Most multidimensional projection techniques rely on distance (dissimilarity) information between data instances to embed high-dimensional data into a visual space. When data are endowed with Cartesian coordinates, an extra computational effort is necessary to compute the needed distances, making multidimensional projection prohibitive in applications dealing with interactivity and massive data. The novel multidimensional projection technique proposed in this work, called Part-Linear Multidimensional Projection (PLMP), has been tailored to handle multivariate data represented in Cartesian high-dimensional spaces, requiring only distance information between pairs of representative samples. This characteristic renders PLMP faster than previous methods when processing large data sets while still being competitive in terms of precision. Moreover, knowing the range of variation for data instances in the high-dimensional space, we can make PLMP a truly streaming data projection technique, a trait absent in previous methods.


Spirituality has mostly been studied in psychology as implied in the process of overcoming adversity, being triggered by negative experiences, and providing positive outcomes. By reversing this pathway, we investigated whether spirituality may also be triggered by self-transcendent positive emotions, which are elicited by stimuli appraised as demonstrating higher good and beauty. In two studies, elevation and/or admiration were induced using different methods. These emotions were compared to two control groups, a neutral state and a positive emotion (mirth). Self-transcendent positive emotions increased participants' spirituality (Studies 1 and 2), especially for the non-religious participants (Study 1). Two basic world assumptions, i.e., belief in life as meaningful (Study 1) and in the benevolence of others and the world (Study 2) mediated the effect of these emotions on spirituality. Spirituality should be understood not only as a coping strategy, but also as an upward spiralling pathway to and from self-transcendent positive emotions.


In this volume the authors document examples of programmes/courses/activities that are designed intentionally to build students' capacity to be integrative thinkers and learners. In doing so they try to analyse and name the learning that is taking place, and so make it visible to the reader. The work is intended as a resource for all those involved in teaching and student learning in Higher Education and beyond. The ultimate goal is to ensure that students in higher education can make meaningful connections within and between disciplines, for example by integrating on-campus and off-campus learning experiences, and tying together and synchronising different perspectives and ways of knowing. This paper contains the following chapters: (1) Drawing on Medical Students' Representations to Illuminate Concepts of Humanism and Professionalism in Newborn Medicine (C. Anthony Ryan); (2) Integrative Learning in a Law and Economics Module (John Considine); (3) Making Connections for Mindful Inquiry: Using Reflective Journals to Scaffold an Autobiographical Approach to Learning in Economics (Daniel Blackshields); (4) Integrative Learning on a Criminal Justice Degree Programme (Sinead Conneely and Walter O'Leary); (5) The Use of Learning Journals in Legal Education as a Means of Fostering Integrative Learning through Pedagogy and Assessment (Shane Kilcommins); (6) Beyond Wikipedia and Google: Web-Based Literacies and Student Learning (James G.R. Cronin); (7) Archetype or for the Archive? Are Case Histories Suitable for Assessing Student Learning? (Martina Kelly, Deirdre Bennett and Suin O'Flynn); (8) The Arts in Education as an Integrative Learning Approach (Marian McCarthy); (9) Assessing the Role of Integrated Learning in the BSc International Field Geosciences (IFG) at University College Cork, Ireland (Pat Meere); (10) The Confluence of Professional Legal Training, ICT and Language Learning towards the Construction of Integrative Teaching and Learning (Maura Butler); (11) Integrative Learning with High Fidelity Simulation and Problem-Based Learning: An Evaluative Study (Nuala Walshe, Sinead O'Brien, Angela Flynn, Siobhan Murphy and Irene Hartigan); (12) Facilitating Learning through an Integrated Curriculum Design Driven by Problem-Based Learning: Perceptions of Speech and Language Therapy (Catharine Pettigrew); (13) Building Student Attributes for Integrative Learning (Bettie Higgs); and (14) End-Game: Good Beginnings are Not the Only Measure of Success (C. Anthony Ryan, Bettie Higgs and Shane Kilcommins). Each chapter contains tables/figures and references.


To account for anisotropy caused by the presence of a set of aligned vertical fractures in a finely horizontally layered background medium, we present an inversion procedure to simultaneously estimate microseismic event locations and the parameters of an orthorhombic (ORT) anisotropic medium property model. The procedure employs Bayesian inference via Markov-chain Monte Carlo (McMC) sampling with parallel tempering, and principal component diminishing adaptation, to ensure efficient sampling of the parameter space. This approach provides a nonlinear uncertainty quantification, by approximating the posterior probability density with an ensemble of model-parameter sets for effective anisotropic parameters, microseismic event locations and horizontal locations of perforation shots. The noise standard deviation is also treated as an extra unknown in the inversion. To investigate the effects of model simplification, e.g., neglect of horizontal-layering induced vertical transverse isotropy (VTI), we also consider a simpler, horizontal transverse isotropic (HTI), parametrization. The inversion is carried out for simulated data and data from a seismic physical laboratory model. Results suggest that, for field microseismic data processing, neglect of VTI signal caused by horizontal layering in fractured reservoirs may lead to systematic errors in microseismic event locations. Synthetic experiments further demonstrate that the acquisition geometry significantly impacts the resolution of event origin times, event depths, and effective velocity parameters. In addition, resolving these parameters requires an aperture size which may not be practical for field monitoring. Finally, we demonstrate that precise perforation-shot timing information and the incorporation of a vertical downhole array into the small-aperture surface array both reduce the requirement for large array apertures.


The effects of chromium bioaccumulation in Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata were evaluated by Central Composite Design (CCD), factorial 2 2 and Response Surface Methodology (RSM). All the models of regression generated by CCD were highly significant, with R 2 between 77 and 88%, which is the percentual variability in the response that the model can account for. This is indicative of a satisfactory representation of the process models whose data can be used for simulations of response. The maximum shrinkage biovolume presented 28–69% reduction compared to controls. Results from this study suggest that the smaller algal cells amplify metal binding sites, leading to an increased bioaccumulation and a consequential increased capacity to accumulate chromium. Nevertheless, the absorption capacity decreases for more elevated chromium concentrations and for longer exposure. Keywords : Algae, Biovolume, Central Composite Design, Metal, Selenastrum capricornutum .


An experimental study was performed to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of the convection flow through a rectangular air duct with aspect ratio of 10 (a/b = 10) which is filled with metallic porous materials. All four walls of the duct are subjected to a constant and uniform heat flux. The Reynolds number based on the hydraulic diameter has been kept between 500–2000 in order to ensure the laminar flow through the duct. The effect of different parameters such as variable porosity and density of porous layers have been investigated. For different porous layers configuration, heat flux at the walls, wall temperatures and air mass flow rate has been measured and the Nusselt number has been calculated. The results are compared with the clear flow case where no porous material was used. it can be concluded that higher heat transfer rates can be achieved in porous media flow case at the expense of a reasonable pressure drop. Based on the experimental data new empirical correlations for both Nusselt number and friction factor have also been developed for such air duct, which gives a good agreement between predicted values and experimental values of Nusselt number and friction factor.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


From the results of an investigation on a typical large electric power system it is concluded that the specification of tolerable noise in transformers by means of measurements with commercially available noise meters is entirely practicable. The problems involved in this investigation and the principal results obtained are presented and discussed in this paper.


An early use of recursive identification in blind adaptive channel equalization is an algorithm developed by Y. Sato (1975). An important generalization of the Sato algorithm with extensive analysis appears in the work of A. Benveniste et al. (1980). These generalized algorithms have been shown to possess a desirable global convergence property under two idealized conditions. The convergence properties of this class of blind algorithms under practical constraints common to a variety of channel equalization applications that violate these idealized conditions are studied. Results show that, in practice, when the equalizer is finite-dimensional and/or the input is discrete (as in digital communications) the equalizer parameters may converge to parameter settings that fail to achieve the objective of approximating the channel inverse. It is also shown that a center spike initialization is insufficient to guarantee avoiding such ill-convergence. Simulations verify the analytical results. >


Although the methylation status of histone H3K27 plays a critical role in CD4+ T cell differentiation and its function, the role of Utx histone H3K27 demethylase in the CD8+ T cell–dependent immune response remains unclear. We therefore generated T cell–specific Utxflox/flox Cd4-Cre Tg (Utx KO) mice to determine the role of Utx in CD8+ T cells. Wild-type (WT) and Utx KO mice were infected with Listeria monocytogenes expressing OVA to analyze the immune response of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells. There was no significant difference in the number of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells upon primary infection between WT and Utx KO mice. However, Utx deficiency resulted in more Ag-specific CD8+ T cells upon secondary infection. Adoptive transfer of Utx KO CD8+ T cells resulted in a larger number of memory cells in the primary response than in WT. We observed a decreased gene expression of effector-associated transcription factors, including Prdm1 encoding Blimp1, in Utx KO CD8+ T cells. We confirmed that the trimethylation level of histone H3K27 in the Prdm1 gene loci in the Utx KO cells was higher than in the WT cells. The treatment of CD8+ T cells with Utx-cofactor α-ketoglutarate hampered the memory formation, whereas Utx inhibitor GSK-J4 enhanced the memory formation in WT CD8+ T cells. These data suggest that Utx negatively controls the memory formation of Ag-stimulated CD8+ T cells by epigenetically regulating the gene expression. Based on these findings, we identified a critical link between Utx and the differentiation of Ag-stimulated CD8+ T cells.


This paper studies the confounding effects from the unmeasured confounders and the imbalance of observed confounders in IV regression and aims at unbiased causal effect estimation. Recently, nonlinear IV estimators were proposed to allow for nonlinear model in both stages. However, the observed confounders may be imbalanced in stage 2, which could still lead to biased treatment effect estimation in certain cases. To this end, we propose a Confounder Balanced IV Regression (CB-IV) algorithm to jointly remove the bias from the unmeasured confounders and the imbalance of observed confounders. Theoretically, by redefining and solving an inverse problem for potential outcome function, we show that our CB-IV algorithm can unbiasedly estimate treatment effects and achieve lower variance. The IV methods have a major disadvantage in that little prior or theory is currently available to pre-define a valid IV in real-world scenarios. Thus, we study two more challenging settings without pre-defined valid IVs: (1) indistinguishable IVs implicitly present in observations, i.e., mixed-variable challenge, and (2) latent IVs don't appear in observations, i.e., latent-variable challenge. To address these two challenges, we extend our CB-IV by a latent-variable module, namely CB-IV-L algorithm. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our CB-IV(-L) outperforms the existing approaches.


We provide a review of predictions for sin2�eff in b → s penguin dominated modes based on 1/mb expansion and/or SU(3) flavor symmetry. The experimental results are consistently lower than the theoretical predictions. In order to interpret whether this effect is a sign of new physics contributions or can be explained away within the Standard Model a theoretical input cannot be avoided. The effect survives at a level larger than 2.1� in a conservative average over different modes that includes theoretical predictions.


Objective: To assess whether there is an association between HIV and invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Methodology: A case-control study was conducted in Kampala between 1993 and 1995. 116 women with ICC were matched by age and parity with 116 hospital controls. Participants were tested for HIV and interviewed to assess risk factors for ICC and HIV. The association between HIV and ICC was assessed by conditional logistic regression. Results: HIV prevalence was 18% among cases and 15% among controls. The odds of having ICC for HIV-infected patients was 1.27 (95% CI 0.58–2.80) when compared to controls, and the odds of being infected with HIV was higher in ICC patients aged <33 years (OR = 3.81) when compared to controls of similar age. HIV-infected ICC patients were younger (mean age 35.8 years) compared to 46.5 years in the ICC HIV-negative group (p = 0.021). Conclusion: HIV is associated with an earlier onset of ICC.


Joseph Shaeiwitz, West Virginia University Joseph A. Shaeiwitz received his B.S. degree from the University of Delaware and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. His professional interests are in design, design education, and outcomes assessment. Joe is an associate editor of the Journal of Engineering Education, and he is a co-author of the text Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes (2nd ed.), published by Prentice Hall in 2003.


Many physicians overlook, or are unaware of, most drug-drug interactions. In our patient, the local anesthetic used for an axillary block may have been the precipitating drug in a cascade of drug-drug interactions that resulted in a cardiac arrest. The combination of multiple preoperative drug-drug interactions prevented the return of a stable native cardiac rhythm for almost 24 h. The mechanisms of interactions of these frequently used drugs are described, and the reader is guided to sources that identify and simplify the understanding of potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Despite promising preclinical data, the EGFR targeted monoclonal antibody, cetuximab, has limited use as single agent therapy in the treatment of head and neck cancer due to the development of therapeutic resistance. Improved approaches to treat these cancers will need to address the evolving molecular landscape of head and neck cancer. Recent reports describing mutations or copy number alterations in PI3K and PTEN as potential causes of cetuximab resistance have sparked interest in therapeutics that target these pathways as alternatives to or in combination with EGFR targeting drugs.

Using both in vitro and in vivo models of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) we have recapitulated the diversity of responses to cetuximab observed in the patient population and are testing alternative therapies. Examining an array of HNSCC cell lines, including both human papillomavirus (HPV) positive and negative lines, we observed a wide range of sensitivities to this drug, with little to no growth inhibition in some lines even at micromolar concentrations. For lines that were sensitive to drug, effective growth inhibition, demonstrated in both proliferation and colony formation assays, was linked with suppressed phosphorylation of both Akt and ERK/MAPK signaling downstream of EGFR. Additionally, in the sensitive HPV+ HNSCC lines, cetuximab treatment induced apoptosis marked by caspase activity. Both sensitive and resistant HNSCC lines were then tested for response to both AZD8055, a dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor and BEZ235, a PI3K/mTORC1 inhibitor, resulting in both growth inhibition and successful suppression of phosphorylation of their Akt and S6 targets, suggesting that these drugs may be useful alternatives or adjuvants for cetuximab treatment.

In vivo models of HNSCC were also utilized to test the efficacy of cetuximab treatment and begin to evaluate alternative or combination therapies. Using immunocompromised mouse models, both cell line xenografts and novel patient derived xenografts presented a range of sensitivities to cetuximab. In an effort to identify potential biomarkers that would predict response to cetuximab, IHC staining of pre-treatment tumor samples was carried out and demonstrated that low phospho-Akt and phospho-ERK levels correlated with cetuximab sensitivity. Initial in vivo studies using the PI3K/mTORC inhibitors AZD8055 and BEZ235 to treat both cetuximab sensitive and resistant xenografts, have shown that these compounds may be effective at suppressing growth in both categories of tumors. These studies provide initial pre-clinical data to support the use of PI3K inhibition for the treatment of head and neck cancer.

Citation Format: Adam D. Swick, Dana Gunderson, Molly Smith, Grace Blitzer, Andrew Stein, Kwangok P. Nickel, Randall J. Kimple. Molecular targeting of cetuximab resistant head and neck cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3603. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3603


The aim of this study is to investigate multi-drug resistance in A. baumannii strains that was isolated from clinical samples of three highly large hospitals in Tehran-Iran. This descriptive-cross sectional study was performed in three large hospitals in Tehran on 70 samples of Acinetobacter which were isolated from patients during April to November 2010. After identifying the species level by using culture and biochemical methods, in order to determine sensitivity of 50 isolates of A. baumannii to 13 antibiotics, standard methods according to CLSI guidelines were performed. In this study, resistance to three or more of three classes of antibiotics multidrug resistance was defined. In this study, 50 A. baumannii strains, 12 A. lwoffii strains and other Acinetobacter species were isolated from patients. The majority of isolates were from blood specimens. Isolates of A. baumannii showed the highest resistance to cefepime, ceftazidime, aztreonam, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and amikacin. Tobramycin and meropenem considered as effective drugs in this study. Multi-drug resistance in these strains was respectively 55.4%. Multi-drug resistant Acinetobacters are growing and considered as important threat for hospitalized patients, so change in consumption patterns of antibiotics and control of hospital infections seems to be necessary.


We present preliminary results of a search for the decays B+ -> rho+ gamma, B0 -> rho0 gamma, and B0 -> omega gamma. The analysis is based on data containing 347 million BB events recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II B factory. We measure branching fractions of BF(B+ -> rho+ gamma) = (1.06^{+0.35}_{-0.31} +- 0.09) x 10^{-6} and BF(B+ -> rho0 gamma) = (0.77^{+0.21}_{-0.19} +- 0.07) x 10^{-6}, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic, and set a 90% C.L. upper limit of BF(B0 -> omega gamma) < 0.84 10^{-6}. Assuming isospin relations between the three branching fractions, these results are used to determine the CKM matrix element ratio |V_td/V_ts| = 0.171^{+0.018}_{-0.021}(exp.)^{+0.017}_{-0.014}(theor.).


Evidence for short sequences of interlimb coordination was found in 20-day-old rat fetuses. Frame-by-frame analysis of videotape records showed phase relationships indicating a pattern of alternation in sequences involving forelimb-forelimb and hindlimb-hindlimb coordination. Forelimb-hindlimb coordination was not observed.


Heavily Yb-doped (14300 ppm) preforms and fibers were prepared by the sol-gel method and dip coating-rapid thermal annealing technique. Optical properties of these preforms and fibers were measured and discussed. A fiber laser at a 1053-nm wavelength was realized and its slope efficiency was measured to be 88.4%. The excellent performance of the fiber laser and repeatability show that the novel approach described in this paper is capable of providing low-cost high-level rare earth-doped fibers for amplifiers and fiber lasers.


In recent decades, worldwide active development of non-financial reporting is underway, its legislative regulation and standardization are being formed. In Russia, the Concept of the Public Non-Financial Reporting Development was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. Realization of the tasks set in the Concept requires an active communication between all stakeholders.By now, in Russia there is a group of the companies-leaders in the field of making reports on sustainable development. However, most Russian companies still need to master the principles, methods and techniques for preparing such reports. This article is primarily addressed to those organizations that are currently in the process of collecting information and understanding the tasks to address in the first place.The article is based on the result of analyzing the requirements and recommendations of the most widely used standards on sustainable development reporting (GRI — Global Reporting Initiative), integrated reporting (IR — Integrating Reporting), and US standards for sustainable development reporting (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Standards or SASB Standards). Public non-fi reports registered on the website of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) form the empirical basis for the analysis.The paper proposes a sequence of procedures and actions to prepare a corporate report on sustainable development and provides recommendations for the implementation of each stage. It is recommended to consider the process of preparing such a report as an investment project, to which a standard technique of project management and network planning can be applied. It is shown that investments in the development of a report on sustainable development should bring returns and solve various strategic tasks, such as promotion of the organization brand and reputational risk management through interaction with interested parties. The availability of quality information on sustainable development for interested users is becoming an important factor affecting business decisions, such as choosing supplier in procurement, and can be considered as a potential competitive advantage. This leads to the fact that sustainable development reporting is increasingly becoming a strategic tool for managing the value creation process and implementing corporate communications.


We present a hybrid OpenMP/Charm\tt++ framework for solving the $\mathcal{O} (N)$ self-consistent-field eigenvalue problem with parallelism in the strong scaling regime, $P\gg{N}$, where $P$ is the number of cores, and $N$ is a measure of system size, i.e., the number of matrix rows/columns, basis functions, atoms, molecules, etc. This result is achieved with a nested approach to spectral projection and the sparse approximate matrix multiply [Bock and Challacombe, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 35 (2013), pp. C72--C98], and involves a recursive, task-parallel algorithm, often employed by generalized $N$-Body solvers, to occlusion and culling of negligible products in the case of matrices with decay. Employing classic technologies associated with generalized $N$-Body solvers, including overdecomposition, recursive task parallelism, orderings that preserve locality, and persistence-based load balancing, we obtain scaling beyond hundreds of cores per molecule for small water clusters ([H${}_2$O]${}_N$, $N \in \{ 30, ...


The combination of two solid dielectrics (interface) increases the risk of formation of microscopic cavities reducing the breakdown strength (BDS) of the interface considerably, particularly when the electric field has a tangential component. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the applied contact pressure and composite elastic modulus on the tangential ac BDS of the solid-solid interfaces experimentally. In the experiments, three different contact pressures were applied using different mechanical loads with two different materials having different elastic moduli, i.e. cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and silicon rubber (SiR). Two rectangular prism shaped samples were placed between two vertical Rogowski shaped electrodes either in air or oil. The type of the interface (air/oil) is highlighted duly upon showing the results. Increase in contact pressure caused relatively higher increase in the tangential BDS of dry SiR-SiR (assembled in air) than that of XLPE-XLPE, revealing that elastic modulus facilitated significantly to reduce the mean void size in SiR that in turn improved the tangential BDS. Likewise, the tangential BDS of hybrid interfaces formed by XLPE-SiR specimens increased by 43% compared to that of XLPE-XLPE interface at the same pressure. Additionally, the same set of experiments assembled in oil reveals that the presence of oil enhanced the tangential BDSs around 2-3 times for all three-interface cases. Moreover, with the increase of applied pressure the tangential BDS of air-filled and oil-filled cavities tended to get significantly higher.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study is to compare the efficiency of two polymerization techniques (halogen curing--Astralis 7 and plasma curing--Flipo), with two orthodontic adhesive materials (Enlight, a composite resin, and Fuji Ortho LC, a glass ionomer cement).

METHODS
The efficiency of the polymerization techniques was shown by two mechanical tests. The hardness test was carried out on the exposed and non-exposed surfaces using 10 x 4 x 3-mm samples, polymerized either by halogen curing (40 seconds) or by plasma curing (5 seconds). The three-point bending tests were carried out on 2 x 2 x 25-mm samples polymerized as above. The samples were kept 1 hr at room temperature, then for 24 hrs in distilled water at 37 degrees C.

RESULTS
Whatever the polymerization technique used, the results are similar for hardness and flexion, with the exception of the hardness tests carried out after polymerization with the Flipo light on the surface not directly exposed.

CONCLUSION
In orthodontic practice, both polymerization techniques can be used. But a multi-bracket session can be long, and the reduction of time spent in the chair obtained by using plasma lamps seems to make this technique preferable.


Malignant of pilomatrixoma, known as pilomatrix carcinoma, is a rare cutaneous adnexal tumor that derives from hair matrix cells.The tumor usually occurs in male, with the predominant age range between 40 to 60 years old, located in the head and neck area. The tumor consisted of atypical basaloid cells aggregation, ghost cells, and keratinous material. We report a case of 54 years old male patient referred to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital Jakarta with a mass in his right upper quadrant abdomen and a lump in the axilla. The magnitude resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET)-scan revealed metastatic lesions in several lymph nodes and internal organs. The patient underwent liver biopsy which showed that tumor was composed of atypical basaloid cells, amyloid-like material, keratin mass, and was diagnosed as pilomatrix carcinoma. This case is being reported due to its rarity, potential pitfalls due to histologic similarity with several other entities, and to show the importance of histopathology examination in patient's treatment to prevent a devastating outcome.


In April 2018, rotted 'Lamoka' tubers were received from a commercial storage facility (<1% incidence) in St. Joseph County, Michigan by the MSU Potato & Sugar Beet Pathology and Plant & Pest Diagnostics programs. Dense circular colonies of white fungal-like growth were observed on the surface of the tubers, and internal tissues were watery and spongy with gray to brown discoloration (Supplemental Figure 1). Tubers had a strong, sweet alcoholic odor. External and internal tuber tissues were surface disinfested in 0.825% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min, rinsed twice in sterile distilled water, blotted on sterile filter paper, and placed onto 1.5% (w/v) water agar (WA). After 3 days at 21-24°C and ambient light conditions, septate, branched mycelia and hyaline, cylindrical, single-celled conidia 5.2-8.9 µm x 3.6-5.2 µm (n=20 arthrospores) were observed singly or in chains (Supplemental Figure 2A&B). On potato dextrose agar (PDA), colonies were white, circular, and dense (Supplemental Figure 2C). These observations matched morphological descriptions of Geotrichum candidum (Carmichael 1957). No Pythium or Phytophthora spp. were detected. A mono-conidial isolate of the fungus was obtained and maintained on PDA. DNA was extracted from mycelia using a DNeasy plant mini kit (QIAGEN). Fragments of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 18S ribosomal RNA gene regions were amplified using primers ITS1F/4 primers and NS3/8, respectively (White et al. 1990). Purified PCR products (QIAquick PCR purification kit, QIAGEN) were submitted for Sanger sequencing at the Genomics Research Technology Support Facility (East Lansing, MI). The ITS1F/4 and NS3/8 consensus sequences (OP142324 and OP153873) aligned with GenBank accessions of G. candidum KY103456.1 (100% identity) and JF262193.1 (99.75% identity), respectively. Healthy 'Lamoka' tubers were rinsed with tap water, surface disinfested in 0.825% sodium hypochlorite for 15 min, rinsed twice in sterile distilled water, and blotted dry on sterile paper towel. Ten tubers were inoculated by placing 10-mm diameter fully colonized agar plugs, excised from the margin of a 9-day-old PDA culture, onto the surface of each tuber (Duellman et al. 2021). Ten tubers were mock-inoculated using sterile PDA. Tubers were placed in a moist chamber and incubated in the dark at room temperature. After nine days, inoculated tubers exhibited white colony growth on tuber surfaces and an alcoholic scent was present. After 27 days, internal tissues were rubbery, but no discoloration was observed. No rubbery rot symptoms were observed on the control tubers. Samples were excised 1 cm laterally from and vertically beneath the inoculation site. Tissues were surface disinfested as described above and plated on 1.5% WA. After 9 days, a Geotrichum sp. identical to the original isolate was confirmed in 50% of samples from inoculated tubers. No Geotrichum sp. were detected from mock-inoculated tubers. Since 2018, G. candidum has been confirmed in commercial storages in three counties in the Lower Peninsula (incidences up to 1-2%). Geotrichum candidum was recently reported causing rubbery rot of potato in Idaho (Duellman et al. 2021); however, to our knowledge this is the first report of rubbery rot in Michigan. Despite increasing detection frequencies, incidences remain low and spread in storage appears limited. Seed decay leading to stand loss (incidence 1-3%) was observed after planting infected lots, which should be avoided or minimized.


This study examines and analyzes residential environment and consciousness of downtown residents in Naju city and its results are as follows. Naju's population or urban population were decreased by half for 25 years, but area of residential regions was increased twice. It indicates that major parts of increased residence area are occupied by housing site development area. Uses of downtown buildings are for residential building mostly, but commercial building is less than 1/3 and story of buildings is mostly the first floor. So downtown area in Naju has residential function mostly and family composition is over sixties in more than half of population and regional aging is remarkable because household over majority of the population has no family under twenties. Downtown areas showed detached house and their own house in 2/3 of population and residents over majority of population have lived in current house over 20 years and had strong settlement. But housing site area is less than 40 pyeong at 3/2 of population and 2/3 of population have not parking lot. Most of population have dissatisfaction with their residential environment and for solving their dissatisfaction, improvement of poor residential environment, road extension and construction of parking lot are needed most. Most of residents consider that improvement of residential environment or economic level is normal or developed a little compared to five years ago, but when such a dissatisfaction is solved, they continue to live in their area.


PICASSO is a graphical user interface development system that includes an interface toollkit and an application framework. The application framework provides high-level abstractions including modal dialog boxes and non-modal frames and panels similar to conventional programming language procedures and co-routines. These abstractions can be used to define objects that have local variables and that can be called with parameters. PICASSO also has a constraint system that is used to bind program variables to widgets, to implement triggered behaviors, and to implement multiple views of data. The system is implemented in Common Lisp using the Common Lisp Object System and the CLX interface to the X Window System. Keywords: Graphical User Interface Development Environment, Application Framework, User Interface Toolkit, User Interfaces.


The rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), is a major insect pest of stored products worldwide. In an effort to manage populations of C. ferrugineus in stored grains, the essential oil from Citrus reticulata Blanco peel was prepared by the Soxhlet method with anhydrous diethyl ether, and its contact activity, repellent activity, and fumigant activity were investigated against C. ferrugineus adults. C. reticulata peel essential oil had potent contact, repellent, and fumigant activity against C. ferrugineus adults, with activity significantly increasing with increasing exposure dosage during the same exposure time. Percent repellency values achieved >80.0% after 60 h of exposure. For contact toxicity, the corrected mortality of C. ferrugineus adults reached >99.0% after 48 h of exposure at the dosage of 2.0 μL/cm2. For fumigant toxicity, the corrected mortality of C. ferrugineus adults reached 89.0 and 100.0% at the dosages of 40 and 80 μL/L of air, respectively. These results suggest that the C. reticulata peel essential oil has strong potential for managing populations of C. ferrugineus in practice.


Case report of Laryngeal Amyloidosis: Unusual cause of hoarseness Noraimi Khamalrudin, Mohd Razif Mohamad Yunus*, Marina Mat Baki, Foong Seong Kin, Background: Laryngeal amyloidosis is a rare pathology of the airway in which the diagnosis can only be made via tissue biopsy. We reported a case of laryngeal amyloidosis presenting with symptoms of hoarseness and voice fatigue. Case report: This is a case report of laryngeal amyloidosis in a middle-aged female patient who presented with hoarseness of voice. Upon obtaining a further history and performing a clinical examination, it was noted that the patient had a laryngeal mass. She underwent surgery, and the mass was histopathologically confirmed as laryngeal amyloidosis. She was successfully treated with a combination of surgical and medical treatment. This case presentation describes these rare pathological findings, their clinical manifestations, the histopathological and surgical diagnostic problems, treatment and patient's progress that we followed up till presence. Conclusion: Isolated laryngeal amyloidosis is a rare benign laryngeal tumor that is often presented with various symptoms depending on the tumor location and can even cause upper airway obstruction. It is a histological diagnosis confirmed by histopathological specimens that are stained with Congo red. Treatment of laryngeal amyloidosis includes symptomatic relief, surgical or even conservative treatment.


Abstract Background Myo-inositol is an intracellular mediator which is involved in various aspects of reproduction in women. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the impact of Myo-inositol on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles in infertile women. Materials and Methods This double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted on 70 infertile women referred to the Infertility Treatment Center, Besat hospital, Sanandaj, Iran from May 2019 to September 2019 for IVF/ICSI cycles. The participants were randomly divided into 2 intervention (n = 36) and control (n = 34) groups. The intervention group received 2000 mg of Myo-inositol and 200 mcg folic acid twice a day for 2 months and the control group received 200 mcg of folic acid twice a day for 2 months in the IVF/ICSI cycles (from the third day of cycle until the end of the second month). Finally, the number of oocytes, the quality of embryos, and the IVF/ICSI outcomes were compared between the 2 groups. Results The mean numbers of oocytes, MII oocytes, and 2 pronuclear embryos were significantly higher in the intervention group than the control group. Also, the clinical pregnancy and live birth rates in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the controls (p = 0.04). Conclusion The administration of Myo-inositol may increase clinical pregnancy and live birth rates by increasing the number of total and meiosis II oocytes in infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI.


We investigate the dependence of the gravitational wave spectrum from quintessential inflation on the reheating process. We consider two extreme reheating processes. One is the gravitational reheating by particle creation in the expanding universe in which the beginning of the radiation-dominated epoch is delayed because of the domination of the kinetic energy of inflaton (kination). The other is the instant preheating considered by Felder et al in which the universe becomes radiation dominated soon after the end of inflation. We find that the spectrum of gravitational waves at ∼100 MHz is quite sensitive to the reheating process. This result is not limited to quintessential inflation but applicable to various inflation models. Conversely, the detection or non-detection of primordial gravitational waves at ∼100 MHz would provide useful information regarding the reheating process in inflation.


The purpose of this paper is to present a technique for determining the coordinate locations of nodes in a distributed sensor network. This technique is based on the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of acoustic signals. In this scheme, several sound sources of known locations transmit while each node in the sensor network records the wave front time-of-arrival. Data from the nodes are transmitted to a central processor and the nonlinear TDOA equations are solved. Computational simulation results are presented in order to quantify the solution behavior and its sensitivity to likely error sources. Results based on experimentally collected data are also presented in order to demonstrate the potential for this approach in solving the self-localization problem.


Intensive farming imposes harsh conditions impeding the persistence of most arthropod species within crop fields. Hence, arthropods surviving the unfavourable conditions prevailing within crop fields may disperse towards nearby uncropped margins, such as fencerows. Here, we evaluate the influence of landscape heterogeneity on the abundance of different guilds, particularly herbivores and their natural enemies. Said heterogeneity mostly derives from fencerow network density. Hence, we developed an approach based on fitting linear-mixed models to elucidate the effects of landscape heterogeneity and field position (fencerows and crop interiors) on arthropod diversity. Mixed models were fitted to arthropod data obtained by pitfall trap samplings in 36 crop fields. Arthropod communities were structurally and functionally more complex along fencerows than within nearby crop interiors. Arthropods abundance was modulated by landscape heterogeneity, increasing the abundance of natural enemies as the landscape heterogeneity increased. On the contrary, herbivores abundance decreased as landscape heterogeneity increased. Consequently, the ratio between herbivores and natural enemies also decreased as landscapes became more heterogeneous. Natural enemies with larger body sizes, mostly carabid beetles, were more sensitive to landscape homogenisation. Our study reveals that, despite the coarse-grained landscapes in the Rolling Pampa, fencerow density appears as a key factor for structuring complex arthropod guilds in intensively farmed agricultural mosaics. In landscapes with higher density of fencerows, arthropods tend to concentrate along them, thus increasing the community structural complexity as well as the predation pressure over herbivores. This structural complexity of upper trophic levels enhances the 'top-down' regulation of herbivore populations, consequently decreasing the probability of pest outbreaks within crop fields.


year old man with no background medical history was referred to the dermatology outpatient clinic with multiple lesions of undetermined significance on the trunk. These asymptomatic lesions had been present for approximately 10 years, appeared suddenly and, over time, had been sporadically increasing in number. He had no family history of autoimmune disease and was taking no medications. Physical examination revealed > 15 brown firm papules, located mainly on the bilateral flanks, with scattered lesions identified on the upper limbs. There was no regional lymphadenopathy. All lesions were < 5 mm in diameter and, under dermatoscopy, showed a white patch centrally with a surrounding faint pigmented network. Laboratory investigations, including serum protein electrophoresis, antinuclear antibody, anti-double-stranded DNA, complement levels, viral screen and a connective tissue screen alongside routine bloods, yielded no identifiable cause. Histological features of DFs typically show whirling fascicles of spindle-cell proliferation with excessive collagen deposition. MEDFs were first reported in 1970 and are now defined as the development of 5–8 dermatofibromas within a 4-month period. Rapid onset in a short time period is pathnomonic of MEDF. Pathogenesis remains unknown; however, it is postulated that DFs could represent a neoplastic process or persistent inflammatory proliferation of fibroblasts secondary to trauma. Recently, it has been postulated that in MEDFs the inhibition of down regulatory T cells in immunodeficiency states could, in turn, mediate an immunoreactive process in dermal dendritic cells. As MEDF is increasingly recognized as a sign of immune dysregulation this should prompt clinicians to investigate for underlying diseases such as HIV, autoimmune diseases and haematological malignancies. In a small proportion of patients no underlying cause will be identified. Differential diagnoses include Kaposi sarcoma, dermatofibrosarcoma, sarcoidosis, cutaneous lymphoma, leukaemic skin infiltrates, leiomyomas, xanthogranulomas and bacillary angiomatosis. Our patient had no underlying cause for the development of his MEDFs; however, it is imperative for clinicians to screen all those who present with MEDFs for associated causes. Clinicopathological correlation is essential for correct diagnosis, as MEDFs could easily be misdiagnosed as another papular dermatoses.


This article will discuss the uses of hypnosis in selected dental situations. In certain cases, the verbalization of the dentist during the procedural steps will be condensed or referenced in the literature.


In the tumor microenvironment, dying cells release ATP which gets converted to AMP by CD39. AMP is subsequently converted to immunosuppressive adenosine by the extracellular 59-nucleotidase CD73. CD73 is linked to the cell surface by a GPI-anchor and can be released into the plasma as soluble CD73. In order to lower extracellular levels and reverse the immunosuppressive activity of adenosine in the tumor microenvironment, an antibody was researched and discovered that antagonizes CD73 function. INCA00186 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds and inhibits CD73 function. INCA00186 binds human and cynomolgus CD73 with sub-nanomolar affinity, and inhibits CD73 enzymatic activity in a manner that is non-competitive for AMP binding. In functional studies, INCA00186 restored effector T cell proliferation in the presence of high concentrations of AMP. In the human A375 melanoma tumor model in CD34+ humanized NSG mice, INCA00186 decreased levels of cell surface CD73, displayed high receptor occupancy on tumor cells, and decreased CD73 activity in ex vivo assays of tumor homogenates. In the human MDA-MB-231 breast tumor model in CD34+ humanized NSG mice, INCA00186 decreased intratumoral adenosine concentrations. In combination with the novel A2A/A2B adenosine receptor antagonist INCB106385, INCA00186 synergistically restored effector T cell activity as measured by interferon gamma (IFNγ) production in the presence of high concentrations of AMP. In the human MDA-MB-231 breast tumor model in CD34+ humanized NSG mice, combination treatment with INCA00186 and INCB106385 controlled tumor growth significantly better than monotherapies. In summary, the data presented in this study demonstrates that INCA00186 is a potent CD73 antagonist and effectively attenuates adenosine induced immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. INCA00186 demonstrated anti-tumor immunity alone and, to a greater extent, in combination with the A2A/A2B adenosine receptor antagonist INCB106385. Citation Format: Shaun Stewart, Rebecca Buonpane, Jing Zhou, Michael Hansbury, Michael Smith, Hui Wang, Lu, Bin Su, Rahel Awdew, Cheng-Yen Huang, Ashwini Kulkarni, Shane Harvey, Arpita Mondal, Steve Wang, Christina Stevens, Michael Pratta, Elham Behshad, Alexandra Fanuka, Xiaodi Ren, Holly Koblish, Horacio Nastri, Patrick Mayes. Discovery and preclinical characterization of INCA00186, a humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of CD73, as a cancer immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr LB174.


OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical benefits and safety of paroxetine (PXT) in a group of patients younger than 14 years old, with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder.

METHOD
Patients were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic. They were assessed for disease severity using the Clinical Global Severity (CGS) scale at 1 month, 3 months, and 8 months. Intensity of the therapeutic response (the reduction in CGS) was measured after 1 and 3 months. All patients were given open-label treatment with PXT.

RESULTS
At the start of treatment, most patients had "severe" depression (mean CGS score, 3.02). This improved to a score of 2.2 after 1 month and to 1.22 after 3 months of treatment. All patients experienced a complete remission of symptoms by the end of treatment (mean 8.4 months). PXT was well tolerated. Only 4 of the 45 patients experienced (mainly gastrointestinal) side effects; in 3 patients the side effects were of mild severity, and none required withdrawal from the trial.

CONCLUSIONS
PXT can be effective in treating major depression and was well tolerated by children younger than 14 years old. This result indicates that PXT should be investigated further in children, in double-blind trials.


We introduce a class of quantum channels called passive-environment bosonic channels. These channels are relevant from a quantum thermodynamical viewpoint because they correspond to the energy-preserving linear coupling of a bosonic system with a bosonic environment that is in a passive state (no energy can be extracted from it with a unitary transformation) followed by discarding the environment. The Fock-majorization relation defined in Jabbour et al (2016 New J. Phys. 18 073047) happens to be particularly useful in this context as, unlike regular majorization, it connects the disorder of a state together with its energy. Our main result here is the preservation of Fock-majorization across all passive-environment bosonic channels. This implies a similar preservation for regular majorization over the set of passive states, and also extends to the passive-environment bosonic channels whose Stinespring dilation involves an active Gaussian unitary. Beyond bosonic systems, the class of passive-environment operations as defined here naturally generalizes the set of thermal operations and is expected to provide new insights into the thermodynamics of quantum systems.


Subcellular dynamics studies of iron reveal how tissue-specific distribution patterns are established in developing wheat grains Many questions remain regarding the mechanisms that determine how iron is translocated from the maternal vascular bundle into the developing seed and how this element is distributed within the seed as tissues differentiate and expand. To address these questions, we combined iron isotope labelling with NanoSIMS to compare the dynamics of iron distribution in developing wheat grains between a control and a TaVIT2 overexpressing line. Our results revealed that the major route of iron is from the nucellar transfer cells through a zone of endosperm cells between the crease and the embryo, but that this pathway is disrupted by overexpression of TaVIT2 . Different cell types displayed specific patterns of isotope-enriched vesicles and globoids, highlighting the different roles of each cell type in iron translocation.


Reactor neutrino experiments build large-scale detector systems to detect neutrinos. In liquid scintillator, a neutral bound state of a positron and an electron, named positronium, can be formed. The spin triplet state is called ortho-positronium (o-Ps). In this article, an experiment is designed to measure the lifetime of o-Ps, giving a result of 3.1 ns. A PSD parameter based on photon emission time distribution (PETD) was constructed to discriminate e+/e−. Finally, the application of e+/e− discrimination in the JUNO experiment is shown. It helps suppress 8He/9Li backgrounds and improves the sensitivity by 0.6 in χ2 analysis with an assumption of σ = 1 ns PMT Transit Time Spread, which will bring a smearing effect to the PETD.


2-Amino-7-methyl-9-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-1H,9H-purine-6,8-dione monohydrate, C11H15-N5O6.H2O, Mr = 331.29, orthorhombic, P212121, a = 6.9811 (6), b = 9.808 (2), c = 20.61 (2) A, V = 1411.1 (13) A3, Z = 4, Dx = 1.559 g cm-3, Cu Kalpha, lambda = 1.54178 A, mu = 10.825 cm-1, F(000) = 696, T = 295 K, R = 0.0296 for 2472 reflections (F greater than or equal to 4 sigma F). The sugar conformation and puckering parameters are 2E (C2'-endo), P = 161.8 degrees and tau m = 39.2 degrees. The side chain is gauche-gauche. The glycosidic torsion angle is 65.1 (2) degrees corresponding to the syn conformation which is stabilized by the O5'--H...N3 intramolecular hydrogen bond. The purine ring is nearly planar [r.m.s. deviation: 0.014 (2) A]; the dihedral angle between the pyrimidine and imidazole rings is 1.14 (8) degrees.


B M, male, aged 20 Sustained a simple fracture just medial to the central point of his left clavicle in August 1961. Initial treatment consisted of figure-of-eight bandaging for between three 4nd four weeks, adjusted when required. A large mass of callus developed rapidly around the fracture site and persisted. Function was regained rapidly, but discomfort developed and persisted from pressure on the callus when wearing braces or carrying a haversack; the patient found the lump embarrassing when sun bathing. In October 1962 the callus mass was excised revealing fibrous union of the fracture. Within a few weeks an exactly similar callus mass had reformed. He continued to be worried about this and sought further advice in the summer of 1963 when it was decided that union must be achieved if a cure was to be effected. In October 1963, therefore, the callus mass was again excised, the bone ends cleared of fibrous tissue and trimmed back to normal bone, a cortical graft from the tibia was fixed with 4 screws to bridge the gap, and the gap itself generously packed with can-


Background: Emesis is one of the major non-hematologic toxicity caused by chemotherapy. The control of Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) is conducted to a life lengthening. Recently, CINV is controlled by the second generation 5-HT3 receptor blocker (Palonosetron; PALO) and a NK-1 receptor antagonist (Aprepitant; APR). It has been shown that dexamethasone (DEX) with 5-HT3 receptor blocker improves acute / delayed CINV. However, it has not been determined the medication schedule for DEX with PALO and APR. The purpose of this study is evaluated the efficiency of palonosetron, aprepitant and dexamethasone for day1 with or without dexamethasone on days2 and 3. This is final result of current study. Methods: Breast cancer patients who administered anthracyclin drug regimen have been eligible from April, 2011 to June, 2013. The patients were randomised to group A (PALO/APR/DEX one day) and group B (PALO/APR/DEX three days). Eighty patients were estimate as study samples. The primary endpoint was a complete response (CR) rate of vomiting, the secondary endpoint was a complete control (CC) rate of vomiting. Results: Eighty two patients were enrolled in this study. There was not inferiority about CR rate of five days after chemotherapy (81.1% of group A, 82.1% of group B). CC rate of group A (62.2%) was better than that of group B (46.2%). However, CC rate was no significant difference between group A and B. There was no significant difference about any level of nausea between group A and B. Conclusions: One day of dexamethasone with Palonosetron and Aprepitant treatment is enough to control the emesis of high emetogenic chemotherapeutic agents. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P3-09-03.


Once the CoViD-19 emergency broke out, the Italian government decided to delay the referendum on the constitutional reform about the number of MPs (scheduled for March 29) and, subsequently, also the regional and municipal elections, scheduled for May. This contribution considers the possible conflicts between right to health and right to vote and evaluates their solutions, also looking at the decisions made in other States about the opportunity to maintain the "rites of democracy" in times of health emergency.


Mangrove has a lot of benefits that intersect directly with human life ranging from ecology to benefit as a source of food, shelter and medicine. One of them is often found in Indonesia is lindur ( Bruguiera gymnorrhiza ). This study aimed to identify the content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activities of lindur stem bark extract in various solvents. Antioxidant assay used Free Radical Scavenging Assay was estimated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and total penolic content in the extracts was calculated as gallic acid equivalent (GAE). The results showed that phytochemical screening that n-hexane extract showed positive results on the parameters of steroids, the ethyl acetate extract on the parameters of steroids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and phenols hydroquinone, methanolic extract on the parameters of steroids and flavonoids. Based on the antioxidant activity assays and total phenolic content, ethyl acetate extract showed the highest values of IC 50 and phenolic content (37.23 ppm and 73.24 mgGAE/g). The results indicate mangrove species potential for the utilization as significant source of natural antioxidant.


Restoration of coral reefs at the Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP) started in 2009. Various methods are adopted, although the Coral Frame method is preferred mainly due to the low maintenance cost, its durability and is currently still being used. However, since the beginning of its deployment, there has been little study on the effectiveness of the coral restoration project. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the community structure of coral reef fish around the coral frames. Two study sites (Site 1: Bohey Dulang; Site 2: Mantabuan) with existing coral frames within the TSMP were selected. At each site, a baited remote underwater video system (BRUVS), was deployed, and each was set to capture approximately one-hour footage. The first BRUVS deployment of this 24-month project was made on 21 July 2020, during the peak of the southwest monsoon. A total of 20 families (32 species) and 19 families (42 species) were recorded at Site 1 and Site 2, respectively. The Small-tooth whiptail, Pentapodus caninus (MaxN:14) and fusilier, Caesio sp. (MaxN: 101) are the most abundant species at Site 1 and Site 2, respectively. The preliminary findings reveal a low abundance and diversity counts of indicator reef fish (Serranidae, Labridae, Scaridae and Lutjanidae) at the coral restoration sites within TSMP. However, it is suspected that opportunistic local fishermen indulge in fishing in restricted parts of the Park (pers. Observ.) and try to evade detection the Park's Law Enforcement.


This paper focuses on the implementation of using collaborative learning via virtual communities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) with a vision to identify three things: students' perception, their active participation in virtual learning groups, students' satisfaction with this new strategy of learning, and the relationship between gender and the latter. To answer these questions, the present research adopts a quantitative method using a questionnaire for data gathering and the use of IBM SPSS for data analysis. The findings of the present study demonstrate that students hold positive attitudes towards online collaborative learning, students are active participants in the online learning process; students are satisfied and able to develop many skills like, problem solving skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. Last but not least, the findings also show that gender does not affect the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in virtual communities. Thus, the implementation of this up-dated strategy of learning is useful and needed to fulfill the missing gaps in the traditional ways of teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the Moroccan higher education.


Impairment of myocardial mechano–energetic efficiency (MEE) is present in virtually all patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) improves the quality of life and functional capacity, reduces hospitalizations, and induces biventricular reverse remodeling in patients with HFrEF. However, the effects of this innovative therapy on mechano–energetics efficiency and global longitudinal strain (GLS) are still unknown; therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate whether CCM therapy can improve the MEE of patients with HFrEF.

 We enrolled 25 patients with HFrEF who received an Optimizer Smart implant (the device that develops CCM therapy) between January 2018 and January 2021. Clinical and echocardiographic data were obtained from all patients 24 hours before and six months after CCM therapy.

 At six months, follow–up patients who underwent CCM therapy showed an increase of left ventricular ejection fraction (30.8+7.1 vs. 36.1+6.9%; p = 0.032) as well a rise of GLS 10.3+2.7 vs.–12.9+4.2; p = 0.018), of MME (32.2 + 10.1 vs. 38.6 + 7.6 mL/s; p = 0.013) and of MEE index (18.4 + 6.3 vs 24.3 + 6.7 mL/s/g; p = 0.022).

 CCM therapy increased left ventricular performance, improving left ventricular ejection fraction, GLS, as well as MEE and MEEi.


Optimally solving a scheduling problem is computationally intractable, hence varieties of techniques and methods have been explored to obtain sub-optimal solutions to such problems. In this paper we introduce a technique that effectively combines appropriate heuristics so as to find a quality solution when used with a hill climbing algorithm. We will demonstrate the proposed approach by applying it to solve some single machine scheduling problems. We compare the quality of the solutions with the ones obtained by using randomized techniques.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Combination therapy with peginterferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) has been recommended as a standard therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) against RBV-associated hemolytic anemia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two hundred and forty HCV patients included in the study were randomized to either the EPA group (n=120) or non-EPA group (n=120), and they received combination therapy with or without EPA. We compare changes in hemoglobin levels with RBV dose reduction rate in each group as well as treatment response.

RESULTS
Of 120 patients randomized to receive combination therapy with EPA, 15/86 (17.5%) patients required RBV dose reduction, whereas 71/86 (82.5%) patients did not require RBV dose reduction; in the non-EPA group, 22/80 (27.5%) patients required RBV dose reduction and 58/80 (72.5%) patients did not require RBV dose reduction. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rates of virologic response.

CONCLUSION
EPA can decrease the rate of RBV dose reduction and RBV-induced hemolysis during the course of combination treatment. Further trials are required to investigate the role of EPA in the current regimens of HCV treatment that include ribavirin.


Clinical factors such as tall stature, lean body mass, obstructive sleep apnea, alcohol or caffeine, smoking, endurance sports, and genetic factors are proposed as risk factors for lone atrial fibrillation (LAF). The KORAF (KORean Atrial Fibrillation) study is a retrospective multicenter registry that enrolled 3,570 consecutive atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Data on risk factors were available for 2,133 patients, of whom 398 (18.7%) were identified as having LAF. In univariate analysis, patients with LAF were more likely to be men (82.4% vs 59.8%, P < 0.001) and current smokers (25.9% vs 15.6%, P < 0.01), alcohol drinkers (55.3% vs 31.2%, P < 0.01) and frequent consumers of caffeinated beverages (> 2 cups/day) (31.7% vs 19.3%, P < 0.01), and have a family history of AF (9.0% vs 2.6%, P < 0.001) than the non-LAF patients. Multivariate analysis showed that male gender (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.61-3.27, P < 0.01), family history of AF (OR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.91-5.12, P < 0.01), current alcohol use (OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.46-2.76, P < 0.01), and frequent caffeinated beverage consumption (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.20-2.29, P < 0.01) were independently associated with LAF. In Korean patients, LAF is more closely associated with male gender, family history of AF, current alcohol and frequent caffeinated beverage consumption than non-LAF.


Background The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak is placing insurmountable challenges and burden on health systems and authorities demanding responses with effective and appropriate policies and interventions. Wrong decision making, lack of foresightedness and preparation in the acute and transition phases can threaten the gains collectively achieved. Understanding the behaviours, perceptions and feelings of the population is imperative in management decisions. Not much evidence is available on such behavioural insights to inform the COVID-19 response in countries. This study is expected to contribute to the evidence-informed understanding on effective management of the outbreak.Methods This was a cross sectional observational study with entirely voluntary online participation. The study protocol and the questionnaire, originally prepared by a WHO collaboration, were adjusted to match the local setting and resource availability. The study explored 14 variables including perceptions, trust and behaviours in relation to COVID-19. Data was collected during the first wave of COVID-19 in early May 2020 and statistically analysed to see the associations and comparisons between chosen variables.Results N = 1001 with 65.63% from the age range 18–29 years and 65% from the non -health care worker category. Basic or postgraduate degree holders were 64.7%. Participants were from 23 out of the 25 districts in SL with 34.07% from high-risk districts. They were in general, knowledgeable (e.g., > 95% correctly identified common symptoms of COVID19) and majority (99.5%) reported conforming to the health recommendations. They trusted government health bodies including hospitals (90.8%) but majority (63.8%) had poor confidence in media in the ability to manage the outbreak. Stigma around COVID-19 was not a concern for the majority of 78.9%. Participants less than 30 years believed in conspiracies around COVID-19 more than older counterparts.Conclusion The perceptions, affect and behaviour of the study population gives insights on information dissemination, gaps in health message delivery, alternative approaches in responding and policy making helping to improve the pandemic response.


Using agricultural and industrial waste such as bagasse ash, groundnut shell ash and coal ash in stabilizing expansive soils are used as a subgrade material to reduce harmful impaction of swelling/shrinkage of expansive soils, reduce construction costs. It is also a solution for environmental protection. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is an important criterion to evaluate the application technique of stabilized expansive soil such as road construction, building construction, highway construction, airport construction, etc. Using the traditional method such as experimental methods or empirical approach, the estimation of CBR of stabilized expansive soils is costly, time consuming for the experiment or low accuracy for empirical method. In this investigation, open-source code of Machine Learning technique Light Gradient Boosting Machine algorithm is introduced to predict the CBR. In order to build model, data of 207 experimental samples was synthesized from the literature to create a database.
The database consists of 6 input variables (ash content, ash type, liquid limit LL, plastic limit PL, optimum moisture content OMC and maximum dry density MDD) to obtain output variable CBR. The results show that the LightGBM model can successfully predict the CBR of stabilized expansive soils with high accuracy. The ash content is the most important input factor for CBR prediction using LightGBM model. In order of importanc input factor affecting CBR prediction are ash content, MDD, ash type, OMC, LL, PL.


On the basis of several unpublished registers, the article examines the real practice of official Voynuk land ownership. The historical-legal analysis is applied in the research work. According to law, Voynuk farms were exempt from land taxes, but were part of the state land fund. However, the Voynuk baştina differed from the Rayet çiftlik and baştina not only in that it also included vineyards, gardens and even houses, but the sizes of the fields were often smaller than the legal norms for a pair of arable land. This can be explained by the fact that these areas were sufficient for the sustenance of a Voynuk household, since the considered category of population was exempt from land taxes and jizyah. However, as early as the 16th century, a property differentiation was gradually created between the Voynuks and a thin layer of wealthy owners of service lands stood out. They expanded their arable lands both by unregulated means, entering in the timar land, and through perhaps perfectly legal transactions for the transfer of shares of arable land between the Voynuks themselves.


We investigate a spatial Prisoner's Dilemma game with nonlinear attractive effect on regular small-world networks. The players located on the sites of networks can either cooperate with their neighbours or defect. In every generation, each player updates its strategy by firstly choosing one of the neighbours with a probability proportional to 𝒜α denoting the attractiveness of the neighbour, where 𝒜 is the collected payoff and α (⩾0) is a free parameter characterizing the extent of nonlinear effect. Then each player adopts its strategy with a probability dependent on their payoff difference. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the density ρC of cooperators in the stationary state for various values of α and the rewiring probability q of the network. It is shown that the introduction of such attractive effect remarkably promotes the emergence and persistence of cooperation over a wide range of the temptation to defect for the same network structures. We also point out that long-range connections either enhance or inhibit the cooperation, which depends on the value of α and the payoff parameter b.


With the large-scale integration and use of neural network models, especially in critical embedded systems, their security assessment to guarantee their reliability is becoming an urgent need. More particularly, models deployed in embedded platforms, such as 32-bit microcontrollers, are physically accessible by adversaries and therefore vulnerable to hardware disturbances. We present the first set of experiments on the use of two fault injection means, electromagnetic and laser injections, applied on neural networks models embedded on a Cortex M4 32-bit microcontroller platform. Contrary to most of state-of-the-art works dedicated to the alteration of the internal parameters or input values, our goal is to simulate and experimentally demonstrate the impact of a specific fault model that is instruction skip. For that purpose, we assessed several modification attacks on the control flow of a neural network inference. We reveal integrity threats by targeting several steps in the inference program of typical convolutional neural network models, which may be exploited by an attacker to alter the predictions of the target models with different adversarial goals.


Research in the areas of privacy preserving techniques in databases and subsequently in privacy enhancement technologies have witnessed an explosive growth-spurt in recent years. This escalation has been fueled by the growing mistrust of individuals towards organizations collecting and disbursing their Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Digital repositories have become increasingly susceptible to intentional or unintentional abuse, resulting in organizations to be liable under the privacy legislations that are being adopted by governments the world over. These privacy concerns have necessitated new advancements in the field of distributed data mining wherein, collaborating parties may be legally bound not to reveal the private information of their customers. In this paper, we present a new algorithm PriPSeP (Privacy Preserving SEquential Patterns) for the mining of sequential patterns from distributed databases while preserving privacy. A salient feature of PriPSeP is that due to its flexibility it is more pertinent to mining operations for real world applications in terms of efficiency and functionality. Under some reasonable assumptions, we prove that our architecture and protocol employed by our algorithm for multi-party computation is secure.


A bstractThis article analyzes some of the challenges that can arise when patent law is applied to the field of veterinary medicine. Topics covered in this article include an overview of the different kinds of inventions that can be patented in the veterinary field; a review of recent legal developments that may affect the patenting of veterinary pharmaceuticals; a discussion of some potential issues related to patents covering assays; and an identification of some special situations where the law affecting veterinary pharmaceuticals is actually different from the law affecting human pharmaceuticals.


The nebula around eta Carinae consists of two distinct parts: the Homunculus and the outer ejecta. The outer ejecta are mainly a collection of numerous filaments, shaped irregularly and distributed over an area of 1arcminx1arcmin. While the Homunculus is mainly a reflection nebula, the outer ejecta are an emission nebula. Kinematic analysis of the outer ejecta (as the Homunculus) show their bi-directional expansion. Radial velocities in the outer ejecta reach up to>2000km/s and the gas gives rise to X-ray emission. The temperature of the X-ray gas is of the order of 0.65 keV. These shock temperatures indicate velocities of the shocking gas of 750km/s, about what was found for the average expansion velocity of the outer ejecta. HST/STIS data from the strings, long, highly collimated structures in the outer ejecta, show that the electron density of the strings is of the order of 10^4cm^-3 Other structures in the outer ejecta show similar values. String 1 has a mass of about 3 10^-4M_\sun, a density gradient along the strings or a denser leading head was not found.


The study reported in the paper has focused on the identification and analysis of various causal linkages that exist in the soft systems that operate within a larger R&D organizational system and the development of a system dynamics model based on these linkages. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a public-funded R&D organizational system in India with its constituent laboratories, has been considered for the study. Multiple regression analysis was employed to understand the influence of integration, coordination, and interdependence of research units or groups on quality performance of these units working in CSIR laboratories. In another study, the multivariate relationships between the availability of resources (material, human, organizational), and R&D effectiveness of research units were explored. Two other sets of studies were carried out to complement the above. In the first study, the factors and forces that motivate the scientists in the R&D work situations and those that contribute to the overall satisfaction of the scientists with their work groups were explored. The second study has assessed the use of mental energy by scientific personnel working in three CSIR laboratories with the objective of increasing the energy count for improving organizational effectiveness. Finally, a system dynamics model incorporating these feedback influences has been developed for the overall R&D organizational system.


Eight males were studied during 27 weeks, including two periods of five weeks during which they received clinical doses of sodium amylobarbitone and benzoctamine. Substitution of placebo for either drug caused raised anxiety and impairment of mental concentration. The drugs reduced restlessness during sleep and reduced paradoxical sleep. By the fifth week of sodium amylobarbitone, although sleep was still less restless in the early night it was more restless than normal in the late night. Blood samples were taken half-hourly during sleep by indwelling venous catheter. Plasma growth hormone concentration was little affected during drug administration but rose temporarily after withdrawal. There was a reduction of plasma corticosteroid concentration during sleep throughout administration of the drugs and a rebound above normal during the first withdrawal week.


A heterogeneous wireless network integrating IEEE 802.11 WLAN and 3G/UMTS mobile phone system will be a common scenario in future mobile networking. The multi-homing feature of SCTP and the dynamic address configuration extension had made seamless vertical handover possible in heterogeneous mobile wireless networks. However, due to the switching of radio interfaces and the attenuation of radio signal, the SACK could get lost during the handover process. This will result in unnecessary retransmission after the handover and lead to degradation in network utilization. A solution to this problem will be presented in this article. The proposed approach introduces a new parameter, named Received Last TSN (RLT), to the standard ASCONF control message. The RLT keeps track the sequence number of lastly received packet from the old interface. The mobile node reports the RLT to its corresponding node right after the handover. With this information, the corresponding node can then proceed with effective transmission and avoid the unnecessary retransmission caused by the loss of SACK. Simulation results reveal that the proposed scheme is a feasible and effective measure for the reduction of redundant retransmission during vertical handover in heterogeneous mobile wireless networks.


Targeting Outcomes of Programs (TOP) is a seven-step hierarchical programming model in which the program development and performance sides are mirror images of each other. It served as a framework to identify a simple method for targeting photographic events in nonformal education programs, indicating why, when, and how photographs would be useful to inform other evaluation strategies. In two case studies, photographs enhanced the formative story of a geoscience project being developed and tested, and contributed to the outcome narrative of a 10-year partnership project between two universities. In both cases, TOP proved to be an efficient and easy-to-use framework. Us ing TOP in this fashion has the potential to help evaluators address challenges posed by the subjectivity of photography and possible biases of the photographer in the research process.


Abstract Hyperoside (Hyp) self-assembled polymeric micelles (Hyp-PMs) were purposely developed to enhance aqueous solubility, in vivo availability and anti-oxidative effect of Hyp. In preparing Hyp-PMs, we employed the thin film dispersion method with the micelles consisting of TPGs and mPEG2000-PDLLA3000. The particle size, polydispersity index and zeta potential of Hyp-PMs were 67.42 ± 1.44 nm, 0.229 ± 0.015 and −18.67 ± 0.576 mV, respectively, coupled with high encapsulation efficiency (EE)of 90.63 ± 1.45% and drug loading (DL) of 6.97 ± 1.56%. Furthermore, the value of critical micelle concentration (CMC) was quite low, which indicated good stability and improved self-assembly ability of Hyp-PMs. Also, trend of in vitro Hyp release from Hyp-PMs demonstrated enhanced solubility of Hyp. Similarly, in comparison with free Hyp, oral bioavailability of Hyp-PMs was improved (about 8 folds) whilst half-life of Hyp-PMs was extended (about 3 folds). In vitro anti-oxidative effect showed obvious strong scavenging DPPH capability of Hyp-PMs, which may be attributed to its smaller size and better solubility. Altogether, Hyp-PMs may serve as a possible strategy to potentially enhance aqueous solubility, bioavailability and anti-oxidative effect of Hyp, which may play a key role in Hyp application in the pharmaceutical industries. Graphical Abstract


Detailed analysis of many mathematical properties of sculptured models has been hindered by the fact that the properties do not have the same representation as the surface. For example, unit tangents, surface normals, and principal curvatures are typically computed at predefined discrete sets of points on the surface. As such, aliasing can occur and features between samples can be missed. Synthesizing information about the shape of an object and operating on the model, whether by physical machining tools, graphics display programs, or mathematical analysis, has been treated as either a discrete or local problem in general. The research being reported on here has focused on another approach, that of creating algorithms that construct the mathematical properties in closed form, or construct approximations to those mathematical properties through symbolic computation. Global analysis can then be applied while an accurate error bound is obtained.
Basic tools required for such symbolic computation are presented and their usage in a broad range of applications from offset approximations through curvature analysis to generation of machining toolpaths are demonstrated. The combination is not only shown to be powerful but it also provides a novel approach to problem solving in an elegant and robust way.


A prototype balloon-borne telescope is being constructed for gamma-ray observations in the MeV energy range. The Tracking and Imaging Gamma Ray Instrument (TIGRE) uses multi-layers of thin silicon detectors to track and measure the energy losses of Compton recoil electrons. When combined with the direction and energy of the Compton scattered gamma ray a unique incident direction for each photon event is determined. This facilitates background rejection, improved sensitivity, and image reconstruction. The converter/tracker also serves as an electron-positron pair detector for gamma rays up to 100 MeV. The initial continental U.S. flight will be used to determine the sub-orbital atmospheric backgrounds and search for polarized gamma emission for the Crab pulsar. Longer southern hemisphere flights with an enhanced instrument will map out the Al emissions from the galactic


ABSTRACT Here we report the complete genome sequence of the Mycobacterium intracellulare clinical strain MOTT-36Y, previously grouped into the INT5 genotype among the 5 genotypes of M. intracellulare. This genome sequence will serve as a valuable reference for understanding the disparity in virulence and epidemiologic traits between M. intracellulare-related strains.


Abstract From the examination of a large number of droplet samples in cumulus clouds it is found that many droplet-size distributions have neither positive skewness nor a single mode. Bimodal distributions increase in frequency with height above cloud base and with decreasing stability in the cloud environment, and it is suggested that they are produced by mixing between the cloud and its environment. The relative uniformity observed in the shape of the spectrum at a constant level across the cloud, and the fact that bimodal distributions are not confined to the cloud edges, lead to the belief that entrainment inward from the cloud edges is not dominant; rather, it is the mixing at the growing cloud top as it builds which determines the shape of the droplet spectrum.


Abdominal injuries may be life threatening and should be approached cautiously. After trauma, the abdomen may be sanctuary for occult bleeding that, if not discovered and corrected expeditiously, may lead to deleterious consequences. Patients with abdominal trauma should have rapid assessment, stabilization, and early surgical consultation to maximize the chances of a successful outcome. Deaths from abdominal trauma result principally from hemorrhage or sepsis. Most deaths from abdominal trauma are preventable. Patients at risk of abdominal injury should undergo prompt and thorough evaluation. In some cases, dramatic physical findings may be due to abdominal wall injury in the absence of intraperitoneal injury. If the results of diagnostic studies are equivocal, diagnostic laparoscopy or exploratory laparotomy should be considered, since they may be lifesaving if serious injuries are identified early.


Increasing groundwater withdrawal combined with prolonged dry periods occurring in recent years in Iran, necessitated the importance of research on groundwater consumption management. One of the prevailing difficulties is the appearance of severe decline in groundwater table in the Kangawar Basin. To overcome the recent declination of groundwater, artificial recharge was evaluated and safe yield was calculated. MODFLOW was selected to simulate the aquifer. The input data including, water levels in selected wells, hydrological, geophysical data of 40 locations were obtained by field reconnaissance visits. Furthermore, pumping test data were used to determine the hydraulic parameters. Calibration was attempted for water levels in existing piezometers during the year 2003. Groundwater fluctuations from the year 2004 to 2008 were predicated to verify the model. The study reveals that observed water level data, were good adjusted to achieve a reasonable fit with calculated data. Artificial recharge impacts were assessed in different positions. Groundwater level mound of 3 m with recharged water volume of 3.42 cubic million meter (mcm) in two sites, and upcoming of 6 m in 3 sites with recharged water volume of 7 mcm were obtained. The maximum radial effect of these artificial recharge sites was found to be 1.5 km.


A particulate sol-gel (PSG) method has been successfully used to prepare LiNi0.85Co0.15O2 cathode materials,utilizing the reaction of LiOH·H2O with Ni(CH3COO)2·4H2O and Co(CH3COO)2·4H2O in water-ethanol system.The thermal history of the as-prepared xerogel was established by differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. Powder X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of layered α-NaFeO2 structure at temperature of 70℃ under flowing oxygen. Scanning electron microscope exhibited that the crystalline powder prepared by PSG method had relatively smaller particle size with narrow distribution than the one prepared by solid state reaction.The fast discharge capacity of the material by PSG method was 196.4 mAh/g, and the 10th discharge capacity was 189.1 mAh/g at the current density of 18 mA/g between 3.0 and 4.3 V. Its cycling reversibility was observed to be much better than that by solid state reaction, which had 187.3 mAh/g of the first discharge capacity and 167.1 mAh/g of the 10th discharge capacity.


The effect of fermentation on chemical composition, amino acid profile and protein digestibility of extruded soya protein products was investigated. The soya protein products (low moisture extruded soya product, medium moisture extruded soya product, high moisture extruded soya product, soya meal and soya kernel) were fermented with Bacillus natto from small and large brands of soya bean cultivar. The protein content (%) ranged from 38.20 to 62.98 with the highest content in the high moisture extruded protein product fermented with Bacillus natto from large brand of soya bean cultivar. Contents of carbohydrates ranged from 14.77 to 29.08 while those of crude fibre, fat and ash were generally low. Fermentation improved protein digestibility in the raw soya meal and kernel than in the unfermented extruded and extruded fermented products. Extrusion reduced the nitrogen solubility index of the extruded samples. The contents of amino acids except arginine increased in all the samples after fermentation. Trypsin inhibitor activity decreased from 27.33 TIU/g in the unfermented soya sample to between 1.58 and 18.5 TIU/g after fermentation, whereas there was a decrease in phytic acid content only in the fermented soya meal and low moisture extruded soya sample.


Planar pulmonary scintigraphy is still regularly performed for the evaluation of pulmonary embolism (PE). However, only about 50-80% of cases can be resolved by this approach. This study evaluates the ability of tomographic acquisition (single photon emission computed tomography, SPECT) of the perfusion scan to improve the radionuclide diagnosis of PE. One hundred and fourteen consecutive patients with a suspicion of PE underwent planar and SPECT lung perfusion scans as well as planar ventilation scans. The final diagnosis was obtained by using an algorithm, including D-dimer measurement, leg ultrasonography, a V/Q scan and chest spiral computed tomography, as well as the patient outcome. A planar perfusion scan was considered positive for PE in the presence of one or more wedge shaped defect, while SPECT was considered positive with one or more wedge shaped defect with sharp borders, three-plane visualization, whatever the photopenia. A definite diagnosis was achieved in 70 patients. After exclusion of four 'non-diagnostic' SPECT images, the prevalence of PE was 23% (n = 15). Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibilities were 91%/94% and 79%/88% for planar/SPECT images, respectively. The sensitivities for PE diagnosis were similar for planar and SPECT perfusion scans (80%), whereas SPECT had a higher specificity (96% vs 78%; P = 0.01). SPECT correctly classified 8/9 intermediate and 31/32 low probability V/Q scans as negative. It is concluded that lung perfusion SPECT is readily performed and reproducible. A negative study eliminates the need for a combined V/Q study and most of the 'non-diagnostic' V/Q probabilities can be solved with a perfusion image obtained by using tomography.


Current progress in modern electrocatalysis research is spurred by theory, frequently based on ab initio thermodynamics, where the stable reaction intermediates at the electrode surface are identified, while the actual energy barriers are ignored. This approach is popular in that a simple tool is available for searching for promising electrode materials. However, thermodynamics alone may be misleading to assess the catalytic activity of an electrochemical reaction as we exemplify with the chlorine evolution reaction (CER) over a RuO2 (110) model electrode. The full procedure is introduced, starting from the stable reaction intermediates, computing the energy barriers, and finally performing microkinetic simulations, all performed under the influence of the solvent and the electrode potential. Full kinetics from first-principles allows the rate-determining step in the CER to be identified and the experimentally observed change in the Tafel slope to be explained.


Background: This study evaluated short-term changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) and corneal thickness (CCT) following haemodialysis (HD) in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients.
Methods: We studied 34 eyes of 34 patients with CRF undergoing HD. Patients included in the study were classified into two subgroups: group 1 (with DM) and group 2 (non DM). All patients underwent a detailed ophthalmological examination including CCT and IOP before and after the HD session. Total body weight and body volume loss after haemodialysis were also measured.
Results: The sex distribution of patients were 22 female (64.7%) and 12 male (35.3%). The DM group was comprised of 19 patients (55.9%), and the non-DM had 15 (44.1%). The mean age was 60.3 ± 17.2 (range 21–88) years, and the dialysis time was 51.4 ± 38.5 (range 5–132) months. The mean IOP change after HD decreased from 15.88±2.37 to 14.11±2.02 mmHg (95% CI, 1.40–2.11; p < 0.001). The mean CCT decreased from 554.88±14.27 to 550.52±13.67 μm. (95% CI, 1.97–4.08; P = p < 0.001). The loss in body volume was positively correlated with a decrease in IOP (r = 0.737, p < 0.001) and CCT (r = 0.784, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: In patients with CRF who have glaucoma, visual acuity may be adversely affected by IOP and CCT changes following HD. Therefore, a detailed ophthalmologic examination should be performed to take preventive measures for at-risk patients before and after HD.
Keywords: Hemodialysis, Intraocular pressure, Central Corneal thickness.


Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) causes an increase in social and economic burdens because of the prolonged length of stay in the hospital, increased costs, and decreased quality of life. No data on POCD has ever been recorded in Indonesia. The goal of this study was to determine the incidence of POCD in elderly people at Sanglah General Hospital, Indonesia. Patients and Methods: This is a descriptive study conducted at Sanglah General Hospital in 2018. Inclusion criteria included patients of 60 years old or more who came to anesthesia preoperative clinic with the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 and 2. Cognitive functions were assessed three times: 1 day before the surgery, 2 days after the surgery, and 4 weeks after the surgery. POCD was defined as an at least 20% decreased result of two out of three instruments used. Results: The study included 84 participants consisting of 52 males and 32 females. The mean age was 66.0 ± 5.1 years. Most participants were elementary school graduates (34.5%) and high school graduates (27.4%). There were 7 (8.3%) patients who developed POCD within 48 h and 4 weeks postoperatively. Conclusion: The incidence of POCD at Sanglah General Hospital was 8.33% both at 48 h and 4 weeks postoperatively.


The purposes of this paper were to discuss the perceived benefits of inserts and orthotics for sport activities and to propose a new concept for inserts and orthotics. There is evidence that inserts or orthotics reduce or prevent movement-related injuries. However, there is limited knowledge about the specific functioning an orthotic or insert provides. The same orthotic or insert is often proposed for different problems. Changes in skeletal movement due to inserts or orthotics seem to be small and not systematic. Based on the results of a study using bone pins, one may question the idea that a major function of orthotics or inserts consists in aligning the skeleton. Impact cushioning with shoe inserts or orthotics is typically below 10%. Such small reductions might not be important for injury reduction. It has been suggested that changes in material properties might produce adjustments in the muscular response of the locomotor system. The foot has various sensors to detect input signals with subject specific thresholds. Subjects with similar sensitivity threshold levels seem to respond in their movement pattern in a similar way. Comfort is an important variable. From a biomechanical point of view, comfort may be related to fit, additional stabilizing muscle work, fatigue, and damping of soft tissue vibrations. Based on the presented evidence, the concept of minimizing muscle work is proposed when using orthotics or inserts. A force signal acts as an input variable on the shoe. The shoe sole acts as a first filter, the insert or orthotic as a second filter, the plantar surface of the foot as a third filter for the force input signal. The filtered information is transferred to the central nervous system that provides a subject specific dynamic response. The subject performs the movement for the task at hand. For a given movement task, the skeleton has a preferred path. If an intervention supports/counteracts the preferred movement path, muscle activity can/must be reduced/increased. Based on this concept, an optimal insert or orthotic would reduce muscle activity, feel comfortable, and should increase performance.


Heterocyclic analogues of squamocin have been semisynthesized by condensation reactions between squamocin-derived alpha-keto esters and heterodinucleophiles. The strong complex I inhibitory potency of squamocin-benzimidazole, a hybrid derivative, illustrates for the first time the functional analogy existing between the terminal butenolide of annonaceous acetogenins and heteroaromatic substructures of classic inhibitors of the enzyme. This finding supports the categorization of this atypical group of inhibitors as antagonists of the ubiquinone substrates. In addition, competition experiments of squamocin-benzimidazole versus squamocin and rolliniastatin-2 suggest that the binding of this hybrid inhibitor is responsible for a negative allosteric effect at the level of the first ubiquinone-binding site (A site) of mitochondrial complex I. This result supports the existence of a large cooperatively regulated inhibitor/ubiquinone-binding pocket located within the catalytic core of the enzyme, consisting of the association of the previously defined affinity sites A and B.


BACKGROUND
Brain frontostriatal circuits have been implicated in the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, effects of methylphenidate on circuit-level functional connectivity are as yet unclear. The aim of the present study was to comprehensively investigate the functional connectivity of major striatal subregions in children with ADHD, including subanalyses directed at mapping cognitive and treatment response characteristics.

METHODS
Using a comprehensive seeding strategy, we examined resting-state functional connectivity of dorsal and ventral subdivisions of the caudate nucleus and putamen in children and adolescents with ADHD and in age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

RESULTS
We enrolled 83 patients with ADHD and 22 controls in our study. Patients showed significantly reduced dorsal caudate functional connectivity with the superior and middle prefrontal cortices as well as reduced dorsal putamen connectivity with the parahippocampal cortex. These connectivity measures were correlated in opposite directions in patients and controls with attentional performance, as assessed using the Continuous Performance Test. Patients showing a good response to methylphenidate had significantly reduced ventral caudate/nucleus accumbens connectivity with the inferior frontal cortices compared with poor responders.

LIMITATIONS
Possible confounding effects of age-related functional connectivity change were not excluded owing to the wide age range of participants.

CONCLUSION
We observed a region-specific effect of methylphenidate on resting-state functional connectivity, suggesting the pretreatment level of ventral frontostriatal functional connectivity as a possible methylphenidate response biomarker of ADHD.