The standard linear-quadratic (LQ) model is currently the preferred model for describing the ionizing radiation-induced cell survival curves and tissue responses. And the LQ model is also widely used to calculate isoeffect doses for comparing different fractionated schemes in clinical radiotherapy. Despite its ubiquity, because the actual dose-response curve may appear linear at high doses in the semilogarithmic plot, the application of the LQ model is greatly challenged in the high-dose region, while the dose employed in stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is often in this area. Alternatively, the biophysical models of radiation-induced effects with a linear-quadratic-linear (LQL) characteristic can well fit the dose-survival curve of cells in vitro. However, most of these LQL models are phenomenological and have not fully considered the biophysical mechanism of radiation-induced damage and repair, and the fitting quality decreases in some high-dose ranges. In this work, to provide an alternative model to describe the cell survival curves in high-dose ranges and predict the biologically effective dose (BED) for SBRT, we propose a novel generalized multi-hit model with a closed-form solution by considering an upper bound on the number of lethal damages induced by radiation that can be repaired in a cell. This model has a clear biophysical basis and a simple expression, and also has the LQL characteristic under low- and high-dose approximate conditions. The experimental data fitting indicated that compared to the standard LQ model and our previously generalized target model, the current model can better fit the radiation-induced cell survival curves in the high-dose ranges (P < 0.05). The current model parameters and parameter ratios were determined from the fits in different kinds of cell lines irradiated with various dose rates and linear energy transfer (LET), which indicates that the model parameters significantly depend on the dose rate and LET. Based on the current model, we derived two equivalence formulae for the BED calculations in the low- and high-dose ranges, and then calculated the BED for the clinical data of SBRT from 17 selected studies. The correlation analysis showed that there were significant linear correlations between the BED at isocenter and planning target volume (PTV) edge calculated by this model and the LQ model (R > 0.86, P < 0.001). In conclusion, the generalized multi-hit model proposed in this work can be used as an alternative tool to handle in vitro radiation-induced cell survival curves in high-dose ranges, and calculate the in vivo BED for comparing the dose fractionation schemes in clinical radiotherapy.


The histopathological diagnosis of spindle cell tumours is often difficult. We present a patient who developed a painful tumour on his head 6 years after renal transplantation. Histologically, the tumour was first interpreted as scar tissue with an unusual fibrohistiocytic component. Cytokeratins, desmin, CD31, CD34 and S100 could not be detected using conventional immunohistochemistry. After two recurrences and intensive immunohistochemical examinations, cytokeratin-positive tumour areas in direct connection with the epidermis were detected. The final diagnosis was therefore spindle cell squamous carcinoma. The patient finally died from brain metastases after experiencing further painful recurrences that were removed surgically. Our case underscores the importance of refined immunohistochemical methods in establishing the diagnosis of spindle cell squamous carcinomas, methods that should be taken into account especially if painful spindle cell tumours arise on sun-exposed skin in immunosuppressed patients.


The advanced era of knowledge-based urban development has led to an unprecedented increase in mobility of people and subsequent growth in new typologies of agglomerated enclaves of knowledge such as urban knowledge and innovation spaces. Within this context, a new role has been assigned to contemporary public spaces to attract and retain the mobile knowledge workforce by creating a sense of place. This paper investigates the context, characteristics and contribution of public spaces in facilitating place making in the globalised knowledge economy world. It takes an overall process-based approach to highlight the observations from Australia's new world city Brisbane to outline the application of urban design as a tool to create and sustain multi-dimensional place making in urban knowledge and innovation spaces, which caters diverse range of social, cultural and democratic needs. The study derives multi-layered permeability as the key character that defines the modified typology of public spaces and which is vital for making them more viable and adaptive as per the changing needs of the contemporary globalised or in other words knowledge society.


Real-world negotiations are characterized by complex negotiation spaces, tough deadlines, bounded agent rationality, very limited information about the opponents, and volatile negotiator preferences. Classical negotiation models fail to address most of these issues. Practical negotiation agents with an effective and efficient fuzzy inference to deal with complex and incomplete negotiation spaces arising in real-world applications are proposed. The agent with the fuzzy inference determines the values of the new offer through the set of fuzzy rules. An evolutionary algorithm with Bayesian learning of its opponents' preferences according to the history of the counter offers and genetic algorithms (GA) are used to optimize the parameters of the fuzzy rules. Simulation shows that responsive and adaptive negotiation agents work for real-world negotiations. 1


China's increasing openness to foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed importantly to its exceptional growth performance. This paper examines China's experience with FDI and identifies some lessons for other countries. Most of the factors explaining China's success have also been important in attracting FDI to other countries: market size, labor costs, quality of infrastructure, and government policies. FDI has contributed to higher investment and productivity growth, and has created jobs and a dynamic export sector. China's success, however, did not come without some pitfalls: an increasingly complex tax incentive system and growing regional income disparities. Accession to the WTO should broaden China's "opening up" policies and continue FDI's contributions to China's economy in the future.


This paper describes an experience in assimilating a high-resolution satellite sea surface temperature (SST) product into a NEMO-based numerical model of the Baltic Sea. There is no doubt that the Baltic Community urgently requires a good quality forecast of the Baltic Sea hydrography. And there is no doubt that any forecasting system would definitely benefit from assimilating observational information. These circumstances provide a strong motivation for the study discussed. I am, however, not sure that this data assimilation experience is sufficient enough to be documented in a peer-reviewed publication (at least with respect to improving forecast, as stated). In its present form,


While the incidence and risk factors of pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) following spinal surgery have been well studied, the treatment of such thromboembolic disease in patients after spine surgery remains controversial. When initiating therapeutic anticoagulation after spine surgery, clinicians must weigh the catastrophic risk of a PE against the risk of bleeding complications associated with anticoagulation therapy. Here we report the case of a 56-year-old male who presented with symptoms of spinal cord compression secondary to metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). An inferior vena cava (IVC) filter was inserted preoperatively and urgent decompression at the thoraco-lumbar region was performed. Therapeutic clexane was started on postoperative day (POD) 7 and he was discharged. On POD 8, he was readmitted following acute bilateral lower limb paralysis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a large posterior spinal epidural hematoma with severe compression of the conus at L1 level. Urgent posterior decompression was performed but subsequent recovery was slow and incomplete. His power improved gradually over the right lower limb with attainment of grade 4/5 motor power but still had hemiparesis on his left lower limb upon discharge out of hospital. This case highlights the risk of starting therapeutic anticoagulation following spinal surgery. Prior to starting treatment, the clinician must consider the appropriate dose, timing and alternatives available to avoid unnecessary complications.


Absiracf-This paper is concerned with the problem of 6nding the illuminations on two planar antennas (directed toward each other) which maximize the efficiency of the power transfer between them. The two apertures are generally different and their separation, sizes, and shapes are arbitrary (with the exception of some symmetry requirements). It is shown that the optimal phase distributions are such that the two antennas are focused on each other. The optimal amplitude distributions are equal to the field patterns of the mode with minimum diffraction loss in two confocal resonator mirrors, whose separation, sizes, and shapes are equal to those of the apertures in question. For the particular case of rectangular antennas, the optimal amplitude distributions are given by Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions. The Power Transfer Coefficient between two equal square apertures has been calculated for optimal and uniform (focused and unfocused) illuminations. For moderate to small separations the optimal illuminations yield a very significant increase of the efficiency of the power transfer.


Communities in forest areas can be trained to map and inventory forests although they may need technical support for some tasks. The cost of community carbon monitoring is likely to be much less than for professional surveys and accuracy is relatively good. The degree of precision depends on the size of the sample. There is a tradeoff between the cost of increasing the sample size and the amount of carbon that communities could claim. Entrusting forest inventory work to communities could have other advantages for national REDD+ programmes, such as transparency and recognition of the value of community forest management in providing carbon services.


SUMMARY: Osmotically fragile protoplasts have been prepared by the action of lytic enzymes on the mycelium of Penicillium chrysogenum and Cephalosporium acremonium. The yield of protoplasts, based on DNA content, was up to 18 %. Pretreatment of the mycelium with a thiol compound was necessary with Cephalosporium but not with Penicillium. Electron micrographs indicated that the protoplasts contained all the intracellular organelles of the mycelium and were bounded only by a cytoplasmic membrane. The metabolic activity of the protoplasts, as measured by their respiration, ability to maintain intracellular amino-acid pools, and antibiotic production, was similar to that of control mycelium. l-Valine and l-α-aminoadipic acid, which are precursors of penicillin N and cephalosporin C, were taken up and concentrated by the protoplasts of C. acremonium, although the latter transported l-valine less rapidly than did the corresponding mycelium. Protoplasts of P. chrysogenum took up l-valine but not l-α-aminoadipic acid or its δ-ester. There was little or no transport of the corresponding d-amino acids by protoplasts of either organism.


SUMMARY

Study of the magnetostratigraphy of the earliest Jurassic (mainly Hettangian) section of Langmoos near Adnet in Austria (Northern calcareous Alps) provides a sequence of 10 magnetic polarity intervals. These intervals are often evident in the natural remanent magnetization. However, rather than a true magnetostratigraphic sequence, palaeomagnetic analyses reveal evidence for successive phases of magnetization within the section. Evidence includes (1) changes in lithology associated with changes in magnetic polarity, (2) different combinations of components of both polarities, and (3) largely non-antipodal directions. Considering the palaeomagnetic directions, we suggest that the apparent magnetostratigraphy is the result of two or three phases of magnetization which occurred at different stages of the tectonic emplacement of the Northern Calcareous Alps.


Software systems introduce an increasing number of configuration options to provide flexibility, and support updating the options on the fly to provide persistent services. This mechanism, however, may affect the system reliability, leading to unexpected results like software crashes or functional errors. In this paper, we refer to the bugs caused by on-the-fly configuration updates as on-the-fly configuration bugs, or OCBugs for short. In this paper, we conducted the first in-depth study on 75 real-world OCBugs from 5 widely used systems to understand the symptoms, root causes, and triggering conditions of OCBugs. Based on our study, we designed and implemented Parachute, an automated testing framework to detect OCBugs. Our key insight is that the value of one configuration option, either loaded at the startup phase or updated on the fly, should have the same effects on the target program. Parachute generates tests for on-the-fly configuration updates by mutating the existing tests and conducts differential analysis to identify OCBugs. We evaluated Parachute on 7 real-world software systems. The results show that Parachute detected 75% (42/56) of the known OCBugs, and reported 13 unknown bugs, 11 of which have been confirmed or fixed by developers until the time of writing.


Reversible normoxic-anoxic transitions from in vivo rabbit corneas were measured and displayed as mitochondrial flavoprotein fluorescence histograms. The flavoproteins were excited with a Helium-Cadmium laser at 441.6 nm, and the fluorescence was detected in the region of 550 nm. The laser excitation light was incident at the apex of the cornea perpendicular to the optic axis, and the emission was detected along the optic axis. Artifacts due to the motion of the globe and fluorescence from the iris and the lens were not significant. These studies demonstrate the feasibility of non-invasive in vivo monitoring of corneal anoxia-normoxia, and suggest its future applications to studies with contact lens and corneal wound healing.


Neural networks have achieved success in the task of environmental sound classification. However, the traditional neural network model has too many parameters and high computational cost. The lightweight networks solve these problems by compressing parameters, but reduce the classification accuracy. To solve the problems in existing research, we propose a two-stream model based on two lightweight convolutional neural networks, called TSLCNN-DS, which saves memory and improves the classification performance of environmental sounds. Specifically, we first used data patching and data balancing to slightly expand the amount of experimental data. Then we designed two lightweight and efficient classification networks based on the attention mechanism and residual learning. Finally, the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is used to fuse the output of the two networks, and the two-stream model is integrated. Experiments have shown that the model has achieved a classification accuracy of 97.44% on the UrbanSound8k dataset, using only 0.12 M parameters.


ABSTRACT Introduction Protein kinases have emerged as targetable pathways used in metastatic prostate cancer given their role in prostatic tumor growth, proliferation and metastases. Protein kinase inhibitors are small molecules that target varying pathways including the breakpoint cluster region (BCR)-Abelson tyrosine kinase (ABL), colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF1R), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/VEGF receptor (VEGFR) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways and have been studied in prostate cancer trials with variable results. In particular, cabozantinib when used in combination trials and ipatasertib, when used with abiraterone in patients who harbor phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) loss, have been promising. Areas Covered This article reviews the key early and late phase clinical trials currently investigating the use of protein kinase inhibitors in prostate cancer. Expert opinion While multiple kinase inhibitors show promising results in prostate cancer, none have yet garnered Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Studies are ongoing with the best candidate drugs discussed herein. However, multiple drugs have failed primary endpoints in prostate cancer. Therefore, further understanding of the potential mechanisms of resistance, combination and trial design of combination therapy may help pave the way for targeting kinase inhibition in prostate cancer.


The last 20 years have witnessed the large-scale introduction of minimally invasive techniques in surgery. These have allowed a more patient-focused approach than conventional methods, with smaller incisions and minimal tissue retraction resulting in less pain, better cosmetic results and reduced recovery time. The drive to increase day-case procedures in order to reduce bed occupancy and hospital costs, coupled with advances such as the development of intravenous anaesthesia, digital endoscopic cameras, stapling devices and purpose-built narrow shafted instruments, has led to the virtual disappearance of some conventional open procedures such as cholecystectomy in favour of laparoscopic approaches.1

Despite the increasing popularity of endoscopic approaches in gynaecological, general and thoracic surgery, until recently no routine endoscopic cardiac surgery was being undertaken. There are several reasons why this may have been so, not the least of which is that endoscopic cardiac surgery is technically challenging. Difficulties include lack of depth perception while translating three-dimensional anatomy to two-dimensional images, especially with a moving target, leading to disconnected hand–eye coordination. The small working port through which instruments are introduced offers a limited range of motion and sensory feedback, with a loss of intuitive dexterity and a reduction in tactile cues. Most cardiac surgery takes place with the patient on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), which has to be instituted remotely via peripheral vessels if using port access. Furthermore, valve replacement or repair surgery entails tying large numbers of knots, which have to be accurately positioned and securely tightened intracorporeally. These factors inevitably increase the duration of any procedure over a more conventional approach and, despite modern methods of myocardial protection, the duration of cardioplegic arrest still influences the outcome of a cardiac operation. All of these considerations coupled with the already established excellent long-term results of conventional open first-time cardiac operations have led to some groups suggesting that endoscopic cardiac surgery is unnecessary and unsafe.

Endoscopic (port access) cardiac surgery was originally attempted as a method of performing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the 1990s when it was known as MIDCAB (minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass).2 The cardiopulmonary bypass technique employed during MIDCAB involved cannulae inserted into peripheral arteries and veins such as the femoral and jugular vessels. Cardiac arrest was achieved with an endo-aortic balloon occlusion cannula inflated under radiographic guidance (subsequently employing transoesophageal echo guidance) in the ascending aorta, in place of an aortic cross clamp. Cardioplegia was then delivered into the aortic root via a central channel in the end-balloon. MIDCAB subsequently fell out of favour when the multiple incision sites required during access for multi-vessel grafting actually made a sternotomy an easier, safer and less invasive technique.

Despite abandoning endoscopic coronary artery operations, mainland Europe and USA continued to use the endoaortic balloon occlusion techniques, with an operating port via a limited right anterior thoracotomy, for mitral and tricuspid valve procedures. In the UK this approach was not popularized for reasons that remain unclear. A possible explanation relates to industry. Difficulties in procuring funding by NHS purchasers for the additional (high) cost of these disposable cannulae and possibly the reluctance of cardiac surgeons in the UK to embark on potentially hazardous new procedures in the post-Bristol era, led to a low volume of the port access coronary procedures being performed. This in turn made the necessarily expensive, industry-run programme for learning how to deploy these cannulae ineffective in terms of cost. The single company manufacturing the cannulae focused increasingly less on the UK and more on mainland Europe and the USA as these factors became apparent. Consequently, as endoscopic mitral valve surgery became more widely adopted elsewhere, it failed to find a place in UK (personal communication, D Walker, Director of Sales, Heartport Inc).

By year 2000 there were well-developed endoscopic valve programmes throughout mainland Europe but no such activity was taking place in the UK.3,4 Faced with a number of complex redo mitral procedures and recognizing the high risk associated with these operations when performed via a sternotomy (14.3% operative mortality), we decided to develop a port access mitral valve programme as we believed that avoiding incision through the frozen anterior mediastinum in such patients would reduce the associated mortality and morbidity.5,6 We have described our earlier techniques, as learned in Barcelona and Aalst, elsewhere.7 We have refined these over the last 4 years as technology has advanced. Cardiopulmonary bypass is now achieved entirely percutaneously using Seldinger techniques. The endoscope is now held rigidly in place and controlled precisely by use of a surgical robot. In order to reduce the cost of disposables and to ensure a more easily placed and secure method of aortic occlusion, a trans-thoracic aortic Chitwood clamp is now favoured over the endo balloon occlusion clamp for all surgery.

A great expansion in cardiac surgical technology was seen from the 1950s to 1970s. New developments in the specialty have appeared to slow down as clinical governance and cost issues have become increasingly important over the last two decades. In the UK, politically driven initiatives to increase cost efficiency in the NHS have been reported to have had a major and largely negative impact on academic surgery, research and training such that few surgeons have had the opportunity to apply new techniques.8,9 Paradoxically, the latest 'choice'-related political initiatives in the NHS will now lead to patients deciding what type of operation they want. As patient choice increases we anticipate an increased demand for minimally invasive procedures such as endoscopic valve surgery, which together with the current fall in numbers of coronary bypass procedures, may renew interest by UK surgeons who have lagged well behind their European and North American counterparts in this field.


A plasma spraying torch (Miller SG-100) has been studied by numerical modeling and Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) techniques. Results are presented for axisymmetric turbulent argon plasma jets flowing into a cold air environment with the injection of alumina particles. The mathematical model involves the simultaneous solution of the continuity, momentum and energy equations for the plasma jet, and the dynamics and heat transfer of the particles in the plasma. Calculations are performed using the both parabolic and elliptic approaches. Turbulent effects are represented by the k-E model. The turbulent dispersion effect on the particles is also included. Coupling between the plasma jet and the particles is considered. -At a current of 900 A, plasma temperatures determined by modeling are compared with experimental results [l]. The difference is less than 4% at a distance less than 2 cm from the nozzle exit. At longer distance, plasma temperatures, obtained from modeling are about 3040% higher than those measured in [I] . At a current of 300 A, particle velocities obtained by the simulation are compared to LDV measurements with single and double injection. At a distance of 5.2 cm from the torch nozzle exit, particle velocities show a peak off-axis profile as measured by L,DV and as calculated by numerical modeling. Particle velocities determined from modeling are 20% higher than those measured by LDV at the axis. Differences between particle velocities determined from the parabolic and elliptic approaches are within 5%.


Rates of myo-inositol (Ins) incorporation and turnover in phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) were determined in cultured mouse cortical neurons. Cells were incubated with deuterium-labeled myo-inositol (Ins) in culture medium free of unlabeled Ins. The time-dependent changes in the specific activity of cytosolic Ins and membrane PtdIns were measured by mass spectrometry. PtdIns turnover was modeled incorporating values for Ins flux, cytosolic dilution, PtdIns concentration, and rate of incorporation into PtdIns. Recycled Ins diluted the labeled precursor pool, and a time course was obtained for this cytosolic process. The specific activity of the precursor pool at the plateau of the time-course curve was 0.43 +/- 0.04 (mean +/- SD). The incorporation of the tracer into PtdIns was linear between 4 and 10 h incubation of the neurons. After factoring in the extent of dilution of the tracer in the precursor pool, the rate of Ins incorporation into PtdIns was found to be 315 +/- 51 nmol (g of protein)(-1) x h(-1). The half-life of Ins in PtdIns was calculated for each point on the linear incorporation curve and then corrected for the tracer reincorporation. The half-life of Ins in PtdIns was 6.7 +/- 0.2 h, which translates into a basal turnover rate of 10.3%/h in this in vitro system. The mathematical model and the stable isotope method described here should allow assessment of the dynamics of PtdIns signaling altered in certain diseases or by agents.


Selection of high yielding genotypes to be carried over to subsequent selection cycles in a breeding programme can sometimes be accomplished using a suitable index of secondary traits that may be relatively less sensitive to genotype-by-environment interactions than yield. We used the concept of correlated response to selection to measure the relative efficiency of nine selection indices. The results showed that the selection index, based on median and semi inter-quartile range, which was actually used in identifying high yielding genotypes, had an efficiency that is comparable to the best index, the latter being a modification of the Elston index.


Today, around 30 % of manufactured plastic goods rely on injection moulding. The cooling time can represents more than 70 % of the injection cycle. Moreover, in order to avoid defects in the manufactured plastic parts, the temperature in the mould must be homogeneous. We propose in this paper a practical methodology to optimize both the position and the shape of the cooling channels in 3D injection moulding processes. For the evaluation of the temperature required both by the objective and the constraint functions, we must solve 3D heat-transfer problems via numerical simulation. We solve the heat-transfer problem using Boundary Element Method (BEM). This yields a reduction of the dimension of the computational space from 3D to 2D,
avoiding full 3D remeshing: only the surface of the cooling channels needs to be remeshed at each evaluation required by the optimization algorithm. We propose a general optimization model that attempts at minimizing the desired overall low temperature of the plastic-part surface subject to constraints imposing homogeneity of the temperature. Encouraging preliminary results on two semi-industrial plastic parts show that our optimization methodology is viable.


The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expanded the impact of IRC Section 162(m) by disallowing deductions for any compensation over $1 million paid to top executives. Under prior law, qualified performance-based pay was exempt from the $1 million cap. We examine whether TCJA affected firms' CEO compensation decisions in the first year following enactment. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find little evidence that CEO salaries increase more at tax-sensitive firms in the year after the TCJA. We also find that the change in total compensation is not different between our treatment and control groups. Additional analyses using different definitions of treatment and control groups confirm these results. We also examine whether firms' reactions to the TCJA vary based on CEO strength and broader corporate governance measures. We find that weaker CEOs with little influence over the board or compensation committee members received smaller increases to compensation after TCJA, but changes to executive compensation do not vary with broader corporate governance measures. Taken together, our results provide a first glimpse of firms' changes to CEO compensation after the TCJA.


In this paper, we discuss the connection between radiation resistance formulas for antenna in free-space and in rectangular waveguide. We demonstrate with the example of monopole antenna that a transformation between the angular direction in free-space and mode indices in waveguide makes the formulas for antenna radiation resistance in free-space and in rectangular waveguide equivalent to each other.


The main cause of cardiac valve bioprosthesis dysfunction is mechanical rupture of the cusps consequent upon the development of "fatigue" tensions and calcification of the biologic tissue. The technology of "Bionix" prostheses manufacturing implies prevention of these complications by means of supporting frameworks of variable rigidity (dumping stroke loads) and the use of a calcinosis inhibitor in the process of chemical stabilization. Experimental research confirms the certain effectiveness of such an approach to solving the problem of bioprosthesis durability. Experience in clinical application of biological valves of this series showed that by the 5th postoperative year the stability of good results was 90.0 +/- 2.2%; absence of thromboembolic complications in 93.3 +/- 2.4%, and no need to operate because of dysfunction of the bioprosthesis in 96.6 +/- 2.1%.


We present adaptive computation-block caching that supports improved performance and is suited for agent-based simulations. The approach is illustrated in SASSY (scalable agents simulation system). SASSY leverages a parallel discrete event simulation for performance, but provides an agent-based API to the developer. Agent-based simulation is suited to computation-block caching because relevant calculations completed at each event may be relatively heavyweight and may be repeated. The potential savings of avoiding a computation entirely may offset the overhead cost of caching. The approach is refined through the use of statistical methods for choosing which computation blocks should be cached or not. If the relevant computation is trivial, caching is not worth the cost. In other cases caching provides a substantial speedup. Our mechanism tracks these costs online and adjusts accordingly. It requires no additional coding but is automatically integrated into applications. We assess the performance of the approach in a benchmark-application.


Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an optical brain imaging technology based on mapping blood oxygenation levels on the cortical surface of the brain. fNIRS has the potential to become a point-of-care brain monitoring system for localized brain measurements in various medical conditions including brain injury and concussion. Although fNIRS electronic circuit has been miniaturized significantly, one of the least elucidated elements of the portable fNIRS systems is the process for developing optodes (light sources and detectors) for the improvements in skin-optode coupling, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), user's comfort-level and motion artifact reduction. We have used modern design tools such as 3D printing and laser cutting to fabricate human-centered fNIRS optodes. Feedback was taken from participants of different groups throughout the iterative design process of data collection. Two types of fNIRS optodes were designed; one was based on forehead patch and the other was integrable into an electrode head cap. The optodes were connected to our developed portable fNIRS hardware. The noise characteristics of the optodes for the long-term brain imaging settings, while subjects were performing physical activities, was systemically studied in each of the iterations and designs. The final front-end hardware design was tested on eight subjects with varying head size, shape and skin tone. Experimental results of SNR and resistance to the motion artifacts show that 3D printing can be effective for the development of fNIRS optode. These fNIRS optodes prove to not only be easy to use and comfortable but also capable of acquiring the fNIRS signal with other brain monitoring modalities such as electroencephalography (EEG).


Objective: To identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) induced by tuberculosis peptide-based vaccine MP3RT in a humanized mouse model using transcriptomics technology. Methods: This study was conducted from August 2019 to February 2022. We used edgeR software to screen DEGs with a fold change greater than or equal to 1.5 and a P value less than 0.05 as screening conditions. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG), and protein interaction network analyses were performed on the screened DEGs. Then, these DEGs were verified by RT-qPCR and statistically analyzed by GraphPad Prism 8 software. Results: A total of 367 DEGs (214 up-regulated and 153 down-regulated) were identified by transcriptomics. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the GO enrichment of the DEGs mentioned above significantly focused on cell metabolism, growth, apoptosis, inflammation, and other terms. In contrast, the KEGG enrichment significantly focused on inflammatory pathways such as the MAPK signaling pathway. Protein interaction network analysis showed that protein Abl1 had the highest aggregation, the highest aggregation coefficient, and the best connectivity. RT-qPCR results showed that gene expressions of cpne4 (t=2.48, P=0.048 0), h2-q10 (t=2.95, P=0.025 6), mef2c (t=2.87, P=0.028 4), cr2 (t=3.23, P=0.178), ablim1 (t=2.91, P=0.033 5), dll1 (t=2.70, P=0.027 3) and ms4a2 (t=3.03, P=0.019 2) genes in the MP3RT group were significantly up-regulated than those in the PBS group, while gene expressions of cd163l1 (t=2.56, P=0.043 0), il1r1 (t=2.91, P=0.022 7) and cd34 (t=2.42, P=0.046 2) genes in the MP3RT group were significantly down-regulated than those in the PBS group. Conclusions: The MP3RT vaccine induced 367 DEGs in humanized mice, which were associated with metabolic and immune responses. Furthermore, we found that p38 MAPK and JNK/MAPK signaling pathways played an important role in the molecular mechanism of the MP3RT vaccine.


The purpose of this study is to understand how Islam assesses creativity—specifically, to determine if an Islamic framework for assessing creativity can be identified. Islam does not provide a framework for assessing creativity, but Islamic scholars continue to assess creativity in the absence of this framework. This study was conducted with the assistance of seven informants from seven leading Islamic traditions based in the UK. Each informant provided a unique insight into their understanding and interpretations of Islamic scriptures and texts in relation to creativity and to determine how creativity in Islam is assessed.


Abstract An analysis of the risk of failure in the safety valve – tank with propane-butane (LPG) system has been conducted. An uncontrolled outflow of liquid LPG, caused by a failure of the above mentioned system has been considered as a threat. The main research goal of the study is the hazardous analysis of propane-butane gas outflow for the safety valve – LPG tank system. The additional goal is the development of an useful method to fast identify the hazard of a mismatched safety valve. The results of the research analysis have confirmed that safety valves are basic protection of the installation (tank) against failures that can lead to loss of life, material damage and further undesired costs of their unreliability. That is why a new, professional computer program has been created that allows for the selection of safety valves or for the verification of a safety valve selection in installations where any technical or technological changes have been made.


A bstract — Recognizing human hand gesture through the use of INS (Inertial navigation System) sensor, Hidden Markov Model (HMM) was used as a tool to recognize pattern statistically. Employing INS sensor to admit data input , it is assumed that hand gesture could be detected by analizing the acceleration and fluctuation from data sensor and the difference of hand-position in 3-axis. The INS sensor that was being used was came with 6 channels to generate signals of a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer. The acceleration fluctuated in three perpendicular directions due to different hand gestures was detected by the accelerometer, while the change of hand-position in 3-axis was detected by gyroscope. Data from sensor was exported to computer via USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. During the stage of data collection, a cut algorithm was developed to pick the most significant part of the sensor data. After finishing data comparison stage, DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) was selected to transform the signal from time domain to frequency domain. Sequences of calculation were performed to analyze the best sampling frequency to select dominant frequency of every gesture to be picked as parameter value. The parameter value used in HMM as the approach to recognize and differs gestures. Index Terms — 3-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, gesture, gesture recognition, hand gesture, human gesture .


Objective To assess the value of palpation imaging(PI) in the diagnosis of breast diseases.Methods From October 2010 to March 2011,151 patients with 213 breast lesions,of which 54 were breast cancers and 159 were benign lesions,were examined by PI,ultrasound,mammography and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) in Comprehensive Breast Health Center,Ruijin Hospital,Shanghai Jiaotong University.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was drawn to determine the cutoff value of the PI test.The diagnostic value of the four examinations were compared.Results The AUC value of the ROC curve was 0.832(95%CI:0.766 ~ 0.898,P 0.001) in the diagnostic tests of PI.The sensitivity of PI was 87.0%,which is higher than that of mammograghy(63.5%,P =0.005) significantly and not statistically different compared with ultrasound(87.0%) or MRI(94.0%).The specificity and acuracy of PI(69.8%,74.2%) was similar to that of mammography(80.5%,P =0.041,α ' =0.0083;75.4%,P =0.778),but lower than that of ultrasound(86.2%,P 0.001;86.4%,P =0.002) and MRI(85.7%,P =0.005;88.7%,P 0.001) significantly.Conclusion PI is capable of differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions,and may become an important supplement of ultrasound,mammography and MRI in the diagnosis of breast diseases.


The 35-cm flexible fiberoptic proctosigmoidoscope is a cost-effective instrument for the family physician. Nonendoscopists have mastered its use with no reported complications. Patient tolerance is high compared to tolerance for the rigid scope. The pathology yield per procedure is two to four times greater than that reported with the rigid sigmoidoscope. Yields with the 35-cm instrument have matched those documented with the 65-cm fiberoptic instrument.


The paper describes within-neighborhood economic segregation in US metropolitan areas in 1985 and 1993. It uses the neighborhood clusters of the American housing survey, standard-ized by metropolitan area income and household size, to explore income distribution within neighborhoods at a scale much smaller than the census tract (a representative sample of households or (cid:2) kernels (cid:1) and their 10 closest neighbors). Joint and conditional distributions portray neighbors (cid:1) characteristics conditional on the kernel (cid:1) s housing tenure, race, and income. The paper documents both significant income mixing in the majority of US urban micro neighborhoods and the extent of income mixing within neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.


Developing robust systems for cancer care delivery is essential to reduce the high cancer mortality in small island developing states (SIDS). Indigenous data are scarce, but community-based cancer research can inform care in SIDS where formal research capacity is lacking, and we describe the experiences of cancer survivors in Saint Lucia in accessing health services. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to constitute a sample of survivors for interviews. Subjects were interviewed with a questionnaire regarding socio-demographics, clinical characteristics, health services accessed (physicians, tests, treatment), and personal appraisal of experience. We recruited 50 survivors (13 men, 37 women). Only 52% of first presentations were with general practitioners. The mean turnaround for biopsy results in Saint Lucia was three times longer than overseas (p = 0.0013). Approximately half of survivors commenced treatment more than one month following diagnosis (median of 32 days, IQR 19–86 days), and 56% of survivors traveled out-of-country for treatment. Most survivors (60%) paid for care with family/friends support, followed by savings and medical insurance (38% each). In conclusion, cancer survivors in Saint Lucia are faced with complex circumstances, including access-to-care and health consequences. This study can guide future research, and possibly guide practice improvements in the near term.


The only effective method of preventing rubella virus infection is by vaccinating women who lack the antibodies IgG-RUB, which have been proven to prevent rubella. In these study we analyze the natural seroconversion against rubella virus among women in the procreative ages of 23-30 with ELFA assay (enzymimmunofluorescence assay), using a mini-VIDAS instrument. 7.8% of 148 women tested lacked IgG-RUB. Such seronegative women should be vaccinated before pregnancy.


ABSTRACT The isothermal, non-sliding shallow-ice approximation, combined with mass conservation, is a fundamental model for ice-sheet and glacier flow. It determines the ice extent, geometry and velocity by the solution of a free-boundary problem. In this paper, the steady-state form of this problem is solved directly, without time-stepping, thereby demonstrating a fully implicit scheme with no stability restrictions. The classical Mahaffy (1976) finite difference method is first reinterpreted as a 'finite volume element' scheme that has both an everywhere-defined approximate thickness function and an approximation of the conservation equation in flux integral form. From this reinterpretation an improved scheme is built by using better quadrature in the integral and upwinding on that part of the flux which is proportional to the bed gradient. The discrete equations are then solved by a parallel Newton scheme which respects the constraint that ice thickness is non-negative. The results show good accuracy on both flat-bed and bedrock-step exact solutions. The method is then applied at high resolution to model the steady-state geometry of the Greenland ice sheet, using only bedrock elevation and present-day surface mass balance as input data.


Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate if low muscle mass increases risk of T2D in women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (pGDM). Methods: A total of 378 women with pGDM (mean age: 35.6 ± 3.9 years) was prospectively evaluated for incidence of T2D. GDM was diagnosed with 75g or 100g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) during 24-28 week gestational age. Reclassification of glycemic status was performed with 75g OGTT at 2 months after delivery and lean body mass (LBM) was assessed with bioelectrical impedance analysis (Inbody720, Seoul, Korea). LBM was divided by BMI and this index was divided into 3 tertiles: lowest ≤0.88 (N=107), middle 0.89-0.97 (N=111), highest ≥0.98 group (N=99). The primary outcome was incidence of T2D up to 1 year follow up. Results: The lowest muscle group developed T2D (p=0.007) more than higher muscle groups. The trend for risk developing prediabetes and T2D was significantly increased according to LBM/BMI tertiles (p for trend=0.002). After adjusting family history of T2D, extent of gestational hyperglycemia and waist circumference, lowest group demonstrated HR for developing T2D 6.6 [CI 1.36 to 32.25], p=0.01, compared to the highest group. Conclusion: Lower muscle mass is an independent risk factor for T2D in pGDM. Therefore, it is important to examine muscle mass during risk assessment for T2D in Korean non-obese women with pGDM. Disclosure Y. Shin: None. T. Oh: None. S. Choi: None. H. Jang: Speaker's Bureau; Self; Daiichi Sankyo, Handok, Pfizer Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.


Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a heterogeneous disease with a variety of distinct clinical and molecular characteristics. The currently available and common research models for EOC include tumor cell lines and patient-derived xenografts. However, these models have certain shortcomings: establishing a cell line is time-consuming, loss of genetic traits after long-term culture is a possibility, and investment is required in terms of animal care facilities. Therefore, better research models are required. Organoid technology was originally developed from colorectal cancer. Tumor organoid is a three-dimensional culture system and can help accurately recapture the tumor phenotype from the original tumor. Tumor organoid systems can overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of the currently available research models. The organoid model can be used for culturing ovarian cancer subtypes, screening drugs, assessing genomes, and establishing biobanks. However, the currently available organoid models can only culture one type of cells, epithelial cells. Therefore, an organoid-on-a-chip device can be developed in the future to provide a microenvironment for cell–cell, cell–matrix, and cell–media interactions. Thus, organoid models can be used in ovarian cancer research and can generate a simulated in vivo system, enabling studies on the heterogeneity of ovarian cancer.


--- In the last decades, Quran and science has attracted a huge body of research and neuro-theology is a modern interdisciplinary field aimed to study brain in religious and spiritual experiences. As a multidisciplinary field neuro-theology combines distinct approaches and theoretical frameworks from Quran, religious studies, philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive science. The human brain is the great sign among the signs of God that indicates His magnificence. The scientific studies are resplendent with Quranic signs about the realities of human brain. The purpose of this study is to provides a vital link to understand the human brain through Quranic verses and scientific findings. This paper will try to come up with some of the best Quranic testimonials both in Arabic and English translation as a testimony to the fact to prove the correlation between both. The study could be divided into certain sub headings with a conclusion at the end.


Although particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a powerful evolutionary algorithm for solving nonlinear optimization problems in deterministic environments, many practical problems have some stochastic noise. The optimal computing budget allocation (OCBA) has been integrated into PSO in various ways to cope with this. The OCBA can mitigate the effect of noise on PSO by selecting the best solution under a limited evaluation budget. Recently, with the increasing complexity of PSO applications, the evaluation costs are also increasing rapidly, which has sparked the need for more efficient PSO in stochastic environments. This article proposes a simple yet effective adjustment to the integration of OCBA to further improve the efficiency of PSO. The proposed adjustment allows OCBA to expand its search space to find the global best position more correctly such that the entire swarm can move on a better direction under stochastic noise. The experimental results on various benchmarks demonstrate the improved performance of PSO by the proposed adjustment under a limited budget compared with the latest studies. In addition, the results regarding fighters' evasion flight optimization emphasize the practical need for the proposed adjustment.


The first catalytic asymmetric method to prepare enantioenriched N,S-acetals using chiral BINOL phosphoric acids is reported. The reaction combines N-acyl imines with thiols to generate products in excellent yield and enantioselectivity. The addition reaction could also be achieved with an exceptional substrate to catalyst (S/C) molar ratio. Electron-rich and electron-deficient aromatic N-acyl imines, as well as a broad range of aliphatic and aromatic thiols, showed excellent reactivity.


OBJECTIVES: to determine the incidence, trend and causes for surgical removal of the eyeball at the Guinness Eye Center Onitsha, Nigeria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Case files and theatre records of all patients who had eviscreration, enucleation or exenteration at the Guinness Eye Center Onitsha between 1995 and 2001 were reviewed. Information on age, sex, disease duration before hospital presentation, indication for surgery and the type of surgery were analysed. RESULTS: 56 eyes of 56 patients were surgically removed. Patients including some with penetrating eye injuries presented late for treatment; 37.5% and 53.5% had used traditional eye medicines (TEM) and eye drops possibly containing steroids, respectively, prior to hospital consultation. The indications for surgery were severe ocular infections, especially panophthalmitis; severe penetrating eye injuries and orbito-ocular tumours. The annual incidence ranged from 1.9 - 4.2% with an average of 3.4% . The downward trend observed in the later part of the study was associated with reduced incidence of ocular gunshot injuries, which in turn coincided with a reduction in violent crime in Onitsha and its environs. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the observed downward trend in the rate of destructive eye surgery, the incidence of such procedures could be reduced further by timely intervention with modern microsurgical techniques; intraocular antibiotics and radiotherapy. The public should be educated on the harmful effects of TEM and abuse of eye drops. Those with eye problems should seek early hospital treatment.


RATIONALE
Edible bird's nest (EBN) is a renowned food item in the Chinese community due to the therapeutic effects claimed to be brought about by its consumption. However, very little scientific information has been revealed to support these claims. Thus, metabolite profiling was performed to identify the metabolites and to relate them to the medicinal properties of EBN. The study also aims to further extend the results to determine any possible differences when the EBNs are classified according to their coloration, countries or production sites.

METHODS
Extraction of the metabolites was performed via sonication of EBN with methanol and chloroform. Two analytical platforms, namely gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), were utilized to detect the metabolites. This multi-analytical platform would provide a comprehensive coverage of the metabolites in EBN. GC/MS analysis was conducted in scan mode from m/z 50-650. On the other hand, LC/MS analysis was operated in both positive and negative ion mode from m/z 150-1000.

RESULTS
Metabolites were identified and their relationships with the medicinal properties of EBN were deduced. Classification with chemometrics illustrates that EBNs could be differentiated according to their coloration, countries and production sites. This differentiation was due to the environment where the EBNs are produced. Furthermore, GC/MS was demonstrated to be more suitable for classification as the processing methods of the EBNs did not cause a significant variation in the metabolites detected by GC/MS.

CONCLUSIONS
The overall findings suggest that the novel approach of metabolite profiling offers new insights to understanding EBN and provided evidence to support the medicinal properties of EBN. In addition, the success of classification of EBNs with metabolite profiling combining with chemometrics represents a paradigm shift in the quality control of this food item.


Soil acidity is one of the major soil constraints for the grain-growing industry in Australia and around the globe. While surface liming is widely adopted, it has been proven ineffective for the timely amelioration of subsoil acidity. There is a growing interest in finding alternative approaches for the effective amelioration of subsoil acidity, especially for low-rainfall regions. In a controlled environment and a field experiment, we examined whether the combined application of lime and gypsum would be more effective than lime alone under no-till (NT) and shallow strategic tillage (ST) systems for reducing the impact of soil acidity and increasing grain yield.

The controlled environment experiment highlighted that lime increased soil pH and decreased the soil exchangeable aluminium concentration (EAC) which resulted in significantly better root growth. In the field experiment, we found that the lime plus gypsum treatment, in most cases, did not significantly affect grain yield, water use efficiency (WUE) or grain quality compared to the lime treatment alone. Lime incorporation with a shallow ST was more effective in increasing soil pH and decreasing EAC at 10–20 cm depth, compared to the surface application of lime without tillage. However, ST did not affect the grain yield and WUE of wheat in 2017 and 2018 and significantly decreased the grain yield and WUE of canola in 2019 and barley in 2020. We found that measurements of either soil pH or EAC were equivalent in their ability to explain and predict the root growth of major grain crops. The results indicate that soil pH is the simplest indicator for grain growers to measure the improvement of soil acidity with liming and its impact on root growth and crop productivity. We recommend the application of lime as the preferred amendment on acidic sands, while shallow ST should be avoided in the low rainfall region. Further studies involving deep ST are warranted.


Short bedrock cores of basalt were recovered at two localities on the Baffin Island shelf, 33 and 89 km southeast of Cape Dyer. The volcanic rocks underlying these sites have a surface extent of some 8000 km2 as outlined by seismic reflection and magnetic anomaly profiles. Similar rocks are inferred to occur at two smaller offshore areas south of the main area. The offshore occurrences are both more continuous and much larger than the onshore basalt areas of eastern Baffin Island.The core samples appear to have been cut from single flows consisting of fine-grained microporphyritic basalts with olivine as the principal phenocryst phase. Although having distinct differences from one another in terms of texture and degree of alteration, the samples from the three drill stations bear similarities to the Baffin Island basalts that suggest a close petrogenetic relationship may exist between the onshore and offshore basalts. However, in contrast to the subaqueously erupted volcanic breccias of onshore Baffin Isl...


Amphiphilic block copolymers and lipids have attracted major scientific interest in recent years due to their intriguing self-assembly behavior, which results in a plethora of nanoassemblies and their potential applications in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, as bio-inspired chimeric or hybrid advanced Drug Delivery nano Systems (aDDns). In this work, we report on stability studies of chimeric systems consisted of DPPC (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine) and poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL) block copolymer in Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) and Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). The incorporation of PEO-b-PCL leads to bio-inspired nanovectors of smaller size, in comparison to DPPC neat liposomes. All the prepared chimeric liposomal formulations were found to retain their original physicochemical characteristics for at least five days. These nanocarriers could be characterized as stealth liposomes due to their biological stability. The composition of the bio-inspired aDDnSs play a key role on their physicochemical and structural properties, as well as on their biological response, which could be a road map for designing aDDnSs based on the bio-inspiration.


In semi-arid tropics, sugarcane yield and quality are affected by deficiencies in soil nutrients, including potassium and calcium. We examined the effects of two different potassium fertilizers, a traditional muriate of potash (MOP) and polyhalite (which contains potassium and calcium), on sugarcane growth, yield, and quality. Experimental treatments compared a control 0 kg K ha−1 (T1) to potassium applied as MOP only at 80 kg K ha−1 (T2) and at 120 kg K ha−1 (T3), and potassium applied as an equal split of MOP and polyhalite at 80 kg K ha−1 (T4) and at 120 kg K ha−1 (T5). Relative to the control the potassium-enhanced treatments had improved rates of key growth parameters, and of cane yields, which were 4.4, 6.2, 8.2, and 9.9% higher in T2, T3, T4,, and T5, respectively, than in T1. Regardless of fertilizer used, potassium applied at 80 kg K ha−1 achieved the highest sugar purity and commercial cane sugar content. All potassium fertilizer treatments had reduced (although non-significant) incidences of three key sugarcane insect pests. The economic benefits of polyhalite were reduced due to its higher cost relative to MOP. Combining MOP and polyhalite equally to achieve an application rate of 80 kg K ha−1 is recommended to enhance sugarcane growth and yield.


Abstract Objective To investigate the impact on child health up to age 5 years of a policy to use antibiotic prophylaxis for caesarean section before incision compared with after cord clamping. Design Observational controlled interrupted time series study. Setting UK primary and secondary care. Participants 515 945 children born in 2006-18 with linked maternal records and registered with general practices contributing to two UK primary care databases (The Health Improvement Network and Clinical Practice Research Datalink), and 7 147 884 children with linked maternal records in the Hospital Episode Statistics database covering England, of which 3 945 351 were linked to hospitals that reported the year of policy change to administer prophylactic antibiotics for caesarean section before incision rather than after cord clamping. Intervention Fetal exposure to antibiotics shortly before birth (using pre-incision antibiotic policy as proxy) compared with no exposure. Main outcome measures The primary outcomes were incidence rate ratios of asthma and eczema in children born by caesarean section when pre-incision prophylactic antibiotics were recommended compared with those born when antibiotics were administered post-cord clamping, adjusted for temporal changes in the incidence rates in children born vaginally. Results Prophylactic antibiotics administered before incision for caesarean section compared with after cord clamping were not associated with a significantly higher risk of asthma (incidence rate ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.78 to 1.05) or eczema (0.98, 0.94 to 1.03), including asthma and eczema resulting in hospital admission (1.05, 0.99 to 1.11 and 0.96, 0.71 to 1.29, respectively), up to age 5 years. Conclusions This study found no evidence of an association between pre-incision prophylactic antibiotic use and risk of asthma and eczema in early childhood in children born by caesarean section.


T-cell-recruiting bispecific molecule therapy has yielded promising results in patients with hematologic malignancies, however, resistance and subsequent relapse remains a major challenge. T-cell exhaustion induced by persistent antigen stimulation or tonic receptor signaling has been reported to compromise outcomes of T-cell based immunotherapies. The impact of continuous exposure to bispecifics on T-cell function, however, remains poorly understood. In relapsed/refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, 28-day continuous infusion with the CD19xCD3 bispecific molecule blinatumomab led to declining T-cell function. In an in vitro model system, mimicking 28-day continuous infusion with the half-life-extended CD19xCD3 bispecific AMG 562, we identified hallmark features of exhaustion arising over time. Continuous AMG 562 exposure induced progressive loss of T-cell function (day 7 vs day 28 mean specific lysis: 88.4% vs 8.6%; n = 6; p = .0003). Treatment-free intervals (TFIs), achieved by AMG 562 withdrawal, were identified as powerful strategy for counteracting exhaustion. TFIs induced strong functional reinvigoration of T cells (continuous vs TFI specific lysis on day 14: 34.9% vs 93.4%; n = 6; p < .0001) and transcriptional reprogramming. Furthermore, use of a TFI led to improved T-cell expansion and tumor control in vivo. Our data demonstrate the relevance of T-cell exhaustion in bispecific antibody therapy and highlight that T cells can be functionally and transcriptionally rejuvenated with TFIs. In view of the growing number of bispecific molecules being evaluated in clinical trials, our findings emphasize the need to consider and evaluate TFIs in application schedules to improve clinical outcomes.


ABSTRACT Wang, Z.P., 2020. Evaluation and application of port industrial upgrading based on global value chain of complex network. In: Al-Tarawneh, O. and Megahed, A. (eds.), Recent Developments of Port, Marine, and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 110, pp. 231–234. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper transforms cluster escalation into complex networks where social networks, explicit and implicit knowledge networks interact with each other based on the level of knowledge and social relationship, then the relationship between variational inequality theory and optimum works out an equilibrium status of network and complex network, so as to explore how the network traffic and complex network equilibrium are subjected to change with the cluster scale. In the end, the cluster has realized its scalability.


The central hypotensive activity of clonidine and of 12 structurally related analogues was determined following intravenous administration to pentobarbital-anaesthetized, normotensive rats. This sympathoinhibitory action was characterized by means of a pC30, calculated from dose-response curves. The centrally mediated depressor activity (pC30) was correlated with the peripherally induced pressor activity of the compounds (pC100) reported on previously and which had been established after intravenous application to pithed rats. In these correlations, the quantitative ability of the substances to penetrate into the central nervous system had been taken into account. The octanol/buffer (pH = 7.4) partition coefficients were used as a measure of lipophilic behaviour. A positive correlation was found between the central hypotensive activity and the linear combination of peripheral alpha-sympathomimetic activity and lipophilicity.


"Vladimir Cermak, Director of the Geophysical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, has for many years played a most remarkable role in bringing Earth scientists from the Eastern and Western Bloc countries together for scientific interactions. However anachronistic the concept of East and West political divisions may seem today, there are many who remember the nearly insuperable obstacles that prevented scientific exchange between those groups for decades prior to 1989. Vladimir Cermak, through his organizing of small conferences and workshops in Czechoslovakia, accomplished the impossible. Through some extraordinarily deft diplomacy, Cermak obtained funding, secured visas, and mastered arcane currency regulations to enable small groups to meet in splendid castles and elegant country homes in rural Bohemia, facilities without urban distractions which had been placed under the custodianship of the Czech Academy of Science to serve as scientific retreats. Three meetings in the course of a decade stand out: at Liblice in 1982, and at Bechyne in 1987 and 1991, all dealing in general with heat flow and thermal aspects of lithospheric structure. These meetings were not just for prominent senior scientists, though of course many were in attendance. Of special significance were the opportunities for younger researchers to surmount the barriers that had been erected by forces well beyond the sphere of science. As one West German remarked as a graduate student in 1982, 'I remember well how impressed I was…to learn the details of the daily personal and scientific life of an east German colleague of my own age.' Cermak knew intuitively that the future belonged to the young, and he wanted to nurture their enthusiasm and stimulate their creativity.


Background This study used national data to determine if violent child death rates fell between 1974 and 2008. Design Using mortality data from the Office of National Statistics, categories potentially containing violent child deaths were analysed for children aged <1, 1–14 and 15–19 years. These data were compared with Home Office data on recorded homicides in children aged <1 and 1–15 years. Results Annual rates of infant deaths registered as due to assault fell between 1974 and 2008 from 5.6 to 0.7 per 100 000 infants; those in children (1–14 years) fell from 0.6 to 0.2 per 100 000. When these deaths are combined with those registered as undetermined intent, rates are higher but still show a decline in both groups. There is a slight fall in the rates of police recorded homicides in infants, but no observable change in childhood rates. In adolescents, the rates of death from assault fell during the 1970s and have since remained static in females but have risen in males. When these deaths are combined with those registered as undetermined intent, the rates for adolescent women have remained static at 2.0 per 100 000, while for young men they increased from 3.3 to 5.7 per 100 000 before declining to 4.2 per 100 000. Conclusion These data provide evidence that rates of violent death in infancy and middle childhood have fallen over the past 30 years. In contrast, rates in adolescence have remained static or risen over the same period.


Abstract Antarctic fishes survive freezing through the secretion of antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs), which bind to ice crystals to inhibit their growth. This mode of action implies that ice crystals must be present internally for AFGPs to function. The entry and internal accumulation of ice is likely to be lethal, however, so how do fishes survive in its presence? We propose a novel function for the interaction between internal ice and AFGPs, namely the promotion of ice uptake by splenic phagocytes. We show here that i) external mucus of Antarctic notothenioids contains AFGPs and thus has a potential protective role against ice entry, ii) AFGPs are distributed widely through the extracellular space ensuring that they are likely to come into immediate contact with ice that penetrates their protective barriers, and iii) using AFGP-coated nanoparticles as a proxy for AFGP adsorbed onto ice, we suggest that internal ice crystals are removed from the circulation through phagocytosis, primarily in the spleen. We argue that intracellular sequestration in the spleen minimizes the risks associated with circulating ice and enables the fish to store the ice until it can be dealt with at a later date, possibly by melting during a seasonal warming event.


The hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and azotemia, is the most frequent cause of acute renal failure in children. The pathologic findings of endothelial damage in small-to-medium size arteries, with localized fibrin deposition and thrombotic microangiopathy, are similar to the vasulopathy seen in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), and many clinical features are shared by both syndromes. HUS and UP may represent the same underlying pathophysiology but have differing end organ manifestations. In HUS, the kidney is the principal organ involved; patients who have TTP have more prominent central nervous system (CNS), heart, pancreas, and spleen involvement but also may have renal involvement. This has prompted many investigators to incorporate the terms HUS/TTP when referring to this group of microangiopathies. Recent studies have delineated distinct subgroups of HUS and have implicated certain toxin-producing serotypes of Escherichia coli as an etiologic agent in the more common subgroup of HUS. After discussing the epidemiology and classification of HUS, this article will review recent information regarding the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of the disorder. Epidemiology/Classification HUS occurs throughout the world, with certain countries (South Africa, Holland, and Argentina) reporting a higher incidence than others. The prevalence of HUS in Argentina is estimated to be 30 cases per 100 000 children; estimates of prevalence in the United States range from 0.3 to 10 cases per 100 000 children.


The use of modern technology has led to a scientific revolution in the field of establishing guilt. Consequently, this has given rise to a great debate about its legitimacy among criminal law scholars, especially as its use may result in the violation of individual rights and human dignity. This raises the question about the impact of using modern technology in the process of establishing guilt on human rights. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the procedures of establishing guilt using modern technology methods adopted by the Algerian legislator, and to what extent individual's rights and liberties are respected during those procedures. This study compares between rules of establishing guilt using modern technology in Algerian legislation and other legislation. This aims to offer some recommendations that help legislators keep pace with scientific and technical advancements. It also suggests ways to achieve a balance between using modern technology and respecting legal guarantees that prevent the infringement of individual rights and liberties. Results of the study show the significant negative impact of some modern evidences used to establish guilt. This is shown in the violation of the rights and liberties of individuals, in addition to inaccurate results obtained by using such evidences. This study recommends that the Algerian legislator clarify their position regarding modern means of establishing guilt, which must be unambiguously regulated and surrounded by adequate guarantees that protect the rights and liberties of individuals. Keywords: Establishing guilt, DNA, hypnosis, lie detection, electronic surveillance, human rights.


This paper reports result obtained by analysis of UV-Visible absorption spectra of Polymer Dispersed Cholesteric Liquid Crystal (PDCLCs) solution. The PDCLC solutions of different concentration were prepared using Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) and Cholesteryl Pelargonate (CP). We know that pure CP shows high degree of absorption and MMA transmit almost all the wavelengths at room temperature in the visible range. We investigated PDCLC solution obtained using varying concentration of CP in the polymer solution. We observed that the amount of absorption varies considerably with the concentration. We were able to make a combination wherein the absorption became negligible for the visible range which otherwise for other concentration was very high. The negligible absorption in the visible range of electromagnetic spectra is very useful property in optical devices and in many other applications.  2015 Trade Science Inc. INDIA


This paper focuses on the evaluation of performance limits for ultra-wideband communications in terms of constellation-constrained capacity. The major drawback of most of the existing capacity measures is that an exact and closed-form expression cannot be easily obtained. As a result, evaluation of these capacity measures must resort to numerical methods. In this paper, however, closed-form upper bounds for the constellation-constrained capacity of PPM modulation are proposed for both coherent and non-coherent receivers. The tightness of the proposed bounds is evaluated under the IEEE 802.15.3a/4 channel models where a good match is observed, in particular, for the low-SNR regime.


Universal shaft is widely used to transfer the torque and rotational movement from the drive shaft to the slave while position of one shaft can be changed. Crack used to appear in the fork part of the universal shaft in tests in a universal company. In order to solve this problem, in this paper, a finite element model of universal shaft was established with the application of Pro/E and ANSYS, and the static stiffness analysis, stress analysis and dynamic analysis were all applied in ANSYS. According to the results, the weak points were found and some improvements on the original structure were made.


A slot-baffle design used in water treatment tanks previously developed by the authors is used to suppress sloshing effects in an accelerated tank. This new application is another example of the versatility of the slot-baffle design in inducing turbulence in fluid flow systems, which has numerous uses in engineering applications. Large amplitude surface waves in a harmonically excited tank are simulated using a second-order accurate numerical model in OpenFOAM. The verification of the numerical model is performed by comparing the numerical results with existing laboratory measurements, which show a favorable agreement. Various slot configurations are studied in order to evaluate the damping performance during the external excitation of the tank. It is shown that the present design shows an effective dissipation performance in a broad range of oscillation frequencies, while 88% of the internal kinetic energy of the liquid is dissipated over thirty oscillation periods for the resonance case.


Our previous studies demonstrated that MEG3 was significantly downregulated in neuroblastoma (NB) and its expression was negatively associated with the INSS stage. Overexpression of MEG3 promoted apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in NB cells. In this study, we discovered more potential functions and molecular mechanisms of MEG3 in NB. According to the database, MEG3 positively correlated with the NB survival rate and was negatively associated with malignant clinical features. Moreover, we determined that MEG3 was mainly located in the nucleus by nuclear-cytoplasmic separation and RNA fish assays. Upregulation of MEG3 in stably transfected cell lines was accomplished, and CCK8, colony formation, and EDU assays were performed, which indicated that MEG3 significantly suppressed cell proliferation. Both wound healing and transwell experiments demonstrated that MEG3 decreased cell migration and invasion. CHIRP enrichments showed the anticancer effects of MEG3 were probably linked to autophagy and the mTOR signaling pathway. LC3 fluorescence dots and western blots showed that MEG3 attenuated autophagy by inhibiting FOXO1, but not the mTOR signaling pathway. Furthermore, MEG3 inhibited metastasis through epithelial-mesenchymal transition via the mTOR signaling pathway. Consistent with the above results, downregulation of MEG3 facilitated NB malignant phenotypes. Mechanistically, MEG3 and EZH2 regulated each other via a negative feedback loop and promoted NB progression together. In conclusion, our findings suggested that MEG3 was a tumor suppressor in NB and could be a potential target for NB treatment in the future.


This monograph discusses Piscator's early career, contexts, and concepts leading up to his four intermediated stage productions of 1927–28. It examines how these productions influenced his own later documentary theatre, the plays of his contemporary Bertolt Brecht, and generations of subsequent theatre avant-gardists in the United States and Germany.


Background The advantages of segmentectomy over lobectomy in sparing pulmonary function remain controversial. Lower lobe segmentectomy is divided into simple segmentectomy, such as segment 6; and complex segmentectomy that includes the basal segments. Here, we compared residual lung function after thoracoscopic segmentectomy versus lobectomy in the lower lobe using the three-dimensional computed tomography volumetric method. Methods Between January 2012 and October 2020, 67 patients who underwent thoracoscopic segmentectomy of the lower lobe were matched to 67 patients who underwent thoracoscopic lower lobectomy during the same period using propensity score matching analysis. The postoperative decrease in the rate of forced expiratory volume in 1 s was compared between methods. The regional forced expiratory volume in 1 s of the residual lobe rescued by segmentectomy was measured using volumetric and spirometric analyses and compared to lower lobectomy. The ratio of the actual to predicted postoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s in the residual lobe was defined as the preservation rate. Results Of the 67 thoracoscopic segmentectomies, 43 were S6, seven were S8, three were S8  +  9, seven were S10, and seven were S9  +  10. The percentage of postoperative/preoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s was significantly higher in the segmentectomy versus lobectomy group (90.7% vs. 85.7%, p  =  0.001). The preservation rates after simple segmentectomy (n  =  43) and complex segmentectomy (n  =  24) did not differ significantly (82.2% vs. 80.2%, p  =  0.709). Conclusions Thoracoscopic lower lobe segmentectomy versus lobectomy preserves postoperative lung function. Even complex segmentectomy exhibited outcomes relevant to simple segmentectomy by sparing the residual lobe.


Background: Migraine is a highly prevalent and disabling illness that remains substantially undiagnosed in primary care. Because of the potential value of a screening tool, the current study was designed to establish the validity and reliability of a brief, self-administered migraine screener in patients with headache complaints in the primary care setting. Methods: A total of 563 patients presenting for routine primary care appointments and reporting headaches in the past 3 months completed a self-administered migraine screener. All patients were then referred for an independent diagnostic evaluation by a headache expert, of whom 451 (80%) completed a full evaluation. Migraine diagnosis was assigned based on International Headache Society criteria after completing a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Results: Of nine diagnostic screening questions, a three-item subset of disability, nausea, and sensitivity to light provided optimum performance, with a sensitivity of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.85), a specificity of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.64 to 0.84), and positive predictive value of 0.93 (95% CI, 89.9 to 95.8). Test-retest reliability was good, with a kappa of 0.68 (95% CI, 0.54 to 0.82). The sensitivity and specificity of the three-item migraine screener was similar regardless of sex, age, presence of other comorbid headaches, or previous diagnostic status. Conclusions: The three-item ID Migraine™ migraine screener was found to be a valid and reliable screening instrument for migraine headaches. Its ease of use and operating characteristics suggest that it could significantly improve migraine recognition in primary care.


Previous methods for dynamic facial expression recognition (DFER) in the wild are mainly based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), whose local operations ignore the long-range dependencies in videos. Transformer-based methods for DFER can achieve better performances but result in higher FLOPs and computational costs. To solve these problems, the local-global spatio-temporal Transformer (LOGO-Former) is proposed to capture discriminative features within each frame and model contextual relationships among frames while balancing the complexity. Based on the priors that facial muscles move locally and facial expressions gradually change, we first restrict both the space attention and the time attention to a local window to capture local interactions among feature tokens. Furthermore, we perform the global attention by querying a token with features from each local window iteratively to obtain long-range information of the whole video sequence. In addition, we propose the compact loss regularization term to further encourage the learned features have the minimum intra-class distance and the maximum inter-class distance. Experiments on two in-the-wild dynamic facial expression datasets (i.e., DFEW and FERV39K) indicate that our method provides an effective way to make use of the spatial and temporal dependencies for DFER.


Variation in age at maturity among 2764 female moose (Alces alces) in 14 populations in Sweden was investigated and related to patterns of body growth and characteristics of the environment. Data were collected from animals shot during the hunting season in 1989- 1992, and all females were aged and examined for previous pregnancy by inspecting the uterus. Individual variation was large; 10 (1.3%) out of 776 yearlings were classified as previously pregnant, and must have become fertile during their first year of life. Among 2-year-old females 31.2% were mature, while the majority (80.5%) of females became mature at 3 years of age. Age at maturity, calculated as the age at which 50% of the females were mature, was also highly variable among populations and ranged between 2.06 and 3.17 years. Population-specific age at maturity was significantly related to mean yearling carcass mass among populations but not to juvenile, 2-year-old, or adult carcass mass. Approximately 50% of the variation in age at maturity among populations could be explained by the mean rate of body growth between juvenile and yearling stages. High initial rates of body growth and early maturity in a population were strongly associated with low rates of body growth after the yearling stage. No clear relationship was found between age at maturity and population density, amount of browse, latitude, or climatic conditions among populations. This suggests that multiple factors are involved in shaping the geographical pattern of age at maturity and that additional factors such as nutritional quality and age-specific survival must be considered when explaining the mechanisms behind the apparent variation in age at maturity among populations of female moose.


The main object of pharmacology is to supply a basis for rational therapeutics. The entire medical profession has always been in accord as to the desirability of this end, but the methods of pharmacology did not at first secure universal recognition. This prejudice against laboratory experiments has now practically disappeared, partly through the advance of medical education and partly through mutual concessions. The modern physician realizes that rational therapeutics can not be based solely on bedside "experience," with its hastily and imperfectly observed and digested data. The phenomena in question are altogether too complex to be understood by such primitive methods. They need to be studied by the most delicate and profound methods over which modern science disposes. This study constitutes a large part of the research problems of pharmacology. PRACTICAL PROBLEMS. These problems, which pharmacology must investigate in regard to every used drug, before rational therapeutics


With petascale systems already available, researchers are devoting their attention to the issues needed to reach the next major level in performance, namely, exascale. Explicit message passing using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is the most commonly used model for programming petascale systems today. In this paper, we investigate what is needed to enable MPI to scale to exascale, both in the MPI specification and in MPI implementations, focusing on issues such as memory consumption and performance. We also present results of experiments related to MPI memory consumption at scale on the IBM Blue Gene/P at Argonne National Laboratory.


A study was made of the influence of an elevated temperature on the lasing efficiency of ytterbium—erbium phosphate glasses, including the influence of additional sensitisation with neodymium or chromium ions. Temperatures below 200°C had practically no influence on chromium-free glasses. In the case of glasses containing chromium the deterioration of the parameters with increase in temperature was the result of a fall of the quantum efficiency of energy transfer in the chromium—ytterbium pair and also of an increase in nonradiative losses associated with the presence of the divalent chromium impurity.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT —Disabled people and Virus affected patients can be helped through Internet of Things and Robotic systems in this modern era. Recently the whole world is suffering from the Covid- 19 pandemic. The virus affected and disabled people are helpless because caregivers, doctors and other people are afraid of the contagious virus. This work will result in an IoT based Robotic agent which will be able to help disabled and virus affected people with low cost systems. The robotic agent will be able to recognize the patient's Gesture and follow instructions through it with 360- degree movement. Without image processing the system is made with MPU 6050 Accelerometer Gyroscope sensor for Gesture Recognition. communication was used to make the system wireless.


Approximately 110,000 km (68,400 mi) of granular roadways exist in the 183,500-km (114,000-mi) road network in the state of Iowa, and operation and maintenance of these roadways costs roughly US$270 million annually. The major maintenance costs of these roads are aggregate cost and hauling costs from the quarry to the site. Accordingly, acquiring a costeffective and high-performance surface material to be utilized in granular roadways can be a challenge. In this study, three conventional granular roadway materials and four coarser aggregate materials from different quarries were used to construct seven test sections to assess their relative performance and costs. The first three test sections were constructed with conventional materials, and the other four sections used optimum mixtures of the four coarse aggregate materials with the local conventional aggregate. The long-term performance and mechanistic behaviors of the different surface materials, including stiffness, changes in ride roughness, and dust production were evaluated for a period of 2 years. Using the resulting data, a mechanistic life-cycle benefit–cost analysis approach was developed to evaluate the use of coarse aggregate materials on granular roadways. The stochastic benefit–cost analysis results for different aggregate materials are presented in the form of probability density functions. Two different scenarios are presented based on the field test results, and the benefits in terms of dust production and surface ride quality are evaluated for


BACKGROUND
ROTEM(®)/TEG(®) (rotational thromboelastometry) assays appear to be useful for the treatment of bleeding trauma patients. However, data on the prevalence and impact of abnormal ROTEM(®) assays are scarce.

METHODS
This is a prospective cohort study of blunt trauma patients (Injury Severity Score ≥15 or Glasgow Coma Score ≤14) admitted to Innsbruck Medical University Hospital between July 2005 and July 2008. Standard coagulation tests, antithrombin (AT), prothrombin fragments (F1+2), thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), and ROTEM(®) assays were measured after admission. Data on 334 patients remained for final analysis.

RESULTS
ROTEM(®) parameters correlated with standard coagulation tests (all Spearman r>0.5), and significant differences in mortality were detected for defined ROTEM(®) thresholds [FIBTEM 7 mm (21% vs 9%, P=0.006), EXTEM MCF (maximum clot firmness) 45 mm (25.4% vs 9.4%, P=0.001)]. EXTEM MCF was independently associated with early mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9-0.99] and MCF FIBTEM with need for red blood cell transfusion (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.87-0.98). In polytrauma patients with or without head injury (n=274), the prevalence of low fibrinogen concentrations, impaired fibrin polymerization, and reduced clot firmness was 26%, 30%, and 22%, respectively, and thus higher than the prolonged international normalized ratio (14%). Hyperfibrinolysis increased fatality rates and occurred as frequently in isolated brain injury (n=60) as in polytrauma (n=274) (5%, 95% CI 1.04-13.92 vs 7.3%, 95% CI 4.52-11.05). All patients showed elevated F1+2 and TAT and low AT levels, indicating increased thrombin formation.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data enlarge the body of evidence showing that ROTEM(®) assays are useful in trauma patients. Treatment concepts should focus on maintaining fibrin polymerization and treating hyperfibrinolysis.


Pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics, have received increasing global concern, due to their intensive use in the environment and potential harm to ecological system as well as human health. Among various antibiotics, fluoroquinolones are of extreme interest, since they are broad-spectrum antibacterials with agrowing demand in hospitals, households, and veteri-nary applications. Wastewater discharge from conventional wastewater treatment plants isthe main source of fluoroquinolone in the aquatic environment. Removal of fluoroquinolone residue from aquatic environment is, therefore, considered as a pri-ority and serves as an important study. For the degradation of FQs in aqueous solution, interesting remedy processes are required such as oxidation-degradation process in which formed intermediates mineralized into CO 2 , water, and mineral species. The electron transfer reactions and their mechanisms are of much importance in understanding various types of bio-chemical, pharmaceutical and industrial reactions. Kinetics has played a significant role in understanding the intricacies' of such reactions. Nanosized colloidal manganese dioxide, hexacyanoferrate( III ), diperiodatocuprate( III ), potassium permanganate etc. used as effective oxidants for oxidative degradation of different fluoroquinolone antibacterial agents in aqueous acidic/ alkaline system. In this regard, we investigated a kinetic study of oxidation of moxifloxacin (MF) by diperiodatocuprate( III ) (DPC) in aqueous alkaline medium. The reaction was first order with respect to [DPC] and less than unity order with [MF]. The pseudo-first order rate constant ( k obs ) changes differently under different concentration of alkali. The results indicates at higher hydroxyl ion concentration DPC complex exist in CuL whereas at lower hydroxyl ion concentration in form of Cu(HL) 2 . The thermodynamic parameters associated with the oxidation reaction have been evaluated and discussed.


: Traditionally, dentures are removed prior to anaesthesia. Modern techniques in dentistry and the widespread use of regional anaesthesia should lead to a more individual approach to this problem. From a legal standpoint, the information about advantages and disadvantages concerning the removal of dentures can be explained without problems to the patient without medical background.


Lithium tantalate thin films (LiTaO3) with (50:50) stoichiometry were prepared by spin coating method using a polymeric organic solution. The films were deposited on silicon (100) substrates with 4 layers. The substrates were previously cleaned and then the solution of lithium tantalate was deposited by adjusting the speed at 5000 rpm. The thin films deposited were thermally treated from 350 to 600◦C for 3 hours in order to study the influence of the thermal treatment temperature on the crystallinity, microstructure, grain size and roughness of the final film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the films are polycrystalline and secondary phases free. The thickness of films was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies showed that the grain size and roughness are strongly influenced by thermal treatment.


Electron spin polarization is identified as a promising avenue for enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is the bottleneck that limits the energy efficiency of water-splitting. Here, we report that both ferrimagnetic (f-Fe3O4) and superparamagnetic iron oxide (s-Fe3O4) catalysts can exhibit external magnetic field (Hext)-induced OER enhancement, and the activity is proportional to their intrinsic magnetic moment. Additionally, the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect was utilized in synergy with Hext to get a maximum enhancement of up to 89% improvement in current density (at 1.8 V vs RHE) with a low onset potential of 270 mV in s-Fe3O4 catalysts. Spin polarization and the resultant spin selectivity suppress the production of H2O2 and promote the formation of ground state triplet O2 during the OER. Furthermore, the design of chiral s-Fe3O4 with synergistic spin potential effect demonstrates a high spin polarization of ∼42%, as measured using conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM).


We present a numerical approximation technique for the analysis of continuous-time Markov chains that describe networks of biochemical reactions and play an important role in the stochastic modeling of biological systems. Our approach is based on the construction of a stochastic hybrid model in which certain discrete random variables of the original Markov chain are approximated by continuous deterministic variables. We compute the solution of the stochastic hybrid model using a numerical algorithm that discretizes time and in each step performs a mutual update of the transient probability distribution of the discrete stochastic variables and the values of the continuous deterministic variables. We implemented the algorithm and we demonstrate its usefulness and efficiency on several case studies from systems biology.


A general aim was to combine molecular typing methods with clinical background information to increase epidemiological knowledge about Chlamydia trachomatis infections. An outbreak of Lymfogranuloma venereum (LGV), caused by a more invasive variant of C. trachomatis, was reported from the Netherlands in 2003 among men who have sex with men (MSM). All Chlamydia positive specimens from a venereal disease clinic for MSM in Stockholm during one year were genotyped. No spread of LGV was found, apart from three symptomatic cases. The same ompA genotypes were found among MSM in Melbourne, but the genotype distribution was different compared to findings among the heterosexual population in Sweden. The standard method for genotyping of Chlamydia is ompA-sequencing, but it has low resolution because one genotype predominates. A multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system based on five targets was developed. In a sample of 47 specimens, 32 variants were found with MLST, but only 12 variants with ompA-sequencing. The polymorphisms in the hctB gene, one MLST target, are caused by an element of 108 bp that is present in two to four repetitions and in different variants. Although the DNA-binding function of Hc2 that is encoded by hctB has been studied, our findings of a considerable size variation show that new studies are needed. In 2006, specimens with a 377 bp deletion in the cryptic plasmid covering the target region for diagnostic test systems from Abbott and Roche were discovered in Sweden. Applying MLST to these specimens indicated that there was a single clone, denoted nvCT. The proportion of nvCT in all detected Chlamydia cases was higher (20% to 65%) in counties using Abbott/Roche compared to counties using the BectonDickinson test system (7% to 20%). The proportions of nvCT converge in counties with high or low levels when detection systems were adjusted to detect nvCT.


Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that plays a major role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Recent reports indicate that, in the presence of crowding agents, tau can undergo liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS), forming highly dynamic liquid droplets. Here, using recombinantly expressed proteins, turbidimetry, fluorescence microscopy imaging, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) assays, we show that the divalent transition metal zinc strongly promotes this process, shifting the equilibrium phase boundary to lower protein or crowding agent concentrations. We observed no tau LLPS-promoting effect for any other divalent transition metal ions tested, including Mn2+, Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, and Cu2+. We also demonstrate that multiple zinc-binding sites on tau are involved in the LLPS-promoting effect and provide insights into the mechanism of this process. Zinc concentration is highly elevated in AD brains, and this metal ion is believed to be an important player in the pathogenesis of this disease. Thus, the present findings bring a new dimension to understanding the relationship between zinc homeostasis and the pathogenic process in AD and related neurodegenerative disorders.


It is increasingly clear that children's excessive consumption of products high in added (or extrinsic) sugar causes obesity and obesity-related health problems like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome. Less clear is how best to address this problem through public health policy. In contrast to policies that might conflict with adult's right to self-determination — for example sugar taxes and soda bans — this article proposes that children's access to products high in added sugars should be restricted in the same way that children's access to tobacco products is restricted. The article first considers how the recommended policy will protect a child's right to an open future while not violating parental rights. The article then explores how the implementation of the recommended policy can help transform the social meaning of sugar and thereby curb the parental supply of added sugar to children — a central cause of obesity. The article also addresses several potential objections.