant indicating Islamic banks are not immune to the crisis. Innovation should be performed with caution, especially on Off-balance sheet activities.


No one knew how the blue-eyed, blond-haired white baby came to be abandoned, but the Crow tribe that found him raised him as one of its own. As he grew into adolescence, White Weasel was taken to Crooked-Bear, a white man who had long ago abandoned society for a solitary mountain existence and who acted as counselor to the Crow elders. Under Crooked-Bear's tutelage, White Weasel was schooled in white ways and rechristened John Ermine. Frederic Remington's compelling tale relates Ermine's successful reintroduction into white society, his heroic exploits as a scout in the military, and his growing interest in a white lady, Miss Katherine Searles. In his love for Katherine, Ermine must face the complexities and inequalities of American society. Although American culture may well laud Ermine's military prowess and personal integrity, since he is "wild" he can never truly rise through the ranks of society. It is inevitable that Ermine's story ends in tragedy. John Ermine of the Yellowstone is both an epic Western in the classic sense and a complex tale that captures the conflict between European Americans and Native Americans in the Wild West. John Ermine is the tragic character caught between two cultures, unable to assimilate fully into either. Famed artist Frederic Remington uses his pen to convey the irreparable stalemate between two groups of people in an untamed West while making a moving argument for the preservation of a truly wild western front.


Cystic hydatid disease results from infection with the larval or adult form of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm. Cardiac involvement is seen in 0.5% to 2% of patients with hydatid disease, and involvement of the interventricular septum is even rarer. Herein, we report our surgical treatment of a large cardiac hydatid cyst in the interventricular septum. A 39-year-old woman presented with dyspnea. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a large cyst in the apical part of the interventricular septum. Thoracic computed tomography showed a cystic lesion in that site, and magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the presence of a 50 × 55-mm mass. The patient was placed on cardiopulmonary bypass. Hypertonic saline solution-soaked sponges were distributed within the pericardial cavity to prevent local invasion of the parasite intraoperatively. Through an incision parallel to the left anterior descending coronary artery, and without opening adjacent cardiac chambers, we aspirated the entire contents of the cyst, removed its germinative membrane, and washed the cavity with 20% hypertonic saline solution. The patient recovered uneventfully. She had begun taking albendazole 5 days preoperatively, and this therapy was continued for 12 weeks postoperatively. In cases of an interventricular cardiac hydatid cyst, the combination of surgical resection, washout of the remaining cavity with hypertonic saline solution, and albendazole therapy typically yields excellent results.


Introduction: About half of adults aged ≥80 years suffer from frailty. Exercise is considered effective in preventing frailty but may be inapplicable to adults aged ≥80 years due to physical limitations. As an alternative, we aimed to explore the association of leisure activities with frailty and identify potential interaction with established polygenic risk score (PRS) among adults aged ≥80 years. Methods: Analyses were performed in a prospective cohort study of 7,471 community-living older adults aged ≥80 years who were recruited between 2002 and 2014 from 23 provinces in China. Leisure activity was assessed using a seven-question leisure activity index and frailty was defined as a frailty index ≥0.25 using a validated 39-item health-related scale. The PRS was constructed using 59 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with frailty in a subsample of 2,541 older adults. Cox proportional hazards models were used to explore the associations of leisure activities, PRS with frailty. Results: The mean age of participants was 89.4 ± 6.6 years (range: 80–116). In total, 2,930 cases of frailty were identified during 42,216 person-years of follow-up. Each 1 unit increase in the leisure activity index was associated with 12% lower risk of frailty (hazard ratio: 0.88 [95% confidence interval, 0.85–0.91]). Participants with high genetic risk (PRS >2.47 × 10−4) suffered from 26% higher risk of frailty. Interaction between leisure activity and genetic risk was not observed. Conclusion: Evidence is presented for the independent association of leisure activities and genetic risk with frailty. Engagement in leisure activities is suggested to be associated with lower risk of frailty across all levels of genetic risk among adults aged ≥80 years.


For a long time, people were fascinated with imagination, how the world would be like, especially after occurring a catastrophe that leads to the earth-shattering event. The concept of doomsday has religious dimensions. Similarly, the apocalyptic concept poses a threat of catastrophes that might happen in the future. Generally, what people are curious about is whether human race can survive or not. The apocalyptic concept in fiction has a distinct remoteness including nuclear war, natural disasters, human overpopulation, and destruction of the environment, the wrath of God, alien invasion, or mysterious and unknown forces. Basically, the stories of apocalyptic genre contain a horrible event exposing the events in such a consternation way which is not for the advancement of the story, but it shows the depiction of people coping with the degradation of society. Some of the apocalyptic stories happen suddenly and cause a trauma. Both of the books that mentioned in this article share the same trait. In the road, an ambiguous apocalyptic event afflict is unknown to the reader. On the other hand, in the postman, there is a trait of trauma although, the apocalyptic event happens because of a devastating war still, no one can believe that great America has fallen down. The features of this genre are to expose what people do when all the social structures have previously known are gone. Thus, this paper focuses on the illustrated utopian society by both of the authors. There are several common themes between both of the books. But this study confirms to examine the utopian trait in the post-apocalyptic story and how the authors attempt to optimize the catastrophe in order to spread hope and optimism.


Fe thin films containing Si particles were prepared on metallic substrates by electrodeposition method in sulfate solutions and the content of codeposited Si particles in the films was investigated as a function of applied current density, the content of Si particels in the solution, solution pH, solution temperature and concentration of O in the solution. The amount of Si codeposited in the film was not dependent on the applied current density, solution pH and solution temperature, while it was dependent on the content of Si particles in the solution and the concentration of O in the solution. The amount of Si codeposited in the film increased with increasing content of Si particles in the solution but reached a maximum value of about 6 wt% when the content of Si particles in the solution exceeds 100 g/l. On the other hand, the content of Si codeposited in the film increased up to about 17 wt% with decreasing concentration of O in the solution. These results would be applied to the fabrication of very thin Fe-6.5 wt% Si sheets for electrical applications.


A fast and sensitive method by high performance liquid chromatography for the quantification of the methylxanthine metabolites of caffeine in human plasma is described. Plasma is extracted with 20% isopropanol in chloroform and the evaporated residue is redissolved and chromatographed on silica gel using dichloromethane containing 2.2% of a solution of methanol-ammonium formateformic acid (100:0.02:0.017). The method is suitable for metabolic and pharmacokinetic studies of all mono- and dimethylxanthines in plasma. The limits of quantification, with C.V. of 10% or less are 40 ng/ml for the dimethylxanthines, 100 ng/ml for 3- and 7-methylxanthine and 500 ng/ml for 1-methylxanthine.


The author once derived the probability distribution of pulse duration and that of time interval between the occurrence times of pulses in the noise process which resuls from a random series of rectangular pulses of equal amplitude and duration, their arrivals conforming to the exponential distribution. The distribution of duration and that of time interval between pulses were measured at 50 KHz with a receiver of I KHz 3db bandwidth using a vertical antenna at Toyokawa, 1959 and 1960. In this paper, the theoretical and experimental probability distributions are compared for duration and interval. The agreements found between them are well for the case of duration, except when the percentage the durations exceed a given length of time is very low. In the case of interval, the agreements are found to be poor for both intermediate and high thresholds. For very low threshold, the experimental distribution approximate the exponential distribution, conforming to an analytical result. The unusual increase in probability density have been observed on interval distribution at very high thresholds.


Abstract:Among the various descriptions of the Christian life in Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons (1834–1843), the metaphor of war is prominent. This essay examines Newman's extensive use of the metaphor of war from the viewpoint of cognitive semantics, which assumes that transcendental reality can only be conceived of and described in language that uses such conceptual mechanisms as image schemata, metaphor, metonymy, and conceptual blending. Analyzing the conceptual phenomena inherent in the metaphor of war provides both a better understanding of Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as a better appreciation of Newman's understanding of the Christian life.


The Internet of Moving Things (IoMT) requires support for a data life cycle process ranging from sorting, cleaning and monitoring data streams to more complex tasks such as querying, aggregation, and analytics. Current solutions for stream data management in IoMT have been focused on partial aspects of a data life cycle process, with special emphasis on sensor networks. This paper aims to address this problem by developing streaming data life cycle process that incorporates an edge/fog/cloud architecture that is needed for handling heterogeneous, streaming and geographically-dispersed IoMT devices. We propose a 3-tier architecture to support an instant intra-layer communication that establishes a stream data flow in real-time to respond to immediate data life cycle tasks in the system. Communication and process are thus the defining factors in the design of our stream data management solution for IoMT. We describe and evaluate our prototype implementation using real-time transit data feeds. Preliminary results are showing the advantages of running data life cycle tasks for reducing the volume of data streams that are redundant and should not be transported to the cloud.


Herein, we assessed the efficacy of procyanidins from grape seed against a panel of human prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines which ranged from 'classical' cell lines to the new variants that differed in their androgen responsiveness, castration resistance, and metastatic potential. The classical cell lines chosen were PC3, DU145 and LNCaP. Of these cell lines: PC3 and DU145 do not need androgens for growth, i.e, these are androgen independent (AI); they also lack androgen receptors (AR). The LNCaP cell line on the other hand, demonstrates androgen sensitivity (AS) and also requires androgens for its growth; while it harbors a mutated AR. Of the new variants of PCa cell lines available, we further chose a castration resistant variant of LNCaP, C4-2B, derived from the xenografts of castration resistant LNCaP subline-C4 in castrated mice. C4-2B thus represents castration resistant PCa (CRPC) cell line; while it does not require androgen for growth it demonstrates androgen sensitivity due to the presence of AR and is thus categorized as CRPC (AI/ AS) variant. Another PCa cell line, 22Rv1, which was chosen, does not require androgens for growth but is androgen responsive and like C4-2B is categorized as CRPC (AI/ AS).Trypan Blue dye exclusion assays utilizing total procyanidins from grape seed or its active constituent procyanidin B2 3,3"-di-O-gallate (B2G2) were performed to determine procyanidin effects, as a function of time, on the viability of the selected human PCa cell lines. Results indicated that the androgen dependent LNCaP cell line and its castration resistant variant, C4-2B, were more sensitive to procyanidins treatment at lower doses; importantly, another castration resistant cell line, 22Rv1, also showed significant decrease in cell viability at lower doses. While at these lower doses significant cell death was observed even at time points as early as 12 h in these cell lines; the classical AI cell lines PC3 and DU145 were most resistant to procyanidin treatment at lower doses and showed sensitivity (growth inhibition and cell death) only at higher doses after 72 h of procyanidins exposure. On similar lines, cancer stem cells (CD44+alpha2beta1high cells) isolated from PC3 and DU145 cells were also more resistant to treatment with procyanidins in prostasphere formation assays compared to other PCa cell lines. To understand the differential efficacy of procyanidins or its active constituent B2G2 towards different PCa cell lines, we carried out a metabolomics study utilizing quantitative high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-, 13C- and 31P-NMR) to assess the metabolic profile and energy state of the B2G2 treated PCa cells. We examined global metabolic profile, including glucose metabolism, energy state, and lipid metabolism in these cells after B2G2 treatment. The time-course of B2G2 effects on glucose uptake and lactate release was also studied in the media of B2G2-treated PCa cells from 4-72 hrs of treatment. Results indicated that there was differential effect of B2G2 on mitochondrial glucose metabolism in these cells. While glucose uptake was markedly reduced as a function of time, there was also a significant decrease in extracellular lactate export with increased B2G2 exposure-time. Importantly, B2G2 preserved citrate concentration in the PCa cells as indicated by increase in citrate levels after treatments; citrate generation is indicative of normal secretion functions of the prostate epithelial cells. The fact that the citrate was not further utilized for cholesterol synthesis was also confirmed by decrease in cholesterol levels in these cells, indicating decreased cholesterogenesis by B2G2. Taken together these studies show that the procyanidins from grape seed differentially induce metabolic alterations in various PCa cell lines; these modulatory effects can be correlated with the effects on cell growth, proliferation and death, as well as the androgen dependency/ or lack of it. Citation Format: Komal Raina, Dileep Kumar, Rajesh Agarwal, Chapla Agarwal. Procyanidin B2 3,3"-di-O-gallate from grape seed causes metabolic alterations in prostate cancer cells: 1H-, 13C- and 31P-NMRS-based metabolomics study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Metabolism and Cancer; Jun 7-10, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(1_Suppl):Abstract nr A03.


Inductive transfer learning has attracted increasing attention for the training of effective model in the target domain by leveraging the information in the source domain. However, most transfer learning methods are developed for a specific model, such as the commonly used support vector machine, which makes the methods applicable only to the adopted models. In this regard, the generalized hidden-mapping ridge regression (GHRR) method is introduced in order to train various types of classical intelligence models, including neural networks, fuzzy logical systems and kernel methods. Furthermore, the knowledge-leverage based transfer learning mechanism is integrated with GHRR to realize the inductive transfer learning method called transfer GHRR (TGHRR). Since the information from the induced knowledge is much clearer and more concise than that from the data in the source domain, it is more convenient to control and balance the similarity and difference of data distributions between the source and target domains. The proposed GHRR and TGHRR algorithms have been evaluated experimentally by performing regression and classification on synthetic and real world datasets. The results demonstrate that the performance of TGHRR is competitive with or even superior to existing state-of-the-art inductive transfer learning algorithms.


Two gold(III) complexes, square-planar [Au(DPP)Cl2]+(1) and distorted square-pyramidal [Au(DMP)Cl3] (2) (where DMP = 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and DPP = 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline), were studied by different experimental methods. Their stability in water and in buffer solution (25 mM Hepes, 30 mM NaCl, pH = 7.2) was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy while their redox stability is confirmed by CV. Substitution reactions between complexes 1 and 2, and biologically relevant ligands, such as thiourea (Tu), guanosine-5′-monophosphate (5′-GMP), glutathione (GSH) and L-methionine (L-Met), were studied by a stopped-flow technique, under the pseudo-first order conditions as a function of ligand concentration and temperature. According to the values of the activation parameters, all studied reactions followed an associative substitution mechanism. DNA binding studies of complexes 1 and 2 were performed by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy and viscosity measurements, as well as interactions with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Density functional theory (DFT) was implemented in order to analyse the wave function of the optimized structures to get better insight into the binding interactions between the inert ligands and gold(III) center. The experimental results of binding studies with DNA and BSA were simulated and compared by performing a molecular docking study. All results demonstrate the strong connection between the reactivity of the complexes toward biologically important targets and their structural and electronic characteristics. The cytotoxic activity of complexes 1 and 2 against different cell lines (MDA-MB-231, HCT-116, and HaCaT) was evaluated 24 and 72 h after treatments. The results indicate reduced viability of cell lines in a time- and dose-dependent manner.


SUMMARY

A comparative histogenetic study of ovules of some representatives of the genus Euphorbia reveals a remarkable similarity during the pre-fertilization stages. The inner integument is initiated first. Mitotic activity in the subdermatogen causes the initiation of integuments as well as the apical growth of the nucellus. Subsequent mitotic activity in the dermatogen contributes to the formation of the multi-layered nucellar flanks, the distal region of integuments, and the caruncle. During the post-fertilization stages the basal part of the nucellus develops into a podium. The basal cells of the inner epidermis of the inner integument elongate appreciably, whereas its proximal cells add to the formation of a podium. The funicular vascular supply extends into the base of the inner integument. The suspensor of the embryo is embedded in the remnants of the nucellar beak which persists in the mature seed. Enucleate cytoplasmic vesicles project into the central vacuole of the nuclear endosperm. The dermal cells of the placental obturator elongate radially and form uni- and multi-cellular hairs. Development of the female gametophyte follows the Polygonum type.


Percutaneous internal jugular vein cannulation has become an accepted method for insertion of central venous catheters. There are many indications for such a procedure, but a variety of complications may arise due either to direct injury of local structures or else to secondary tissue damage due to long-standing presence of the catheter in situ. Direct injury to the sympathetic trunk causing Horner's syndrome is extremely rare. This report describes a case in which Horner's syndrome occurred a few days after insertion of the catheter into the right internal jugular vein.


The field of oncology, as compared to other medical therapeutic areas, is at a disadvantage in terms of having new products (or ideas) to reach a state of concept proven. Reasons for these include: Lack of predictivity of preclinical models Heterogeneity of the disease(s) Difficulty of access to repeated sampling of material (as compared to repeated testing on blood samples for example) ‐ A failure to produce convincing correlative data from pre‐clinical to clinical work The relative coarseness of the clinical outcomes (endpoints: typically a categorization into responders/non‐responders at early stage) and the error margins on those outcomes This talk intends to expand the last two points. In the transition from preclinical work to Phase I/II, there is a point (or gap?) where a less rigid exploratory phase is followed by the machinery of clinical trials in humans, for example trying to prove that a drug affects a target. In oncology, Phase I is typically dedicated to dose finding and pharmacokinetic work, Phase II to establishing threshold efficacy, and Phase III to definitive comparative proof. Still, although dose finding studies focus on safety (as they should), we should try to use them for a read‐out of potential efficacy (in this case tumor measurements). The existing gap could be bridged (depending on the case) by pairing tumor outcomes with marker data that pertain to the envisioned mode of action (pharmacodynamic markers). Typical "shortcomings" of Phase I studies when considering them for this purpose are: Few patients, who are late stage, resulting in restricted exposure A mix of tumor types A mix of doses (however this may also be a benefit, allowing for experimental dose response investigations) There are however some points that could work in favor. Patients proposed for Phase I typically have a serious tumor burden, so that % changes in tumor burden can be interpreted as being on a common scale (as compared to % changes of smaller tumor burden, which may be argued to be oversensitive to clinically irrelevant changes). The doses or regimens that are proposed to be measured with the intent of showing an acceptable toxicity profile are the ones that will be used for Phase II and likely also Phase III. In other words, we can look for the therapeutic window as early as Phase I. Some data will be shown on the possibility ‐ at least at an experimental level — to explore percent changes in tumor measurements as a quantitative variable, which should better enable correlative attempts as described above. Another point to consider is the potential comparative nature of early data. What do we mean by this? In late Phase trials, randomization is a necessity for valid comparison by minimizing allocation bias. However, in early Phase trials, one can obtain paired data (i.e. two different quantities within the same patient, or longitudinal observations within the same patient), and such data are "perfectly randomized", because each individual serves as their own comparator. Other therapeutic areas typically use cross‐over studies at the early stage, even with (different sequences of) multiple dose intensities within the same patient (including placebo). In oncology this is hard to do, but we can take (or rather make) benefit from paired data. Some examples: If a reading can be obtained of the (rate of) tumor growth prior to treatment, this can be compared to the rate of tumor burden evolution during and post treatment. If we can pair outcomes of a marker (pharmacodynamic effect, as assessed by an assay which may be in parallel development) with tumor burden evolution, this constitutes paired data. We will argue that it is essential to conserve the paired nature of such data in the analysis. It is not enough to show an effect on a marker, and — next to that — an effect on the tumor. The marker and the tumor should be shown to be linked. If they cannot be linked, that may mean a number of things (e.g. the assay is inconsistent, the drug does affect the marker, but not the tumor volume, etc.). We therefore encourage basic scientists, clinicians and statisticians to go far enough in the exploration of early data. Such exploration must be interdisciplinary. The complex thinking behind the science (which can be very case dependent) needs to be sufficiently clarified to enable the statistician to deliver the best contribution, and conversely the statistician needs to seek such understanding. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(12 Suppl):CN04-03.


The need of the other is one of the prevailing themes in the works of Marguerite Duras. This very theme is reflected in her novel The Square which is mainly about two characters who sit next to each other on a bench of a Square. The need of the other is represented by the man and the girl in different ways such as the need of love and dialogues, the fear of silence and loneliness and the need of having changes in life to replace the need for the other. Each of these characters suffers because of being alone and having no one around. The main aim of this paper is to analyse how the need of the other results in different attitudes and feelings such as the fear of loneliness and silence, the desire for conversing with others, the drive of death and killing, the need for having a stable life and above all having someone to love. Both characters suffer due to being alone and marginalized by the others but unlike the man, who accepts this fixed reality and does not seek to change it, the girl has the hope of changing her life by finding a man who is ready to love her and change her most hated status of an object to a full human being but at the risk of losing her identity and being completely submissive and dependent on the presence of a man. Dying and living is the same for the man as he works only to feed himself and survive while the girl, although she suffers a lot due to serving an old woman, is not ready to die or kill the old woman to make her life better because she needs a man to rescue her. The need of the other culminates in creating the fear of falling into silence again even while both characters are talking because they know very well that the conversation in fleeting and will not last.


Advances in interventional radiology and surgical techniques now allow complex abdominal diseases to be more successfully treated in small animals. Abdominal vascular alterations, acquired as individual process or as complication of other lesions such as neoplasia, can be life-threatening or at least greatly limit curative interventions of underlying diseases. Computed tomography (CT) and high-definition ultrasonography are now readily available in veterinary referral centers. Yet, there is little information currently available on the use of these modalities for the diagnosis and characterization of these vascular alterations. The purpose of this article is to review the CT and ultrasonographic findings of acquired vascular diseases in the abdomen of dogs and cats, using both the veterinary and human medicine literature as references, and highlighting essential concepts through figures.


Interprofessional bedside rounds are essential for patient-centered care. However, it may be difficult for nurses to round with physicians on medical-surgical units. Using a daily goals tool for indirect rounds improved nurse-physician communication and interprofessional care for patients.


For a wide class of infinitely lived agent models, Chamley has shown that the optimal capital income tax rate is zero in the long run. Lucas has argued that for the U.S. economy, there is a significant welfare gain from switching to this policy. This paper shows that for the Bewley class of models with incomplete insurance markets and borrowing constraints, the optimal tax rate on capital income is positive, even in the long run. Therefore, cutting the capital income tax to zero may well lead to welfare losses.


In the paper [1] we offer a new quasimultivariate approach for numerical investigation of inviscid flow in shaped channels. The main idea is to use the method which combines the detailing of three-dimensional approach and the efficiency of one-dimensional approach for description of gas flows.


Miniaturized sensory systems for IoT applications experience a severe power burden from their wireless link and/or embedded storage system. Compressive sensing techniques target data compression before storage and transmission to save power, while minimizing information loss. This work proposes a self-adaptive sense-and-compress system, which consumes only 45-884n W while continuously recording and compressing signals with a bandwidth up to 5kHz. The flexible system uses a combination of off-line Evolutionary Algorithms, and on-line self-adaptivity to constantly adapt to the incoming sensory data statistics, and the current application quality requirements. The 0.27mm2 sense-and-compress interface is integrated in a 65nm CMOS technology, together with an on-board temperature sensor, or can interface with any external sensor. The scalable, self-adaptive system is moreover heavily optimized for low-power and low-leakage, resulting in a tiny, efficient, yet flexible interface allowing always-on sensory monitoring, while consuming 2.5X less power compared to the current State-of-the-Art.


Isolated tubal torsion is rare event during pregnancy. The clinical symptoms are often nonspecific and the diagnosis is difficult, especially in the pregnant abdomen. The diagnosis is usually established during the operation performed for acute abdomen. Early diagnosis and treatment is necessary and early gestationel weeks laparoscopy may be a considerable diagnostic tool in these cases. We report a case of isolated tubal torsion in the third trimester of the prgnancy with pararectal incision.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the simultaneous inhibition of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and survivin expression on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and invasiion of pancreatic cancer cells Panc-1, and its mechanism.

METHODS
On the established human pancreatic cancer cells Panc-1-XS, the expression of XIAP and survivin was inhibited simultaneously. Cell invasion and migration were detected by Transwell chamber experiments and scratch test, and the expression of epithelial marker E-cadherin, mesenchymal markers Slug, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) and P-Akt protein was determined by Western blot.

RESULTS
Cell invasion and migration of Panc-1-XS cells decreased significantly, accompanied by significantly upregulated protein expression of E-cadherin, and significantly declined protein expression of the Slug, indicating increased mesenchymal-epithelial conversion (MET); and increased protein expression of PTEN, and declined protein expression of P-Akt.

CONCLUSION
Simultaneously inhibiting the expression of XIAP and survivin can partially reverse EMT phenotype of pancreatic cancer Panc-1 cells, which then significantly reduces the cell invasion and migration of Panc-1 cell lines. This process may be regulated by PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.


COPD is a disease of global importance and its primary cause airway inflammation as a consequence of cigarette smoking is well described. However, there remains a lack ofeffective therapies for this important condition. Animal models of disease are limited in their predictive utility and therefore creation of a complex, human disease modelis an important step for testing new therapeutic interventions. We therefore established a tissue model of oxidative and inflammatory responses to relevant triggers—cigarette smoke and LPS and determined the impact of interventions in the optimised system. Methods Human lung tissueexplants from the resected lobes of six consented patients undergoing lobectomy were used. Uniform tissue explants were established on a novel culture system and then treated with CSE and LPS before the supernatants were collected optimal dosing was determined. Treatments and control experiments were performed with the anti-oxidant Vitamin C and fluticasone. Inflammatory readouts were measured by ELISA; TNFa, IL-8 and MMP-9. Results Lung tissue treated with CSE showed a dose-dependent increase in IL-8 and MMP-9 secretion across a range 0.6250%–20% CSE. IL-8 response to 20% CSE was 71592.21 pg/mg/ml ±4680.7 SE compared to non-stimulated tissue 14 177 pg/mg/ml ±1088 SE (n=6, p<0.001), MMP-9 response to 20% CSE 206 pg/mg/ml ±30.55SE vs control 104 pg/mg/ml ±4.49 SE (n=6, p<0.001).However no demonstrable rise in TNF-α secretion from tissue treatedwith CSE was detectable. With LPS stimulation both TNF-α and IL-8 responses demonstrated adose-dependent increase within the range 0.01–100 ng/ml (n=5, p=0.0003). Treatment effects Stimulated IL-8 and MMP-9 secretion was significantly reduced in tissue treated with 0.1% vitamin C. 25% reduction in IL8 (n=3, p=0.065) and 32% reduction in MMP9 (n=3, p=0.0133). Fluticasone treatment reduced LPS induced TNF-α and IL-8 in a dose dependent manner (n=4, p=0.03). Conclusions A human lung tissue model of smoke and LPS induced inflammation demonstrates the importance of selecting appropriate readouts for a given stimulus or treatment and hence a potential utility in selecting trial endpoints. Furthermore it demonstrates that vitamin C and corticosteroids can reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in a complex tissue system- their combined effects warrant investigation in COPD.


Aims: to evaluate if a plant Kunitz proteinase inhibitor EcTI contributes to inactivation of elastase-induced mechanical, inflammatory and remodelling alterations. Methods: C57Bl6 mice received elastase (E group). Control group received saline (Ve group). Mice were treated with EcTI (2mg/kg) on days 1, 14 and 21 after elastase instillation (I-E group). On day 30, mice were anesthetized, mechanically ventilated and we analyzed respiratory system resistance (Rrs) and elastance (Ers), tissue elastance (Htis), tissue damping (Gtis), airway resistance (Raw) and exhaled nitric oxide (E NO ). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was performed, lungs were removed and by morphometry, we quantified the mean linear intercept (Lm), collagen and elastic fibers in lung parenchyma. Results : In E-group there was a significant increase in the Ers, Rrs, Raw, Htis, Lm, E NO , total cells and macrophages,neutrophils and lymphocytes in BALF, elastic and collagen fibres compared to controls (p 2 O/ml/s), Ers (34.71±3.16cmH 2 O/L), Htis (36.30±4.42cmH 2 O/mL/s), macrophages (94.86±2.36%), neutrophils (3.29±2.31%), and lymphocytes (0.91±0.28%) in the BALF, E NO (31.67±2.23ppb) and collagen fibers (0.69%±0.04%) compared to E-group (p Conclusions: This proteinase inhibitor ( EcTI ) reduced elastase-induced pulmonary inflammatory, remodeling and mechanical alterations induced by elastase. Although more studies need to be performed, this inhibitor may contribute as potential therapeutic tool for COPD management. Financial Support : FAPESP, CNPq, LIM-20 HCFMUSP.


Examines the complex interrelationships that inform the health care system. Health care, like all social systems, is a product of thought. Up to now, our collective thinking has been based on trying to manage parts, not the whole. This book inquires into four age-old questions that shape all health care systems: What is health? What is care? Who is responsible? How much is enough? Americans have the wealthiest health care system in the world, yet the health status of Americans ranks in the lowest quartile among the world's 25 industrialized nations and 45 million Americans are without health insurance. Today's cost, quality, and access problems are inter-related and can be traced to taken-for-granted assumptions and health care's outmoded organizing concepts: reductionism and materialism. Greater fragmentation of care, an over-dependence on technology, inattention to social and environmental determinants of health, and serious economic and moral dilemmas are some of the results of the last 40 years of piecemeal political and economic reform. This book has three purposes. The first is to help the reader see healthcare as a complex system-a part in a larger whole-and to show how answers to the questions, What is health? What is care? Who is responsible? How much is enough? implicitly define the purpose, effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness of a health care system. The second is to show that today's access, cost, and quality problems are interrelated, and arise from outmoded concepts, unquestioned assumptions, and a long trail of inconsistent and contradictory answers to the four questions. The third purpose is to acquaint readers with both the personal and societal challenges of finding coherent answers to the four questions raised above and to describe some of the budding experimental solutions that challenge traditional conventions and assumptions.


This LibGuide was created to help students in Prof. Jackson-Schebetta's World Theatre class complete their research of a selected historical figure from theatre or performance.


LibGuide for discussion and sources related to Joshua Foer and Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. An introduction to Joshua Foer


Many high-tech supply chain operate in a context of high process and market uncertainties due to shorter product life cycles. When introducing a new product, a company must manage the cost of supply, including the cost of returns over its short life cycle. The returns distribution looks like a negative exponential curve, starting with a high flow in returns for a period followed by a sudden drop and low from then on until the peak of life cycle. An important operations decision when launching a new product is the sizing of the capacity and location of return and repair centers in order to stay responsive and serve the market downstream after such a surge in early returns. It is the intention of this paper to extend the classical location models to include the demand return uncertainties and demand driven characteristics of high-tech return centers. We discuss first the operating environment, then brief the existing literature, finally present our fuzzy multi-objective location model, showing its complexities and propose an integrated AHP-weighted max-min solution approach. We show that our model can assist managing the dynamics of early or late return surge and supply of return centers, while target service time is maintained, returned centers' capacities are balanced, and the total costs are minimized.


Abstract A dislocation model is presented for the phenomena following a stress reduction during creep. It is suggested that an incubation period for the production of new mobile dislocations arises because attractive junctions on the verge of breaking just before the stress reduction are no longer so after the stress reduction. The breaking stress of the junctions must be lowered by climb movements in the surrounding network before the junctions can break and release new mobile dislocations. On the basis of these concepts, an expression is derived for the length of the incubation period. This theoretical incubation period is much shorter than the time needed to establish an equilibrium structure at the new lower stress. The dependence of dislocation line tension upon line length is taken into account; as a result of this, recovery rates are predicted to depend on stress to a power larger than three. The theoretical predictions are in agreement with experimental data from the literature.


Since its creation by Dr Karel Styblo, the cohort review (CR) principle of systematically analysing treatment outcome of every notified TB case and contact investigation in a brief, timely, structured manner, has been implemented widely outside of the UK—with impressive results. In 2010, North Central London (NCL) TB service adopted the concept, trained staff members and put in practice CR. Given the resource implications that our service faced already, plus the potential for its introduction to result in an increased staff workload, we undertook a survey of how CR was perceived and the impact it had on those involved in its use. After four rounds of CR (12 months from introduction), an anonymous on-line survey was sent to NCL staff members plus external participants and observers who had attended at least one review. The survey explored participant's personal and institutional response to the organisation, impact and outcome of CR's introduction. It was sent to 88 individuals. 72 (82%) completed the 10 min online questionnaire. Over 95% felt that CR identified gaps in service, most frequently: collaboration with other TB services (69%), patient care (63%), collaboration with allied services (51%) and service organisation (45%). Just over a third felt that CR highlighted training needs, especially for contact tracing. 70% reported changes to their way of working—in particular altering practice in response to apparent weaknesses in their approach to contact tracing. 86% felt that CR led to improvement in the speed of interventions, better data quality and enhanced professional relations. A small number of staff noted negative consequences which largely reflected increase in initial work load. Cohort review has enhanced our service provision. It is well received by local staff as well as external participants & observers. Our data are encouraging; and we hope will assist in promoting roll out to other parts of the country.


The establishment and operation of a comprehensive self-medication program for hospitalized epileptic patients are described. The patients in the program are required to meet established behavioral criteria during each of four stages of self-medication before progressing to the next stage. The patient has increasing responsibility in each successive phase of the program. The areas of patient involvement for the pharmacist are: (1) obtaining a medication history, (2) teaching patients about seizure medications, (3) conducting patient consultations during the self-medication program and (4) counseling the patient at discharge.


Background Soft tissue expansion is a common technique for restoring large skin defects. Fixed-type expanders may be inappropriate for the following reasons: (1) the shapes and sizes of the defects vary in different patients; and (2) the bulged base of the fixed-type expander does not fit the curve of the human body, which may induce complications such as concave deformities or nerve palsy from continuous mechanical compression. The customized expander adjusts better to the shape and the topography of the expansion site compared with the fixed-type expander. It improves expansion efficiency and reduces complications caused by compression. Methods Between 2016 and 2022, customized soft tissue expansion was performed in 38 patients with skin lesions, including giant congenital melanocytic nevi and postburn scars. This series of patients included patients with a specific donor site shape that is unsuitable for fixed-type expanders. An expander was customized according to the shape of the donor site and then implanted in the subcutaneous pocket. After the expander reached a sufficient volume, the expander was removed, and the extra expanded skin flap was transferred to resurface the skin lesion. In the follow-up, the outcome and the complications were recorded. Results All the customized expanders fit not only the dimension but also the topography of the donor site. During expansion, 2 patients experienced leakage of the expander, and 3 patients suffered a skin rupture. In the remaining 33 patients, the expansion was successfully completed, and the expanded flaps restored the skin lesions as designed. The color and texture of the skin flaps remained satisfactory after long-term follow-up. Conclusions Unlike fixed-type expanders, our customized expanders make it possible for "accurate" expansion, irrespective of the dimension and topography of the donor area. Customization of the expander helps increase efficiency and reduce complications caused by undue compression.


18The traditional interfered muffler has narrow noise elimination frequency range.It has large noise elimination volume only at contracting frequency part. When noise frequency is far lower than contracting frequency, the noise elimination volume will fall rapidly .Designing a composite muffler based on the principle of gas convection, sound wave diffraction, sound reflection and so on. The muffler is mainly used for noise caused by pneumatic tools. Test shows that without affecting the work performance of pneumatic tools, the muffler can be 10-12dB noise reduction, which is worthy applying.


Given a directed graph G , a covering is a subset B of arcs which meets all directed cuts of G . Equivalently, the contraction of the elements of B makes G strongly connected. An O ( n 5 ) primal-dual algorithm is presented by Frank (1981) for finding a minimum covering of a directed graph. For a planar graph, the dual problem is to find a minimum set of arcs whose removal makes G acyclic. The dual problem may be solved with Frank's algorithm. Further, some improvements that may be used to make such algorithm faster in practical cases are prescuted.


A hybrid multiscale framework is presented, which processes the material scales in a concurrent manner, borrowing features from hierarchical multiscale methods. The framework is used for the analysis of non‐linear heterogeneous materials and is capable of tackling strain localization and failure phenomena. Domain decomposition techniques, such as the finite element tearing and interconnecting method, are used to partition the material in a number of non‐overlapping domains and adaptive refinement is performed at those domains that are affected by damage processes. This refinement is performed in terms of material scale and finite element size. It is verified that the results are independent of the chosen domain decomposition. Moreover, the multiscale analyses are validated with reference solutions obtained with a full fine‐scale solution procedure. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Background People from BAME communities are known to have specific palliative care needs. Different cultural approaches may have substantial impacts both within families, and on service use. Despite this, services are often provided 'for', rather than 'developed with' Muslims. In response to this, Muslim community members in East London have used a Compassionate Community-style approach, acknowledging end of life care as a social process, and everyone's business. Aim To develop a culturally inclusive, BAME-community-led befriending and advocacy service, working with those who are isolated, terminally ill or reaching end-of-life. The intention is to work in partnership, with a focus on cultural, spiritual and social needs, rather than to replace existing provision. Methods Since its start in 2013, Eden Care has provided an end-of-life service which is open to needy people from all communities. There are currently 35 Eden Care volunteers, most of whom are 'experts-by-experience' after experiencing terminal illnesses alongside family members or friends. 15 of the volunteers have undergone a DBS check and vetting process, and received specialist training to provide high-quality, non-discriminatory and non-judgmental services. Results 15 people/clients have been paired with a befriender providing support with personal, social and spiritual needs. A Rapid Response Team can carry out 24/7 visits when a person is nearing death. The grassroots, responsive approach means that additional work is now also being done with a support service for Muslim burials; and on giving voice to those nearing end-of-life and the wider community, thereby enhancing the local statutory end-of-life strategy. Conclusions Clients and families who might be considered 'hard to reach' by statutory providers are served in truly responsive and culturally appropriate ways when communities lead the work.


Microorganisms in marine ecosystems are exposed to harsh conditions, thus such systems are of interest in bioprospecting for useful secondary metabolites. The aim of the study was to isolate and identify the fungal endophytes that colonize mangroves. The fungal endophytes were isolated from the leaves, roots, and branches of different mangrove plants (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Heritiera littoralis, Xylocarpus granatum, Rhizophora mucronata, and Avicennia marina) from Mida creek, Tudor creek and Gazi bay using Point-Centered Quarter Sampling method and then, morphologically characterized. A total of 76 fungal isolates were obtained and identified using macro- and micro-morphological features. The isolates were affiliated with eight different genera (Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Nigrospora, Fusarium, Alternaria, Lasiodiplodia, Chaetomium and Penicillum).  Aspergillus spp. were the most prominent with a colonization frequency of 38.9 and 55.6% in root and branch tissues, respectively while Chaetomium species were the least frequent appearing only in one branch tissue. Mida creek had the highest total number of endophytic isolates (52.6%) followed by Gazi bay (27.6%). Majority (30.3%) of the endophytic fungal isolates were obtained from Avicennia marina. The results indicate that mangrove species are a source of diverse endophytic fungi that may have useful biotechnological applications.

 Key words: Mangrove species, endophytic fungi, fungi diversity, colonization frequency.


It has been admitted that the 212 movements constituted not only a socio-religious driving force but also a political one in contemporary Indonesia. In the 2019 presidential election, conservative Islamic camps that had anger and resentments toward President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as he was regarded incapable of solving crises and keen on discriminating against Islam and ulama came up together to win Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. Based on qualitative field research in some areas of Indonesia, this article analyses the diffusion of some Islamic groups with their grand narratives and discourses, and their involvement in Prabowo-Sandiaga's campaign, considered as a fast track of establishing a utopia of the imagined ummah (united Muslim community). In the light of an Islamic activism and social movement theory, it concludes that such a political crossover is a kind of new Islamic activism and social movement. It has not been merely rooted in a conservative outlook of Islam, but also in their dissatisfaction and contention over Jokowi's social and economic policies. This kind of new Islamic social movement would affect contemporary Indonesian religious and political realms.


The past 2 y have seen a steady stream of reports indicating that restriction or modification of carbohydrate intakes can favorably affect weight loss and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (1–6). The article by Ebbeling et al (7) in this issue of the Journal represents one more in favor of diets with a low glycemic index (GI) or glycemic load (GL). Serum triacylglycerol concentrations in young overweight adults with similar weight loss fell nearly twice as far with the ad libitum low-GL diet as with the energy-restricted low-fat diet, whereas concentrations of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, an important measure of thrombogenicity, significantly worsened (ie, rose) in subjects who were following the energy-restricted low-fat diet. The study was small (n 23) and from a group at Harvard that had published other studies on the same topic, but it was long-term (12 mo) and carefully carried out. That lowering daylong glycemia, with or without weight loss, might improve CVD risk should not come as a surprise. Many intervention studies have tested the hypothesis that low-GI diets will improve not only glucose control but also lipid metabolism. Twenty years ago, Jenkins et al (8) showed in 3-way crossover studies that low-GI diets improve triacylglycerol and total cholesterol concentrations in hyperlipidemic subjects more than do conventional low-fat diets. Recently, Patel et al (9) showed that women with advanced CVD who were awaiting bypass surgery spent significantly fewer days in the hospital than did their counterparts who were following a conventional low-fat diet (7.1 and 9.5 d, respectively). Slowing the rate of carbohydrate absorption per se by using the -glucosidase inhibitor acarbose was found to reduce cardiovascular events by 50% over 3 y in a large population with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Long-term studies in animals have provided additional evidence that the GI itself, and not fiber intake or any other confounding factor, is important in relation to weight gain, body fat, and CVD risk. Animals fed diets differing only in the type of starch (highor low-GI) gained body fat faster with the high-GI diet than with the low-GI diet (10). Even when fed to similar body weight, high-GI diet–fed rats have more body fat (71%), less lean body mass, and higher plasma triacylglycerol concentrations than do low-GI diet–fed rats (11). Large-scale observational studies show links—even in nondiabetic persons—between the presence of postchallenge hyperglycemia and an increased risk of chronic disease (12). In a meta-analysis of 39 prospective studies of nondiabetic cohorts, Levitan et al (13) found that groups with the highest 120-min postload glucose concentration had a 27% greater risk of CVD than did those with the lowest glucose concentrations, and the relative risk was higher in women than in men (1.56 and 1.23, respectively). Adjustment for traditional CVD risk factors attenuated but did not abolish the relation. Moreover, Liu et al (14) showed that average dietary GI and GL were also independent predictors of 10-y prospective CVD risk in US women. The latter study is particularly important, because it implies that postprandial glycemia induced by carbohydrate foods in everyday settings (and not glucose tolerance testing) is clinically relevant. There has been fundamental progress in showing that glucose itself can directly damage vascular cells, by a variety of mechanisms. All of these mechanisms appear to reflect a single hyperglycemia-induced process of overproduction of superoxide by the mitochondrial electron-transport chain (15). Normal concentrations of glycemia such as those encountered during a standard meal have been shown to acutely decrease plasma antioxidant capacity, which reflects a significant oxidative stress. Moreover, the vascular endothelium is a prime target because endothelial cells, unlike many other cells in the body, are unable to regulate glucose transport across the cell membrane. Taken together, intervention, observational, and experimental studies suggest that postprandial glycemia plays a greater role in CVD than is generally acknowledged, perhaps more so in women than in men. Because decreasing the intakes of total and saturated fat has been the goal of efforts to reduce the incidence of obesity and CVD, high-carbohydrate foods have been recommended, not so much because of their intrinsic nutritional merit, but because they fill the calorie space formerly occupied by fat. But one of the more subtle changes in the food supply over the past few decades has been the replacement of traditionally processed grains by more highly processed, high-GI cereal products. Lessprocessed foods are more likely to contain slowly digested carbohydrates because the starches and sugars remain closely embedded in the plant's original botanical structure, surrounded by bran and other barriers that inhibit starch gelatinization. In contrast, modern methods of food production using finer flours, extrusion technology, and high temperatures and pressures increase starch gelatinization and thus the rate of digestion in vivo. Compared with sugars, high-GI starchy foods receive little attention, and yet they have a greater capacity than do sugars to


Text clustering has been recognized as an important component in data mining. Self-Organizing Map (SOM) based models have been found to have certain advantages for clustering sizeable text data. However, current existing approaches lack in providing an adaptive hierarchical structure within in a single model. This paper presents a new method of hierarchical text clustering based on combination of latent semantic analysis (LSA) and hierarchical GSOM, which is called LSA-HGSOM method. The text clustering result using traditional methods can not show hierarchical structure. However, the hierarchical structure is very important in text clustering. The LSA-HGSOM method can automatically achieve hierarchical text clustering, and establishes vector space model (VSM) of term weight by using the theory of LSA, then semantic relation is included in the vector space model. Both theory analysis and experimental results confirm that LSA-HGSOM method decreases the number of vector, and enhances the efficiency and precision of text clustering.


This paper is related to diamond synthesis from mixed methane and hydrogen gas by microwave plasma CVD. In this study, the effects of substrate surface states on nucleation are experimentally examined. Silicon wafers are finished by different procedures to get different surface states. These procedures are grinding with diamond wheels, polishing with alumina, polishing with diamonds, mechano-chemical polishing with zirconia, blusting with glass bead and etching with mixed acid. In order to estimate nucleation density synthesizing are carried out for 2 hours under the condition of 1% methane concentration. Results obtained are as follows : The nucleation density of crystallographically damaged surfaces is higher than that of non-damaged surfaces. As undulations of the substrate surface affect on the flow of mixed gas, the nucleation density highly depends on the surface roughness.


We address the problem of optimizing kernel parameters in support vector machine modeling, especially when the number of parameters is greater than one as in polynomial kernels and KMOD, our newly introduced kernel. The present work is an extended experimental study of the framework proposed by Chapelle et al. (2001) for optimizing SVM kernels using an analytic upper bound of the error. However our optimization scheme minimizes an empirical error estimate using a quasi-Newton optimization method. To assess our method, the approach is further used for adapting KMOD, RBF and polynomial kernels on synthetic data and NIST database. The method shows a much faster convergence with satisfactory results in comparison with the simple gradient descent method.


Humerus varus, the upper extremity analogue of coxa vara, may be found in association with, and probably as a consequence of hematologic, infectious metabolic, genetic and neurologic disorders. No matter what the etiology, there is a similar pattern of development and progression of the deformity. The medial region of the proximal humeral physis either develops slowly or failed to develop, while the lateral region develops more rapidly, causing varus rotation of the proximal humeral epiphysis and physis. In the more extreme cases, the lateral region of the growth plate is almost parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. In many cases there is a medial lucency, adjacent bony epiphyseodesis, and significant shortening of the humerus. Although abduction is usually decreased, major functional impairment is unusual even in the dominant arm.


Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate overall survival in patients with lung cancer with brain metastasis. Our other aim was to investigate prognostic value of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of primary tumor on 18Fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography / computed tomography (18F-FDG PET / CT) FDG PET / CT and other clinicopathological parameters. Material and Methods: Fifty-eight patients with lung cancer who underwent for oncologic purpose and had metastatic lesions in the brain were included in the study. The location of the primary lung mass and whether other organ metastases presence was evaluated on the 18F-FDG PET / CT. In axial images, the volume of interest (VOI) was plotted semi-automatically to include lung tumor tissue and SUVmax of the primary lung tumor was measured. Survival analyzes were performed with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The prognostic value of the parameters was evaluated using Cox regression analysis. Results: Of the 58 patients included in the study, 6 (10%) were female and 52 (90%) were male. The mean age was 64.8 ± 9.5 years. The mean SUVmax of primary tumor was 10.4 ± 4.5. Median survival was 7 months. Patient age and localization of the primary tumor were prognostic factors for survival in univariate analysis, whereas sex, SUVmax of primary tumor, presence of distant metastasis outside the brain, histologic subtype, surgical status of the metastatic brain mass and treatment type were not. Overall survival was lower in patients with primary tumor located in the left lung than in the right lung. Conclusion: In conclusion, age and localization of primary tumor are prognostic factors, whereas SUVmax of primary tumor does not appear to be a prognostic factor in lung cancer patients with brain metastases.


In today's Internet, users can choose their local Internet service providers (ISPs), but once their packets have entered the network, they have little control over the overall routes their packets take. Giving a user the ability to choose between provider-level routes has the potential of fostering ISP competition to offer enhanced service and improving end-to-end performance and reliability. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a new Internet routing architecture (NIRA) that gives a user the ability to choose the sequence of providers his packets take. NIRA addresses a broad range of issues, including practical provider compensation, scalable route discovery, efficient route representation, fast route fail-over, and security. NIRA supports user choice without running a global link-state routing protocol. It breaks an end-to-end route into a sender part and a receiver part and uses address assignment to represent each part. A user can specify a route with only a source and a destination address, and switch routes by switching addresses. We evaluate NIRA using a combination of network measurement, simulation, and analysis. Our evaluation shows that NIRA supports user choice with low overhead.


The Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags collision problem has been analyzed in this paper. A novel ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID system scheme, which is based on combination of Dynamic Framed Slotted Aloha (DFSA) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) with Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) code, was proposed. The proposed scheme has an ability to identify at most m (the length of OVSF code) tags simultaneously in one time slot. The theoretical analysis and computer simulation show that the proposed solution has significant improvement in expected system throughput when compared to classical simplex DFSA system scheme.


The beginning of Neurosurgery is not very new in Bangladesh. Prof.Rashiduddin Ahmed established the first Neurosurgery unit in the then Institute of Postgraduate Medical Research (IPGMR) with only six beds in 1970. The first generation neurosurgeons left the field of neurosurgery in the safe hands of their disciples. There was a rapid progression of neurosurgery further both in private and in government level after 2000.In 1997 the first MS (Neurosurgery) course was started in IPGMR which was replaced by a 5-year residency course under Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in 2010. Till now over 154 candidates are the active members of Bangaldesh Society of Neurosurgeons and are practicing independent neurosurgery. It is a very popular course and at present there are about 89 residents in various phases of the course in 4 institutions under BSMMU. With the available investigations, diagnostic facilities, operative facilities and good neuroanesthesia; now neurosurgeons also developed their skills in vascular neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery, endoscopic neurosurgery, spinal stabilization procedures, stereotactic neurosurgery and stem cell therapy. We are also hopeful that, very soon we would be able to achieve and develop our standard of neurosurgery to an international level by our determination and continuous effort, and by suitable and update learning, teaching and training.
Bang. J Neurosurgery 2019; 8(2): 57-62


Terfenadine is the first of a new class of non‐sedating H1 antihistamines. It differs from chlorpheniramine in its lower anticholinergic activity in rabbit salivation tests. In animal model distribution studies, the drug is not found in the brain. In most clinical studies sedation attributed to terfenadine was on the order of that observed with placebo. Clinical trials of efficacy show that at best terfenadine is slightly less effective than or as effective as chlorpheniramine.