The efficacy and safety of the new cardioselective beta-blocker bisoprolol 5 mg and 10 mg once daily in the treatment of angina pectoris was compared with atenolol 100 mg once daily. 19 patients with coronary artery disease and angina of effort completed a randomised, three-way crossover study which consisted of six-week treatment periods preceeded by a two-week placebo washout. Treadmill exercise stress tests were carried out approximately 24 hours after each dose, at the end of the placebo period and after 2 and 6 weeks of each active treatment period. Patients recorded their angina attack rate and GTN consumption on diary cards. Number of anginal attacks, GTN consumption, resting and exercise systolic blood pressure, heart rate and double product were reduced, and both exercise duration and time to 1 mm ST-segment depression during exercise were increased to a similar extent by all three treatment regimens (P less than 0.01, paired t test). The only differences between the treatments were that the reductions in heart rate, double product and exercise blood pressure tended to be smaller after 6 weeks of bisoprolol 5 mg. Generally, there was no significant difference between the improvements measured at week 2 of each phase and at week 6 (P greater than 0.05, analysis of variance). All three dosage regimens were well tolerated. The data indicate that there is no difference between the safety and efficacy of bisoprolol 10 mg and atenolol 100 mg once daily in the treatment of angina pectoris. In addition, the 10 mg dose of bisoprolol would seem to have only a small advantage over the lower 5 mg once daily dose.


A drunken person labored long looking for a lost house key under the light of a street lamp. A responding police officer asked the drunk where under the light the key was lost. The drunk replied that he had not lost the key there but it was too dark to search where the key had gone missing..... The current state in molecular genetics and molecular biology in general, involuntarily evoke associations with this anecdote.


We present an efficient approach to the electron correlation problem that is well suited for strongly interacting many-body systems, but requires only mean-field-like computational cost. The performance of our approach is illustrated for one-dimensional Hubbard rings with different numbers of sites, and for the nonrelativistic quantum-chemical Hamiltonian exploring the symmetric dissociation of the H${}_{50}$ hydrogen chain.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the 'Netflix imaginary' and how it shapes our understanding of queer taste and legibility in contemporary visual culture. While Netflix has promoted itself as a bastion of LGBTQ inclusivity and other forms of 'diversity', this article considers the platform not on the basis of celebrated LGBTQ 'Netflix Originals' such as Sex Education or Queer Eye but rather on how our navigations of the platform's content throw our queer attachments and recommendations into pleasurable chaos. If the 'Netflix imaginary' is built around personalisation – that is, the promise of knowledge and insight – it more often generates bewilderment and surprise. But the article argues that this uncanny algorithmic meddling also has the potential to generate its own source of fun, entertainment and queer pleasure. By analysing what consumers are led to understand of the site's dependence on and commitment to collaborative filtering, algorithmic signposting and customer agency and choice, I consider how we might employ a queer method for engaging subversively with Netflix's representational inconsistencies and inadequacies – how we might see Netflix itself as a queer method for reconfiguring queer taste.


Lauryl sulphate broth, introduced by Cowles (1938) and modified by Mallman and Darby (1941), has been widely used in recent years for the presumptive test for coliform bacteria in water. Lauryl sulphate is, to a certain extent, an inhibitory agent and tends to suppress anaerobic lactose fermenting bacteria. Inhibitory agents in culture media are always subject to suspicion. A substance which can be used in a concentration which will both inhibit all the undesired organisms and allow all the desired ones to grow uninhibited, is certainly to be desired but is rarely encountered. There is good evidence that many persons are not entirely convinced that lauryl sulphate in lactose broth lives up to this ideal. Many comparative studies of this medium with lactose broth and other presumptive media have been published and these have been reviewed by McCrady (1943). However, the fundamental question as to the effectiveness in detecting all the fecal coliform bacteria has not been clearly answered. One wants to be assured that all fecal coliform bacteria will produce gas if they are inoculated into lauryl sulphate broth, or at least that as many will produce gas in this medium as in the standard lactose broth. In the same way, one would like a clear cut and convincing answer to the question as to whether or not the Eijkman test as presently modified (Am. Public Health Assoc., 1946) actually does allow the development of any and all the fecal coliform bacteria that are inoculated into the broth. By fecal coliform bacteria we mean simply coliform bacteria from feces, not coliform bacteria that may have or have not, this or that biochemical property. It has been shown that the original Eijkman method allows only a small proportion of the fecal coliform bacteria to grow and produce gas (Skinner and Brown, 1934). At various times the test has been modified by changing the formula of the medium, and by altering the incubation temperature. Various studies, some of them including comparison with other media, have been made (Wilson et al. 1935; Hajna & Perry, 1935; Wilson, 1935; Perry & Hajna,


Brachiopoda occur at several horizons in the obtusus and raricostatus zones, but they are frequently distorted or crushed, and therefore unidentifiable. Crushed Rhynchonellids belonging to two distinct species occur in bed (77 a). One form (B 45789) can be referred to Squmirhynchia (?) belemnitica Quenstedt, and has the typical coarse angular plication and squamose surface. The other form (B 45782-88) is semiplicate. The Upper Cement-Bed (82) yields well-preserved specimens of Spiriferina walcotti (James Sowerby) (B 45797, B 45780) and vars. (B 45798), also a Spiriferina resembling S. pinguis (Zieten), but with fewer plications on the lateral slopes (B 45799). Rhynchonellas occur abundantly in the Limestone with Brachiopoda (87). These include elongated, anteriorly plicated Forms with Hypothyrid beak and indistinguishable from Quenstedt's species Piarorhynchia gryphitica juvenis from the Sinemurian (B 45811). A massive globose form with a Mesothyrid beak, usually much incurved, belongs to the genus Tropiornynchia Buckman (B 45807-809). A third form resembles 'Rhyncnonella' lineata Young & Bird from the Domerian (B 45806, B 45810, B 45812,B 45818-19). In the raricostatus zone a well-preserved specimen of 'Rhynchonella' triplicata fronto Quenstedt (B 46308) was obtained from the Watch Ammonite Stone (99), and crushed Rhynchonellids (B 45820) from the clays above the large nodule-bed (102). A single imperfect Terebratulid (B 46309) referable to the genus Lobothyris Buckman, and resembling L. radstockiensis (Davidson) from the Charmouthian was obtained from Hummocky (103 a).


Height and diameter growth, biomass accumulation and leaf pigment concentrations were measured in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings grown in soil containing 12 or 35 microg Mg g(-1) and exposed from May to October to subambient, ambient, or twice-ambient ozone (O(3)), and to simulated acidic rain with a pH of either 4.0 or 5.3. At the end of one growing season, height and diameter growth of seedlings exposed to twice-ambient O(3) were not statistically different from those of seedlings exposed to subambient O(3). Biomass of all plant parts was reduced by 7 to 16% in response to increasing O(3) concentration. No statistically significant growth responses to rain chemistry or soil magnesium status were observed, and there were no statistically significant interactive treatment effects. Needle pigment concentrations were not significantly affected by rain chemistry or soil Mg status and there were no visible signs of injury to needles that could be attributed to O(3) stress or Mg deficiency. Concentrations of chlorophyll a and b, and carotenes were 23, 30 and 21% higher (P </= 0.05) respectively, in seedlings exposed to twice-ambient O(3) than in seedlings from the other ozone treatments. There were no interactive treatment effects on needle pigment concentrations.


Abstract. Indoor positioning has gained increasing attention in previous decades. There are many wireless communication technologies replacing Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) because of the sheltered GNSS signal in indoor environment. Most of them need to set up external transceiver with high spatial density to get user's position, such as Wi-Fi, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth and so on. In order to reach high positioning accuracy, the cost of external transceiver becomes higher.This research focuses on low-cost pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) without additional external equipment. Moreover, a magnetic fingerprint-based positioning is adopted to provide redundant observations of position and heading, using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to update the estimation. The proposed method reduces cumulative errors of PDR, achieving an improved algorithm. Since the geomagnetic field exists over the Earth, this technology doesn't use external equipment either. The integration of PDR and magnetic fingerprint-based positioning, which only uses built-in sensors of a smartphone, should be a low-cost and wide coverage scheme.


from the hot body to the surrounding enclosure," Now I was wrong in objecting to this particular passage, for just here Richardson is speaking of an insulated piece of metal which is imagined to give off electrons that do work as a gas on a moving piston; and for such a 'virtual' operation his statement is doubtless true. But in his experiments he is really taking off a stream of electrons in the gas state from the metal, and an equal stream is constantly entering the metal by conduction, yet he assumes that the same 4Iwhich occurs in the equation above quoted, for his case of virtual emission from an insulated body, holds as the heat of emission for his actual case. It was this actual case, of electric flow, that I had in mind when I offered my criticism that his equation for dS fails when not only heat but substance also, that of the incoming electrons, is added to the system during the operation under consideration. I believe that this objection holds. Bridgman, missing my point through my lack of precision in stating it, studied Richardson's argument again and presently made for himself the same discovery that I had made, so that he and I are now in agreement regarding the inaccuracy of Richardson's reasoning. He finds, moreover, that, when this inaccuracy is corrected, Richardson's line of argument leads to precisely the same result as Kelvin's. Accordingly Bridgman now writes P' instead of P in the equation in question, meaning by P' the total reversible heat effect that accompanies a virtual movement of charge from one plate to another of a condenser made of different metals, though he may not subscribe entirely to my theory as to the action of ionization and re-association within the metals. I hope that Professor Bridgman's paper, dealing with thermo-electricity in a broad way, will be published before long.


The integrated use of non-terrestrial network (NTN) entities such as the high-altitude platform station (HAPS) and low-altitude platform station (LAPS) has become essential elements in the space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs). However, the complexity, mobility, and heterogeneity of NTN entities and resources present various challenges from system design to deployment. This paper proposes a novel approach to designing a heterogeneous network consisting of HAPSs and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being LAPS entities. Our approach involves jointly optimizing the three-dimensional trajectory and channel allocation for aerial base stations, with a focus on ensuring fairness and the provision of quality of service (QoS) to ground users. Furthermore, we consider the load on base stations and incorporate this information into the optimization problem. The proposed approach utilizes a combination of deep reinforcement learning and fixed-point iteration techniques to determine the UAV locations and channel allocation strategies. Simulation results reveal that our proposed deep learning-based approach significantly outperforms learning-based and conventional benchmark models.


The research program of the Aerosol Research Branch includes research grants and contracts at institutions in many parts of the United States, in addition to an intramural program. The purpose of these projects is to study the chemical and physical properties of aerosols, identify the mechanisms of aerosol formation and removal, and conduct experiments to measure these rates. The results of the research are being used (1) to establish the contribution of the various sources to the ambient atmospheric aerosol loading, (2) to characterize urban, natural, and primary and secondary aerosols, (3) to develop quantitative descriptions of the generation and removal rates associated with each major aerosol source and sink, (4) to quantify the effects of aerosol on atmospheric chemical reactions, and (5) as a scientific basis for recommending regulatory actions concerned with air quality improvements. The research projects funded under EPA's base program are described.


english teachers frequently find students with a low level of oral proficiency but who want to put the language they are learning into practice. The lack of opportunities to use the language inside the classroom added to the lack of time and spaces to interact with others outside the classroom make the situation even more complex.  This article contains the results of an Action Research study which aimed at exploring the impact of using Skype as a complementary tool to foster oral production in a group of students in a private university in Neiva, Colombia. Four students from the first level of English with a basic command of the language took part in this study. Theoretical constructs such the use of Skype in EFL, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), social networking, cooperative learning and oral production in CMC were taken into account. The pedagogical interventions in the study consisted of six Skype video- conferences between a teacher-researcher and the four participants. To collect data, video-conference transcripts, field notes and students' journals were used. The data were analyzed using qualitative methods. Findings evidence that Skype impacts  the EFL context in areas like language learning, social interaction and emotional influences. key words : Skype, CMC, oral production, social networking, cooperative learning.


Delayed stool transit and other gastrointestinal abnormalities are commonly observed in persons with diabetes mellitus and are also known to be associated with colorectal cancer. Previous studies of the contribution of diabetes to colorectal cancer incidence and mortality have been limited by small sample sizes and failure to adjust for covariates. With more than 1 million respondents, the 1959-1972 Cancer Prevention Study provided a unique opportunity to explore whether persons with diabetes (n=15,487) were more likely to develop colorectal cancer during a 13-year follow-up period than were persons without diabetes (n=850,946). After adjustment for colorectal cancer risk factors, such as race, educational level, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, dietary intake, aspirin use, physical activity, and family history of colorectal cancer, the incidence density ratio comparing colorectal cancer in those with diabetes and those without diabetes was 1.30 (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.65) for men and 1.16 (95% confidence interval 0.87-1.53) for women. However, diabetes was not associated with greater case fatality. Future studies should explore the possibility of a cancer-promoting gastrointestinal milieu, including delayed stool transit and elevated fecal bile acid concentrations, associated with hyperglycemia and diabetic neuropathy.


This study aimed to assess the association of APO gene polymorphisms and ischemic stroke risk in a Chinese Han population. In this case-control study, we genotyped 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3 APO genes in 488 cases and 503 controls using Sequenom Mass-ARRAY technology and evaluated their association with ischemic stroke using the χ2 and genetic model analysis. In the allelic model analysis, we determined three SNPs were significantly associated with ischemic stroke: rs693 with a p value of 0.042 (OR = 1.406; 95%CI = 1.011-1.956), rs651821 with a p value of 0.007 (OR = 0.760; 95%CI = 0.622-0.929) and rs662799 with a p value of 0.006 (OR = 0.755; 95%CI = 0.618-0.923). In the genetic model analysis, we found the minor allele "A" of rs693 was associated with an increased ischemic stroke risk in the additive model and dominant model. The minor allele "C" of rs651821 was associated with a decreased ischemic stroke risk in the additive model. The minor allele "G" of rs662799 was associated with a decreased ischemic stroke risk in the additive model. Additionally, strong linkage was found in 3 blocks constituted by rs1042034, rs676210, rs693, rs673548 in APOB; rs3791981, rs679899 in APOB; and rs651821, rs662799, rs17120035 in APOA5. Our data suggested that gene polymorphisms in the APO genes may exert influences ischemic stroke susceptibility in a Chinese Han population.


Renal stones are common and its prevalence has been rising in both sexes. Treatment of patients with kidney stones in primary stages can reduce the side effects and may also prevent the surgical operations and postoperative complications. Several effects including: anti-microbial, anti-diabetic and cardioprotective effects have been reported for Cynodon dactylon. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of N-butanol fractionand N-butanol phase remnant of Cynodon dactylon extracton calcium oxalate kidney stones in male rats.
Twenty four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups. All groups were studied during 35 days of experiment according to the protocol of study. Normal control group (1) received tap drinking water. Negative control group (2) received 1% ethylene glycol in drinking water. Experimental groups (3 and 4) were treated with 1% ethylene glycol as well as 5mg/kg N-butanol fraction or 5mg/kg N-butanol phase remnant from 50% aqueous-ethanolic extract of Cynodon dactylon from first day of the experiment and continued during all protocol time.At the end of experiment, kidneys were removed for histopathologic study and examined for counting calcium oxalate deposits in 10 microscopic fields. Data were expressed as Mean± SEM and were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and subsequently by Mann-Whitney; p<0.05 was considered significant. The results showed that the number of calcium oxalate deposits in 10 microscopic fields in groups 3 (p=0.008) and 4 (p=0.00) vs group 2 were significantly decreased. The results of this study revealed that N-butanol fraction and N-butanol phase remnant from 50% aqueous-ethanolic extract of Cynodon dactylon can reduce calcium oxalate stones in the rat kidney by 40 and 55% respectively. Therefore, Cynodon dactylon has beneficial effects on kidney stone removal and might be used in human treatment.


Taken together, our studies indicate that (a) transplants mediate recovery of skilled forelimb movement as well as locomotor activity, (b) combinations of interventions may be required to restore reflex, sensory, and locomotor function to more normal levels after SCI, and (c) that remodeling of particular pathways may contribute to recovery of rather specific aspects of motor function. In conclusion, we suggest that it seems unlikely that any single intervention strategy will be sufficient to ensure regeneration of damaged pathways and recovery of function after SCI. Clearly, work from a number of laboratories indicates that the dogma that mature CNS neurons are inherently incapable of regeneration of axons after injury is no longer tenable. The issue, rather, is to identify and reverse the conditions that limit regeneration after SCI. After SCI, a hierarchy of "intervention-strategies" may be required to restore suprasegmental control leading to recovery of function. The hierarchy may be both temporal and absolute. For example, early interventions (such as the administration of methylprednisolone within hours of the injury) may be required to interrupt the secondary injury cascade and restrict the extent of damage after SCI. At the injury site itself, interventions to minimize the secondary injury effects may be followed by interventions to alter the environment at the site of injury to provide a terrain conducive to axonal elongation. For example, one might envision strategies to downregulate the expression of molecules that limit growth and upregulate the expression of those that support growth. Early after the injury, axotomized neurons may require neurotrophic support either for their survival or to initiate and maintain a cell body response supporting axonal elongation. There may be an absolute hierarchy as well. Particular populations of neurons may have very specific requirements for regenerative growth. For example, the conditions that enhance the regenerative growth of descending motor pathways may differ from those required by ascending sensory systems. One may also want to design strategies to restrict the plasticity of some pathways (e.g., nociceptive) and enhance the growth in other pathways. The demands on the CNS for anatomic reorganization after SCI may be far less formidable than one might at first imagine. If one assumes that recovery of function will require regenerative growth of large numbers of axons over long distances in a point-to-point topographically specific fashion, the idea of recovery of function becomes daunting. On the other hand, it has been shown in many studies and in many areas of the CNS that as little as 10% of a particular pathway can often subserve substantial function. Furthermore, regrowth over relatively short distances can have major functional consequences. For example, relatively modest changes in the level of SCI can have relatively profound effects on the functional consequences of injury. This is particularly true in cervical SCI: an individual with a C5/6 SCI is dramatically more impaired than one with C7/8 injury. One might envision relatively short distance growth across the injury site to re-establish suprasegmental control. Coupled with strategies to enhance the anatomic and functional reorganization of spinal cord circuitry caudal to the level of the injury, even modest long distance growth may have sufficient functional impact. One might imagine the ability to learn to "use" even modest quantities of novel inputs in functionally useful, appropriate ways.


Wind turbine blade bearings are often operated in harsh circumstances, which may easily be damaged causing the turbine to lose control and to further result in the reduction of energy production. However, for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis (CMFD) of wind turbine blade bearings, one of the main difficulties is that the rotation speeds of blade bearings are very slow (less than 5 r/min). Over the past few years, acoustic emission (AE) analysis has been used to carry out bearing CMFD. This article presents the results that reflect the potential of the AE analysis for diagnosing a slow-speed wind turbine blade bearing. To undertake this experiment, a 15-year-old naturally damaged industrial and slow-speed blade bearing is used for this study. However, due to very slow rotation speed conditions, the fault signals are very weak and masked by heavy noise disturbances. To denoise the raw AE signals, we propose a novel cepstrum editing method, discrete/random separation-based cepstrum editing liftering (DRS-CEL), to extract weak fault features from raw AE signals, where DRS is used to edit the cepstrum. Thereafter, the morphological envelope analysis is employed to further filter the residual noise leaked from DRS-CEL and demodulate the denoised signal, so the specific bearing fault type can be inferred in the frequency domain. The diagnostic framework combining DRS-CEL and morphological analysis is validated by comparing several methods and related studies, which offers a promising solution for wind-farm applications.


In this work an experimental and theoretical study of gamma-prompt emission has been carried out with the main aim being to understand to what extent this approach can be used during a treatment based on proton-boron fusion therapy. An experimental campaign, carried out with a high purity Germanium detector, has been performed to evaluate the gamma emission from two pure 11B and 10B targets. Furthermore, a set of analytical simulations, using the Talys nuclear reaction code has been performed and the calculated spectra compared with the experimental results. These comparisons allowed us to successfully validate Talys which was then used to estimate the gamma emission when a realistic Boron concentration was considered. Both simulations and experimental results suggest that the gamma emission is low at certain proton energies, thus in order to improve the imaging capabilities, while still maintaining the Boron therapeutic role, we propose the addition of natural Copper bound by a dipyrromethene, BodiPy, to boron atoms. Analytical simulations with Talys suggest that the characteristic spectrum of the copper prompt gamma-rays has several peaks in the energetic regions where the background is negligible.


In this paper we present a system that attempts to facilitate knowledge sharing within and across communities. The system provides communication facilities and implements advanced features such as personalization and recommendations. Users of the system who experienced membership in multiple communities provide connections between the information spaces of those communities.


Translational medicine, viz. translational healthcare, aims to obtain the best evidence base for improving the health of individuals and to utilize it in specific clinical settings in the community for diagnosis, intervention, policies and education. Diagnostic failures comprise a significant and costly fraction of all healthcare failures in the U.S. and globally with devastating consequences for all stakeholders. One timely and critical question for the continued evolution and establishment of translational healthcare nationally and internationally relates to the role translational healthcare can play in preventing diagnostic failures. Here, we present two clinical situations in dentistry, which have profound and significant systemic sequelae, to exemplify the extent to which the clinical dental sciences are intertwined with the clinical medical sciences. In one case (Ludwig angina cellulitis), the best evidence base obtained through translational effectiveness is discussed as key to preventing diagnostic failures; in the other (disorders of the temporomandibular joint), translational research holds promise as the critical factor in preventing diagnostic failures. Taken together, the case is made that preventable adverse events in healthcare do occur, among which failed diagnoses and misdiagnoses, which can cause serious bodily and financial harm to the patients and stakeholders. Research tools proffered by translational healthcare, if judiciously utilized in the context of GRADE and DECIDE, can serve to prevent ambulatory diagnostic failures. Operationally, we propose that the role of translational healthcare in preventing diagnostic failures must be articulated along the three distinct inter-related domains of (1) engagement of the stakeholders, (2) dissemination and (3)increased health literacy of the best evidence base.


Sleep pattern is an important indicator for a person's immunity rather than being susceptible to infection. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of respondents infected with Covid-19 and a history of sleep patterns before being infected. The method in this research is a quantitative description with the PSQI instrument as data collection related to sleep patterns, the sample used is 103 respondents with analysis using SPSS and Rapid Miner. The results showed that most of the respondents were female (56.3%), ages 26-35 (38.9%), higher education level (76.7%), private employees (52.4%), and the quality of sleep bad (53.4%). The conclusion in this study is that good or quality sleep is one of the key factors to maintain the immune system and body metabolism so that it can be immune from several infections that can enter the body, including the Covid-19 pandemic


To evaluate the hypothesis of a common etiology for cryptorchidism and hypospadias, we conducted two case-control studies nested in a nationwide cohort in Sweden, using record linkage between the Inpatient and Birth Registries. Cases were 2,782 and 1,220 boys operated for cryptorchidism or hypospadias, respectively. Five matched controls per case were randomly selected. Pregnancy and perinatal data were prospectively recorded in the Birth Registry. Data were modeled through conditional logistic regression. Both cryptorchidism (odds ratio (OR) = 2.22) and hypospadias (OR = 2.75) were positively associated with other congenital malformations and inversely with maternal parity (OR = 0.77 and 0.52, respectively, for parity 4+ compared with primiparae). There is evidence that being born small-for-gestational-age and before the 33rd gestational week have a greater-than-additive effect with respect to both cryptorchidism (OR = 6.19 vs 1.72 expected) and hypospadias (OR = 4.39 vs 2.60 expected) compared with non-small-for-gestational-age boys born at term. Hypospadias was positively associated with severe preeclampsia (OR = 2.11). We conclude that the etiologies of the two conditions are partly shared.


Elongate thaw-lake basins forming in the frozen ground of the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain are aligned 10°-15° west of true north. Several previous workers have maintained that prevailing winds elongated these basins by generating currents or wave attack in the north and south ends. To test this hypothesis, detailed maps and velocity determinations of wind-controlled current systems were made with sodium fluorescein dye and aluminum floats. In addition, the effect of wave action was studied in basins of all sizes; morphology and sediment distribution were mapped in both drained and water-filled basins; and water temperatures were recorded with thermographs. Supporting investigations were made of moisture content and fluctuation of the active layer in the frozen ground. It was discovered that a combination of processes tends to produce a uniformly oriented basin morphology consisting of sublittoral shelves on the east and west sides of the lakes and a deeper central basin that extends to the north and south ends. This morphology persists throughout all phases of basin development. Easterly and westerly winds prevailing nearly normal to the axis of orientation drive wave action which forms sublittoral shelves and bars that eventually come to protect the east and west sides from thaw and erosion. This comes about through insulation of the permafrost and damping of incoming waves. Development of the sublittoral profiles soon comes to equilibrium for a given basin depth since depth, in shallow water, closely controls wave velocity. At equilibrium, or maximum development of sublittoral shelves, east-west expansion is minimal, but north-south expansion is uninhibited by the presence of shelves and bars. It is, rather, increased by wind-driven currents, wave attack, and warmer water temperatures in the ends. Acceleration of these latter processes with increasing size causes orientation to become more pronounced in larger basins.


The correlation between apoptosis and early bovine embryonic loss is still not fully elucidated. In the present study, the relationship between the arrest of bovine embryos at the different stages of development and apoptosis was evaluated. We used embryos 7 days after in vitro maturation and fertilization, and morphologic and biochemical apoptotic analyses were performed by using a phase contrast microscope and by the terminal transferase dUTP nick end-labelling respectively. For the statistic, the apoptotic cell ratio (ACR) was determined as the percentage of apoptotic cells per embryo. To evaluate the relation between ACR and fragmentation pattern, embryos were divided into five groups, groups I-V. To assess the relation between ACR and cytoplasmatic fragmentation, embryos were divided into three groups, according to the fragmentation percentage (<5%; 5-15% and >15%). Of the total 139 embryos included, 65 arrested at 2-8 cells; 14 arrested at 9-16 cells; 18 compacted morula and 42 were non-arrested blastocysts. The average number of embryonic fragmentation at different stages of the development, 2-8 cells, 9-16 cells, compacted morula and blastocyst, was 16.0 +/- 1.5, 28.7 +/- 4.4, 4.4 +/- 2.4 and 1 +/- 0.3 respectively. The embryos at the stage of arrested 9-16 cells and compacted morula had higher ACR than those at the blastocyst stage, excluding the stage of 2-8 cells (the genome is not yet active). The correlation detected between embryonic development and ACR was 0.92 (p < 0.01). It was observed that embryos possessing high fragmentation showed the higher ACR value (r = 0.98, p < 0.05). Comparing the results between fragmentation percentage and ACR, it was observed that the embryos with higher percentage of fragmentation corresponded to higher ACR (r = 0.97, p < 0.01). These results clearly demonstrated that bovine embryonic arrest at different stages of development is correlated with the apoptotic mechanisms.


Background: Treatment of breast cancer at the earliest possible stage results from a combination of screening for non-palpable abnormalities and timely and appropriate follow-up of abnormal test results. Studies have addressed Black-White differences in follow-up of abnormal mammograms but little is known about other groups including Asian Americans, a population composed of distinct ethnic sub-groups with substantial heterogeneity in risk factors that correspond with important to differences in breast cancer rates. In this study we aimed to assess completion and timeliness of diagnostic follow-up after an abnormal mammogram between White and Asian women and among disaggregated Asian ethnic subgroups. Methods: Using data from the San Francisco Mammography Registry, we identified women with an index abnormal screening mammogram result of BIRADS 0/3+ between the years 2000-2010. Our study sample included women who self-report White or Asian race/ ethnicity, ages 40 and older. Our outcomes were: 1) proportion of women without diagnostic follow-up within a year of their index mammogram, and 2) median days to diagnostic follow-up. Results: We identified 54028 White and Asian women between 2000 and 2010 in the SFMR data. Seventy percent of women were White and 30% were Asians. Among Asians, 16.2% were Chinese, 6.7% Filipina, 1.8% Japanese, 1.1% Vietnamese, 2.4% Other Asian, and 1.4% Mixed Asian. The majority of women were between the ages of 40-59 (67%). A total of 6023 (11.1%) of women did not receive follow-up within one year after an index abnormal mammogram. A higher proportion of Asian women did not receive follow-up compared to Whites (15% vs 10%). Among Asian groups, Filipinas had the highest percentage of women not receiving follow-up (18%) while Japanese women had the lowest (10.4%). In comparisons of individuals who received follow-up to those who did not, a higher proportion of women with no follow-up had lower education levels (24% vs 15%). Median time to diagnostic follow-up for White and Asian women combined was 18 days. The median follow-up time was 15 days for Whites, and 26 days for Asians. Among Asians, the median follow-up time differed significantly among ethnic groups: Japanese women had the lowest (19 days) and Vietnamese women the longest (30 days) followed by Filipinas (28 days). Conclusion: We observed disparities in timeliness to follow-up between White and Asian women and among Asian ethnic groups. Disaggregation of ethnicity can identify subpopulations most in need of breast cancer control, and to provide more specific information on breast cancer patterns. Citation Format: Kim H. Nguyen, Leah Karliner, Rena J. Pasick. Timeliness in follow-up after abnormal mammography screening among Asian groups. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B89. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-B89


Concerns the design of intelligent controllers for a class of exercise machines. The control objective is to cause the user to exercise in a manner which optimizes a criterion related to the user's mechanical power. The optimal exercise strategy is determined by a biomechanical behavior of the individual user, which is assumed to satisfy an affine force-velocity relationship dependent on the body geometric configuration. Consequently, the control scheme must simultaneously: 1) identify the user's biomechanical behavior; 2) optimize the controller; and 3) stabilize the system to the estimated optimal states. Moreover, to ensure that the exercise machine is safe to operate, the control system guarantees that the interaction between the exercise machine and the user is passive. We formulate the control problem and propose a controller structure which satisfies the safety requirement and is capable of causing the user to execute an arbitrary exercise strategy if the user's biomechanical behavior is known. The controller is of the form of a dynamic damper and can be implemented using only passive mechanical components.


SUMMARY The Indonesian government is committed to allocating 12.7 million hectares of forest land to local communities through community-based forest management (CBFM) schemes. We analysed CBFM case studies from three provinces throughout the archipelago. In all cases, actions focused on nominal redistribution of land but ignored local participation and aspirations. CBFM was used as a tool to solve problems of forest tenure, legalization of forest communities and forest rehabilitation, rather than to empower communities and therefore address issues of social justice. Communities remained subject to land-use restrictions, limiting their opportunities. Their participation was often weak and limited to the village elites. Technical support to communities was almost inexistent, leaving them without the financial and technical skills required to run the schemes efficiently. The analysis indicates that redistribution of rights only serves social justice when the process recognises local aspirations and cultural values of participants.


This study aims to analyze the efficiency of the Sawi market in Rimba Jaya Village. The population in this study were 120 farmers and the sample size was 55 farmers. The data are analyzed qualitatively by looking at the marketing channels in order to obtain marketing margins and profits. The results showed that there were four marketing channels used by farmers in Rimba Jaya Village in marketing green mustard, including: Marketing channel 1, namely from farmers - retailers. Marketing channel 2, namely from farmers - middle traders - retailers - consumers. Marketing channel 3, namely from farmers - wholesalers - middle traders - retailers - end consumers. Marketing channel 4, namely from farmers - village collectors - wholesalers - retailers - end consumers. The four marketing channels, all marketing channels, are said to be efficient, because their marketing efficiency is more than 0 and less than 1, but the most efficient is found in marketing channel 4 and is in large traders' institutions which have the smallest marketing efficiency value of 0, 02.
Keywords: Marketing, Green Mustard, Marketing Efficiency


Cd, Pb heavy metal absorption in aquatic vegetables: Genjer (Limnocharis flava), Kangkung air (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk) dan Selada air (Nasturtium officinale R. Br), studied to see the relationship with green figure scale. The research objective was to identify the accumulated Cd, Pb in the consumed organ vegetable, and their impacts to the levels of green figure scale. The research was undertaken by planting three kinds of the aquatic vegetables to the contaminated pure Cd,pure Pb media, mixture of Cd and Pb with factorial randomized block design. Data were analyzed by factorial One-Way Anova and further test of Duncan and HSD to see the difference of Cd, Pb and green figure scale, regression and correlation to know the contribution of Cd, Pb in influencing the green figure scale. Variety of vegetables, media, organ, and the interaction influences the accumulation of Cd, Pb and level of green figure scale. There is a relationship between Cd, Pb metal accumulation to the level of  green figure scale of the aquatic vegetables, with negative correlation that Cd, Pb decreased the vegetable green figure scale. Keywords: the influence of Cd, Pb; aquatic vegetables; green figure scale


BACKGROUND
Acinetobacter baumannii nosocomial outbreaks are common and the microorganism is frequently resistant to multiple antimicrobials. There is little information about Acinetobacter baumannii antimicrobial susceptibility in the northern region of Chile.

AIM
To identify different Acinetobacter baumannii biotypes isolated from clinical samples and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
One hundred twenty three Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were studied. The identification and typing of Acinetobacter baumannii was based on phenotypic characteristics. Antimicrobial susceptibility was investigated using agar dilution techniques.

RESULTS
Most Acinetobacter baumannii strains were isolated from wounds, urinary and respiratory infections. Seven biotypes were isolated, being biotype 9 the most frequent. Imipenem was the antimicrobial with the higher activity against the microorganism. Amikacin, cefoperazonesulbactam, ampicillinsulbactam and ceftazidime had a moderate activity. There were high resistance levels to ampicillin and older cephalosporins.

CONCLUSIONS
Acinetobacter baumannii is emerging as a significant nosocomial pathogen in Chile and shows high resistance rates to multiple antibiotics.


Two transitions were found by ellipsometry in freestanding high molecular weight PS films by Pye and Roth (PR). PR suggested that the upper and the lower transitions both came from the segmental a-relaxation, and the upper transition occurs in 90% of the material. In this paper we use dielectric relaxation data of freestanding films to rule out their suggestion. Furthermore, we demonstrate by experimental evidences that the sub-Rouse modes are coupled to density, and respond to physical aging to validate our interpretation and can explain the upper transition.


A novel type of magnetically responsive polymer nanocomposite Fe3O4@poly(undecylenic acid-co-4-vinyl pyridine-co-sodium acrylate) (Fe3O4@PUVS) was synthesized by the free radical polymerization of 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) with sodium acrylate (SAA) and Fe3O4@undecylenic acid. Pd2+ was then immobilized on this magnetic nanocomposite to form the magnetic Fe3O4@PUVS-Pd catalyst. This catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the Heck and Suzuki coupling reactions in water, and could be simply separated by using a permanent magnet. The supported catalyst could be used consecutively for six runs without significant loss of catalytic activity.


Migration policies in distributed evolutionary algorithms are bound to have, as much as any other evolutionary operator, an impact on the overall performance. However, they have not been an active area of research until recently, and this research has concentrated on the migration rate. In this paper we compare different migration policies, including our proposed multikulti methods, which choose the individuals that are going to be sent to other nodes based on the principle of multiculturalism: the individual sent should be as different as possible to the receiving population (represented in several possible ways). We have checked this policy on two discrete optimization problems for different number of nodes, and found that, in average or in median, multikulti policies outperform others like sending the best or a random individual; however, their advantage changes with the number of nodes involved and the difficulty of the problem. The success of these kind of policies is explained via the measurement of entropies, which are known to have an impact in the performance of the evolutionary algorithm.


Demand for low-cost alternatives to conventional medical diagnostic sensors has been the driving force that has spurred significant developments in the diagnostics field. Paper-based fluidic devices, proposed by the Whitesides' group in 2007, have been regarded as one such alternative. Research into the development of methodologies that control, and in particular delay the flow of fluids in these devices is an urgently needed requirement that would enable greater functionalities in such paper-based sensors. In this work, to control fluid-flow, we report the use of a new laser-based direct-write technique that allows programmable fluid delivery in channels within a paper-based device. The technique is based on laser-induced photo-polymerisation, and through adjustment of the laser writing parameters, such as the output power and writing/scanning speed, we can control the porosity of hydrophobic barriers which, when introduced in the fluid paths, produce controllable fluid delay. Having patterned these barriers at pre-defined locations within fluidic channels, we have achieved flow-delays with a time span ranging from few minutes to an hour and we have also performed a study to understand the influence of the number of barriers and their position on the flow-delay. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of such programmable flow delays through a semi-automated paper-sensor that implements a multi-step ELISA for detection of C-reactive protein with a limit-of-detection of 10 ng/mL (Figure 2) - wherein separate flow-arms (with differently programmed delays) were used to sequentially deliver the different reagents through to the detection zone for effecting the multi-step assay. Since the channels and flow delay barriers can be written via a common laser-writing process, this is a distinct improvement over other methods that require specialist operating environments, or custom-designed equipment. This technique can therefore be used for rapid fabrication of paper-based microfluidic sensors that can perform single or multistep analytical assays.


Derek Yates and Jessie Price's book Communication Design: Insights from the Creative Industries is about designers who make a difference in the world. Its aim is to bridge the gap between education and emerging practices in communication design so that graduates will be more employable. But it is more than just having the right skills and approach to get a job, this book also illustrates the diverse and dynamic field of marketing, advertising, graphic, interaction and digital design, and all the spaces in-between. The authors articulate the zeitgeist: design has an economic value, but also it can raise social and cultural awareness bringing change for a greater good.


Inference of protein function from sequence data by means of computational techniques is one of the essential requirements for biological investigations in the postgenomic era. While the basic principles of functional inference are derived from standard ideas in structural and evolutionary biology, their practical application is far from trivial. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of these principles and some definitions for frequently encountered concepts pertaining to the sequence analysis of proteins, such as conserved domains, domain architectures, nonglobular segments, and the trends in sequence conservation. We also discuss various extraneous sources of information that emerge from different contextual associations of proteins and their utility in function prediction. The remaining articles in this section delve into the specific aspects of the various themes introduced here.

Keywords:

protein evolution;
conserved domains;
domain architecture;
protein function;
contextual information;
comparative genomics;
phyletic profiles;
protein interactions;
DNA-binding proteins;
functional annotation;
sequence analysis;
superfamily;
fold;
sequence conservation;
sequence alignment;
similarity searches;
homology


This article explores a sequence of events, a combination of Orthodox Christian village and chapel festivals, associated processions and a cross-border procession, through the theoretical concept of ritualisation. The sequence of events takes place annually in the Finnish villages of Saarivaara and Hoilola, the Pörtsämö wilderness cemetery and the former Finnish municipality of Korpiselkä, located today in Russia; it attracts participants with religious and other motives, including nostalgia and family history. An analysis is made of how different and sometimes contradictory modes of action are structured and intertwined to form a coherent ritual event. On the basis of original anthropological research undertaken near and over the border between Finland and Russia, in Karelia, it emerges that the ritual mastery by Orthodox priests and shared goals and motives of heritage and culture give the journey a necessary structure, which can be studied and explained in terms of ritualisation.


ABSTRACT Telemedicine (TM) is a new, rapidly evolving area and can be of great value in the provision of healthcare to remote and rural populations. Wound healing and wound management are prime candidates for TM. The treatment of skin ulcers requires frequent assessments of local wound status and adjustment of therapy. The availability of reasonably priced photographic equipment and quick electronic transfer of high-quality digital images should make the assessment of wound status by remote experts possible. Several studies showing the feasibility and the usefulness of teleconsultations in dermatology have already been described in the literature, and high accordance for diagnosis and treatment between face-to-face visits and teleconsultations has been reported. Some used digital photographs and sent the image and clinical data via the Internet to a wound care specialist (store and forward), whereas others used a webcam (televideoconferencing). Tele–wound care offers great potential for the future in chronic wound care. By reducing the need to travel long distances to the hospital or to consult with a physician, TM decreases the costs and improves the quality of life for patients with chronic wounds, while still maintaining high standards of wound care. The intent of TM is to reduce, in a clinically equivalent way, the number of visits to a specialized clinic, but not necessarily to eliminate all visits. Further well-designed research is necessary to understand how best to deploy TM services in healthcare.


MICROANGIOPATHY has been demonstrated in prediabetic and diabetic states by light and electron microscopy of excised tissues.1,2In vivo observations of changes in the microcirculation have involved primarily the bulbar conjunctiva.3The nailbed capillaries have been studied in various diseases, including diabetes, by Landau and Davis.4A simple technique described in 19655for capillary photomicroscopy of nailfold capillaries was used to study morphology of the microvasculature in juvenile diabetics and normal controls. Materials and Methods The technique used has been previously described5and involves examination of nailfold capillaries at 40 × magnification with a stereoscopic microscope (American Optical). Special lighting and a Polaroid camera permitted rapid photography for permanent records. Serial observations are possible with this method. Observations on capillary structures included average length and width, expressed and compared in millimeters, and not actual measurements of structures. Also noted were the number of capillary loops per field


A study of two large scale 'ICTs in School Education' programs of two neighboring states of India brings out some interesting insights. The integrated model followed in Kerala state's IT@Schools program, where the accent is on developing systemic in-house capabilities anchored around the role of school teachers, has shown considerable success. This has been in terms of much higher level of teacher engagement, integration of computer learning with regular learning processes, greater per-learner availability of computers, significant cost efficiencies and development of teacher networks and collaborative content creation processes, which support teacher professional development. All of these together have lead to the overall strengthening of the education system and better learning outcomes.


The risk of suicidal behaviour in Australia varies by age, sex, sexual preference and Indigenous status. Suicide stigma is known to affect suicide rates and help-seeking for suicidal crises. The aim of this study was to investigate the sociodemographic correlates of suicide stigma to assist in prevention efforts. We surveyed community members and individuals who had attended specific emergency departments for suicidal crisis. The respondents were part of a large-scale suicide prevention trial in New South Wales, Australia. The data collected included demographic characteristics, measures of help-seeking and suicide stigma. The linear regression analyses conducted sought to identify the factors associated with suicide stigma. The 5426 participants were predominantly female (71.4%) with a mean (SD) age of 41.7 (14.8) years, and 3.9% were Indigenous. Around one-third of participants reported a previous suicide attempt (n = 1690, 31.5%) with two-thirds (n = 3545, 65.3%) seeking help for suicidal crisis in the past year. Higher stigma scores were associated with Indigenous status (β 0.123, 95%CI 0.074–0.172), male sex (β 0.527, 95%CI 0.375–0.626) and regional residence (β 0.079, 95%CI 0.015–0.143). Lower stigma scores were associated with younger age (β −0.002, 95%CI −0.004–−0.001), mental illness (β −0.095, 95%CI −0.139 to −0.050), male bisexuality (β −0.202, 95%CI −0.351 to −0.052) and males who glorified suicide (β −0.075, 95%CI −0.119 to −0.031). These results suggested that suicide stigma differed across the community, varying significantly by sex, sexual orientation and Indigenous status. Targeted educational programs to address suicide stigma could assist in suicide prevention efforts.


: This research proposes approximate computing techniques to accelerate homomorphic encryption (HE). In particular, the CKKS encryption scheme for approximate numbers is targeted. There is a requirement for HE in services dealing with confidential data, however current constructions are not efficient enough for real-time applications. A homomorphic encryption scheme which uses approximate arithmetic (showing faster results than previous HE schemes) already exists, the CKKS scheme, and this research applies a variation of the approximate computing techniques of task skipping and depth reduction (derived from loop perforation) to determine whether further approximating the functions evaluated using CKKS scheme can have a positive impact on performance of homomorphic evaluation. This is demonstrated via the evaluation of the logistic and exponential functions that this is possible, showing positive results. The speed up in running time for HE with task skipping is between 12.1% and 45.5%, depth reduction gives 35-45.5% speed-up with a small error difference than task skipping alone. The combination of both techniques corresponds to a halving of the running time, at the cost of increased error. This novel approach to further approximate homomorphic encryption shows that it is possible for certain functions, where running time is of paramount importance, that further approximations can be made with a lower-impacting greater error.


Objective: Most adipose tissue programming is realized in early life. Also, the postnatal three months, rather than the later phases of infancy, may be more relevant in the development of an adverse cardiometabolic risk profile. The adipokines phenotype, as a predictor of early-life weight gain, has been recently explored in cord blood. To determine whether in addition to leptin levels in cord samples, adiponectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), resistin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels improve weight gain prediction during the first three months of life. Methods: Adiponectin, IL-6, MCP-1, leptin, resistin, PAI-1, and TNF-α were measured by multiplex immunoassay in a subsample of 86 healthy term newborns. Results: Leptin levels significantly predicted weight gain at 3 months of follow-up (r2=0.09, p=0.006). In the multivariate analysis, including additional adipokines in the model, stepwise or all at once, did not increase the prediction of weight gain after the first three months of life. Conclusion: Adding adiponectin, IL-6, MCP-1, resistin, PAI-1, and TNF-α to the prediction model of weight gain in healthy newborns did not prove to be useful. It is probable that their relative contribution to weight gain is not important. Only leptin was relevant as a predictor of weight gain at the 3-month endpoint.


ABSTRACT Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of newborn sepsis and meningitis and induces systemic release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), believed to play a role in morbidity and mortality. While previous studies have shown that GBS can induce TNF-α release from monocytes and macrophages, little is known about the potential modulating effect of plasma or serum on GBS-induced TNF-α release, and there are conflicting reports as to the host receptors involved. In a human whole-blood assay system, GBS type III COH-1 potently induced substantial monocyte TNF-α release in adult peripheral blood and, due to a higher concentration of monocytes, 10-fold-greater TNF-α release in newborn cord blood. Remarkably, GBS-induced TNF-α release from human monocytes was enhanced ∼1,000-fold by heat-labile serum components. Experiments employing C2-, C3-, or C7-depleted serum demonstrated that C3 activation via the alternative pathway is crucial for potent GBS-induced TNF-α release. Accordingly, whole blood from C3-deficient mice demonstrated significantly reduced GBS-induced TNF-α release. Preincubation with human serum enhanced the TNF-α-inducing activity of GBS in a C3- and factor B-dependent manner, implying deposition of complement components via the alternative pathway. GBS-induced TNF-α release was inhibited by monoclonal antibodies directed against each of the components of CR3 and CR4: the common integrin β subunit CD18 and the α subunits CD11b (of CR3) and CD11c (of CR4). Blood derived from CR3 (CD11b/CD18)-deficient mice demonstrated a markedly diminished TNF-α response to GBS. We conclude that the ability of plasma and serum to greatly amplify GBS-induced TNF-α release reflects the activity of the alternative complement pathway that deposits fragments on GBS and thereby enhances CR3- and CR4-mediated monocyte activation.


The effects and roles of social support and stressors (stressful life events and chronic strains) on psychosocial distress were examined in a model with data from a sample of the white-collar workers (N=416) in Korea. The findings of this study present that mean levels of psychosocial distress were higher in the female, youth, unmarried and divorced, and low economic status (monthly income). The analysis also shows that, as expected, stressful life and chronic strains as stressors are positively related to occurrence of psychosocial distress, and social support is negatively related to psychosocial distress. Further, the contribution of social support to predicting psychosocial distress is greater in magnitude than that of stressful events, chronic strains, and seciodemographic variables. There is no evidence that social support buffers the impacts of stressors on psychosocial distress, rather social support takes a role of mai or direct effects on psychosocial distress. Therefore, the strength of the social support is an important and meaningful strategy to prevent from stress and mental, physical illness.


Abstract Objective aPL are found in the blood of 20–30% of patients with SLE. Although aPL cause vascular thrombosis in the antiphospholipid syndrome, it is not clear whether positive aPL levels in early SLE increase risk of subsequent vascular events (VE). In a previous analysis of 276 patients with SLE, we found that early positivity for ≥2 of IgG anti-cardiolipin (anti-CL), IgG anti-β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) and anti-domain I of β2-glycoprotein I (anti-DI) showed a possible association with VE. Here we have extended that analysis. Methods Serum samples taken from 501 patients with SLE early in their disease had been tested for IgG anti-CL, anti-β2GPI and anti-DI by ELISA. Complete VE history was available for 423 patients of whom 23 were excluded because VE occurred before the diagnosis of SLE. For the remaining 400 patients we carried out Kaplan–Meier survival analysis to define groups at higher risk of VE. Results Of 400 patients, 154 (38.5%) were positive for one or more aPL, 27 (6.8%) were double/triple-positive and 127 (31.8%) were single-positive. There were 91 VE in 77 patients, of whom 42 were aPL-positive in early disease. VE were significantly increased in aPL-positive vs aPL-negative patients (P = 0.041) and in double/triple-positive vs single-positive vs aPL-negative patients (P = 0.0057). Omission of the IgG anti-DI assay would have missed 14 double/triple-positive patients of whom six had VE. Conclusion Double/triple-positivity for IgG anti-CL, anti-β2GPI and anti-DI in early SLE identifies a population at higher risk of subsequent VE.


In the EHF (extremely high frequency) domain, W-band (75-110 GHz) offers promising perspectives for future satellite communications, mainly in terms of large bandwidth availability for high-bit-rate transmission. In this work an innovative physical (PHY) layer design for broadband satellite connections operating in W-band is proposed, which is based on the prolate spheroidal wave functions (PSWFs). PSWF waveforms (originally proposed in short-range indoor ultra-wideband communications) are aimed at optimizing the tradeoff between the concentration of pulse energy in a finite time interval and in a limited bandwidth. In our paper, PSWF-based 4-ary pulse shape modulation (PSM), characterized by a nearly optimal compromise between spectral and envelope compactness, has been tested for the radio interface of a W-band geostationary (GEO) downlink connection. The effect of nonlinear distortions, introduced by power-efficient saturating amplifiers, can be drastically reduced without any power back-off and will maintain a very good spectral efficiency. Experimental results obtained by means of realistic simulations fully demonstrate the potential advantages taken by PSWF in terms of increased spectral efficiency, link availability, and net payload rate with respect to state-of-the-art pulse-shaped modulations, raised-cosine filtered quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) commonly employed in satellite communications.


Ionizing radiation is one of the toxic and carcinogenic factors that potentially have direct and indirect long-term effects that are depending on the amount of doses and periods of exposure to radiation. These risks can appear in the form of changes in gene expression due to the influence of epigenetic mechanisms, especially DNA methylation. Exposure of DNA methylation to ionizing radiation for long periods of time can lead to genetic instability, which can be passed down through generations. In this review will. The aim of this study is to shine new light on these debates through an examination of.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinicopathologic features of the brain tissue diagnosed as ulegyria from modified anatomic hemispherectomy for refractory epilepsy.

METHODS
The clinical and pathologic findings were reviewed in 39 patients who underwent modified anatomic hemispherectomy and diagnosed as ulegyria in the Epilepsy Center of Tsinghua University Yuquan Hospital from 2007 to 2011.

RESULTS
All patients including 30 males and 9 females had medically intractable seizures, and the mean age of seizure onset and disease duration were 4.0 years and 7.3 years respectively. Significant history included febrile seizure in 14 patients (35.9%), cerebral hemorrhage in 8 patients (20.5%), fetal distress and surgical trauma each in 6 patients (15.4%), vascular malformation and cerebral hemorrhage in 1 patient (2.6%), and unclear history in 4 patients (10.2%). Histologically, all cases were characterized by cortical destruction, with neuronal loss and gliosis. All cases were accompanied by varying degree of cortical dysplasia, which were diagnosed as focal cortical dysplasia IIId. Hippocampus sclerosis was identified in 2 cases. Seizure outcome after surgery revealed 37 patients (94.9%) had an Engel grade I, two patients (5.1%) had an Engel grade II.

CONCLUSIONS
Febrile seizure, cerebral hemorrhage, fetal distress and surgical trauma in childhood can lead to refractory epilepsy. Histopathological change in the brain is ulegyria accompanied by focal cortical dysplasia IIId. Modified anatomic hemispherectomy is an effective therapy to treat those patients with extensive changes of one hemisphere.


Carlo Environmental Technologies, Inc., (CET) was contracted by the Selfridge Air National Guard base (SANG) to remove an abandoned underground storage tank (UST) farm and remediate the contaminated soil using thermal desorption technology. The first phase of this project was to remove fourteen 25,000 gal underground storage tanks that had been installed during the 1930's, including all ancillary equipment at the facility. The USTs had been used to store aviation fuels, including both av-gas and jet fuels. The tank-removal project disclosed over 5000 yd[sup 3] of contaminated soil in the tank excavation pit, and excavation continued until analytical sampling demonstrated that the perimeter was within the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Act 307 Type B cleanup criteria (state superfund act). The contaminated soil was trucked to a remote location on the base property for the thermal remediation. CET employed its Cedarapids 64MT thermal desorption plant to treat the contaminated soils from the tank removal site. These soils were predominantly clays, and the contamination included BTEX compounds up to 5 parts per million (ppm), and PNA compounds per 100 ppm. The medium temperature thermal desorption process, which heats the contaminated soil to approximately 850[degrees]F was successful in removing BTEX andmore » PNA contamination from the soil (to levels below MDNR Type B cleanup criteria). The vapor stream from the desorption process was then filtered to minimize particulate emissions, and the contaminant compounds were then destroyed in the thermal oxidizer section of the process, at temperatures up to 1800[degrees]F. The remediated soil was returned to the original excavation as clean compacted fill material. With the use of the thermal desorption technology, CET remediated the site to MDNR cleanup standards, recycled the soils from the site, and eliminated off-site disposal liability for SANG.« less


All inorganic quantum dot light emitting devices with solution processed transport layers are investigated. The device consists of an anode, a hole transport layer, a quantum dot emissive layer, an electron transport layer and a cathode. Indium tin oxide coated glass slides are used as substrates with the indium tin oxide acting as the transparent anode electrode. The transport layers are both inorganic, which are relatively insensitive to moisture and other environmental factors as compared to their organic counterparts. Nickel oxide acts as the hole transport layer, while zinc oxide nanocrystals act as the electron transport layer. The nickel oxide hole transport layer is formed by annealing a spin coated layer of nickel hydroxide sol-gel. On top of the hole transport layer, CdSe/ZnS quantum dots synthesized by hot injection method is spin coated. Finally, zinc oxide nanocrystals, dispersed in methanol, are spin coated over the quantum dot emissive layer as the electron transport layer. The material characterization of different layers is performed by using absorbance, Raman scattering, XRD, and photoluminescence measurements. The completed device performance is evaluated by measuring the IV characteristics, electroluminescence and quantum efficiency measurements. The device turn on is around 4V with a maximum current density of ~200 mA/cm^2 at 9 V.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

The stress-induced heat shock protein HSP70 is an ATP dependent molecular chaperone that plays a role in the folding of nascent peptides, assembly of multi-protein complexes, and transport of proteins across membranes and overall. Additionally, HSP70 has significant cytoprotective and anti-apoptotic functions. High levels of HSP70 can be found in many cancers, and are associated with poor therapeutic response and poor patient prognosis. These findings suggest that HSP70 may be a desirable molecular therapeutic target, in addition to being a useful tumor prognostic marker. Previously we demonstrated that the compound 2-phenylethynesulfonamide (PES) interacts with HSP70 and antagonizes HSP70 function by disrupting the interaction between HSP70 and its co-chaperones and client proteins. We showed that PES is toxic to cancer cells but not non-transformed cells. Moreover, PES was able to significantly extend the lifespan of mice in a Myc-driven model of lymphoma (p<0.02; Leu et al., Mol Cell 36:15-27, 2009; Leu et al, Mol Can Res 9:936-47, 2011). Here we utilized binding assays, molecular modeling and in silico docking in order to predict the binding site for PES with HSP70. We were able to verify this binding site by identifying point mutants of HSP70 that fail to bind to PES. We used this information in order to predict potentially superior analogues, and we report that a novel analogue, 2-(3-chlorophenyl) ethynesulfonamide (PES-Cl) shows superior toxicity to tumor cells, and greater efficacy as an anti-cancer agent in Myc-driven lymphoma, compared to the parent compound (p<0.0006). Moreover, we report that treatment with PES-Cl causes cell cycle arrest in G2/M, and that a significant fraction of tumor cells escape this checkpoint and die by apoptosis. These data implicate HSP70 in G2/M progression, and identify PES-Cl as a promising anti-cancer therapeutic.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3793. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3793


Despite improved findability of and access to scientific knowledge in recent decades, scholarly communication continues to be document-based. Scientific knowledge remains locked in representations that are inadequate for machine processing. In this article, we present initial steps towards next generation digital libraries and infrastructures that acquire, curate, publish and process scholarly knowledge semantically, in machine readable form leveraging knowledge graphs. The primary contribution of this work is to present and discuss early developments of a system designed to crowdsource machine readable descriptions of research contributions published in scholarly articles and a knowledge graph infrastructure for description storage and access. We report on the results of a first experimental evaluation of the concept and its implementation with the participants of a recent international conference. The results suggest that users find such a system useful, and the possibilities it could enable intriguing.


Viscoelastic polymer adhesives (VPAs) are common materials broadly used in adhesive tapes for bonding objects tightly in daily life. This work presents a conceptually new strategy of using contact electrification (rather than strong adhesion) of VPAs to directly convert mechanical energy to electric energy, generally showing 202–419% of the electric energy generated by conventional mechanical energy harvesters under the same triggering conditions. More notably, the VPA‐based generators (VPAGs) possess unique frequency‐insensitive and pressure‐enhanced output characteristics. The output power of a VPAG not only does not show regular degradation of performance with the decrease of triggering frequency, but also can be further enhanced by simple introduction of a second VPA layer with a smaller area to increase the applied pressure without the requirement of rising applied force. The average output power density of a VPAG with a second layer of 0.5 cm × 0.5 cm can reach 216.7 µW cm−2, which is ≈150% larger than that of a VPAG without a second VPA layer. This research is of significance to harvesting the random, irregular, and low‐frequency (bio‐)mechanical energy that widely exists but is wasted in the environment for both stable electric energy generation and electronic device operation.


Fundamental properties of multiply charged molecular ions, such as energetics, structure, stability, lifetime and fragmentation dynamics, are relevant to understand and to model the behavior of gaseous plasmas as well as ionosphere and astrophysical environments. Experimental determinations of the Kinetic Energy Released (KER) for ions originating from dissociations reactions, induced by Coulomb explosion of doubly charged molecular ions (molecular dications) produced by double photoionization of CO2, N2O and C2H2 molecules of interest in planetary atmospheres, are reported. The KER measurement as a function of the ultraviolet (UV) photon energy in the range of 28-65 eV are extracted from the electron-ion-ion coincidence spectra obtained by using tunable synchrotron radiation coupled with ion imaging techniques at the ELETTRA Synchrotron Light Laboratory Trieste, Italy. These experiments allow assessing the probability of escape for simple ionic species in the upper atmosphere of Mars, Venus and Titan. The measured KER in the case of H + , C + , CH + , CH2 + , N + , O + , CO + , N2 + and NO + fragment ions are ranging between 1.0 and 5.5 eV, being large enough to allow these ionic species in participating in the atmospheric escape from such planets into space.


Based on the thermodynamic theory and the postulates of Jiles and Atherton, a general coupled magnetic-elastic-thermal free-energy model with hysteretic nonlinearity is established for Terfenol-D rods, in which the effect of Weiss molecular field is incorporated. The quantitative agreement between numerical simulation results predicted by the free-energy model and existing experimental data confirms the validity and reliability of the obtained nonlinear theoretical model, and indicates that the free-energy model can accurately capture the nonlinear hysteresis characteristic of Terfenol-D. Meanwhile, the free-energy model is employed to investigate the influences of mechanical stress and the temperature on the magnetostrictive effect of Terfenol-D in detail, and its predictions are coincident with some well-known experimental results including the temperature-dependent saturation nonlinearity and "overturn phenomenon". It indicates that the free-energy model can also effectively capture the nonlinear magnetic-elastic-thermal coupling characteristic of Terfenol-D. Some important physical parameters, such as the maximum magnetostrictive strain, the maximum piezomagnetic coefficient, are summarized, which can be used to optimize the performance of Terfenol-D in practical application. In addition, the free-energy model uses simple differential equation and algebraic equations, in which all of parameters have definite physical implications and can be easily determined by experiments. Thus, the free-energy model established in this article has very strong and wide practicability.


The visual search paradigm has been widely used to study the mechanisms underlying visual attention, and search asymmetry provides a source of insight into preattentive visual features. In the current study, we tested visual search with biological-motion stimuli that were spatially scrambled or that represented feet only and found that observers were more efficient in searching for an upright target among inverted distractors than in searching for an inverted target among upright distractors. This suggests that local biological-motion signals can act as a basic preattentive feature for the human visual system. The search asymmetry disappeared when the global configuration in biological motion was kept intact, which indicates that the attentional effects arising from biological features (e.g., local motion signals) and global novelty (e.g., inverted human figure) can interact and modulate visual search. Our findings provide strong evidence that local biological motion can be processed independently of global configuration and shed new light on the mechanisms of visual search asymmetry.


This study was aimed at identifing areas with low radiation exposure where workers could be taken in the examination room in case that they had to hold the patients by estimating the attenuation of primary radiation and measuring the spatial distribution of scattered radiation. The laboratory equipment included on the X-ray generator, a phantom (human phantom), and a dosimeter. The experiment measured the performance of the examination system (dose reproducibility), the dose of primary radiation (X-rays), and the dose of scattered radiation (secondary radiation). Both the primary and the scattered radiation were attenuated by a factor of tube in vacuum experimental tests of the inverse square law. In this study, the attenuation was 2 ∼ 2.246 for primary radiation and 2 ∼ 2.105 for secondary radiation. Natural attenuation occurred as the X-rays passed through air, and an attenuation equation was established in this study. The equation for primary radiation (1st dose) was y = A1* exp(−x/t1)+y0. The high-intensity contour of the direction for the cathode was wider than that of the direction for the anode, showing a wide range on the rear side of the cathode and on the rear side of the anode. We tried to find the positions where the workers' radiation exposure could be reduced. When the medical radiation workers have to hold the patient for an abdominal examination, they should be placed towards the tube anode and on the left side of the patient. For a lumbar-spine lateral examination, they should be placed towards the tube anode and behind the patient, and for a femur AP (anterior-posterior) examination, they should be placed towards the tube anode and on the right side of the patient.


The long QT (LQT) syndrome is characterized by ventricular arrhythmias, syncope and sudden death with a prolonged QT interval on electrocardiography. It may be inherited or acquired following the use of certain drugs including antibiotics and antihistamines. Sodium and potassium channel proteins involved in modulating the cardiac action potential have been implicated in the LQT syndrome. A potassium channel gene, KVLQTl, located on chromosome 11 is defective in LQTl and accounts for approximately 60% of patients with the LQT syndrome. Classically, the Romano-Ward (RW) syndrome is transmitted in a dominant fashion and represents those patients with isolated prolonged QT without deafness. In contrast, Jervell and Lange-Nielsen (JLN) syndrome is associated with deafness and autosomal recessive transmission. Neyroud et al. found linkage to llp15.5 by analyzing four famiIies with JLN syndrome. The gene was mapped to a 6 cM region known to contain the KVLQTl gene. A homozygous deletion-insertion event in the KVLQTl gene was found in three children of two families, indicating that this gene is responsible not only for the RW syndrome but also for the JLN syndrome. Thus these two disorders are allelic, differing in the dosage of KVLQTl. Those with one intact copy of the gene manifest the RW syndrome, while two defective copies presents with the JLN syndrome. It is well established that the stria vasculans of the inner ear plays a role in endolymph homeostasis and it is therefore encouraging (given that deafness is part of the JLN syndrome) that Neyroud et al. found KVLQT1 gene expression at this site in mice. Splawski et al. describe a family where the mother, previously thought to be completely well, awoke one night to the sound of her alarm clock and promptly died! Her 7 month old daughter was diagnosed soon after birth with the JLN syndrome. It turns out that both the deceased and her husband harbored mutations in the KVLQT1 and thus had the RW syndrome. Presumably the alarm clock produced a sudden adrenergic stimulus which triggered a fatal arrhythmia. Thus the mother who was not deaf was a carrier with respect to the JLN syndrome, but she had the RW syndrome with a risk of sudden death. This untimely death underscores the importance of clinical, electrocardiographic and now genetic monitoring of relatives of persons with the JLN cardioauditary syndrome. Understanding the molecular basis of genetic diseases allows for a more appropriate classification of disorders. In some instances disorders previously thought to be unrelated turn out to be allelic with clinical features at different ends of the same spectrum. On the other hand diseases deemed to be similar with some overlapping clinical features may be caused by defects in unrelated genes. Combining molecular genetic analysis together with the clinical phenotype provides a useful framework for disease classification (see this edition's Mini-review). In this light we could 'lump' JLN and RW as one disease (or one spectrum, called the 'LQT spectrum') with RW at the mild end of the spectrum and JLN at the severe end with deafness. KVLQTl is defective throughout this spectrum of disease and the clinical picture would depend on the functional consequences of the mutation(s) and the number of alleles affected.


Mechanisms through which economic agents coordinate their activities differ dramatically across nations. These differences largely persist despite an increasing internationalization of economies. This thesis investigates the causes of differences in organ ation of industrial finance, in governance of industrial relations, and in processes of economic policy formation and implementation among industrialized Western countries. The analysis of potential explanations reveals that, in each case, the best explan ion for cross-country differences in governance mechanisms is provided by differences of national cultures. The ways in which economic interactions are governed prove to be very closely related to cultural characteristics of societies in which they take p ce. We investigate mechanisms through which national culture influences the character of mechanisms of economic governance.


We present here the first-principles dynamical CPA (coherent potential approximation) combined with the tight-binding LMTO LDA+U method towards quantitative calculations of the electronic structure and magnetism at finite temperatures in transition metals and compounds. The theory takes into account the single-site dynamical charge and spin fluctuations using the functional integral technique as well as an effective medium. Numerical results for Fe, Co, and Ni show that the theory explains quantitatively the high-temperature properties such as the effective Bohr magneton numbers and the excitation spectra in the paramagnetic state, and describes the Curie temperatures semiquantitatively.


During the last five years, the Laboratory for Applied Remote Sensing and Image Processing (LARSIP) has been conducting an innovative and active Hands-on Training and Research Program for high school and undergraduate students. During the summer of 1999, NASA and the Puerto Rican Alliance supported the programs for Minority Participation (PR-AMP). A total of 55 students participated last summer including 5 students from Interamerican University high school TRIO Math and Science Program. Interaction and teamwork is encouraged to facilitate a more productive and accelerated learning environment. Considerable experience has been gained over the years. The methodology of selecting, guiding and mentoring the high school students is described in detail. The results of this kind of program indicate a high success rate especially for students from humble backgrounds, who have limited access to high technology environments.


PURPOSE
To describe the natural radiographic course of subperiosteal orbital abscesses that were managed medically in pediatric patients.

METHODS
A retrospective case review was undertaken at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics of Kansas City, Missouri. All patients admitted to the hospital and diagnosed as having orbital cellulitis or subperiosteal abscess from 2008 to 2017 were included in the study. Of the 418 patients identified, 15 patients had repeat imaging and did not undergo surgery prior to the second scan. The initial size of the empyema, size of the empyema on repeat imaging, and clinical course were recorded for each patient.

RESULTS
The size of the empyemas increased 240% on average in the first 2 to 3 days. Imaging up to 11 days after the diagnosis showed that 9 cases persisted; meanwhile, 4 cases had radiographic resolution, with the earliest by 21 days. Two cases recurred months later. The largest increase in size was 500% over 3 days, but the initial empyema was only 0.3 cm3.

CONCLUSIONS
This review describes the natural history of radiographically reimaged subperiosteal empyema. Empyema size will increase for a few days prior to a gradual resolution in 1 to 3 weeks. An ultimate resolution of radiographic evidence of an empyema takes up to 21 days. This information will help guide clinical management and decision making in caring for patients with pediatric orbital cellulitis with subperiosteal empyema. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2018;55(6):387-392.].


During the Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2012, Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis) were acoustically monitored in 9 port areas at night. During 6566 min of nocturnal monitoring, porpoise sonar was detected for 488 min (7.43% of the total time). Of all 81 encounters, the longest echolocation span obtained was 102.9 min, suggesting frequent and prolonged porpoise occupation of the port areas. A combined total of 2091 click trains were recorded, with 129 (6.2%) containing minimum inter-click intervals (ICIs) below 10 ms (termed a buzz). Buzzes with a decrease in ICIs and search and approach phases that resembled feeding echolocation signals accounted for 44.2% (N=52) of all buzzes. Buzzes with an increase in ICIs, suggesting a mirrored prey capture phase, accounted for 20.2% (N=26) and could reflect attempts to locate escaped prey because they were followed by approach-phase feeding buzzes. Anecdotal evidence of porpoises fleeing the proximity of vessels was observed. The recordings indicating clusters of porpoises feeding near the port areas suggest a forced choice for feeding due to the relatively higher prey availability in the port areas compared to other areas in the Yangtze River that are probably overfished.


Sorghum and pearl millet, staple cereals in the semi-arid tropics, are attacked by many pests of several kinds, from the seedling stage up to and after crop maturity. Some of the more important pests of these two crops are described, and possibilities for their control are discussed. Management practices, host-plant resistance, and pesticides are available, in various combinations, to control the pests of these crops, and more options will become available in the future. The combinations of pest control methods that farmers are able and willing to use, however, depend upon the interaction of several biological, social, economic, commercial, and political factors, and due attention must be given to all of these if effective pest control and sustained increased production of these crops is to become a reality.


We study a black hole domain wall system in dilatonic gravity being the low-energy limit of the string theory. Using the C-metric construction we derive the metric for an infinitisemally thin domain wall intersecting dilaton black hole. The behavior of the domain wall in the spacetime of dilaton black hole was analyzed and it was revealed that the extereme dilaton black hole always expelled the domain wall. We elaborated the back reaction problem and concluded that topological kink solution smoothes out singularity of the considered topological defect. Finally we gave some comments concerning nucleation of dilaton black holes in the presence of the domain wall. We found that domain walls would rather prefer to nucleate small black holes on them, than large ones inside them.


ABSTRACT The environmental saprophyte Mycobacterium vaccae induces a Th1 response and cytotoxic T cells that recognize M. tuberculosis, and by subcutaneous injection, it is therapeutic for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) induced by high-dose challenge in BALB/c mice. However, M. vaccae also drives regulatory T cells that inhibit Th2 responses, and this is seen in allergy models, not only following subcutaneous injection but also after oral administration. An oral immunotherapeutic for TB would be clinically useful, so we investigated M. vaccae given orally by gavage at 28-day intervals in the TB model. We used two different protocols: starting the oral M. vaccae either 1 day before or 32 days after infection with M. tuberculosis. Throughout the infection (until 120 days), we monitored outcome (CFU), molecules involved in the development of immunoregulation (Foxp3, hemoxygenase 1, idoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, and transforming growth factor β [TGF-β]), and indicators of cytokine balance (tumor necrosis factor, inducible nitric oxide synthase, interleukin-4 [IL-4], and IL-4δ2; an inhibitory splice variant of IL-4 associated with improved outcome in human TB). Oral M. vaccae had a significant effect on CFU and led to increased expression of Th1 markers and of IL-4δ2, while suppressing IL-4, Foxp3, and TGF-β. When administered 1 day before infection, oral M. vaccae induced a striking peak of expression of hemoxygenase 1. In conclusion, we show novel information about the expression in TB of murine IL-4δ2 and molecules involved in immunoregulation and show that these can be modulated by oral administration of a saprophytic mycobacterium. A clinical trial of oral M. vaccae in extensively drug-resistant TB might be justified.


Machine Type Communications (MTC) are automated applications which involve machines or devices that communicate through a network without any human intervention. They can be used today in almost everyday life applications from military to civil applications, such as: transportation, health care, smart energy, supply and provisioning, city automation... Those devices are generally spread in a wide area and should communicate through widely deployed networks. A good candidate to play the role of such a network could be cellular mobile networks. In fact, Cellular networks have been already deployed and o er a large coverage. Such a deployment is bene ficial for both mobile network Operators (i.e. more revenues) and the application developers (i.e. more opportunities). Furthermore, LTE networks are all-IP networks and off er a good support for MTC. However, cellular networks are not designed for MTC applications. Consequently, such a deployment is challenging and rises new problems. The most important of them is congestion. In fact, in MTC, a huge number of devices are deployed. This leads to contention and congestion in the the di fferent parts and nodes of the network when a lot of devices communicate at the same time. In the present work, we propose a novel Congestion-Aware Admission Control solution, which deals with the congestion in LTE networks. Our solution, which is based on control theory, e ffectively allows avoiding the core network congestion while saving the wireless scarce resources. We show its e ffectiveness through network simulations carried on the ns-3 simulator. In fact, the obtained results show that our solution is robust against di fferent traffic patterns and accommodates huge amount of devices as expected in this particular case of MTC applications. It assures a targeted utilization of the resources in the network. Furthermore, it is completely compliant with the actual protocols and standards.


To anticipate critical events, clinicians intuitively rely on multidimensional time-series data. It is, however, difficult to model such decision process using machine learning (ML), since real-world medical records often have irregular missing and data sparsity in both feature and longitudinal dimensions. Here we propose a nonparametric approach that updates risk score in real time and can accommodate sampling heterogeneity, using forecasting of severe acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) as the study case. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) rose steadily after transplantation and peaked at >0.7 in both adult and pediatric cohorts. Various numerical experiments provided guidelines for future applications.


Sarcoidosis is a multi-systemic granulomatosis of unknown cause, characterized by a clinical polymorphism. It results from interplay of environmental and genetic factors. The aim of our study was to describe sociodemographic and genetic characteristics in Tunisian patients with sarcoidosis. We conducted a retrorospective study of patients with sarcoidosis followed in the internal medicine and neurology departments at the Military Hospital of Tunis. We collected epidemiological characteristics. Genetic study concerned only patients who accepted to participate. DNA extraction was performed from whole blood. HLA class II typing and gene mutation testing of the ACE gene were also performed. Our study concerned 50 patients. The mediastino-pulmonary involvement was the most frequent (72.3%), followed by neurological involvement (58.5%), cutaneous involvement (50.8%) and ophthalmological involvement (40%). Genetic analysis showed a high frequency of the HLA DRB1 * 1501 allele (38%), DD genotype (30%) and D allele (54%) of the ACE gene. Treatment with corticosteroids was most often used 73.85%. The evolution was favorable in 13 cases (26.15%), and stable in 63% of cases. In conclusion, sociodemographic and genetic characteristic are variable from one ethnic to another. Advances in genotyping and statistical analysis are helping to elucidate the genetics of sarcoidosis.


Many academic researchers are familiar with the technical challenges inherent in creating patient-specific, tissue-engineered therapeutics for clinical applications. However, for the potential of these products to mature into clinical practice and the profound possibilities to be realized, developers must apply not only technical expertise but also a comprehensive translational strategy─making a product marketable, scalable, manufacturable, and approvable by regulators, while providing genuine advantages to patients. Here, we provide a brief overview of three crucial steps for successful translation: adoption of a "translational mindset," consideration of three categories of core challenges (economic, regulatory, and manufacturing), and detailed planning at the earliest stages of development.


We show that spectral Hausdorff dimensional properties of discrete Schr\"oodinger operators with (1) Sturmian potentials of bounded density and (2) a class of sparse potentials are preserved under suitable polynomial decaying perturbations, when the spectrum of these perturbed operators have some singular continuous component.


This paper discusses about a story of the sufferers in Indian society of Mulk Raj Anand's novel coolie. It describes the class distinction between the wealthy and the needy person. The upper- class people abused to lower class people humiliated them for minor faults and sometimes without any reason. It also explains the significant condition, bitter and miserable life of Munoo, a young boy of the village Bilaspur. The novel portrays the Indian society where social interactions of accomplishment and scarcity determine the life of Munoo, key person of the story. He is like the hero of John Galsworthy, English novelist and is the universal figure who represents the discomfort and measurable life of the poor and down-trodden. There is a human tragedy in the novel caused by the scarcity, exploitation, hunger, selfishness and torture. His life as a labourer in Bombay at the British-owned White cotton mills are described in fourth chapter. Munoo is exhibited as a servant and rickshaw coolie in the employ to Mrs. Mainwaring house, in Simla. A most vivid panorama of life in India of that period can be felt during the period of job searching from his native hills to the cities. It is not the destiny who is responsible for the disaster of Munoo but it is the society in which he is brought-up. He is a victim of social interactions in his life. Coolie represents very sensitive issue in the society where child work is the worst kind of social abuse. Mulk Raj Anand focuses crisis of these innocents in a very sensitive way critically. This article focuses on discrimination and exploitation faced by labour.