Spin Hall effects are a collection of phenomena, resulting from spin-orbit coupling, in which an electrical current flowing through a sample can lead to spin transport in a perpendicular direction and spin accumulation at lateral boundaries. These effects, which do not require an applied magnetic field, can originate in a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic spin-orbit coupling mechanisms and depend on geometry, dimension, impurity scattering, and carrier density of the system—making the analysis of these effects a diverse field of research. In this article, we give an overview of the theoretical background of the spin Hall effects and summarize some of the most important results. First, we explain effective spin-orbit Hamiltonians, how they arise from band structure, and how they can be understood from symmetry considerations; including intrinsic coupling due to bulk inversion or structure asymmetry or due to strain, and extrinsic coupling due to impurities. This leads to different mechanisms of spin transport: spin precession, skew scattering, and side jump. Then we present the kinetic (Boltzmann) equations, which describe the spin-dependent distribution function of charge carriers, and the diffusion equation for spin polarization density. Next, we define the notion of spin currents and discuss their relation to spin polarization. Finally, we explain the electrically induced spin effects; namely, spin polarization and currents in bulk and near boundaries (the focus of most current theoretical research efforts), and spin injection, as well as effects in mesoscopic systems and in edge states.


Clinical information on parricidal offenders has accumulated in recent decades. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the mortality of matricidal and patricidal offenders in detail by using a comprehensive national data set with follow-up ranging from 3 to 24 years. The sample included forensic psychiatric examination statements and mortality data of 99 matricidal, 113 patricidal, and 111 control male violent offenders evaluated in a forensic psychiatric examination from 1973 to 2004 in Finland. The Standardized Mortality Ratio among parricidal offenders 25 to 49 years of age was increased compared with that of the general population. One-third of deaths among parricidal offenders were attributable to suicide. The matricidal males who committed suicide had a significantly shorter survival time after the offense than did the patricidal and control offenders who died by suicide. The results of the present study are compared with the previous study findings on parricidal offenders and offenders in general.


BACKGROUND
Students on health and social care degree programmes spend 50% of their time on practice placements. Because of the diversity of settings and the need to evidence their work, it is vital to understand the information and resource needs of placement students.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this investigation was to understand the needs of placement students in terms of accessing resources whilst they are in the field in order to inform a guide to meet these needs.

METHODS
Focus groups were conducted with students on midwifery, social work and post-registration health professions degree programmes on three different sites across the region. Data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis.

RESULTS
Three themes emerged from the data: inequality, user education needs and students' solutions and strategies.

CONCLUSIONS
It is essential to speak to placement students in order to understand their needs in terms of accessing and using library resources. The timing and content of information skills training is key to meeting student needs while on placement.


Objective: To analyze the risk factors which cause maternal deaths and to examine the socio-demographic and reproductive history of diseased women.
Methodology: This retrospective study was carried out on 72 women who died over a period of 2014-15 in district Faisalabad, Pakistan. The case summaries were reviewed and analyzed that were collected by the maternal new born child health (MNCH) program, district Faisalabad. Data, regarding age, residential area, parity, antenatal visits, place of deaths and cause of maternal deaths were assessed and analyzed by SPSS version 17.
Results: Mean age of maternal death was 29.12±4.06 year and 81.9% deaths took place in the rural area. The highest maternal mortality was found 40.3% in parity 5 and above. Out of 72 maternal deaths, 19.4% were primigravida. Only 44.5% of diseased women got the 3 and above prenatal visits. It was found that 65.6% maternal deaths happened in less than 24 hours after delivery. The major and foremost reasons of maternal deaths were hemorrhage (31.9%), hypertensive disorders/eclampsia (26.4%) and sepsis (13.9%).
Conclusion: The major causes of maternal deaths were hemorrhage, followed by hypertensive disorder/eclampsia. The highest maternal mortality was found in parity four and above, which indicates that maternal deaths were associated with number of pregnancies.


In two experiments, participants were presented with pictures of different foods (A, B, C, D, X,) and learned which combinations resulted in an allergic reaction in a fictitious patient, MrX. In Problem 1, when Aor B (but not Cor D) was combined with food Xan allergic reaction occurred, and when C or D(but not A or B) was combined with Y an allergic reaction occurred. In Experiment 1, participants also received Problem 2 in which A, B, C, and Dinteracted with foods V and Weither in the same way as X and Y, respectively, or in a different way. Participants performed more proficiently in the former than in the latter condition. In Experiment 2, after training on Problem 1, participants judged whether or not novel combinations of foods (e.g., AB, CD, AD, CB) would cause an allergic reaction in MrX. They were no more likely to indicate that ABor CD would cause an allergic reaction than AD or CB, but made their judgements more rapidly and with greater confidence on AB and CDtrials than on ADand CB trials. These results (1) indicate that shared representations come to be addressed by the components of similar compounds (e.g., AX and BX) that have predicted the same outcome (an allergic reaction), and (2) are inconsistent with standard, associative theories of learning, but (3) are consistent with findings from nonhuman animals and with a connectionist interpretation of these findings.


Obesity affects over 40% of the US population and predisposes individuals to metabolic syndrome, which is associated with a 50% increase in the risk of cardiovascular events. A documented clinical manifestation of obesity is a procoagulant and anti-fibrinolytic state. Elevated levels of circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) -1 are correlated with metabolic syndrome, and PAI-1-deficient mice are protected from diet-induced obesity (DIO) . However, an unresolved question is whether plasminogen itself influences the development of obesity and associated disease sequelae? Here, we analyzed the impact of genetically-imposed plasminogen deficiency on the development of DIO and associated pathologies. Over the course of 20 weeks, plasminogen-deficient (Plg-) mice gained as much weight as the control mice (Plg+) on HFD, although HFD-fed Plg- mice had larger epididymal white adipose tissues than those of HFD-fed Plg+ mice. In contrast, while HFD-fed Plg+ animals displayed a fatty liver disease phenotype characterized by histological evidence of steatosis, elevated triglyceride content, and hepatocellular injury, HFD-fed Plg- mice were protected from developing each of these pathologies. HFD-fed Plg+ mice also developed hypercholesterolemia, whereas circulating cholesterol levels in Plg- mice were comparable to LFD-fed mice. Intriguingly, while the brown adipose tissue mass was comparable between diet and genotype, there was an upregulation of uncoupling protein-1 (Ucp1) expression in BAT of HFD-fed Plg- mice. Notably, whereas HFD-fed Plg+ mice showed evidence of insulin resistance as revealed by compromised glucose clearance, HFD-fed Plg- mice were partially protected. Collectively, our data suggest that plasmin (ogen) contributes to HFD-induced fatty liver disease and insulin resistance, and that plasminogen deficiency imposes a state of metabolically healthy obesity.

 W.S.Hur: None. Y.Nguyen: None. Y.Patel: None. K.C.King: None. M.J.Flick: None.

 National Institutes of Health (RDK112778)


The formation of a thermocline generated by the interaction between a stabilizing buoyancy flux and shear‐free turbulence was studied using a numerical model. The time evolutions of the vertical distributions of the buoyancy and turbulent kinetic energy were calculated and were used to evaluate the depth of the thermocline and the time required for its formation. The numerical results are compared with the results of previous laboratory experiments. The mechanisms responsible for the formation of the thermocline are discussed in view of the numerical results.


Introduction Preclinical studies show ropinirole has neuroprotective properties in models of Parkinson's disease (PD). A pilot study in patients, using "F-dopa positron emission tomography (PET), indicated slower disease progression in those receiving ropinirole compared with those taking L-dopa. This 2-year, double-blind, multinational study was conducted to compare the rates ofloss of putamen dopamine-terminal function in patients with early PD receiving ropinirole or L-dopa. Methods The primary endpoint was change in putamen "F-dopa uptake (Ki) measured using PET. To be included in this analysis, patients must have had PET evidence of PD on their baseline scan. Data from six PET centres were centrally transformed into standard stereotaxic space, to normalise brain position and shape, then analysed with a standard region of interest (ROI) template. Parametric images were also interrogated with statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to localise regions of significant between-group differences in rates of loss of dopaminergic function. Dyskinesias were defined as a score of at least I on item 32 of the Unified PD Rating Scale, or their report as an adverse event. Results Ninety-three patients were randomised to each group; 73% of the ropinirole and 74% of the L-dopa group completed the study. A total of 21 patients were excluded from the efficacy analysis because they did not have PET evidence of PD at baseline. ROI analysis showed that the loss of putamen Ki was significantly slower with ropinirole (-13%) than with L-dopa (-20%; p=0.022). The more affected side at baseline showed a greater treatment difference in favour of ropinirole. SPM analysis showed the reductions in Ki were significantly slower in the putamen and substantia nigra in the ropinirole group compared with those in the L-dopa group (putamen: ropinirole -14%, Ldopa -23%, p<O.OO I; substantia nigra: ropinirole +4%, L-dopa -8%, p=0.025). Only 3% of patients in the ropinirole group but 25% of the L-dopa group developed dyskinesias during treatment (p<0.001, odds ratio=0.09). Conclusion "F-dopa PET shows evidence of a significantly slower loss of dopamine terminal function in patients with early PD taking ropinirole compared with those taking L-dopa.


Purpose : Periventricular leukomalacia(PVL) is associated with various neurologic sequelae such as cerebral palsy and cortical blindness. The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between the degree of PVL on MRI and clinical features or its severity. Methods : Thirty-eight children with PVL on MRI among children brought to Pusan National University Hospital between January 1996 and August 1999 with development delay, cerebral palsy or epilepsy were included into the study group. We reviewed medical records of the patients including the gestational age, birth weight and neurologic sequelae. The grade for PVL was divided into 1 to 3, and it was based on abnormally increased signal intensity in periventricular white matter or a reduced amount of periventricular white matter or both, and compensatory focal ventricular enlargement. We analysed the relationship of the grade of PVL and various clinical findings. Results : The age ranged from 11 months to 13 years old with a mean of 42 months. History of cesarean delivery and ventilator care were significantly frequent for the severe grade of PVL. Birth weight was significantly lower according to grade of PVL. Gestational age was lower according to the grade of PVL, but was not significant statistically. Incidence of cerebral palsy was significantly higher on the severe grade of PVL. Incidence of epilepsy and mental retardation were 34.2% and 23.9%, not associated with the grade of PVL. Conclusion : Incidence of cerebral palsy was associated with the severe grade of PVL, so we think MRI can be helpful in predicting neurodevelopmental outcome. (J Korean Pediatr Soc 2000;43:798-805)


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of nurse specialist in the general hospital, and to provide basic data for the role management of nurse specialist. Method: The subjects were 38 staff nurses who worked in a medical, surgical, or other department in one general hospital. Survey tools were developed with criteria for a clinical nurse specialist by American Nurses Association(1986), Korean Nurses Association(2001), Kim(2005)'s research, and the nurse specialists' self job description. Validity of the tool was examined by 5 clinical nursing experts and nurse specialists. Data analysis was done by using SPSS Win 12.0 program. Result: The results of domains for the job of nurse specialists were 61.6% for direct clinical practice, 21.7% for education, 5.7% for consultation, 5.2% for management, 5.2% for research, and 1.1% for other domains. The results for the large classifications in nurse specialists domains were 57.6% for direct nursing practice in direct clinical practice domain, 89.1% for patient education in education domain, 57.5% for medical consultation in consultation domain, 57.5% for medical research in research domain, and 39.2% for documentation in management domain. Conclusion: This research revealed that direct clinical practice domain was higher than the other domains of research, education, and management. Discussion and development about the nurse specialist's various roles needs to be addressed on a continual basis.


In this contribution, the replication of nano-textures enhancing the short circuit current of thin film silicon solar cells onto low cost substrates (glass or PolyEthylene Naphtalate (PEN)) is studied. Optical and morphological analysis is performed to asses the quality of these replicas. Single and tandem a-Si:H solar cells are deposited on top of the master and replica structures to verify their suitability to be used as substrates for solar cells in substrate (n-i-p) configuration. We find similar stabilized efficiencies (> 8 %) for tandem cells on a master and a PEN replica of a different texture. The use of a soft stamp to make these replicas is smoothing the original features of the masters. Replications with higher fidelity of fine features are obtained with solid stamps. Such replicas do not exhibit discernible differences when compared to their master textures by atomic force microscopy measurements. Moreover a comparison of single junction amorphous cells made on a replica and on its corresponding master shows no difference in term of light trapping capability of the texture. Keywords: Thin film Solar Cells, Replication Process, Back Reflector


Composite cylinders to be used as half shafts must satisfy several requirements, such as critical speed, critical buckling torque, and load carrying ability. This study focused on the investigation of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite cylinders produced by filament winding to be used as half shafts. A preliminary torsional test in a [±45]5 cylinder was performed and three other laminates were chosen for the study: [±22/±45], [±89/±45], and [±45/±45]. Radial and longitudinal compression tests were performed. Mechanical analysis has been carried out using analytical and numerical approaches, and good correlation was found between them and the experimental values. The [±45/±45] cylinder showed the best performance under torsional loading, as expected, as well as radial and longitudinal compression, but not critical buckling torque.


The general view of this document makes reference to the moment of development model and economic policy about determination of the country course of growth. The effects of growth are dependent on the nature of permanent or transient shock, and on certain economy conditions: the relative intensities in capital of productive sectors, the degree of investment mobility and restrains, factorial endowment, among many other variables. In dealing with Colombia, an analysis of economic growth dynamics is completed, both at short-and-log-term of macroeconomic performance and the influence of economic policy instability during the last few years. The effects of economic policy on output and employment in Colombia during the last decade are shown.


Public shaming on social media platforms like Twitter / Instagram / Facebook etc. have recently increased from the past years. This results in affecting an individual's social, political, mental and financial life. The impact can range from mild bullying to severe depression. With the growing leniency on these social platforms, many people have started misusing the opportunity by turning to online bullying and hate speech. When something is posted online, it stays there forever and it becomes extremely hard taking something out of the digital world. Manually locating and categorizing such comments is a lengthy procedure and just cannot be relied upon. To solve this challenge, automation was performed to identify and classify the shamers. This has been done using the classic SVM model which worked on a given quantity of data. To identify the negative content being posted and discussed online, this paper further explores the deep learning system which can successfully classify these content pieces into proper labels. The text-based Convolution Neural Network (CNN) is the proposed model in this paper for this analysis.


The article explores the impact of government spending on the key components of economic activity in Russia, such as private consumption and investment. The author pays serious attention to the theoretical justifications of the possible impact of fiscal policy on economic growth and its components, as well as reviews the empirical results obtained in this area. In the empirical part of the article, government expenditures are represented by the "GDP by expenditure" items — government consumption and government investment. The results, for Russian data covering the period of 1995—2017, indicate a short-term positive impact of government spending on private consumption and a negative impact on private investment. It also proves important to take into consideration the changes in macroeconomic conditions that occurred approximately in the middle of the observed period.


This paper tries to use USB and personal digital assistant to develop a novel power quality (PQ) monitoring platform and then integrates GPRS technique into the proposed PQ platform to realize wide-area PQ monitoring. The works of this paper can be divided into three parts. First, a small-scale PQ monitoring platform with appropriately designed I/O interfaces and peripherals is designed and implemented. Next, a GPRS module which can be integrated into the designed PQ monitoring platform is developed. Finally, a web server with well-designed database used to record abnormal PQ data is designed. The proposed GPRS based wide-area PQ monitoring system can be used for PQ monitoring with minimum cost and maximum efficiency All the functions implemented in this paper can realize the novel, real-time and wide-area PQ monitoring. Experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed system.


Haithabu and the Danish monarchy in the 10th centuryNumismatic evidenceIn the 10th century, Haithabu and its environs constituted a numismatic enclave with its own coinage used by number rather than by weight. This is apparent both from hoards located in the town's hinterland and single finds from the town itself. In these, local coins – imitations of Charlemagne's coins from Dorestad – dominate in the form of intact speciments that are neither bent nor tested. At that time in Scandinavia and Baltic area it was the norm to use silver as payment by weight. Ornaments and coins from many different origins were used and these were cut up to give the required weight; the quality of the metal was tested by bending and nicking and pecking. Finds of Islamic dirhams and characteristic balance weights for weighing silver do, however, show that this latter usage of coins also took place in the Schlei area and Haithabu. Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine from the archaeological record whether these two ways of using coins and silver reflect two chronological phases or, alternatively, two coeval parallel spheres of coin usage – one internal with exclusive use of its own coinage and one external with acceptance of silver according to weight, when trading with foreign merchants.Over the past decade, excavations and metal-detector surveys in Haithabu have yielded several speciments of Danish king Harald Bluetooth's characteristic cross-motif coin from AD 975/980-985/990, which was previously conspicuous by its absence. These new finds show that, in Haithabu, cross-motif coins fulfilled the function of local coinage used by number following cessation of minting of the earlier Carolus-Dorestad imitations. These cross-motif coins must, accordingly, have been struck in Haithabu itself.The distribution of records of cross-motif coins across the rest of Denmark suggests that Harald used this coinage as gifts to his nobles and, accordingly, it symbolises the king. It is not simply happenstance that Christian symbols occupy a prominent position on the coin motif. The coins were used to spread and promote the new religion. Consequently, the king himself must be presumed to have been the issuing power. In turn, this means that the place where the coins were minted – Haithabu – must have been under Danish control at that particular time. So the hypothesis of German rule in Haithabu during the period AD 974-983 is no longer tenable. It also means that the coinage which supplied Haithabu's well-organised coin economy at that time was under the king's control. As it is well documented for later periods, the king probably demanded a fee for exchange to this coinage and thereby generated an income.Two small hoards from Nonnebakken in Odense suggest that Harald also controlled coin production in Haithabu prior to AD 975/980. These consist largely of Carolus-Dorestad imitations minted in Haithabu, and their find circumstances suggest that they could represent royal payments in connection with construction of the ring fortress. However, this hypothesis builds on a flimsy foundation. Hopefully, new finds will allow it to be confirmed or refuted. At that time, the minting of Carolus-Dorestad imitations was in a lamentable state both technically and in terms of weight, and Harald's introduction of the cross-motif coin can be perceived as a reform with the intention of re-establishing the good standard.The sources do not permit us to ascertain whether coinage in Haithabu prior to the 10th century was under the control of the king or the merchants. As mentioned above, the coins were used by Haithabu's merchants in the town's well-organised coin economy. There are historical parallels to both the town producing its own coins and to royal control, making it difficult to choose between the two possibilities. The coins found their way to other parts of Denmark but did not achieve a dominant status until around AD 975. The archaeological record also shows that they were simply used here in the same way as any other type of coin in the predominant metal-weight economy. Consequently, the Danish monarchy probably did not favour their overall distribution at this time.Jens Christian MoesgårdNationalmuseet


[1] Previous studies have used small numbers of ice core records of past volcanism to represent hemispheric or global radiative forcing from volcanic stratospheric aerosols. With the largest-ever assembly of volcanic ice core records and state-of-the-art climate model simulations of volcanic deposition, we now have a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of spatial variations on sulfate deposition and on estimates of atmospheric loading. We have combined 44 ice core records, 25 from the Arctic and 19 from Antarctica, and Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE simulations to study the spatial distribution of volcanic sulfate aerosols in the polar ice sheets. We extracted volcanic deposition signals by applying a high-pass loess filter to the time series and examining peaks that exceed twice the 31-year running median absolute deviation. Our results suggest that the distribution of volcanic sulfate aerosol follows the general precipitation pattern in both regions, indicating the important role precipitation has played in affecting the deposition pattern of volcanic aerosols. We found a similar distribution pattern for sulfate aerosols from the 1783–1784 Laki and 1815 Tambora eruptions, as well as for the total b activity after the 1952–1954 low-latitude Northern Hemisphere and 1961–1962 high-latitude Northern Hemisphere atmospheric nuclear weapon tests. This confirms the previous assumption that the transport and deposition of nuclear bomb test debris resemble those of volcanic aerosols. We compare three techniques for estimating stratospheric aerosol loading from ice core data: radioactive deposition from nuclear bomb tests, Pinatubo sulfate deposition in eight Antarctic ice cores, and climate model simulations of volcanic sulfate transport and deposition following the 1783 Laki, 1815 Tambora, 1912 Katmai, and 1991 Pinatubo eruptions. By applying the above calibration factors to the 44 ice core records, we have estimated the stratospheric sulfate aerosol loadings for the largest volcanic eruptions during the last millennium. These loadings agree fairly well with estimates based on radiation, petrology, and model simulations. We also estimate the relative magnitude of sulfate deposition compared with the mean for Greenland and Antarctica for each ice core record, which provides a guideline to evaluate the stratospheric volcanic sulfate aerosol loading calculated from a single or a few ice core records.


We present in this paper, based on HFSS simulation studies, a simple way to improve a PCB to DIE transition (trough a Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) package) for a 50 Ohm impedance of reference. The method uses well known technique for the synthesis of Low Pass (LP) filter based on Standard Engineering normalized tables. A II model of the PBGA transition at high frequency is used as one of the embedded building block of a typical LC ladder filter. The additional LC sections around the PBGA transition are distributed (microstrip) elements on the PCB side and lumped elements on the DIE side. Such simple filtering technique improves in very significant way the return loss (RL) margin over the accepted -10 dB threshold in the RF industry.


Inflammatory response in unintended tissues and organs associated with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors also known as immune related adverse events (irAEs) is a management challenge, and renal irAEs are associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality. The most common renal toxicity is acute interstitial nephritis (AIN), characterized by infiltration of renal tissue with immune cells, and may be analogous to kidney transplant rejection. Using both clinical variables and tissue findings we evaluated a large cohort of ICI cases to determine predictors of renal response and overall survival.We retrospectively reviewed all patients treated with ICI (August 2007 to August 2020) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. A total of 38 patients with biopsy confirmed AIN and available tissue were identified. All slides were reviewed by two board certified renal pathologists and the severity of inflammation and chronicity was graded using transplant rejection BANFF criteria. Patients were categorized as renal responders if creatinine improved or returned to baseline after treatment and non-responders if it did not. Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables and t-test/ANOVA or the counterparts of the non-parametric approaches (Wilcoxon rank-sum or Kruskal-Wallis) for continuous variables were used to compare patient's characteristics between groups. The distribution of overall survival (OS) was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank test was performed to test the difference in survival between groups.Based on the detailed pathological findings, patients with increased interstitial fibrosis were less likely to have renal response with treatment compared to patients with less fibrosis, (p < 0.05). Inflammation, tubulitis, number of eosinophils and neutrophils had no impact on renal response. Patients with response within 3 months of AKI treatment had a superior OS in comparison to patients who responded late (12-month OS rate: 77% vs 27%, p < 0.05). Notably, patients who received concurrent ICI and achieved renal response within 3 months had the best OS while those who did not receive concurrent ICI nor achieved renal response had worst OS (12-month OS rate: 100% (renal response and concurrent ICI) vs 72% ( renal response with no concurrent ICI), vs 27% ( no renal response and nonconcurrent ICI) (p < 0.05).This is the first analysis of ICI induced nephritis where a detailed pathological and clinical evaluation was performed to predict renal response. Our findings highlight the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of ICI-AIN while continuing concurrent ICI therapy.This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the procedures followed were in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.


The poetry of Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has received a considerable number of critical responses, among which spatial analysis occupies a minor position, although her texts explore complex relationships between subject and context. Drawing from a threefold theoretical apparatus (Bachelard's theory of the poetic space, the Foucauldian concept of heterotopia, and the trope of liminality), this article focuses on the analysis of Plath's increasing use of in-between spaces and objects of transition and transformations (mirrors, thresholds, windows), as well as on her predilection for heterotopic and alienating sceneries (hospital rooms, cemeteries), in both her poetry and prose. The study first acknowledges Plath's choice of spatial imagery as a progressive orientation towards transitional states and places of otherness and ambivalence. Then, it highlights the specific role of heterotopic and liminal spaces in the process of reconfiguration of female identity. Given the impossibility for the female subject to rely on imprisoning domestic spheres to suture the edges of her fragmented self, reconceptualization of her own consciousness only becomes possible in the movement across a threshold. The analysis finally determines that the poetic evocation of spaces of conflict and difference paradoxically contributes to the shaping of female identity.


Disturbances of facial growth, occlusion and temporomandibular joint function respectively are all possible sequelae of condylar fractures in children. In this study 30 children (age at accident from 9 months to 14 years, mean 6 years and 9 months) were reexamined who had sustained conservatively treated condylar fractures. Dysfunction and disturbances within the stomathognathic system were assessed by a clinical and radiographic examination. The mean interval between the accident and the follow-up study was 4 years and 11 months. The maximal interincisive distance was always better than 35 mm. The "en face" analysis revealed 6 cases with an inclined occlusion plane referring to the horizontal plane. Only 3 patients, all with bilateral condylar fractures, showed a restricted mandibular mobility. Remodelling of the condylar head was very good in 77% of the cases. In the frontal plane, 21% of the unilateral cases and 33% of the bilateral cases respectively had a persistent medial inclination of the condyle. The measured difference in length of the processus articularis showed the highest correlation to the previous condylar fracture. The radiological evaluation after Ricketts (1960) and Mulick (1965) to assess facial asymmetry revealed six cases (20%) with a relevant angle difference of more than 5 degrees.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been increasingly reported in critically-ill COVID-19 patients. Moreover, there was significant positive correlation between COVID-19 deaths and renal disorders in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with underlying comorbidities who required renal replacement therapy. It has suggested that death in COVID-19 patients with AKI is 3-fold higher than in COVID-19 patients without AKI. The pathophysiology of COVID-19-associated AKI could be attributed to unspecific mechanisms, as well as COVID-19-specific mechanisms such as direct cellular injury, an imbalanced renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, pro-inflammatory cytokines elicited by the viral infection and thrombotic events. To date, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 and its associated AKI. Luteolin is a natural compound with multiple pharmacological activities, including anticoronavirus, as well as renoprotective activities against kidney injury induced by sepsis, renal ischemia and diverse nephrotoxic agents. Therefore, in this review, we mechanistically discuss the anti-SARS-CoV-2 and renoprotective activities of luteolin, which highlight its therapeutic potential in COVID-19-AKI patients.


Rocket motors are widely used to generate thrust or impulsive force to impart a desired velocity to flight vehicle to transport its payload to the intended destination. The working principle of Rocket motor is mainly Newton's 2nd and 3rd laws. Rocket motors are non-air breathing propulsion class i.e., won't require oxygen from the atmosphere for combustion of the fuel which is stored in the rocket motor. During the operating conditions of the motor hardware, it will be subjected to high temperatures and pressure loads. Structural and thermal design has to carried out for a given input parameters and analysis to be carried out to check the stress levels and temperatures on the hardware. The present paper deals with structural design of motor hardware. The main input parameters considered are the maximum operating pressure and maximum diameter of the Motor hardware. The material properties considered are up to 100°C. Structural analysis and fracture analysis are to carry out after the design of each component of the rocket motor hardware. For design, the motor hardware is considered as a pressure vessel. To compute parameters like thickness some initial assumptions were made. 2D drawing is developed using Auto Cad software and structural analysis is carried out in ANSYS. This software employs finite element analysis techniques to generate the solution. Hence the displacement magnitude, von mises stress and strain developed within the motor is pictorially visualized. Fracture analysis is also carried out on the material.


In this paper we address the application of single sensor source separation techniques to mixtures of speech and music. Three strategies for source modeling are presented, namely Gaussian scaled mixture models (GSMM), autoregressive (AR) models and amplitude factor (AF). The common ingredient to the methods is the use of a codebook containing elementary spectral shapes to represent non- stationary signals, and to handle separately spectral shape and amplitude information. We propose a new system that employs separate models for the speech and music signals. The speech signal proves to be best modeled with the AR-based codebook, while the music signal is best modeled with the AF-based codebook. Experimental results demonstrate the improved performance of the proposed approach for speech/music separation in some evaluation criteria.


Collision alert and avoidance systems (CAS) could help to minimize driver errors. They are instrumental as an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) when the vehicle is facing potential hazards. Developing effective ADAS/CAS, which provides alerts to the driver, requires a fundamental understanding of human sensory perception and response capabilities. This research explores the premise that external stimulation can effectively improve drivers' reaction and response capabilities. Therefore this article proposes a light-emitting diode (LED)-based driver warning system to prevent potential collisions while evaluating novel signal processing algorithms to explore the correlation between driver brain signals and external visual stimulation. When the vehicle approaches emerging obstacles or potential hazards, an LED light box flashes to warn the driver through visual stimulation to avoid the collision through braking. Thirty (30) subjects completed a driving simulator experiment under different near-collision scenarios. The Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) of the drivers' brain signals and their collision mitigation (control performance) data were analyzed to evaluate the LED warning system's effectiveness. The results show that (1) The proposed modified canonical correlation analysis evaluation (CCA-EVA) algorithm can detect SSVEP responses with 4.68% higher accuracy than the Adaptive Kalman filter; (2) The proposed driver monitoring and alert system produce on average a 52% improvement in time to collision (TTC), 54% improvement in reaction distance (RD), and an overall 26% reduction in collision rate as compared to similar tests without the LED warning.


Gifted education services in rural districts typically lag behind those in nonrural areas. Using district classifications assigned by the National Center for Education Statistics and Texas school district data (n = 1,029) from the Academic Excellence Indicator System, the role of school district classification on gifted education outcomes was investigated. Contextual variables such as school demographics and school size were also examined. The study focused on rural and town school districts which are further classified as fringe, distant, or remote (level of proximity) within those two broad categories. Results of one-way multivariate analysis of variance indicated an effect of proximity for both rural and town districts on both contextual variables and gifted education outcomes. Additionally, rural fringe districts were found to be more similar to districts not classified as rural (i.e., urban, suburban, town) than to rural distant and rural remote districts. Findings offer important implications for both the support for gifted education in rural settings and the usefulness of the census codes as an indicator in educational research.


We present a case of Kearns-Sayre syndrome diagnosed in a boy with retinitis pigmentosa ophthalmoplegia, ancephalomyopathy and cardiomyopathy. A single large-scale mtDNA deletion at very low level in the blood sample using Southern blot analyses and multiprimer DNA amplification was detected. This case demonstrates that retinitis pigmentosa may be due to genetic mitochondrial disturbances.


We study the problem of integrating cognitive language processing signals (e.g., eye-tracking or EEG data) into pre-trained language models like BERT. Existing methods typically fine-tune pre-trained models on cognitive data, ignoring the semantic gap between the texts and cognitive signals. To fill the gap, we propose CogBERT, a framework that can induce fine-grained cognitive features from cognitive data and incorporate cognitive features into BERT by adaptively adjusting the weight of cognitive features for different NLP tasks. Extensive experiments show that: (1) Cognition-guided pre-trained models can consistently perform better than basic pre-trained models on ten NLP tasks. (2) Different cognitive features contribute differently to different NLP tasks. Based on this observation, we give a fine-grained explanation of why cognitive data is helpful for NLP. (3) Different transformer layers of pre-trained models should encode different cognitive features, with word-level cognitive features at the bottom and semantic-level cognitive features at the top. (4) Attention visualization demonstrates that CogBERT aligns with human gaze patterns and improves its natural language comprehension ability.


Currently, the extent of local surgery and radiation for breast cancer is not guided by biological or anatomical principles, and the optimal volume of treatment is not defined. Local tumor progression is strongly influenced by a dynamic interplay between the genetically-modified epithelium and the associated cellular and non-cellular stroma (Butcher, 2009; Levental, 2009). The extracellular matrix (ECM) is modified in breast tumors and data indicate that the ECM stiffens progressively as mammary tumors evolve and enhancing ECM stiffness promotes mammary tumorigenesis while inhibiting ECM stiffening reduces tumor progression. However, the degree and extent of local stromal changes, and their clinical impact in breast cancer evolution and treatment remain unclear. This has led us to predict that the desmoplastic stroma surrounding breast tumors reflects tumor phenotype and behavior and can be characterized by biophysical metrics of the ECM stroma and molecular signatures of the breast epithelium. Accordingly, we hypothesize that these features may be integrated into a stromal phenotype that can be developed as a predictive tool. To test this concept we used a rigorous biomechanical and biochemical analysis of mastectomy specimens from women with various stages and histology phenotypes of treated and non-treated breast cancer to explore the relationship between ECM stiffness, mechanotransduction and tumor behavior. The goal of the study was to characterize stromal changes as a function of tumor stage and histology phenotype as well as before and after chemotherapy by measuring biophysical and topological features of the ECM and biochemical and molecular signatures of the mammary epithelium. The objective was to determine if there is a significant association with tumor histology phenotype that could be integrated to generate a stromal phenotype. Egan sections of were acquired from breast tissue containing benign and invasive ER positive and negative carcinoma and from treated and non-treated patients. All tissues were subjected to IHC histological and mechanosignaling analysis (HE 397FAK; Lysyl Oxidase; phosphomyosin) and biomechanical assessment (Atomic Force Microscopy; Structured Illumination Polarized Imaging; Two Photon Imaging). Preliminary data were consistent with prior in vitro and in vivo studies and showed that there was a significant increase in ECM stiffness as the tissues transitioned from normal to an invasive lesion with the highest stiffness being located at the tumor edge (∼2-4 folds greater). Intriguingly, we observed that ER negative tumors were substantially stiffer than ER positive tumors (50% increase in upper 10-percentile) and that there were tracks of ECM stiffness that correlated with orientated parallel collagen fibers and ECM birefringence. Moreover, we quantified a significant decrease in ECM stiffness following treatment (40% lower) with the most striking reduction in ECM tension being noted in ER negative patient tissues who demonstrated the most robust response. This study should lead to a deeper understanding of the nature of breast cancer stroma and its role in tumor phenotype and response to therapy. Supported by: NCI SPORE P50 CA058207 to VMW, CP, & SH; U01 ES019458-02 to ZW; NCI R01 CA138818-01A1 to VMW; & U54 CA143836-01 to VMW & JL. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-03-01.


Background: Nicotine absorbed by the skin and also by the digestive, respiratory and excretory systems is one of the most known toxins found in tobacco. This work reviews available literature on the influence of nicotine on human health, and in particular on the oral cavity. Material/Methods: A review of literature related to the topic of the paper. Results: Numerous studies indicate that nicotine adversely affects human health. It exerts a negative effect at the cellular level by modifying metabolism, and disturbs the interactions between tissues, which strongly promotes the formation of cancer-like changes. Nicotine causes numerous pathologies in the respiratory, immune, and cardiovascular systems leading to a number of metabolic disorders. Conclusions: T he intake of nicotine contained in tobacco products has a particularly negative effect on the oral cavity. It accelerates periodontitis, with weaker clinical symptoms associated with resistance to conventional treatment. In addition, nicotine changes the oral cavity microflora, increasing the amount of harmful bacteria and pathogenic fungi.


For the development of mechanistic assays in immunotoxicology, the phenotype, cytokine production, and stimulatory function of dendritic cells (DCs) were assessed after incubation with the chemical haptens aminophenol, chlorpromazine hydrochloride, dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), and with the DNCB-corresponding tolerogen DCNB, the metal allergen nickel sulfate, the irritants sodium dodecyl sulfate and benzoic acid, as well as with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). DCs were differentiated from human monocytes by in vitro exposure to GM-CSF and interleukin-4 (IL-4) for 7 days. Flow cytometric data revealed that only representative haptens increased the surface expression of HLA-DR, CD86, CD40, and of CD54 on DCs when compared to irritants or to the tolerogen. This event was associated with an increased ability of DCs to stimulate T cell proliferation. Moreover, after incubation with the haptens, but not with the irritants or the tolerogen, a higher production of TNF-alpha by DCs was observed. Under our experimental conditions, no release of IL-1beta, IL-10, or IL-12 was detected. Compared to the activation elicited by haptens, SEB strongly up-regulated HLA-DR and costimulatory molecule expression. In agreement with this effect, there was a marked release of TNF-alpha and a slight production of IL-12. IL-1beta and IL-10 were not detected in the culture medium. Finally, SEB-pulsed DCs showed a strong T-cell-stimulating activity. These data underline the activating potential of haptens versus irritants or a tolerogen on DC functions. The different levels of DC activation by haptens and SEB suggested that distinct cellular events were involved.


In the 1974-86 period, gossypol acetate was taken as an antifertility measure by 16 men. The initial dose was 20 mg/day, with a maintenance dose of 40 mg/week. Antifertility efficacy was obtained in all 16 cases. Azoospermia persisted in 1 case where the gossypol had been taken for 8 years and discontinued for the past 2 1/2 years. Symptoms experienced in the first 2 weeks of gossypol acetate administration included dizziness, anorexia, nausea, fatigue, and stomach discomfort. Results of examinations of blood and urine; functions of the heart, liver, lung, and liver; electrolytes; external genitalia; and sexual performance were all in the normal range. Measurements of semen, plasma biochemistry, and endocrine changes also were within normal limits. However, in the 9 cases in which the average value of plasma testosterone was near the lower limit of normal, the average value of follicle-stimulating hormone was higher than normal and the testosterone/luteinizing hormone ratio was unusually low. Testis biopsy indicated that long-term gossypol treatment affected both germ cells and Sertoli cells. Leydig cells also demonstrated some damage. Gossypol acetate is, in general, considered an ideal male contraceptive because of its long-term effectiveness, reversibility, and lack of severe toxic side effects.


Our world has been permanently changed by the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 starts around the end of 2019. In the first few months of 2020, the whole world was in urgent need of an effective, easy, and quick method for the identification of the infection of the new virus. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine, which can test DNA samples by rapidly making millions of copies of a specific DNA sample through the PCR process, including the COVID-19 virus, can perfectly fit this demand. In this study, a design project on PCR is introduced for undergraduate education in electrical and mechanical engineering. The objective of this project is to develop a low-cost, ease-of-use, wallet-size, portable real-time PCR (RT-PCR) machine for accurate testing of various bacteria or viruses. The key function of the PT-PCR system is to precisely control and maintain the temperature of the biosample solution within a range between 55°C and 95°C. This project provides students opportunities in studying and practicing a wide range of engineering technics and skills, including mechanical design, electronics design, microcomputer programming, data acquisition and processing, etc. Students can gain comprehensive understanding of the design of multiphysics system after they overcome various challenges emerging in the project. From the view of engineering education, the process of this project development has demonstrated the importance and benefits of adopting complex interdisciplinary engineering problems for student teams to solve, especially those involve contemporary issues.


A good data sharing system with spatial-seamless services will prevent the scientists from tedious, boring, and time consuming work of spatial transformation, and hence encourage the usage of the scientific data, and increase the scientific innovation. Having been adopted as the framework of Earth datasets by Group on Earth Observation (GEO), Earth System Spatial Grid (ESSG) is potential to be the spatial reference of the Earth datasets. Based on the implementation of ESSG, SDOG-ESSG, a data sharing system named global data spatially interrelate system (GASE) was design to make the data sharing spatial-seamless. The architecture of GASE was introduced. The implementation of the two key components, V-Pools, and interrelating engine, and the prototype is presented. Any dataset is firstly resampled into SDOG-ESSG, and is divided into small blocks, and then are mapped into hierarchical system of the distributed file system in V-Pools, which together makes the data serving at a uniform spatial reference and at a high efficiency. Besides, the datasets from different data centres are interrelated by the interrelating engine at the uniform spatial reference of SDOGESSG, which enables the system to sharing the open datasets in the internet spatial-seamless.


Principal component analysis (PCA) in the space and time domains is applied to filter adaptively the dominant modes of subannual (SA) variability of a 12-year long multivariate time series of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric angular momentum (AAM); AAM is computed in 23 latitude bands of equal area from operational analyses of the U.S. National Meteorological Center. PCA isolates the leading empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) of spatial dependence, while multivariate singular spectrum analysis (M-SSA) yields filtered time series that capture the dominant low-frequency modes of SA variability. The time series prefiltered by M-SSA lend themselves to prediction by the maximum entropy method (MEM). Whole-field predictions are made by combining the forecasts so obtained with the leading spatial EOFs obtained by PCA. The combination of M-SSA and MEM has predictive ability up to about a month. These methods are essentially linear but data-adaptive. They seem to perform well for short, noisy, multivariate time series, to which purely nonlinear, deterministically based methods are difficult to apply.


The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented collapse in global economic activity and trade. The crisis has also highlighted the role played by global value chains (GVC), with countries facing shortages of components vital to everything from health systems to everyday household goods. Despite the vulnerabilities associated with increased interconnectedness, GVCs have also contributed to increasing productivity and long-term growth. We explore empirically the impact of GVC participation on productivity in Estonia using firm-level data from 2000 to 2016. We find that higher GVC participation at the industry level significantly boosts productivity at both the industry and the firm level. Frontier firms, large firms, and exporting firms also benefit more from GVC participation than non-frontier firms, small firms, and non-exporting firms. We also find that GVC participation of downstream industries has a negative correlation with productivity. Frontier firms and large firms benefit more from GVC participation of upstream industries, while non-frontier firms and small firms benefit more from GVC participation of downstream industries. Our results suggest that policies designed to promote participation in GVCs are important to raise aggregate productivity and potential growth in Estonia. JEL Classification Numbers: F14, F15, L25, O47


This study explains the method of examining the interrater reliability of a procedure for assessing the stage of acquisition of Japanese as a second language (JSLA) of adult learners of Japanese. The assessment model was based on an application of processability theory (PT) of grammar acquisition introduced by Pienemann (1998) and developed for Japanese SLA by Preston (2004, 2008). The assessment targeted the emergence of 12 morphosyntactic procedures in the spontaneous speech samples of second language (L2) learners of Japanese. After designing a brief, task-based elicitation procedure to collect speech samples from eleven JSL learners residing in Japan, the researcher performed a detailed linguistic investigation of the grammar in the speech samples based on distributional analyses. Next, a workshop on processability theory was offered to adults enrolled in language pedagogy courses in a large city in Japan. The participants listened to audio recordings of eight L2 Japanese learners and simultaneously judged the stage of acquisition of each sample based on the 12 target Japanese grammar criteria derived from the PT study. Results indicated a strong correlation between the rater assessments and the results of the PT-based detailed linguistic research analyses (Tc=.919, p≤.001). Judith Preston Ishigami


The rapid and enormous growth of the informal sector, in spite of its erratic and muddling characterization, provides immeasurable backing for the nation's economy. This implies that the development of the nation may leapfrog to a boastful height if available resources and opportunities are converged, organized, coordinated and regulated. This study focused on how potential skills within the sector could be harnessed toward the achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in Ghana. The paper was purely based on the review of literature, summarizing and giving a critical and evaluative account of existing knowledge related to the area of study. The trends of the informal sector is considered and seen from various studies to be growing and supportive of the economy. Unrelenting efforts to get organized and coordinate the activities of the sector are on-going. Concurrently, several other studies imply the need to revamp the sector (reinforcements, and changes in focus and strategies) in order to achieve the MDGs. The study reveals that development needs keep increasing, bringing along the need for augmented support. Challenges leading to failure in achieving success in the informal sector are slow employment-generating growth, absence of structural economic transformation, high demographic pressure, inappropriate education and training policies, failed labour regulations, no enabling environment for investment, economic choices motivated by politics, and brain drain. Recommendations made to extricate the confusion and guide policy-making for organized informal sector activities include lower-level collaborative partnership (LLCP), clustering and networking, just to mention a few. Key words: Informal sector; Informal sector employees; Lower-level collaborative partnership (LLCP)


An examination of the nearest non-bonded interatomic distances found in crystals shows that where the two atoms are each covalently bound to only one other atom they exhibit non-spherical effective shapes. Such atoms behave as if flattened at their poles. Despite the large number of crystal structures now known in detail, various factors can militate against discovering effective atomic shapes. Possible causes of flattening are briefly discussed.


We consider a game in which each player must find a compromise between more daring strategies that carry a high risk for him to be eliminated, and more cautious ones that, however, reduce his final score. For two symmetric players this game was originally formulated in 1961 by Dresher, who modeled a duel between two opponents. The game has also been of interest in the description of athletic competitions. We extend here the two-player game to an arbitrary number N of symmetric players. We show that there is a mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium and find its exact analytic expression, which we analyze in particular in the limit of large N, where mean-field behavior occurs. The original game with N  =  2 arises as a singular limit of the general case.


The mechanisms and severity of nonfatal injuries to children in crash and noncrash situations were compared: 82 children (15%) were involved in noncrash events and 466 (85%) were involved in crash events. Younger children (0 to 4 years of age) were more likely to be injured in a noncrash incident. The mechanism of injury was significantly different; 45% of the children injured in a noncrash event were ejected in contrast to 5% of the children injured in a crash event. Although more severe injuries were sustained in crashes, most of the children who were ejected in a noncrash event sustained at least moderate injuries. Use of restraint systems, door lock mechanisms, and appropriate passenger seating locations in the motor vehicle are three simple measures that could attenuate or eliminate noncrash injury.


This thesis aims to explain why and how after a comprehensive set of decentralising processes, Colombia experienced significant recentralising policies and reforms (1994-2014). These changes emerged not only against what was expected by leading works on decentralisation in Latin America, but in a way that the existing hypotheses on recentralisation cannot fully account for. This is a hypothesis-generating case study. The growing literature on recentralisation is still very limited. With few exceptions, there are no big theoretical efforts. In general, the case studies assume temporal causal homogeneity. The analyses are excessively focused on the impact of only one type of factor (economic, political or administrative), instead of on the interactions between them. And they are excessively focused on the national governments, while neglecting the explanation of the role of legislators and subnational authorities. Using process-tracing and combining evidence from documentary sources and elite interviews, the thesis suggests that Colombia's recentralisation was an outcome of the interaction between economic inputs and institutional context. When an economic crisis takes place in a decentralised context, one can expect an increase of recentralisation. If an economic boom occurs in the same context, one should expect a decrease of recentralisation. If there is an economic crisis in a recentralised context, one can expect less recentralisation. If, instead, an economic boom occurs in the same context, one should expect even more recentralisation. The causal mechanisms are self-destroying/self-reinforcing dynamics. The thesis provides a deep analysis of the Colombian case plus an updated review of the literature. It also aims to tackle the main definitional issues and brings new concepts for the analysis of the recentralising strategies used by national and intermediate levels of government. Noteworthy, it offers a hypothesis that identifies the relevance of changing institutional contexts, the interactions between different types of factors, and the role of legislators and subnational authorities. Still, this thesis does not aim to propose a general theory of recentralisation.


The cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was examined in four abalone species to estimate its utility as a genetic marker using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The utility was evaluated in terms of genetic divergence and relationships among Haliotis discus hannai, H. rufescens, H. rubra, and H. midae in both hemispheres of the world. There was clear genetic divergence in the mtDNA COI region between all pairs of the four species. Moreover, relationships among the abalone species were reflected in their geographical distributions and morphological characteristics. Therefore, RFLP analysis of the mtDNA COI region is a suitable genetic marker for the estimation of genetic divergence and relationships among abalone species. However, it is not effective for the evaluation of genetic differences within abalone species.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between general joint laxity (GJL) and foot structure in Japanese young adult women. Methods: Subjects were 157 young adult women (mean age 20.5 ±1.2 years). GJL was evaluated using Beighton Hypermobility Score, and subjects were categorized in GJL and non-GJL group. For foot structure in dominant and non-dominant leg, foot length, foot width, naviculare height as an inner longitudinal arch, spread foot angle as a forefoot transverse arch, hallux valgus angle, and digitus quintus varus angle were measured. Results: Spread foot angle in non-dominant leg in GJL group was significantly greater than non-GJL group. In all subjects, spread foot angle in dominant and non-dominant leg was significant positively correlated with hallux valgus angle and digitus quintus varus angle. Discussion: Relation with GJL and change of foot structure is partial. However, a decline of forefoot transverse arch may participate in hallux valgus angle and digitus quintus varus angle. Conclusion: This study indicates that GJL may be partially related with a decline of forefoot transverse arch in Japanese young adult women.


According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death all over the world. Use of Smokeless Tobacco (ST) increases level of nicotine and autonomic effects throughout the day that are similar to smoking. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of ST on ratio, Sustained Handgrip test (SHG), serum (CTN) level and serum Vitamin C (VC) in ST chewers. Total 338 participants aged years were divided in two groups, ST chewers and ST non chewers (controls). ST chewers were further classified with respect to Smokeless Tobacco Chewing (STC) duration (years), frequency (times/day) and quantity (/ day). Participants were asked to consume 1000 mg of vitamin C for 45 days. ratio, SHG, serum CTN and serum VC levels were measured at the baseline study and after supplementation of VC. ratio (p= 0.006), DBP rise in SHG (p=0.002) and serum VC (pl0.001) levels were significantly decreased however, serum CTN (pl0.001) level was significantly increased in ST chewers as compared to controls. VC supplementation did not show any significant change in ratio and SHG however, serum CTN (pl0.001) level was significantly decreased and serum VC (pl0.001) level was significantly increased in ST chewers as compared to baseline values. Increased STC duration, frequency and quantity did not show any significant change in ratio and DBP rise in SHG in ST chewers. The use of ST is associated with decreased sympathetic activity and serum VC level as well as increased serum CTN level in tobacco chewers as compared to controls.


About 60 - 80% Nigerians live in the rural areas and rely heavily on firewood as the main household energy source. A solar cooker or solar oven that uses direct sunlight, the cheapest and the most sustainable source of energy could be introduced in rural communities to help reduce the amount of firewood used by rural households. A simple solar box cooker was developed and test run at the Samaru College of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Maximum temperatures of 75 and 42oC were attained by the solar heated water and the sun heated water samples, respectively. The solar box cooker accumulated a temperature difference of 33oC over the ambient conditions within two hours (11:15 am to 1:20 pm) of heating test. The two maximum temperatures of the solar heated water and the open- sun heated water samples confirm that for solar cooking, food will cook faster in the two hours before and after the local solar noon than in either early morning or late afternoon of the day. Keywords : Solar energy, cooker, water heating, firewood


This paper addresses two unresolved issues about Web caching. The first issue is whether Web requests from a fixed user community are distributed according to Zipf's (1929) law. The second issue relates to a number of studies on the characteristics of Web proxy traces, which have shown that the hit-ratios and temporal locality of the traces exhibit certain asymptotic properties that are uniform across the different sets of the traces. In particular, the question is whether these properties are inherent to Web accesses or whether they are simply an artifact of the traces. An answer to these unresolved issues will facilitate both Web cache resource planning and cache hierarchy design. We show that the answers to the two questions are related. We first investigate the page request distribution seen by Web proxy caches using traces from a variety of sources. We find that the distribution does not follow Zipf's law precisely, but instead follows a Zipf-like distribution with the exponent varying from trace to trace. Furthermore, we find that there is only (i) a weak correlation between the access frequency of a Web page and its size and (ii) a weak correlation between access frequency and its rate of change. We then consider a simple model where the Web accesses are independent and the reference probability of the documents follows a Zipf-like distribution. We find that the model yields asymptotic behaviour that are consistent with the experimental observations, suggesting that the various observed properties of hit-ratios and temporal locality are indeed inherent to Web accesses observed by proxies. Finally, we revisit Web cache replacement algorithms and show that the algorithm that is suggested by this simple model performs best on real trace data. The results indicate that while page requests do indeed reveal short-term correlations and other structures, a simple model for an independent request stream following a Zipf-like distribution is sufficient to capture certain asymptotic properties observed at Web proxies.


ABSTRACT
 Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae) experienced a severe population decline after European settlement from which they have never recovered; this subspecies was listed as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1999. Recovery of a listed species is accomplished via federally mandated recovery plans with specific population goals. Our main objective was to evaluate the potential impact of disease on the probability of meeting specific population size and persistence goals, as outlined in the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep recovery plan. We also sought to heuristically evaluate the efficacy of management strategies aimed at reducing disease risk to or impact on modeled bighorn populations. To do this, we constructed a stochastic population projection model incorporating disease dynamics for 3 populations (Langley, Mono, Wheeler) based on data collected from 1980 to 2007. We modeled the dynamics of female bighorns in 4 age classes (lamb, yearling, adult, senescent) under 2 disease scenarios: 5% lower survival across the latter 3 age classes and persistent 65% lower lamb survival (i.e., mild) or 65% reduced survival across all age classes followed by persistent 65% lower lamb survival (i.e., severe). We simulated management strategies designed to mitigate disease risk: reducing the probability of a disease outbreak (to represent a strategy like domestic sheep grazing management) and reducing mortality rate (to represent a strategy that improved survival in the face of introduced disease). Results from our projection model indicated that management strategies need to be population specific. The population with the highest growth rate (; Langley; = 1.13) was more robust to the effects of disease. By contrast, the population with the lowest growth rate (Mono; = 1.00) would require management intervention beyond disease management alone, and the population with a moderate growth rate (Wheeler; = 1.07) would require management sufficient to prevent severe disease outbreaks. Because severe outbreaks increased adult mortality, disease can directly reduce the probability of meeting recovery plan goals. Although mild disease outbreaks had minimal direct effects on the populations, they reduced recruitment and the number of individuals available for translocation to other populations, which can indirectly reduce the probability of meeting overall, range-wide minimum population size goals. Based on simulation results, we recommend reducing the probability of outbreak by continuing efforts to manage high-risk (i.e., spatially close) allotments through restricted grazing regimes and stray management to ensure recovery for Wheeler and Mono. Managing bighorn and domestic sheep for geographic separation until Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep achieve recovery objectives would enhance the likelihood of population recovery.


This paper notes that a dialogue is both a form of writing and a means by which thought and the process of thinking may be explored. It relates the latter notion to the Socratic method of inquiry and two of its philosophical legatees: Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of critical rationalism and his idea of 'Open Society'. It uses the former notion to present a dialogue that examines the so-called banking "credit crunch" from a perspective that is informed by critical rationalism. The dialogue explores the philosophical, methodological and practical difficulties in formulating and testing an explanation of an event of this kind. The paper notes that these difficulties are relevant to the investigation that is currently being conducted by the United Kingdom's Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.


Antipsychotic drugs produce unpleasant subjective experiences, which have been associated with high levels of dopamine D2 receptor occupancy. Aripiprazole is a partial agonist antipsychotic, which is hypothesized to produce a different subjective experience profile compared to standard D2 antagonist antipsychotics. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of D2 occupancy produced by a partial agonist antipsychotic (aripiprazole) to that of antagonist antipsychotics (risperidone or olanzapine) on the subjective well-being of patients. Subjective well-being was measured using the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptics Scale (SWN) and was related to dopamine D2 receptor occupancy using [11C]raclopride PET. Patients that were switched to aripiprazole showed improvement in their subjective well-being from 79.80 (S.D.=16.08) to 89.90 (S.D.=15.33), an effect that was sustained for 6 months. This sustained improvement was observed despite very high levels of DA D2 occupancy (82-99%), in contrast to the effects of antagonist antipsychotics on subjective well-being.


The paper introduces the principle of sigma-delta ADC modulator with high accuracy and the applied over sampling technique, noise shaping technique and multi-bit quantizer technique. and it makes the behavior level verification for this scheme by Simulink tool in MATLAB. The simulation result Shows that multi-bit quantizer modulator can get very high SNR.


Ideas at work in Bernard Williams''integrity objection' threaten not only direct act-utilitarianism (act-utilitarianism considered as decision-procedure and as test of rightness) but also indirect act-utilitarianism (act-utilitarianism as test of rightness only). Calculation can decide whether an action is utilitarianly right only if it takes every evaluatively relevant feature of alternatives into account. I assume, following Williams, that utilitarianism is reductionist, i.e., represents every case of an agent's valuing something as a case of having a preference. But thanks to an internal relation between an agent's values and the shape of practical deliberation, they cannot always be so represented, so there are some things agents typically value whose value to them utilitarianism necessarily misrepresents. There are therefore some actions such that calculation cannot decide whether they are utilitarianly right, and utilitarianism is incoherent as a test of rightness.


In this work, we provide a new and constructive outlook for the control of state-and-input constrained nonlinear systems. Previously, explicit solutions have been mainly focused on the finding of a barrier-like Lyapunov function, whereas we propose the construction of a diffeomorphism to map all the trajectories of the constrained dynamics into an unconstrained one. Careful analysis has revealed that only some foundations of differential geometry and a technical assumption are necessary to construct the proposed methodology based on the well-established theories of control Lyapunov functions and Sontag's universal formulae. Altogether, it allows us to obtain an explicit solution that even includes bounded constraints in the control action, giving the designer a way to decide (to some extent) the trade-off between control saturations and robustness. Moreover, this approach does not rely on the own structure of the system dynamics, therefore covering a broad class of nonlinear systems. The main advantage of this approach is that the use of a diffeomorphism allows the splitting of the mathematical treatment of the constraint and the Lyapunov controller design. The result has been successfully applied to solve the dynamic positioning of an actual ship, where the nonlinear state constraints describe a strait. This approach enabled us to design a control Lyapunov function and thereby use Sontag's formula to solve the stabilisation problem. Realistic simulations have been executed in a real scenario on the simulator owned by an international shipbuilding company.


Around the Ouro Preto region, State of Minas Gerais Brazil, there is a significant presence of topaz prospecting. This activity is characterized by the use of rudimentary techniques without any tailing disposal control. Among the environmental impacts are: deforestation, tailing generation and accumulation, introduction of suspended fine particulate matter to the water and silting up of streams. In this work a hydrochemical study was carried out aiming to assess the water quality of the Ponte River and its tributaries. Water samples were analyzed for pH, Eh, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, alkalinity, chloride, sulfate, metals (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Sc, Sr, Ti, V, Y and Zn) and suspended particulate matter. The results show that the main problem in the area is the high turbidity values, which are associated with the presence of suspended solids introduced by the prospecting activity (reaching a concentration of up to 2.9 g.L-1). This fact represents an important facto, since it demonstrates that metals are being deposited in the aquatic atmosphere.


In experiments on mice it was shown that cystamine exerts its protective action not only against the concurrent effect of ionizing radiation and weak thermal injury but also against the effect of heat (burn) 48 h after irradiation with a midlethal dose (30-day-death decreased from 95 to 20%).


Reactivity of coal chars to carbon dioxide at high temperatures of 1273-1873K was investigated using a fluidized bed reactor (FBR). Coal samples were pyrolyzed in nitrogen flow under rapid and slow heating condition, and then in-situ measurement of gasification rates of the prepared chars was carried out. It was found that the heating rate during the pyrolysis affected the reactivity of coal char significantly, namely, more rapid heating led the higher reactivity of chars. Especially for coals with high volatile content, the reactivity of coal chars prepared under the rapid heating was several times as large as that under the slow heating. The results of nitrogen adsorption measurements indicate that porosity and surface area of mesopores were proportional to the reactivity of chars. The high gasification reactivity of rapid heating chars can be explained by their high surface area in mesopore range.


The widely used nasally-administered Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) alters the dynamics of naturally occurring nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in animal models. Using a human experimental model (serotype 6B) we tested two hypotheses: 1) LAIV increased the density of S. pneumoniae in those already colonised; 2) LAIV administration promoted colonisation. Randomised, blinded administration of LAIV or nasal placebo either preceded bacterial inoculation or followed it, separated by a 3-day interval. The presence and density of S. pneumoniae was determined from nasal washes by bacterial culture and PCR. Overall acquisition for bacterial carriage were not altered by prior LAIV administration vs. controls (25/55 [45.5%] vs 24/62 [38.7%] respectively, p=0.46). Transient increase in acquisition was detected in LAIV recipients at day 2 (33/55 [60.0%] vs 25/62 [40.3%] in controls, p=0.03). Bacterial carriage densities were increased approximately 10-fold by day 9 in the LAIV recipients (2.82 vs 1.81 log10 titers, p=0.03). When immunisation followed bacterial acquisition (n=163), LAIV did not change area under the bacterial density-time curve (AUC) at day 14 by conventional microbiology (primary endpoint), but significantly reduced AUC to day 27 by PCR (p=0.03). These studies suggest that LAIV may transiently increase nasopharyngeal density of S. pneumoniae. Transmission effects should therefore be considered in the timing design of vaccine schedules. Trial registration The study was registered on EudraCT (2014-004634-26) Funding The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Medical Research Council.


Floodwater pressure on domestic housing can cause damage or collapse. With the increased use of property level protection, more property owners are taking actions to limit water ingress at the cost of increased floodwater pressure differential on property walls. Currently CIRIA and the Environment Agency advise that properties should be protected up to a maximum of 0.6m (CIRIA, 2007). This protection height is currently used in industry as the standard protection height in property level protection schemes. The general consensus from sources referenced in a literature review was that most domestic properties are capable of supporting 0.6 meters of flood water, but any higher than this and inspection should be carried out by a qualified building surveyor, architect or structural engineer (ODPM, 2003). This study analysed a number of characteristics for a masonry wall panel, 4 meters wide and 2.5 meters high, incorporating an inner and outer leaf both 100mm thick. The analytical methods utilised were yield line analysis, finite element modelling and the design moment of resistance equation, which were conducted with the aim of arbitrating whether the current industry standard protection height of 0.6m is appropriate. The panel analysed was deemed suited to resisting loading from a static 0.6m head of water, providing the panel is in a condition which would not compromise the design flexural strength or material factor; and there are no large openings protected with property level protection barriers, which demonstrated an increase in maximum bending moment. In the presence of hydrodynamic loading, the wall panel was deemed suited to a protection height of 0.6m providing the velocity component orthogonal to the panel is less than 0.03m/s. The panel was deemed suitable within these limits because the panel section modulus, width, support conditions and vertical loading are all within the relevant ULS identified. However, areas have been identified for further study, including study of further yield line patterns outside of the scope of this study, in order to increase the confidence in this arbitration. It was found that the current industry standard protection height of 0.6m would not be appropriate for all properties however, due to the huge variety in masonry panel characteristics. The results from this study can be used in the design of future domestic properties at risk of flooding, as well as in the protection of existing properties at risk of flooding.


Background:Digestive system is the most common type of cancer in Iran with 38 percent of the cases.The risk of this cancer is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Curcumin is kind of phytochemicals which is important in chemoprevention strategy, in order to slow, block, or reverse the process of carcinogenesis.Researchhave shown that the possible role of curcumin to prevent or delay the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. In this research the effect of curcumin on proliferation of HT_29 cancerous cells were assayed.
Materials and Methods:In this experimental research HT_29 cell line were cultured in DMEM medium containing 10% FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum, Gibco, Invitrogen) and 100 U/ml penicillin and 100mg/ml streptomycin. Different concentrations of curcumin on the growth of HT_29 cells were determined by MTT assay and the type of death induced was assessed by DAPI staining method.All experiments were done three times and data were analyzed byone –way ANOVA test and Instate 3 software.
Results:The cell growth-inhibiting rate was about 53% at 50μM curcumin concentration after 24h of treatment(IC50). Vacuolation and significant decrease of cells were observed after 72h of treatment. Moreover, induction of apoptosis was observed with the DAPI staining method.
Conclusion:According to molecular mechanisms of cell proliferation and curcumin ability in the induction of pro_apoptotic proteins and the inhibition of anti_apoptotic proteins as well as inhibition of as survival pathways,like NF_KB and AKT, this predisposition makes curcumin a good anticancer drug.
Keywords:Curcumin,Colon cancer,HT_29 cancer cell line, Proliferation.


In this paper, we propose an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation of the Generalized Navier Boundary Condition introduced in~\cite{qian-wang-sheng-03,qian-wang-sheng-06} to model the displacement of the contact line of an interface in two-fluid flows. Owing to these boundary conditions, it is possible to circumvent the incompatibility between the classical no-slip boundary condition and the fact that the contact line of the interface on the wall is actually moving. We present some results on the stability of the numerical scheme in energy norm. We show the validity of the approach by numerical experiments on two-fluid flows in narrow channels.


We consider the probability that the population in a two node tandem Jackson network reaches some high level during a busy period. For estimating this rare event probability we apply fast simulation using importance sampling. Our focus is thereby on systems without a single bottleneck queue, which has turned out to be the most critical case for existing methods. A state independent change of measure is developed heuristically based on typical system behavior and the likelihood ratio properties on state cycles. Neither complicated large deviations analysis nor costly presimulations are needed to determine the change of measure. Although state independent changes of measure are known to have limitations, they also provide several advantages. They are easy to use and understand, and they do not cause space complexity problems often strongly limiting state-dependent approaches. The efficiency of our change of measure is demonstrated by numerical results.


The purpose of this paper is to display aspects of monitoring the surface waters based on the macrozoobenthos biological indicator. The macrozoobenthos was evaluated in 2007, in 21 different locations of the Crisul Repede river. In order to set up a list of the existent species, it has been taken into consideration different water quality parameters that favor the existence of the phytoplankton, influencing thus the quality of the water.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Background: Regional lymph node metastasis is a common event in solid tumors and is considered a marker for dissemination, increased stage, and worse prognosis. In renal cell cancer (RCC) lymphatic tumor spread exists, but, despite impressive therapeutic advances in metastatic RCC, including targeting of VEGF induced angiogenesis, data on the role of vegfr-3 that's appears to be the signaling pathway for tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis in RCC are rare. In this study, we analyzed the expression and the presence of the soluble VEGFR-3 form in 30 RCC patients and results were correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Patients and Methods: Tumor and sera from 30 RCC patients (20 clear cell (ccRCC) and 10 papillary (pRCC) were included in this study. The expressions of VEGFR-3 on tumor were evaluated by immunohistochemestry. Using ELISA assays, sVEGFR–3 were measured in sera of RCC patients in comparison to 20 healthy controls. Results: A high expression of VEGFR-3 was observed in more than 55% of the patients as compared to the negative control. Regarding circulating VEGF R-3 the level were variable in all samples, but, the median sVEGF- R3 level was significantly higher (p=0.005) in RCC patients as compared to healthy donors. An inverse correlation between VEGFR-3 expression & its soluble form was noted (r=-0.33 p=0.040).. However, when patients were divided into subgroups, the expression as well as the circulating form of VEGFR-3 were significantly higher in pRCC than ccRCC (p= 0.035 and 0.022 respectively). No significant correlation with lymph node status was observed. Furthermore, there was no correlation with any clinicopathological variable in the two subgroups. Conclusions: we showed that in renal cell cancer, VEGFR-3 is expressed and present as soluble form, a different expression pattern in ccRCC and pRCC exist. Therefore, any clinical treatment strategy designed to target lymphangiogenesis in RCC should differentiate between ccRCC and pRCC

Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend.

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 371.


Over 40% of people with COPD remain undiagnosed. Co-morbidities are common in people with COPD but COPD is also a comorbidity of other long term conditions. As SHA respiratory leads in the SW we used this fact to develop a pilot programme to case find people with COPD among patients attending other long term clinics in primary care. The project was developed by the Leads and partially supported by Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi & Novartis who provided support for additional health care professional time, but it was also adopted by Bristol CCG. Practices were asked to show all current or ex-smokers aged ≥ 35 attending a long term condition clinic who were not known to have COPD a Patient Information Sheet and ask them to complete a questionnaire designed to help identify people with COPD (1). Patients were also asked to perform microspirometry using an ASMA-1 device, their age, height, & smoking status were recorded. If they scored highly on the questionnaire and had an FEV1 below the lower limit of normal (LLN), their MRC breathlessness and CAT scores were recorded and they were offered further assessment within the practice to confirm the diagnosis. Smokers were offered referral to cessation services. 573 patients (323 men) were seen in 11 practices between Sep 2012 & May 2013. Mean age 64.6 (range 36–90). 265 had high questionnaire scores and 115 of these also had FEV1 less than LLN–20% of all patients seen. The mean FEV1 (%pred) in these patients was 58.6 (range 5.5–77.6). 86 had an FEV 50–80% predicted, 25 30–50% predicted. 44 had an MRC score of 0, 13 of 1, 44 of 2, 8 of 3 and 4 of 5. The mean CAT score was 13.4 (range 2–40). 44 (38%) were still smoking and 17 of these accepted referral to cessation services. 27 of the other 125 smokers assessed but not thought to have COPD also accepted referral. Case finding using this method in people already attending primary care clinics has a high yield (1 in 5) takes little time and deserves wider adoption. References Respiration 2006;73:285–95.


The p16 (CDKN2/MTS1/INK4a) malignant melanoma susceptibility gene was analyzed in 10 melanoma kindreds from southern Sweden using single-stranded conformation polymorphism analysis of all three exons and flanking intron regions followed by sequence analysis. A novel germline mutation, constituting an in-frame 3-bp duplication at nucleotide 332 in exon 2, was identified in two families (Lund M2 and M9). The mutation results in an insertion of Arg at codon 105, which interrupts the last of the four ankyrin repeats of the p16 protein, motifs which have been demonstrated as important in binding and inhibiting the activity of cyclin D-dependent kinases 4 and 6 in cell cycle G1 phase regulation. All five tested individuals of Lund M2 and M9 affected by melanoma were mutation carriers, as were five melanoma-free individuals. Other malignancies observed in gene carriers or obligate carriers included cervical, breast, and pancreatic carcinomas and a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Analysis of microsatellite markers adjacent to the p16 gene at chromosomal region 9p21 revealed that both families share a common haplotype, in keeping with a common ancestor.


Optical interconnections on printed circuit board are promising approach for use throughout the backplane and motherboard. Optical interconnect with its low propagation loss and high data-transfer density become the key driver to solve the limitation of electrical interconnections which fail to meet with increasing data rate requirement The advantages of embedded polymer waveguide as optical interconnects is the potential compatibility with current PCB or silicon manufacturing process which could facilitate a smooth technology transition from electrical to optical technologies. This paper reports on optimization of the fabrication process of 10 cm long flexible polymer waveguide layer with 45° micro-mirror on a PI film by using soft molding to achieve fully embedded board-level optoelectronic interconnects. The photo-active UV-curable fluorinated acrylate resin with low propagation loss (0.05 dB/cm @ 830 nm), WIR30-RI series (Chemoptics) was chosen as clad and core (70 ¿m × 70 ¿m) materials, respectively. The waveguide layers are sandwiched between two polyimide films which support and protect the waveguide layer. Soft molding process is developed to replicate the polymer waveguide. It is known that oxygen inhibition is the key issue when UV-curing the acrylate coating under oxygen atmosphere. Nitrogen shielding is successfully eliminating the oxygen inhibition effect and has improved the surface condition. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to analyze the effectiveness of the optimization process. The 45 micro-mirror in waveguide was formed by using 90° V-shaped diamond blade. The propagation loss of fabricated waveguide is -0.3 dB/cm at 850 nm wavelength. Detailed of each process are discussed in the paper.


1495 Background : NK012 is a micellar-forming nanoparticle of 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (EHC or SN-38), an active metabolite of irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11), and gradually releases EHC in enzyme-independent manner at physiological pH. We reported that NK012 maintained high EHC concentrations in tumor tissue for more than 7 days after intravenous administration and exerted superior antitumor activity to CPT-11 against various subcutaneously transplanted solid tumors in rodents (2006 AACR Annual Meeting, #3062). Here, we further evaluated the efficacy of NK012 in liver metastatic model of mouse colon cancer. In addition, the difference of the distribution of NK012 and CPT-11 in metastatic liver tissue was visually demonstrated. Methods : A suspension of 10 5 cells of Colon 26-L5 (a liver metastatic variant of mouse colon adenocarcinoma Colon 26) was injected via portal vein of anesthetized BALB/c female mice at Day 0. When the metastases were established (Day 5), maximal tolerated dose of NK012 (30 mg/kg/day) or CPT-11 (66.7 mg/kg/day) was administered intravenously by the optimal schedule (q4dx3). On the eighteenth day, liver weight of each mouse was recorded, and growth inhibition of metastatic tumor was estimated. Cell proliferation of liver metastatic tumor was microscopically evaluated by immunohistochemical staining of Ki-67. Results : NK012 exhibited marked inhibition (96%) of liver metastatic weight of Colon 26-L5, whereas CPT-11 showed moderate growth inhibition (39%). Cell proliferation index of remained region of tumor estimated by Ki-67 immunostaining was much lower in NK012-treated group (26%) than CPT-11-treated (52%) or control group (43%). Distribution of NK012 and CPT-11 in tumor tissue was compared by observing fluorescence of each drug with a fluorescence microscope. Micellar NK012 clearly distributed in tumor tissue and retained for a long period (> 2 days). On the contrary, CPT-11 disappeared rapidly from tumor tissue and could not be detected after 24 hours of administration. Conclusion : NK012 showed superior antitumor activity to CPT-11 in the liver metastatic tumor model of colon cancer. The improvement of efficacy was accounted for by the sustained exposure time and concentration of EHC released from the micellar NK012, which specifically accumulated in tumor tissue due to leakiness of tumor blood vessel to nano-size molecules. NK012 has potential usefulness for treating patients with liver metastasis of colon cancer. The phase I study of NK012 starts soon in the United States.


Background The free androgen index (FAI) calculated using total testosterone measured by immunoassay does not correlate with oocyte fertilization rates; however, there is considerable cross-reactivity for testosterone with other androgens by immunoassay that is not found using isotope dilution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Aims This study was done to determine relationship between total testosterone and androstenedione measured by LC/MS/MS and fertilization rates. Study design 49 infertile women without polycystic ovary syndrome were recruited preceding an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. Serum testosterone and androstenedione were measured by LC/MS/MS and correlated with IVF parameters non-insulin resistant compared with insulin resistant (homeostatic model assessment >2.5) women. Results For non-insulin resistant women, total testosterone FAI and androstenedione did not correlate with oocyte fertilization rates. In insulin-resistant women, there was a negative correlation between both testosterone and FAI and fertilization rates (r=−0.62, p<0.03) and r=−0.73, p=0.02, respectively). There was a positive correlation between androstenedione and fertilization rates (r=0.87, p<0.01). Conclusion For insulin-resistant women, increases in testosterone and FAI were associated with reduced fertilization rates and androstenedione was associated with increased fertilization rates when measured by LC/MS/MS that should be considered to be the measurement method of choice.


Real world motion planning often suffers from the need to replan during execution of the trajectory. This replanning can be triggered as the robot fails to properly track the trajectory or new sensory information is provided that invalidates the planned trajectory. Particularly in the case of many occluded obstacles or in unstructured terrain, replanning is a frequent occurrence. Developing methods to allow the robots to replan efficiently allows for greater operation time and can ensure robot mission success. This paper presents a novel approach that updates heuristic weights of a sampling based A* planning algorithm. This approach utilizes parallel instances of this planner to quickly search through multiple heuristic weights within its allotted replanning time. These weights are employed upon triggered replanning to speed up computation time. The concept is tested on a simulated quadrupedal robot LLAMA with realistic constraints on computation time imposed.


Advances in STR PCR DNA profiling technology allow for the analysis of minute quantities of DNA. It is frequently possible to obtain successful DNA results from cellular material transferred from the skin of an individual who has simply touched an object. Handling objects, such as weapons or other items associated with a crime, touching surfaces, or wearing clothing, may represent sufficient contact to transfer small numbers of DNA bearing cells, or trace DNA, which can be successfully analyzed. With this minimal amount of contact required to yield a suspect profile comes tremendous crime solving potential, and a number of considerations for prudent application, and the maximization of evidentiary value. Evidentiary materials not previously considered must be recognized and preserved, and the resulting DNA type profiles interpreted in their proper forensic context.