The acid tolerance of lactic acid bacteria is crucial for their fermentation and probiotic functions. Acid adaption significantly enhances the acid tolerance of strains, and the phenotypic heterogeneity driven by the acid tolerance response (ATR) contributes to this process by providing a selective advantage in harsh environments. The mechanism of heterogeneity under the ATR is not yet clear, but individual gene expression differences are recognized as the cause. In this study, we observed four heterogeneous subpopulations (viable, injured, dead, and unstained) of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei L9 (L9) induced by acid adaption (pH 5.0, 40 min) using flow cytometry. The viable subpopulation represented a significantly superior acid tolerance to the injured subpopulation or total population. Different subpopulations were sorted and transcriptomic analysis was performed. Five genes were found to be upregulated in the viable subpopulation and downregulated in the injured subpopulation, and bglG (LPL9_RS14735) was identified as having a key role in this process. Using salicin (glucoside)-inducing gene expression and gene insertion mutagenesis, we verified that bglG regulated the heterogeneity of the acid stress response and that the relevant mechanisms might be related to activating hsp20. This study provides new evidence for the mechanism of the ATR and may contribute to the theoretical basis of improving the acid tolerance of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei L9.


This research studies the structure of flames that use laboratory-produced methane hydrates as fuel, specifically for the purpose of identifying their key combustion characteristics. Combustion of a methane hydrate involves multiple phase changes, as large quantities of solid clathrate transform into fuel gas, water vapor, and liquid water during burning. With its unique and stable fuel energy storage capability, studies in combustion are focused on the potential usage of hydrates as an alternative fuel source or on their fire safety. Considering methane hydrate as a conventional combustion energy resource and studying hydrate combustion using canonical experimental configurations or methodology are challenges. This paper presents methane hydrate flame geometries from the time they can be ignited through their extinguishment. Ignition and burning behavior depend on the hydrate initial temperature and whether the clathrates are chunks or monolithic shapes. These behaviors are the subject of this research. Physical properties that affect methane hydrate in burning can include packing density, clathrate fraction, and surface area. Each of these modifies the time or the temperature needed to ignite the hydrate flames as well as their subsequent burning rate, thus every effort is made to keep consistent samples. Visualization methods used in combustion help identify flame characteristics, including pure flame images that give reaction zone size and shape and hydrate flame spectra to identify important species. The results help describe links between hydrate fuel characteristics and their resulting flames.


Although I shall be criticizing you, even severely, please do not take this amiss. I mean your organization no harm. Quite the contrary. My two children, in their early 20's, are both new dri-vers. I would suffer more than I can tell you if anything were to happen to them as a result of drunken driving. I am thus a sup-porter of yours. I am on your side. Please take what I say as no more than friendly amendments to your plans and proposals. Some of the following critiques may sound harsh, but friends do not mince words with each other in life and death situations, and I would like you to consider me a friend of yours. We may disagree on means, but certainly not on ends.
First, you must expand your scope of operations. While drunk driving is of course a major calamity on our nation's roads, it is far from the only one. There are quite a few others, even besides the «big three» of speed, weather conditions and driver error1.
What difference does it really make if our children and loved ones die in a traffic fatality emanating from drunkenness or any of these other conditions? Happily there is no need to change even the MADD name if you adopt this suggestion. Only instead of the first «D» standing for «drunk» it could refer to «death,» as in Mothers Against Death Drivers. All of these things —alco-hol, drugs, speeding, malfunctioning vehicles, badly engineered roads, weather conditions, whatever— are threats to our fami-ly's lives. Why single out any one of them?
A possible defense of the status quo is to borrow a leaf from the economists, and defend the present, limited, status of MADD on grounds of specialization and division of labor2. True, no one organization can do everything. Better to take on a limited agenda and do it well, than to take on too much and accomplish little or nothing.


Studies on diversity, regeneration, structural and uses of some woody species in the Borana Forests, one of the Afromontane forests of Ethiopia, were made. In order to gather vegetation and environmental data from the study forest, a 900 m 2 (30 m x 30 m) quadrat was laid following the homogeneity of vegetation. Investigation of the seedling density and regeneration of target species has been carried out using the same quadrat size, 30 m x 30 m. In each of these quadrats, the numbers of all seedlings that are up to the height of 150 cm were recorded. Individuals attaining 150 cm and above in height but less than 10 cm thick were considered as sapling and counted. Interview was conducted for the investigation of the various pressures exerted on different species. A total of 355 plant species belonging to 78 families and three divisions were recorded from the Borana Forests. Of these 2 were gymnosperms and 9 were pteridophyta, while the remaining were angiosperms. Structural and regeneration studies of some woody species indicated that there are species that require urgent conservation measures. To provide a better management and monitoring as well as to maintain the biodiversity, cultural and economic values of the forest unsustainable utility of the forest would be controlled with the various conservation activities in place. Keywords : Arero Forest, Borana Forests, Endemism, Regeneration, Structure, Yaballo Forest


Many conferences have been regularly organized worldwide each year. The organizing process consists of sequences of major activities involving several distant participants. The characteristic of the conference management process, therefore, suits the solution of distributed system. To enhance loose coupling, the cooperative activities could be implemented as services. However, the orchestration of these service operations is not conducted. This paper presents an approach to developing the conference management system using service oriented architecture fused with the notion of business process modeling. The innovation of Workflow Services, which is the integration of web services implemented by Windows Workflow Communication Foundation and workflows developed by Windows Workflow Foundation, is selected for the system implementation. The method reflects the added values of interoperability and reusability of the implemented system.


This book describes and evaluates the conversion of a conventional gasoline powered all-terrain vehicle (ATV) to an electric ATV. Preliminary studies are performed to obtain initial power and torque requirements for the vehicle. A detailed simulation model of the mechanical load is written and compared to manufacturer supplied data. The load model is then combined with a comprehensive electronic drive and motor simulation using an electromagnetic transient simulation program (PSCAD). A prototype of the vehicle is constructed by selecting the main components, an electric traction motor, batteries and a custom motor drive, using the simulation results. The results of both the simulation and prototypes are compared and evaluated.


In this study we are concerned with the flow in a tank stirred by disc impellers with pitched blades. A mathematical method, based on multiframe of reference and unstructured grid technology, was employed in the flow simulation. It was learned from the study by Tsui et al. [12] that for a pitched-blade impeller, which does not include the disc, the flow pattern in the agitated tank is transformed from the axial type to the radial type at a particular angle when the blade angle is increased. A similar phenomenon was observed in the present study. However, in contrast to the results of Tsui et al., the change of flow pattern brings about a sharp decrease in power requirement and a jump in pumping capacity. The cause of the difference is related to the disc which obstructs the fluid when it flows in the axial direction at low blade angles and makes it flow smoothly in the radial direction along the disc at high blade angles. It was shown in the results that the transition angle is increased when the impeller size, the disc size as well as the off-bottom clearance are reduced.


We use the exogenous policy shock of the extension of provision of school meals to upper primary grades in public schools in Delhi to study the effects of school meal intake on the cognitive effort of students within the classroom. Using individual level data on the performance of students in effort games both before and after the extension of the program, we find that the provision of meals significantly improved the classroom effort of students in grade seven. We conclude that school meals have the potential to increase educational attainment in the classroom. JEL Classification: I21, I25, H52


The need to attract resources to boost Zimbabwe's revenue base from the informal
sector has attracted debates within the academia, development advocates, revenue
administrators, donor agencies, among others. There is general consensus on the
potential of the informal sector towards development, employment creation, poverty
reduction and tax revenue contribution to both government and subsequently subgovernment
units. In this regard developing countries which are struggling to broaden
their revenuebaseshave been left with limited options. It has been quite difficultto
mobilise idle resources particularly revenue from the untapped and under–tapped
informal sector. Places such as Glenview furniture industries have attracted attention
from various quarters where there is general appreciation on their potential to the
national purse. Hence, this study sought to get into detail of how Zimbabwe can
derive benefits from its informal sector which has been flourishing and growing every
day despite the fact that it is not bringing benefits directly to the central government.
The research reviewed literature on the informal sector, highlighting experiences from
other countries and outlining a theoretical framework guiding the research. The study
used key informant interviews and documentary review to gain insights about the
informal sector. Also, questionnaires were administered to operators at Glenview
home industries. The researcher also made some observations on how these operators
work and transact. The study found out that there are shortfalls in the legislative
framework governing the harnessing of tax resources from the informal sector as well
as the poor capacity of responsible institutions. The study concluded that the informal
sector can make meaningful contributions to the national fiscus, especially when
capital is invested and more markets availed to the informal traders. The study
therefore recommended that Zimbabwe should take a leaf from other country
experiences such as China, Ukraine and Brazil which have premised their
development on the informal sector which now constitutes their small to medium
enterprises. Also, it is recommended that the government put in place strong and
certain legislation both at national level and at local authority level. On a micro level
the study recommends the injection of capital and ready markets to operators at
Glenview Home Industries.


There is a consensus that evaluating and reporting on the performance of health care providers can be instrumental in improving value in U.S. health care. But the growth of performance measurement has been accompanied by increasing concerns about the scientific rigor, transparency, and limitations of available measure sets, and how measures should be used to provide incentives to improve performance. This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded paper describes the current state of performance measurement and reporting, details what?s wrong, and outlines seven policy recommendations that offer a path to achieving the promise of performance measurement while avoiding its adverse consequences.


To mix single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with a polymer and to achieve low percolation thresholds, a low-viscosity liquid has been required in order to achieve sufficiently good dispersion. In this article, data are presented which show that percolation occurs at ∼0.14 wt % carbon nanotubes and the dispersion procedure does not involve dispersing the SWCNTs in a low-viscosity liquid. Specifically, ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene powder was mixed with a powder containing nanotubes and catalyst support, e.g., the powder contains 93% silica and 7% SWCNTs. The powder blend is compression molded into sheets using high pressure and temperature. Because of the very high viscosity of the resin, the nanotube/silica mixture largely stays segregated at the interface as shown by scanning electron microscopy. A significant drop in tensile properties (modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break) occurs with filler incorporation. Non isothermal crystallization measurements indicate that this filler does not nucleate crystallinity when mixed in this manner; although there is a definite sharpening of the melt endotherm indicating that crystallites with smaller lamellar thicknesses are reduced significantly with filler addition. The addition of filler also slightly reduces the overall fractional crystallinity measured after a constant cooling rate. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers


Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has been used to characterize multilayers of three isomeric aromatic compounds adsorbed on silver nanoclusters. The three structural isomers, all of which adsorb in the carboxylate form onto the silver nanoclusters, bind in two different geometries to the silver surface. Different molecular configurations correlate to differences in bonding strength of these molecules to the silver surface, which can be probed by SERS. For ortho-hydroxybenzoic acid (salicylic acid), we observed red shifts of major SERS peaks in comparison to the normal Raman vibrations of nonadsorbed crystalline material. For this molecule the steric hindrance between the adjacent carboxylate and hydroxyl groups causes the carboxylate group to rotate from the common flat geometry of benzene substituents on surfaces and bond directly through one of the oxygen atoms to the surface. In this case, strong coordinative bonding between the carboxylate group and the metal surface causes the red shifts in the SERS peaks. For para-, and meta-hydroxybenzoic acid, the steric hindrance is less likely since the two functional groups are not at adjacent positions, and therefore these molecules adsorb on the silver surface in a totally flat geometry. For these molecules, in contrast to the ortho isomer, the CO2 interacts with the surface through an extended π bond, and these molecules are physically adsorbed in the common flat position. Therefore, for the meta and para substituents, we do not observe significant red shifts in the SERS spectrum. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the topographic, topometric and visual changes after implantation of Ferrara intrastromal corneal ring segments (ICRS) in grades I and II keratoconus patients. Materials and methods: The chart records of 50 consecutively operated keratoconus patients were reviewed. The patients were operated on by the same surgeon, with the manual technique. All patients were preoperatively and postoperatively evaluated with the Pentacam (OCULUS Optikgeräte, Wetzlar, Germany). The studied parameters were: uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), keratometry, corneal asphericity and corneal volume. Results: Fifty eyes of 42 patients (26 males and 16 females) were analyzed. The mean preoperative UDVA was 0.91 ranging from LogMAR 0.10 to 1.30. The mean postoperative CDVA was 0.19 ranging from 0.00 to 0.54 LogMAR. The postoperative CDVA was equal or better than 0.18 in 37 cases (74%). The mean K1 decreased from 45.80D (±2.52) preoperatively to 44.27D (± 2.10) postoperatively and the mean K2 value, from 49.06D (± 2.09) to 46.22D (±1.89). The mean asphericity increased from –0.71 preoperatively to –0.29 postoperatively. The average preoperative corneal volume was 56.89 ± 3.11 mm3 while the average postoperative corneal volume was 57.64 ± 3.05 mm3. Conclusion: The study supports the early indication of implantation of Ferrara ICRS in mild to moderate keratoconus cases in order to achieve good visual, keratometric and ashpericity outcomes.


Abstract Evidence suggests that children who live with intimate partner violence between their parents or caregivers are at risk for psychological and behavioural problems. This paper presents an overview of the substantial body of literature now existing in this field. It reports on the prevalence of intimate partner abuse in developed countries and the potentially large population of children who experience conflict of this nature. Rates of co-occurrence of intimate partner violence and directly targeted physical child abuse are reviewed, as well as possible reasons for this overlap. Impacts of living with intimate partner violence during childhood are summarised. Heightened prevalence of posttraumatic symptomatology, mood difficulties, and behavioural problems have been reported in this population of children, and there are indications that difficulties may persist. Possible mediators and mechanisms of these associations are reviewed. The difficulty of separating the effects of directly targeted child assault from those of living with violence is discussed, as is the apparent similarity in outcomes associated with each type of violence. The paper is concluded with comments on implications and recommendations for future research.


Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) is an important parameter that is often employed in characterization of fracture in engineering materials. Due to inherent difficulties in direct determination of CTOD, the crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) has been measured during fracture tests of concrete beams and then related to CTOD. Analytical schemes are used for the determination of CTOD from the measured crack mouth opening displacements, which leads to the determination of other fracture parameters of importance. The research presented here describes development of an experimental technique for direct determination of CTOD based on embedded fiber optic sensors. The measured displacements, CTOD, and CMOD, are compared and the validity of analytical schemes in estimation of CTOD is evaluated.


Syntheses of analogue compounds of cortistatin A (1), an anti-angiogenic steroidal alkaloid from Indonesian marine sponge, were investigated by utilizing the CD-ring fragment of vitamin D₂. The incidental preparation of a new analogue having CD-cis-fused skeleton and its biological evaluation revealed the importance of the CD-trans-fused structure for the potent and selective antiproliferative activity of 1 against human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).


Slow software deployment is an important issue in environments such as fog computing where this operation lies in the critical path of providing online services to the end users. The problem is even worse when the virtualized resources are made of modest machines such as single-board computers. This paper leverages the observation that, although Docker images are often very large, only a small fraction of their content is actually accessed by the containers during startup. We therefore propose to reorganize container images and download only the strictly necessary files before starting a container. The remaining image contents can then be downloaded asynchronously while the container is already running. Our performance evaluations show that FogDocker reduces container deployment times in the order of 3-5x on single-board computers and 2-3x on powerful servers, while incurring low runtime overhead and maintaining correctness even in the case a container accesses a file which was not downloaded yet.


To improve thermal environments in urban area, the structural characteristic analysis of thermal environments of the certain area should be preceded to analyze and supplement its problems. With Landsat-8, we measured the centrality estimation, the distribution map, and the spatial statistical analysis of Daegu Metropolitan City in January and August, which of data applied in analyzing the structure of thermal environments following to its spatial property. The thermal infrared band of satellite images has been used to analyze the standard normal deviated scores, which extract the centrality, while the cluster map, based upon Local Local Moran"s I, has composed for understanding the autocorrelation of local spatial within environment space structure. Understanding the distribution features as well as the pivot center of thermal environments with satellite images provides principle database for updating urban thermal environments" policies and plans; because those are reference materials that should have precedence over for diverse thermal environment policies.


Osmotic minipumps were used to infuse hypertonic saline intracerebroventricularly into conscious rats fed high-salt diets to determine if combining high-salt intake with ICV saline infusion would elevate blood pressure more than either procedure alone. Mean aortic pressures became progressively elevated in all rats infused with saline and the magnitude of the elevation was significantly larger in those fed high-salt diets instead of the regular chow. Added pressor effects of high-salt feeding were unaffected by pharmacologic vasopressin or angiotensin blockade thereby indicating that humoral mediation by either peptide was not involved. A general increase in cardiovascular reactivity also seemed unlikely since pressor responsiveness to injected norepinephrine did not differ between rat groups. Sympathetic hyperactivity was considered to be a logical explanation because enhancement by high-salt feeding was abolished following either ganglion blockade with pentolinium or chemical sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine. These findings are compatible with the interpretation that high-salt feeding enhanced pressor responses to centrally-infused saline by increasing sympathetic vasomotor tone.


One major open problem in network coding is to characterize the capacity region of a general multi-source multi-demand network. There are some existing computational tools for bounding the capacity of general networks, but their computational complexity grows very quickly with the size of the network. This motivates us to propose a new hierarchical approach which finds upper and lower bounding networks of smaller size for a given network. This approach sequentially replaces components of the network with simpler structures, i.e., with fewer links or nodes, so that the resulting network is more amenable to computational analysis and its capacity provides an upper or lower bound on the capacity of the original network. The accuracy of the resulting bounds can be bounded as a function of the link capacities. Surprisingly, we are able to simplify some families of network structures without any loss in accuracy.


PT Kopaba Jatim is a business entity engaged in manpower distribution to the Bank Jatim 's branches. PT Kopaba Jatim joint moves with Bank Jatim cooperative. Manpower provided by these companies is security, drivers and office boy. PT Jatim Kopaba have a problems associated with data employee. Some problems are piled up files, employee history data less accurate, and the difficulty in performing insert, update, delete. Moreover, in the process of making contracts letter, mutation letter and termination letter took a long time because the system is based on Microsoft Excel that can be accessed by one client only, Microsoft Excel are also less effective to monitor the employees in nearly all branches of Bank Jatim. Based on the issues, PT Kopaba should have a system to facilitate the process of personnel administration. So the correct solution is the making of personnel administration information system that can determine which employees will be out of contract next three months, facilitate administrative processes and simplify the employee making the report related. With this system, employee data collection process becomes more effective. Report generation is more accurate. Also based on alpha test with 27 function test result is 100% according to user needs.


The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) Alfonso Serrano is a 50m-diameter single-dish radio telescope constructed at an altitude of 4600 meters on the summit of Volcan Sierra Negra, an extinct volcano in the Mexican state of Puebla. The LMT is a bi-national scientific collaboration between Mexico and the USA, led by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The telescope currently operates at wavelengths from 4mm to 1mm, and during the dry winter months the LMT site provides the highest levels of atmospheric transmission and potential future access to submillimeter observing windows. This paper describes the current status and scientific performance of the LMT, the suite of scientific instrumentation and future engineering upgrades that will optimize the optical efficiency of the telescope and increase its scientific productivity.


Physical models and scaled prototypes of architecture play an important role in design. They enable architects and designers to investigate the formal, functional, and material attributes of the design. Understanding digital processes of realizing scaled prototypes is a significant problem confronting design practice. This paper reports on three approaches to the translation of Gaussian surface models into scaled physical prototype models. Based on the geometry of Eladio Dieste's Gaussian Vaults, the paper reports on the aspects encountered in the process of digital to physical construction using scaled prototypes. The primary focus of the paper is on computing the design geometry, investigating methods for preparing the geometry for fabrication and physical construction. Three different approaches in the translation from digital to physical models are investigated: rapid prototyping, two-dimensional surface models in paper and structural component models using CNC fabrication. The three approaches identify a body of knowledge in the design and prototyping of Gaussian vaults. Finally the paper discusses the digital to fabrication translation processes with regards to the characteristics, benefits and limitations of the three approaches of prototyping the ruled surface geometry of Gaussian Vaults. The results of each of three fabrication processes allowed for a better understanding of the digital to physical translation process. The use of rapid prototyping permits the production of form models that provide a representation of the physical characteristics such as size, shape and proportion of the Gaussian Vault.


Over the past two hundred plus years, scholarship has admired Roman law for being the first autonomous legal science in history. This biased view has obscured the fact that, traditionally, law was closely connected to religion and remained so well into the Empire. Building on a variety of sources - epigraphic, legal, literary, and numismatic - this book discloses how law and religion shared the same patrons (magistrates and priests) and a common goal (to deal with life's uncertainties), and how, from the third century B.C., they underwent a process of rationalization. Today, Roman law and religion deserve our admiration because together they supported and consolidated the growing power of Rome.


Kirtland's warbler is one of many conservation-reliant species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This species has met recovery goals, but removing it from the protections of the ESA is problematic because of its reliance on ongoing conservation. We define conservation management agreements (CMAs) and describe how they may provide a mechanism to protect conservation-reliant species after delisting. We suggest that CMAs should include four major elements: (1) a conservation partnership capable of implementing management actions at conservation-relevant scales, (2) a conservation management plan based on the management actions in the species' successful recovery plan, (3) sufficient financial resources to provide the required conservation management, and (4) legal enforcement. We use the efforts of the Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team as a case study of the application of CMAs to build and maintain public and private partnerships to ensure continuing management for this species after delisting.


Objectives: Breast self-examination (BSE) is very important to early detect breast cancer in women in addition to imaging methods. The easiest way to access information concerning how to perform this examination is undoubtedly the internet, and the most popular platform is YouTube. However, the most important disadvantage of this massive platform is the risk of spreading false information since it cannot be audited. This study aimed to evaluate Turkish videos on BSE on YouTube in terms of quality and content.
Methods: On January 17, 2022, a search was conducted on YouTube using the keyword "breast self-examination", and the first 210 videos presented on the first five pages were obtained. After applying the study criteria, 156 were included in the sample and evaluated by two general surgeons in terms of educational value, content, and upload source.
Results: Of the 156 videos, 23 were categorized as useful (14.7%) and 133 as misleading (85.3%). When examined according to the upload source group, universities/professional organizations/non-profit physicians/physicians had the highest rate of misleading videos (96.9%), while stand-alone health information websites had the highest rate of useful videos (24%). There was no significant difference between the upload sources in terms of video length, number of views, content score, or quality score.
Conclusions: The number of useful Turkish videos on BSE is very low. Our results indicate the need for more educational and useful videos to be produced, especially by healthcare professionals who use the YouTube platform.


Indian legal frame compels the central bank of the country to increase money supply through financing fiscal deficits and thus fuels inflation, but, the liberalization of the economy has neutralized such inflationary potential. This article shows that the influence of such deficit financing on money stock became virtually nil during the post reform period, rather foreign exchange assets emerged as a powerful determinant of money stock.


A comparison of livestock productivity in the arid zones of central Australia and sub-Saharan Africa is used to illustrate the ecological, social and economic factors which together determine the contrasting ways in which animal resources may be developed. Severe ecological restraints necessarily result in fluctuating animal populations and in the need for effective measures to control soil erosion, to prevent serious over-grazing, to vary stocking rates and to maintain the water supply. The aims, attitudes and needs of livestock owners also need to be recognized. Australian cattlemen primarily want to produce meat in order to make money; many African nomadic pastoralists primarily want to produce milk in order to feed their families. Degrees of achieving these aims and, at the same time, of preserving the necessary measure of ecological stability depend also upon a range of structural, economic and fiscal policies and opportunities. The need to coordinate livestock and rangeland research, planning and development on a multi-disciplinary basis is emphasized and the difficulties of doing so discussed.


Identifying the causes of road traffic crashes (RTCs) and contributing factors is of utmost importance for developing sustainable road network plans and urban transport management. Driver-related factors are the leading causes of RTCs, and speed is claimed to be a major contributor to crash occurrences. The results reported in the literature are mixed regarding speed-crash occurrence causality on rural and urban roads. Even though recent studies shed some light on factors and the direction of effects, knowledge is still insufficient to allow for specific quantifications. Thus, this paper aimed to contribute to the analysis of speed-crash occurrence causality by identifying the road features and traffic flow parameters leading to RTCs associated with driver errors along an access-controlled major highway (761.6 km of Highway 15 between Taif and Medina) in Saudi Arabia. Binomial logistic regression (BNLOGREG) was employed to predict the probability of RTCs associated with driver errors (p < 0.001), and its results were compared with other supervised machine learning (ML) models, such as random forest (RF) and k-nearest neighbor (kNN) to search for more accurate predictions. The highest classification accuracy (CA) yielded by RF and BNLOGREG was 0.787, compared to kNN's 0.750. Moreover, RF resulted in the largest area under the ROC (a receiver operating characteristic) curve (AUC for RF = 0.712, BLOGREG = 0.608, and kNN = 0.643). As a result, increases in the number of lanes (NL) and daily average speed of traffic flow (ASF) decreased the probability of driver error-related crashes. Conversely, an increase in annual average daily traffic (AADT) and the availability of straight and horizontal curve sections increased the probability of driver-related RTCs. The findings support previous studies in similar study contexts that looked at speed dispersion in crash occurrence and severity but disagreed with others that looked at absolute speed at individual vehicle or road segment levels. Thus, the paper contributes to insufficient knowledge of the factors in crash occurrences associated with driver errors on major roads within the context of this case study. Finally, crash prevention and mitigation strategies were recommended regarding the factors involved in RTCs and should be implemented when and where they are needed.


A survey was conducted in the Victoria lakeshore region of central Uganda to identify tree/shrub species that are used and sold by traditional medicine practitioners. A workshop for stakeholders in traditional medicine was conducted. The purpose was to develop criteria for prioritising the tree/shrub species for on-farm growing. These criteria were then used to rank the tree species generated from the survey. Eighty-nine tree/shrub species were identified in this survey, others were mentioned but were not readily available on the market or farms because of scarcity. Several criteria were chosen for prioritising the tree/shrub species for on-farm planting. These were: the demand (local and international), scarcity, level of domestication, socio-cultural attitudes and adoption potential. The tree species in the survey were ranked using the above-mentioned criteria on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 very low and 5 very high). Total score for each of the species was calculated and the following species were highly scored: Milicia excelsa, Syzygium cordatum, Moringa oleifera, Dracaena steudneri, Albizia coriaria, Harungana madagascariensis, Alstonia boonei, Tamarindus indica, Senna floribunda, Ficus sur, Rhus vulgaris and Prunus Africana. The above listed species, including many others such as Warburgia ugandensis, Kigelia africana, Rauvolfia vomitoria, recommended by specialists and traditional medicine practitioners were included in our priority medicinal tree species for domestication. This study serves as a foundation for identifying, documenting, propagating and domestication of these multipurpose tree/ shrub species.


Static code analysis tools provide valuable input for experts to judge the internal quality of software. Nevertheless this approach is time consuming and therefore (semi-)automatic approaches would be desirable. In the QBench [14] project a promising benchmarking oriented approach for calculating a quality rating was developed. We tried to apply the methods and tools of the QBench project in order to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. In summary, the calculation of the quality rating does not lead to satisfying results. We therefore developed a number of alternative calculation methods and compared them to the results of the original calculation. Some of these calculation variants lead to a better characterization of the software quality as the original QBench algorithm. Furthermore we detected some technical weaknesses in the provided toolset and considerably enhanced this toolset for calculating the quality rating to make it better applicable.


Ferric oxides or hydroxides are common minor components of kaolinites. If free, these minerals can be removed by Fe reduction and leaching (Mehra & Jackson, 1960), but Fe3+ ions can substitute for Al3+ ions in the octahedral sites of kaolinite (Weaver et al., 1967; Malden & Meads, 1967). Moreover, Fe2+ ions can also substitute trioctahedrally in place of dioctahedral Al, leading to a local composition of Fe-antigorite (Cuttler, 1980). The Font-Bouillant quarry (Charentes, France) is the source of disordered kaolinite known as 'FU7, U-7-10 or FBT' (Cases et al., 1982, 1986). The samples used in this study were considered in an earlier genetic analysis of the deposit (Delineau, 1994; Delineau et al., 1994) and were analysed previously by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and UV-visible spectroscopy by Delineau et al. (1994) (Table 1).


One‐third of lung malignancies demonstrate a proneural/neuroendocrine phenotype or type of differentiation. However, it has not been clearly elucidated how proneural/neuroendocrine differentiation is controlled in lung cancers. We recently demonstrated that the POU3F2 gene plays a significant role in proneural/neuroendocrine differentiation of lung cancers. Because class III POU genes (POU3F1, POU3F2, POU3F3, and POU3F4) and class IV POU genes (POU4F1, POU4F2, and POU4F3) share similar properties in neural development, we analyzed the association between class III/IV POU genes and a proneural/neuroendocrine phenotype in lung cancers using seven small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines and twelve non‐SCLC (NSCLC) cell lines. Class III/IV POU gene expression was generally restricted to SCLC cells. However, the forced expression of class III/IV POU genes in the NSCLC cell lines induced the expression of neuroendocrine‐specific markers (neural call adhesion molecule 1, synaptophysin, and chromogranin A) and proneural transcription factors (achaete‐scute homolog‐like 1, NeuroD1, and thyroid transcription factor 1) in various degrees. Furthermore, each class III/IV POU gene induced other class III/IV POU genes, suggesting the mutual induction of class III/IV POU genes. These findings suggest that the expression of class III/IV POU genes is important for the proneural/neuroendocrine differentiation of lung cancer cells.


The availability of inherent safety drivers for early process design is a critical issue for the further development of the chemical and process industry. In this study, a consequence-based method for the inherent safety assessment of process alternatives was developed. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for inherent safety were defined and a procedure for their quantitative assessment was developed. A specific equipment classification and the related failure modes were identified, in order to define the potential accidental scenarios associated to each process unit. Rules for the calculation, by physical model runs, of the damage distances for conventional effects were also defined. Credit factors to account for the safety score of the different equipment classes were introduced. KPIs were defined by the combination of the expected damage distances and of credit factors. The methodology was demonstrated through a case study, and provided useful results both for the identification of safety critical units, and for the assessment of the inherent safety of alternative processes. The comparison of the results with those obtained from other literature methods for inherent safety assessment showed that the KPIs introduced allowed considering the hazards coming from auxiliary equipment, that are often overlooked in conventional inherent safety assessment methods. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007


HOTAIR is a tumor promoting long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) with roles in multiple cancers. However, the role of HOTAIR in glioma has not been well charaterized. Genes that positively correlated with HOTAIR were identified from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas and constructed into an interacting network. In total, 18 genes with P-values <0.01 were further extracted and constructed into a subnetwork. Real-time PCR, western blot and immunofluorescence analyses were employed to examine the expression of the genes after HOTAIR overexpression or knockdown. Intracranial glioblastoma multiform (GBM) models were used to test the potential of HOTAIR as a glioma therapy target. It was discovered that the 18 genes that most significantly correlated with HOTAIR expression formed a cell cycle-related mRNA network, which is positively regulated by HOTAIR. Furthermore, HOTAIR knockdown inhibited mouse intracranial GBM model formation. HOTAIR positively regulates a cell cycle-related mRNA network in glioma, and could be a potential therapeutic target for treating glioma.


77IK article critically examines the meaning of the concept of civil society with reference to Zimbabwe. This is done against the background of renewed scholarly interest in the impact of state-society relations on the process of democratization in the Third World. Looking at civil society and the state as intertwining parts of the same social reality, the article argues that civil society in Zimbabwe, especially in the Black community, is in a state of chronic underdevelopment as a result of historical factors related to pre-and post-independence politics. These factors include the value premises of colonial institutions, African tradition and the liberation war, all of which have had decisive influences in shaping and constraining the development of civil society in Zimbabwe.


We studied 29 juvenile rheumatoid arthritis patients with polyarticular onset in order to detect the presence of disease activity by laboratory tests. Laboratory studies included hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts. We also determined the levels of IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4 and C reactive protein, as well as the presence of rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies. There were 13 patients in the group with polyarticular disease activity, and 16 in the group with asymptomatic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Low hematocrit and hemoglobin values, abnormal ESR and elevated WBC and platelet counts occurred in polyarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis patients with active disease. Increased levels of IgA, C3 and C4 were also found in the exacerbation stage, as compared to the asymptomatic control group. No differences were found in rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies between the active and inactive juvenile arthritis patients. Our data agreed with previous studies in that a single laboratory test cannot necessarily confirm juvenile arthritis activity, and they suggest that two or more abnormal parameters would be useful in assessing the flare-up of the disease.


Service platforms emphasize dynamism and flexibility, at the cost of very little control over applications execution. Indeed, service platforms like OSGi do not provide an application concept or any structuring concept; they only support a flat space of services and a low-level run-time protocol. This was acceptable because, so far, a single application made of well-known services was running inside a platform. This was convenient because, in ubiquitous and dynamic environments, the available services and their dynamic behavior are not known in advance, eliminating the possibility to define an application by the list of its components. In the near future, service platform will support many shared services from independent providers and many applications managing critical services, like home security applications. Although, in this context, the lack of control cannot be tolerated, but on the other side, the large range of possible contexts in which these applications will execute still require dynamism, flexibility and still defeats the possibility to define an application by the list of its components. The challenge we face is to find a new way to define applications such that they can fit in a large range of unknown contexts, capable to adapt themselves to multitude of environments and to unknown competing applications, but still with execution strictly controlled and strong properties enforced. The paper describes the Apam platform, its way to describe applications, and the way they are executed. We show how Apam reconciles the two, apparently conflicting, requirements: flexibility and strong control; both at compile and execution time.


BackgroundDuring the COVID19 pandemic, an increase in anxiety and burnout levels may occur unwittingly due to the increased workload and intense stress experienced by emergency healthcare workers dealing with potential or suspected COVID-19 and other emergency patients. In our study, it is aimed to investigate whether there is an increase of anxiety and burnout levels of the healthcare workers working in ES and pandemic fields fighting against the outbreak of COVID-19 in Turkey, compared to other healthcare workers.MethodsThe study was carried out between April 1 to May 15, 2020, with the online questionnaire method with the participation of 920 healthcare workers that are working actively in pandemic hospitals, emergency call ambulances, primary healthcare institutions and dental hospitals across the country. In the questionnaire, the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were questioned, and Beck anxiety scale (BAI) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were applied. ResultsThe median age of the participants was 35.00 (minimum 20, maximum: 65), 59.2% were female and 40.8% were male. 22.3% of the personnel were working in the ES, 20.9% in the ambulance, 12.2% in the pandemic polyclinics. The pandemic area and the intensive care workers' BAI score are similar to those in the emergency service and ambulance (p = 0.05). The MBI-desensitization score of those working in the field of ED, ICUs and pandemics was higher than other places (p <0.05). The MBI-emotional score of the emergency and ambulance workers was higher (p = 0.001), and the MBI-personal accomplishment score was lower than radiology, laboratory and office personnel (p=0.049).ConclusionsThe COVID-19 outbreak may create stress in healthcare workers, leading to various psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and burnout syndrome. Early recognition, prevention and coping methods of burnout and anxiety in healthcare workers play a key role in during the pandemic period.


Aflatoxins (AFs) contamination in food is a serious problem in the world. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), produced by Aspergillusflavus,is secondary metabolite, highly toxic and carcinogenic. The reduction of AFs contamination in food and feed products could be achieved by some microorganisms. In this study,Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 14917, Lactobacillus curvatus ATCC 1136, Bacillus megateirum A.F.10, Bacillus subtitles A.F.12and commercial probiotic were used to inhibit AFB1 production on yeast extract sucrose medium (YES) and on corn. All bacterial strain inhibitedA. flavusproduction of AFB1 on YES media and corn. Also, commercial probiotics hadthe ability to inhibit A. flavus growth and its production of AFB1 on corn. The most effective bacteria wasB. megaterium A.F.10. It inhibited the fungal growth with 12 mm inhibition zone and inhibits AFB1 production 100% by HPLC on YES media. Determination of AFB1 production by HPLC on corn showed that B. megaterium inhibitedthe production by 69.81% followed by commercial probiotics (59.62%).Commercial probiotics and B. megaterium had a synergistic effect in inhibition ofAFB1 production and in vitro digestion of corn.


The use of leather has a long history in the historical process. Raw hides have been made available to different human cultures throughout history by using a kind of leather processing technology. Leather production was made with primitive methods for the first time, thanks to the experience and experience gained, the skins were processed consciously over time. Turks have a special place in the development of leatherworking. Both the nomadic lifestyle and the widespread animal husbandry are important factors in the development of this profession among the Turks. The leather tanned by the Turks has been recognized all over the world for its color and quality. The goat leather tanned with the method developed in vegetable tanning especially in the Ottoman period was recognized as Turkish leather all over the world under the name of saffian. There are many leather works made of these leathers, each of which is a representative of the rich past. Leather has been used in many areas from clothing to housing, from war technology to transportation, from bags to furniture. Works made of hides and skins have historical, cultural, or artistic value. The maintenance and protection of leather works that are cultural heritage are carried out within the framework of certain principles. Before any protection intervention to the work, it is important to understand the properties of the material from which the work is made and by which method it is produced. The purpose of this study is to identify the skin in the content of the subject determined for this reason and to determine its properties. The data compiled with the literature survey, the properties of the leather, and the production process of the raw skin from the animal until the finished product were examined. In the works in which the leather is used partially or completely, the distortions caused by various factors in the original structure of the skin are mentioned. It is thought that this study, which has an important place at the level of quality and quantity, for the recognition of leathers in terms of protecting the leatherwork and ensuring sustainability, will contribute to the protection of cultural heritage.


The efficiency, cost, and truthfulness are essentially about the exhibition of product design (PD) as well as in a rapidly changing and keenly competitive environment. The work presented in this paper focuses on presenting a new kind of product exhibiting method of PD, which introduced virtual reality (VR) into the course of exhibition of PD. In this paper, we bring up the structure model of the virtual exhibition room of product design (VRER) based on multimedia technology, and aim at expounding the method and process by which we construct the system. With the constant development of the multimedia technology, especially the network technology, we have more and more abundant exhibition means of PD. The virtual exhibition room of PD regarded as a new multimedia technology is one of the results. The VRER integrating with the sense of sight, hearing, and the tactile sense, can offer impression and experience equated with the true environment. Furthermore, the characteristics of VRER, such as small file amount, easy transmitting, lifelike, interaction, and so on, make the product design exhibition swifter and more effective. The VRER not only increases the efficiency of the PD exhibition, but also cuts down the cost of the exhibition. Finally, a design of VRER for special type truck is employed to demonstrate the above viewpoints.


Western Australia (WA) was one of few grape growing regions of the world free from grapevine downy mildew, caused by the oomycete Plasmopara viticola, until two separate detections occurred in 1997 and 1998. The pathogen is now established in all growing regions of the state and growers are required to actively manage the disease due to potential economic loss. The introduction of P. viticola into WA raised a number of questions about the source of the incursion(s), its population structure, ability to survive in a climate not considered optimal for its development and the subsequent economic impact it is having on the WA viticulture industry.

Using a number of different detection methods 51 microsatellite markers have been identified for P. viticola. These markers were identified from isolates of European and American populations and had not been tested on Australian isolates. Using three isolates collected from geographically separated locations in Australia all 51 microsatellites were tested for their capacity to detect polymorphism within the Australian populations and the sequences lodged in GenBank. A total of 18 microsatellites were identified showing polymorphism.

A total of 413 samples from Australia (286), North America (69), France (32), Brazil (8) and Uruguay (18) were collected as part of a global survey. Both fresh leaf samples and DNA trapped on FTA cards were collected and the populations analysed using 16 of the 18 microsatellites previously identified. The populations were analysed for genetic diversity, mode of reproduction and cryptic P. viticola species present. It was determined the Australian and South American populations more closely relate to the French samples than those of North America, the origin of P. viticola. The only cryptic species discovered outside of North America was P. viticola clade aestivalis. The WA population had the lowest genetic diversity of all populations, likely a result of the more recent introduction of the pathogen and suggests the 1997 and 1998 incursions are linked. Genetic analysis of the WA populations indicate they have a clonal mode of reproduction whereas the American and French populations are sexually reproducing. This is the first record of clonal reproduction within P. viticola and highlights a greater plasticity within the mode of reproduction than previously identified.

With relatively mild winters in comparison to northern hemisphere grape production systems it was hypothesised P. viticola could overwinter as mycelium in dormant grape buds in WA. To test this hypothesis a number of field trials and vineyard observations were conducted over two seasons. It was discovered P. viticola can infect green buds, and has the capacity to produce sporangiophores from them, but there is no evidence of any ability to overwinter and produce shoots infected with P. viticola the following season. This finding contrasts long held assumptions about the overwintering ability of P. viticola in dormant grape material.

Oospores are considered important for both P. viticola survival and the source of primary infection. However, a survey conducted in the early 2000's failed to detect oospores in the majority of WA vineyards. Vineyards in the Margaret River and Swan Valley regions of WA having experienced downy mildew infection during the 2014/15 season were assessed for oospores. All vineyards were found to have downy mildew oospores. To determine mating type ratios 11 isolates were co-inoculated on leaf discs and oospores were detected in three crosses including a cross between the same isolate. There is the possibility a single mating type of P. viticola exists in WA with the capacity for secondary homothallism or selfing.

Despite P. viticola being present in WA since 1997/98 an economic assessment of the impact of the disease on WA viticulture had not been undertaken. A bioeconomic model was developed linking weather with spread, infection of the disease and production costs and revenue to estimate the cost of P. viticola over time. It was found P. viticola costs the WA viticulture industry AUD $7.3 million per year with cumulative costs over a 30 year period to be AUD $140 million.


Impacts of liquid droplets with another stationary droplet resting on a surface are important basic processes in many applications such as agricultural sprays, spray cooling, and inkjet printing. We investigated the head-on collision of unequal-size droplets of the same liquid on wetting surfaces both experimentally and theoretically at different size ratios and low-impact Weber numbers ( We). A series of high-speed camera images showing representative sequences of collision processes for greatly different size ratios are analyzed. Different collision outcomes such as coalescence, bouncing, and partial-coalescence-partial-bouncing are analyzed thoroughly. Four different stages are identified for characterizing the complete bouncing process during the impact of unequal-size droplets on a solid surface. Subsequently, an analytical model based on energy balance is developed to calculate the maximum spread diameter and restitution coefficient of falling droplets and compared with experimental data, satisfactory qualitative agreements are obtained. Results show that the dimensionless maximum spread diameter of falling droplets depends weakly on We and it is small for a higher size ratio. The restitution coefficient does not change significantly at a higher size ratio at a fixed We despite more viscous dissipation in bigger sessile droplets and it scales with We-1/2.


Bonev, St., & Nikolova, L. (2019). Development of female Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and hybrid (Acipenser baerii х Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) gonads reared in net cages. Bulgarian. Journal of Agricultural Science, 25 (Suppl. 1), 62–68 The study was conducted with female individuals of Russian Sturgeon at the age of fi ve and seven years old and hybrid of Siberian and Russian Sturgeon at the same age in the spring and the same groups in the winter. In hybrids of both age groups, there was a signifi cant increase in gonads during the growing season. At 5-year-old, ovarian height increased by 69.8% (p < 0.05); the girth by 68.0% (p < 0.05); area – almost three times (p < 0.001). At 7-year-old differences are: 32.8% (p < 0.05); 29.5% (p < 0.05); 2.3 times (p < 0.01). In the spring, in 10% of the studied hybrids, an onset of oocyte formation was found. In December, oocytes are very well seen in 30% of the studied fi sh. In 5-year-old Russian Sturgeon, the height of the ovary increased by 64.1% (p < 0.01); area 64.3% (p < 0.05); but the girth has practically not changed. In the 7-year-old Russian Sturgeon, the height of the ovary increased by 78.5% (p < 0.001), the girth by 28.9% (p < 0.001) and the area by 95.08%. (p < 0.01). The height of the hybrid ovary during the spring was higher compared to the Russian Sturgeon by 51.1% (p < 0.05) in the 5-year-old fi sh and by 71% (p < 0.001) in the 7-year-old. However, the ovary girth in the 5-year-old Russian Sturgeon has higher values than in the same age hybrid – 13.6% (p < 0.05). There is no signifi cant difference in ovarian girth and area in 7-year-old Russian Sturgeons and hybrids. A signifi cant difference in area was found between Russian Sturgeon of different age, and in 7-year-old it was larger by 41.9% (p < 0.05). In winter with a 6-summer-old hybrid compared to Russian Sturgeon at the same age, the height of the ovary and its girth were higher 56.3% (p < 0.001) and 45.0% (p < 0.05) respectively, while at 8-summer-olds, at higher hybrid parameter values, the differences are not signifi cant.


Document Clustering is one of the main themes in text mining. It refers to the process of grouping documents with similar contents or topics into clusters to improve both availability and reliability of text mining applications. Some of the recent algorithms address the problem of high dimensionality of the text by using frequent termsets for clustering. Although the drawbacks of the Apriori algorithm, it still the basic algorithm for mining frequent termsets. This paper presents an approach for Clustering Web Documents based on Hashing algorithm for mining Frequent Termsets (CWDHFT). It introduces an efficient Multi-Tire Hashing algorithm for mining Frequent Termsets (MTHFT) instead of Apriori algorithm. The algorithm uses new methodology for generating frequent termsets by building the multi-tire hash table during the scanning process of documents only one time. To avoid hash collision, Multi Tire technique is utilized in this proposed hashing algorithm. Based on the generated frequent termset the documents are partitioned and the clustering occurs by grouping the partitions through the descriptive keywords. By using MTHFT algorithm, the scanning cost and computational cost is improved moreover the performance is considerably increased and increase up the clustering process. The CWDHFT approach improved accuracy, scalability and efficiency when compared with existing clustering algorithms like Bisecting K-means and FIHC.


In this paper we study a version of (non-Markovian) first passage percolation on graphs, where the transmission time between two connected vertices is non-iid, but increases by a penalty factor polynomial in their expected degrees. Based on the exponent of the penalty-polynomial, this makes it increasingly harder to transmit to and from high-degree vertices. This choice is motivated by awareness or time-limitations. For the iid part of the transmission times we allow any nonnegative distribution with regularly varying behaviour at $0$. For the underlying graph models we choose spatial random graphs that have power-law degree distributions, so that the effect of the penalisation becomes visible: (finite and infinite) Geometric Inhomogeneous Random Graphs, and Scale-Free Percolation. In these spatial models, the connection probability between two vertices depends on their spatial distance and on their expected degrees. We prove that upon increasing the penalty exponent, the transmission time between two far away vertices $x,y$ sweeps through four universal phases even for a single underlying graph: explosive (tight transmission times), polylogarithmic, polynomial but sublinear ($\Theta(|x-y|^{\eta_0})$ for an explicit $\eta_0<1$), and linear ($\Theta(|x-y|)$) in their Euclidean distance. Further, none of these phases are restricted to phase boundaries, and those are non-trivial in the main model parameters: the tail of the degree-distribution, a long-range parameter, and the exponent of regular variation of the iid part of the transmission times. In this paper we present proofs of lower bounds for the latter two phases and the upper bound for the linear phase. These complement the matching upper bounds for the polynomial regime in our companion paper.


We have recently reported that sera of cancer patients possess greater lytic capacity for unsensitized erythrocytes after interaction with a cobra venom protein, CVF, (1). This antibody independent lytic process results from utilization of the terminal complement components (C3 to C9) through an alternate pathway that can be initiated by an enzymatically active complex formed by CVF, C3 proactivator (properdin factor B) and other serum constituents (2–4). A hemolytic assay for this reaction sequence has been described in (5).
 For minimizing the number of variables inherent in studies of this type with sera of hospitalized patients, an experiment was designed to evaluate levels of CVF-mediated lytic activity in the sera of tumor-bearing mice. Toward this end, mice of both sexes (25 ± 2g), were inoculated subcutaneously with 0.5 mg of 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) dissolved in sterile corn oil. The largest experimental group contained mice of the Swiss-Webster strain maintained as an outbred colony in this Institute.


The cerebellum is a well-studied brain structure with diverse roles in motor learning, coordination, cognition, and autonomic regulation. Nonetheless, a complete inventory of cerebellar cell types is presently lacking. We used high-throughput transcriptional profiling to molecularly define cell types across individual lobules of the adult mouse cerebellum. Purkinje and granule neurons showed considerable regional specialization, with the greatest diversity occurring in the posterior lobules. For multiple types of cerebellar interneurons, the molecular variation within each type was more continuous, rather than discrete. For the unipolar brush cells (UBCs)—an interneuron population previously subdivided into two discrete populations—the continuous variation in gene expression was associated with a graded continuum of electrophysiological properties. Most surprisingly, we found that molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) were composed of two molecularly and functionally distinct types. Both show a continuum of morphological variation through the thickness of the molecular layer, but electrophysiological recordings revealed marked differences between the two types in spontaneous firing, excitability, and electrical coupling. Together, these findings provide the first comprehensive cellular atlas of the cerebellar cortex, and outline a methodological and conceptual framework for the integration of molecular, morphological, and physiological ontologies for defining brain cell types.


The rich statistics of galaxy rotations as captured by the velocity function (VF) provide invaluable constraints on galactic baryon physics and the nature of dark matter (DM). However, the comparison of observed galaxy rotations against cosmological models is prone to subtle caveats that can easily lead to misinterpretations. Our analysis reveals full statistical consistency between ∼5000 galaxy rotations, observed in line-of-sight projection, and predictions based on the standard cosmological model (ΛCDM) at the mass-resolution of the Millennium simulation (H i line-based circular velocities above ∼50 km s−1). Explicitly, the H i linewidths in the H i Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) are found to be consistent with those in S3-SAX, a post-processed semi-analytic model for the Millennium simulation. Previously found anomalies in the VF can be plausibly attributed to (1) the mass-limit of the Millennium simulation, (2) confused sources in HIPASS, (3) inaccurate inclination measurements for optically faint sources, and (4) the non-detectability of gas-poor early-type galaxies. These issues can be bypassed by comparing observations and models using linewidth source counts rather than VFs. We investigate if and how well such source counts can constrain the temperature of DM.


Purple-flesh sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.) are commonly consumed as boiled tuber, traditional cakes and crispy snacks. Developing instantized purple sweet potato powder (IPSPP) from this tuber serves as a vehicle for adding value to this local commodity. Most of studies related to the production of powder from tubers focused only on the antioxidant and physical properties and not much research has been done on the resistant starch. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the effects of processing methods and storage temperatures on the antioxidant, physical and resistant starch contents of IPSPP. IPSPP was produced using a double drum drier (set at 2 rpm and steam pressure of 3 bars). The first part of the research involved studying the effects of two preheating treatments which were boiling and steaming prior to drum drying on the antioxidant, physical and resistant starch properties of IPSPP. It was found that IPSPP pretreated by steaming process had significantly higher (p≤0.05) total anthocyanin (121.71 mg/100 g), moisture content (3.21% db), powder yield (243.02 g/kg) and resistant starch content (3.06 g/100 g) than boiling pretreatment. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between boiling and steaming in terms of antioxidant capacity (101.35 to 101.75 µmol TE/g and 134.35 to 134.40 µmol TE/g for DPPH and FRAP, respectively), physical properties such as water activity (0.49 to 0.50), color values, water solubility index (21.76 to 25.54) and non resistant starch content (51.68 to 60.94 g/100 g). The results showed that steaming of raw tuber is recommended as preheating treatment prior to drum drying. In the second part of the research, an attempt was made to increase the resistant starch content of IPSPP by pretreatment of the steamed-mashed tuber with pullulanase enzyme. Effects of the enzyme concentration and hydrolysis time on the resistant starch and total anthocyanin contents were evaluated. The optimum hydrolysis conditions for production of the maximum amount of resistant starch and total anthocyanin contents at 60oC were 0.5% v/w pullulanase at 8 h of incubation period. Hydrolysis of purple sweet potato (PSP) puree with pullulanase enzymes significantly (p≤0.05) increased the resistant starch content (5.44 g/100 g), but concurrently reduced the antioxidant capacity of the IPSPP (5.20 µmol TE/g). The latter effect could probably due to long period of incubation and additional heating process required for enzyme inactivation that destroyed the antioxidants in the IPSPP. The final part of the study focused on the storage stability of IPSPP at different storage temperatures. The total anthocyanin, DPPH radical scavenging activity, moisture and resistant starch contents of the samples were evaluated at every two month intervals for a duration of 12 months. The result showed that storage periods had significant effects (p≤0.05) on the total anthocyanin (185.32 and 197.61 mg/100 g at ambient and chilled storages, respectively), scavenging activity (74.16 and 77.48 µmol TE/g at ambient and chilled storages, respectively), moisture (6.35 and 8.10 % db at ambient and chilled storages, respectively) and resistant starch content (1.57 and 1.73 g/100 g at ambient and chilled storages, respectively) of IPSPP. The antioxidant, physical and resistant starch properties of IPSPP at 12 months of storage were compared with the control sample. The physicochemical properties of IPSPP changed remarkably after 12 months of storage at ambient (25±2oC) condition. Sample stored at chilled storage (4±2oC) had similar properties to the control sample. The most suitable storage temperature for IPSPP is at chilled condition (4±2oC) because at this condition the antioxidant, physical and resistant starch properties product was stable for 12 months with significant increment in the total anthocyanin content. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that processing methods and storage conditions influence the antioxidant, physical and resistant starch contents of IPSPP.


Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a major form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with high incidence and prevalence in many countries. Patients with UC usually suffer from a lifetime of debilitating physical symptoms. Therefore, developing effective therapeutic strategy that can manage this disease better and improve patients' life quality is in urgent need. Sesamin (SSM) is a lignan derived from sesame seeds. In this study, the protective effect of SSM against UC and the underlying mechanism were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Our data showed that SSM protected Caco-2 cells from H2O2-induced oxidative stress injury via GSH-mediated scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Dual luciferase reporter assay showed that the transcriptional activity of nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2) was significantly increased by SSM, and the ability of SSM to activate Nrf2-targeted genes was further confirmed in Caco-2 cells using western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). In contrast, Nrf2 knockdown abolished the protective effect of SSM. Additionally, we found that SSM also activated advanced protein kinase B (AKT) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in Caco-2 cells, while either AKT or ERK inhibition can prevent SSM-mediated nuclear translocation of Nrf2. Furthermore, SSM displayed a better protective effect against dextran sulfate sodium- (DSS-) induced UC compared with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) in C57BL/6 mice. The enhanced Nrf2 signaling and activated AKT/ERK were also observed in the colon of mice after SSM administration. These results first demonstrate the protective effect of SSM against UC and indicate that the effect is associated with AKT/ERK activation and subsequent Nrf2 signaling enhancement. This study provides a new insight into the medicinal value of SSM and proposes it as a new natural nutrition for better managing the symptoms of UC.


The paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an adaptive architecture to provide relative delay guarantees for different service classes on Web servers under HTTP 1.1. The first contribution of the paper is the architecture based on a feedback control loop that enforces desired relative delays among classes via dynamic connection scheduling and process reallocation. The second contribution is our use of feedback control theory to design the feedback loop with proven performance guarantees. In contrast with ad hoc approaches that often rely on laborious tuning and design iterations, our control theory approach enables us to systematically design an adaptive Web server with established analytical methods. The design methodology includes using system identification to establish a dynamic model, and using the Root Locus method to design a feedback controller to satisfy performance specifications of a Web server. The adaptive architecture has been implemented by modifying an Apache Web server. Experimental results demonstrate that our adaptive server achieves robust relative delay guarantees even when workload varies significantly. Properties of our adaptive Web server include guaranteed stability, and satisfactory efficiency and accuracy in achieving the desired relative delay differentiation.


tiny, asymptomatic, dark red papules, grouped in small plaques, abundantly on the trunk but also on the face and legs (Fig. 1). A skin biopsy showed the features of angiokeratoma (Fig. 2). ACD was diagnosed and an attempt was made to determine the origin of the condition. Lysosomal enzyme activities (aand /3-galactosidase, /3hexosaminidase, /3-glucuronidase, aand /3-mannosidase, a-fucosidase) in plasma and leukocytes were normal. Accurate electron microscope examination of a biopsy specimen failed to reveal lysosomal inclusions in endothelial cells, pericytes or fibroblasts. Complete blood cell count, blood chemistry and urinalysis (including urinary microscopy) were within normal limits. Ophthalmological, neurological, cardiological and nephrologieal examination failed to disclose any sign of associated disease. Based on the findings of a recent report the patient also underwent doppler examination of the lower limbs (even in the absence of evident leg asymmetry) without any significant finding. To our knowledge this is the fifth reported case of a sporadic form of ACD without associated metabolic disease. We did not test for all possible enzyme defects associated with this disease (e.g. aspartyl glycosaminase deficiency), but we assume that these were absent because all metabolic diseases so far associated with ACD are characterized by lysosomal inclusions, either in endothelial cells, fibroblasts or pericytes. Our case seems to support the opinion that ACD can be a purely cutaneous disease, unrelated to lysosomal storage diseases; however, molecular biology studies of Fabry's disease have demonstrated more than 40 different mutations. Most of them were associated with the classical phenotype,-b^t a few were found in atypical hemizygotie individuals who were asymptomatic or had cardiac involvement only. Hence we cannot exclude that ACD is linked to the genetic and phenotypic polymorphism of lysosomal storage diseases such as Fabry's disease in otherwise apparently healthy patients. Molecular biology studies of apparently healthy ACD patients should clarify the possible relationship between genetic profile, enzyme alterations and the development of angiokeratomas. Until this relationship is proven, we propose that these cases be denoted by the term of'idiopathic ACD'


Prior literature suggests two competing theories regarding the role of venture capitalists (VCs) in their portfolio companies. The VC monitoring hypothesis argues that VCs effectively resolve the managerial agency problem through close monitoring and restraining managers' earnings management behavior. The VC moral hazard hypothesis argues that VCs aggravate the private benefits agency problem by exerting influence over managers to artificially inflate exit stock price through earnings management. Using a sample of IPO firms between 1987 and 2002, after controlling for the magnitude of accruals manipulation (AM), I compare the magnitude of real activities manipulation (RM) between venture-backed and non-venture-backed companies. I find that relative to non-venture-backed companies, venture-backed companies show significantly less RM in the first post-IPO fiscal year. The results are robust after controlling for the VC selection endogeneity. The finding supports the VC monitoring hypothesis that VCs restrain managers' RM behavior. Furthermore, I document that venture-backed companies exhibit a significant difference from non-venture-backed companies only in the first post-IPO fiscal year. The difference between the two groups in either the IPO year or the second post-IPO fiscal year is not significant, or at best, is weak. This finding is consistent with the argument that VCs tighten their control during the lockup expiration period when insiders such as managers or founders have strong incentives to inflate earnings. By the end of the second post-IPO fiscal year when VCs exit the portfolio companies, their impact on portfolio companies' RM decreases dramatically which makes the difference between the two groups less significant. In addition, using a sample of venture-backed IPOs from 1987 to 2002, I find that companies backed by high-reputation VCs show significantly less RM than those backed by low-reputation VCs in the first post-IPO fiscal year. The results are robust to alternative VC reputation proxies. This finding is consistent with the argument that high-reputation VCs have more incentives to preserve reputation and better ability to monitor managers than low-reputation VCs.


Background

Extreme obesity leads to increased health risks and perioperative complications. The results of bariatric surgery in patients with super-super obesity (SSO) are presented in this study.
Methods

From April 2008 to August 2019, 60 patients with SSO underwent bariatric surgery. Their weight loss and surgical outcome were analyzed. The mean follow-up time was 7.2 years.
Results

At baseline, the mean age was 41.5 years old, the mean BMI was 63.8 kg/m2, 80% of the patients suffered from co-morbidities, and 23.33% were revisional surgeries. Weight loss continued for up to two years after surgery. The percentage of EBW lost at two years was 62.27%, from two to five years: 61.48%, from five to 10 years: 36.82% and after ten years it was 31.89%, the differences in weight change over the time is significative (P<.001). The mean BMI at last visit (Mean 7.2 years) was 45.1 kg/m2 and 48.33% of the patients failed to lose at least 50% of EBW. Patients with fatty liver, diabetes, sleep apnea and hyperlipidemia had a remission or improvement in more than 70% of the cases. There were 5% perioperative complications, one perioperative death (1.67%) and other patient died in a motor vehicle accident, overall mortality 3.33%.
Conclusion

In the long term, almost half of the patients failed to lose 50% of their EBW. However, the metabolic effects of bariatric surgery were maintained during the follow-up time with a high remission of comorbidities. Revisional bariatric surgery increased the risk of mortality.


The strain gauge characteristics of Ni-Si-B amorphous alloys prepared from the melt By rapid quenching were measured. The temperature coefficient of electrical resistance is very small. The strain gauge factor of them is about 2.0 and is independent of the strain rate. The electrical resistivity of those amorphous alloy is relatively high and the thermoelectromotive force is small. Because these amorphous alloys are paramagnetic, the magnetoresistance shows no anisotropy. The addition of Cr, V, Ti or Fe improves their strain gauge characteristics. From these results, it is concluded that Ni-Si-B amorphous alloys and its alloys containing Cr, V, Ti or Fe have excellent strain gauge characteristics.


The efficiency of the Serratia marcescens nuclease encoded by the NucA gene, with or without a nuclear localization signal (NLS), and the commonly used diphtheria toxin A (DTA) were compared for their ability to ablate cells in culture. Constructs containing the test genes driven by the β-actin promoter coupled with enhancer elements from the cytomegalovirus promoter and rabbit β-globin gene (pCAG) and the blasticidin resistance gene driven by the phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter were generated and electroporated into porcine fetal fibroblasts. Three independent replicates were completed. Following blasticidin selection, the number of surviving colonies was counted to assess the efficiency of the toxic gene. Both NucA and DTA proved to be effective in killing porcine fibroblasts compared to controls. However, the efficiency of cell ablation was significantly higher with DTA than with NucA or NucANLS (p < 0.05). Gene expression analysis of surviving colonies indicated that survival is related to low or absent expression of the toxic genes. These results indicate that the NucA gene, while capable of mammalian cell ablation, is less efficient than DTA.


Although there are ever increasing reports of extraintestinal human infections caused by Aeromonads, in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients, respiratory tract infections remain uncommon. We describe a case of aspiration pneumonia in an immunocompetent patient with multiple sclerosis, caused by a community acquired, multidrug resistant strain of Aeromonas hydrophila sensitive only to meropenem. The case highlights the clinical significance of Aeromonas hydrophila as a respiratory pathogen, as well as the community origin of multidrug resistance and the utility of newer carbapenems in such cases.


A collective review of tuberculous lymphadenopathy is presented with respect to incidence, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment. A typical case report is also presented. A thorough history and physical examination, a purified protein derivative (PPD) skin test and acid-fast bacillus (AFB) stains, and histopathology of the node may provide useful information. Positive culture results are the only means of confirming the diagnosis and for distinguishing between tuberculous and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Treatment, at least initially, must be guided by the physician's clinical suspicions.Although there remains debate as to what is the best method of treating mycobacterial lymphadenopathy, chemotherapy is essential. Excisional biopsy is recommended when feasible. The possible exception is when the diagnosis of mycobacterium tuberculosis is suggested by constitutional symptoms, characteristic chest x-ray findings, a positive PPD skin test, and positive culture of mycobacterium tuberculosis from another source such as sputum or gastric washings. This needle aspiration for diagnosis is applicable as done in the case report patient. Surgery is, therefore, reserved for excisional biopsy to establish the diagnosis if systemic disease is not suspected, and also for removal of grossly enlarged nodes. Incisional biopsy should be avoided if possible, as it can result in the formation of fistulous tracts.


Both myasthenia gravis and graves' disease are auto-immune diseases. Patients with myasthenia gravis may have evidence of coexisting auto-immune thyroid diseases like graves' disease. The coexistence of two diseases is rarely observed but easily recognized if the association comes to mind. In this report, we present a case of 17-year-old female patient having myasthenia gravis with concomitant graves' disease and is treated successfully with both pyridostigmine and propylthiouracil options. In conclusion, our case is a good example that the clinical features of autoimmune diseases can overlap and the presence of one auto-immune disease in a patient should require a detailed investigations for other autoimmune diseases.


Waterleaf (Talinum triangulare), like many other leafy vegetable is cultivated in home gardens to improve nutritional quality for the family and may provide additional income for female farmers. However, the role of Talinum cultivation is often counteracted by declining soil fertility. In recent years, biochar (pyrolysed biomass) has gained importance as a soil amendment tool. However, not much attention has been focused on the influence of biochar on soil quality and plant growth in the humid tropics. This study was conducted to assess different locally available crop waste residues as possible sources of biochar for home garden or small-scale production units of leafy vegetable using Talinum as proxy on highly weathered acid soils in the humid tropics. The experimental set-up was a pot experiment in a complete randomized design in five replicates using biochar sources from cassava stems, rice husk, corncob and sawdust. The results obtained showed that biochar samples had a high cation exchange capacity (CEC), total nitrogen, total carbon and pH (7.8 to 10.8), as compared to the no-input soil (pH 5.7). It is evident that adding biochar to poor and acidic soils could possibly increase the pH and reduce lime requirements. Positive and significant response of biochar (P<0.05) application were also observed with the growth, nutrient uptake, and yield of waterleaf. Biochar produced from rice husks obtained the best response followed by sawdust, cassava and corncob. Similarly, the C and N uptake of waterleaf was generally higher with rice husk biochar use as compared to the other treatments. This study has demonstrated that biochar production could be useful in valorizing crop waste residues and biochar use is likely to enhance the productivity of leafy vegetables. More research on possible combination of biochar and other farming strategies such as the application of animal manure and mineral fertilizer to maximize Talinum production should be encouraged.

 Key words: Biochar, cassava stems, crop waste, residues, nitrogen, soil pH, Talinum.


The new view on process of radiation as a result of braking of orbiting electrons by an external force field is offered. The substantiation of the Planck's radiation law without hypotheses and postulates of quantum- mechanical nature is given. The sense of a constant of Planck is opened and is shown that the true quantum of radiation is the soliton.


The reactions of perfluoroalkyl thioamides with trimethyl phosphine, trimethyl phosphite, and tris(dimethylamino)phosphine have been analyzed by means of quantum chemical (DFT and MP2) calculations. The reaction seems to proceed via the nucleophilic attack of the electrophilic carbon atom by the phosphorus lone pair with the formation of cyclic or acyclic adducts. The latter releases the thiophosphate molecule forming perfluoroalkylaminocarbene as the short-lived intermediate. The reaction of the carbene with the second molecule of trialkyl phosphite yields phosphorus ylide. The ylide undergoes a migration of fluorine from carbon to phosphorus. The reactions of perfluoroalkyl thioamides with phosphines and tris(dimethylamino)phosphine probably proceeds differently. Using alkyl thioamides or amides instead of perfluoroalkyl thioamides also makes the reaction less favorable. The only combination of perfluoroalkyl thioamides with trialkyl phosphite fulfills both the kinetic requirements (moderate activation energies and relative energies for intermediates) and the thermodynamic aspects (higher stabilities of the reaction products compared with the starting materials). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Abstract : The German explosive safety quantitative risk analysis software (ESQRA-GE) has originally been developed to assess ammunition storage scenarios using a transparent step-by-step risk analysis procedure. Starting with the definition of a scenario including different types of ammunition, storage facilities, barriers, buildings, vehicles and locations of persons, physical hazards due to an unexpected detonation of ammunition are calculated. Apart from blast, fragment and debris throw are considered. Based on the physical hazards, damage of persons, vehicles and buildings is evaluated. Including event frequency of an unexpected detonation of ammunition and the exposure of persons to the hazard source, the individual risk of persons is computed. The increasing number of international operations of the German armed forces leads to new threat scenarios. Especially the field of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and the threat generated by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) can be treated using the methodology of the ESQRA-GE. The focus of the paper is the characterization of new types of hazard sources like pipe bombs and different types of ammunition, e.g. originating from the former USSR, by using fragment matrices generated via experimental, analytical-empirical and numerical approaches. While in an ammunition storage scenario position and orientation of e.g. shells are geometrically restricted, IEDs as well as abandoned explosive ordnance may be arbitrarily positioned and even buried in the ground. To assess safety measures, possible fragment shadows behind barricades are calculated. EOD scenarios can be analyzed using damage zones based on a combination of damage analysis of fragment throw and probits describing blast injuries. In summary, the risk analysis software ESQRA-GE responds to requirements posed by the international character of the missions conducted


A number of high-quality depth imaged-based rendering (DIBR) pipelines have been developed to reconstruct a 3D scene from several images taken from known camera viewpoints. Due to the specific limitations of each technique, their output is prone to artifacts. Therefore, the quality cannot be ensured. To improve the quality of the most critical and challenging image areas, an exhaustive comparison is required. In this paper, we consider three questions of benchmarking the quality performance of eight DIBR techniques on light fields: First, how does the density of original input views affect the quality of the rendered novel views? Second, how does disparity range between adjacent input views impact the quality? Third, how does each technique behave for different object properties? We compared and evaluated the results visually as well as quantitatively (PSNR, SSIM, AD, and VDP2). The results show some techniques outperform others in different disparity ranges. The results also indicate using more views not necessarily results in visually higher quality for all critical image areas. Finally, we have shown a comparison for different scene's complexity such as non-Lambertian objects.


Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus has mutated in ways that affect its ability to infect people, cause severe disease, and escape immunity. It can be costly and time-consuming to experimentally study viral mutations. Sequencing genetic code is cheaper, and millions of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences are available. With the quickly changing dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and patient outcomes, we need fast ways to translate sequence data to biologically meaningful and clinically relevant information. Inspired by advances in natural language processing, we design a deep learning architecture that can be visualized at multiple scales to interpret trained models. We train a model to predict the risk of severe disease based on genetic changes in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which plays a key role in infection and immune response. Trained solely on spike protein sequences from pre-Omicron infections (i.e., acquired before any empirical data for Omicron was available), the model predicts Omicron sequences with a reduced risk of severe disease (by 40-50%) relative to Delta. Testing on Omicron sequences collected so far, the deep learning model's predictions agree with real world observations, suggesting that the methodology can be applied to future variants.


BACKGROUND Early thrombolytic therapy is crucial to treat acute cerebral infarction, especially since the onset of thrombolytic therapy takes 1-6 h. Therefore, early diagnosis and evaluation of cerebral infarction is important. AIM To investigate the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance multi-delay three-dimensional arterial spin labeling (3DASL) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in evaluating the perfusion and infarct area size in patients with acute cerebral ischemia. METHODS Eighty-four patients who experienced acute cerebral ischemia from March 2019 to February 2021 were included. All patients in the acute stage underwent magnetic resonance-based examination, and the data were processed by the system's own software. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), average diffusion coefficient (MD), axial diffusion (AD), radial diffusion (RD), average kurtosis (MK), radial kurtosis (fairly RK), axial kurtosis (AK), and perfusion parameters post-labeling delays (PLD) in the focal area and its corresponding area were compared. The correlation between the lesion area of cerebral infarction under MK and MD and T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) was analyzed. RESULTS The DKI parameters of focal and control areas in the study subjects were compared. The ADC, MD, AD, and RD values in the lesion area were significantly lower than those in the control area. The MK, RK, and AK values in the lesion area were significantly higher than those in the control area. The MK/MD value in the infarct lesions was used to determine the matching situation. MK/MD < 5 mm was considered matching and MK/MD ≥ 5 mm was considered mismatching. PLD1.5s and PLD2.5s perfusion parameters in the central, peripheral, and control areas of the infarct lesions in MK/MD-matched and -unmatched patients were not significantly different. PLD1.5s and PLD2.5s perfusion parameter values in the central area of the infarct lesions in MK/MD-matched and -unmatched patients were significantly lower than those in peripheral and control areas. The MK and MD maps showed a lesion area of 20.08 ± 5.74 cm2 and 22.09 ± 5.58 cm2, respectively. T2WI showed a lesion area of 19.76 ± 5.02 cm2. There were no significant differences in the cerebral infarction lesion areas measured using the three methods. MK, MD, and T2WI showed a good correlation. CONCLUSION DKI parameters showed significant difference between the focal and control areas in patients with acute ischemic cerebral infarction. 3DASL can effectively determine the changes in perfusion levels in the lesion area. There was a high correlation between the area of the infarct lesions diagnosed by DKI and T2WI.


The directional dynamics of the resonant Rayleigh scattering from a semiconductor microcavity is investigated. When optically exciting the lower polariton branch, the strong dispersion results in a directional emission on a ring. The coherent emission ring shows a reduction of its angular width for increasing time after excitation, giving direct evidence for the time-energy uncertainty in the dynamics of the scattering by disorder. The ring width converges with time to a finite value, a direct measure of an intrinsic momentum broadening of the polariton states localized by multiple disorder scattering.


Background: Intestinal fibrosis is a major complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which can be prevented with anti-inflammatory therapies. However, inflammatory biomarkers do not necessarily reflect the progression of fibrosis, and hence, an indicator that reflects the therapeutic effects of available anti-inflammatory drugs on fibrosis is needed. This study shows that tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) is a potential therapeutic indicator for ongoing intestinal fibrosis in IBD patients.Methods: TIMP-1 mRNA levels in human myofibroblasts were measured, and TIMP-1 expression in the intestine of 10 Crohn's disease (CD) patients was examined by immunohistochemistry. Colitis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administration of 1.5% dextran sodium sulfate for 7 days; then, the mice were treated with anti-TNF-α antibody or phosphate-buffered saline for 14 days. Intestinal fibrosis was evaluated by Masson's trichrome staining, and TIMP-1 mRNA levels in the intestinal tissue and plasma TIMP-1 levels were measured.Results: TIMP-1 expression in human fibroblasts increased after differentiation into myofibroblasts. TIMP-1 expression in CD intestinal tissue was significantly higher in the inflammation area than in the fibrotic or normal areas. In a murine colitis mode in which TIMP-1 mRNA levels were increased, anti-TNF-α antibody administration significantly attenuated inflammation and fibrosis assessed by a reduction in TIMP-1 mRNA levels in intestinal tissue and plasma TIMP-1 levels.Conclusions: The results in this study show that TIMP-1 is a potential new biomarker that could be used to assess the effectivity of different therapeutic strategies for intestinal inflammation and fibrosis in IBD patients.