Background: The prevalence of hyponatremia is highly variable among patients with lung cancer. However, its prevalence and prognostic significance in subgroups of patients with lung cancer have not yet been evaluated in a meta-analysis. Methods: We have registered our meta-analysis and review protocol to the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, with the following registration number: CRD42020167013. A systematic search was done in the following sources: MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, a WHO Global Health Library. Results: We identified a total of 8,962 potentially eligible studies, and we included 31 articles in our evaluation. The prevalence of hyponatremia in patients with lung cancer varied between 3 and 94.8% with an average of 25% without any significant differences between the following subgroups: histotype, gender, age, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) state, and the extent of disease. The overall survival (OS) was significantly lower in hyponatremic compared to normonatremic patients at 10 months [RR.59 (95% CI.47–0.74), p < 0.001] and at 20 months [RR.44 (95% CI.33–0.59), p < 0.001], with worse survival rates in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [RR.27 (95% CI.12–0.44), p < 0.001] than in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) [RR.42 (95% CI.27–0.57), p < 0.001]. If hyponatremia was corrected, OS at 10 months was significantly higher than in the uncorrected hyponatremia group [RR 1.83 (95% CI 1.37–2.44), p < 0.001], but, at 20 months, no statistically significant difference could be found between these subgroups [RR 2.65 (95% CI.94–7.50), p = 0.067]. Conclusions: Patients with lung cancer diagnosed with hyponatremia, especially patients with NSCLC, seem to have significantly lower survival rates than normonatremic patients. If hyponatremia remains uncorrected, the mortality rates might be even higher.


In this work, size reduction techniques of the spiral antenna are presented by comparing the size reduction performances over a 2-arm Archimedean spiral antenna. Size reduction techniques of adding a ring around the spiral, tapering the termination of the spiral arms, using meander line around the spiral, and terminating the spiral arm with resistive load are applied to obtain miniaturize the antenna. Simulation results of the size reduction techniques are compared with the basic specifications of having S11 below -10dB, axial ratio (AR) below 3 dB, and gain higher than 0dBi at the lowest frequency of the band. The detailed analysis results of the techniques show that maximum size reduction of 21.32 percent is obtained in the antenna physical area by the tapered line termination technique.


This paper made a comprehensive allocation of waste heat from W7X82DF model low-speed two-stroke marine Dual-Fuel engine regarded to its exhaust gas and jacket water waste heat and energy grade, and developed a combined organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system which can effectively utilize the cold energy of liquefied nature gas (LNG) and the waste heat of dual-fuel marine engine. Apart from that, we take the actual situation of heat transfer temperature difference into full consideration, and performance of twelve low-carbon green refrigerants with the situation that the value of ozone dissipation potential equal to 0 and global warming potential is less than 150. Through the closed circuit of the exhaust gas conversion device, the waste heat of the exhaust gas is driven to high-temperature cycle. Due to the advantages of large and stable flow of jacket water, and constant inlet and outlet temperature, it can be used as the heat source of low-temperature cycle to recover the waste heat of jacket water. The process simulation software Aspen Plus was used to build the cycle, and the P-R equation physical property method was selected. According to the simulation curve, the following conclusions are drawn: R600a is more suitable as working medium of High-temperature cycle, thermal efficiency and net output power are 10.43% and 399.061 kW; The R600 is more suitable as the working medium of Low-temperature cycle, with the thermal efficiency and net power output of 12.88% and 340.13 kW respectively. Through the research in this paper, it provides a reference for the waste heat recovery of marine engine and improves fuel utilization and economy.


A novel and simple fiber-optic sensor based on a superstructure fiber grating for simultaneous measurement of temperature, axial strain, and transverse load is proposed and demonstrated. By measurement of the shift and split of broadband and narrow-band loss peaks, one can determine the temperature, axial strain, and transverse load simultaneously over the ranges 0-140 degrees , 0-1200muepsilon, and 0-0.3 kg/mm, respectively.


The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) extract on the inflammation of human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) and blood lipid improvement in hypercholesterolemic mice fed a high cholesterol diet. The lettuce extract (100% ethanol extract) inhibited the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in HUVEC treated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The lettuce extract suppressed the adhesion of THP-1 to TNF-α-treated HUVEC. The lettuce extract decreased the TNF-α-stimulated production of proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and chemokine monocyte chemotactic protein 1. In hypercholesterolemic mice, the lettuce extract reduced serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level, while the lettuce extract elevated high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level, resulting in the decrease of atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor level. These results suggested that lettuce extract can be an useful resource to show an anti-inflammatory effect and improve lipid metabolism


This paper discusses how course design may draw upon social media in order to teach students appropriate skills for a network society in the context of team-work based learning. The emphasis is not upon web 2.0 and social media as inherently suited to providing educational solutions, but upon the ways in which they can be adapted by course designers within the framework of explicit learning objectives. More specifically, we provide a case study of how the use of social media in a blended or wholly-online learning environment provides affordances for team-based collaborative learning, especially when incorporated within a course design that encourages independent, self-directed and authentic learning. This paper argues we need to assess the social aspects of social media, rather than upon the technological, that is, avoid the fetishisation of 'apps,' through the creation of assessment that alternately foregrounds a critical appraisal of web 2.0 technologies and places onus upon the students to develop, with guidance, teamwork skills and processes. We provide an example of how it is possible to integrate web 2.0 technologies into their learning processes and assessment, in order to teach about the realities of collaborating with others in small teams in a work environment increasingly mediated by the Internet. In order to achieve these learning outcomes, course design needs to balance scaffolding with the need to place the imperative for learning specific content and skills upon the students, the latter through the provision of assessment outcomes and resources that the students need to work towards together.


Experience has shown that aircraft structures are generally affected by structural nonlinearities. The focus in this paper is concentrated on backlash and friction described in hysteresis loop of the classical aircraft command systems and their influence on flutter of aircraft. Based on AGARD No. 665 in paper is done nonlinear flutter velocity analysis in function of backlash and friction in the classical command system of aircraft. Unsteady aerodynamic forces are calculated based on well known Doublet- Lattice Method (DLM). Structural input data are taken from AGARD No. 665. Flutter eigenvalues are obtained by modified k-method. The flutter model of nonlinear aircraft structure is developed on base of harmonic linearization. The aim of paper is to achieve useful and relatively reliable tool for critical observations on different recommendations given in the various airworthiness regulations for nonlinear characteristics of hysteresis loops in the classical command systems of aircrafts. .


This thesis considers a complete automatic system for in-vitro cell imaging and migration image analysis. The development of such can be divided into three main problems:

The first considered problem concerns how to build a robust time-lapse sequence acquisition system, for imaging adult hippocampal cells in bright-field microscopy. Due to low contrast the focusing problem becomes ill-defined, and image processing techniques, such as wavelet image fusion, is suggested for obtaining images with high contrast as well as resolution.

The second (and main) considered problem is cell image segmentation, i.e how to automatically locate and delineate cells in microscopic images using digital techniques. Cells cultured on glass plates have a tendency to congregate, which makes this task difficult. We study several different methods before arriving at our preferred choice; a modified version of the Chan-Vese level set segmentation. To improve cell segmentation performance, we apply an adaptive multi-scale Laplacian of Gaussian filter. Then, to solve the problem of undetected cells and merged cells (several cells detected as one), we add a new extension to the level set method that we refer to as specialized growing and pruning.

The third problem concerns the creation of a motion model for the cells, to aid the tracking and data association and to classify cells on the basis of their migration pattern. We take on several different approaches before concluding that cell migration can be modelled by a non-stationary two-state hidden Markov model. Using this model, we find that glial progenitor cells are moving randomly 2/3 of the time, while type-2 astrocytes show a directed movement 2/3 of the time. This finding indicates possibilities for cell-type specific identification and cell sorting of live migrating cells, which will have a valuable application in neurobiological research.


In this paper, we focus on $n$-syzygy modules and the injective cogenerator determined by the minimal injective resolution of a noether ring. We study the properties of $n$-syzygy modules and a category $R_n(\mod R)$ which includes the category consisting of all $n$-syzygy modules and their applications on Auslander-type rings. Then, we investigate the injective cogenerators determined by the minimal injective resolution of $R$. We show that $R$ is Gorenstein with finite self-injective dimension at most $n$ if and only if $\id R\leq n$ and $\fd \bigoplus_{i=0}^n I_i(R)< \infty$. Some known results can be our corollaries.


Current BP measurements are on the basis of traditional BP cuff approaches. Ambulatory BP monitoring, at 15- to 30-minute intervals usually over 24 hours, provides sufficiently continuous readings that are superior to the office-based snapshot, but this system is not suitable for frequent repeated use. A true continuous BP measurement that could collect BP passively and frequently would require a cuffless method that could be worn by the patient, with the data stored electronically much the same way that heart rate and heart rhythm are already done routinely. Ideally, BP should be measured continuously and frequently during diverse activities during both daytime and nighttime in the same subject by means of novel devices. There is increasing excitement for newer methods to measure BP on the basis of sensors and algorithm development. As new devices are refined and their accuracy is improved, it will be possible to better assess masked hypertension, nocturnal hypertension, and the severity and variability of BP. In this review, we discuss the progression in the field, particularly in the last 5 years, ending with sensor-based approaches that incorporate machine learning algorithms to personalized medicine.


Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary malignant tumor of the bone characterized by poor prognosis due to chemotherapy resistance and high recurrence rates. DJ-1 (PARK7) is known as an oncogene and its abnormal expression is related to the poor prognosis of various types of malignant tumors. It was found in this study that upregulated expression of DJ-1 was closely correlated with the prognosis of OS patients by promoting the proliferation, migration and chemotherapy resistance of OS cells in vitro through regulating the activity of CDK4 but not through the oxidation mechanism or AKT pathway. The combination of DJ-1 and CDK4 promoted RB phosphorylation, leading to the dissociation of E2F1 into the nucleus to regulate the expression of cell cycle-related genes. The tumor xenograft mouse model demonstrated that DJ-1 knockout suppressed tumor growth in vivo. All these findings indicate that DJ-1 can affect the occurrence and progression of OS by regulating the CDK/RB/E2F1axis, suggesting a novel therapeutic opportunity for OS patients.


The work reported in this article developed a home automated system using voice activation. This is with a view to providing users complete control over electrical appliances using simple easy to remember voice commands on an Android mobile device. This work was implemented using the Atmega 328 microcontroller, Relays and a Wi-Fi shield. The human voice is first converted to text using a Natural language processing tool from the Android based application. Thereafter, the text is sent over the internet via the PubNub to the microcontroller. The Atmega 328 microcontroller was programmed on an Arduino using C programming language and the Android based application was developed using Android Software Development Kit. Results obtained from the testing show that the implemented system achieves the mean scores of 8, 7.6, and 7.2 for ease of use, learnability and effectiveness respectively justifying the fact that the system is capable of controlling appliances by changing their state (ON/OFF) from remote a location with a response time within the reasonable limit.


The Leman-Baikal project is an international Swiss-Russian research initiative in the fields of physical limnology, geochemistry and hydrology of aquatic geosystems. The main methodological principle of the project is constituted by simultaneous collection of airborne wide-area Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) and ground point-based data. In this study we used supervised classification of hyperspectral images to interpret three types of aquatic species: small yellow pond lily, reed and pondweeds with watermilfoil. For turbidity mapping we used mosaic hyperspectral image (band 534 nm) to derive Total Suspended Matter (TSM). A good level of correlation between reflectance values and TSM concentrations were observed.


Introduction/Background Malignant ovarian germ cell tumours (MOGCT) are the most frequent cancer among women below 20 years old. These rare ovarian tumours have a great sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy and nowadays the conservative surgical management is the standard protocol. The aim of this study is to analyse the fertility outcome after conservative treatment of women with malignant ovarian germ cell tumour. Methodology We included retrospectively childbearing women with MOGCT who underwent fertility-sparing surgery in our institution between 1995 and 2016. Results Seventy patients with MOGCT met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 18 years old and 91,4% of the patients were nulliparous. The median follow-up duration was 8,8 years. Most of patients have a Mixed Tumour (n=27, 38.6%) and FIGO stage was I in in 42 patients (60%), II in 5 patients (7%), III in 17 patients (23%), IV in 5 patients (7%). Only five (7%) patients have neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the majority of patients have adjuvant chemotherapy (n=59, 84%). We report 14 recurrences for 69 ( 20%). We have lost of sight 12 patients after treatment for which we have no data about fertility. Twenty-one patients had no fertility desire after treatment in the study period. Thirty seven patients attempted pregnancy and 30 of them (81%) became pregnant. We report 55 pregnancies with 43 childbirths. The average time to obtain a pregnancy was 4.3 years after the diagnosis of a MOGCT. Three patients went through assisted reproductive technique, two had a successful pregnancy. Conclusion Patients treated for a MOGCT can expect to retain a subsequent fertility and become pregnant after fertility sparing surgery. The techniques for preserving fertility even though they are still rarely suggested nowadays in patients with MOGCT, could increase the amount of pregnancies for patients who wish for it. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


Recognition of the protein A-like activity of some strains of group A streptococci has thrown doubt on much previous work suggesting antigenic cross-reactions between these streptococci and mammalian tissues. The strains used in our previous studies have now been examined by the mixed reverse passive antiglobulin reaction (MRPAH) for the 'non-specific' absorption of purified Fc portion of human IgG. They were found to have only traces of activity. The strain of Staphylococcus aureus used to control 'non-specific' absorption by bacterial cell walls was strongly positive. Protein A-like material as detected in this way was not therefore responsible for our earlier results.


The textbook plays an important role in science education. It has been criticised, though, for several reasons, and therefore it is important to raise the question of whether the textbook is written and used in the most effective way. This article presents a literature review of the different roles of the textbook when used by teachers and students. Research shows that the textbook is important for teachers in planning of lessons and for the classroom activities. However, findings also indicate that students do not appreciate the textbook as much as might be expected by teachers and textbook producers. Finally, it is evident that neither teachers nor students use the textbook according to modern theories of science education, i.e. according to sociocultural and metacognitive theory.


Learning for Jobs is an OECD study of vocational education and training (VET) designed to help countries make their VET systems more responsive to labour market needs.
South Carolina offers career and technology education (CATE) programs in high schools and career and technology centers, with relatively good status and linked to expectations of strong general skills. A reform agenda reflected in the 'Education and Economic Development Act' includes the development of high quality career guidance. There is also a strong technical college system. Wider challenges include an underlying problem of resources for schools, the need to further develop workplace learning, and the lack of basic skills both among school-leavers and adults.
The OECD review assesses the main challenges faced by the CATE system and presents an interconnected package of policy recommendations. For each recommendation, the report describes the challenge, the recommendation itself, supporting arguments, and issues of implementation.


ABSTRACT THE EFFECT OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) SUCCESS IN BUSINESS (UMKM Studies In Surakarta) DEWI ANGGRAINI F1214025 Singer study aims to review determine Relations TQM That can be a factor affecting the success of the SME Sector Business ON. The singer adopted a basic research study of the relationship between soft-hard factor TQM Yang developed by Arturo Calvo et.al (2013). In addition to ITU, Research Singer aims to review found empirical evidence the influence of Total Quality Management Yang can be influence the success of Business ON SMEs in Surakarta wilayah. EFQM Model A The instrument is used to measure the strength of the reviews and area improvements hearts EVERY company activities. Singer methods can be used for the review to understand causality Company Happens hearts. Singer Model can be used to review Reducing complexity Happens FOR BETWEEN organization and strengthening of relations, Community And Economic. EFQM can be used by the Company that can be Continue forward and innovate. Research singer is the point of departure WITH collection methods. Research conducted Against Singer SMEs in the area of Surakarta. Period of respondents Used hearts Singer Research sebnayak 52 respondents. The sampling technique used purposive sampling Ie. The data collection using qousioner singer. Data was analyzed using analysis SmartPLS. Based on the findings of the analysis of the variables Testing Research hearts WITH SmartPLS obtained using the findings Where hypothesis Human Resource Management and is a positive significant effect Against Strategic Management kemitraandimana Value Probability The LEAD OVER big From 0.05, Human Resource Management and is a positive significant effect Against Process Management management of strategic partnerships NO significant effect against management process. Process Management And Gains significant influence business success. Keywords: quality, the model EFQM


Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) cause fewer toxicities than conventional chemotherapy. Although most of the immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are mild, reversible, and manageable, potentially severe and rare irAEs remain relevant. We present a 24-year-old man with advanced hereditary renal cancer who developed bilateral posterior uveitis and retinal detachment after systematic treatment of ICI and an anti-angiogenic drug. Axitinib and pembrolizumab were administered with a partial response and following the severe ocular irAE and systemic corticosteroid treatment was initiated. Our case indicates that ocular irAEs may occur rapidly. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of posterior uveitis and retinal detachment in hereditary renal cancer patients treated with ICI and anti-angiogenic drugs.


The problem studied here is passive fault tolerant control (FTC) for actuator faults as a result of loss of effectiveness. This FTC problem is formulated in the dasiaabsolute stability theory frameworkdasia. Based on this formulation, different tools from absolute stability theory are applied. Four controllers are proposed for four problem settings: (a) LTI certain plants, (b) uncertain LTI plants, (c) LTI models with input saturations and (d) non-linear affine single-input plants. The proposed controllers are tested on the hovercraft numerical example.


In this work, metal-ceramic nanocomposites were obtained through short (up to 2 h) thermal treatments at relatively moderate temperatures (750–800 °C) under a reducing atmosphere, using Fe-exchanged zeolite A as the precursor. The as-obtained materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction analysis, N2 adsorption at –196 °C, and highresolution transmission electron microscopy. The results of these analyses showed that the nanocomposites consisted of a dispersion of metallic Fe nanoparticles within a porous ceramic matrix, mainly based on amorphous silica and alumina. These nanocomposites were magnetically characterized, and their magnetic response was studied. Finally, the obtained metal-ceramic nanocomposite materials were used in the separation of Escherichia coli DNA from a crude cell lysate. The results of the DNA separation experiments showed that the obtained materials could perform this type of separation.


The oil shale and lacustrine sediment samples from the Miocene Wudaoliang Formation sections of the Hoh Xil basin in northern Tibetan plateau are studied in order to rescontruct paleolake environment and to deduce paleoclimatic change information. Twelve samples are examined by total organic carbon analysis and Rock-Eval pyrolysis. The solvent extracts and kerogens from oil shales and marls are separated and examined by organic petrographic, GC-MS, and GC-IRMS methods. The relative abundances of biomarkers and carbon isotopic composition of individual hydrocarbons are used to explain organic source and paleoecosystem. The individual carbon isotopic compositions of short-chain n-alkanes suggest the input from aquatic organisms, and the long-chain n-alkanes characterized by maximum at n-C 29 and an odd-over-even predominance in the range C 23-C 31 are derived from terrestrial plants. Pristane and phytene commonly reflect the input from algae and cyanobacteria in the shallow photic zone. Hopanoid biomarker is produced by organisms inhabiting the lower part of the water column of paleolake. Hopanes and moretanes are likely from methanotrophic bacteria community and chemoautrophic bacteria living at the lacustrine oxycline interface or above anoxic bottom water. The authors oberserved that the oil shale and marl in the lower part of stratigraphic section show higher values in gammacerane and β-carotane, its depositional environment is interpreted as a stratified paleolake system. β-carotane could be related to halophilic archaebacteria or phototrsynthetic bacteria in deeper photic zone. Gammacerane is derived from primary producers and green sulfer bacteria living at or below chemocline and is an indicator for water column stratification. The upper oil shale samples are clearly rich in 13C compared to the lower oil shale samples, δ 13C in the kerogen is -17.76‰, the average value of δ 13C of the individual n-alkanes is -21.97‰, and δ 13C of the n-C 23 maximiumg peak is about -15.01‰. The novel heavier 13C enrichment is proposed to correspond to colonial green algae (Bostryococcus) bloom or indicate C 4-type vegetation expansion. This also implies that the Tibetan plateau probably uplifted to a critical height and lacustrine ecosystem were adjusted and updated in the late Miocene.


The aim of this article is to discuss the propagation of opinions expressed on the Internet (digital media matrix) in view of a historical development of public opinion. In order to address that, the article examines the debate concerning public opinion based on the works of Walter Lippmann (1961), Niklas Luhmann (1997; 2000; 2005), Jurgen Habermas (1991; 1997) and Dirk Baecker (2004), whereas the concept of a digital media matrix is discussed together with the theories of Niels Finnemann (2001), David White (1964) and Kurt Lewin (1947). The relationship between media and public opinion is defined by the historical emergence of forms of coding between communication agents, previously comprising of senders and receivers (peer-to-peer communication), broadcasting (mass communication) and networks of nodes (digital communication). The propagation of public opinion is depicted as a form shaped by a network of nodes, therefore suggesting a diagram for the distribution of messages and opinions in digital networks described as 'netclustering'. The article offers a synthesis of the literature on public opinion to suggest a model for the viral propagation of messages within networks such as Twitter and Facebook. JAMMR 4.2-3_Bastos_185-201.indd 185 3/2/12 6:56:44 PM


In recent years, many scholars had put forward a new idea in which the New Suspension Preheater Cement Production Technique (or NSP) would be used to decompose phosphogypsum to produce vitriol and cement. In this article, combining the characteristic of precalciner in NSP technique and the thermal analysis for phosphogypsum, the adaptability of decomposition temperature of phosphogypsum for the preheated calciner was researched, as well as the relationship between decomposition efficiency of phosphogypsum and the felt block characteristic of the kiln system. Results showed that even in reduction atmosphere, the decomposition temperature of phosphogypsum is still more than 1200°C, it is difficult to realize this new process with NSP cement production technique. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011


Background

Although schools have been identified as significant settings in the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, limited research is available on how they can accommodate Youth Living with HIV/AIDS (YLWHA) especially in resource limited countries. In this study we explored how school stakeholders in western Uganda perceived of good practices to include and support YLWHA in their schools. We conceptualized an HIV/AIDS-care and support competent school community.
Methods

This qualitative inquiry involved school stakeholders (parents/caretakers, school staff and students) purposively selected from 3 secondary schools in western Uganda. A total of 88 participants were involved in focus group discussions and individual interviews. Data analysis followed an inductive and deductive thematic strategy.
Results

We identified 7 overarching interrelated themes in which participants reported practices to include and support YLWHA: counselling and guidance; social support networks and linkages; knowledge and skills; anti-stigma and anti-discrimination measures; disclosure of HIV status; treatment and management of HIV/AIDS; and affirmative actions for YLWHA. Stakeholders' perceptions of good practices often differed regarding what was considered appropriate, the approach and who to take lead in supporting YLWHA.
Conclusion

Despite the meager support for YLWHA currently available in schools, our study points to optimism and high potential. We posit that building competent HIV/AIDS-care and support school communities is a gradual process requiring each school to develop a strong knowledge base about HIV/AIDS and support needs of YLWHA, develop a coherent and school-wide approach, and collaborate extensively with external stakeholders who are significant in supporting YLWHA.


Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory condition impacting multiple organ systems.1,2 SLE affects approximately 1.5 million Americans, disproportionately females of reproductive age, and is more prevalent in non-Caucasian populations.3 Fatigue and pain are some of the most prominent symptoms of SLE, contributing to the heavy disease burden and disruption to daily life.4 This study aimed to further understand the burden of SLE. Lilly worked with the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) and Evidera to develop the SLE-UPDATE (Understanding Preferences, Disease Activity and Treatment Expectations) survey. Objectives: To understand the patient-perceived symptom burden of SLE, in particular pain and fatigue, within the current landscape of therapeutic options. This study also focused on current treatment patterns in SLE patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, non-interventional, online survey study conducted in partnership with the LFA. English-speaking United States patients aged ≥18 years with a self-reported diagnosis of SLE completed the survey following online screening and informed consent. Descriptive data are presented by means (standard deviation [SD]) for continuous measures, and frequency (n, %) for dichotomous measures. Demographic, clinical, and patient-reported outcomes were collected including the FACIT-Fatigue (range 0-52, higher scores indicate less fatigue), Pain Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (0 [none] to 10 [worst imaginable]), Worst Joint Pain NRS (0 [none] to 10 [worst imaginable]), and the LupusPRO, a validated, lupus-specific quality of life (QoL) instrument (range 0-100, higher scores indicate better QoL). Results: A total of 500 patients with SLE completed the survey. Patients were predominantly female (75%), white/Caucasian (76%), with a mean age of 42.6 years and mean disease duration of 11.1 years. Most patients with SLE rated their overall condition as either good (38%) or fair (31%), with 8% rating poor and 7% excellent. Current non-biologic prescription medication use included: antimalarials 42%, corticosteroids 33%, immunosuppressants 33%, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) 32%, other analgesics 15% and 10% were using tofacitinib. Biologic therapies were being used by only 19%, including intravenous (IV) Benlysta (37%), subcutaneous (SC) Benlysta (25%), rituximab (17%), and 22% were using other biologics. Fatigue was the most commonly reported symptom (69%), with 40% of patients ranking fatigue as their most bothersome SLE symptom. Forty eight percent of patients with current fatigue rated the severity as moderate and 33% as severe. The mean (SD) FACIT-Fatigue score was 22.9 (12.0). The next most commonly reported symptoms were joint stiffness (57%), sleep problems (55%), joint pain/swelling (53%), and muscle pain (52%). Sixty percent of patients reported experiencing pain all or most of the time over the past seven days. A total of 30% of patients with current joint pain/swelling rated it as severe, and 24% of patients with current joint stiffness rated it as severe. The mean scores for Worst pain NRS and Worst Joint Pain NRS were both 5.8 out of 10. The LupusPRO domains indicated by respondents as the most impacted by SLE were Emotional Health, Pain/Vitality, and Lupus Medications. Conclusion: Fatigue, followed by pain and joint stiffness, were the most common patient-reported symptoms contributing to the overall SLE disease burden. Further research could highlight the efforts required to address the inadequacies in treatment and management of pain and fatigue in this patient population. Disclosure of Interests: Julie Birt Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Monica Hadi: None declared, Nashmel Sargalo: None declared, Ella Brookes: None declared, Paul Swinburn: None declared, Leslie Hanrahan: None declared, Karin Tse: None declared, Natalia Bello Vega Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Kirstin Griffing Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Maria Silk Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Laure Delbecque Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Diane L Kamen Consultant of: Consulted on SLE survey development for Lilly and consulted on SLE trial protocol development for EMD Serono in 2019


Although some change in the neural representation of an object must occur as it becomes familiar, the nature of this change is not fully understood. In humans, it has been shown that the N170-an evoked visual potential-is enhanced for classes of objects for which people have visual expertise. In this study, we explored whether monkeys show a similar modulation in event-related potential (ERP) amplitude as a result of long-term familiarity by recording ERPs with chronically implanted electrodes over extended training periods spanning many sessions. In each of 3 experiments, we found larger amplitude visual evoked responses to highly familiar images for the time period of 120-250 ms after stimulus onset. This difference was found when the monkeys were trained in an individual-level discrimination task, in a task that required only color discrimination, and even following a viewing-only task. We thus observed this familiarity effect across several tasks and different object categories and further found that the difference between "familiar" and "novel" became smaller as the animals gained experience with the previously unfamiliar objects across multiple test sessions. These data suggest that changes in visual responses associated with familiarity are evident early in the evoked visual response, are robust, and may be automatic, driven at least in part by repeated object exposure.


Market failure results in more human conversion of ecosystems for development and other uses than likely socially desirable. In response, many government agencies and nonprofits focus on conservation, often acquiring land rights to establish protected areas on which further conversion of ecosystems is precluded. The protected areas created vary greatly in size, even within a particular conservation program. Here we examine the costs that conservation organizations face when acquiring sites for protection and pay particular attention to the consequences of this variability in protected area size. We use as our case study parcels in Central and Southern Appalachian forest ecosystems that were protected through fee simple acquisition and using easements by The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust. We compare these sites to unprotected areas similar to the protected areas in terms of site characteristics as identified by post-hoc matching methods. When comparing average costs, we found parcels protected under by fee simple transactions cost less than matched unprotected parcels, and that average costs of protecting parcels using easements were lower still. We also found that acquisition costs of protected areas achieve economies of scale under fee simple transactions. However, these economies of scale were often weaker than those present when considering matched, unprotected parcels. Parcels protected by easements did not show economies of scale with area. We were able to identify a subset of transactions where the agreed price was reduced to reflect an explicit donative intent on the part of the seller. For this subset of transactions, we found that the presence of donative intent disrupted any kind of systematic relationship between lot size and acquisition costs for conservation. Our findings imply that to achieve cost effective conservation, conservation organizations will need to strategize with respect to parcel size and contract type. For example, when acquiring parcels under a fee simple transaction, economies of scale in acquisition costs provide an incentive for conservation organizations to favor larger parcels, reinforcing ecological arguments that favor protecting larger protected areas. Also, by quantifying the cost differential between fee simple and easement acquisitions, we provide a benchmark for evaluating how much greater the ecological benefits of fee simple acquisition would have to be to provide the most effective option for conservation.


The objectives of this study are to (1) improve a previously developed optical density (OD) sensor for the measurement of biomass concentration in algae cultures, and (2) test the performance of the improved sensor. The sensor was improved in the following several aspects. First, the sensor housing was redesign to accommodate new optical measurement configuration and a reference cell. Second, a constant current LED driver circuit was built and included. Third, a feedback temperature control mechanism (including thermistors and thermo-electrical cooling modules) was built to control the temperature of LEDs. Finally, a logarithmic IC chip was used for processing of raw outputs from photodiodes. The new sensor was tested with a 40 L algae cultivation raceway for seven days. The sensor showed high accuracy (R2 = 0.98 and root mean squared error = 0.034 absorbance unit between sensor-predicted and spectroscopically-determined OD). The sensor responded to the long-term growth of algae (i.e., the alternate growth patterns in light-on and light-off cycles) very well. The sensor also responded to cultivation events including water and media addition and culture transfer very well. The temperature dependency of the new sensor was 0.0033 and 0.0039 V/°C for the NIR and red channel, respectively, compared to 0.0137 and 0.08 V/°C for the old sensor.


Many stylized facts of leverage, trading, and asset prices obtain in a frictionless general equilibrium model that features agents' heterogeneity in endowments and time- varying risk preferences. Our model predicts that aggregate debt increases in expansions when asset prices are high, volatility is low, and levered households enjoy a "consumption boom." Our model is consistent with poorer households borrowing more and with intermediaries' leverage being a priced factor. In crises, levered households strongly delever by "fire selling" their risky assets as asset prices drop. Yet, as empirically observed, their debt-to-wealth ratios increase as higher discount rates make their wealth decline faster.


have seen rapid development of SEM methodology dealing with, for example, nonlinear terms, multiple levels, mixtures, and so on. This book presents the state-of-the-art SEMs from mainly a Bayesian viewpoint. The author aims to introduce a Bayesian approach for developing efficient and rigorous statistical methodologies in SEMs and applying them to practical problems. The book is intended to serve as a reference for researchers and a textbook for graduate students in several disciplines. The book has several attractive features. The presentation is lucid and clear, the discussion of various topics in SEM is thorough and up to date, and an expert interweaving of theory and examples in each topic make the book a pleasure to read and learn from. The variety of topics and the depth to which they are covered and referenced makes this an extremely useful resource for research in any topic relating to SEMs. As the author remarks, "it is very common in practice to encounter ordered categorical data with missing data, hierarchical data and/or heterogeneous data, and hence developments of sound statistical methods to cope with such practical situations are useful." It is clear throughout the book that "sound statistical methods" have been topmost in the author's mind. The standard SEMs based on normality assumption and computer software implementing such SEMs have limited capabilities and are inadequate for analyzing complex data sets. Thus the Bayesian development presented in this book should be attractive to any serious researcher using SEMs. After the introductory chapter, Chapter 2 presents some basic SEMs and provides a gentle introduction to the subject matter. Chapter 3 is an off-beat chapter that provides rigorous technical detail about some non-Bayesian methods of SEM. This is a welcome development, because necessary rigor often is sidestepped in application-oriented texts. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the reader to the Bayesian viewpoint of SEMs. The remaining chapters discuss different frameworks for SEM and their analysis. This book is a welcome addition to any library and should be a valuable resource for research and teaching.


High serum levels of soluble CD30 (sCD30) have been reported to better predict the response to second line therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is believed that sCD30 is released by CD30+ T cells present in the RA synovium. However, both the mechanism of recruitment to the joint and the functional role of this T cell subset in the pathogenesis of the disease remain unknown. This study confirmed higher levels of sCD30 in the serum and synovial fluid (SF) of RA patients compared with normal controls. However, analysis of mRNA and cell surface CD30 expression showed that CD30+ T cells are detectable in the SF, but not in the synovial membrane. In contrast, T cells expressing the CD30 transcript, but not the surface molecule, were found in the peripheral blood of both RA and normal controls. CD30 surface expression was up-regulated by adhesion and migration through endothelium in vitro and in a delayed-type hypersensitivity model in vivo. Although the great majority of fresh or cloned CD30+ T cells from SF produced both IFN-γ and IL-4, CD30 expression strictly correlated with IL-4 synthesis in synovial T cell clones. In addition, CD30+ T cell clones also produced high amounts of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. On this basis, we would like to propose that synovial CD30+ cells may play a role in the control of the inflammatory response. Serum sCD30 may reflect such cell activity and, therefore, explain the previously demonstrated correlation between high sCD30 serum levels and positive response to therapy.


The exact vibration-rotation quantum mechanical kinetic energy operator (KEO) for centrally-connected penta-atomic molecules such as methane and its isotopomers is derived for two sets of internal valence coordinates: the polyspherical coordinates and the bond-angle valence coordinates. The vibrational KEO including the pseudo-potential term is discussed for two forms of the modified Jacobian. For the rotational and vibration-rotation coupling KEO, results for two schemes of embedding the body-fixed coordinate system are presented: the bond embedding and the bisector embedding. Full expressions for the bisector embedding are too complicated to give in detail, but the working connection between the two embedding schemes is given. The future applications, including the perturbative and variational calculation of the vibrations and/or rotations for centrally connected penta-atomic molecules using the vibration-rotation KEO expressions derived in this work, are discussed.


This paper examines the effects of learning by teaching method in Computer-Aided Design instruction. A quasi-experimental pre-and-post test design was employed over four semesters. Experimental group students were asked in pairs to lead the teaching of the course content during the class meetings. Control group students received traditional teacher-centered instruction. In both groups, students' learning outcomes, such as life-long learning skill, engineering attitude, and CAD modeling skills using NX, were evaluated. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Findings indicate that first generation college students in the experimental group dramatically improved their CAD modeling knowledge and life-long learning skills in comparison to their counterparts in the control group. A discussion of the findings and recommendations for future research are presented.


Background/Aims: Brunner's gland adenoma is an extremely rare but important entity. Controversy exists over its etiology and pathogenesis, but the present view is that it is a duodenal hamartoma with a predominance of Brunner's gland elements. Methods: A case of a 76-year-old woman with a reddish pedunculated polyp prolapsing between the bulb and the second part of the duodenum seen at endoscopy and removed surgically through a longitudinal duodenotomy is presented. Results: The cut surface of the tumor had a grayish color, revealing multiple cystic spaces which on microscopic examination proved to be enlarged Brunner's glands. The hyperplastic glands formed lobules which were surrounded by bundles of fibromuscular and connective tissue. In the adjacent duodenum, large numbers of lobules of well-differentiated Brunner's glands with mucus-secreting epithelial cells were seen. Conclusion: The reported case supports the theory that Brunner's gland adenomas are duodenal hamartomas with a predominance of Brunner's gland elements and further shows that a continuity exists in Brunner's glands of the tumor and those of the adjacent duodenum.


A 600-kVA capacity GTO inverter for traction drives has been developed using 2500-V/1000-A gate turn-off (GTO) thyristors, and running tests have been carried out. To utilize the advantages of GTO thyristors, circuit inductance of both main loops and snubber loops were minimized in order to decrease overvoltage applied to GTO thyristors after turn-off. Appropriate protection systems for the GTO inverter against commutation failure and overcurrent in traction motors were developed. Running tests for an electric car driven by the GTO inverter showed good control characteristics.


Cables, such as those used in cable–stayed bridges, suspension bridges, guy wires, transmission lines, and flexible space structures, are prone to vibration due to their low inherent damping characteristics. The mitigation of cable vibration is necessary to minimize negative impact. Transversely attached passive viscous dampers have been implemented on some cables to dampen vibration. However, it can be shown that only minimal damping can be added if the damper attachment point is close to the end of the cable. For long cables, passive dampers may provide insufficient supplemental damping to eliminate vibration problems. A recent study by the authors demonstrated that "smart" semiactive damping can provide significantly superior supplemental damping for a cable modeled as a taut string. This article extends the previous work by adding sag, inclination, and axial flexibility to the cable model. The equations of motion are given. A new control–oriented model is developed for cables with sag. Passive, active, and smart (semiactive) dampers are incorporated into the model. Cable response is seen to be reduced by semiactive dampers for a wide range of cable sag and damper location.


This paper proposes an adaptive howling canceller using notch filter and 2-tap linear predictor, where howling consists of a single sinusoidal signal whose magnitude is much greater than other frequency's magnitudes. The employed 2-tap linear predictor can quickly detect howling due to its high convergence speed. Although the output signal of the 2-tap linear predictor cannot be directly used as one of a howling canceller, we can obtain the frequency of howling from the filter coefficient. We utilize the filter coefficient of the 2-tap linear predictor to design a notch filter which achieves a very narrow elimination band. The designed notch filter removes only howling and retains other desired signals. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive howling canceller can quickly detect and effectively remove howling.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to assess the ultrasonic imaging of normal rabbit brain by using echocontrast enhancer to identify the brain tissue perfusion.

METHODS
A solution of SH/TA-508 (containing microbubbles of mean size 2 to 4 microns; n = 4) was used for contrast enhancement of rabbit brain tissue and was administered through the left internal carotid artery. Contrast enhancement in the ipsilateral parietal area was examined by placing a 7.5-MHz transducer on the dura after a craniectomy. Throughout the experiment, we measured parameters including arterial blood pressure, arterial blood gases, and serum glucose and hematocrit levels. We investigated whether the administration of an echocontrast enhancer would be safe for the brain tissue (n = 4).

RESULTS
After injection of 100 mg/mL SH/TA-508, contrast enhancement was clearly observed within approximately 1 second in the left hemisphere (especially in the left cerebral cortex) in all animals and disappeared within 3 seconds after the end of injection. All physiological parameters remained within the normal range throughout the experiment. No focal abnormalities were observed on hematoxylin-eosin staining of the brain tissue.

CONCLUSIONS
Contrast enhancement was observed in the ipsilateral hemisphere with the administration of SH/TA-508. Contrast enhancement on B-mode brain imaging would be useful for real-time identification of brain tissue perfusion and should become a promising method for bedside clinical assessment of brain tissue perfusion.


In order to evaluate the practice of seclusion, a questionnaire on this subject was applied to 177 inpatients of the Psychiatric Clinic of Istanbul Faculty Medicine of these 177 patients, 95 were men and 82 were women. 68% of the patients were not regarding seclusion procedure as a part of their treatment. As a reason for seclusion, causing harm to one self or others was found significantly higher in women. Also, it was found significantly higher in women that the decision for seclusion was made by a staff member other than a doctor. As a result of this finding, the number of women who tohught that their seclusion was unnecessary was significantly more than men.


The observation that neurological illnesses follow recurrent hits to the head was tempered by the terms that first called the diseases into scientific existence: "punch-drunk," "slugnutty," "slaphappy," "goofy," "punchy," and a host of other colloquialisms accompanying class identities. Thus the discovery of disease and its medicalization ran straight into a countervailing belief about losers—losers in boxing, losers in life, losers in general. To medicalize such individuals was to fly in the face of a culture that made them jokes. Yet a subculture began to emerge around pathological understandings: first in medicine, then in journalism, then in the courts, and finally with patient accounts about illness.


We show how to construct discrete Maxwell equations by discrete exterior calculus. The new scheme has many virtues compared to the traditional Yee's scheme: it is a multisymplectic scheme and keeps geometric properties. Moreover, it can be applied on triangular mesh and thus is more adaptive to handle domains with irregular shapes. We have implemented this scheme on a Java platform successfully and our experimental results show that this scheme works well.


Background: Mortality rates in hospitalised patients for an acute exacerbation of COPD (AE-COPD) are high, however predictors for long term outcomes like mortality are still not clear. Objectives: To investigate 2-year mortality rates and identify potential predictors of mortality in a cohort of patients hospitalized for an acute exacerbation COPD. Methods: A retrospective, observational cohort study involving all consecutive patients admitted between January 1, 2009 and August 1, 2011 for AE-COPD was performed. Potential risk factors were collected at presentation at the emergency room. The primary endpoint was mortality rate during 2 year follow-up. For statistical analysis we used univariate and multivariate analysis including time to event analysis (cox proportional hazard models). Results: 374 patients were included in the study. Mean age was 70.4 year (SD 10.63), 50.3% were female and more than halve had severe COPD. 160 patients (42.7%) were previously admitted for AECOPD. The mean Charlson9s index was 1.43 (SD 1.57) in which cardiac and metabolic comorbidities were most frequent. The mortality rates for 30 days, 1 and 2 years were respectively: 6.4%, 25.4% and 37.2%. Using multivariate analysis independent predictors for 2-year mortality were: increasing age (CI-95%: 1.03-1.07), male gender (CI-95%: 1.15-2.43), use of Long term oxygen therapy (LTOT) (CI-95%: 2.01-2.43), urea 8.0 mmol/l (CI-95%: 1.00-2.01). Conclusions: Increasing age, male gender, use of LTOT, high urea-levels were correlated with increased risk for 2-year mortality in patients hospitalised with AECOPD.


The article provides information about wild pears spread in the Republic of Azerbaijan. It has been revealed that currently 21 species of wild pears belonging to the Pyrus L. genus are known in the flora of Azerbaijan. 17 species of them have been spread in the area of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Pyrus zangеzura Malееv., P. vоrоnоvii Rubtz., P. gеоrgica Kuth., P. demetrii Kuth., P. fedorovii Kuth., P. psuеdоsyriaca Gladkоva., P. chosrovica Gladkova., P. mеgrica Gladkоva, P.caucasica var. schuntukеnsis Tuz., P. salicifolia var. angustifolia Kuth., P. salicifolia var. latifolia Alexenko species have been given firstly for the flora of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. As a result of climate change and anthropogenic factors in recent years in the Autonomous Republic considering the wild pears of Pyrus boissieriana Buhse (CR A2 abc; C1), P. eldarica Grossh. (CR A2 abc; C1), P. grossheimii Fed. (CR A4 cd; C1), P. hyrcana Fed. (CR A2 abc; C1), P. salicifolia Pall. ( NT), P.vsevolodii Heidemann (NT) species rareness and endangering they have been included the Red Book of Azerbaijan, P. mеdvеdеvii Rubtz. (NT), P. syriaca Bоiss. (NT), P. zangеzura Malееv. (VU B1a(i)c(ii); C2a(i)), P. raddеana Wоrоnоw (VU B1a(i)c(ii); C2a(i)), P. vоrоnоvii Rubtz. (VU B1a(i)c(ii); C2a(i)), P. mеgrica Gladkоva (VU B1a(i)c(ii); C2a(i)) species have also been included the Red Book of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.


This paper presents a novel application mapping strategy onto the mesh topology for Network-on-Chip (NoC) design. Compared to the previously published works, this paper uses the approach of Kernighan-Lin bi-partitioning strategy to identify the closeness of cores by analyzing their bandwidth requirements. The nodes are then mapped to the topology using another heuristic algorithm. An iterative improvement phase refines the mapping further. Experimentation with established benchmarks shows that though the static performance of the approach is similar to the best ones previously available, there is 8–17% improvement in latency while considering dynamic communication between the cores.


The proteolytic activity of the elastase-like proteinase from granules of horse blood leukocytes is retained on a column of Cibacron Blue-Sepharose and can be eluted with 0.5 M KSCN. During this procedure its mol. wt. is reduced from 49000 to 30000 and isoelectric point is shifted towards higher pH. The inactive protein not adsorbed on Cibacron Blue-Sepharose is strongly acidic and shows a mol. wt. of 20000. Upon mixing this protein with the modified enzyme the native proteinase is reconstituted as shown by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 8.3 and isoelectric focusing in a sucrose gradient.


Abstract Arsenide semiconductor alloys provide a natural means of tuning the magnitude of the forbidden gap and other material parameters so as to optimise and widen the application of semiconductor devices. With the advent of small-structure systems, for instance quantum wells and superlattices, the special effects of alloy composition, size, device geometry, doping and controlled lattice strain can be collective to accomplish maximum tunability. In this article, the concepts and ideas peculiar to the description and modelling of Arsenide semiconductor alloy systems are reviewed with a view to provide a link between electronic structure and optical and transport properties. Keywords: Arsenide group, compound semiconductors, thin films, optical properties Cite this Article Vedam Rama Murthy, Alla Srivani, Veeraraghavaiah G. Emerging Trends in Applications of Semiconductor Alloys in Wireless Communications. Journal of Semiconductor Devices and Circuits . 2016; 3(1): 31–41p.


Where business failure occurs, it is important that a new management regime should then be installed in the form of an independent and professionally qualified insolvency practitioner, whose function as office holder will be either to achieve rehabilitation or to perform an efficient burial in accordance with the norms of distributional justice. The purpose of this short article is to highlight in this context of the discharge of stewardship responsibilities by insolvency office holders a number of governance-related issues worthy of further exploration. This is a revised and updated version of a paper delivered by Professor David Milman at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on November 29, 2012.


Introduction/Hypothesis: While many intensive care unit survivors report negative long-term psychological outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, some report a positive transformational outcome associated with the recall of a unique cognitive experience, often referred to using the poorly defined term of near-death experiences (NDE). This aspect of ICU survivorship remains ill understood Methods: Using descriptive statistics, we examined 42 selfreported cases among critical illness survivors in order to elucidate the specific recalled themes and their frequency. Results:: 62% were female, with reported age range 3-30 years at the time of critical illness arising from anaphylaxis, lupus flare, drowning, asthma exacerbation, hemorrhage, trauma, and cardiac arrest: The features of the recalled experiences were: 1) a sense of joy and peace (92%), perception of observing a warm light (83%), observing their bodies from above without features of classical autoscopy (i.e. seeing a double of themselves) (83%), going through a tunnel (59%), a self-review and judgment of their life events including their actions and intentions (54%), experiencing a pleasant place, joy, a change in the perception of time, the experience of encountering deceased relatives, and others with compassion, together with an overall feeling of positive life transformation after the event (95%). Conclusions:: In some ICU survivors, there may be a broad spectrum of cognitive activity and memories from their period of critical illness, that may last many years and lead to greater lifemeaning and a positive transformation. These memories contrast with negative psychological outcomes such as PTSD. Instead of NDE a more appropriate term might be transformative experience of death (TED). Further studies are needed to better elucidate the phenomenology of the experience of critical illness, as well as delineating the role of brain activity, implicit and explicit learning, and their relationship with overall psychological outcomes and quality of life.


Approximately 40% of peripheral artery disease cases occur in individuals less than 50 years old. Diagnosis is often delayed due to fewer risk factors, atypical presentation, and symptoms attributed to a benign cause. We present an unusual case of an otherwise healthy 24-year-old male presenting with unilateral, intermittent claudication (IC) due to diffuse atherosclerotic disease in his left femoral arteries. Lifestyle-limiting symptoms caused by a four-year delay in diagnosis were improved with successful left femoropopliteal bypass. We use this case to review the differential diagnosis for IC and recommend early revascularization in young patients with severe disease and few comorbidities.


RNA-based MAFA over-expression is sufficient to drive human pancreatic duct-derived cells toward a B-cell-like phenotype Elisa Corritore1, Erica Dugnani2, Valentina Pasquale2, Lorenzo Piemonti2, A. Vetere3,Susan Bonner-Weir4, Etienne M. Sokal1, Philippe A. Lysy1,5 1Institut de Recherche Experimentale et Clinique, Pediatric Research Laboratory,Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 2San Raffaele Research Institute, Milan, Italy; 3Chemical Biology Program, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, USA ; 4Section on Islet Cell and Regenerative Biology, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA ; 5Pediatric Endocrinology Unit, Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium Pancreatic epithelial cells represent an attractive cell source for replacement therapy of type 1 diabetes. Previously, we designed a protocol for expansion of human pancreatic duct-derived cells (HDDCs) and showed their β-cell engineering potential. In this study, we reprogrammed HDDCs into β-cell-like lineage by over-expressing mRNAs of key pancreatic transcription factors (TFs). Pancreatic duct cells (n=6) were purified and propagated into endothelial growth-promoting media. Synthetic modified (sm) RNAs were manufactured by unidirectional subcloning of PDX1, NGN3 and MAFA into a plasmid containing 5' and 3' UTR regions. The UTR-flanked inserts were excised and poly(A)-tailed. The final smRNAs were synthesized through in vitro transcription followed by phosphatase and DNase treatments, before being daily transfected in HDDCs. In all donors, transfection of PDX1, NGN3 and MAFA led to upregulation of endogenous target (ex: NGN3) and β-cell marker (ex: INS, synaptophysin, SLC2A2, GCK) genes with the highest expression levels being reached after MAFA transfection. Co-transfection protocols failed to show significant improvement of β-cell differentiation. Acceptable impact on innate immune response and cell viability was noticed after 7 consecutive daily smRNA transfections, based respectively on minimal IFNA and RIG-1 gene expression and on annexin-V/PI staining. After MAFA transfection, HDDCs stained positive for MAFA and insulin (19.3 ± 3.3 %) proteins, while ELISA assays showed detectable amounts of C-peptide content and release (21.45 ± 2.42 pg/mL/106 cells) under basal conditions. In conclusion, we showed that MAFA RNA over-expression is sufficient to efficiently reprogram HDDCs toward β-cell-like phenotype in a timely manner. Further research is mandatory to demonstrate a controlled insulin secretion capacity after differentiation.


This article critiques the contemporary focus on same-sex attracted youth, "antihomophobia," and "safe schools," as well as the ways these foci structure the logics of the prevailing policy approach. The author examines how contemporary antihomophobic reform in education is sustained by a series of false dilemmas: that the political demands and investments of straights and nonstraights can be easily distinguished one from another; that the expression of homophobia is anathema to queer educative work; and that everything that is at stake in the messy confluence of sexuality, gender, and schooling can be made sense of by figuring the problem as a matter of being safe. Gesturing toward a queer social policy for schooling, this article critiques the "zero-tolerance" approach of antihomophobia education, arguing that it falsely bifurcates the social world of the school into homophobic/antihomophobic iterations, unsafe/safe versions, and straight/homosexual interests.


Soft-tissue sarcomas are uncommon malignancies. The development during a period of 8 years, in one institution, of a prospective data base incorporating more than 1600 patients with these tumors is described. The most common sites for occurrence are the extremities, but they can occur in any of the soft tissues of the body. Liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma are the most common histopathologic conditions identified. Prognostic factors for both recurrence and survival include site, histopathology, size, grade, and adequacy of resection. A prospective randomized trial of the use of adjuvant radiation by the brachytherapy technique in extremity lesions has shown a decrease in local recurrence, but no impact on survival. Eligible patients not randomized to the trial show no difference in local recurrence or survival, regardless of whether they received adjuvant radiation.


ABSTRACT The activation of gene expression by the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particle was investigated. The HCMV major immediate-early (IE) promoter was cloned upstream of the Escherichia coli lacZcoding sequences, and the resulting cassette was introduced into the genome of a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutant lacking functional VP16. Upon infection with the HSV-1 recombinant in the presence of cycloheximide, to block de novo protein synthesis, expression of lacZ-specific transcripts was increased by fivefold when HCMV was included in the inoculum. Accumulation of HSV-1 IE RNAs was also stimulated by coinfection with HCMV, as was expression of the adenovirus 5 VAI transcript when the VAI gene was cloned into the HSV-1 genome. Coinfection with HCMV did not alter mRNA stability or uncoating of the HSV-1 genome. The coding sequences for the HCMV phosphoprotein pp71, controlled by the HCMV IE promoter, were cloned into an HSV-1 recombinant impaired for the production of the three major transactivators (VP16, ICP0, and ICP4) to yield a recombinant (in1324) which expressed pp71 but did not cause significant cytotoxicity. Infection with in1324 resulted in stimulation of HCMV IE, HSV-1 IE, and VAI expression, demonstrating that pp71 is responsible for the effects we observed when using the entire HCMV particle. Therefore, HCMV pp71 exhibits novel properties in its ability to stimulate gene expression from a range of promoters present in a herpesvirus genome.


One of the prevention measures used to stop the spread of COVID-19 was to stop face-to-face learning at all levels of education, including early childhood education programs. Early childhood education, which is rich in teacher-student interaction, has been transformed into virtual learning. The purpose of this article was to look at how the early childhood education program in Kendari changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a descriptive qualitative study. Data were collected through documentation analysis and interviews with key informants, such as school principals, teachers and parents of the students. Triangulation techniques were used to assess the validity of the findings. The results revealed that the early year program in Kendari underwent significant transformations in almost every aspect of learning, including curriculum, educators, strategies, media, learning objectives and learning outcome evaluation. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a change in all learning components, namely psychological and social distancing, so that learning activities were no longer carried out in the classroom with teachers and friends. PAUD teachers now involve parents in implementing learning in each student's home.
Keywords: transformation, teaching model, education


Plant allelochemicals are a group of secondary metabolites produced by plants to defend against herbivore. The mortality of two plant allelochemicals (tannic acid and gossypol) on the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), were investigated using feeding assays and the sublethal effects were evaluated using the age-stage, two-sex life table approach. Tannic acid and gossypol have deleterious effects on A. gossypii, and as the concentrations increased, the mortality of cotton aphid increased. The life history traits of A. gossypii including the developmental duration of each nymph stage, the longevity, oviposition days, total preadult survival rate and adult pre-oviposition period were not significantly affected by sublethal concentration of tannic acid (20 mg/L) and gossypol (50 mg/L), while the population parameters (r, λ and R0) were significantly affected by these two plant allelochemicals. Furthermore, tannic acid can increase the pre-adult duration time and TPOP but reduce the fecundity of A. gossypii significantly compared to the control and gossypol treatment groups. These results are helpful for comprehensively understanding the effects of plant allelochemicals on A. gossypii.


In this paper, a modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) is introduced and applied for simultaneous coordinated designing of the power system stabilizer (PSS) and unified power flow controller (UPFC) as a damping controller in the multi-machine power system. The coordinated design problem of PSS and UPFC controllers over a wide range of loading conditions is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem. For evaluation of the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controllers, their performances have been tested on a weakly connected power system subjected to different disturbances, loading conditions, and system parameter variations. The results of these studies show that the proposed coordinated controllers have an excellent capability in damping power system inter-area oscillations and enhance greatly the dynamic stability of the power system.


Motivated by the simple toroidal compactification of extra-dimensional SUSY theories, we investigate a partial N = 2 supersymmetric (SUSY) extension of the standard model which has an N = 2 SUSY sector and an N = 1 SUSY sector. We point out that below the scale of the partial breaking of N = 2 to N = 1, the ratio of Yukawa to gauge couplings embedded in the original N = 2 gauge interaction in the N = 2 sector becomes greater due to a fixed point. Since at the partial breaking scale the sfermion masses in the N = 2 sector are suppressed due to the N = 2 non-renormalization theorem, the anomaly mediation effect becomes important. If dominant, the anomaly-induced masses for the sfermions in the N = 2 sector are almost UV-insensitive due to the fixed point. Interestingly, these masses are always positive, i.e. there is no tachyonic slepton problem. From an example model, we show interesting phenomena differing from ordinary MSSM. In particular, the dark matter particle can be a sbino, i.e. the scalar component of the N = 2 vector multiplet of U ( 1 ) Y . To obtain the correct dark matter abundance, the mass of the sbino, as well as the MSSM sparticles in the N = 2 sector which have a typical mass pattern of anomaly mediation, is required to be small. Therefore, this scenario can be tested and confirmed in the LHC and may be further confirmed by the measurement of the N = 2 Yukawa couplings in future colliders. This model can explain dark matter, the muon g − 2 anomaly, and gauge coupling unification, and relaxes some ordinary problems within the MSSM. It is also compatible with thermal leptogenesis.


The goal of this study is to deepen our understanding of a set of narrative practices in European-American families in which young children's transgressions are downplayed or erased, a pattern that is cast in relief by the frequent, foregrounded narration of young children's transgressions in Taiwanese families. Evidence from the mothers'folk theories is used to illuminate these patterns, revealing that the pattern is reversed with respect to the narration of parental transgressions. The Taipei mothers treat parents' past misdeeds as undermining of adult authority and thereby not narratable to children, whereas the Longwood mothers regard parental misdeeds, including "hell-raising," as highly repor table for their humor and their power to humanize parents. These findings are discussed in relation to contrasting ideals and understandings of the dynamics of selves over time.


To the Editor

We are intrigued by the article by Priest and Ashley.1 The importance of genomics has been clearly identified and the article beautifully describes the role of genetics in cardiovascular medicine but concentrates on inherited arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies and occasional pharmacogenomic profiling.1 We suggest they have failed to consider the large, unrecognised need for genomics in adults patients with congenital heart conditions.

More than 90% of patients with congenital heart conditions now survive to adulthood and yet as neonates/children there was restricted availability of genetic testing and limited techniques. When such patients attend the adult clinic they want to know the …


This presentation is a review of experimental methods for accurately measuring and modeling the anisotropic plastic deformation behavior of metal sheets under a variety of loading paths: biaxial compression test, hydraulic bulge test, biaxial tension test using a cruciform specimen, multiaxial tube expansion test using a closed-loop electrohydraulic testing machine for the measurement of forming limit strains and stresses, combined tension-shear test, and in-plane stress reversal test. Observed material responses are compared with predictions using phenomenological plasticity models to highlight the importance of accurate material testing. Special attention is paid to the plastic deformation behavior of sheet metals commonly used in industry, and to verifying the validity of constitutive models based on anisotropic yield functions at a large plastic strain range. The effects of using appropriate material models on the improvement of predictive accuracy for forming defects, such as springback and fracture, are also presented.


This study aimed to evaluate the influence of dietary supplementation with vitamin C on the development of "mandi-pintado" larvae (P. britskii). A total of 160 larvae was distributed in a completely randomized experiment in 20 aquaria of 8L (1 larvae.1L). The diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous, isocaloric, isoaminoacídic and isofibrous supplemented with 0, 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 mg vitamin C by kg of diet. The larvae were fed to apparent satiation for 30 days, 4 times daily at 8h, 11h, 14h and 17h. The dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity of the water were measured once a week. There was no significant difference in the performance of larvae regarding final weight (FW), final length (FL), and survival (S). These results indicate that the level of vitamin C in the non-supplemented treatment was enough to attend the species requirement.


Background: Suicide, commonly defined as "an act of self-destruction, initiated and committed by a person who is aware of the fatal outcome and has substantial socioeconomic and cultural influences. The current suicide rate in India is 10.6/100,000 population. Doctors play an active part in the treatment and prevention of patients with suicide attempts, and their therapeutic endeavors may interrupt the ongoing suicidal process. The aims and objectives of this study were to assess the Opinions and Attitudes of the postgraduates of the various clinical departments towards suicide and to find out for any differences among postgraduates of Surgical and Medical groups who manage the consequences of the chosen methods of the suicidal attempts of the patients. Postgraduates of psychiatry were not included. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on various nonpsychiatric postgraduates between October and November 2019 in R L Jalappa Hospital, a constituent unit of Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, who are assessed using structured and validated instruments, the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire, and Attitudes to Suicide Prevention Scale. Results: The majority of both the Surgical and allied science groups with the Medicine and allied science group nonpsychiatric postgraduates had a negative disposition towards suicide attempters and negative attitudes towards suicide prevention strategies and there was no statistical difference among them. Conclusion: There must be training for non-psychiatric specialists towards suicide regularly and change in their respective PG training curriculum towards the approach of patients with self-injurious behaviors.


Changes in two important mechanical properties, tensile strength and knot strength, and tissue reactions are investigated for four different nonabsorbable sutures, silk, polyester, polyamide 6, and polypropylene, in vivo. Three different sizes (0, 2/0, 3/0) are also used for each suture type. In the experimental in vivo conditions, rats (Rattus norvegicus) obtained from University of Uludag Medical Faculty Experimental Animals Breeding and Research Center are used. The experiments are carried out on the Instron 4301 tensile tester before and after implantation. In the tests, maximum tenacity values are obtained. After all suture materials are broken, a scanning electron microscope and optical light microscope are used to take their pictures. For braided sutures, the encapsulation rate around the suture plays a very important role in the strength and breaking mechanism and axial splits, but controls these parameters for polypropylene sutures. Encapsulation increases the strength and has a greater effect on smaller sizes. A granulomatous inflammation is observed around all sutures in varying degrees of severity.


BACKGROUND
The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis of tumor genesis suggests that unlike most cancer cells within tumor CSC resist chemotherapy and can regenerate various cell types in tumor thereby causing relapse. Hence drugs that selectively target CSC may offer great promise for cancer therapy especially when combined with chemotherapy. Current treatment options for colorectal cancer (CRC) and other gastrointestinal (GI) tumors rely on combination of surgical resection, cytotoxic and targeted drugs. Recent findings showed that metformin, an ant diabetic drug was associated with a significantly lower risk of CRC (0.63 [0.47 - 0.84]; P = 0.002) in patients with type 2 diabetes. We therefore hypothesize that administration of metformin will reduce CSC.

METHODS
Patients with CRC and other GI cancers undergoing resection were enrolled. Metformin was administered at 500 mg orally twice daily for up to 14 days and terminated 24 hours, prior to planned surgery. Both tumor and normal tissue was procured. Adverse events (AEs) were graded according to NCI CTCAE Version 3.0. Primary objective was to establish the safety of administering metformin prior to resection. Secondary objective was to evaluate the effects of metformin on the expression of CSC markers by measuring relative mRNA levels of CD133, OCT4 and NANOG by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
A total of 10 patients (4 Male; 6 Female) received metformin. Grade 3 AEs included anemia, hypoalbuminemia, alanine aminotransferase elevation, abdominal pain and nausea but none of these were related to metformin. No hypoglycemia and lactic acidosis were observed. No unexpected post-operative complications were witnessed. Comparison of markers of CCSC results showed that expression of CD133, OCT4 and NANOG expression were decreased following metformin.

CONCLUSIONS
Our pilot study showed feasibility of metformin before surgery in GI cancers and indicated impact on CSC. This preliminary data warrants further investigation in a larger randomized placebo-control study to assess these markers and their correlation with survival.


The paper reports on a study which analyzes relationships between information technology and performance of Supply Chains. The two main barriers faced in Supply Chain are Management of Inventory and the timely delivery of goods to meet the demand of customers. Hence, the performance of Supply chain is measured by the impact on the inventory turnover and lead time of goods. The transparency of demand across the Supply Chain i.e. the product visibility across the Supply Chain would lead to improvement of the performance was the expectation set by this study. Facts on the basis of responses from Industry propose that Product Visibility results in improvement of lead time of the Supply Chain. The study also shows that certain sectors, primarily FMCG goods Industry are in the forefront in using Information Technology to improve their Supply Chain. However, an important outcome of the study has been the resistance observed in the industry in implementation of technology infrastructure. Since the study is based on survey methods, the perceptions of the respondents reflect the lack of confidence in Information Technology in improving the demand visibility and hence the inventory position of Supply Chain partners.


Background: X-linked Kallmann syndrome (KS) is caused mainly by point mutations, in the KAL1 gene. Large deletions >1 Mb are rare events in the human population and commonly result in contiguous gene syndromes. Methods: A search for the mutation causing KS carried out on two pairs of first-degree cousins of 2 sisters. Results: Two different apparently independent deletions were found. The deleted sequences encompass the KAL1 gene and four known additional genes exclusively expressed in testis. Two of these genes belong to the FAM9 gene family, which shares some homology with the SCYP3 gene, previously implicated in azoospermia. One of the events causing the deletion may have been mediated by an L1 transposition, the other by a non-homologous end joining. Such non-homologous recombinations have not yet been reported in the KAL genomic region and thus this area may be more prone to deletions than previously expected. Conclusions: This is the first report on genetic characterization of KS with a deletion of solely testis-expressed genes. The absence of these genes may have unfavorable implications for the patients regarding future fertility.


Heart diseases (HD) are the number one cause of death globally, more people die annually from HDs than from any other cause, according to World-Health-Organization (WHO) 7.3 million were died due to coronary heart disease in 2008. Electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation is most widely used to detect the abnormality of the heart. A reliable computer programs could lead to enhanced visual interpretation, and significant-increase of diagnosis-efficiency. This study introduced a novel method for ECG classification; fifteen different records of five rhythms from "MIT-BIH" Arrhythmia Database have been used to evaluate the implemented algorithms. The proposed approach consists of three distinct stages. In the first stage a preprocessing of different-steps is done to remove the baseline wander, power line interference and to enhance morphological properties. Secondly Daubechies are chosen and implemented as mother-wavelet-function to extract ten features of ECG signals, in the final stage Support-Vector-Machines (SVM), has been used as Multi-class classifier and decision making algorithm. The performance of the proposed method has bees evaluated in terms of accuracy, and specific accuracy. The experimental results have shown that the proposed system achieves validity as competitive results quality-wise, and the accuracy-rate of classification of Normal sinus Rhythm (N), Bundle Branch Block (RBBB), Atrial Premature Beat (APB), 3Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC), Fusion Heart Beats (F), and Unclassified Heart Beats (P) were 90.0%, 100%, 66.6%, 100%, 100%, and 100%, respectively.


Background: An association between bronchial asthma and sinusitis has long been suspected. Our aim is to study the clinical features of chronic sinusitis associated with bronchial asthma as two manifestations of one airway disease. Methods: We conducted a prospective analysis of the outcome of 88 patients, with or without bronchial asthma, who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) for chronic sinusitis. Patients were divided into two groups by the presence or absence of asthma and were evaluated. One surgeon performed the ESS, and the same postoperative treatment was given to both groups. The postoperative outcomes of symptoms and objective findings related to sinusitis were evaluated numerically, with a maximum score of 2 points for each examination item. Twenty-eight patients with asthma symptoms were assessed before and after surgery, using peak flow (liter/second) and medication scores (according to US Food and Drug Administration) to determine whether bronchial asthma was improved by first-time ESS. Results: The outcomes of ESS were signifi- cantly worse in the asthma group, especially the endonasal findings. Patients suffering from chronic sinusitis and bronchial asthma showed improvement following ESS in terms of their asthma symptoms, peak flow and medication score. Patients with a good ESS result tended to have the greatest improvement in their asthma. Conclusions: We conclude that sinusitis and asthma are closely related to each other, acting as two manifestations of one airway disease. We recommend treating cases of sinusitis complicated by asthma as a single disease of the entire respiratory tract.


Epidemiological evidence of an occupational risk of brain cancer has been reported in four industries where chemical exposures are likely, most recently in a series of prospective studies in the petrochemical industry. However, only in the case of vinyl chloride exposure has an occupational central nervous system carcinogen been identified. This report reviews the convergence of epidemiological and laboratory evidence that established the occupational carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride, and discusses in detail the current evidence for an occupational risk of brain tumors in the petrochemical industry.


In this paper, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is investigated with respect to the combination of different acoustic features for automatic speech recognition. It is shown that the combination of acoustic features using LDA does not consistently lead to improvements in word error rate. A detailed analysis of the recognition results on the Verbmobil (VM II) and on the English portion of the European Parliament Plenary Sessions (EPPS) corpus is given. This includes an independent analysis of the effect of the dimension of the input to LDA, the effect of strongly correlated input features, as well as a detailed numerical analysis of the generalized eigenvalue problem underlying LDA. Relative improvements in word error rate of up to 5% were observed for LDA-based combination of multiple acoustic features.


The aim of this work was to evaluate different models in which the random effects of litter and maternal genetic (correlated or not with the direct additive genetic effect) were added in sequence to the direct additive genetic random effect. There were on farm records of 17,563 Landrace (LD) and 8679 Large White (LW) animal. The comparison of the models and significance levels of each effect added were determined by the Likelihood Ratio test. Variance components were estimated using the Restricted Maximum Likelihood method. For LD breed the best model included the direct and maternal genetic effects, besides the litter effect. For the LW breed the best model included the direct genetic and litter effects. Heritability estimates of average daily gain, off-test age, and number of days on test were, respectively, 0.28, 0.24, and 0.24 for LD breed, and 0.28, 0.27, and 0.23 for LW breed. The litter effect was between 0.08 and 0.12 for both breeds. The maternal effect in LD breed was of small magnitude (0.01 to 0.03). Correlations between direct and maternal genetic effects were null or negative.


A synthetic route, associated with a high degree of stereoselectivity, has been developed for the synthesis of structural analogues (XIII) of actinonin (I). The anhydride–imide method involves the sequence (IIIb)+(V)→[(VI)+(VII)]→(XI)→(XIII). (±)-Amino-amides (IIIb) yielded the (±)-hydroxamic acids with the relative configuration (XIII) and L-amino-amides (X) yielded single enantiomers with the absolute configuration (XIII).


Environmental and economic crises, including land degradation from drought and increased global food prices, have become localized challenges for communities across the Sahel. Towns throughout central Senegal have struggled to maintain the agricultural and business enterprises on which they once relied. Ndem, a village within this region, has addressed these challenges through its artisanal cooperative, now incorporated into a nongovernmental organization. While Ndem's leaders have sound business plans, this essay argues that the continued viability of both the village and the cooperative is the result of a community-shared spiritual motivation for the work. Islam, the Murid Sufi order, and the Baay Fall suborder of the Muridiyya provide teachings that directly influence Ndem's spiritual life and business practices.


This guide was designed to support students enrolled in ENH285, however, others conducting student research might also find the content useful.


Purpose To examine the associations of current electronic cigarette and cannabis use patterns with depression symptoms and suicidal ideation and behavior overall and stratified by sex among U.S. high school students. Design Quantitative, cross-sectional study. Setting The 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Subjects 12,401 high school students in 9th−12th grade. Measures Dependent variables were depression symptoms, suicidal ideation, suicide plan, suicide attempt, and suicide attempt-related injury. Independent variables were past 30 day e-cigarette and cannabis use patterns. Covariates included demographics, grade level, and other tobacco product use. Analysis Multivariable logistic regression models. Results Approximately 15.7% of students were exclusive e-cigarette users, 4.5% were exclusive cannabis users, and 16.4% were concurrent e-cigarette and cannabis users. Exclusive e-cigarette and cannabis users, and concurrent users were at increased odds (P < .05) of having depression symptoms, seriously considered attempting suicide, planning suicide, suicide attempt, and having suicide attempt-related injury compared to non-users. Female users, especially concurrent users, had higher odds of reporting depression symptoms (P < .01) and all suicidal ideation and behavior outcomes (P < .01) than female non-users, but results varied for male students. Conclusion E-cigarette and cannabis use patterns significantly predicted depression symptomatology and suicidal ideation and behavior, with female students having higher odds. Results suggest the need for tailored interventions to address mental health and suicidality among U.S. adolescents, and especially female students.


The development of a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta may simulate closely acute coronary occlusion. We are presenting herewith an interesting and instructive case in which we ourselves were in error, with a discussion of the differential diagnosis. Some ten years ago there spread through this country a sudden realization that coronary thrombosis with cardiac infarction was a common condition that could be diagnosed clinically. This was after more than a decade of surprising neglect of Herrick's1classic paper on the subject. Along with the dispersal of this knowledge there was then, as there has been since, much interest in the possibility of confusion of coronary thrombosis with some acute abdominal disease. Herrick himself and also quite early Levine and Tranter2called attention to this possible confusion. However, as a rule the distinction is an easy one to make if both conditions are borne in mind. The other


Torsion experiments on initially wet and dry olivine aggregates at equivalent deformation conditions investigated the fate of fluid inclusions (FIs) during high‐temperature deformation. Wet samples were produced by adding water to San Carlos olivine powders before hot pressing; those hot pressed without water are considered dry. After hot pressing, wet and dry aggregates have comparable grain sizes, but wet aggregates have more abundant primary FIs. Talc jackets were fitted around some wet and dry samples prior to deformation to hydrate samples during deformation via talc dehydration at elevated temperature, whereas other samples were deformed without talc. At similar strain rates (~1.0 × 10−4 s−1), the peak shear stress for the dry sample (no talc) was 190–220 MPa, whereas all other samples reached 180 MPa; the strengths of wet (± talc) and dry (+ talc) specimens appear similar. Deformed samples reveal abundant FIs, reduced grain size, shape preferred orientation of olivine, and a pervasive low‐angle fabric (C′) to the shear plane defined by aligned FIs. Samples deformed with talc have FI‐rich and FI‐depleted domains; where FIs are abundant, the C′ fabric is better developed and grain size is smaller. Electron backscatter diffraction pole figures suggest that olivine deformed in the dislocation creep regime via the (010)[100] slip system. Results of these experiments suggest that FIs are redistributed during dislocation creep, leading to the development of grain‐scale, high‐diffusivity pathways.


Background: Physical activity among women with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is an undesirable level. This study aimed to determine the effect of a training program based on the Health Promotion Model (HPM) on physical activity in women with type 2 DM. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 128 women with type 2 DM, who were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. Data were collected using the Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire (BPAQ) and a researcher-made questionnaire designed based on the HPM constructs before and 2 months after the intervention. The training was carried out in four sessions in the intervention group and the control group received regular education at the clinic. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Mann–Whitney and Wilcoxon tests in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results: The findings showed that the mean [Standard Deviation (SD)] of physical activity in the intervention and control groups before the intervention was 6.52 (0.86) and 6.56 (1.07), respectively, and there was no significant difference between the groups (p = 0.95). However, after the intervention, the mean (SD) of physical activity in the intervention and control groups was 8.04 (0.92) and 6.33 (1.60), respectively, which showed a significant difference (t126 =9.71,p < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of this study revealed that the training program based on the HPM has a positive effect on improving physical activity in women with type 2 DM.


Railway station throats have the most stringent standards for permissible deformation caused by adjacent construction. This paper describes the case of a safely implemented shield tunneling project beneath the throat of a large railway station with more than 11 tracks in soft soil areas. By identifying major design constraints, the route scheme and line alignment were established to balance the engineering conditions, which have a potential impact on the railway switches. Finite element model simulations were performed to estimate the track displacements. These simulations demonstrated the need for ground improvement. The ground improvement strategy involved the use of compact machinery to operate in the small area between the tracks. Furthermore, the earth-pressure-balanced shield machine, tunnel segments, and synchronized slurry were optimized to the site conditions. A trial section of tunnel boring was used before reaching the railway to confirm appropriate shield machine parameters. An automatic monitoring system provided continuous feedback for precise control of the construction parameters. Ultimately, the construction project achieved its goals, causing a maximum track displacement of 8.4 mm. This report also describes our experience in organizing a joint workshop consisting of the railway administration and operation teams, the metro design team, and construction, survey, and consulting companies to enhance project planning. This study provides valuable insight and can serve as an important reference for similar future projects.


The phylogenetic relationships among thirty-seven new Ty1-copia group retrotransposons in seven angiosperm plants were examined by reverse transcriptase and ribonuclease H sequence analysis. Distribution pattern of the retrotransposons of closely related plant species generally reflects a close phylogenetic relationship. In contrast, we found that several retrotransposon sequences from the same genome exhibited a high degree of divergence and had a relatively high degree of identity versus retrotransposon sequences from widely divergent species, including an ancestral phytopathogen fungus. This finding supports the hypothesis that the horizontal transmission from phytopatogen organism to the host flowering plants could have played a role in the evolutionary dynamics of Ty1-copia group retrotransposons.