Several uncontrolled studies have encouraged the use of rituximab (RTX) in patients with myositis. Unfortunately, the first placebo-phase trial to assess the efficacy of RTX in refractory myositis did not show a significant difference between the two treatment groups, and doubts have been expressed about its study design. In this review we present an up-to-date overview of the reported experiences of RTX therapy in myositis. A PubMed search was performed to find all the available cases of refractory myositis patients treated with RTX up to July 2015. The following terms were assessed: inflammatory myopathies OR anti-synthetase syndrome OR polymyositis OR dermatomyositis AND RTX. A total of 48 studies were included. We identified 458 patients with myositis treated with RTX. We found a rate of response to RTX of 78.3%. RTX can play a role in the management of patients with myositis, at least in those with positive myositis-specific autoantibodies.


President Peterson, thank you for the honor of presenting the Fourth International Cartilage Repair Symposium Presidential Guest Lecture. I appreciate the opportunity to address the fascinating subject of integrating science into orthopaedic practice, a subject that should be the primary concern of surgeons and scientists seeking to restore damaged and diseased articular cartilage. It took more than 2000 years for a few thoughtful practitioners of the art of orthopaedics to value and apply principles and observations derived from basic research 1. Yet, in the short time since this occurred, the understanding that optimal patient care depends on science as well as art has transformed orthopaedic practice from a disparate array of manipulations and operations, best characterized as well-intentioned savagery, to a range of treatments that, in many instances, can be considered civilized. Equally important, we live in a time when the integration of knowledge from new basic research into orthopaedic practice has the potential to solve the most daunting clinical problems, including the pain and loss of mobility caused by the limited capacity of human joints to repair themselves.

Individuals with varying experience and qualifications have practiced orthopaedics for more than twenty-five centuries 1,2. It would be reasonable to expect that, over this period of time, orthopaedic treatments would have become generally safe and effective. Yet, only 250 years ago, John Hunter (1728-1793), the individual regarded as the father of scientific surgery 3, noted that "surgery, namely operations, is like an armed savage that attempts to get by force that which civilized men would get by stratagem." 2 Orthopaedic operations in Hunter's day were painful, bloody, brutal, and extremely dangerous: the typical results, for patients who survived the operations, were disappointing and disabling 1. It was a situation that led to Hunter's comment that …


It is written that The paper examines and compares the performance of the agricultural sector during the Military and the Civilian Regimes in Nigeria. It also compares the proportion of public expenditures on agriculture with the allocations to other sectors of the economy such as Education, Health and Transport.The paper adopts a descriptive approach and the findings show that there is a direct relationship between the proportion of public expenditure and agricultural performance and that public expenditure on the Agricultural Sector lags behind the expenditures on these other sectors. The paper also shows that the Agricultural Sector received more percentage of public expenditure during the Civilian regime but the contribution of agriculture to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was higher during the Military than the Civilian regime. This shows that the performance of agriculture is not only a function of the proportion of public expenditure, but a combination of factors such as judicious use of the resources, the quality of agricultural policies/programmes embarked upon, among others. The paper therefore recommends increased budgetary allocation to the Agricultural Sector as well as its proper and judicious use to guarantee poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood and enhanced food security.


Chromosomal rearrangements causing head to tail fusions of genes separately encoded in germline DNA are frequent findings in human cancers. The specificity of gene fusions for different types of cancers has made these alterations in DNA valuable markers for the diagnosis, classification, and monitoring of human cancers. A variety of methods have been used to detect fusions within tumors. Among these have been conventional cytogenetics, Southern blot, FISH, and RT-PCR. In particular, RT-PCR has become popular because of its relative simplicity, low cost, and sensitivity for finding small numbers of malignant cells within tissue samples. RT-PCR was originally developed for detecting gene fusions because the wide distribution of breakpoints within DNA for most chromosomal rearrangements makes detection difficult by standard PCR or Southern blotting. Most breakpoints lie within introns. Therefore, despite the variability in the sites of recombination that joins the two genes involved in the fusion, the structure of the mature, chimeric RNA transcripts produced from these fusions is consistent from tumor to tumor. This fact permits detection of the RNA products of gene fusions using a single pair of PCR primers, or a small number of such pairs, in amplifications of cDNA generated from tumor RNA by reverse transcription. In theory, successful RT-PCR of chimeric RNA should be entirely specific for tumors. However, low levels of amplification products are sometimes generated from tissues of healthy individuals. The presumption has been that chromosomal rearrangements occur in normal tissues at some low frequency and that these rearrangements produce chimeric RNA detectable by sensitive RT-PCR assays. By themselves, in the absence of cooperating mutations and epigenetic changes, these gene fusions are insufficient to cause neoplastic transformation of cells and the cells bearing these gene fusions have limited proliferative and survival capacity. We have recently discovered a chimeric RNA that joins sequence from the 5' end of the JAZF1 gene to the 3' end of the JJAZ1 (also called SUZ12) gene in normal endometrial cells. This RNA is identical to that transcribed from the JAZF1-JJAZ1 gene fusion produced by the (7;17)(p15;q21) chromosomal translocation found in about 50% of endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs). In normal endometrial cells, JAZF1-JJAZ1 RNA is generated not from a gene fusion, but from trans-splicing between precursors mRNAs of the two genes. Trans-splicing in these pre-mRNAs seems to be at least partially under control of hormones. The chimeric RNA is translated into chimeric JAZF1-JJAZ1 protein, which may function to increase cell survival in hypoxic environments. Although the level of chimeric JAZF1-JJAZ1 RNA in normal endometrial cells is lower than that seen in tumor cells containing the t(7;17)(p15;q21), the presence of chimeric RNA in normal cells has clear implications for the specificity of JAZF1-JJAZ1 RNA as a marker for ESSs and for the diagnosis of ESSs by RT-PCR. Furthermore, the finding of a chimeric RNA in normal cells identical to that transcribed from a chromosomal rearrangement suggests that other chromosomal rearrangements exert their pro-neoplastic effects by giving rise to constitutive production of chimeric RNAs that are normally produced over restricted intervals during tissue differentiation or under the control of defined regulatory factors. If true, this scenario would explain the frequent finding of low levels of chimeric RNA for other chromosomal rearrangements in healthy individuals. Another possible ramification of our finding is that abnormal, unregulated trans-splicing of RNA may produce chimeric RNAs that have a pro-neoplastic effect in tumors lacking any corresponding gene fusion.


This paper presents a list of macroscopic characteristics for recognizing pieces resulting from bipolar knapping. I performed specific experiments in fine-grained flint and in quartz. I describe the main characteristics of bipolar knapping in a qualitative manner and discuss the usefulness and limitations of this qualitative methodology for these two types of rocks.


We consider the discrimination of lossy bosonic channels and focus on the case when one of the values for the loss parameter is zero, i.e., we address the detection of a possible loss against the alternative hypothesis of an ideal lossless channel. This discrimination is performed by inputting one- or two-mode squeezed thermal states with fixed total energy. By optimizing over this class of states, we find that the optimal inputs are pure, thus corresponding to single- and two-mode squeezed vacuum states. In particular, we show that, for any value of the damping rate smaller than a critical value, there is a threshold on the energy that makes the two-mode squeezed vacuum state more convenient than the corresponding single-mode state, whereas for damping larger than this critical value, two-mode squeezed vacua are always better. We then consider the discrimination in realistic conditions, where it is unlikely to have pure squeezing. Thus, by fixing both input energy and squeezing, we show that two-mode squeezed thermal states are always better than their single-mode counterpart when all the thermal photons are directed into the dissipative channel. Aside from that, this result also holds approximately for unbalanced distribution of the thermal photons. Finally, wemore » also investigate the role of correlations in the improvement of detection. For fixed input squeezing (single mode or two mode), we find that the reduction of the quantum Chernoff bound is a monotone function of the two-mode entanglement as well as the quantum mutual information and the quantum discord. We thus verify that employing squeezing in the form of correlations (quantum or classical) is always a resource for loss detection whenever squeezed thermal states are taken as input.« less


A retrospective study was conducted on patients with upper aerodigestive tract foreign bodies requiring operative intervention over a 12-year period to aid in the recognition and management of foreign body associated complications. Oesophagoscopies were performed for the removal of foreign bodies in 37 patients, age one to 82 years with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Retropharyngeal abscesses accounted for eight of 11 foreign body-associated complications. Fish bones were the cause in six cases, chicken bone and a pen refill in one case each. An abscess was already present at the time of initial procedure in six cases and developed in two cases after successful removal of the foreign body. A high level of suspicion for a retropharyngeal abscess should be maintained in cases with perforation, and in patients with immunodeficiency.


Background— Cardiac surgery is the reference treatment for patients with left main (LM) disease, although percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents is emerging as a possible alternative. The objective of this registry was to evaluate the 2-year outcome of elective percutaneous coronary intervention for unprotected LM disease with paclitaxel-eluting stents. Methods and Results— A total of 291 patients were prospectively included from 4 centers. Acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock were the only exclusion criteria. Patients were 69±11 years old, 29% were diabetic, and 25% had 3-vessel disease. For distal LM lesions (78%), the provisional side-branch T-stenting approach was used in 92% of cases and final kissing balloon inflation in 97%. Angiographic success was obtained in 99.7% of cases. At 2-year follow-up, the total cardiac death rate was 5.4% (1 EuroSCORE point was associated with a 15% [95% confidence interval 2.9% to 28.2%, P=0.013] higher risk of cardiac death), target-lesion revascularization was 8.7%, and incidence of Q-wave or non–Q-wave myocardial infarction was 0.9% and 3.1%, respectively. The combined end point occurred in 15.8% of cases and stroke in 0.7%. The incidence of definite and probable LM stent thrombosis was 0.7%, whereas the incidence of any stent thrombosis was 3.8%, with a higher risk in patients with side-branch stenting in the presence of LM bifurcation lesions (hazard ratio 9.6, 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 77.7, P=0.035). Conclusions— Unprotected LM stenting with paclitaxel-eluting stents, with a strategy of provisional side-branch T-stenting for distal lesions, provides excellent acute angiographic results and good mid-term clinical outcomes, with a 15.8% rate of major adverse cardiac events at 2-year follow-up.


The temperature profiles produced by various heating profiles are calculated from local heat transport models. The models take the heat flux to be the sum of heat diffusion and a non-diffusive heat flow, consistent with local measurements of heat transport. Two models are developed analytically in detail: (i) a heat pinch or excess temperature gradient model with constant coefficients; and (ii) a non-linear heat diffusion coefficient (χ) model. Both models predict weak (≲20%) temperature profile responses to physically relevant changes in the heat deposition profile – primarily because the temperature profile is a double integral of the heating profile. The model predictions are shown to agree with JET data for a variety of heating profiles ranging from peaked on-axis through approximately flat (NBI at high density) to localized off-axis (ICRH). The modest temperature profile responses that result from the models clarify why temperature profiles in many tokamaks are often characterized as exhibiting a high degree of 'profile consistency'. Global transport scaling laws are also derived from the two models. The non-linear model with χ ∝ dT/dr produces a non-linear energy confinement time (L-mode) scaling with input power, . The constant heat pinch or excess temperature gradient model leads to the offset linear law for the total stored energy W with Pin, W = τinc Pin + W(0), which describes JET auxiliary heating data quite well. It also provides definitions for the incremental energy confinement time , the heating effectiveness η, and the energy offset W(0). Considering both the temperature profile responses and the global transport scaling, the constant heat pinch or excess temperature gradient model is found to best characterize the present JET data. Finally, new methods are proposed for interpreting auxiliary heating data in terms of these local transport models.


Sixteen patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura underwent splenectomy after failure of steroid therapy. The average time of follow-up was 69 months. Immediately after splenectomy, complete response (platelets above 150 x 10(9)/l) was obtained by 68% of patients while 25% had partial response (platelets from 50 to 150 x 10(9)/l) and only in 1 patient splenectomy failed. During the long-term follow-up, 2 patients relapsed 9 and 20 years, respectively, after splenectomy (20% of non-responders). Partial recurrence of thrombocytopenia (partial response) was observed in 33% of the patients. The persistent complete response rate was then 47%. The young patient age appears to be the only positive predictive factor both for short-term and long-term response to splenectomy. The platelet recovery rate and postsplenectomy thrombocytosis are also early features of lasting response. Positive serum and platelet-associated immunoglobulins became negative after splenectomy, but there is no correlation with clinical response.


The article aims to analyze the demographic groups most vulnerable to unemployment in the city of Palmas-TO. The methodology used to obtain the calculation of probabilities of groups of people are unemployed or was binomial logistic regression. The results show that the labour market of Palmas-TO in year 2008 the level of education is very important, because the higher the education level, has less risk of being unemployed and their average incomes are higher. On the other hand, women and younger suffer discrimination because at any level of training (education), had greater likelihood of being unemployed when compared to other demographic groups.


A NEW SPECIES OF STELIS FROM THE CLOUD FOREST OF GUERRERO, MEXICO, IS DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED AS S. DESANTIAGOI. THIS SPECIES IS SIMILAR TO S. RUBENS, BUT IS DISTINGUISHED BY ITS LARGER PLANTS, THE STEMS PROPORTIONALLY LONGER, THE LEAVES WIDER, THE SEPALS INTERNALLY PAPILLOSE (VS. PUBESCENT), THE PETALS FL ABELLATE (VS. CUNEATE), THE LABELLUM SLIGHTLY ARCUATE WITH THE APEX STRAIGHT (VS. GENICULATE WITH THE APEX STRONGLY INCURVED), AND THE CLINANDRIUM ENTIRE (VS. TRILOBATE). KEY WORDS: CLOUD FOREST, ENDEMISM, GUERRERO, ORCHIDACEAE, SIERRA MADRE DEL SUR, STELIS DESANTIAGOI.


Background: The Coronavirus was first discovered in December 2019 and quickly it turned into a pandemic called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The main symptoms of infection with this virus were constitutional and respiratory symptoms. However, one-third of COVID-19 patients also developed neurologic manifestations, including Guillan-Barre syndrome (GBS), which was one of the most critical complications. Case presentation: In this paper, the authors present seven patients who suffered from GBS after being infected with the Coronavirus or in conjunction with the infection. Nerve conduction studies showed axonal type in four patients, and demyelinating type in three patients. Neurological symptoms were the initial symptoms in two patients and the presence of COVID-19 was later discovered. Most of the patients had an excellent recovery. Conclusion: In the medical literature, many articles have mentioned the association of GBS with the Coronavirus, and it is considered the most common peripheral neurologic complication for the virus, but this article is considered one of the very few articles that were published from the Middle East, especially from Syria. Guillain-Barre's occurrence after infections is known, and the Coronavirus is one of the most important viruses of the era, which incited an increase in the number of Guillain-Barre patients.


Twitter has created a number of issues for collegiate athletic programs. Via their tweets, student-athletes have sparked public relations issues for athletic departments and educational institutions. This research examined the messages student-athletes receive from athletic department officials and coaches about Twitter. Semi-structured interviews with 20 student-athletes at a Division I school were conducted. Results revealed that these messages occurred in 1 of 3 areas: (a) (non)training, (b) surveillance/monitoring, and (c) reactive training. The results indicate that student-athletes are left to their interpretations of what constitutes inappropriate Twitter content while also being subjected to monitoring. Education about Twitter typically occurs after a violation of an unclear or unknown policy. This reactionary and ambiguous approach to Twitter appears to be doing little to mitigate controversial tweets. Athletic administrators are encouraged to devote resources to front-end, rather than back-end, training and to define clear boundaries for Twitter usage.


This paper will describe the constraints, trade-offs and challenges for designing a one-chip (RF/radio plus baseband integrated on the same Si-die) compared to designing a separate RF/radio ASIC.
The presentation will start with an overview of the background of Bluetooth technology: the orginal purpose was to replace wires. Consequently, the RF-proposal has to be cheap (target below U$5.-) and the current consumption should be low. The desire to have a cheap radio, cannot be implemented at all cost: the user will require a robust system (performance), otherwise the Bluetooth system will fail in the market. Nonetheless, a "simple, cheap radio" is still a complex analog system, and requires RF and analog design resources. An overview of "easy" and "difficult" Bluetooth radio specifications will be given to show the problem areas in radio design.
A single-chip radio module solution based on a BiCMOS radio-ASIC will be shown to demonstrate some particulars in integrating Bluetooth radio functionality.
From this single-chip radio module, additional functionality will be described for realising a one-chip Bluetooth solution: requirements on digital functionality, requirements coming from SW implemented in ROM or FLASH and additional radio requirements.
Next, different Si-processes (CMOS 0.36u, 0.25u, 0.18u and 0.13u, BiCMOS and SiGe) will be discussed wrt our target. Due to the large amount of digital, a CMOS process is the only possibility. CMOS scaling for the digital functionality will be discussed. The scaling of radio functionality for the most critical blocks will also be presented. This insight is needed to judge whether a future CMOS processes still allows the radio to be integrated and if we gain something from better CMOS processes.
 A bottleneck of f.i. a 0.18u CMOS process is the breakdown of approx. 2V, as the oxide thickness is 3.5 nm. This 2V may not be enough for realising the required radio performance. Fortunately, these 0.18u processes (and probably also the newer generations) also contain a thick oxide (usually around 7 nm) which have a higher breakdown voltage (3.3 - 3.6 V). Using the thin oxide devices, however, gives a higher fT, and a higher capacitance density, which may result in lower current consumption or smaller silicon-area.
An important technical challenge in realising a one-chip solution is in solving the issue of cross-talk. Cross-talk is present on the PCB-level, packaging-level and on the silicon. The first two problems can be solved by proper PCB-design and proper choice of package. The Si-cross-talk problem depends on the type of substrate and the specific implementation of digital and analog blocks. Measurement results on a 0.36u CMOS test-chip with a low-ohmic substrate will be compared to simple model simulations. The situation on high-ohmic substrates or processes incorporating buried-layers is much more complicated. There are tools available for doing post-layout Si-cross-talk simulations, but these only facilitates checks after finalising the complete design. A new approach is needed: one that gives guidelines at the start of the project (or at least halfway the project) and helps in improving the design. Tools are required for helping designers minimising the Si-crosstalk problem. The problem can be attacked at the generation level (i.e. in the digital part of the chip), by minimising the transfer of interfering signals by proper choice of the substrate, and by taking measures at the circuitry where it is picked-up. This new approach for minimising the Si-cross-talk problem will be discussed extensively.
The presentation will be summarised with conclusions.


In article the author revealed the question of virtualization of communication in modern society, in particular among youth reveals reflected in social communications and rendering social support. At the initial stage of deep studying of this question the author investigated «portrait» of modern youth. As a methodological basis the author took theories of reference groups of J. Mid and G. Blumer as they emphasize that development and socialization of the individual depends on such factors as structure of the personality and a reference group which the individual enters. In article the author gave results of research on the basis of interview of representatives of modern youth in information society, especialy typologies of modern young people in the conditions of universal informatization and use of «gadgets» for receiving and exchange of information and revealed that among youth from 18 to 25 years the vast majority abstracts from the world real and plunges into the world of virtual life and communication. The same who doesn't recognize the world of virtual interaction are also disturbing group owing to «backwardness» from spirits of the times. The most perspective for development of society both real, and virtual is that category of youth which applies products information technologies to achievement of success in various areas of activity: from leisure before career development. The carried-out analysis gives the chance for a wide range of studying of the questions concerning adaptation of youth in society, social communications of youth and social roles in the world real and virtual owing to ambiguity of consequences of introduction of information technologies in life of society both real, and virtual.


The paper reports results of mathematical modeling of the intensity of absorbed gamma radiation for determining the iron content in IOR. It was shown that to enhance the accuracy of rapid control of the iron content in IOR, it is advisable to use absorbed gamma radiation. This approach is the improvement of the nuclear-physical method for determining the iron content in IOR. Reflected gamma radiation is used in the existing nuclear-physical methods for determining the iron content in IOR. The gamma-gamma method, the feature of which is the use of "soft" gamma radiation, is used in this method. This leads to the fact that the irradiated surface reflects only a small part of the original flux of gamma radiation. As a result, measuring the intensity of the scattered gamma radiation is characterized by substantial relative errors and, consequently, low-precision of rapid control of iron content in IOR. The use of absorbed gamma radiation as the main part of gamma radiation, makes it possible to significantly reduce the relative error of measurement of the intensity of gamma radiation, that is, to enhance the accuracy of rapid control of the iron content in IOR. The work considered the method of "central geometry" for measuring the intensity of gamma radiation as the most common. This method makes it possible to take into consideration in the mathematical model the dependence of the intensity of absorbed gamma radiation not only on the properties of irradiated surface of rock mass, but also on the geometric parameters in measurement. The main feature of the model is the use of albedo parameter, which allows linking the scattered and absorbed gamma radiation. Representation of the synthesized model in the dimensionless form enabled both simplification of calculations, and generalization of the results of mathematical modeling of the intensity of absorbed gamma radiation. In order to compare the values of intensities of reflected and absorbed gamma-radiation in terms of central geometry, the appropriate numerical calculations were performed. The results of the conducted calculations proved the effectiveness of using absorbed gamma radiation to determine the iron content in IOR. Thus, in the range of 50‒60 percent of the iron content, the sensitivity of absorbed gamma-radiation is considerably higher (by two times) than sensitivity of scattered gamma radiation.


Two bioassays were conducted to evaluate the suitability of host plants of fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith), in the Brazilian agro-ecosystem. Larval development and survival were analyzed by infesting leaves of maize, grain sorghum, Johnson grass, soybean, Brachiaria and tobacco with FAW newly hatched larvae in a no choice test. No significant differences of survival were observed among insects reared on different hosts, except for tobacco, where no survivors were recorded. Larvae fed on soybean and artificial diet grew larger than those fed on the other hosts. The heaviest pupa was observed from larva fed on artificial diet and the lighter from larva fed on Brachiaria grass. No significant differences were reported on larval development time on natural hosts, but it was longer for larvae reared on artificial diet. Three classes of larval development time were observed on maize, four on sorghum, Brachiaria and soybean, and five on artificial diet. Nearly 85% of FAW larvae completed development within 12 d on maize; 77% on grain sorghum, 80% on Johnson grass, 68% on Brachiaria and 83% on soybean within 14 d and 69% on artificial diet within 17 d. The host suitability to FAW decreases from maize to sorghum, soybean and Brachiaria.


Metastasis is a multicomponent process, with potentially different tumor cell properties and molecules of the motility pathways playing critical roles in the individual steps of metastasis (Nat Rev Cancer. 2007. 7:429-40, Nat Rev Cancer. 2003. 3:921-30). Therefore, the development of new molecular and imaging methods to identify new genes that contribute to specific cell behavioral steps in metastasis is crucial. We have used 2-photon intravital imaging to observe tumor cell invasion and intravasation directly in living mouse and rat mammary tumors and have shown that dissemination of tumor cells involves active motility and transendothelial migration into blood vessels (Cancer Res. 2007. 67:3505-11). Infiltrating macrophages promote these behaviors of carcinoma cells via a colony-stimulating factor-1/epidermal growth factor (CSF-1/EGF) paracrine loop (Cancer Res. 2005. 65:5278-83; Cancer Res. 2004. 64:8585-94). Finally we have exploited these observations to develop methods to collect invasive tumor cells for expression profiling to derive an invasion gene signature (ARCDB 2005 21:695). We are using the methods we developed in the rat and mouse models to investigate microenvironments in human breast tumor metastasis. Recently we have showed that invasion in the human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 xenograft is dependent on both the EGF/CSF-1 paracrine signaling with host macrophages, as well as an autocrine signaling in the tumor cells that express both CSF-1 and its receptor, CSF-1R (Cancer Res. 2009. Nov 24 Epub). Most interestingly, the autocrine-mediated invasion is a tumor microenvironment specific event, as it occurs only in the mammary tumor in vivo due to a transforming growth factor-β1 -mediated upregulation of the CSF-1R. In addition, we have used microarray analysis and quantitative PCR to directly compare the invasive human tumor cells as collected from the live mammary primary tumor, to the average tumor cells of the same primary tumor in the MDA-MB-231 xenograft. We found changes in gene expression in a pattern that is unique to the invasive subpopulation of human tumor cells. This pattern (Human Invasion Signature) is reminiscent of the Invasion Signature described for invasive tumor cells from mouse mammary tumors but the specific genes involved are often different. These results suggest that invasive tumor cells use slightly different patterns of gene expression to achieve the same migratory phenotype and that human tumor cells will be different from mouse tumor cells in terms of the individual genes involved in determining the invasive phenotype. These results emphasize the importance of studying human tumors and patterns of expression rather than individual genes. Ultimately, the discovery of gene expression patterns involved in invasion and the formation of autocrine and paracrine loops in human tumors will provide new therapeutic targets and diagnostic markers. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 419.


Background Salinity is one of the most serious threat to agriculture worldwide. Sugar beet is an important sugar-yielding crop and has a certain tolerance to salt. However, the molecular mechanism of salt tolerance in Beta vulgaris are poorly understood. Proteomics can provide a new perspective and deeper understanding for the research of salt-tolerant sugar beet. Results Here, leaves and roots were used to identify the differentially abundant protein species (DAPs) between salt-stress and control conditions in beta vulgaris . As a result, 70 and 76 DAPs were identified in leaves and roots, respectively. The functions were determined for the classification of the DAPs, mainly involved in cellular processes, environmental information processing, genetic information processing and metabolism. These processes can work cooperatively to reconstruct the favorable equilibrium of physiological and cellular homeostasis under salt stress. Some candidate DAPs are closely related to salt resistance such as choline monooxygenase, betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, glutathione S-transferase (GST) and F-type H + -transporting ATPase. The expressional pattern of 10 DAPs encoding genes were consistent with the iTRAQ data. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that during adaptation of beet to salt stress, leaves and roots have distinct mechanisms of molecular metabolism regulation. This study provided some significative insights into the molecular mechanism underlying the response of higher plant to salt stress, and identified some candidate proteins against salt stress.


Ficus religiosa (Bo tree) is the most popular member of the genus Ficus, commonly named as Peepal. Various parts of the plant, like bark, fruit, leaves and seeds are widely used in indigenous system of medicine. F. religiosa showed a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities like, anticonvulsant, anthelmintic, anti-amnesic, anti-anxiety, anti-asthmatic, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiulcer. The present review is an attempt to provide a detailed survey of the literature on traditional uses and pharmacological properties of the plant.


Since 1971, stature and body weight in five siblings have been measured monthly. Time-series analysis of stature, body weight and their increments per month was made by the Program of Census Method IIX11 resulting in three components: a trend-and-cycle factor, a seasonal factor and an irregular factor. Significant seasonal variation was found in both stature and body weight. In two young subjects, trend curves of stature are very close to each other while those of body weight are different. Trend factor in increment indicates that growth rate of stature or body weight fluctuates, instead of being smooth, suggesting that from birth to maturity acceleration and deceleration occur alternately, like repeated retardations and subsequent catch-ups. A high peak of body weight increment precedes menarche by 1 1/2 years in two girls. In one case, no adolescent spurt in stature was observed while a high peak appeared in body weight in that period. Irregularity in stature is about one-tenth that of body weight when the two are compared in terms of the ratio of SD of irregular factor/mean of trend factor. The raw data are given in an appendix.


This article assesses the validity of John Maynard Keynes' claim that the Lancashire cotton industry failed to restructure because the banks as debt holders prevented firms exiting the industry, creating persistent over-capacity. Using case studies from a substantial sample of Lancashire firms, the article explores archival evidence to establish their financial characteristics, to examine their equity and debt finance and the governance roles of directors and outside ownerhip groups. On the basis of this review the article develops hypotheses to suggest alternatives to the view that bank debt was the dominant explantion of firm level behaviour and industry failure. Applying these to a statistical dataset, results show that syndicates of local shareholders, not banks, were an important impediment to the exit of firms. Moreover, syndicates milked firms of any profits through dividends, thereby limiting reinvestment and re-equipment possibilities. Our results show that where laissez-faire fails in response to a crisis, incumbent investors, particularly block-holders, can be an important impediment to corporate restructuring.


Background/Aim: Recent studies have reported the involvement of NADPH oxidases (NOXs) in tumor progression. However, the role of NOX5 in colon cancer is unclear. We examined the clinical significance of NOX5 expression in colon cancer. Patients and Methods: NOX5 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 119 patients with stage II or III colon cancer, and the relationship between NOX5 expression and clinicopathological data was analyzed. Results: Of all tissues, 39.5% were negative and 60.5% were positive for NOX5 expression. Positive expression was significantly associated with undifferentiated histology (p=0.037) and lymph node metastasis (p=0.023). The 5-year progression-free survival rate of NOX5-positive patients was significantly worse than that of NOX5-negative patients (p=0.046). The rates of local recurrence observed in NOX5-positive patients were higher than that in NOX5-negative patients. Conclusion: NOX5 expression may be related to poor prognostic factors and could be useful as a prognostic biomarker.


The historical legends and traditions associated with the name of Andzhatan Lama are well known among the Oirats of Xinjiang and Kalmyks of Russia. In Xinjiang, the history of the creation of Andzhan Kure (1712) and its abbots was always of great interest. At the same time researchers point out about ten monastic names by which the Andzhatan Lama was known According to the opinion of Prof. Ma Dazheng to whom belongs the earliest publication on this topic, the monastic name of Andzhatan Lama was Lubsandzin. The authoritative researcher's argument was accepted by others and did not raise doubts. However, further research revealed that this name belongs to another famous Buddhist teacher. This article provides for the first time some information about the biography of Andzhatan Lama, discovered by the author during research expeditions and on the basis of some written sources.


Agile methods, especially Scrum, have become staples of the modern software development industry. Retrospective meetings are Scrum's instrument for process improvement and adaptation. They are considered one of the most important aspects of the Scrum method and its implementation in organizations. However, Retrospectives face their own challenges. Agile practitioners have highlighted common problems, i.e. headaches, that repeatedly appear in meetings and negatively impact the quality of process improvement efforts. To remedy these headaches, Retrospective activities, which can help teams think together and break the usual routine, have been proposed. In this research, we present case studies of educational and industry teams, investigating the effects of eleven Retrospective activities on five identified headaches. While we find evidence for the claimed benefits of activities in the majority of studied cases, application of remedies also led to new headaches arising.


Background: Renal dynamic scans (RDS) despite being considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of pelvic ureteric junction obstruction (PUJO), fail to help resolve the dilemma about management issues in many patients. Multiple invasive and noninvasive methods are being studied to help the decision-making in these patients. We did this study to find correlation of plasma renin activity (PRA) values and resistive index (RI) on Doppler ultrasound with findings of RDS in patients with the Society for Fetal Urology (SFU) Grades 3 and 4 unilateral hydronephrosis (HDN) and also to determine the cut-off values of PRA and RI that could categorically acknowledge the success of pyeloplasty. Methodology: Twenty patients with SFU Grades 3 and 4 unilateral HDN due to PUJO were enrolled. Demographic details were recorded. All underwent Anderson-Hynes dismembered pyeloplasty. Based on the follow-up RDS scans, these patients could fall into one of three categories- improved (successful), status quo, or deteriorated (unsuccessful). Outcomes were compared based on RDS (split renal function [SRF]), ultrasonography, and Doppler findings were done at 3 months of postoperative period. Results: Follow up period was 3 months after Pyeloplasty. Seventeen patients had successful outcomes based on RDS findings, 12 had improvement in SRF (>5%), and 6 had normal drainage curves (t-t1/2 <10 min). Three patients had indeterminate curves (t-t1/2 between 10 to 20 min). Four had improvement on both the criteria, i.e., SRF and drainage curves. Among the three patients who showed no improvement in RDS, two were in "status quo" category and one patient showed deterioration. Seventeen patients also showed improvement in PRA and RI. No significant correlation between PRA and RI with SRF could be established. However, PRA was found to have good concordance with RDS (90%). Conclusion: No significant correlation could be demonstrated between SRF and the respective values of PRA and RI. However, PRA could act as an adjunct to predict the early success of pyeloplasty in view of good concordance with RDS. A larger trial with bigger cohort of patients is required to confirm our contention.


Place recognition is crucial for robotic localization and loop closure in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Recently, LiDARs have gained popularity due to their robust sensing capability and measurement consistency, even in the illumination-variant environment, offering an advantage over traditional imaging sensors. Spinning LiDARs are widely accepted among many types, while non-repetitive scanning patterns have recently been utilized in robotic applications. Beyond the range measurements, some LiDARs offer additional measurements, such as reflectivity, Near Infrared (NIR), and velocity (e.g., FMCW LiDARs). Despite these advancements, a noticeable dearth of datasets comprehensively reflects the broad spectrum of LiDAR configurations optimized for place recognition. To tackle this issue, our paper proposes the HeLiPR dataset, curated especially for place recognition with heterogeneous LiDAR systems, embodying spatial-temporal variations. To the best of our knowledge, the HeLiPR dataset is the first heterogeneous LiDAR dataset designed to support inter-LiDAR place recognition with both non-repetitive and spinning LiDARs, accommodating different field of view (FOV) and varying numbers of rays. Encompassing the distinct LiDAR configurations, it captures varied environments ranging from urban cityscapes to high-dynamic freeways over a month, designed to enhance the adaptability and robustness of place recognition across diverse scenarios. Notably, the HeLiPR dataset also includes trajectories that parallel sequences from MulRan, underscoring its utility for research in heterogeneous LiDAR place recognition and long-term studies. The dataset is accessible at https: //sites.google.com/view/heliprdataset.


Corporate reputation (CR) has become a fashionable topic due, among other reasons, to the recent financial and economic crisis and spreading corporate scandals. Given its interdisciplinary character and intangible nature, CR has been a frequent issue in many disciplines, but scarcely present in the business ethics field. This neglect is odd since a good reputation is one of the most valuable consequences of doing the right things and the things right. In this paper, we intend to explain this absence through three hypotheses: a) business ethics literature largely identifies corporate reputation and corporate social responsibility; b) corporate reputation overlaps with corporate image and corporate identity, resulting interchangeable constructs; and c) business ethics scholars have focused on the negative side of the reputation phenomenon, highlighting reputational risk more than benefits. Based on a bibliometric analysis of the top journal of business ethics literature over a recent decade (2002-2011), we finally confirmed the three hypotheses although c) only partially. In addition, the findings of this study will allow for a deeper understanding of the link between looking good and doing well.


For much of the nineteenth century in Britain, bona fide was a status applied to travelers more than three miles from home. Unlike locals, such travelers were allowed to drink at any hour and on any day, giving rise to a predictable but nonetheless striking phenomenon: the mid-Victorian booze cruise. The essay tracks the rise of traveling drinkers, while also charting the difficulty publicans had in verifying bona fide status. In the end, it uses the controversies and crimes around bona fides and the challenges faced by publicans to explore the uncertainty and, frequently, criminality surrounding nineteenth century commerce.


Evolutionary structural optimization (ESO) is a method combining topology and shape optimization. Although ESO has appeared on a simple foundation, many researchers up to now have made many contributions and performance based optimization, which incorporates performance indices to decide the best topology through all the designs provided by the optimization process, has been presented. Some criterions that reflect the structural behavior have been included in these procedures, however, all the former indices developed, take just one of these criterions into consideration such as stress, strain energy, displacement, etc. This paper presents a new performance index formulation, which is used to select the optimum design from the optimization process by considering the fully stressed design concept as the most affective criterion and deals with the previously mentioned problem by reviewing earlier studies. The efficiency and capability of the new index are demonstrated by several design examples.

 Key words: Topology optimization, evolutionary method, performance index, fully stressed design.


This study was conducted to estimate the genetic variability and heterosis of 40 F 1 hybrids of sunflower for seed yield and its components over two seasons (summer and winter) in 2007 at Sennar Research Station Farm in central Sudan. The plant material consisted of 14 sunflower parents            (4 females and 10 males) and their 40 F 1 -hybrids. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The traits measured were days to 50% flowering, plant height, head diameter, number of seeds per head, one thousand seed weight and seed yield.  Hybrids showed high genetic variability for all traits studied than their parents which suggested some degree of hybrid vigor. The direction and magnitude of heterosis varied from cross to cross. Over two seasons, the average mid-parent heterosis in preferred direction and magnitude depicted that the hybrid SA2 x SR41 followed by SA3 x SR41 for days to flowering, SA1 x SR14 for plant height, SA2 x SR14 for head diameter, SA2 x SR13 followed by SA3 x SR13 for number of seeds per head, and SA3 x SR7 for one thousand seed weight. With regard to seed yield, the best hybrids with positive average heterosis were SA3 x SR41 (53.42%), SA4 x SR45 (52.75%), SA4 x SR1 (52.25%) and SA3 x SR10 (40.63%) which also combined with high seed yield of 1581 kg/ha, 1479 kg/ha, 1474 kg/ha, and 1457 kg/ha, respectively. These hybrids (involving the female line SA3 or SA4 and the male lines (SR10, SR13, SR41 and SR45) can be used in our breeding program in an attempt to develop local sunflower hybrid (s) with high seed yield and other important agronomic traits and for testing their yield potential and stability across locations and seasons.


A new approximate solution of the parallel whistler-mode dispersion equation in a weakly relativistic plasma is obtained under the assumption that the real part of the wave refractive index, N, predicted by this solution is close to the value of N predicted by the solution of the corresponding non-relativistic dispersion equation. Both the values of N and the values of the increment of wave growth or damping are closer to those obtained by numerical solution of the weakly relativistic dispersion equations than previously suggested approximations. The accuracy of the obtained solution increases with decreasing electron density, and/or anisotropy of the electron distribution function, and/or electron energy.


The influence of end reflectivity on the excess noise factor in distributed feedback lasers is analyzed. It is shown that the end reflectivity affects the excess-noise factor markedly in the weak and moderate coupling region. In particular, in this coupling region the noise level in the laser structure strongly depends on the end reflectivity phase. Moreover, in the weak and moderate coupling region, the excess-noise factor decreases with an increasing end reflectivity amplitude; in the strong coupling region the opposite behavior is observed. >


This paper presents a tactile display device for replicating compliance sensation when interacting with deformable and non-deformable compliant objects in a virtual environment. Two small tilting plates approximately reproduce surface deformations of a compliant object. In addition to tactile information, kinesthetic information is rendered through a modified haptic paddle force feedback device. The tilting plates are moved in conjunction with the measured position of the user's finger as they pressed into the virtual surface. In a psychophysical experiment, we evaluated the effect of adding tilting motion of the device's actuated plates on the perceived compliance of a virtual surface with a kinesthetic stiffness of 60 N/mm. The experiment results indicate that tilting rates of 5, 10, and 20 deg/cm reduced the perceived stiffness of the surface by 3, 9, and 17 N/m, respectively. The advantages of the new device include its light-weight, low-cost, and simple design. These device features make it practical to integrate this compliance display with user interfaces for applications such as video games or even robotic surgery.


The objective of the paper was the evaluation of the results in laparoscopic examinations performed in women reporting chronic painful ailments in the pelvis. The investigation has covered 194 women in whom the laparoscopic procedure was performed by multidirectional diagnostic examinations, and the inflammatory changes had been excluded. The most frequent change recorded during laparoscopy was adhesions of the pelvic organs 103 (53.09%). In 58.63% of cases the cause of adhesions were post inflammatory states of uterine adnexa, in 24.8% the post operative procedures, in 9.2% the adhesions accompanied endometriosis, while in 7.22% the adhesions were the cause responsible for the retroflexion of uterus. In 29.38% the studied group of women was found to have a normal image of the pelvis, and in 8.76% there was a picture of congested pelvis. Laparoscopy is a valuable diagnostic examination, frequently allowing to establish the cause of chronic painful ailments in the area of pelvis, therein also some forms of functional disturbances.


Collaborative models and working practices have considerably contributed to the evolution of construction project delivery in the last four decades. The promising performance results of construction projects with collaborative delivery models are mostly attributed to their behavioral elements (e.g., mutual trust), which have been frequently mentioned in the literature. However, the interrelationships between these behavioral elements as well as the enablers of these behavioral elements are two knowledge gaps which need to be addressed. Therefore, this study aims to fill the mentioned knowledge gaps by addressing the behavioral elements of collaborative project delivery models from analytical and conceptual perspectives. To do so, a systematic literature review was undertaken by locating 201 relevant studies and reviewing them. This was followed by the thematic analysis of the obtained research data and the development of a model for meeting this study's objectives. The findings present a model, illustrating the behavioral elements of collaborative delivery models in construction projects, their interrelationships, as well as their enablers. The model reveals that the establishment of equality and mutual respect between project team members is a fundamental step toward mutual trust and open communication. These findings can be insightful for the research community and project professionals interested in collaborative construction project delivery.


Background: Recent studies show that interleukin (IL) -17A is highly expressed in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and in the emphysematous lungs of mice after long-term cigarette smoke exposure. However, the role of IL-17A in the pathogenesis of emphysema is still unknown. In the present study, we examined the role of IL-17A in the development of elastase-induced emphysema using Il-17A gene-deficient ( Il-17a -/-) mice.

Methods: Porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was administered intratracheally in Il-17a -/- and wild-type (WT, C57BL/6J) mice on day 0. IL-17A mRNA expression in the lungs was assessed with RT-PCR. Lung inflammation was determined by differential cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. On day 21, we measured lung compliance by forced oscillation method. Emphysema was assessed by alveolar mean liner intercept (Lm) determined by computer-assisted morphometric analysis.

Results: IL-17A mRNA expression was increased in WT mice lungs 6 hours after the administration of PPE. It was accompanied by neutrophilic inflammation in the lungs on day 2 – day 14, whereas neutrophil recruitment was significantly reduced in Il-17a -/- mice (p < 0.05). Lung compliance and emphysema (Lm) on day 21 in PPE-treated WT mice was significantly increased than in PBS-treated ones (p < 0.05). In contrast, Il-17a -/- mice administered with PPE showed significantly less increase in the compliance and Lm (p < 0.05, compared to WT).

Conclusions: These results suggest that IL-17A contributes to the development of elastase-induced neutrophilic inflammation and emphysema in mice.


1. Actions of protein kinase C activators, 1,2‐oleoylacetylglycerol (OAG) and 12‐O‐tetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate (TPA), on the glutamate‐mediated neuromuscular transmission in the mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, were studied by the microelectrode current‐clamp and voltage‐clamp techniques. 2. The activators OAG and TPA stimulate the evoked and spontaneous transmitter releases from the presynaptic terminal, as evidenced by an increase in the quantum content estimated by the number of failures of extracellular excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs), and in the frequency of miniature EPSPs. 3. Both OAG and TPA act on the postsynaptic membrane to enhance responses to the transmitter L‐glutamate. Protein kinase C activators increased the apparent maximum of the ionophoretic dose‐response curve for glutamate‐induced depolarization, without affecting the reversal potential and the voltage‐dependent decay rate for the excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) under voltage‐clamp conditions. 4. The postsynaptic effect of OAG and TPA is distinctly different from that of activators of cyclic nucleotide‐dependent protein kinases, such as octopamine, forskolin, CPT‐cyclic AMP (8‐(4‐chlorophenylthio)adenosine 3',5'‐cyclic monophosphate), and 8‐bromo‐cyclic GMP (8‐bromoguanosine 3',5'‐cyclic monophosphate) which decreased the postsynaptic sensitivity to L‐glutamate. 5. I suggest that the responsiveness of the receptor to L‐glutamate is under the control of these counteracting enzyme systems in the insect neuromuscular junction.


Portosystemic encephalopathy (PSE) is a well-known, common complication of portal hypertension. It is thought to be caused by nitrogenous substances such as ammonia, which are normally cleared from the blood stream by the liver. In cirrhosis and other hepatic disorders with portosystemic shunting (PSS) – either surgical portosystemic anastomoses (PSA) or spontaneous PSS – the collateral vessels bypass the liver allowing the accumulation of toxic, ammoniacal substances in the blood and tissues. PSE is characterized by encephalopathy; portosystemic myelopathy (PSM) is characterized by paresis of the extremities, Babinski signs and muscle spasticity in patients with cirrhosis and/or PSS. Usually only the lower extremities are involved. This report presents the first case of this syndrome observed 5 years after a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. The 31 year old man with chronic Hepatitis B developed complete spastic paraparesis within 4 weeks after onset of clinical/neurological symptoms, accompanied by an episode of severe hepatic encephalopathy. The transcortical magnetic stimulation showed normal motoric stimulation times to the abductor digiti minimi muscles but no stimulation to the tibialis muscles was seen. Lumbar stimulation to the tibialis muscles, however, was normal. This indicates loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, a characteristic finding in patients with portosystemic myelopathy. We performed a search of the literature for all reported cases of cirrhosis and/or PSS that developed PSM. However, the intervals between the construction of a shunt and the diagnosis of portosystemic myelopathy were shorter in total portacaval shunts (median 16 months) than in partial, non-portacaval shunts (median 60 months, p < 0.01). This suggests that not only the shunt itself but also the shunted volume contributes to the development of the syndrome Sixty-one patients with PSM have been reported in the literature since 1944. PSE had developed before PSM in almost all cases. PSM occurred from 1 month to 10 years after the creation of portacaval anastomoses (PCA) or splenorenal shunts (SRS) or in cirrhotic patients without shunts. No one type of liver disease or type of shunt appears to predispose to PSM. The mechanisms of PSE and PSM are thought to be similar and of nitrogenous origin, but their pathogenesis remains unknown. Lathyrism, a toxic syndrome with similar symptoms and signs, is caused by the ingestion of a legume, Lathyrus sativa, which contains beta-N-oxalo-L amino-L-alanine (BOAA). This animal model with or without BOAA appears to offer a reliable way of studying PSM experimentally.


Fuzzy based temperature controller is implemented for detection of fat content in cow / buffalo milk. The system uses MALAB for Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) to take control action and ELVIS – II+ as DAQ which acts as bridge between FIS and test sample temperature control unit. The temperature of milk sample is controlled at 35oC and the fat content in sample is measured with the help of Ultrasonic detection method. The milk sample temperature is maintained to have identical distribution of fat globules. Different cow and buffalo milk samples are tested and the results are compared with Gerber's Method. The results seem to be better for input milk samples.


The Talmud uses many techniques to teach valuable lessons about life; storytelling is one of them. This paper focuses on several of the important women mentioned in the Talmud. Beruriah, wife of Rabbi Meir, may be one the most famous of these women, known for her scholarship. There were others such as Yalta and Rebbi's maidservant, who are also unforgettable. Yalta was brilliant and arguably one of the great feminists of the Talmud. Ima Shalom was a wise person who kept the peace between her husband, a Hillelite and brother, a Shammaite. Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiva, made huge sacrifices for her husband as did the wives of Resh Lakish and Chanina ben Dosa. Several of the women of the Talmud were also miracle workers; these include the wife of Mar Ukva and the wife of Abba Chikiyah. Many were known for being charitable. The death of Rabbi Rechumi for neglecting his wife is a reminder of the importance of providing the proper respect for wives. What is clear from examining these stories is that they are as relevant today as they were almost 2,000 years ago.


A higher-order process calculus is a calculus for communicating systems which contains higher-order constructs like communication of terms. We analyse the notion of bisimulation in these calculi. We argue that %, if static binding is assumed, both the standard definition of bisimulation (i.e., the one for CCS and related calculi), as well as higher-order bisimulation \cite{AsGi88,Bou89,Tho90} are in general unsatisfactory, because over-discriminating. We propose and study a new form of bisimulation for such calculi, called context bisimulation, which yields a more satisfactory discriminanting power. A drawback of context bisimulation is the heavy use of universal quantification in its definition. A major goal of the paper is to find characterisations which make bisimilarities easier to verify. An important role in our theory is played by the factorisation theorem: When comparing the behaviour of two processes, it allows us to «isolate» subcomponents which might cause differences, so that the analysis can be concentrated on them.


A novel indoor scene lighting system is presented, which is based on ARM embedded system and Zigbee wireless communication technology. It is composed of one portable controller and some node controllers. The brightness and colors of indoor LED lamps can be adjusted by the predefined scene modes or by arbitrary online control.


During Ocean Drilling Program Legs 152 and 163, we recovered core from the offshore East Greenland volcanic province. The basaltic core recovered included a set of structural elements reflecting the history of extrusion, cooling, postdeposition alteration, and minor tectonism. Brittle features in the basaltic core include faults and several generations of veins. Several minicore samples from the lower sections of core from Hole 917A were taken for paleomagnetic analysis, primarily to test whether there were any significant postdepositional tectonic rotations or whether the core could be reoriented using paleomagnetic techniques. The characteristic magnetization direction was used to estimate the in situ orientation of measured structural features within the core. Although significant uncertainty is associated with the analysis, the corrected attitudes of veins in basalt at Site 917 dip moderately west, with a smaller, conjugate group of veins dipping moderately east-southeast, parallel to other seaward-dipping faults in the area, which were interpreted from seismic lines.


Twelve patients with chronic renal failure and osteitis fibrosa were treated for periods of 1–9 months with thrice‐weekly injections of 10–200 iu salmon calcitonin. Treatment had no significant effects on symptoms of bone disease and side effects were common. A transient fall in plasma alkaline phosphatase levels occurred in only three patients, and both plasma alkaline phosphatase and hydroxyproline levels rose in the majority of patients. Radiographic signs of hyperparathyroidism increased in seven of the nine patients treated for longer than 3 months. Paired bone biopsy specimens in nine patients showed significant increases in osteoblast counts, but no changes in the indices of resorption. These treatment‐induced changes were reversed when treatment with 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 was substituted for calcitonin. The use of this regimen of salmon calcitonin is not recommended in the long‐term management of hyperparathyroid bone disease in chronic renal failure.


OBJECTIVE
The effects of multiple doses of trandolapril (a new angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) on the pharmacodynamics of a single 25 mg dose of warfarin were investigated in 19 men.

DESIGN
A double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design was used. The study consisted of two periods of 13 days each, during which subjects received either trandolapril 2 mg or placebo once daily according to a randomisation plan. Warfarin was given on day 8 of each of these periods.

SETTING
The study was carried out at the Hoechst Research Centre for Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein.

PATIENTS
Nineteen healthy white men aged between 18 and 28 years and weighing between 65 and 98 kg volunteered for the study.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Prothrombin time (PT) and coagulation factors II, VII, IX and X were measured before and sequentially up to 6 days after warfarin administration. Areas under the PT and coagulation factor time curves for warfarin + trandolapril were compared with the corresponding areas for warfarin + placebo. The two treatment combinations were also compared at each measuring time.

RESULTS
The point estimate for the ratio of the treatment means of warfarin + trandolapril relative to warfarin + placebo for PT was 97% (90% confidence interval: 90%-103%). The corresponding value for factor VII was 97% (90% confidence interval: 91%-102%).

CONCLUSION
The concomitant administration of trandolapril did not affect the pharmacodynamic effects of warfarin.


The purpose of this article was to examine the effects of strengths-based approaches in co-curricular and curricular leadership on first-year students' holistic thriving, academic thriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving. We used propensity score matching and regression analyses with survey data from the Thriving Quotient, which was administered to first-year students at a large, public research university (n = 548). The results suggest students' enrollment in a strengths-based leadership minor course was associated with higher levels of thriving in social, academic, and psychological domains. Students' participation in strengths-based student organizations was associated with higher thriving in social domains, while concurrent enrollment in the strengths-based leadership class and participation in strengths-based student organizations was associated with significantly higher holistic thriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving.


Myelolipoma is a benign, rare, and hormone-inactive tumor of the adrenal gland. Its characteristic appearance on sonography and computed tomography enables preoperative diagnosis with a high degree of safety and accuracy. Symptomatic or large tumors have to be removed since there is a high risk of spontaneous hemorrhage. Common findings in patients with myelolipoma are reviewed, especially in those with surgically removed tumors.


Viral infections induce profound cellular responses resulting the expression of hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Some ISGs have specific antiviral activity, while others regulate the cellular response. For most viruses, the specific antiviral ISG(s) is not known, which has potential consequences for the quest for new therapeutics. The ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 is a major regulator of antiviral response and inherited ISG15-deficiency leads to autoinflammatory interferonopathies where patients exhibit elevated ISG expression in the absence of infection. Using CRISPR/Cas9 knockout technology, we have recapitulated these effects in cultured cells, confirming 'free' ISG15's role as a central regulator of type-I IFN antiviral response. We also show that during an antiviral response, ISG15-deficiency leads to significant physiological defects (inhibition of translation and proliferation) and resistance to parainfluenza viruses. We asked if virus resistance was due to the direct antiviral activity of ISGs, or whether cells were non-permissive due to physiological defects. We took advantage of the knowledge that IFIT1 is the principle antiviral ISG for parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5). Knockdown of IFIT1 restored PIV5 infection in ISG15-deficient cells, confirming that resistance was due to the antiviral response and not due to physiological state related to ISG15-deficiency. We also compared infections with related viruses where IFIT1 has known intermediate antiviral activity (PIV2) and low activity (PIV3); restoration of replication with these viruses reflected their sensitivity to IFIT1 restriction. Based on the observations in IFIT1-knockdown cells, we propose a novel platform for the identification of antiviral ISGs based on recovery of virus infection.


Using a two‐country DSGE model, we analyse the spillover effects of fiscal policy in a monetary union. Based on a non‐Walrasian labour market with a labour force participation decision and involuntary unemployment and a detailed fiscal sector, we focus on the relative cross‐border effects of different kinds of fiscal shocks (government expenditure and tax shocks). Among the major lessons from this analysis, five general and striking results are worth highlighting : (1) spillover effects differ widely according to the fiscal instrument, (2) all fiscal instruments produce positive spillover effects on foreign GDP except a rise in government consumption, (3) the response of unemployment is not always negatively correlated with the response of output (4) the different fiscal shocks trigger different effects on foreign inflation and the term of trade, which implies heterogeneous interest‐rate and trade channels, and (5) a more accommodative monetary policy and a scenario of 'fiscal dominance' alter greatly the effects of fiscal policy shocks.


Muscarinic receptors have been characterized in smooth muscle and brain by the binding of reversible (e.g. atropine, quinuclidinylbenzylate) or irreversible (benzilylcholine or propylbenzilylcholine mustards) ligands. There is a close correlation between affinity constants derived from binding experiments and the affinities of muscarinic ligands for these sites obtained in pharmacological experiments on smooth muscle. Whereas atropine shows a single high affinity binding component (in subcellular preparations) several other ligands (QNB, ACh, oxotremorine) show multiple affinity binding. This indicated the existence of several types of binding sides which show selectivity toward certain cholinergic effectors. Most detergents inhibit the binding of ligands to the receptor site and therefore cannot be used to solubilize the receptor protein from the membrane. Treatment of brain subcellular membrane preparations with high salt concentrations (2M NaI) solubilize proteins which possess the muscarinic ligand binding properties observed in the membrane preparation. The affinities for muscarinic antagonists however are decreased, which suggests that a conformational change occurs in the protein upon solubilization.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder associated with intestinal dysbiosis. Given reported promising results of open-label fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) therapy in patients with predominant abdominal bloating, we studied efficacy of this treatment in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

METHODS
Patients with refractory IBS, defined as failure of ≥ 3 conventional therapies, were randomly assigned to single-dose nasojejunal administration of donor stools (n=43) or autologous stools (n=19) in a double-blind study, performed from December 2015 through October 2017, and followed for 1 year. IBS-related symptoms were assessed using a daily symptom diary to determine general abdominal discomfort, abdominal bloating, abdominal pain and flatulence on a scale of 1-6. Number of daily bowel movements, consistency of the stools, and the abdominal circumference were also recorded. Patients completed the IBS-specific quality of life questionnaire. Primary endpoints were improvement of IBS symptoms and bloating at 12 weeks (response). Secondary endpoints were changes in IBS-symptom-scores and quality of life. Stool samples were collected for microbiota amplicon sequencing. Open-label re-transplantation was offered after the trial.

RESULTS
At week 12, 56% of patients given donor stool reported improvement in both primary endpoints compared with 26% of patients given placebo (P=.03). Patients given donor stool had significant improvements in level of discomfort (mean reduction of 19%; median score preFMT, 3.98; range, 2.13-6.00; median score post-FMT, 3.1; range, 951.29-5.90), stool frequency (mean reduction of 13%, median score preFMT, 2.10; range, 0.57-14.29; median score postFMT 1.7; range, 0.71-4.29), urgency (mean reduction of 38%; median score preFMT, 0.61; range, 0.00-1.00; median score postFMT, 0.37; range, 0.00-1.00), abdominal pain (mean reduction of 26%; median score preFMT, 3.88; range, 1.57-5.17; median score postFMT, 2.80; range, 1.14-4.94), flatulence (mean reduction of 10%; median score preFMT, 3.42; range, 0.71-6.00; median score postFMT, 3.07; range, 0.79-4.23), and quality of life (mean increase of 16%; median score preFMT 32.6; range, 11-119; median score postFMT, 43.1; range, 32.25-99). A significantly higher proportion of women given donor stool (69%) had a response than men (29%) (P=.01). Fecal samples from responders had higher diversity of microbiomes before administration of donor material than fecal samples from non-responders (P=.04) and distinct baseline composition (P= .04), but no specific marker taxa were associated with response. After single FMT, 21% of patients given donor stool reported effects that lasted for more than 1 year, compared with 5% of patients given placebo stool. A second FMT reduced symptoms in 67% of patients with an initial response to donor stool, but not in patients with a prior non-response.

CONCLUSIONS
In a randomized trial of patients with treatment-refractory IBS with predominant bloating, FMT relieved symptoms compared with placebo (autologous transplant), although effects decreased over 1 year. A second FMT restored the response patients with a prior response. Response associated with composition of the fecal microbiomes before FMT; this might be used to as a biomarker to select patients for this treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov no: NCT02299973.


I interviewed twenty-four International students from the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Spain. Hereafter I shall refer to the respondents as Hispanic International students. My primary interest was to learn the way in which Hispanic International students defined themselves in view of ethnic definitions imposed on them by the administrative system in the U.S. First, Hispanic International students defined themselves primarily by their nationality. The second finding dealt with the usage of language. The Hispanic International students spoke Spanish with relatives and friends. They spoke English when a non-Spanish speaker joined the conversation. The third finding was related to the problems and adaptations encountered by Hispanic International students.


SUMMARY Medical simulation enables trainees to learn procedural skills in a tailored, non-threatening, controlled environment that can provide feedback and educational experiences. The goals of this study are to describe the set-up and execution of an educational intervention (SimORL) in Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) simulation, to report confidence in performing basic ENT procedures before and after the event and investigate whether participants would find it useful and educationally effective. SimORL was a two-day formative event held at SIMNOVA - Eastern Piedmont Simulation Centre, Italy. The event was open to ENT trainees from any Italian ENT training program; participants were divided into 5 teams and rotated around 10 different simulation stations over two days. Stations included: high-fidelity, skill trainer, computer based, wet lab and dissection. Stations were: virtual otoscopy (OtoSim®), simulated clinical cases with high-fidelity mannequin (e.g. epistaxis) or standardised patients (e.g. vestibular neuronitis), robotic surgery (Da Vinci®), human anatomy (zSPACE AIO®), surgical tracheostomy (wet model), cadaveric sino-nasal endoscopy (wet model), crisis resource management (team exercise), surgical sutures (Limbs&Things SkinPad®), surgical set station and team building exercises. Participants were asked to complete a pre- and post-test that queried previous experience and confidence using 10-item unanchored semantic scales. Results are presented as median (25-75 percentile). Satisfaction was assessed by a validated 5-item Likert Simulation Experience Scale (SSES). Twenty-three ENT trainees attended SimORL 2018. Only 3 participants reported limited previous simulation experience. Pre-post confidence significantly improved between before and after the event. Overall satisfaction with Simulation Experience Scale (SSES) was very high with a median of 4.5 of 5. Regarding simulation evaluation, the most appreciated station was nasal endoscopy (10/10), while the least appreciated was otoscopy (6/10). SimORL proved to be a highly rated and useful educational tool to improve junior ENT trainees' confidence in performing basic ENT procedures.


The article by Lin et al. has been retracted at the request of the authors. The strain of bacteria reported in the article was Lactobacillus reuteri GMN-32. However, the authors have contacted the British Journal of Nutrition to state that in fact the strain of bacteria used was Lactobacillus paracasei-32. Because of the fundamental nature of this error, the findings cannot be interpreted in the manner stated in the original article, and therefore this paper has been retracted. The authors apologise for this error.


Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive, degenerative disease characterized by cognitive dysfunction, including verbal memory loss. Studies were lacking in examining the longitudinal effect of polygenic hazard score on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test–Delayed Total (AVDELTOT) score (a common measure of verbal memory). A key step in analyzing longitudinal changes in cognitive measures using a linear mixed model (LMM) is choosing a suitable covariance structure. Objectives The study aims to determine the association between the polygenic hazard score and the AVDELTOT score accounting for repeated measures (the covariance structure). Methods The AVDELTOT scores were collected at baseline, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, and 48 months from 283 participants with AD, 347 with cognitive normal, and 846 with mild cognitive impairment in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The Bayesian information criterion statistic was used to select the best covariance structure from 10 covariance structures in longitudinal analysis of AVDELTOT scores. The multivariable LMM was used to investigate the effect of polygenic hazard score status (low vs. medium vs. high) on changes in AVDELTOT scores while adjusted for age, gender, education, APOE-ε4 genotype, and baseline Mini-Mental State Examination score. Results One-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in AVDELTOT scores, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and polygenic hazard scores among AD diagnoses at baseline. Bayesian information criterion favored the compound symmetry covariance structure in the LMM analysis. Using the multivariate LMM, the APOE-ε4 allele and high polygenic hazard score value was significantly associated with AVDELTOT declines. Significant polygenic hazard score status by follow-up visit interactions was discovered. Conclusion Our findings provide the first evidence of the effect of polygenic hazard score status and APOE-ε4 allele on declines in verbal memory in people with AD.


The book focuses on the key procedural and substantive challenges faced by the ICC since its establishment. The critical analysis of the normative framework aims to elaborate ways in which the Court may resolve difficulties, which prevent it from reaching its declared objectives in particularly complex situations


Ayurveda is an ancient bunch of knowledge that aims at maintaining the health of a healthy individual and curing the diseased one. This is brought by equalizing Dosha, Dhatu, and Mala. The term Kriyakala refers to recognising a disease's progress stage, which helps to determine appropriate measures to correct the imbalance in Doshas (biological factors). Ayurveda mentioned several concepts for understanding and preventing disease pathogenesis, and Shatakriyakala is one of them. It is a compound expression comprised of Kriya and Kala, where Kriya means the choice of treatment (medicine, food, and daily routine) used to improve the disturbance in Doshas, and Kala refers to the stage of progress of a disease. Shatakriyakala is mainly associated with six stages of disease progression and their possible management through Ayurveda principles. Shatakriyakala not only helps to diagnose diseases in the early stage but also helps to suppress their intensity. Kriyakala gives us the knowledge of diagnosis, prognosis, and the level of intervention to prevent disease establishment. A clear understanding of the stages of Kriyakala is an essential factor for early diagnosis and prognosis and for adopting appropriate preventing and curative measures to prevent the further establishment of disease & thereby prevent the complications associated with it emphasized in this article


Purpose: To validate a secondary treatment planning system (sTPS) for use by the Imaging & Radiation Oncology Core-Houston (IROC-H). The TPS will recalculate phantom irradiations submitted by institutions to IROC-H and compare plan results of the institution to the sTPS. Methods: In-field dosimetric data was collected by IROC-H for numerous linacs at 6, 10, 15, and 18 MV. The data was aggregated and used to define reference linac classes; each class was then modeled in the sTPS (Mobius3D) by matching the in-field characteristics. Fields used to collect IROC-H data were recreated and recalculated using Mobius3D. The same dosimetric points were measured in the recalculation and compared to the initial collection data. Additionally, a 6MV Monte Carlo beam configuration was used to compare penumbrae in the Mobius3D models. Finally, a handful of IROC-H head and neck phantoms were recalculated using Mobius3D. Results: Recalculation and quantification of differences between reference data and Mobius3D values resulted in a relative matching score of 12.45 (0 is a perfect match) for the default 6MV Mobius3D beam configuration. By adjusting beam configuration options, iterations resulted in scores of 8.45, 6.32, and 3.52, showing that customization could have a dramatic effect on beam configuration. After in-field optimization, penumbra was compared between Monte Carlo and Mobius3D for the reference fields. For open jaw fields, FWHM field widths and penumbra widths were different by <0.6 and <1mm respectively; for MLC open fields the penumbra widths were up to 1.5mm different. Phantom recalculations showed good agreement, having an average of 0.6% error per beam. Conclusion: A secondary TPS has been validated for simple irradiation geometries using reference data collected by IROC-H. The beam was customized to the reference data iteratively and resulted in a good match. This system can provide independent recalculation of phantom plans based on independent reference data.


Recently acquired palynological data from Dubrajpur sediments show the presence of spore-pollen taxa diagnostic of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic. The change in palynofloral composition is gradual and not abrupt. This palynosequence has been evaluated in terms of dominance/sub-dominance. Overall composition and First Appearance Datums of specific biomarker genera. viz.. Stereisporites, Foveosporites, Dictophyllidites, Nevesisporites. Lundbladispora, Enzonalasporites, Classopollis, Playfordiaspora. Striatopodocarpites, Arcuatipollenites, Infernopollenites, Straurosaccites, Minutosaccus, Podocarpidites, Araucariacites and Callialasporites. On the basis of the changing pattern of palynological characteristics seven palyno-events have been identified in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic strata in Borehole RJNE-32, Rajmahal Basin, Bihar. The present palynoassemblages are compared with those published previously from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of India. The palynofloral transition from late Late Triassic to early Early Jurassic is reported in the Dubrajpur sequence.


Background Abatacept (ABT), a selective co-stimulation modulator, is the first in a new class of biologic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Since ABT is often used as second line biologic, it would be important to clarify the impact of the type of previous biologics on ABT efficacy. Additionally, since ABT has also been used as first line biologic in Japan, it is also important to demonstrate the clinical data in biologic naïve patients compared to the patients with previous biologic treatment. Objectives We studied whether the history of and the type of previous biologic treatment had any impact on the ABT clinical efficacy in RA patients. Methods All RA patients who underwent ABT treatment for at least 24 weeks (n=111) at Nagoya University Hospital and 12 other institutes (Tsurumai Biologics Communication Study Group [2]) were enrolled in this study. Demographic data at baseline and the following parameters of disease activity (tender joint count (TJC) and swollen joint count (SJC) on 28 joints, patient global assessment (VAS), ESR, and serum CRP and MMP-3 levels during 24 weeks. We compared these clinical data between the patients without previous biologic history (Naïve, n=49) and those with previous biologic treatment (Switch All, n=62). The patients with one previous biologic (Switch 2nd, n=33), those with more than two previous biologics (Switch 3rd-, n=29), and Naïve group were compared each other. We also compared clinical data between the patients with previous or past tocilizumab treatment (Switch TCZ, n=16), those without TCZ treatment (Switch TNF, n=46), and Naïve group. The last observation carried forward (LOCF) method was used in each analysis. Results In the baseline characteristics data, there was no significant difference between Naïve and Switch All group, such as mean age (64.8 and 61.9), disease duration (8.7 and 11.9 years), DAS28 (4.4 and 4.6), and CRP (2.0 and 2.5 mg/dL). Although Switch All group showed significant DAS28 decreasing at week 24 compared to week 0, it was significantly higher than that in Naïve group (Fig. A-1). As shown in Fig. A-2, DAS28 at week 24 was significantly decreased in both Switch 2nd and Switch 3rd- group compared to week 0, and no significant difference was seen between these two groups. As shown in Fig. A-3, Switch TCZ group did not show statistically significant DAS28 decreasing at week 24 compared to week 0, and it was significantly higher than that in Switch TNF and Naïve group. Additionally, the percentage of the patients who achieved low disease activity (DAS28<3.2) in Switch TCZ group (12.5%) was apparently lower than that in Naïve (63.3%) or Switch TNF group (45.7%) (Fig. B). Conclusions The patients with the history of biologics treatment demonstrated significant improvement in RA disease activity, although the responsiveness to abatacept seemed to be better in the biologic naïve patients. However, abatacept demonstrated only inadequate efficacy in the patients with tocilizumab treatment history. Disclosure of Interest N. Takahashi: None Declared, T. Kojima Speakers Bureau: Abbott Japan, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Pfizer Japan, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Bristol-Myers Squibb, K. Funahashi: None Declared, D. Kato: None Declared, H. Matsubara: None Declared, Y. Hattori: None Declared, N. Ishiguro Speakers Bureau: Abbott Japan, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Pfizer Japan, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Bristol-Myers Squibb


Coniferous plantations have been established on sizeable areas of handcutaway raised bogs and modified fen peats in Ireland over the last thirty years. Whereas Scots pine and Norway spruce were used almost exclusively up to the mid 1960s, Sitka spruce has now become the dominant species because of its higher production potential (20m3/ha+). Mixtures of Scots pine and Norway spruce were often used where competition from heather was envisaged on the handcutaway bogs.
 Phosphorus and potassium application are essential on the handcutaway peat types in order to ensure good growth. There are increasing indications that copper application may also be necessary, particularly for pines and Sitka spruce. Potassium application alone is essential on the modified fen peats.
 Although Scots pine grew well in the early years on many of the site types described there is increasing evidence of die back at about 25 years of age on handcutaway sites, the causes of which are under investigation.
 Machine cutaway bogs, both sod peat and milled peat, appear to have a high production potential for forestry (22-24m3/ha). However, further research is necessary on milled peat bogs to ensure this potential is attained. The depth of peat left behind will be critical because of the highly calcareous nature of many of the underlying subsoils.


A numerical scheme is presented to compute the response of a composite material to an applied field. The scheme is based on an iteration that uses a Fourier transform based projection method to compute the response of a reference material to the applied field, and a contraction mapping to relate the response of the reference material to the response of the composite material. The scheme also utilizes nested uniform grids to improve performance, and to evaluate the refinement of the grid.


AIM
To investigate the effect of a recombinant replication-incompetent Ad5-hGax vector on the proliferation and apoptosis of serum-induced rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in vitro, and to provide an important support that Gax would be an optimal gene for gene therapy in vein graft failure.

METHODS
The Ad5-hGax vector was infected into rabbit VSMCs, then the protein level of rabbit VSMCs was detected at 1 d, 3 d, 5 d by Western blot, respectively. MTT was applied to observe the inhibitory effects of overexpressed hGax on serum-induced rabbit VSMCs. the apoptosis of serum-induced rabbit VSMCs was measured by using flow cytometry in 72 h after transfection.

RESULTS
The protein expression of human Gax in the Ad5-hGax transfected cells on 1st day, 3rd day, 5th day was determined; MTT showed that the proliferation of serum-induced rabbit VSMCs was significantly inhibited in Ad5-hGax group at 48 h, 72 h and 96 h (P<0.05, respectively); After transfecting for 72 h, flow cytometry analysis showed that the number of the apoptosis cells was increased in serum-induced Rabbit VSMCs of Ad5-hGax group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Overexpressed hGax could inhibit the proliferation of serum-induced Rabbit VSMCs and induce their apoptosis. These findings carry significant implications for adenovirus vector-based Gax gene therapies for vein graft failure.


Presents an inter-class pattern discovery method for real-world databases. While the data in a conventional database has a tuple structure, the data in pattern discovery has set-values or sequences. The structural differences between them may cause useless resulting patterns, and may result in an inefficient pattern discovery method. To resolve those issues, we propose an inter-class pattern discovery methodology. The first step is to convert a conventional database into a set of objects. During the conversion process, a tuple in the original database is converted into a conceptual object and, as another result, object generalization hierarchies are generated. From the object generalization hierarchies, interesting patterns of the conceptual objects can be extracted by applying multi-level pattern discovery algorithms. The resulting patterns are inter-class patterns of the original conventional database. We also show a pattern discovery query for our methodology and its application to intelligent query processing.


Even though the cliche 'theory is practice' registers in most communication for development debates, available evidence seems to suggest there is a growing chasm between the theory and practice of communication for development. This discussion argues that, with the increasing demand by governments and organisations for communication for development specialists, universities and training providers should rethink their graduate curricula. As course content, teaching methodologies and theoretical paradigms are revisited, trainers need to grill students on how the contestation of power is central to the application of communication in development. Th is paper advances two arguments. The first is that communication for development training has to begin listening to the innovative thinking that is shaping practice on the ground if the curriculum is to stay relevant. The second is that such programmes have forge strong linkages with development studies departments to ensure that students are well-grounded in development theory and practice.


Recent progress and achievements in creating single fundamental mode vertical cavity lasers with the technique of etching a 2-dimensional pattern of photonic crystal holes into the top distributed Bragg reflector are described. A simulation method for the design of single mode lasers is described, along with accuracy and limitations in predicting modal properties in these devices. Progress in improving output power, methods of lowering threshold currents, and small signal modulation of single mode lasers are discussed.


A deformed isoparametric Hermitian element can be used in the simulation of two-dimensional contaminant transport. The degree of freedom arising from the cross derivative may be eliminated in the Galerkin-type finite element formulation, reducing the computational effort per node. Two example problems demonstrate that the Hermitian element gives results which are comparable to those obtained with the zero-order continuous cubic element but requires 25–40% fewer degrees of freedom, depending on the geometrical description of the problem.


This article analyses one of the first studies of the past of the Crimean Peninsula, written by Scottish doctor in Russian service Matthew Guthrie (1743–1807). Written in the genre of "fictitious travel," allegedly made by the late spouse of Dr Guthrie, this volume presents a good example of how the persons of the Enlightenment studied the past, of their notions, working methods, and cognitive practices.


We propose and implement a learning to grasp system inspired from the development of reaching and grasping in infants, and the neurophysiology of the monkey premotor cortex. The system is composed of a virtual 19 DOF kinematics arm/hand and a learning mechanism that enables it to perform a successful grasp. The learning is based on "motor babbling". The model performs open hand reaches to the vicinity of the targets, which human infants younger than 4 moths of age appear to do. The contact of the hand with the object triggers an enclosure of the hand simulating the palmer reflex, characteristic to infants that are younger than 6 months of age. The varying degree of enclosure of each finger and the randomness in the reaching phase enables the system to explore the grasp configuration space. The learning scheme employed is a Hebbian one.


White oils or waxes [mineral hydrocarbons (MHCs)] with substantial levels of saturated hydrocarbons in the range of C18 to C32 have produced hepatic microgranulomas and lymph node microgranulomas (also referred to as histiocytosis) after repeated administration to female Fischer-344 (F-344) rats. Female Sprague-Dawley (S-D) rats are less sensitive to these MHC-induced hepatic and lymph node effects. Studies reported herein characterized the pharmacokinetics and disposition of a representative C-26 MHC, [1-(14)C]1-eicosanylcyclohexane ([(14)C]EICO), in these two rat strains. Female F-344 and S-D rats were administered by oral gavage either a high (1.80 g/kg) or a low (0.18 g/kg) dose of MHC in olive oil (1:4, v/v) containing [(14)C]EICO as a tracer. Blood, urine, feces, liver, and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) were analyzed for [(14)C]EICO and (14)C-metabolites. After the high dose, F-344 rats had a higher blood C(max) of [(14)C]EICO, a longer time to C(max), and a greater area under the systemic blood concentration-time curve from zero to time infinity compared with S-D rats. After the low dose, F-344 rats displayed a unique triphasic blood concentration-time profile, meaning two distinct C(max) values were observed. Fecal excretion was the major route of [(14)C]EICO elimination for both rat strains (70-92% of the dose). S-D rats eliminated the majority of [(14)C]EICO metabolites recovered in the urine by 16 h (8-17% of the dose), whereas F-344 rats did not excrete the same amount until 72 to 96 h. Beyond 24 h, a greater level of [(14)C]EICO was recovered in livers of F-344 rats; at 96 h, 3 and 0.1% of the dose was retained in livers of F-344 and S-D rats, respectively. The major urinary metabolites of EICO in both rat strains were identified as 12-cyclohexyldodecanoic acid and 10-cyclohexyldecanoic acid. Based on the pharmacokinetic parameters and disposition profiles, the data indicate inherent strain differences in the total systemic exposure, rate of metabolism, and hepatic and lymph node retention of [(14)C]EICO, which may be associated with the different strain sensitivities to the formation of liver granulomas and MLN histiocytosis.


Cardiovascular intervention for myocardial revascularization dominates modern treatment of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Current efficiency and safety of this method could never be achieved without the development of antiplatelet agents that provide indispensable protection for endovascular interventions. However, antithrombotic therapy is generally less effective in diabetes mellitus (DM), affecting prognosis for transcutaneous intervention. This trend is probably due to alteration of cellular homeostasis during hyperglycemia and correlates with its severity and persistence. This paper addresses modern understanding of factors affecting thrombogenesis in patients with DM.


Theoretical calculations of the modal reflectance of semiconductor laser facets, giving conditions for the coating index and thickness for a prescribed modal reflectance for TE and TM polarized light, are presented. A simplified method of calculating the modal reflectance is suggested and compared to a more exact method as well as to two other published methods. The possibilities of simultaneously achieving low reflectance for both polarizations are investigated with reference to the laser structure. >