Current methods for selecting a rotation sequence to biomechanically model shoulder joint angles during motion assessment are challenging and controversial due to insufficient knowledge of their effect on the clinical interpretation of movement. Seven rotation sequences were examined by factors including incidences of gimbal lock and joint angle error in two healthy adults during 12 postures using right and left arms. This work was the first to explore the effects of each of the six Cardan angle sequences and the International Society of Biomechanics recommended YXY Euler sequence on the thoracohumeral joint in an array of postures. Results of this work show that there is not a "one size fits all" approach via rotation sequence selection for reliable and coherent expression of shoulder joint postures, particularly of the thoracohumeral joint. For best biomechanical modeling practice, it is recommended that researchers carefully consider the implications of a particular rotation sequence based on the posture or task of interest and resulting incidences of gimbal lock and joint angle error.Clinical Relevance— This work examines the effect of seven different mathematical computations for assessing shoulder joint angles in different postures for application of clinical movement analysis.


In this paper, the dynamics behaviors on f0-δ parameter surface is investigated for Gledzer–Ohkitani–Yamada model. We indicate the type of intermittency chaos transitions is saddle node bifurcation. We plot phase diagram on f0-δ parameter surface, which is divided into periodic, quasi-periodic, and intermittent chaos areas. By means of varying Taylor-microscale Reynolds number, we calculate the extended self-similarity of velocity structure function.


In this paper, a novel components model of dual-element combined with single air gap that produces a significant reduction in the sensor non-linearity and position errors is proposed. This design has improved anti-jamming capability and range of the sensor. A theoretical model for the current sensor output of the dual-element Hall voltage has also been established. In order to eliminate the ladder phenomenon in the frequency response of DC sensor, a dual-core current sensor program has also been proposed. Some factors that influences the magnetic properties of Hall current sensor has been evaluated using the finite element method (FEM). Theoretical analysis is consistent with experimental results, which indicates FEM is an effective tool for Hall current sensor design.


The mode filtering properties of index-guided lasers containing a lateral mode filter section are investigated using the beam propagation method combined with a lateral local normal mode decomposition. These structures are shown to have higher kink currents than filterless devices. Furthermore, the choice of the filter length is observed to be a tradeoff between low thresholds (short filters) and suitable far fields at the filter side (long filters).


While most researches study sampled-data systems from the discrete-time system viewpoint, their actual responses are continuous-time functions so that their performance must be evaluated not only at sampled instants but also during intersample periods. This paper studies a method of ripple-free deadbeat control design for sampled-data systems taking into account the continuous-time transient response. The indicial response is obtained so as to minimize the mean square error performance index.


Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have previously been shown to be critical for the formation of long-term memories. Recent findings now show that a specific HDAC isoform, HDAC2, negatively regulates formation of hippocampus-dependent memory. These recent findings published in Nature highlight potential new therapeutic interventions for the treatment of memory impairments associated with human neurological disorders.


The Discovery of Helicobacter pylori in 1982 increased interest in the range of other spiral bacteria that had been seen in Stomach.The power of technologies such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with genus specific primers revealed that many of these bacteria belong to the genus Helicobacter. These non-pylori helicobacters are increasingly being found in human clinical specimens. Non-pylori Helicobacters are Gram-negative, motile, long, tightly coiled, Spiral bacteria ,with three to eight coils, that cause of some gastric problems like gastritis, peptic ulceration and Mcosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) lynphoma in animals and humans. Samples taken during endoscopy were analyzed by rapid urease test, PCR and light microscope(Giemsa and Gram staining). In this study 810 biopsy samples from 270 patients with gastric disorders were collected. Presence of Helicobacters confirmed by a positive urease test and Helicobacter genus specific PCR method utilized. DNA was prepared from biopsies using the Qiamp tissue kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, Calif.) and frozen at -20°C (like gastric samples/biopsies). DNA samples were amplified with 16SrRNA gene primers against Helicobacter species. In gastric biopsy specimen's non-pylori helicobacter spp., have been observed. At the end of the study we found that 71% of urease tests, 0.37% of light microscopic studies (we observed some spiral gram negative bacteria with 2-7 coils) and 0.74% of PCR tests were positive. In analysis with PCR route 2 person (both of them were Male) were infected with H.heilmannii-like organisms( one of them kept a dog for 5 years as a pet).16S rRNA gene amplification was performed on 270 DNA samples and results were positive for H.heilmannii in two cases (275-bp), but negative for H.bizzozeronnii,H.felis and H. Salmonis


Aggregation processes of polymethine dyes in solutions and a heterogeneous system of AgHal microcrystals are considered. The mechanism of formation of nanoaggregates is discussed. The relationship between the aggregation and the structure of dye molecules is demonstrated. The aggregation is shown to depend on the composition and habit of AgHal microcrystals and the emulsion factors of real photographic systems. The structures and energy levels of aggregates are surveyed. The mechanism of photographic action of aggregates and ways of increasing their photochemical activity are discussed.


Dose determination in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is controversial. Most clinical trials use effluent flow rate as a surrogate of the dose. However, such definition may overestimate actually delivered dose due to declining filter function. The current study aimed to determine the difference between prescribed and delivered clearance and its association with transmembrane pressure. Hemofiltration was done in a mixed pre- and postdilution mode. Creatinine concentrations in serum and effluent fluid were measured simultaneously at 4, 10, 16, 28, 40, 52, and 64 hours for an individual hemofilter. Prescribed clearance (K) was estimated as the effluent flow rate corrected for predilution, and delivered clearance (Kx) was estimated using the ratio of serum and effluent creatinine. A total of 60 patients involving 248 filters were included in our analysis. The mean filter life span was 37.7 hours (standard deviation: 17.6). K overestimated Kx by 9.3% (95% confidence interval: −4.4% to 32.3%). The differences between K and Kx increased progressively over time. Transmembrane pressure was significantly correlated to the reduction with a Spearman's rho of 0.44 (p < 0.001). K significantly overestimates Kx during CRRT, and the difference increases progressively over time. Filters are recommended to be changed at 48–72 hours on a routine basis.


The purpose of this research was to analyze the effect of  papaya  ( Carica papaya L) leaf  extract and flour on a mixed feed made from elephant grass ( Pennisetum purpureum ) and pollard( Triticum aestivum ) on gas production, in vitro digestibility dry matter (DDM), digestibility organic matter (DOM), and the value of energy. The materials used in this research was mixed feed consisting of grass, pollard and papaya leafs as feed supplement. The method used is a Randomized Block Design with 5 treatments and 3 replications. P0 was control feed, P1 was P0 + 2% of papaya leaf flour, P2 was P0 + 4% of papaya leaf flour, P3 was P0 + 2% papaya leaf extract, and P4 was P0 + 4% papaya leaf extract. Duncan's Multiple Range Test was carried out if there found any difference in treatments. The result of the research shows that papaya leaf extract and flour did not give significant influence (P> 0,05) for gas production, in vitro digestibility dry matter and digestibility organic matter , and energy value , but gave significant influence (P <0,01) for net energy. The addition of 4% papaya leaf extract gave the best results for gas production value (value b = 133,16 ml/500 mgDM and value c=0,064 ml/h), digestibility dry matter and digestibility organic value (DDM = 63,57 % and DOM = 65,49 %), metabolizable  energy 8,47 MJ/KgDM value and net energy 6,29 MJ/KgDM value. Those can be concluded that addition of 2% and 4% papaya leaf extract and papaya flour can't increase gas production, in vitro digestibility of dry matter and organic matter but increases net energy value. Suggestions from this research was that feeding a mixture of grass and pollard added with 4% of papaya leaf flour should be conducted to determine the level of productivity. Keywords : Papaya leaf, gas production, in vitro digestibility, energy


We solved the set of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations for optically thin black hole accretion flows incorporating the toroidal component of the magnetic field. Following global and local MHD simulations of black hole accretion disks, the magnetic field inside the disk is decomposed into a large-scale field and a fluctuating field. The effects of the fluctuating magnetic field in transferring the angular momentum and dissipating the energy are described through the usual α description. We solved the MHD equations by assuming a steady-state and radially self-similar approximation in the r − θ plane of the spherical coordinate system. We found that as the amount of magnetic field at the equatorial plane increases, the heating by the viscosity decreases. In addition, the maximum amount of the heating by the viscous dissipation is produced at the midplane of the disk, while that of the heating by the magnetic field dissipation is produced at the surface of the disk. Our main conclusion is that in terms of the no-outflow solution, thermal equilibrium still exists for the strong magnetic field at the equatorial plane of the disk.


The E‐cadherin–catenin complex plays a crucial role in epithelial cell–cell adhesion and in the maintenance of tissue architecture. Perturbation in the expression or function of this complex results in loss of intercellular adhesion, with possible consequent cell transformation and tumour progression. Recently, much progress has been made in understanding the interaction between the different components of this protein complex and how this cell–cell adhesion complex is modulated in cancer cells.


Internet of Things (IOT) has become the key theme of the world since 2009 and been considered as the third wave in the information industry after the waves of Computer, Internet and Mobile Radio Communication. It is expected to have a strong influence on small and medium companies (SMEs). However, little research on what and how the influence of IOT on the SME's development can be found in the literature. The purpose of the thesis is to examine how IOT influences the organizational changes in SMEs. Finally, suggestions for strategy developments will be proposed to assist the SMEs in making their organization changes successfully. Two main models are applied for this part: change model (OD model) and business model. Moreover, the SWOT theory is adopted to identify the SMEs position in IOT era. We collect the primary data through launching the survey on internet. After data documentation, we apply "Approximation of the Probability Hypothesis Testing" Method to conduct data analysis. After researching, we found out the IOT brings "revolution" change to the Logistics of SMEs while only "adapting" change for Manufactures' business development. Compare to logistic industry, the manufacturing SMEs seldom adopts IT technologies for their selling channel because they are lacking of resources and knowledge for the new technologies. We suggest the logistic SMEs should establish logistic network between the logistic companies to enhance information and resource integration. For the manufacturing SMEs should apply knowledge management and change the companies into learning organizations. In future, IOT will bring radical changes for manufacturers, which are the biggest area with application of IOT technology. Nevertheless, the logistics industry might go out of fashion. In other words, logistics industry may die out or change to other functions.


Since 1980, information technology and electronic media have been so prevalent in our daily life that contemporary society can be defined as global multi-media society. The mass media and technology, the new power even to control economy and politics, has influenced greatly on art as well that it is urged to redefine its contents and forms. Media art is formated in reaction to the demand in new environment using networks such as electronic media and Internet as its material or medium. Therefore, media art is one of those fields to reflect the idea of contemporary art and its directions successfully. Media art emphasizes distinctively active and close communication with viewers. The mutual communication between works and viewers is the main idea of media art, so called interactivity. The interactivity is necessary not only for the communication of media art but also for museums since recent museums are required to function as the medium of communication with viewers. The exhibition of those museums tends to lead the spectators to be active participants only to create mutual communication. It suggests the possibilities of realizing media art in social organizations like museum so that both media art and current museums share the same goal, that is interactive communication. This study presents the case of media art museum attempting to actualize interactive communication through media art. By examining the case, the study focuses on the way media art is embodied through new museum systems and evaluates whether those works in the museum effectively represent the idea of media art. Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM) is media art museum in Germany at the forefront of this field, realizing the communication of interactive media art properly through both new systems and their collections. For example, the digital museum, one of the new museum systems in ZKM, was designated to carry out interactive communication. Especially, digital salons such as InterEat-Cafe and Virtual-Virtual Room are a kind of virtual museum where interactive communication is expanded from the actual place to the cyberspace. Besides, even in classifying collections, ZKM applies categories such as interactive installation and interactive environment, which claims the idea of media art as interactive communication. Finally, ZKM runs various auxiliary organizations for interdisciplinary research projects with relevant fields aiming to balance their efforts on the theory and the practice of media art. This implies ZKM's wholistic view to approach media art concerning not only exhibition and collection, but also research and education. Their academical efforts are opening up new possibilities of media art valuated as their exclusive achievement in this area. It is critical to analyze the communication of media art in light of interactivity concerning recent identification of media art with interactive art. Particularly, comparison to the new museum as a place of mutual communication is to present a case in which the communication of media art is examined in social aspect.


The catalytic activities and selectivities of two kinds of mesoporous solid acids SBA‐15‐PrSO3H 1, SBA‐15‐Ph‐PrSO3H 2, and a periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) based solid acid Et‐PMO‐Me‐PrSO3H 3 that comprise different physicochemical surface properties were compared in an environmentally benign one‐pot, three‐component Biginelli reaction of aldehydes, β‐ketoesters and urea or thiourea under solvent‐free conditions. Among these mesoporous solid acid catalysts, 3, which has a hydrophobic/hydrophobic balance in the nanospaces (mesochannels) in which the active sites are located, is found to be a significantly more selective catalytic system in the Biginelli reaction; it produces the corresponding 3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐2‐one\thione (DHPM) 5 derivatives in good to excellent yields and excellent selectivities. Notably, in the case of conducting the three‐component coupling reaction of benzaldehyde, metylacetoacetate and urea in the presence of 1 result in the generation of a mixture of Hantzsch dihydropyridine 4 (≈37 %) and Biginelli dihydropyrimidinone 5 (≈49 %), whereas the same reaction with 2 (catalyst loading of 1 mol % as well) furnishes the corresponding aldolic product methyl‐2‐benzylidene‐3‐oxobutanoate 6 as the major product (≈80 %) with concomitant formation of small amounts of 5 (<10 %) under essentially the same reaction conditions that are employed with catalyst 3. Water adsorption–desorption analysis of the catalysts is employed to possibly relate the observed selectivity to the difference in physicochemical properties of the materials.


The transformation of an active carbon film with Pt nanoparticles to onion-like fullerenes has been in-situ investigated by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. It was found that the onion-like fullerenes/metals polycrystalline film was formed under electron irradiation. The formation process was consisted of three steps: first, the flakes of onion-like fullerenes were induced by Pt nanoparticles; second, the flakes grew into a few ellipsoidal graphite shell; and third, a gradual reorganization of the formation of quasi-spheroid graphite shells and the bond of Pt particles was took place. It was a composite film of onion-like fullerenes and metal particles. It is suggested that the transformation mechanism involves an irradiation of electron and a catalytic effect of Pt nanoparticles, while any temperature rise due to electron irradiation seems to be negligibly small.


This research was performed to evaluate physical properties of polysulfide epoxy overlay material for bridge deck as part of a review for possibility of domestic application of polymer concrete for bridge deck pavement. In order to evaluate strength characteristics, compressive strength, flexural strength and bond strength were tested, and, for durability characteristics, chloride ion penetration resistance and freeze/thaw resistance were tested along with ultraviolet rays impact evaluation. The tests showed that the results met the criteria suggested by the American Concrete Institute in terms of compressive strength, flexural strength and bond strength. However, in terms of the strengths measured at various test temperatures, it was found that the epoxy material was highly dependent on temperature, and, therefore, this should be considered at the time of domestic application of the epoxy material later. Deflection characteristics was checked through flexural strength test and it was found that bridge deck pavement using the epoxy material was excellent compared to bridge deck pavement using asphalt. Furthermore, the results of chloride ion penetration resistance test and freeze/thaw resistance test were also excellent. In the evaluation of ultraviolet rays impact on epoxy slurry mixture, reduction of strain was noticed with increased strength, but the deflection characteristics after exposure to ultraviolet rays was better than the existing acryl polymer concrete. Therefore, it is concluded from the research that the polysulfide epoxy overlay material has the physical properties that are appropriate to pavement of bridge deck.


Medical imaging is very useful in the assessment and treatment of many diseases. To deal with the great amount of data provided by imaging scanners and extract quantitative information that physicians can interpret, many analysis algorithms have been developed. Any process of analysis always consists of a first step of segmenting some particular structure. In medical imaging, structures are not always well defined and suffer from noise artifacts thus, ordinary segmentation methods are not well suited. The ones that seem to give better results are those based on deformable models. Nevertheless, despite their capability of mixing image features together with smoothness constraints that may compensate for image irregularities, these are naturally local methods, i. e., each node of the active contour evolve taking into account information about its neighbors and some other weak constraints about flexibility and smoothness, but not about the global shape that they should find. Due to the fact that structures to be segmented are the same for all cases but with some inter and intra-patient variation, the incorporation of a priori knowledge about shape in the segmentation method will provide robustness to it. Active Shape Models is an algorithm based on the creation of a shape model called Point Distribution Model. It performs a segmentation using only shapes similar than those previously learned from a training set that capture most of the variation presented by the structure. This algorithm works by updating shape nodes along a normal segment which often can be too restrictive. For this reason we propose a generalization of this algorithm that we call Generalized Active Shape Models and fully integrates the a priori knowledge given by the Point Distribution Model with deformable models or any other appropriate segmentation method. Two different applications to cardiac imaging of this generalized method are developed and promising results are shown.


High-throughput screening techniques are commonly used to obtain large quantities of data in many fields of biology. It is well known that artifacts arising from variability in the technical execution of different experimental batches within such screens confound these observations, and can lead to invalid biological conclusions. It is, therefore, necessary to account for these batch effects when analyzing outcomes. In this paper, we describe RxRx1, a biological dataset designed specifically for the systematic study of batch effect correction methods. The dataset consists of 125,510 high-resolution fluorescence microscopy images of human cells under 1,138 genetic perturbations in 51 experimental batches across 4 cell types. Visual inspection of the images clearly demonstrates significant batch effects. We also propose a classification task designed to evaluate the effectiveness of experimental batch correction methods on these images and examine the performance of a number of correction methods on this task. Our goal in releasing RxRx1 is to encourage the development of effective experimental batch correction methods that generalize well to unseen experimental batches. The dataset can be downloaded at https://rxrx.ai.


Fundamental issues in our understanding of plate and mantle dynamics remain unresolved, including the rheology and state of stress of plates and slabs; the coupling between plates, slabs and mantle; and the flow around slabs. To address these questions, models of global mantle flow with plates are computed using adaptive finite elements, and compared to a variety of observational constraints. The dynamically consistent instantaneous models include a composite rheology with yielding, and incorporate details of the thermal buoyancy field. Around plate boundaries, the local resolution is 1 km, which allows us to study highly detailed features in a globally consistent framework. Models that best fit plateness criteria and plate motion data have strong slabs with high stresses. We find a strong dependence of global plate motions, trench rollback, net rotation, plateness, and strain rate on the stress exponent in the nonlinear viscosity; the yield stress is found to be important only if it is smaller than the ambient convective stress. Due to strong coupling between plates, slabs, and the surrounding mantle, the presence of lower mantle anomalies affect plate motions. The flow in and around slabs, microplate motion, and trench rollback are intimately linked to the amount of yielding in the subducting slab hinge, slab morphology, and the presence of high viscosity structures in the lower mantle beneath the slab.


A class of stochastic optimal control problems containing optimal stopping of controlled diffusion process is considered. The numerical solutions of the corresponding normalized Bellman equations are investigated. Methods of N. V. Krylov are adapted. The rate of convergence of appropriate finite difference difference schemes is estimated.


The paper examined the relevance of non-formal education technical capacity building on self-reliance development among youth in Ogun State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research method was adopted for the study. From a population of over 2000 target youth, sample sizes of 898 were selected through the stratified random sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire tagged "Technical Capacity Building and Self-Reliance Development Scale" (TCBBSRDS), with r = .74 was used for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results showed that non-formal education enhances youth technical capacity in trade, craft, fabrication, and many other employments fit life skills. There was a significant impact of the technical capacity-building of non-formal education programmes on self-reliance development among the youth F (11,886)= 312.426: p<0.05). Relatively, non-formal education technical-capacity building enhanced youth ability to work together, take on independent responsibilities, confront local challenges, build cultural movement, and other variants of self-reliance development. It was concluded that non-formal education has positive influence in promoting life skills among youth for self-reliance development. Keywords: Self-Reliance; Non-formal Education; Technical-Capacity-Building; Life Skills; Youth.


The economic and medicinal importance of wild plant species are two of the strongest arguments for their conservation. Sadly, however, these arguments are rarely fully appreciated by those with the power to influence the future. Oman would appear to provide an exception however. Not only has Oman 1100 plant species but also a wealth of cultural knowledge of these species and a remarkably enlightened Royal Court in its appreciation of their value. Under the patronage of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, Sultan of Oman, the authors have produced a remarkable book covering these issues for a particularly interesting part of Oman where myrrh and frankincense trees are still found in profusion. Dhofar lies at the extreme southwest of the country at a latitude of approximately 18 degrees. Covered for the most part by sparsely vegetated desert steppe, Dhofar also includes along its south coast a range of limestone mountains. Although even in these mountains rainfall is very scarce, south facing escarpments are covered from June to midSeptember in moisture-laden clouds permitting the evolution of a remarkable woodland flora, and vegetation unique in Arabia. In the introduction to this book Anthony Miller provides a good summary of the habitats of the region and of the rather short history of scientific study of their plants. A fascinating introduction is also provided by Miranda Morris to the multiplicity of uses of plants to the people of the region—who themselves have contributed the bulk of knowledge on which the text of the book is based. The 147 colour illustrations by Susanna Stuart-Smith, which with the accompanying taxonomic and ethnobotanical descriptions form the major part of the book, are of the highest quality. I hope they will ensure that the book is frequently referred to for it is indeed a splendid production and one that many other countries could learn from. Mike Read.


Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) are latent transcription factors that are vital for cell survival, proliferation and function. Activated STAT proteins dimerize and translocate to the nucleus, where they bind to high-affinity motifs to modulate gene expression. These dimers can also form tetramers through an N-terminal domain-mediated oligomerization process, and bind to low-affinity tandem motifs. We previously generated Stat5a-Stat5b double knock-in (DKI) mice in which STAT5 proteins are phosphorylated and can form dimers but not tetramers. We have now found that bone marrow-derived mast cells from Stat5 DKI mice express FceRI and c-Kit at levels comparable to those from wild-type mice. However, these mast cells are defective in IgE-induced cytokine and chemokine production, and exhibit less SCF-mediated migration in vitro. Similarly, IgE-mediated passive systemic anaphylaxis is also altered in Stat5 DKI mice. Unraveling the role of STAT5 tetramers may reveal novel insights into mast cell function in allergic and inflammatory diseases.


To enhance the crystallization kinetics of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), fibrous sepiolite was explored for nucleating the crystallization of PLA. PLA/sepiolite nanocomposites were prepared via the melt-extrusion method. The effect of sepiolite on the crystallization behavior, spherulite growth and crystal structure of PLA were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscope (POM), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and scanning election microscope (SEM). On the basis of DSC and POM results, the overall crystallization kinetics of PLA/sepiolite nanocomposites were significantly enhanced leading to higher crystallinity and nucleation density, faster spherulite growth rate (G) and lower crystallization half-time (t1/2) compared with the neat PLA. Under non-isothermal conditions, the PLA blend comprising 1.0 wt% of sepiolite still revealed two crystallization peaks upon cooling at a rate of 35°C/min. Above phenomena strongly suggested that sepiolite was an effective nucleating agent for PLA. FTIR and WAXD analyses confirmed that the crystal structure of PLA matrix was the most common α-form. SEM micrographics illustrated the fine three-dimensional spherulite structures with the lath-shape lamellae regularly arranged in radial directions. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:1104–1112, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers


Correction for 'Programmable microfluidic synthesis of spectrally encoded microspheres' by R. E. Gerver et al., Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 4716-4723.


Typhonium flagelliforme (T. flagelliforme) was utilized in outdated medication for handling numerous syndromes. This study aimed to investigate hepatoprotection effects of T. flagelliforme against thioacetamide (TAA) hepatotoxicity in rodents.Thirty rodents arbitrarily separated five clusters. Collection 1 was intraperitoneally injected distilled water thrice /week and fed (p.o) daily with 10% Tween 20 to eight weeks. Collection 2-5 i.p. injected with 200 mg/kg TAA three times thrice per week for 8 weeks and fed 10% Tween 20, 50 mg/kg silymarin, 250 and 500 mg/kg of T. flagelliforme extract daily for 8 weeks, respectively.Hepatotoxic assembly showed suggestively rise hepatic biochemistry markers together with a considerable lessening of proteins and albumin compared to normal assemblage. The hepatotoxic group displayed decreased catalase and superoxide dismutase activities and increase lipid peroxidation. Macroscopy of hepatotoxic liver exhibited irregular, rough surface with micro and macro nodules, and histopathology-stained Hematoxylin and Eosin, and Masson's Trichome exhibited inflammation infiltration of lymphocytes, focal necrosis, fibrosis, and bile duct propagation.T. flagelliforme fed clusters have expressively reduced TAA toxicity in gross and histology as designated by fewer disturbances of hepatic tissue, slight fibrosis, and low-grade cells infiltration. Thus, our results showed that the hepatoprotective effect of this plant might be due to reduce toxicity, inhibition of hepatocytes proliferation, decrease enzyme markers, increase protein and albumin, increased endogenous enzymes, and reduced lipid peroxidation level.


Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) proteins are a group of latent cytoplasmic transcription factors involved in cytokine signaling. STAT3 is a member of the STAT family and is expressed at elevated levels in a large number of diverse human cancers and is now a validated target for anticancer drug discovery.. Understanding the dynamics of the STAT3 dimer interface, accounting for both protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions, with respect to the dynamics of the latent unphosphorylated STAT3 monomer, is important for designing potential small-molecule inhibitors of the activated dimer. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to study the activated STAT3 homodimer:DNA complex and the latent unphosphorylated STAT3 monomer in an explicit water environment. Analysis of the data obtained from MD simulations over a 50 ns time frame has suggested how the transcription factor interacts with DNA, the nature of the conformational changes, and ways in which function may be affected. Examination of the dimer interface, focusing on the protein-DNA interactions, including involvement of water molecules, has revealed the key residues contributing to the recognition events involved in STAT3 protein-DNA interactions. This has shown that the majority of mutations in the DNA-binding domain are found at the protein-DNA interface. These mutations have been mapped in detail and related to specific protein-DNA contacts. Their structural stability is described, together with an analysis of the model as a starting-point for the discovery of novel small-molecule STAT3 inhibitors.


The silver composite electrode prepared from silver and graphite powder and methacrylate resin is a suitable sensor for voltammetric measurements. The effect of underpotential deposition on the composite electrode can be utilized for analytical purposes, e.g. for determination of lead. By application of differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry, lead can be determined in natural water without removing surfactants and dissolved oxygen.


Through a focus on the properties of subject-finite verb inversion and XP fronting in three relaxed V2 languages, namely Cimbrian, Ladin and Mòcheno, this paper aims to widen and refine our understanding of relaxed V2 languages, i.e. languages in which the V2 property should be understood in a technical sense as obligatory V-to-C movement, not as a simple description referring to linearisation (Benincà 2006, 2013; Ledgeway 2016). It will be shown that inversion differs across relaxed V2 languages in two ways. In a first subtype, inversion is not associated with any marked pragmatic interpretation of the lexical subject and the subject appears in an A position in the IP area: this type is instantiated by Old Italian (Benincà 2006, Poletto 2014). A second option, instantiated by the languages considered in this paper, is that the lexical subject receives a pragmatically marked interpretation which is encoded in a Functional Projection (FP) in the vP periphery (Belletti 2004, Poletto 2006). This paper confirms that V3/V4 word orders involve the presence of a double articulation for foci and wh-elements, which appear in different positions in the CP layer in relaxed V2 languages (Poletto 2002, Wolfe 2015 a,b). It also contributes to our understanding of the syntax of topics in relaxed V2 languages by showing that (i) topics can be moved to CP and (ii) the movement option is not restricted to main clauses lacking an XP in the left periphery; it also occurs in interrogative clauses (unlike in the relaxed V2 varieties considered in Walkden 2014, 2015).


— In this paper, we describe a dataset relating to cellular and physical conditions of patients who are operated upon to remove colorectal tumours. This data provides a unique insight into immunological status at the point of tumour removal, tumour classification and post-operative survival. Attempts are made to cluster this dataset and important subsets of it in an effort to characterize the data and validate existing standards for tumour classification. It is apparent from optimal clustering that existing tumour classification is largely unrelated to immunological factors within a patient and that there may be scope for re-evaluating treatment options and survival estimates based on a combination of tumour physiology and patient histochemistry.


Condensation and water loss from gas output of the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) oxygenator has been the study object of several research. However, little is known about the propagation of the condensation formed at the level of oxygenator and how potentially it can contaminate the surrounding environment. We aimed to document the moment of formation of the 'gas steam' derived from the CPB oxygenator during cardiac surgery with thermography imaging. Thermographic camera is a device that creates an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light. The brightest (warmest) parts of the image are customarily colored white, the intermediate temperatures reds and yellows, and the dimmest (coolest) parts black. Thermal image captures the condensation phenomenon around the oxygenator perimeter with the same color/temperature code (yellow) of gas outlet. The use of aspiration at the level of the gas outlet could also favor the elimination of the condensation, improve gas exchanges, and potentially reduce the spread of hazardous substances in the operating room.


Abstract The use of leaf symptoms and plant analysis in diagnosing and predicting yield depressions associated with boron (B) toxicity in barley was examined. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Stirling) was grown in pots of a sandy soil to which six levels of B were added. With increasing additions to the soil, B accumulated in the older leaves, increasing leaf injury and senescence. Leaf injury symptoms at high levels of B supply appeared in time well before dry mailer was depressed. Root weight was decreased more than shoot weight. Grain filling was affected only at severe levels of B toxicity. Critical toxic concentrations (CTC) of B in shoots were found to vary between approximately 40 and 150 μg, depending on the stage of plant growth at the lime of B analysis and the yield parameter chosen. A distinction is made between CTC values of B that are diagnostic or prognostic.


Carmakers and suppliers currently experiment with new forms of relationships in order to prepare and develop coherent and valuable innovations that feature incrementally evolving new products (new services, architectural breakthroughs, etc.). We observe diversity both in the very nature of co-innovation partnerships and in the in-house organisational settings. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these configurations for the partners? The aim of our research is to analyse the impact of the organisational forms of co-innovation on the performance of innovation processes. We first define co-innovation situations in contrast to the co-development model. We then present the innovation route analytical framework in order to empirically analyse co-innovation processes and assess their performance. Once this groundwork is laid, we compare four cases: two innovations both developed by a European (EASYCAR) and an Asian car manufacturer (NIPCAR). The comparison of the scenarios shows the variety of innovation cooperation processes and their related performance profiles.


A dc magnetic sputtering process is applied to growth of a Mo back contact layer onto the flexible polyimide (PI) and rigid soda-lime glass (SLG) substrates. The structural and electrical properties of the Mo layer coated on the two kinds of substrates are investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Hall effect measurements. The results show that the Mo layer on SLG indicate more better crystal quality and lower resistivity than that on the PI sheets. In contrast to the SLG substrate, the resistivity of the Mo layer on PI is increased by the vacuum annealing process at the substrate temperature of 450? C under Se atmosphere, which is attributed to the cracked Mo layer induced by the mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion between PI and Mo material. The Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells based on the PI and SLG substrates show the best conversion efficiencies of 8.16% and 10.98% (active area, 0.2cm2), respectively. The cell efficiency of flexible CIGS solar cells on PI is limited by its relatively lower fill factor caused by the Mo back contact.


Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disorder characterized by autoantibody-mediated platelet destruction. Multiple factors have been implicated in ITP pathogenesis, including T-lymphocyte dysfunctions. The protein tyrosine phosphatase, non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene encodes lymphoid-specific phosphatase (LYP), a critical negative regulator of T cell activation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PTPN22 have been broadly associated with susceptibilities to various autoimmune disorders. Here we conducted a case-control study investigating whether the PTPN22 -1123G > C SNP contributes to the risk of ITP in Chinese population. The study included 191 ITP cases and 216 ethnically matched normal controls. Genotyping of -1123G > C SNP was performed using a single-base extension (SBE) and mass spectrometry method. Allelic and genotypic frequencies were compared between the case-control groups by the chi-square test. We observed significant overrepresentation of -1123G allele (p = 0.034, odds ratio (OR) = 1.374, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.024–1.843]) and GG genotype (P = 0.038, OR = 1.951, 95% CI [1.031–3.694]) in the patients compared with the controls. Stratified analysis by gender and age of disease onset revealed comparable observations in both male and adult ITP cohorts. These data suggest a moderate association of PTPN22 -1123G > C SNP with susceptibility to ITP. Together with previous reports, our finding provides further evidence for PTPN22 being a general autoimmunity gene.


P cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers, with only about 5% of patients surviving 5 years past the initial diagnosis. Gemcitabine monotherapy is the standard of treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer since several decades. Despite advances with current chemotherapy combinations, overall survival outcomes are still require novel therapeutic approaches. Here, we examined the efficacy of combined treatments of polyphenols and gemcitabine in human pancreatic cancer cells. For that purpose, the proapoptotic effects of gemcitabine were studied on the human pancreatic cell line AsPC-1 in presence or absence of several polyphenols, in order to evaluate if they latter are able to potentialize gemcitabine cytotoxicity. Our study aims to investigate the implication of MDR1 (multidrug transporter) in resistance to gemcitabine and if the studied polyphenol could target this drug efflux pump in AsPC-1 cells by flow cytometric analysis. We observed that 5 μM/ml gemcitabine in combination with 50 μM of selected polyphenol (catechin, quercetin, bergamottin, rhamnetin) was more effective than gemcitabine alone, as shown by increased in the percentage of dead cells up to 60%. In addition, our results indicate that the combination of gemcitabine and each polyphenol increased the expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and the regulator of apoptosis p53. Moreover our results demonstrated that some polyphenols inhibit the efflux activity of MDR1. Our study in vitro suggests therefore that chemotherapy with gemcitabine might be significantly increased upon combination with specific polyphenol. In conclusion, polyphenols may be promising agents for novel combination therapy since they potentialize the cytotoxic activity of gemcitabine to eradicate pancreatic cancer and therefore the cellular resistance.


The loss of B-cell tolerance to nuclear autoantigens is central to the pathogenesis of SLE, but it is not known which tolerance checkpoints fail in the production of anti-DNA autoantibodies. We have utilized the chronic GVH model of SLE to target the loss of tolerance to mature, splenic B cells (JI 179, 5564, 2007). We have now extended these studies to show that the production of these autoantibodies involves the switching of κ-chain alleles in mature B cells. We have distinguished the two κ alleles by utilizing a genetic locus in which the human κ constant region has replaced the mouse κ constant region. Either pure human κ+ CD93- splenic B cells or pure mouse κ+ CD93- splenic B cells, isolated from C57BL/6.huκ/moκ heterozygous mice, transferred to rag1-/- recipients and challenged with CD4+ bm12 T cells, produced both moκ+ and huκ+ anti-DNA and anti-chromatin autoantibodies. Even huκ+ cells that have their moκ locus in the germ line configuration produced moκ+ autoantibodies in this cGVH transfer system. These data suggest that the creation of lupus autoantibodies can occur at least in part by the acquisition of a new immunoglobulin receptor in mature B cells through peripheral secondary light chain genetic recombination (receptor revision). We postulate that abnormal T cell help is required at that stage either to initiate receptor revision and/or to permit the survival and activation of the B cells with their newly acquired autoreactivity.


Graphene is a nanomaterial that has been widely applied to various fields because of the uniqueness of the material, therefore this material is very interesting to be developed as an additive in lubricant. This study aims to determine the optimum additive weight ratio and obtain optimum operating conditions in the graphene dispersion process in base oil. This research is divided into 2 stages: preliminary research and main research. The preliminary study aims to transform the chemical structure of crude palm oil (CPO) through a three-stage reaction into a polyol as a base oil. The main research is the process of making bionanolubricant. Graphene is synthesized using a combination technique with a human urine as reducing agent. The formulations are known by varying the weight of the additive and the time of the dispersion. Variation of additive weight was 0% (A1), 0.25% (B1), 0.5% (C1), 1% (D1) while for dispersion time variation ranged from 0 min (A2), 60 min (B2), 90 minutes (C2) and, 120 minutes (D2). Based on the SEM-EDX test results, the SEM image formed graphene and spectrum layers on EDX show that the oxide in graphene has been successfully reduced. Bionanolubricant was tested for quality with 7 parameters. The composition of base oil formula 250 gr and graphene nanoparticles 0.5% w / w is the optimum additive weight ratio for C1 sample code whereas the economical dispersion time is 60 minutes. The result of the viscosity index test is 121,72, its pour point is 10,4oC, flash point equal to 228oC with lubrication capability tested through four ball tester got scar diameter equal to 0,87 mm. This Bionanolubricant belongs to the SAE 250 class and is classified as a GL-4 lubricant based on the quality level of API (American Petroleum Institute) performance test.


Drawing courses instruction in Taiwan's vocational senior high schools usually provided diverse textbook figures and models for teaching aids. This study aims to apply three-dimensional computer animation techniques aid vocational senior high school drawing course instruction. Based on above purpose this study was to develop 3D interactive model Web (3DIMW). Therefore, the period of the study to divide into 2 phases. The phase 1 was to constructed theoretical foundations based on the Junctions of three-dimensional computer animation and related literature analysis. Furthermore, collected and analysis Taiwan's vocational senior high school drawing curriculum standards published by the Ministry of Education. The application feasibility was based on the evaluated functions of 3-D animation techniques and the prototype approach construction method was used. Phase 2 was constructing formation platform, applying three-dimensional computer animation technique in 3D interactive model Web associated with ASP.NET and SQL database. Expect conform to user needs and useful for teaching.


We utilize 100 fs optical pulses as a means of heating 150 nm thick single Au (111) crystals, below the melting point and monitor the subsequent structural evolution with subpicosecond time resolution using 0.6 ps, 8.04 KeV x-ray pulses. By monitoring the energy and time dependent modulation of the width and shift of the x-ray diffraction rocking curve, we have obtained information on electron-phonon coupling, photon-lattice interaction, and time resolved kinetics of the crystal disorder. The data show that during the first couple picoseconds after optical excitation, the formation of a "blast force" and lattice contraction, followed by a pressure wave formed 10-20 ps later. Both the blast and pressure wave propagate through the crystal with sonic velocities. These time resolved x-ray diffraction data provide a detail description of the processes induced by ultrafast laser pulses impinging on very thin metallic crystals.


Social-Emotional Competence in Young Children with Hearing, Visual or Intellectual Impairments - an Explorative Study with the ITSEA Early emotional and social competence is considered as an important requirement for social participation in family and child care settings. We report on a study exploring the usefulness of the competence scales as a part of the "Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment" (ITSEA) for one- to three-year old children in a sample of 253 toddlers with hearing, visual or intellectual impairments. Internal consistency of the six scales is good (alpha > .86). An ANOVA reveals significant differences between the three groups and a correlation with additional disabilities. These explorative results support the development of a German standardization of the ITSEA.


Remote sensing (RS) image change detection (CD) is a critical technique of detecting land surface changes in earth observation. Deep learning (DL)-based approaches have gained popularity and have made remarkable progress in change detection. The recent advances in DL-based methods mainly focus on enhancing the feature representation ability for performance improvement. However, deeper networks incorporated with attention-based or multiscale context-based modules involve a large number of network parameters and require more inference time. In this paper, we first proposed an effective network called 3M-CDNet that requires about 3.12 M parameters for accuracy improvement. Furthermore, a lightweight variant called 1M-CDNet, which only requires about 1.26 M parameters, was proposed for computation efficiency with the limitation of computing power. 3M-CDNet and 1M-CDNet have the same backbone network architecture but different classifiers. Specifically, the application of deformable convolutions (DConv) in the lightweight backbone made the model gain a good geometric transformation modeling capacity for change detection. The two-level feature fusion strategy was applied to improve the feature representation. In addition, the classifier that has a plain design to facilitate the inference speed applied dropout regularization to improve generalization ability. Online data augmentation (DA) was also applied to alleviate overfitting during model training. Extensive experiments have been conducted on several public datasets for performance evaluation. Ablation studies have proved the effectiveness of the core components. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed networks achieved performance improvements compared with the state-of-the-art methods. Specifically, 3M-CDNet achieved the best F1-score on two datasets, i.e., LEVIR-CD (0.9161) and Season-Varying (0.9749). Compared with existing methods, 1M-CDNet achieved a higher F1-score, i.e., LEVIR-CD (0.9118) and Season-Varying (0.9680). In addition, the runtime of 1M-CDNet is superior to most, which exhibits a better trade-off between accuracy and efficiency.


The polymorphism, similarities and relationships among bamboo species were assessed with random amplified polymorphism chloroplast DNA (RAPD) analysis. The results showed distinct chloroplast DNA differences, present among the species. 175 bands were detected of which 94 were polymorphic (53.1%).3 to 15 bands generated by a single primer of variable lengths were detected, with an average of 7.2 polymorphic bands. The genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0.543 to 0.954, and most of them were <0.75. Meantime, species relationships were estimated through Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) analysis based on RAPD data. It is a useful method for analysis of the relationship in bamboo species.


This study examines the relative impact of regional land‐cover/land‐use patterns and projected future climate change on hydrologic processes. Historic, present and projected future land cover data were used to drive the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model using observed meteorological forcing data for 1983–2007 over Wisconsin (USA). The current and projected future (year 2030) land cover data were developed using the land transformation model (LTM). The VIC model simulations were driven using downscaled and bias‐corrected projected future climate forcing from three different Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) AR4 general circulation models (GCMs): HadCM3, PCM and GFDL. Sensitivity results conducted on a single grid cell show that annual average surface runoff and baseflow were increased by 8 and 6 mm, respectively, while evapotranspiration was reduced by 15 mm when a fully forested grid was converted to cropland. Results also indicate that annual average net radiation and sensible heat flux were reduced considerably due to forest‐to‐cropland conversion, and the reduction was more prominent in winter and spring seasons due to effect of snow albedo. Forest‐to‐cropland conversion also resulted in increased latent heat flux in summer (JJA) while this land transformation increased the snow water equivalent in winter (DJF) and spring (MAM). Complete conversion of forest to cropland resulted in a decrease of the radiative surface temperature on an annual basis with more cooling occurring in winter and summer. Impacts of historic deforestation were similar to what was expected based on a single grid sensitivity analysis. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society


The Pompeiu problem is considered as shape optimization problem. We show stability of the ball which is the minimum point of related domain functional. The proof is based on shape derivative method. Stability of the ball for general domain functionals invariant under the rigid motions is discussed.


A precise assessment of left ventricular (LV) function was performed in 20 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and 14 patients with congestive cardiomyopathy (CCM) to elucidate the pathophysiology of these diseases, expecting to establish a fundamental therapeutic approach of them. Twenty-two patients who underwent cardiac catheterization and were found to have normal LV function served as normal control. LV preload, defined as LV end-diastolic stress, was normal in HCM, and it was elevated in patients with CCM and congestive heart failure (CHF). While an index of afterload, defined as mid-systolic stress, was markedly reduced in HCM, it was elevated in CCM and CHF. Although three indices of LV contractility including the rate of LV pressure rise divided by developed pressure of 40 mmHg ((dp/dt)/DP40), ejection fraction (EF) and LV minute work index, were all in a normal range in HCM, they were very low in CCM. This observation indicates that the systolic function of HCM is normal as a pump, and that it is markedly reduced in CCM. One index of LV relaxation, which was the peak rate of LV pressure fall (peak negative dp/dt) was reduced in both HCM and CCM, and the other index, which was the time constant of LV pressure fall (the time constant T) was prolonged in both of these diseases. An index of compliance, defined as diastolic elastic stiffness constant (K) was high in HCM and normal in CCM, and the other index, defined as end-diastolic elastic stiffness was normal in HCM and high in patients with CCM and CHF. This observation suggests that chamber compliance is low in HCM, and that muscle compliance begins to decline with the appearance of CHF in CCM. Although poor systolic function is evident in CCM, poor contractility or inadequate contraction of a unit muscle is also suspected in HCM since 1) normal EF was maintained with very low afterload, 2) LV end-systolic volume index was normal with very low end-systolic stress, and 3) LV unit muscle minute work about one half of normal value with normal preload. Several important therapeutic guidelines can be derived from this study: As CCM is a disease of reduced LV contractility, the main therapy for this disease is to enhance the contractility. Elevation of preload and afterload are associated with the appearance of CHF, and this coincides with New York Heart Association functional class III. Therefore, the indication of preload and/or afterload reducing agents, such as diuretics and vasodilators, is considered for such patients. Although preload and/or afterload reducing agents are well known to be contraindicated in obstructive type of HCM, since they increase the intracardiac pressure gradient, these agents must be used with great precaution in nonobstructive type, as they reduce preload suddenly, and life-threatening low cardiac output might take place. For the same reason, strenuous exercise must be prohibited in HCM...


In this article, we propose an energy-efficient data gathering scheme for wireless sensor network called Sleep-Route, which splits the sensor nodes into two sets - active and dormant (low-power sleep). Only the active set of sensor nodes participate in data collection. The sensing values of the dormant sensor nodes are predicted with the help of an active sensor node. Virtual Sensing Framework (VSF) provides the mechanism to predict the sensing values by exploiting the data correlation among the sensor nodes. If the number of active sensor nodes can be minimized, a lot of energy can be saved. The active nodes' selection must fulfill the following constraints - (i) the set of active nodes are sufficient to predict the sensing values of the dormant nodes, (ii) each active sensor nodes can report their data to the sink node (directly or through some other active node(s)). The goal is to select a minimal number of active sensor nodes so that energy savings can be maximized.
The optimal set of active node selection raise a combinatorial optimization problem, which we refer as Sleep-Route problem. We show that Sleep-Route problem is NP-hard. Then, we formulate an integer linear program (ILP) to solve the problem optimally. To solve the problem in polynomial time, we also propose a heuristic algorithm that performs near optimally.


Osteoporosis is a very common problem among adolescent and adult patients with thalassaemia major (TM). The pathogenesis of osteoporosis in TM is related to several factors including iron overload. Bone is derived from osteoblasts. And osteoblasts are differentiated from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Therefore, iron-overload induced MSC damage may contribute to osteopenia and osteoporosis. The effect of iron-overload on MSC has not been investigated previously. We hypothesize that iron-overload may induce apoptosis in MSC by caspase-dependent pathway, and haematopoietic growth factor thrombopoietin (TPO) and calcium channel blocker amlodipine may have a protective effect on iron-induced apoptosis in these cells. We have shown that iron (FeCl 3 ) reduced hMSCs viability in a dose-dependent manner (0–0.6 mM) (n=5). By annexin V and PI staining, apoptotic cells were found to be significantly increased after iron treatment (0.3 mM) for 72 hrs (n=4). The expression of active caspase-3 was significantly increased in iron-treated cells (0.15mM, 0.3mM) (n=5). Iron treatment also increased the proportion of cells containing JC-1 monomers, indicating a trend in the drop of mitochondrial membrane potential. TPO exerted protective effect on iron-induced apoptosis in hMSCs. Human MSCs were cultured in the presence of iron (0.3 mM) with or without TPO (50 ng/ml) for 72 hrs (n=4). The cell viability was significantly increased with the treatment of TPO. Dot-plot analysis of annexin V/PI staining demonstrated that TPO significantly reduced the population of apoptotic cells. Incubation with TPO also decreased the iron-induced caspase-3 expression. Flow cytometric dot-plot analysis of hMSCs also showed trends of amelioration of the increase in JC-1 monomers in the iron plus TPO. The population of phospho-Erk1/2 was also significantly increased in TPO-treatment, and the increased phospho-Erk was significantly reversed by the upstream signaling inhibitor PD098059. Calcium channel blocker amlodipine (10 −9 M) also had a protective effect on iron-induced apoptosis in these cells. Our findings suggest that iron-overload induces apoptosis in hMSCs via the caspase-dependent pathway and that TPO and amlodipine might exert a protective effect on iron-induced apoptosis via the activation of Erk1/2 signaling. The use of either haematopoietic growth factor or calcium channel blocker for the protection of hMSCs from iron induced toxicity is a novel concept. Our study has the potential in minimizing the bone damage induced by iron-overload in patients with thalassaemia major.


Eosinophils are innate immune leukocytes and play important roles as terminal effector cells owing to their mediators, such as tissue-destructive cationic proteins, cytokines, chemokines, and lipid mediators. Historically, they are not only considered an important player in host defense against parasitic, viral, fungal, and bacterial infections but also implicated in the pathogenesis of eosinophil-associated diseases, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis, esophagitis, atopic dermatitis, myopathies, and hypereosinophilic syndrome. Moreover, recent studies have shown that eosinophils have an immune regulatory and homeostatic function. Interestingly, there is emerging evidence that eosinophils are accumulated through adoptive T-helper 2 (Th2) and innate Th2 responses, mechanisms of the classical allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated response, and group 2 innate lymphoid cell-derived interleukin-5, respectively. Furthermore, in agreement with current concepts of eosinophil subtypes, it has been shown that resident and phenotypically distinct eosinophils, i.e., resident and recruited inflammatory eosinophils, exist in inflamed sites, and each has different functions. Thus, the classical and novel studies suggest that eosinophils have multiple functions, and their roles may be altered by the environment. In this article, we review multiple biological aspects of eosinophils (novel and classical roles), including their beneficial and detrimental effects, immunoregulation, and homeostatic function.


The novel switched reluctance generator (SRG) with hybrid magnetic paths is developed for wind power generation in this paper. For the proposed SRG, there is no mutual coupling between phase windings. The proposed SRG has the longitudinal magnetic structure at the completely aligned position. However, it has the transverse and longitudinal magnetic structure at the unaligned position. Thus, three-dimensional finite element computation is needed in the design. The computed results based on three-dimensional finite-element analysis (FEA) are shown in the paper. Furthermore, the experimental results of the prototype demonstrate that the proposed SRG is feasible and effective.


Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is one of exotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Depending on the type exposure SEB may cause a food or inhalant poisoning. The course of food poisoning is usually lighter and resolves spontaneously. The course of inhalant poisoning depends on the inhaled dose. It can be tough and demanding intensive treatment. Given the lack of specific therapy, led therapy is purely symptomatic.


Today, various solutions have been proposed to improve the economic situation of villages and deprived areas, among which tourism is known as the best solution for those areas with the necessary potentials for tourism development. On other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on human life worldwide. The prevalence of COVID-19 has caused a lot of damage to different sectors of the global economy, but without a doubt, the rural tourism industry should be considered among the economic activities that have suffered the most from this virus. In this study, with the aim of investigating these effects on the rural tourism industry, it has been analyzed and compared in three important economic, social and environmental dimensions before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19. This quantitative study was used survey method. The statistical population of the study consisted of local stakeholders of rural tourism and experts of the relevant organizations in Natanz county of Iran. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the constructs used in the model have appropriate and acceptable fit. The results of the study also, showed that the prevalence of COVID-19 has adverse consequences including reducing the desirable economic and social effects of tourism mentioned among both groups of experts and rural stakeholders. from rural tourism stakeholders' opinion, environmental variables of the tourism areas before and after the COVID-19 was different, and in the absence of tourists in this area, the destructive environmental effects have strongly decreased.


Bordetella pertussis is the most frequent causative agent for pertussis, which is a highly contagious disease. Here, we developed a method based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and nanoparticle-based lateral flow biosensor (LFB) for the timely diagnosis of B. pertussis infections. A set of six primers was designed for LAMP reactions, and the LAMP results were rapidly and visually indicated using LFB. The recommended condition for the B. pertussis LAMP reactions is 40 min at 66°C. Our results confirmed that the LAMP-LFB assay could specifically detect B. pertussis and did not cross-react with non-B. pertussis isolates. The sensitivity of the B. pertussis LAMP-LFB assay was 50 fg per reaction. In particular, 108 nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) samples were collected to evaluate the B. pertussis LAMP-LFB assay, and the results were compared with those of the quantitative PCR (qPCR) method. The positive rates of B. pertussis LAMP-LFB and qPCR were 40.7% and 38.8%, respectively, and the agreement between the LAMP-LFB and qPCR results was 98%, with a kappa value of 0.96. The whole process of LAMP-LFB can be completed within 1 h, which is much shorter than that of qPCR, including about 15 min of rapid DNA extraction, 40 min of LAMP reaction, and within 2 min of the LFB test. Collectively, the B. pertussis LAMP-LFB assay developed in this report offers a new option for the rapid, reliable, and simple diagnosis of B. pertussis infections.


Higher education institutions are striving to enhance student engagement in learning (Carini et al, 2006). Increasing the degree of student ownership of the learning process and offering an authentic situated learning experience (Brown et al, 1989) are possible ways to enhance student engagement. In response to this, participants on a postgraduate programme in Professional Education at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, were invited to set up a writing group in partnership with a member of staff from the programme team. Participants on this course were either lecturers at QMU, lecturers at other higher education institutions or health professionals with an education remit. All participants were under differing degrees of pressure to publish written work related to their practice and only the member of staff from the programme team had published previously. Many of the participants were not confident in their ability to produce writing for publication (Dixon 2001).

This paper outlines the experiences from this collaborative writing group in which members of the group wrote an article for publication about their perceptions of being involved in an action research project. An outline is given of the aims of the writing group, the writing approach adopted, the group processes involved and the outcomes from the group. This work offers insights into how partnership working between 'students' and 'academics' as part of a course, can enhance student engagement in learning and develop their confidence to write and publish.


Anti-EGFR antibodies, such as cetuximab, are effective therapies for many late-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) patients; unfortunately, many tumors are initially unresponsive while others show initial efficacy but eventually develop acquired resistance. Genomic studies of patient tumors, cell lines, and xenograft models have identified putative anti-EGFR resistance markers, including mutations in KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, and the EGFR extracellular domain, as well as amplifications in ERBB2 and MET. In order to further confirm and identify new resistance mechanisms to anti-EGFR treatment in CRC, we performed retrospective genomic profiling of 25 CRC patients treated at Samsung Medical Center from 2006-2015. Patients received cetuximab containing chemo regimens with varying duration of responses, including acquired resistance cases. Our analysis identifies mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases, such as EGFR, NTRK1, and PDGFRA, as well as RAS/MAPK pathway genes that affect cetuximab response. We also uncover genomic alterations in ERBB2 and c-KIT as potential novel mechanisms regulating sensitivity to anti-EGFR antibodies. Additional genomic analyses of acquired resistance tumors and in vitro studies of a patient-derived cell line provide added insights into clonal selection and signaling pathways that bypass the EGFR blockade. Overall, our study elucidates important new facets in the landscape of anti-EGFR resistance mechanisms. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Steven M. Bray, Jeeyun Lee, Seung Tae Kim, Philip J. Ebert, John N. Calley, Isabella H. Wulur, Thejaswini Gopalappa, Swee Seong Wong, Hui-Rong Qian, Jason C. Ting, Jiangang Liu, Melinda D. Willard, Amit Aggarwal, Ruslan D. Novosiadly, Hee-Cheol Kim, Christoph Reinhard. Intrinsic and acquired resistance to cetuximab in colorectal cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4104. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4104


Lines of the 3d9 4s-3d9 4p transitions in nickel-like Zr XIII, Nb XIV and Mo XV have been identified in the 340-500 Å region in spectra emitted from laserproduced plasmas. All levels of the 3d9 4s and 3d9 4p configurations have been established from the observations. Comparisons with predictions of Wyart and Ryabtsev show a good agreement. The structure has been studied by means of MCDF calculations along the isoelectronic sequence up to Xe XXVII. Tentative identifications are given for the strongest lines of the 3d9 4p-3d9 4d transition in Zr XIII and Nb XIV.


A wide variety of molecules are involved as attractive or repulsive guidance cues in the developing nervous system. Some of these molecules are also expressed in the CNS of adult mammals where, following injury, they may repel regenerating axons, inhibit axonal regrowth, or control the behaviour of other cells important for the development of the meningeal and glial scars or the immune response to injury. Ephrins, semaphorins, Slits, Netrins, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and Wnts are among the most likely molecules to be involved in limiting axonal regeneration in the injured spinal cord. The receptors for these molecules are not universally expressed by neurons but there is evidence that ephrins and semaphorins limit regeneration of particular classes of axon into spinal cord lesion sites. It is likely that other repulsive guidance cues will also differentially affect the regeneration of specific tracts within the spinal cord. In addition to direct effects on axonal regeneration, many axonal guidance molecules have effects on glial, meningeal or immune system cells which also modulate the responses of CNS tissue to injury.


We report a very rare case of teratocarcinosarcoma of the nasal cavity showing a favorable prognosis. The patient was a 66‐year‐old man with a mass completely obstructing the right nasal cavity. Subsequently, extirpation of the mass and Denker‐Watsuji operation were performed, and the patient was treated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Neither recurrence nor distant metastasis was observed during follow‐up lasting 30 months. Histologic examination of the resected mass revealed several tissue elements including columnar and squamous epithelia with atypia, smooth muscle cells with rare mitotic activity, and neuroectodermal tissue. The glandular epithelium and smooth muscle cells were reminiscent of a primitive intestinal organoid structure, suggestive of tera‐tomatous tumorigenesis. Our case and a review of the literature indicate that the absence of invasiveness to the stroma or surrounding tissue is closely related to a favorable prognosis.


Due to the complexity of the development and implementation of online distance learning and its pedagogical opportunities and challenges, the support for learners and faculty gains added importance. A difference is made between support measures in the framework of the teaching/learning process and on an administrative-institutional level. Special emphasis is placed on the higher education context. Often a fundamental change to the service culture and to faculty's conceptions of themselves is necessary in the development of online education. In contrast to traditional classroom education it will be shown in this chapter that the importance of support is increased in three ways.


Ectopic production of ACTH is observed in 6% of patients with Cushing syndrome. Ten percent of these cases are related to endocrine pancreatic tumors. In a few cases a multiplicity of hormones are produced. The combination with a Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is very infrequent. In the present case, a female patient aged 54, there was an interval between the onset of Zollinger-Ellison and Cushing syndrome. The combination of bilaterally enlarged adrenals in the absence of an adrenal adenoma and the presence of Crooke-cells in the adenohypophysis in a patient with Cushing syndrome are of diagnostic significance. This trias should always alert the physician to the possibility of extrahypophyseal ACTH production.


Abstract Numerous factors, including nest predation and brood parasitism, may limit populations of neotropical migratory birds. However, nest predation and brood parasitism are not constant, and temporal, biological, habitat, and landscape factors can affect the likelihood of these events. Understanding these patterns is important for species of conservation concern for which managers seek to provide quality habitat. One such species, the Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii), is a neotropical migrant that breeds primarily in bottomland hardwood forests of the southeastern United States. Little is known of factors influencing reproductive success of this rare, yet locally abundant, species. From 2004 through 2007, we examined factors influencing reproductive success of Swainson's warblers at 2 sites in eastern Arkansas, USA, St. Francis National Forest and White River National Wildlife Refuge. We used 2-stage modeling to assess the relationship between 1) temporal and biological, and 2) habitat and landscape factors and brood parasitism, nest survival, and fledgling production. Brood parasitism was greater in this population (36%) than reported elsewhere (≤10%), but decreased throughout the breeding season. Nest survival was comparable to or lower than in other populations of this species and increased throughout the breeding season. The probability of brood parasitism was greater near forest edges. Although nests of Swainson's warblers were often associated with giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea), nest survival had a weak negative association with cane density. For nests that were successful, the best predictor of number of Swainson's warblers fledged was brood-parasitism status: nonparasitized nests fledged 2.75 young, whereas parasitized nests fledged 0.60 Swainson's warblers. Our findings suggest that managing and restoring relatively high-elevation bottomland forests that are located far from agricultural edges should increase Swainson's warbler productivity.


Hypothyroidism is an endocrine disorder and occurs as a result of decreased production of hormones of thyroid gland. In the present society with the changes in dietary habits, people have become more and more vulnerable to hypothyroidism. The present study was conducted with the aim to establish a correlation between Medodhatwagni Vikriti and hypothyroidism. 100 volunteers were taken and they were grouped into 2 categories. 50 were healthy volunteers and 50 were suffering from hypothyroidism. Keyword: Hypothyroidism, Medho Dhatwagni, Dhatus Cite this Article Vikas Gupta, Vishal Sharma. Clinical Study to Evaluate The Effects of Medho Dhatwagni Vikriti on Patients of Hypothyroidism. Journal of AYUSH: Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy . 2016, 5(1): 21–31p.


This research aims to obtain empirical evidence regarding the effect of role overload, emotional intelligence, and work-life balance on the performance of auditors with psychological well being as a moderating variable. The research method used is quantitative research. The population in this research were all auditors who worked at the Public Accounting Firm (KAP) in the South Jakarta Region with a total sample of 84 respondents. The sampling technique used is the convenience sampling method. The data source used is primary data. The data collection method used a survey method with a questionnaire. The data analysis method used is multiple linear regression analysis and moderated regression analysis (MRA). The results of this study indicate that role overload does not have a significant effect on auditor performance, while emotional intelligence, work-life balance and psychological well being have a positive and significant effect on auditor performance. The analysis of moderating variables using the MRA approach shows that psychological well being is able to moderate the effect of role overload and emotional intelligence on auditor performance, but not on the effect of work-life balance on auditor performance.


427 Background: The safety and efficacy of upfront pazopanib, prior to nephrectomy in metastatic clear cell renal cancer (mCRC), has not been prospectively evaluated. The toxicity profile of pazopanib potentially makes it an attractive agent in this setting.

METHODS
A single arm phase II study (PANTHER 2009-016675-29) evaluated 12-14 weeks of pazopanib prior to planned nephrectomy in untreated patients with metastatic clear cell renal cancer. Patients had MSKCC intermediate and poor risk disease. Pazopanibwas stopped for a minimum of 16 days during nephrectomy. FDG-PET and DCEMRI were performed on a subgroup of patients. The study follows a Simon 2 stage design and we present the results of the initial stage(n=34).

RESULTS
Overall 30 (88%) of patients obtained clinical benefit (by RECIST) prior to surgery. The partial response rate of the primary tumor was 21% by RECIST. No patients became inoperable due to local progression of disease. A nephrectomy was performed in 25 (74%) of patients. The reasons for not having surgery were patient choice (n=5) and progression of disease (n=4). Delayed wound healing, a post operative bleed and a post operative death occurred in 1patient each (4%). The median blood loss, hospital stay and surgical time were 350mls, 7 days and 180mins respectively. FDG-PET and DCE MRI responses were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
This interim analysis suggest nephrectomy after upfront pazopanib can be performed safely in mRCC and obtains control of disease in the majority of patients.


SUMMARY – Contact skin lesions may be the consequences of contact with various irritants or allergens, or due to other factors (e.g., UV radiation, microbials), intrinsic factors (e.g., in autoimmune responses), or even their combination. There are many substances related to irritant contact dermatitis (CD), causing irritant or toxic effects, e.g., chemical and physical agents, plants, phototoxic agents, airborne irritants, etc. Impaired barrier function (e.g., aberrancies in epidermal pH buffering capabilities) also participates by promoting bacterial biofilms and creating an environment favoring sensitization. Development of allergic CD skin lesions includes complex immune pathways and inflammatory mediators, influenced by both genetic (predominantly filaggrin mutations) and environmental triggers. In the pathogenesis of allergic CD, antimicrobial peptides play a prominent role; they are produced by various skin cells (e.g., keratinocytes, sebocytes) and move to inflamed lesions during an inflammation process. Also, in allergic CD skin lesions, the skin shows different types of immune responses to individual allergens, although clinical manifestations do not depend on the causative allergen type, e.g., nickel stimulates immune activation primarily of the Th1/Th17 and Th22 components. Also important are alarmins, proteases, immunoproteomes, lipids, natural moisturizing factors, tight junctions, smoking, etc. We expect that future perspectives may reveal new pathogenetic factors and scientific data important for the workup and treatment of patients with CD.


Data quality is a key concern for artificial intelligence (AI) efforts that rely on crowdsourced data collection. In the domain of medicine in particular, labeled data must meet high quality standards, or the resulting AI may perpetuate biases or lead to patient harm. What are the challenges involved in expert medical labeling? How do AI practitioners address such challenges? In this study, we interviewed members of teams developing AI for medical imaging in four subdomains (ophthalmology, radiology, pathology, and dermatology) about their quality-related practices. We describe one instance of low-quality labeling being caught by automated monitoring. The more proactive strategy, however, is to partner with experts in a collaborative, iterative process prior to the start of high-volume data collection. Best practices including 1) co-designing labeling tasks and instructional guidelines with experts, 2) piloting and revising the tasks and guidelines, and 3) onboarding workers enable teams to identify and address issues before they proliferate.


The localization of transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta) in the differentiating ovary (from fetal day 13.5 to postnatal day 14) was investigated immunohistochemically using polyclonal antibodies for TGF beta 1 and TGF beta 2. Immunostaining was undetectable in the gonadal primordium on fetal day 13.5. From fetal day 14.5 and throughout fetal life, there was intense immunostaining for TGF beta 1 and faint staining for TGF beta 2 in some ovarian somatic cells which were identified as epithelial cells at the end of fetal life. This pattern of staining was also found in the presumptive granulosa cells present between the oocytes on postnatal day 1. The staining for TGF beta 2 persisted while the staining for TGF beta 1 decreased in the granulosa cells of primordial and primary follicles of older rats. In the subsequent stages of follicular development, the staining for TGF beta 1 disappeared while faint staining for TGF beta 2 persisted in the granulosa cells of secondary and small antral (postnatal day 14) follicles. On day 14, the newly functional thecal/interstitial cells were moderately stained for TGF beta 2 and intensely stained for TGF beta 1. These results plus our previous immunolocalization of TGF beta 1 in the fetal testis [13] show that, in both sexes: (1) TGF beta 1 is detectable in the gonads on the same fetal age (day 14.5); (2) TGF beta 1 is present in the somatic cells which are the precursors of Sertoli and granulosa cells, at the time of their organization in seminiferous tubules or in primordial follicles; and (3) TGF beta 1 is largely present in cells synthesizing androgens, from the onset of their steroidogenic capacity (fetal day 16.5 for Leydig cells and postnatal day 14 for thecal/interstitial cells.


The importance of indoor mobile connectivity has increased during the last years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, new energy-efficient buildings contain structures like low-emissive windows and multilayered thermal insulations which all block radio signals effectively. To solve this problem with indoor connectivity, we study passive antenna systems embedded in walls of low-energy buildings. We provide analytical models of a load-bearing wall along with numerical and empirical evaluations of wideband back-to-back spiral antenna system in terms of electromagnetic- and thermal insulation. The antenna systems are optimized to operate well when embedded into load-bearing walls. Unit cell models of the antenna-embedded load-bearing wall, which are called signal-transmissive walls in this article, are developed to analyze their electromagnetic and thermal insulation properties. We show that our signal-transmissive wall improves the electromagnetic transmission compared to a raw load-bearing wall over a wide bandwidth of 2.6–8 GHz, covering most of the cellular new radio (NR) frequency range 1 (FR1), without compromising the thermal insulation capability of the wall demanded by the building regulation. Optimized antenna deployment is shown with 22 dB improvement in electromagnetic transmission through the load-bearing wall.


There is growing emphasis on the role of institutions on explaining Africa's economic growth ahead of the traditional factors such as capital accumulation. However, it is not clear which of the institutions and governance indicators namely control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law and voice and accountability matter most. This paper empirically examines the impact of institutions on economic growth in Africa. The paper uses a sample of 48 countries for the1996-2016 period. The overall number of observations is 912. The paper applied generalized methods of moment (GMM), fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) models. However, due to the fact that GMM is well suited to deal with potential endogeneity problems in the model, inferential statistics of this paper are drawn from GMM regression results. Results of the FE and RE regressions are presented in appendix. Empirical results show that institutions really matter for Africa's economic growth. Among the institutional quality indicators political stability appears to be the most significant factor in explaining real GDP per capita growth in Africa. However, it is worth noting that, the quality of institutions alone may not be sufficient. Along with institutions, the paper reveals that structural factors such as liberalization of trade, fixed capital formation, labour force and foreign direct investment have a significant effect on Africa's economic growth. The implication is that, a policy mix with the aim of improving the quality of institutions as well as reducing trade restrictions, enhancing both domestic and foreign investment and improving the quality of labour force would enhance economic growth in Africa.


The hippocampus and the striatum represent two major systems in the brain for learning, memory and navigation. Although they were traditionally considered as two parallel systems responsible for distinct types of learning or navigation, increasing evidence indicates a close synergetic or competitive interaction between them. Both the hippocampus and the striatum consist of multiple anatomical and functional domains. Besides the limited direct projection from the hippocampus to the ventral striatum, most of the functional interaction between them may be mediated by polysynaptic projections. Polysynaptic connectivity has been difficult to examine due to a lack of methods to continuously track the pathways in a controlled manner. Here we developed a novel approach for directed stepwise polysynaptic tracing by reconstituting a replication-deficient retrograde transneuronal virus – pseudorabies virus lacking gene IE180 (PRVΔIE). We minimized PRV neurotoxicity by temporally restricting viral replication; and enabled both anatomical tracing and functional analysis of the circuits. With these tools, we delineated a hippocampus-striatum wiring diagram, which consists of pathways from specific functional domains in the hippocampus to corresponding domains in the striatum via distinct intermediate regions. This polysynaptic wring diagram provides a structural foundation for further elucidation of the interaction between the hippocampus and the stratum in multiple brain functions. Significance Statement We created a new method for controlled stepwise tracing of polysynaptic neuronal circuits which also enables functional analysis of the circuits. With this method, we revealed the polysynaptic wiring diagram between the hippocampus and the striatum, two major brain structures centrally involved in learning, memory and spatial navigation. This wiring diagram demonstrates how specific anatomical domains in the hippocampus are connected to the specific domains in the striatum via distinct intermediate brain regions; thus it will help to elucidate the functional interaction between these two major memory and navigation systems. Our new method can be broadly applied to many other brain circuits for anatomical and functional analysis.


Objectives To evaluate the impact of group prenatal care (Centering Pregnancy) on the rate of Preterm Birth (PTB) and low birth weight. Women were enrolled into Centering Pregnancy (Transformación Prenatal) if they fell in the category of poverty, and had at least one risk for PTB according to known risk factors for low birth weight or PTB. Methods Mother's age, parity, risk factors, prenatal/delivery complications, infants' Gestational Age (GA), birth weight, Apgar scores, delivery route, indications for delivery, and use of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) were abstracted from charts of mothers who received group or traditional care at the University Hospital in San Juan, PR. Results More infants were born at term if the mothers received Centering Pregnancy. The mean birth weight and gestational age of the infants were higher (6.59 vs. 6.33 lbs. and 37.8 vs. 36.8 weeks) than for those in traditional care. Centering Pregnancy also had lower rates of preterm birth (27.7% vs. 34.1%) and births earlier than 31 weeks (2.8% vs. 9.9%). All were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions We successfully implemented group prenatal care (Centering Pregnancy) for the first time in PR in a complex environment: tertiary care hospital with a high-risk prenatal clinic. Despite having known risk factors for preterm birth, the mothers in Centering Pregnancy had better outcomes. In an environment of adverse determinants of health, the program was effective in reducing the odds for adverse infant outcomes early in life and demonstrating that innovative models of health care can improve such outcomes.


The sfr6-1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana was identified previously on the basis of its failure to undergo acclimation to freezing temperatures following exposure to low positive temperatures. This failure is attributed to a defect in the pathway leading to cold on-regulated (COR) gene expression via CBF (C-box binding factor) transcription factors. We identified a region of chromosome 4 containing SFR6 by positional mapping. Fine mapping of the sfr6-1 mutation proved impossible as the locus resides very close to the centromere. Therefore, we screened 380 T-DNA lines with insertions in genes within the large region to which sfr6-1 mapped. This resulted in the identification of two further mutant alleles of SFR6 (sfr6-2 and sfr6-3); like the original sfr6-1 mutation, these disrupt freezing tolerance and COR gene expression. To determine the protein sequence, we cloned an SFR6 cDNA based on the predicted coding sequence, but this offered no indication as to the mechanism by which SFR6 acts. The SFR6 gene itself is not strongly regulated by cold, thus discounting regulation of SFR6 activity at the transcriptional level. We show that over-expression of CBF1 or CBF2 transcription factors, which constitutively activate COR genes in the wild-type, cannot do so in sfr6-1. We demonstrate that CBF protein accumulates to wild-type levels in response to cold in sfr6-1. These results indicate a role for the SFR6 protein in the CBF pathway -downstream of CBF translation. The fact that the SFR6 protein is targeted to the nucleus may suggest a direct role in modulating gene expression.


A novel general route to substituted meso-tetraaryltetra[2,3]naphthaloporphyrins (Ar(4)TNP) and meso-tetraaryloctamethoxytetra[2,3]naphthaloporphyrins (Ar(4)(MeO)(8)TNP) via oxidative aromatization of nonaromatically fused porphyrin precursors is described. Ar(4)(MeO)(8)TNPs exhibit more red-shifted absorption bands than Ar(4)TNPs and differ dramatically in solubility. The first X-ray crystallographic structure of tetranaphthaloporphyrin, i.e., PdAr(4)TNP (Ar = 4-MeO(2)CC(6)H(4)), revealed that the degree of nonplanar distortion of this macrocycle is only slightly higher than that of the homologous tetrabenzoporphyrins (Ar(4)TBP).


Abstract This study investigates the feasibility of flash thermography for the examination and conservation of works of art: paintings, works on paper and sculpture. Thermography is a non-destructive technique for the identification of subsurface defects in materials. It is based on the propagation of surface-deposited heat through into the material. Differences in propagation between defect and defectfree areas result in a difference in the surface temperature of the material. The surface temperature is mapped over time by imaging with a mid-infrared digital camera. A xenon arc lamp is used to provide the initial source of radiation, and signal processing is typically applied to the collected data to reduce noise and to enhance key signal characteristics. This technique offers the possibility of investigating the structure of paintings and paper, particularly in cases where other non-destructive examination techniques do not provide sufficient information, for example subsurface delamination and layer structure. The results indicate that thermography is a good technique for detection of paint delamination and the degree of adhesion between layers, particularly in canvas paintings. It also successfully detected wood grain in situations where X-rays did not, although it was not effective for detecting voids or defects in wood.


GSM networks are very expensive. The network design process requires too many decisions in a combinatorial explosion. For this reason, the larger is the network, the harder is to achieve a totally human based optimized solution. The BSC (Base Station Control) nodes have to be geographically well allocated to reduce the transmission costs. There are decisions of association between BTS and BSC those impacts in the correct dimensioning of these BSC. The choice of BSC quantity and model capable of carrying the cumulated traffic of its affiliated BTS nodes in turn reflects on the total cost. In addition, the last component of the total cost is due to transmission for linking BSC nodes to MSC. These trunks have a major significance since the number of required E1 lines is larger than BTS to BSC link. This work presents an integer programming model and a computational tool for designing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks, regarding BSS (Base Station Subsystem) with optimized cost.


The present study was undertaken to evaluate the analgesic activity of aqueous extract of Citrullus lanatus peels (AECL) using Eddy's hot plate method. The AECL produced a significant analgesic activity in a dose dependent manner. All the doses of AECL (250, 500 and 1000mg/kg) had shown analgesic activity. The reaction time obtained for these three doses after 90 minutes of drug administration was found out to be 5.15 mins, 8.92 mins and 10.82 mins respectively which was comparable to Diclofenac sodium (5 mg/kg) that showed the reaction time of 12.36 mins. It was concluded that the AECL has good analgesic potential and may be adopted as alternative to conventional NSAIDS.


The alginate-like polysaccharides synthesized by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas putida have been prepared from batch cultures grown with glucose and fructose as carbon substrates. Despite the different methods of catabolism of the two substrates and synthesis of the alginate precursors, both strains produced polysaccharides which were consistent in their composition of mannuronic and guluronic acids and in the frequency of occurrence of dimers of d-mannuronic acid. All preparations lacked homooligomeric sequences of l-guluronic acid and were highly acetylated (12–21%). In all the culture conditions tested, polysaccharide production was growth-associated and maximum M
r was obtained after 48 h growth; older cultures contained material of progressively lower M
r. This was ascribed to the degradative activity of alginate lyases which were detected intracellularly in both species and are presumably released by cell lysis. At 72 h, alginate from P. putida grown on either substrate had an M
r of only 34000–38500, whereas the product from P. fluorescens grown on fructose had an M
r of 300000 and that from glucose-grown cultures an M
r of 72000.