In this article I compare the representation of working people in two novels, Ruth Park's The Harp in the South (1948) and Dorothy Hewett's Bobbin Up (1959), as well as the ensuing critical debate about realism in their depictions of slum life in Sydney. I show that while Hewett's work is more class-conscious and agitational, Park's novel comes alive in deeper intersectional ways through her awareness of the interwoven structures of gender, class and race. Although Hewett's novel culminates in a strike by women mill workers, Park reveals more of the individual strategies of survival that form part of the working-class lives she portrays. Thus, using Friedrich Engels' critical point about 'typical characters under typical circumstances', I argue that while both writers try to capture the fundamental experience of working-class people, this is more successfully done in Park's novel, both in terms of its literary realism and implicit radical politics.


Autoimmune hepatitis is defined as chronic liver disease of unknown aetiology with aberrant auto-reactivity and genetic predisposition, characterized by female predominance, circulating auto-antibodies, hypergammaglobulinemia and association with HLA DR3 and HLA DR4. We present two patients with autoimmune hepatitis. The first patient is a young lady who was diagnosed with autoimmune chronic hepatitis. The second patient, on the other hand, is an elderly gentleman who presented to us with autoimmune hepatitis related decompensated cirrhosis of liver.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the clinical anatomy of vagal schwannoma and the methods to preserve the continuity of vagus nerve during tumor resection and postoperative functional rehabilitation methods of the nerve.

METHOD
To review 15 cases of vagal schwannoma from 2002.07 to 2011.08 treated in the Department of Otolaryngology, West China Hospital. The operative modality was to strip the tumor while keeping the Schwann membrane almost intact so that to protect the nerve fibers as much as possible. postoperative treatment included glucocorticoids, neurotrophic medication, as well as voice and swallowing rehabilitation.

RESULT
Among 15 cases of schwannoma patients, 3 cases (3/15) experienced hoarseness of voice with the ipsilateral vocal cord located at the median position 2 years after operation. 2 cases(2/15) experienced no obvious hoarseness of voice with vocal cords slight vibration when pronouncing and reached normal vocal cord movement 3 months after operation, 10 cases were healed without vocal cord complications, 7 cases (7/15) experienced choking during drinking and the symptom was gradually eliminated 1 3 months thereafter.

CONCLUSION
To carefully discern and preserve the vagal fibers during the operation of vagal schwannoma could eliminate postoperative hoarseness and choking. Protection of superior laryngeal nerve should be also brought to the forefront because it could affect the quality of swallowing and speaking.


[Reaction: see text]. Regio- and stereoselectivity in reactions of gem-difluorinated vinyloxiranes with heteronucleophiles were successfully controlled. Halogen atoms were introduced regioselectively at the allylic epoxide carbon with an inversion in stereochemistry using MgBr2*Et2O or Li2CuCl4 to produce anti-vic-halohydrine. The other diastereomers were obtained selectively using LiBr/AcOH or BCl3, and SN2' type products were formed selectively with excellent E preference by changing the reaction temperature. Moreover, a further investigation led us to find that a regio- and stereoselective SN2' addition of several Brnsted acids was dependent on the pKa values of the acids. Under strong acidic conditions, we exclusively obtained E allylic alcohols.


The importance of professor's outline in a feedback instruction was examined through various documents and the way in which the evaluation was fulfilled in Korean educational environment and its reflection upon the evaluation result were investigated by means of research. Based upon the survey results in connection with the progress and basis of teachers' on the spot feedback mathematics instruction in schools, it was found that most of teachers who engaged in feedback mathematics instruction were going over the most frequently missed problems. I proposed that we should bring up the point at issue and grasp its tendency of a class and entire group's results by means of a relative comparative analysis method, and thereupon establish a fixed category and choose substantial feedback scholarship according to that category. From this basis, the subsequent research topics include the substantial feedback effects of the selected problems that should be given priority, a group analysed and classified by means of comparison of tendency as well as feedback outline depended on students' characteristic, and the determining factors of tendency(a condition of professors, a level of students, geographical difference(s), and gender difference(s), etc...).


Introduction Biosimilar infliximab (CT-P5013) has been licensed in the UK for over a year with the potential for significant cost savings, though uptake to-date has been surprisingly slow. We report the introduction of biosimilar infliximab through a closely managed switching programme. Methods Following the licensing of biosimilar infliximab we made a decision to instigate a closely managed switching programme encompassing all patients on maintenance treatment with Remicade and all new starters. A working party was set up with strong managerial support to deliver the project. We initially estimated savings of £400,000/year to the local health economy. Following meetings with the 3 local CCGs agreement was confirmed for a 50:50 gain share agreement between the CCGs and the Trust. To facilitate and monitor the switching programme a new Band 7 IBD Biological nurse, a Band 7 IBD Biological pharmacist, and an IBD administrator were recruited. All patients were informed by letter of the planned switch and the rationale for it. A variety of clinical and biological markers were also recorded at each visit along with PROM data. Results To date since the start of the project on 16th September 2015 88 patients have been treated with biosimilar infliximab. 78 (63 CD/15 UC) patients on maintenance treatment with Remicade were switched to CT-P13 with unchanged efficacy and safety (the detailed results are the basis of a separate abstract); a further 10 patients received induction therapy (7 CD/3 UC). 3/88 patients requested further clarification from the IBD team with all patients subsequently agreeing to the switch. All patients were seen by either the IBD pharmacist or IBD specialist nurse and stated they felt well informed. Over the first six months the programme has generated total cost savings of £232,576.52 with projected year savings of £540,000. Staff costs totalled £90,000. PROM data from the cohort revealed very high satisfaction with treatment with a mean score of 7.3 (Range 3–10) for overall disease control. Patient feedback was universally positive. Conclusion The introduction of biosimilar infliximab can be achieved through a closely managed programme with very significant cost savings to the local health economy. Engaged conversations between primary and secondary care facilitate realising these savings allowing investment in the local IBD service with direct impact on patient care. Patients were overwhelmingly supportive of the project. Wider uptake in the UK would result in considerable cost savings to the NHS. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Despite rapid successful developments toward promising perovskite solar cells (PSCs) efficiency, they often suffer significant hysteresis effects. Using synchrotron-based grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) with different probing depths by varying the incident angle, we found that the perovskite films consist of dual phases with a parent phase dominant in the interior and a child phase with a smaller (110) interplanar space (d(110)) after rapid thermal annealing (RTA), which is a widely used post treatment to improve the crystallization of solution-processed perovskite films for high-performance planar PSCs. In particular, the child phase composition gradually increases with decreasing depth till it becomes the majority on the surface, which might be one of the key factors related to hysteresis in fabricated PSCs. We further improve the crystalline phase purity of the solution-processed CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite film (referred as g-perovskite) by using a facile gradient thermal annealing (GTA), which shows a uniformly distributed phase structure in pinhole-free morphology with less undercoordinated Pb and I ions determined by synchrotron-based GIXRD, grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Regardless of device structures (conventional and inverted types), the planar heterojunction PSCs employing CH3NH3PbI3-xClx g-perovskite films exhibit negligible hysteresis with a champion power conversion efficiency of 17.04% for TiO2-based conventional planar PSCs and 14.83% for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)-based inverted planar PSCs. Our results indicate that the crystalline phase purity in CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite film, especially in the surface region, plays a crucial role in determining the hysteresis effect and device performance.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to bring a methodological and empirical contribution to the measurement of trade competition. Globalization and the emergence of new poles in the world economy brought changes to the global landscape and consequent increase in international trade. There is a debate in the literature with regard the indexes that are better fit to be applied in empirical examples for the acquirement of relevant results for measurement of trade competition. This measurement will be achieved by observing the levels of structural similarity in distinct areas and at different moments in time. A higher degree of similarity between the export structures implies a stronger competition in destination markets. The values obtained for this measurement are highly relevant for the trade competition topic. Through this study we further explore the measurement of trade competition and comparatively discuss several indexes used in this area of research.


The Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale (GARF) has been proposed as an additional domain on Axis V, yet few validation studies have been conducted. This study examines the validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the GARF. An experienced family therapist interviewed 34 families in which one member had a diagnosis of DSM-IV recurrent major depression. A semi-structured family interview was used to classify families into functional or dysfunctional. A second interviewer, blind to the earlier evaluation, used the GARF to assess the families' functioning. Validity coefficients with the best balance between sensitivity and specificity were obtained with a cut-off point of 70 on the GARF: sensitivity, 78%; specificity, 86%; positive predictive value, 95%; and negative predictive value, 50%. Regression analyses identified demographic and clinical variables that influenced GARF scores. The following variables accounted for 41% of the GARF's variance: patients' educational level, severity of the current depressive episode, and the role of the family member participating in the study. The Brazilian-Portuguese version of the GARF has acceptable validity coefficients, and may be a useful tool in cross-cultural settings.


Most of Tarlov or perineurial cysts remain asymptomatic throughout the patient's life. The pathogenesis is still unclear. Hemorrhage has been suggested as one of the possible causes and trauma with resultant hemorrhage into subarachnoid space has been suggested as an origin of these cysts. However, Tarlov cysts related to spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage has not been reported. The authors report a case of Tarlov cyst which was symptomatic following spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage.


The stimulation of acid secretion by gastrin may in the rat be explained solely by gastrin-induced histamine release. This study was done to examine whether histamine could mediate the general trophic effect of gastrin on the oxyntic mucosa, by using a long-acting selective histamine-1 antagonist (astemizole) alone or with omeprazole-induced hypergastrinaemia for 90 days in female Sprague-Dawley rats. At day 90, isolated vascularly perfused rat stomachs were prepared to study maximal gastrin- and histamine-stimulated acid and pepsinogen outputs and maximal gastrin-stimulated histamine release. Oxyntic mucosa morphometry, mucosal histamine and pepsinogen contents, and plasma gastrin and histamine levels were also determined. For the first time, omeprazole has been found to inhibit gastric emptying and to increase plasma histamine. As compared with controls, astemizole alone did not influence plasma gastrin, increased plasma histamine in only some rats, and gave a slight increase in all other variables. Together with omeprazole, it further increased variables already stimulated by omeprazole. Thus, mucosal thickness, histamine concentration, and chief-cell density in oxyntic mucosa were significantly higher in astemizole/omeprazole-treated rats than in omeprazole-treated rats. Gastrin-stimulated histamine release was increased in both astemizole- and omeprazole-treated rats. For all rats plasma histamine was significantly correlated with plasma gastrin and with numerical fundic argyrophil cell density. In conclusion, the present study confirms the trophic effect of gastrin and shows a slight trophic effect of astemizole on the oxyntic mucosa. It also shows that plasma histamine may reflect the argyrophil cell density in the oxyntic mucosa and that omeprazole inhibits gastric emptying.


Two simple equations for the speed of sound in sea waters, down to depths of 4 km, have been obtained as approximations to a more precise equation developed by Lovett. The simpler of the two is valid for all Neptunian waters except the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Persian Gulf, and agrees with Lovett's equation to within about 0.1 m/s. The other includes these water masses and is in agreement with Lovett to within about 0.03 m/s. The two equations are well adapted to programmable handheld calculators.


Renal dipeptidase (EC 220.127.116.11) activity in serum and urine from healthy volunteers (n = 20), patients with diabetes (n = 18) and patients with chronic renal failure (n = 5) was measured using glycyl-d-alanine as substrate. The assay was highly specific for the enzyme and was not affected by the various aminopeptidases present in serum and urine. No difference in serum renal dipeptidase activity was observed between the groups. The enzyme activity (U/L) in urine was higher than that in serum, irrespective of the group, suggesting the urine concentration was not affected by the serum concentration. The mean renal dipeptidase activities in urine were 2·56, 2·46 and 0·78 U/mol creatinine for healthy subjects, patients with diabetes and patients with chronic renal failure, respectively. The renal dipeptidase activity was significantly lower in the chronic renal failure group. The urinary excretion of dipeptidase (U/mmol creatinine) showed significant inverse correlations with that of β2-microglobulin, albumin and α1-microglobulin, and with serum concentrations of creatinine, β2-microglobulin and α1-microglobulin. We suggest that urine dipeptidase may be a useful marker of renal diseases.


The MADIT‐I study was a proof‐of‐principle study, and this randomized trial showed that the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) saves lives in high‐risk patients with coronary heart disease. The MADIT‐II study showed that prophylactic ICD therapy was associated with significantly improved survival in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, as defined by documented coronary heart disease and advanced left ventricular dysfunction, without requiring screening for ventricular arrhythmias or inducibility by electrophysiologic testing. Taken together, these two trials, as well as the results from several other randomized ICD trials, indicate that ICD therapy is indicated in coronary patients who meet MADIT‐I or MADIT‐II eligibility criteria and are not excluded by major noncardiac comorbidity. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 14, pp. S96‐S98, September 2003, Suppl.)


Milk has rich nutritional content packed with fats, proteins and water. It also contains beneficiary and non-beneficiary microbes which account for its short shelf life. Currently cold storage, pasteurization, ultra-high temperature, microfiltration and addition of lactose peroxidase are the methods of choice to control milk spoilage and prolong its shelf life. Their limitations include high energy consumption and loss of variable proportion of heat sensitive nutrients. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle coated thin film was used in food packaging industry for its antimicrobial property. TiO2 thin films were synthesized by sol gel process; it was characterized with scanning electron microscopy which showed pore size as 5 μm and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy which showed metal present in sample is TiO2, zinc and silver. Exposure of raw milk at room temperature to TiO2 thin films doped with zinc or copper for a couple of hours showed zone of inhibition in disc diffusion technique, reduction in acid production. It also showed reduction in optical density indicating inhibition of growth in growth curve analysis, increase in the time required for methylene blue reduction and a five log folds decrease in bacterial count estimated using serial dilution plate count. The present studies were carried out under room temperature and pressure which is an added advantage in terms of energy as well as retention of nutrients. Though TiO2 is insoluble in water one needs to address it toxicity issues and adverse effects if any on the nutritional quality of milk before scaling up the process.


Blood samples were obtained from 95 barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) of the Beverly herd in Northwest Territories, Canada. Polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis was used to score for genetic variation in the locus coding for transferrin. The pattern of allele frequency distribution are compared with previously reported values of Eurasian tundra reindeer (R.t. tarandus), Alaska caribou (R.t. granti), Peary caribou (R.t. pearyi), and Svalbard reindeer (R.t. platyrhynchus). In the Beverly herd a total of 21 different transferrin alleles were detected. The amount of genetic variation was higher in the Canadian barren-ground caribou than what has been detected in other subspecies of reindeer/caribou. Highly gene-tical differences in the allele frequencies were detected between the Canadian barren-ground caribou and the other subspecies. The genetic identity analyses indicates approximately the same amount of genetic differentiation when the Canadian barren-ground caribou are compared with Alaska caribou as with the Peary caribou. The allele frequency pattern could be explained by a possible origin of the Canadian barren-ground caribou from an ancestral population which was genetical influenced by animals surviving the We-ichselian glaciation in refugia both in high Arctic, in Beringia, and south of the ice sheet.


Objectives: Revision ACL reconstruction has been documented to have worse outcomes compared with primary ACL reconstructions. The reasons why remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if both the prevalence and/or degree of meniscal and chondral damage noted at the time of ACL revision reconstruction predicts activity level, sports function, and OA symptoms at two year follow-up. Methods: Revision ACL reconstruction patients were identified and prospectively enrolled between 2006 and 2011. Data collected included baseline demographics, surgical technique and pathology, and a series of validated patient reported outcome instruments (IKDC, KOOS, WOMAC, and Marx activity rating score). Patients were followed up for 2 years, and asked to complete the identical set of outcome instruments. Regression analysis was used to control for age, gender, BMI, smoking status, activity level, baseline outcome scores, revision number, time since last ACLR, previous and current meniscal and articular cartilage pathology, in order to assess the meniscal and AC pathology risk factors for clinical outcomes 2 years after revision ACL reconstruction. Results: 1205 patients met the inclusion criteria and were successfully enrolled. 697 (58%) were males, with a median cohort age of 26 years. The median time since their last ACL reconstruction was 3.4 years. Surgeons noted previous pathology in the medial meniscus (39%), lateral meniscus (20%), and articular surfaces (12%) at the time of revision surgery. Surgeons reported current pathology in the medial meniscus (45%), lateral meniscus (37%), MFC (43%), LFC (29%), MTP (11%), LTP (17%), patella (30%), and trochlea (20%). At 2 years, follow-up was obtained on 82% (989/1205). Previous meniscal pathology (both medial and lateral), as well as current AC pathology (in the MFC, LFC, MTP, LTP, and trochlea) were found to be significant drivers of poorer outcomes at 2 years (Table 1). The most consistent cartilage-related factors driving outcome in revision patients were previous lateral meniscus pathology and current trochlea AC pathology. Having a previous excision on the lateral meniscus resulted in significantly poorer outcomes on the IKDC (odds ratio=1.69; 95% CI=1.16-2.44; p=0.005), all KOOS subscales (OR range=1.54-2.08; 95% CI=1.04-3.03; p<0.029), and all WOMAC subscales (OR=1.56; 95% CI=1.06-2.27; p=0.02). Having a current Grade 3-4 AC chondrosis of the trochlea resulted in significantly poorer outcomes in the IKDC (OR=1.89; 95% CI=1.25-2.94; p-0.003), 4 of 5 KOOS subscales (OR range = 1.64-2.70; 95% CI=1.09-4.17; p<0.02), and 2 of 3 WOMAC subscales (OR range = 1.61-2.70; 95% CI=1.04-4.17; p<0.03). Lower baseline outcome scores, lower baseline activity level, and shorter time since the patient's last ACL reconstruction all significantly increased the odds of reporting poorer clinical outcomes at 2 years. Meniscal and AC pathology was not found to be a significant risk factor for 2 year activity levels. Interestingly, previous AC pathology and current meniscal pathology were not found to be significant risk factors for 2 year outcomes in this revision cohort. Conclusion: Having a previous meniscal excision, as well as grade 3-4 chondral damage noted at the time of ACL revision reconstruction results in decreased sports outcome scores and worse WOMAC scores at two years following revision surgery. However, incidence of meniscal and AC pathology was not found to be a predictor of a patient's activity level at 2 years.


IN SEARCH OF THE CREATIVE SCIENTIFIC PERSONALITY by Maya V. Grosul This study investigates whether personality is a valid predictor of creativity in science above and beyond demographic characteristics, such as career age, gender, and scientific discipline. Creativity is an act of making something new, original, and useful. Creative achievement in science is the personal ability to generate original, useful, and adaptive scientific theories, research methods, or empirical findings. Personality characteristics can operate as valid predictors of creative achievement in science. This study surveyed 145 scientists throughout the United States. Total creativity index was computed by standardizing and summing the total number of publications, total number of citations, h-index, and Soler's creativity index. As expected, openness and neuroticism were significantly positively correlated to creativity in science, while, interestingly, psychoticism was negatively correlated with creativity.


Today, more than 40% of all patients who develop a thrombosis are found to have inherited thrombophilia. The most common cause of this is APC resistance, which can usually be traced back to factor V-Leiden. In the commonly heterozygous patients the risk of thrombosis is increased about 7-fold (life-long risk of thrombosis 10 to 15%). In most cases, however, additional thrombogenic stimuli are required (oral contraception, pregnancy, surgery, immobilization). In combination with oral contraceptives, the risk is increased roughly 30-fold. In contrast, APC resistance does not present an increased risk for thrombosis in the arterial system (myocardial infarction, stroke). Four further inherited or acquired disorders of the hemostatic system are known: prothrombin dimorphism, antithrombin, protein C and protein S deficiencies. Prothrombin dimorphism, the second most common form of inherited thrombophilia, has been known only for the past two years and elevates the risk of thrombosis only to a moderate degree. Today, a search for thrombophilic factors should be carried out not only in young patients with spontaneous development of thrombosis, but also in elderly patients, even when an additional risk for the occurrence of thrombosis such as traumatization or immobilization is present. Therapeutic consequences are discussed.


In Japan, measures against prevention of occupational diseases are carried out by legal regulations. The superordinate law is the Labor Standards Law, and the Industrial Safety and Health Law(ISHL) and related Ordinances were promulgated in 1972. Abiding by the ISHL and the Ordinances, the employers are required to execute health checkups, assessment of working conditions, improvement of work environment, installation of exposure protection devices/facilities, and so forth to prevent employees from the occupational diseases. Since 2005, the employers are also requested to voluntarily perform health risk assessment and management activities by themselves to avoid health risk due to hazardous conditions unregulated by the ISHL and the Ordinances.


The treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma is a challenge to oncologists. Within the last 6-7 years several new regimens have been introduced: EAP, FAMTX, MEP, MVP, ELF. Overall response rate of these schemes is 30-40%, a complete response seldom reaching 10%. Anticancer drugs significantly improve quality of life. Chemotherapy of advanced cancer is the method of choice. New combinations and regimens may appear promising.


The intracellular and extracellular pattern of α-mannosidase (EC 22.214.171.124) activity was studied during microcyst differentiation in the cellular slime mold, Polysphondylium pallidum. The evidence suggests that microcyst differentiation requires continuous protein synthesis. α-Mannosidase activity is present in amoebae and increases with differentiation, and the data indicate that this increase in activity requires concurrent protein synthesis. The enzyme is excreted during the differentiation process, and the release of the enzyme is not stopped by cycloheximide. A cystless mutant does not show the normal intracellular pattern of α-mannosidase but does excrete the enzyme. Microcyst differentiation is proposed as an alternative system to multicellular slime mold development for the biochemical analysis of certain aspects of cellular differentiation.


CEA, first identified in 1965 by Phil Gold and Samuel O. Freedman, is aberrantly overexpressed by up to 70% of human cancers. In clinical use as extracellular marker for monitoring adenocarcinoma growth as well as treatment efficacy, CEA has become included into the routine practice of clinical oncology. In addition to its' clinical relevance, CEA was so far only described to be pro-tumorigenic in an autocrine manner by inducing anti-apoptosis. Any potential paracrine effects of soluble CEA affecting tumor microenvironment including angiogenesis have not been described.

Here, we report that CEA released by tumor cells induced angiogenesis by directly inducing pro-angiogenic endothelial cells behavior. As shown by gain and loss of function in vivo tumor transplant models, CEA directly stimulated endothelial cell proliferation and migration in vitro and endothelial cell invasion and functional active capillary-tube formation in directed in vivo angiogenesis assays. Thereby, CEA activated endothelial cells via integrin beta-3, leading to FAK phosphorylation and c-src activation as well as induction of MEK/ERK- and PI3kinase/Akt- pathways. Interfering with this chain of events at different steps, such as downregulation of its putative receptor for CEA (CEAR) by shRNA bearing lentivirus or blockage of integrin activity, abrogated CEA-induced endothelial cell activation and tumor-angiogenesis leading to tumor growth arrest. Notably, CEA acted independently and partially additive to the VEGF / VEGFR-2 (KDR or flk-1) system. The biological relevance was further verified by analysis of paraffin-embedded tumor-tissue samples derived from colon cancer patients, whereas vascularization of the tumor microenvironment was significantly higher whenever CEA plasma levels were high.

Thus, our data indicate that the tumor marker CEA acts as a novel angiogenic molecule and might offer a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of tumor-angiogenesis.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):B6.

Citation Format: Gerald W. Prager, Kira Braemswig, Marina Poettler, Christoph Zieleinski. CEA affects tumor- angiogenesis via integrin-dependent activation of endothelial cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B6.


Community participation has been identified as a key factor in ensuring the long-term sustainability and effective governance of these valuable ecosystems. The three pillars of sustainable protected area management are forms of ecological, social and economic management that enhance the function of protected areas and can support human life. Mangrove forests play a crucial role in coastal ecosystems, providing numerous ecological, economic, and socio-cultural benefits to local communities. Understanding the diverse range of tangible and intangible benefits associated with mangrove forests is essential for comprehending the motivations and incentives that encourage community engagement in their conservation and sustainable management. The review highlights the complex interplay between tangible and intangible benefits and their influence on community participation in mangrove management. The review underscores the importance of recognizing and valuing both types of benefits, as they are intertwined and shape the attitudes, behaviors, and decision-making processes of local communities. Interdisciplinary studies that incorporate ecological, economic, social, and cultural dimensions is needed to comprehensively understand the multifaceted benefits of mangrove forests and their role in driving community participation in mangrove management. Such insights can inform policy and management strategies that promote sustainable development and effective conservation of mangrove ecosystems, ultimately contribute to the well-being of both coastal communities and the environment.


Due to its electrical and optical interesting properties, InGaN alloy is being intensively studied to be combined with silicon in order to achieve low-cost high-efficiency solar cell. However, a relatively thick monophasic layer of InGaN is difficult to grow due to the relaxation issue in material. This issue can be avoided by semibulk structure. In this work, we present an InGaN/Si double-junction solar cell modeled using Silvaco-ATLAS TCAD software. We have taken into account polarization effect in III-N materials. We have shown that 50% of indium is needed to ensure the current matching between the top cell and the bottom cell in 2-terminal configuration. Such high indium composition is technologically challenging to grow. Thus, we have modeled a 4-terminals solar cell with relatively low indium composition (In = 25%) where current matching is not needed. With technologically feasible structural parameters, we have shown that an efficiency near to 30% can be achieved with InGaN/Si 4-contact tandem cell.


• Many different endogenous and exogenous factors must be considered in determining the cause of vesicular eruptions of the hands. Location, timing, and intensity of the eruption are influenced by several factors, such as friction, diet, and climate. Identification of the cause is essential because removal of the cause is the first step in conservative, specific treatment.


Since critical thinking is one of the main goals of university education system and quality is one of the main attributes of educational systems, identifying quality factors effecting critical thinking of students is necessary. So the purpose of present study is to investigate the role of teaching quality and its 4 components-including Lesson plans, teaching performance, teaching and assessing interpersonal relationships- in critical thinking of students. This paper is a correlation survey. Findings showed 1- There is a significant relation between teaching quality and students'' critical thinking (p


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study were to investigate a role of oxidative stress and the therapeutic efficacy of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) in the pathogenesis of neurotoxicity induced by isoniazid and etambutol in a rat model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into eight experimental groups: control, INH, ETM, INH+ETM, INH+CAPE, ETM+CAPE, INH+ETM+CAPE, and CAPE treatment group, with ten animals in each group. INH and ETM doses were given orally within tap water for 30 days. CAPE was administered into relevant groups intraperitoneally for 30 days. Brain tissue and sciatic nerve were removed for biochemical and histopathological investigation.

RESULTS
In the INH, ETM, and INH+ETM groups, malondialdehyde (MDA) and total oxidant status (TOS) levels were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Also, in these groups, brain total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and PON-1 activities were decreased compared with the control group (p < 0.05). By a CAPE supplement within INH and ETM groups, there was a significant decrease in MDA and TOS (p < 0.05). In addition to a significant increase in TAC levels, and SOD and PON-1 activities both in brain and sciatic nerve tissues (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
CAPE may protect against INH- and ETM-induced neurotoxicity in rat brain and sciatic nerve.


Measuring the heating rate of well prepared superconducting ceramics YBa2 Cu3 O7-x in atmospheres of dinitrogen and dioxygen at 77.4-92 K, we have shown that the paramagnetic dioxygen molecules provide a less effective heat transfer to the YBa2 Cu3 O7-x than the diamagnetic dinitrogen molecules. It was suggested that the phenomenon results from the predominantly elastic collisions between the paramagnetic dioxygen molecules and the ceramic surface. The elasticity is induced by the superconducting state of the material possessing a high value of the lower critical field H c 1g = 1.04 × 104 A m-1 and with the mean size for the granules rms ~40 µm. If the value of applied field Ha >H c 1g the elastic collisions between dioxygen molecules and the superconductor surface are suppressed. For the superconductor with a low value of H c 1g = 1.4 × 103 A m-1 and rms ~10 µm there are no elastic collisions of dioxygen molecules with the superconducting surface. We propose that this phenomenon is associated with interaction between the paramagnetic moment of the dioxygen molecule and the magnetic flux `frozen' into the superconductor.


Tatooine is a fictional terrestrial planet from the Star Wars universe which orbits a set of binary stars. By considering the classification of its Suns, Tatoo I and Tatoo II, and the planets orbital period we were able to find the radius of Tatooine's orbit, 1.15 Au. It was then possible to work out the varying solar constants for Tatooine depending on its position relative to both Suns, allowing us to calculate an average daytime temperature range of 42.3 celcius to −10.7 celcius.


Raman spectra of CCl4 is enhanced by a factor of 102-103 by means of hollow core quartz optical fiber filled with binary solution containing CCl4. The concentration of CCl4 in solution affects on Raman scattering coefficient of CCl4 also on aperture angle of liquid core optical fiber. For each kind of solution filling the hollow core optical fiber there is an optimum CCl4 concentration corresponding to a maximum Raman spectra of CCl4.


Competitive and complex engineering environment fuel the rise and focus on engineering managerial competency (EMC) of engineering managers. At the beginning, six main elements of EMC were supposed as hypothetical categorization for further empirical analysis. After questionnaire investigating engineering managers across various vocations and industries and data handling, CITC, reliability and factor analysis were made to screen out the right items for measuring EMC Elements and it was found one element should be divided into two dimension as personal trait and mental mode. Later, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted, and got a good fit for a seven-factor model for EMC. The elements of capability, managerial behavior, personal traits, and skills take the first four ranks of great effects on EMC of engineering managers, and then mental mode, general qualification and knowledge are subsequent in turn.


This work compares the health cooperatives fêted in Maoist China in the 1960s to the New Rural Medical Co-operative Scheme (NRCMS) that has been operating in China since 2002. Organizational and ideological similarities between the old and new co-operative medical schemes are described. By mapping continuities and discontinuities in the way the co-operative organizational model has been deployed under different contexts, we argue for the usefulness of blending historical method and organizational analysis as a means of understanding some of the challenges of contemporary Chinese social policies. Using this technique of historical comparison, this work concludes that the NRCMS, despite being different in orientation, is still affected by political influences, and organizational traits, evident within its former incarnation. This acknowledgement, we argue, has important implications for policy and practice today.


ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND: The lung has a very little regenerative capacity; it cannot tolerate long doses of radiation. The critical injuries that eventually lead to impaired ventilation and diffusion capacity are related to total dose, its fractionation, and volume of lung irradiated. The absorption of ionizing radiation causes immediate subcellular and cellular damage while its gross morphological expression in terms of tissue injury.
Aim of study: To observe the effect of 5 weeks of Radiation Therapy on Pulmonary Functions in breast cancer patients Methodology: The study was carried out on ten subjects ranging in the age group of 35-65 years where PFT parameters were recorded initially and at the end of every week for five weeks. Then parameters were compared pre radiation and every week after the radiation therapy for five weeks.
RESULT: Data was analyzed in terms of the mean difference. Statistically, there were no significant changes seen in the PFT parameter values that are pre- radiation and post-radiation every week for five weeks and the p values obtained were for following parameters 1) FVC – 0.487 2) FEV1 – 0.863 3) FEV1/FVC – 0.487 4) FEF25-75% - 5) PEFR- .
CONCLUSION: There were no significant changes that were found in the parameters of the pulmonary function test. Changes in lung volume and capacities are expected after Radiation therapy that is risk of damaging pulmonary parenchyma and losing type 2 pneumocytes but patient never present changes due to compensation in relation to healthy changes which did not receive radiation.
KEY WORDS: Breast Cancer,Radiation Therapy,Pulmonary Function Test


An indole-related molecules have been considered as the potential fluorescent probes for biological and electrochemical sensing. However, most of the indole probes have been usually used in a single detection mode. Indolium probes that enable accurate detection in complex environments are rarely reported. Here, four novel indole derivatives including the phenyl group substituted with different functional moieties were designed on the basis of the donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) concept. These derivatives exhibit positive solvatochromism owing to their varied molecular conformations upon contacting to various solvents and the different HOMO-LUMO gaps caused by the difference in electronic push-pull capability of the substituents. Their solid-state fluorescence emissions and multiple chromisms are observed due to the inherent twisted geometries and aggregation modes. In addition, these derivatives show dramatic color and fluorescence responses due to the protonation of the nitrogen and oxygen containing groups, and thus novel colorimetric pH sensors, fluorescent papers and logic gates have been designed.


Several countries already have the technology known as Intelligent Transport Systems - ITS, that means control and management of public transport, activities information to the user, traffic control and manage ment of financial resources through programs of electronic ticketing . In Brazil it is possible to identify, in recent years, a strong increase of these technologies, consolidated by investments and technical training in the departments of transportation. The aim of this paper was to discuss the actions implemented in Brazil, highlighting the integration of geothecnologies in this process. The survey showed that the Southeast is one of the most relevant national representatives, with a large number of cities that make use of ITS technologies. However, it is known that the process and implementation are slow due to numerous difficulties, including those observed in the different situations presented. Even with the full deployment in the cities listed and expansion into other, only the major centers will be fully satisfied, as there are multimodal diversity.


Parameter identification procedures and model validation are major steps toward intelligent machines supported by active magnetic bearings (AMB). The ability of measuring the electromagnetic bearing forces, or deriving them from measuring the magnetic flux, strongly contributes to the model validation and leads to novel approaches in identifying crucial rotor parameters. This is the main focus of this paper, where an intelligent AMB is being developed with the aim of aiding the accurate identification of damping and stiffness coefficients of active lubricated journal bearings. The main contribution of the work is the characterization of magnetic forces by using two different experimental approaches. Such approaches are investigated and described in detail. A special test rig is designed where the four pole AMB is able to generate forces up to 1900 N. The high-precision characterization of the magnetic forces is conducted using different experimental tests: (i) by using hall sensors mounted directly on the poles (precise measurements of the magnetic flux) and by an auxiliary system, composed of strain gages and flexible beams attached to the rotor, (ii) by measuring the input current and bearing gap variations, monitoring the bearing input signals. Advantages and drawbacks of the different methodologies are critically discussed. The linearity ranges are experimentally determined and the characterization of magnetic forces with a high accuracy of < 1 % is achieved (percent error is normalized with respect to the instantaneous measured force obtained from the strain gauges signals).


By the end of 1992 the New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations had reached its seventeenth year of issue. The decision was made to produce an index up to that point rather than wait for the twentieth year largely because of the enthusiastic response to the new index produced in 1992 for its Australian counterpart, the Journal of Industrial Relations.


Tempe chips are processed snacks made from tempeh-based ingredients. Therefore, it can support the development of activities in the snack food home business sector, one of which is the flagship product, "Mbok De Tempe Chips" in the cunfo hamlet, Bukit Layang village, Bakam sub-district. There are problems that occur in the home industry for tempe mbok de chips, namely when the tempe slicing process is still manual using a kitchen knife as a tempe slicer. So it takes a long time and the results of the slices or pieces of tempeh produce thin and thick slices of tempeh. This community service (PkM) aims to overcome the problem of slicing tempeh that still uses a kitchen knife with a tempeh slicing machine to facilitate the slicing process. From the implementation method given in the form of a specific target from the implementation of this PkM, it was achieved well in terms of facilitating the process of slicing tempe chips with uniform slices of thickness and thinness of the tempe chips and increasing production yields so as to expand the results of sellers to increase the results and profits of people's income.


Attention has been argued to play a crucial role in the anomalous emotional processing central to psychopathy (Newman & Baskin-Sommers, 2011). Specifically, the role of an excessively stringent attentional filter in emotion processing has gained increasing support in psychopathy research. At present, gaining further knowledge from community samples and applying alternative experimental paradigms are important steps in unravelling the attention-emotion interaction in psychopathy. Moreover, most research has been done in North-American samples, so cross-cultural validation in European samples is needed. Therefore, the current study investigated the attention-emotion interaction in a Belgian community sample comprising of 49 male and 123 female undergraduate students (N=172; mean age = 19 years). To test the influence of attentional focus on information-processing in psychopathy, we used an affective priming paradigm and a replicated flanker-task (Zeier, Maxwell, & Newman, 2009). Findings indicated that individuals with higher psychopathy scores had difficulty in cognitive control rather than applying a selective attentional filter. Results also suggested that this difficulty was related to impulsive-antisocial psychopathic traits rather than the interpersonal-affective features. These findings shed light on the cognitive problems associated with psychopathy in the broader community, and particularly a difficulty in dealing with conflicting information. Also, to our knowledge, this study was the first to employ an affective priming paradigm to examine attentional dysfunctions in psychopathy. Importantly, the differences observed between community and incarcerated samples suggest that the attention-emotion interplay fluctuates across a psychopathy severity continuum.


Semiconductor gas sensors are device consisting of sintered metal oxides, which can indicate target gas concentration by measuring the electric resistance of device. The gas sensors have been developed widely for detection of inflammable gases, toxic gases, odor gases, environmental-related gases and so on. As the materials, n-type oxides, such as SnO2, In2O3, WO3 and so on, are well known. For the material design of the semiconductor gas sensor, we have reported important three functions i.e. receptor function, transducer function and utility factor. In this presentation, the material design for high-sensitive detection of environmental-related gases is shown.


ABSTRACT Objective: The role of CD40/CD40 ligand (CD40L) in microvascular thrombosis is now widely accepted. However, the exact mechanisms linking the CD40/CD40L system and the soluble form of CD40L (sCD40L) with microvascular thrombosis are currently a topic of intensive research. The objective of this study was to assess the potential mechanisms in CD40/CD40L system-regulated microvascular thrombosis after focal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Methods: Rats were subjected to 60-min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The experiments were divided into three groups: sham operation, MCAO, and MCAO + CD40 antagonist. Dynamic changes of serum-free sCD40L levels for 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, and 12 h by ELISA detecting kit after focal I/R were observed, and the CD40 expression levels in both platelet surface and vascular endothelial cell surface were measured by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence, respectively. Cerebral infarct volume was analyzed 12 h after reperfusion. mTOR/S6K signaling was determined by Western blot. Results: A comparison of thrombus formation between MCAO and CD40 antagonist treatment rats revealed a role for CD40 and/or CD40L in the inflammation-enhanced thrombosis responses in both of the platelet and vascular endothelial cell. MCAO rats yielded an acceleration of thrombus formation that was accompanied by increased CD40 levels in serum. The brain infarction was significantly decreased in CD40 antagonist treatment group compared to MCAO model group. The mTOR/S6K signaling was activated in MACO model than that of CD40 antagonist treatment group. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that CD40/CD40L system contributes to microvascular thrombosis and brain infarction induced by MCAO and reperfusion. The mTOR/S6K signaling pathway is involved in the regulation of cerebral microvasculature after focal I/R by CD40/CD40L. Abbreviations: AKT: protein kinase B; CD40L: CD40 ligand; CSF: cerebrospinal fluid; FITC: fluorescein isothiocyanate; I/R: ischemia/reperfusion; MCAO: middle cerebral artery occlusion; mTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin; PE: P-phycoerythrin; sCD40L: soluble form of CD40L; TNF-a: tumor necrosis factor-alpha; WT: wild type.


Why do Americans look for health information on the Internet? There are several reasons, but convenience is paramount. Users can access Internet health information at any time. In addition, the information retrieved online is often more detailed than what harried physicians and health care workers can provide. The Internet also offers a means to get a "second opinion" without the hassles of a referral, and can provide a way to communicate with others in similar situations or with similar problems.


A rigorous analysis of the blind source extraction (BSE) approach based on a linear predictor is provided. It is shown that by minimising the mean squared prediction error (MSPE), as originally proposed, it is only possible to reach a solution subject to an arbitrary orthogonal transformation. To remove this ambiguity, a new cost function based on the normalised MSPE is introduced which by design provides a unique solution to this class of BSE problems. Depending on whether the pre-whitening operation is required or not, a novel class of BSE algorithms are derived and approaches with both fixed and adaptive linear predictor coefficients are considered. The proposed algorithms are justified by both the analysis and simulation results.


Many health problems are related to food and diet patterns. Socio-economic development in South Africa has meant a change in diet patterns, with poorer communities moving away from traditional foods to convenience and processed foods. These foods have been associated with obesity and could greatly increase the risk of developing food-related non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. In addition, apartheid resulted in inequality among consumers in terms of education levels, literacy and understanding of the language used in labelling and product information, as well as in terms of access to good quality commodities that are arguably healthier. It also resulted in inequality in terms of knowledge of consumer rights and the ability to enforce them, and a lack of information and knowledge as to food related health challenges. Particular sectors in the food industry have been less concerned about the consumer health risks associated with their products or communicating such information to their consumers. Hence, recently there have been initiatives by government to protect consumers against food related non communicable diseases by proposing legislation to curb consumption of specific food products. The proposed ?sugar tax? on sugar sweetened beverages is one example. The Consumer Protection Act (CPA), passed in 2008, aims at protection of consumers by prohibiting or regulating a range of marketing and business practices and affording the consumer a range of legal rights and remedies. This paper investigates the implications of the CPA and related legislation, for the food industry and consumers of food products. The approach adopted for this paper is a descriptive critique engaging in a review of related literature, and pertinent legislation, particularly the CPA. It is envisaged that this paper will highlight the implications of the CPA in terms of the rights of consumers and the concomitant obligations of suppliers of food products, to re-examine the health risks related to their products, food labelling, disclosure of information particularly about associated health risks, and consumer education about products, in plain and understandable language. It will also identify possible gaps in the law requiring specific regulation.


From relationships between integrated daily CO emissions and received solar radiation obtained for different standing dead grasses in field experiments in a savanna region in South Africa, and making use of ecosystem and solar irradiation databases, we derive estimates on global CO production and seasonality from photochemical decay of dry grasses and litter. The photochemical CO source strength from standing dead plant material and litter in various grassland ecosystems and deciduous forests ranges from 20 to 65 Tg CO per year (1 Tg = 10 12 g). Accounting for potentially CO emitting ecosystems not included in the data set, we estimate that 60 ± 30 Tg of CO are annually emitted by photochemical degradation of decaying plant matter, mostly in the tropics. We further estimate thermal CO production from the global topsoil non-woody litter pool on the basis of global climate data and measured Arrhenius parameters to add another 40 Tg CO per year, much depending on the chosen parameters, and probably uncertain by a factor of 2. The total global source of CO by these mechanisms may thus be in the range 100 +70 −50 Tg CO per year. Although the estimated CO source strength is a relatively small contribution to the global CO budget (2–8%), CO emissions may significantly compensate for CO deposition on soils in the tropics during certain times of the year. Currently, modelling studies mostly impose a constant CO deposition velocity from the atmosphere to the soil surface, based generally on measurements on bare soil. Future modelling efforts may need to include geographical and photochemical factors which play a role in CO exchange in tropical ecosystems. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1999.t01-4-00004.x


The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C22H26N2O, contains three crystallographically independent molecules, in which the aromatic rings are oriented at dihedral angles of 21.74 (5), 27.59 (5) and 27.87 (5)°. Intramolecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds result in the formation of planar six-membered rings, and these are nearly coplanar with the adjacent rings. In the crystal structure, π–π contacts between the benzene rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.989 (2), 3.802 (1) and 3.882 (1) Å] may stabilize the structure.


It becomes rapidly indispensable for us to apply adequately measurement and control technologies to manufacturing automation systems toward the high-revel low-carbon and energy efficiency. Under this background, several International Standardization Organizations are now working in this subject area. In this session, the latest status of those efforts will be reported and discussed in order to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, environmental society.


Logistics is a critical issue of the new globalized world. Innovative technologies, integrated transportation systems and transport nodes are becoming crucial factors for competition in the international markets and for ensuring a sustainable development in the medium-long term. More investments in transport services and infrastructures are needed to catch new economic opportunities. Nevertheless, the evolution of the Italian scenario appears quite problematic, slowed down by two main problems: public financial constraints and, traditionally, a strong road based transportation system. Traffic congestion, pollution and loss of competitiveness are some of the main negative external effects that come out from this scenario. Specific policy interventions to promote intermodality are necessary to minimize these negative externalities.


The small genome of the Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis IL1403 contains two genes that encode proteins annotated as homologues of Escherichia coli beta-hydroxyacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase. E. coli fabG encodes beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase, the enzyme responsible for the first reductive step of the fatty acid synthetic cycle. Both of the L. lactis genes are adjacent to (and predicted to be cotranscribed with) other genes that encode proteins having homology to known fatty acid synthetic enzymes. Such relationships have often been used to strengthen annotations based on sequence alignments. Annotation in the case of beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase is particularly problematic because the protein is a member of a vast protein family, the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) family. The recent isolation of an E. coli fabG mutant strain encoding a conditionally active beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase allowed physiological and biochemical testing of the putative L. lactishomologues. We report that expression of only one of the two L. lactis proteins (that annotated as FabG1) allows growth of the E. coli fabG strain under nonpermissive conditions and restores in vitro fatty acid synthetic ability to extracts of the mutant strain. Therefore, like E. coli, L. lactis has a single beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase active with substrates of all fatty acid chain lengths. The second protein (annotated as FabG2), although inactive in fatty acid synthesis both in vivo and in vitro, was highly active in reduction of the model substrate, beta-ketobutyryl-CoA. As expected from work on the E. coli enzyme, the FabG1 beta-ketobutyryl-CoA reductase activity was inhibited by ACP (which blocks access to the active site) whereas the activity of FabG2 was unaffected by the presence of ACP. These results seem to be an example of a gene duplication event followed by divergence of one copy of the gene to encode a protein having a new function.


The advent of cloud computing has dramatically changed the IT scene, as it offers cost savings and improvements to major operations. Nevertheless, the major obstacle relies on the effort on how to secure sensitive data files that are outsourced to the cloud environment. To ensure confidentiality, the sensitive data are usually encrypted prior to being outsourced. Nevertheless, effective data utilization remains a challenging task and there is a clear need for a secure and efficient searching mechanism over the encrypted data in the cloud, to increase the us-ability of the secure cloud environment. Unfortunately, existing work in the area of secure searching in the outsourcing scenario usually incur high computational complexity, which makes the approach impractical. In this paper, we take one step ahead by proposing an efficient keyword search scheme for cloud computing. Our solution is very lightweight, and it enables efficient multi-user keyword search over outsourced data files in the cloud environment, without leaking any private information about both the data owner and users in the search query. We formally define the security requirements and prove that our scheme is secure under a simple assumption in the standard model.


BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism is a potentially fatal complication after major orthopaedic surgeries like total knee arthroplasty, and total hip arthroplasty. Venous thromboembolism comprises of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism. It is a preventable complication of in-hospital mortality. The prophylaxis to prevent VTE varies from warfarin, low molecular weight heparin like enoxaparin, Fondaparinux sodium, direct factor Xa inhibitor like rivaroxaban and apixaban, and mechanical thromboprophylaxis. We studied the efficacy of oral rivaroxaban 10 mg once daily for 14 days in the prevention of VTE in 60 elective cases of total knee arthroplasty. The study was done from August 2018 to December 2019. All the operated cases were cemented with cruciate retaining prosthesis with mean operative time of 120 minutes without any intra-op events. Oral Rivaroxaban 10 mg was given after 6-8 hours after wound closure and continued for 14 days. All the patients were closely monitored for signs and symptoms of DVT, PE with Wells DVT score followed by venous angiogram and signs of pulmonary embolism were evaluated with modified Gurd and Wilson criteria and subsequent CT pulmonary angiogram. One patient developed deep venous thromboembolism (1.6%). No bleeding manifestations or pulmonary embolism were reported. In the study, majority of the subjects were in the age group of <60 years (46.7%); 70% were females and 30% were males; 48.3% were overweight; 33.3% were obese grade I and 3.3% were obese grade II. Once daily oral dose of rivaroxaban 10 mg for 14 days is an effective modality in reducing the number of cases of VTE after Total knee arthroplasty. Our study highlights the potential benefits and risk associated with the use of rivaroxaban as the drug of choice for thromboprophylaxis. The ease of administration of oral agents compared to subcutaneously given agents like Enoxaparin will lead to better patient compliance and early discharge from hospital.


Disability in activities of daily living (ADL) is common in elderly people. Dietary diversity is associated with several age-related diseases. The evidence on dietary diversity score (DDS) and ADL disability is limited. This study was based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Prospective data of 5004 participants were analyzed. ADL disability was defined as the inability to perform at least one of the five self-care tasks. Cox proportional regression models were conducted to estimate the association of cumulative average DDS with the risk of ADL disability. Logistic regression models were performed to estimate the odds ratios for the average DDS, the baseline DDS, and the recent DDS prior to the end of the survey in relation to ADL disability, respectively. The results indicate that higher average DDS was associated with a decreased risk of ADL disability (T3 vs. T1: hazard ratio 0.50; 95% confidence interval 0.39–0.66). The association was stronger among participants who did not had comorbidity at baseline than those who did (P-interaction 0.035). The average DDS is the most pronounced in estimating the association of DDS with ADL disability of the three approaches. In summary, higher DDS has beneficial effects on ADL disability, and long-term dietary exposure is more preferable in the investigation of DDS and ADL.


UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGPase) is found in all organisms and catalyses the formation of UDP-glucose. In sugarcane, UDP-glucose is a branch-point in the carbon channelling into other carbohydrates, such as sucrose and cellulose, which are the major factors for sugarcane productivity. In most plants, UGPase has been described to be enzymatically active in the monomeric form, while in human and yeast, homo-octamers represent the active form of the protein. Here, we present the crystal structure of UGPase from sugarcane (ScUGPase-1) at resolution of 2.0 Å. The crystals of ScUGPase-1 reveal the presence of two molecules in the asymmetric unit and the multi-angle light scattering analysis shows that ScUGPase-1 forms a mixture of species ranging from monomers to larger oligomers in solution, suggesting similarities with the orthologs from yeast and human.


We propose a novel framework for proactive maintenance that realizes disruption-free networks with low latency and reliability. The proactive replacement of failure-predicted network components is demonstrated based on diagnoses of optical fiber bend estimates and bit lossless protection in optical transport networks. The proposed framework consists of autonomous diagnostics, protection switching, and maintenance tasks. The processes of autonomous diagnosis use the "CAT platform," which is a technique for identifying faults through cycles of information "Collection", "Analysis", and "control and Testing" and includes a failure prediction technique without bit errors that can estimate the bend state of remote optical fiber. The protection switching process uses the bit lossless protection switching of the optical transport network (OTN) layer based on 1+1 protection. For the proactive maintenance frameworks, we evaluate the change in relative latency between working and protection routes on 1+1 protection and count the bit losses between detection of failure prediction, protection switching, replacement of faulty components, and restoration switching. Using our proposed framework, it is possible to systematically replace failure-predicted components without any bit loss, which will eliminate service disruption and greatly reduce the operation expenditure (OPEX).


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to analyze the efficacy and safety of the 585nm pulsed dye laser for the treatment of idiopathic flushing with dysesthesia.

DESIGN
This was a retrospective study of patients treated with a 585nm pulsed dye laser with fluences ranging from 3.5 to 7.5J/cm(2) (purpura threshold fluences), a pulse duration of 450μsec, and a spot size of 5 or 10mm.

SETTING
The Ronald 0. Perelman Department of Dermatology at New York University Medical Center.

PARTICIPANTS
Ten adult subjects who presented with flushing with dysesthesia.

MEASUREMENTS
PARTICIPANTS subjectively evaluated the decrease in dysesthesia and the number of flushing episodes. The objective response to treatment was evaluated by a single physician using pre- and postoperative photographs. The severity of postoperative erythema was compared with baseline using an ordinal scale ranging from zero (resolution of erythema) to four (76-100% of baseline erythema).

RESULTS
The mean number of treatments received by the subjects was seven. The mean fluence was 6.66J/cm(2). Subjectively, 100 percent of subjects reported a decrease in dysethesia and the number of flushing episodes. OBJECTIVEly, subjects demonstrated at least a 62.5-percent reduction in erythema.

CONCLUSION
Laser surgery provided subjective relief of dysesthesia and decreased the number of flushing episodes with a greater than 62-percent objective reduction in the severity of erythema. The 585nm pulsed dye laser is a safe, efficacious treatment for the signs and symptoms of idiopathic flushing with dysesthesia.


Abstract: Numerous publications, including the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards, 1999), emphasize the importance of cultural understanding in the development of intercultural competence in foreign language learning. However, there is no agreement on how culture should be defined operationally in the context of the foreign language curriculum in terms of concrete instructional objectives, and there is even less consensus on whether or how it should be formally assessed. This article reviews the literature relating to goals and objectives for the teaching of culture and suggests five fundamental objectives to serve as a foundation for the development of cross-cultural understanding and intercultural competence. Portfolio assessment is proposed to evaluate students' emerging awareness, and a template for such a portfolio is provided.


Abstract There is a requirement to understand the electrical resistivity structure of the near subsurface (i.e. the upper 10 m). This is the zone into which infrastructure is buried and electrical systems are earthed. Detailed resistivity surveys are carried out for site-specific purposes, but there is a lack of regional data. A synthetic resistivity map has been generated by assigning average intrinsic resistivity values to the superficial and bedrock geology and producing an average resistivity for the top 10 m using the superficial thickness as the weight. To test this approach the synthetic map has been compared with the measured resistivity arising from a high-frequency airborne electromagnetic survey over the Isle of Wight. Many general features of the synthetic and measured maps are in agreement, but some of the resistivity assignments are oversimplified. A revised synthetic map that takes into account the position in the landscape of the geological units and with revised resistivity ranges informed from the airborne survey has been generated that represents a good first approximation of the near-surface resistivity structure. A scheme for generating synthetic maps in the absence of measured airborne data is indicated.


The conditions to make nanorods functionalized fabric superhydrophobic have been optimized to obtain three kinds of self-cleaning characteristics such as physical, chemical, and biological. Physical self-cleaning is the lotus effect which is characterized by measuring both water contact and sliding angles. Chemical self-cleaning is the degradation of color stains and solutions due to photocatalytic effect of ZnO when exposed to ultraviolet. Biological self-cleaning refers to the antibacterial activity of functionalized fabric which is characterized by using a Gram-negative bacterium (Escherichia coli) and a Gram-positive bacterium (Staphyloccocus aureus) by both qualitative and quantitative methods using NF ISO 20743:2009 transfer method. The chemical and biological self-cleanings are studied on nanorods functionalized fabric before and after hydrophobization.


Over the last few decades, life expectancy has increased, particularly for old age people. This has resulted in an increased number of family members at a given time leading to more crowded households and thus causing stress in members of joint or large families. Lack of family support, the death of a loved one, isolation in the community due to poor physical health, and generational and communication gaps within the family, even though they reside under the same roof, are just a few of the things that can cause loneliness. These issues affect the mental health of elderly persons and may occasionally result in depression. Depression's high morbidity and mortality rates, particularly in older people, make it a serious public health concern. This review summarises that elderly persons have a higher prevalence of depression; regarding routine depression screening for the older population and their counselling, no precise guidelines are available. We used Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) phrases to search for published articles/studies/research in the English language in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. We also searched numerous government websites for recent data on geriatric depression and we analysed 35 articles. Old age is the transition stage where an individual must deal with various physical and mental health problems due to brain ageing that leads to changes in behaviour that affect their social well-being. The existing mental health programme should pay more attention to the problems with senior depression. In order to deal with the problem of depression, they might also involve non-governmental organisations (NGOs).


Clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa often exhibit multidrug resistance due to their inherent ability to form biofilms. Drug resistance in Ps. aeruginosa is a major clinical problem, especially in the management of patients with nosocomial infections and those admitted to ICUs with indwelling medical devices. To evaluate the biofilm forming abilities of the clinical isolates of Ps. aeruginosa and to correlate biofilm formation with antibiotic resistance. A total of 90 consecutive isolates of Ps. aeruginosa obtained from various specimens collected from patients visiting the Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal between January 2018 - October 2018 were studied. Isolates were identified by standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. All the isolates were tested for their biofilm forming abilities by employing the tissue culture plate assay. Of the 90 Ps. aeruginosa isolates, maximum i.e 42 (46.6%) were from patients in the age group of > 50 years. Majority (30; 33.3%) of the isolates were obtained from sputum samples. However, percentage isolation from other specimens like urine, endotracheal tube (ETT), pus, eye specimens and blood were 18.9%, 16.7%, 16.7%, 7.8% and 6.7% respectively. All the isolates were sensitive to polymixin B and colistin, 91.1% of the organisms were sensitive to imipenem, and more than 80% to aminoglycosides (80% to gentamicin, 83.3% to amikacin). A total of 29 (32.2%) organisms were biofilm producers. Maximum numbers of biofilm producing strains were obtained from ETT (8 of 15; 53.3%), pus (8 of 15; 53.3%) and blood (2 of 6; 33.3%) i.e from all invasive sites. None of the isolates from noninvasive specimens such as conjunctival swabs were biofilm positive. Significantly higher numbers of biofilm producers (23 of 29; 79.3%) were found to be multidrug resistant as compared to non-biofilm (6 of 61; 9.8%) producers (p=0.000). Ps. aeruginosa colonization leading to biofilm formation in deep seated tissues and on indwelling devices is a therapeutic challenge as majority of the isolates would be recalcitrant to commonly used antipseudomonal drugs. Effective monitoring of drug resistance patterns in all Pseudomonas clinical isolates should be a prerequisite for successful patient management.


An important debate in conservation concerns whether sustainable harvesting is acceptable as a means of conserving biodiversity or whether the main thrust should be towards increasing the number of totally protected areas. In no area is the debate more apparent than in the protection of forests world-wide and the use of sustainable forest management (SFM). Those in favour of SFM say that it is economically viable with lower operating costs and higher profits than conventional methods (Gascon et al., 1998), that protected areas cannot stand alone surrounded by a sea of degraded landscape and that SFM is the best way of ensuring buffer zones around such reserves (Cabarle, 1998), and that commercial logging is unlikely to stop, and with only 8 per cent of the world's forests under protection it is unlikely that a policy of protection can avoid massive species extinctions. Other evidence suggests that SFM is not economically viable and is therefore unlikely to be adopted by many commercial enterprises, that it may actually encourage companies to log continuously in remote forests, and that after nearly two decades of effort only a tiny percentage of tropical forests is managed sustainably (Bowles et al., 1998).


Nowadays mobile networks are asked to support different applications and services characterized by very specific Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. With this aim in mind, deploying network slices with particular resource allocation policies on a per-service basis becomes extremely relevant. In this regard, we introduce a solution able to dynamically partition the underlying physical infrastructure of a mobile radio access network into multiple logical slices with distinctive service-level agreements. We leverage Software-Defined Networking principles to provide fine-grained flow identification and sophisticated QoS management policies on a generic architecture supporting 4G and 5G networks with the objective of mapping the path towards the future mobile networks. The experimental evaluation of the deployed prototype on a real-world testbed has demonstrated the slicing capabilities of the system while ensuring full performance and functional isolation. We release the entire implementation under a permissive APACHE 2.0 license for academic use.


"Cerebral hemiatrophy" describes a condition of different etiologies that is characterized by a marked asymmetry of cerebral hemispheres. Case reports of two different forms of cerebral hemiatrophy are presented. In the first case perinatal asphyxia led to severe white matter lesions with predominance on the left side and marked asymmetry of the pyramidal tracts. Symptoms were present immediately after birth ("primary cerebral hemiatrophy"). The second case displayed postictal cerebral hemiatrophy with a widespread loss of cortical neurons of the entire left hemisphere. The disease process started at the age of two years after a widely normal early development ("secondary cerebral hemiatrophy"). A modified classification of cerebral hemiatrophy is presented, and concepts of pathogenesis and differential diagnosis are discussed.


[Background] Aplastic anemia (AA) is a syndrome characterized by pancytopenia and bone marrow hypoplasia caused by various factors. When AA occurs in family members, congenital AA is usually suspected. However, some anecdotal reports have described the occurrence of AA in family members who did not show any signs or laboratory findings compatible with congenital AA and instead represented an acquired feature, such as a good response to immunosuppressive therapy. Studying such familial AA without evident congenital features may help to clarify the genetic or environmental factors that are closely associated with susceptibility to AA. [Objectives/Methods] To characterize non-congenital AA that occurred in family members, we reviewed the clinical records of about 3000 AA patients who were referred to our clinic for the examination of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein-deficient (PNH-type) blood cells from 1999 to 2017 and found 6 pairs of AA patients in 6 different families (Table). Three pairs were parents and children, and the other three pairs were siblings. None of the families had malformations or family histories except for the affected pairs. All patients9 samples were subjected to high-sensitivity flow cytometry for detecting PNH-type cells and HLA genotyping. Two pairs of patients (Cases 7 and 8, and Cases 9 and 10) who were diagnosed after 2015 were also examined for the presence of HLA class I-lacking leukocytes using monoclonal antibodies specific to class I HLA alleles, and for the presence of myeloid malignancy-related gene abnormalities using a next-generation sequencer. [Results] PNH-type granulocytes were detected in 9 of 12 cases at frequencies of 0.016% to 30.381%. Five pairs shared HLA-DRB1*15:01, which is known to be associated with PNH, while three pairs shared HLA-B*40:02, an HLA class I allele most frequently lost as a result of 6pLOH or allelic mutations. HLA-A allele-lacking leukocytes were detected in one of the two pairs studied (Figure). Unexpectedly, the lacked HLA alleles in the pair (Cases 7 and 8) were not B*40:02but A*02:06. No somatic mutations were found in 61 myeloid malignancy-related genes of the granulocytes from the 2 cases. All of 12 patients responded to immunosuppressive therapy (IST, 6 with cyclosporine alone and 4 with ALG/ATG+/-cyclosporine) and achieved transfusion independence. [Conclusions] The high prevalence of markers for immune pathophysiology, including PNH-type cells and HLA allele-lacking cells, the high frequency of DRB*15:01 and B*40:02, and a good response to IST in the 6 family pairs suggests that non-congenital familial AA is a typical type of immune-mediated bone marrow failure affected by the genetic background. The lack of the same HLA class I allele (A*02:06) in the mother (Case 7) and her daughter (Case 8) in their granulocytes suggests the involvement of a common environmental factor that induces the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes specific to common antigens presented by the HLA-A allele. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Ever since composite materials where first introduced, they have been pushing the boundaries of high performance, lightweight designs in all branches of engineering. The demand for sustainable lightweight structures results in an augmented use of thermoplastic composites. Depending on the type of matrix and reinforcement, there are various manufacturing options for the fabrication of composite parts. Composite manufacturing processes are in essence additive processes. In order to reduce the labor-intensive manual operations, and the need for a flexible automated composite process, researchers are investigating the feasibility of implementing Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques to aid the fabrication of composite parts. AM techniques are able to produce parts directly from CAD data sources. As opposed to classical subtractive fabrication methods, parts are created layer upon layer. The geometric freedom provided by the additive process unlocks a wide variety of designs, which would be impossible to create via subtractive methods. Furthermore, AM processes have no direct need of tooling. The flexibility of this manufacturing approach gives rise to the development of application-oriented parts. Given the flexibility of the additive process, these techniques can be used in the design and manufacturing of composite parts. There are several options for which AM can be implemented in the composite production process. This paper highlights the potential of AM in the design and manufacturing of composite parts, gives a review on the application of composite AM, and identifies the technological challenges associated with the direct production of thermoplastic AM composites.


Background Distressing mental imagery is hard to study experimentally in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Aims To develop a way to assess mental imagery in OCD during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method A small randomised study, controlled for type and order of mental imagery and for treatment condition (exposure therapy guided by a computer or by a therapist, or relaxation guided by audio-tape). Before and after treatment, during fMRI scanning, patients imagined previously-rehearsed scenarios that evoked an urge to ritualise or non-OCD anxiety or a neutral state, and rated their discomfort during imagery. Results The method evoked greater discomfort during OCD imagery and anxiety (non-OCD) imagery than during neutral imagery. Discomfort was reduced by cancelling imagery. Discomfort during OCD imagery (but not during anxiety non-OCD imagery) fell after exposure therapy but not after relaxation. Conclusions Results showed differences between OCD and non-OCD images and their change after successful treatment, and confirmed clinical suggestions that cancelling images reduced OCD discomfort. The method's success paves the way for further studies of mental imagery in OCD: for instance, during fMRI.


Down's syndrome, sometimes referred to as trisomy 21, is due to the triplication of all or some portion of chromosome 21. The Down's syndrome phenotype is generally characterized by intellectual disabilities and cognitive deficits. Although the extent and severity of these abnormalities varies with each individual it affects, each abnormality results in cognitive disruption. Since the discovery of the extra copy of chromosome 21, it has been demonstrated that these disruptions are attributed to a naturally-occurring abnormality of the gene dosage. A recent discovery of a cluster of five microRNAs, microRNA let-7c, micrRNA-99a, microRNA-125b, microRNA-155, and microRNA-802, that are encoded and clustered on chromosome 21 have proved to be potential contributors to the remarkably diverse phenotype. Research has yet to find any effective treatment for this diversely complex neurological disorder. The continued study and understanding of this five-member cluster is likely to provide insight into potential beneficial therapeutic strategies to treat Down's syndrome and many other diseases often associated with it.


Despite the presence of several human disease genes on chromosome 11q13, few of them have been molecularly cloned. Here, we report the construction of a contig map encompassing 11q13.1-q13.3 using bacteriophage P1 (P1), bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), and P1-derived artificial chromosome (PAC). The contig map comprises 32 P1 clones, 27 BAC clones, 6 PAC clones, and 1 YAC clone and spans a 3-Mb region from D11S480 to D11S913. The map encompasses all the candidate loci of Bardet-Biedle syndrome type I (BBS1) and spinocerebellar ataxia type 5 (SCA5), one-third of the distal region for hereditary paraganglioma 2 (PGL2), and one-third of the central region for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus 4 (IDDM4). In the process of map construction, 61 new sequence-tagged site (STS) markers were developed from the Not I linking clones and the termini of clone inserts. We have also mapped 30 ESTs on this map. This contig map will facilitate the isolation of polymorphic markers for a more refined analysis of the disease gene region and identification of candidate genes by direct cDNA selection, as well as prediction of gene function from sequence information of these bacterial clones.


Introduction: Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a sero negative chronic inflammatory arthritis of unknown cause that primarily affects the axial skeleton which usually begins in the second or third decade of life with a male to female ratio of 3:1. The prevalence rate of AS in India is 0.03%. It is clinically correlated to Danda Apatanaka in Ayurveda. It is caused due to the vitiated Vata and Kapha Dosha which enters the Dhamani and causes stiffness of the body. Due to its known complications and its tendency to hamper the quality of life, there is a need for an effective Ayurvedic intervention. This report is based on a case of Ankylosing Spondylitis which presented with pricking pain over nape of the neck and low back associated with stiffness and restricted movements, swelling over nape of neck right shoulder and right side of face, associated with restricted movements of right upper limb. Methods: This case was diagnosed as Danda Apatanaka and was treated with Basti Karma, Abhyanga along with oral medications. Assessment was done before and after treatment using relevant scales. Result: After 2 weeks of treatment pain and swelling over the nape of neck, right shoulder and face resolved completely, pain and stiffness of low back reduced, pain in right upper limb reduced and patient was able to perform normal movements. Stiffness of neck still persisted. Conclusion: Ankylosing spondylitis can be effectively managed by Ayurvedic treatment modalities after proper assessment of the involved Dosha and Dhatus.


Previous studies have shown that the expression level of stanniocalcin 2 (STC2) is associated with tumor progression. However, to date, the association between STC2 and clinicopathological factors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been investigated. The clinical significance of STC2 was investigated in 30 fresh HCC samples using western blot analysis and in 240 HCC tissues using immunohistochemical analysis. The level of STC2 in cancerous tissue was higher than in the matched non-cancerous tissues. Using immunohistochemistry, the STC2-positive group exhibited a higher incidence of lymph node metastasis and venous invasion compared with the STC2-negative group. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that the positive expression of STC2 correlated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival of HCC patients (P<0.01). STC2 expression was observed to be an independent prognostic factor for OS in HCC patients by multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 2.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–5.89; P=0.013). These data suggest that STC2 expression may be a useful indicator of poor prognosis in HCC patients.


Both herbarium specimens and citizen-science observations have become increasingly accessible but underutilized sources of data for phenology research. We developed and tested a novel technique that uses high-quality citizen-science observations to provide an independent validation of phenology models derived from herbarium specimens. Using this approach, we were able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the herbarium data set. We found that our models were valid for understanding the relative shifts in the phenology of the focal species across a large geographic area but needed further calibration to provide accurate predictions for specific dates and locations. As herbarium specimens become increasingly digitized and citizen science becomes more frequently used as a research methodology, the potential application of the technique we present here will grow.


Between August 1984 and October 1987, 120 patients with stage IC to IV epithelial ovarian cancer were randomly assigned to receive carboplatin (400 mg/m2) or iproplatin (300 mg/m2) every 4 weeks as initial treatment. Stratification was made according to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and according to size of residual disease after surgery. Response was evaluated after six courses when patients were restaged, with laparoscopy or laparotomy in clinical complete responders or those with no assessable disease. Treatment was then stopped in surgically proven complete responders. Patients with partial (PR) or minor response (MR) received a further six courses of their original drug at a reduced dose (carboplatin 300 mg/m2, iproplatin 225 mg/m2). Patients with stable (SD), progressive (PD), or recurrent disease were treated with cyclophosphamide (1 g/m2). The response rates were 63% (95% confidence interval [CI], 50% to 74%) for carboplatin and 38% (95% CI, 26% to 51%) for iproplatin. Fifteen patients were not assessable for response. The median survival was 114 weeks (95% CI, 82 to 233 weeks) for carboplatin patients and 68 weeks (95% CI, 48 to 82 weeks) for iproplatin patients (P = .008). The amount of residual disease after initial laparotomy was a prognostic factor for survival. Myelosuppression was the main toxicity and was greater with iproplatin. This study shows carboplatin to be more active than iproplatin in the treatment of ovarian cancer and less toxic. Few responses to cyclophosphamide occurred following either drug, implying resistance to the alkylating agent.


The Tehran region is one of the most densely concentrated areas of seismic activity in northern Iran. This region is dominated by the central Alborz Mountains belt and a large composite cone, the Damavand volcano. Located in the foothills of the Alborz Mountains, the city of Tehran, with a population of ∼15 million, is subject to high seismic risk (Jackson 2006; Berberian 2005). It is also surrounded by many active faults that have caused destructive earthquakes in the past (Berberian and Yeats 2001). Recent seismicity studies ( e.g. , Mottaghi et al. 2010) indicate that this region is under t|he threat of some major and yet unresolved active faults.

Strong ground motion due to amplification of seismic energy by shallow velocity structure can be responsible for serious property damage (German and Beroza 2008). In order to accurately predict ground motion through waveform modeling, it is necessary to accurately image the shallow crustal seismic velocity. The local tomographic images available in the Tehran area come from body-wave earthquake tomography ( e.g. , Mostafanejad et al. 2011) and do not allow precise control of the near-surface (depth < 5 km) velocity structure. Furthermore, this model is affected by a variety of factors such as the effect of uneven source (or station) distribution and potential errors in identifiable seismic sources. We address these limitations by using the information extracted from ambient seismic noise.

The present study uses continuous data recorded at a variety of sensors to investigate shallow crustal structure surrounding Tehran. We extract inter-station Green's functions (GFs), with Rayleigh waves as the largest component, from beams of ambient noise cross-correlations at stations in and around the city of Tehran. We first estimate group velocity dispersion curves in the period band between 2 and 4 sec for each station-pair to invert for the 2D …


Harmonic compensated synchronous detection (HCSD) is a technique that can be used to measure wideband impedance spectra within seconds based on an input sum-of-sines signal having a frequency spread separated by harmonics. The battery (or other energy storage device) is excited with a sum-of-sines current signal that has a duration of at least one period of the lowest frequency. The voltage response is then captured and synchronously detected at each frequency of interest to determine the impedance spectra. This technique was successfully simulated using a simplified battery model and then verified with commercially available Sanyo lithium-ion cells. Simulations revealed the presence of a start-up transient effect when only one period of the lowest frequency is included in the excitation signal. This transient effect appears to only influence the low-frequency impedance measurements and can be reduced when a longer input signal is used. Furthermore, lithium-ion cell testing has indicated that the transient effect does not seem to impact the charge transfer resistance in the mid-frequency region. The degradation rates for the charge transfer resistance measured from the HCSD technique were very similar to the changes observed from standardized impedance spectroscopy methods. Results from these studies, therefore, indicate that HCSD is amore » viable, rapid alternative approach to acquiring impedance spectra.« less


Abstract:
This study examines the rent prices of the student housing apartment market surrounding the University of Oregon. The first key component of this study includes a Hedonic price model that helps evaluate what apartment complex amenities and characteristics are most important and influential in determining rental rates in the local community. Secondly, using the information from our Hedonic price model, this study will help the city of Springfield in their plans to develop a student housing project in the Glenwood Riverfront district, located along the Willamette River. Specifically, this study of rental prices and apartment complex attributes should be useful in evaluating a potential student housing project to ensure sufficient rental profit for developers and for tax revenues for Springfield under their current development budget constraints.


The mechanisms that generate the intercellular heterogeneity of functional and proliferation responses in a tissue are generally unknown. In thyroid gland, this heterogeneity is peculiarly marked and it was suggested that it could result from the coexistence of (epi)genetically different subpopulations of thyrocytes. As summarized in this short review, qualitative or quantitative intercellular heterogeneities have been found at each levels of our "in situ" investigations of morphological, differentiation and proliferative responses of unselected dog thyrocytes in primary culture. These different heterogeneities are unrelated at the individual cell level, which does not indicate the coexistence in thyroid of cell subpopulations stably expressing special properties. Nevertheless, using a double labeling methodology that allows to trace the proliferative behavior of some cells, we show how cell division may stably affect further proliferation responses and how a local synchrony of the dividing cells can result in a stable heterogeneity with a regional, patchy pattern, which resembles the one characterizing multinodular goiter.


INTRODUCTION
Leptospirosis is a serious infectious disease that has been linked to occupational activities such as farmers, sewer workers, garbage collectors, butchers and veterinarians. It is acquired through contact with major reservoirs like rodents, pets, or the environment contaminated by their urine. In Paraguay, there are no published reports on the seroprevalence of leptospirosis related to work activity.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the seroprevalence and factors associated with transmission of leptospirosis in urban sanitation workers.

METHODOLOGY
Descriptive transversal study. The study included workers from the Department of Urban Cleanliness of the City of Asuncion, who had completed at least one month on the job and who agreed to particípate in the study. Sampling was stratified and proportional to the number of workers. After informed consent was obtained, participants were surveyed and a blood sample was taken for detection of Leptospira IgG antibodies by ELISA.

RESULTS
Leptospirosis seroprevalence was 8.6% (29/339), all positive cases were male and prevalence was statistically higher in workers of the collection area than in those of other work areas.

CONCLUSION
We found a lower than expected seroprevalence. However, conditions observed at work and at home are conducive to transmission of infection. We recommend the improvement of prevention strategies and health promotion in this population.