: The aim of this study was to establish the moderating effect of demographic characteristics as an influence of strategic positioning on business performance of mobile telecommunication companies in Kenya. The study was fundamentally divided into three parts. First, the influence of strategic positioning on firm's performance was examined. Second, organisational philosophy as an intervening variable along with demographic characteristic was determined. Third, the co-alignment joint effect of organisational philosophy and demographic characteristics on the relationship between strategic positioning and performance of mobile telecommunication companies in Kenya was determined. The adherence to ideal profile was taken as co-alignment for this study. This study was premised on Human Capital Theory and Resource Based View; which states that the strategic positioning alternatives available to firms are limited by their resources and capabilities. A combination of explanatory design and descriptive survey research design, specifically cross sectional design was used. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data while inferential statistics, specifically Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression was used to test the research hypotheses. It was found that huge gender disparities still exist and gender did not statistically influence performance. The study findings support age consideration of managers as a factor that affects the organisation performance and managers with higher education level and experiences had greater chances of performing exceptionally with also a significant influence that performance improved steadily with their length of service in the company. Mean scores obtained from the four mobile firms differed statistically from each other therefore the study established that ownership structures of a company are a significant influence to performance. The interaction of the moderating effect accounted for a significantly higher variance in demographic characteristics and business performance by R 2 change .039, p = .001, indicating there was a significant moderation effect between independent and dependent variable. The study established that managers' performance is highly related to both the skills of the individual worker and the interpersonal supports available within the organization.


Alloys of the As2Se3-NdSe system were synthesized in a wide range of concentrations. The As2Se3-NdSe system was studied by differential thermal (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), microstructural (MSA) analysis, as well as by measuring microhardness and density. The system has small single-phase fields based on primary components. In the As2Se3-NdSe system, the area of the solid solution based on the As2Se3 compound at room temperature is 1.5 mol. %, and the area of the solid solution based on the NdSe compound is 2.0 mol. %. Upon slow cooling in the As2Se3-NdSe system based on As2Se3, the glass formation region reaches 17 mol % NdSe. The photo- and electrical conductivity of glassy alloys of the As2Se3-NdSe system containing (As3Se3)1-x(NdSe)x (x = 0.03; 0.05; 0.07; 0.10) has been studied


A young man with severe multiple injuries following a motorcycle accident was admitted with head and mandible fractures, coma, fracture dislocation at C5-C6 resulting in total leg paralysis, partial paralysis of the right arm and intercostal muscles, and closed chest injury with possible pulmonary contusion. On the fourth day he developed fulminating mediastinitis and massive empyema, and was found to have a ruptured esophagus. Recovery became possible with surgical drainage of the pleural cavity and mediastinum, proximal and distal decompression of the esophagus, antimicrobial therapy, irrigation of the pleural cavity, complete intravenous hyperalimentation, and infusions of salt-poor albumin. The patient was discharged after 95 days, and 7 months after injury is neurologically intact except for a partial right wrist drop. This rare esophageal rupture should be suspected in any chest injury patients, especially those characterized by extreme cyanosis, dyspnea, shock, and prostration incompatible with thoracic cage injury.


GITR is a potent T cell costimulatory molecule with diverse effects on effector and regulatory T cells, and because of this, GITR is of high potential for clinical development including anti-tumor immunity. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we found that GITR ligation converted iTregs into Th9 cells in vitro. Mechanistically, GITR induced the sustained expression of p50 in activated CD4+ T cells, and p50 then recruited histone deacetylases HDAC1 and Sirt1 to the Foxp3 locus upon binding to the locus; this subsequently led to hypoacetylation, thus resulting in a closed epigenetic configuration of Foxp3 locus. Consistent with this, both p50-/- cells and treatment of HDAC inhibitor rescued iTregs from GITR-mediated suppression. We also found that Foxp3 is a potent repressor of IL-9, mainly through recruiting histone deacetylases to the IL-9 locus, and absence of Foxp3 rendered IL-9 locus accessible. In addition, p50 also promoted the expression of Th9 permissive transcription factors, including PU.1, Batf and Irf4, and all these factors together led to the induction of Th9 cells. Importantly, in a melanoma model in vivo, ligation of GITR using agonistic anti-GITR Ab blocked iTreg differentiation and inhibited tumor progression. In conclusion, our study identifies a new mechanism in which GITR ligation redirects iTregs into Th9 cells to mediate potent anti-tumor immunity. This new finding may have important clinical implications in cancer therapy.


The diversity-productivity, diversity-invasibility, and diversity-stability hypotheses propose that increasing species diversity should lead, respectively, to increased average biomass productivity, increased invasion resistance, and increased stability. We tested these three hypotheses in the context of cover crop mixtures, evaluating the effects of increasing cover crop mixture diversity on aboveground biomass, weed suppression, and biomass stability. Twenty to forty cover crop treatments were replicated three or four times at eleven sites using eighteen species representing three cover crop species each from six pre-defined functional groups: cool-season grasses, cool-season legumes, cool-season brassicas, warm-season grasses, warm-season legumes, and warm-season broadleaves. Each species was planted in monoculture, and the most diverse treatment contained all eighteen species. Remaining treatments included treatments representing intermediate levels of cover crop species and functional richness and a no cover crop control. Cover crop planting dates ranged from late July to late September with both cover crop and weed aboveground biomass being sampled prior to winterkill. Stability was assessed by evaluating the variability in cover crop biomass for each treatment across plots within each site. While increasing cover crop mixture diversity was associated with increased average aboveground biomass, this was the result of the average biomass of the monocultures being drawn down by low yielding species rather than due to niche complementarity or increased resource use efficiency. At no site did the highest yielding mixture out-yield the highest yielding monoculture. Furthermore, while increases in cover crop mixture diversity were correlated with increases in weed suppression and increases in biomass stability, we argue that this was largely the result of diversity co-varying with aboveground biomass, and that differences in aboveground biomass rather than differences in diversity drove the differences observed in weed suppression and stability. The results of this study contradict popular interpretations of the diversity-productivity, diversity-invasibility, and diversity-stability hypotheses.


This study is designed to utilize portable turbidity meters, usually available in most water analysis laboratories, in developing of a quick Dispersion Ratio test (DR, %) as an index of soil stability. The work includes: first, the use of many stabilizers (Bitumen, Lime and Cement) in the preparation of many artificially stabilized lead contaminated soil; second, the measurements of the scouring depth (SD, in mm), by a "Mini" Jet Erosion Test and then both the critical shear stress (τc, pa) and the erodibility coefficient (kd, cm3/kN.s); and finally, the comparisons between dispersion ratio (DR, %) values of soils, as estimated by a portable turbidity meter first and then by the gravimetric method. The results showed that all stabilizers can markedly improve the stability of soil; either as (SD, τc, and kd) or as (DR, %) and cement was the best. In general, good correlations were found between the turbidity (NTU) and suspended solids (mg/l) of the stabilized soils (R= 0.99, 0.96 and 0.97) for bitumen, lime and cement, respectively. However, the turbidity DR (%) appears to have a higher correlation with both lime (R= -0.98) and bitumen (R= -0.96) and in a lesser extent with cement (R= -0.87); because only 3% cement could sharply reduce DR of the untreated soil from 7.03 to 2.54%, compared with 4.9 and 4.25% for lime and bitumen respectively. Moreover, the turbidity DR (%) seems to be highly correlated with the kd of soils (R= 0.99, 0.96 and 0.90) for cement, bitumen and lime, respectively and cement was a superior in the reduction of both kd and DR (%) even at 3%. The salient conclusion of this work is that the turbidity DR (%) can be easily utilized to be as a successful index of soil stability. Because this method is quick and of results that are highly correlated with the erodibility coefficient (kd), this may suggest and recommend the use of the turbidity meter devices in estimating the stability of artificially stabilized soils and other similar soils.


As B3G, system is expected to provide high data rate and high spectrum efficiency with low transmission power, the generalized distributed antenna array is a very promising technique, besides OFDM and MIMO. However, to mitigate the cochannel interference and decrease frequency reuse factor, efficient radio resource management is necessary. In this paper, efficient radio resource management algorithms based on interference are proposed for real time speech in FuTURE TDD system in uplink. Compared to the other subcarrier allocation algorithm such as sequential allocation and 2-D intention subcarrier allocation, the algorithms proposed can improve the system capacity to more than double and the spectrum efficiency of 8 kbps speech service is improved to be about 1.3 Mbps/MHz/cell.


This study aims to determine how big the influence of land area, selling price, production results and production costs on rice farmers' income both simultaneously and partially. The population in this study were all rice farmers in Pulau Hanaut District, Kab. Kotawaringin Timur, which amounted to 184 farmers and which was only used as a sample, amounted to 126 respondents using a non-probability sampling technique. Sources of data in this study are primary data and secondary data. The process of data analysis using classical assumption test, multiple regression analysis and hypothesis testing with the help of SPSS. The results of the instrument test show that the variables of land area, selling price, production yield, and production costs simultaneously have a significant and positive effect on the income level of rice farmers in Pulau Hanaut District, Kab. East Kotawaringin


Sublithospheric small-scale convection (SSC) is thought to be responsible for the flattening of the seafloor depth and surface heat flow observed in mature plates. Although the existence of SSC is generally accepted, its ability to effectively produce a constant lithospheric thickness (i.e. flattening of observables) is a matter of debate. Here we study the development and evolution of SSC with a 2D thermomechanical finite-element code. Emphasis is put on (i) the influence of various rheological and thermophysical parameters on SSC, and (ii) its ability to reproduce geophysical observables (i.e. seafloor depth, surface heat flow, and seismic velocities). We find that shear heating plays no significant role either in the onset of SSC or in reducing the lithospheric thickness. In contrast, radiogenic heat sources and adiabatic heating exert a major control on both the vigour of SSC and the thermal structure of the lithosphere. We find that either dislocation creep, diffusion creep, or a combination of these mechanisms, can generate SSC with rheological parameters given by laboratory experiments. However, vigorous SSC and significant lithospheric erosion are only possible for relatively low activation energies. Well-developed SSC occurs only if the first 300 km of the mantle has an average viscosity of &10 Pa s; higher values suppress SSC, while lower values generate unrealistic high velocities. Seismic structures predicted by our models resemble closely tomography studies in oceanic mantle. However, the fitting to observed seafloor topography and surface heat flow is still unsatisfactory. This puts forward a fundamental dichotomy between the two datasets. This can be reconciled if most of the observed flattening in seafloor topography is influenced by processes other than SSC.


Human growth hormone (hGH) is a peptide hormone secreted by eosinophils of the human anterior pituitary, and a regulatory factor for a variety of metabolic pathways. A 30-kD protein from the pupa stage of silkworm was detected by Western blotting and confirmed by immunoprecipitation based on its ability to bind to anti-hGH antibody. This protein, named BmhGH-like protein, was purified from fresh silkworm pupas through low-temperature homogenization, filtration, and centrifugation to remove large impurity particles. The supernatants were precipitated, resuspended, and passed through a molecular sieve. Further purification by affinity chromatography and two-dimensional electrophoresis resulted in pure protein for analysis by MS MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. An alignment with predicted proteins indicated that BmhGH-like protein consisted of two lipoproteins, which we named hGH-L1 and hGH-L2. These proteins belong to the β-trefoil superfamily, with β domains similar to the spatial structure of hGH. Assays with K562 cells demonstrated that these proteins could promote cell division in vitro. To further validate the growth-promoting effects, hGH-L2 was cloned from pupa cDNA to create recombinant silkworm baculovirus vBmNPV-hGH-L2, which was used to infect silkworm BmN cells at low titer. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that the protein shortened the G0/G1 phase of the cells, and enabled the cells to rapidly traverse the G1/S phase transition point to enter S phase and promote cell division. Discovery of hGH-like protein in silkworm will once again arouse people's interest in the potential medicinal value of silkworm and establish the basis for the development of new hormone drugs.


HISTORY AND ADMISSION FINDINGS
A 29-year-old woman had since early childhood been smaller and thinner than her contemporaries. Her weight was now 36.5 kg, height 158 cm. Anorexia nervosa being suspected she was to be admitted to a psychosomatic clinic. A few days before the date she developed respiratory failure which required mechanical ventilation for a month. Physical examination revealed markedly reduced musculature.

INVESTIGATIONS
Muscle biopsy and fibroblast culture indicated acid maltase deficiency (glycogen storage disease Type II [Pompe's disease]). Lung functions were markedly reduced, blood gas analysis revealing global respiratory insufficiency.

TREATMENT AND COURSE
Intermittent patient-controlled ventilation (at night by intermittent positive pressure ventilation) clearly improved both her general condition and blood gases.

CONCLUSIONS
Acid maltase deficiency should be included as a possible cause of the differential diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. This diagnosis should strictly follow the criteria listed in ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases), but also after exclusion of other causes.


Damage to cell membranes, the outermost protection layer, is fatal to cells. However, precisely monitoring and in situ reporting cell membrane damage is not trivial. Herein, we present a molecular rotor probe, TPAE2, which can effectively bind to DNA and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine in solution. Due to the light-up imaging characteristics of the molecular rotor, TPAE2 offers ultrafast and wash-free staining of plasma membrane with 160-fold fluorescence "turn-on" and excellent photostability. Once the membrane is damaged, TPAE2 can light-up the nucleus as a signal reporter. The cascade imaging of the cell membrane and nucleus using TPAE2 enabled real-time tracking of the whole process of cell apoptosis. What's more, under irradiation, TPAE2 stained on the cell membrane could penetrate cells rapidly and selectively stain the nucleus, self-reporting the cancer cell ablation process. This is the first example that a single molecule with multiple functions can light up the nucleus as an indication of cell membrane damage. The membrane-to-nucleus translocation strategy opens up a new avenue for the design of membrane damage diagnosis probes for biomedical applications.


INTRODUCTION: Risk scores estimating a patient's probability of a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis are abundant but are difficult to interpret in isolation. We compared the predicted HCC probability for individuals with cirrhosis and cured hepatitis C with the general population (GP). METHODS: All patients with cirrhosis achieving sustained viral response (SVR) in Scotland by April 2018 were included (N = 1,803). The predicted 3-year probability of HCC at time of SVR achievement was determined using the aMAP prognostic model. GP data on the total number of incident HCCs in Scotland, stratified by demographics, were obtained from Public Health Scotland. Predicted HCC risk of cirrhosis SVR patients was compared with GP incidence using 2 metrics: (i) incidence ratio: i.e., 3-year predicted probability for a given patient divided by the 3-year probability in GP for the equivalent demographic group and (ii) absolute risk difference: the 3-year predicted probability minus the 3-year probability in the GP. RESULTS: The mean predicted 3-year HCC probability among cirrhosis SVR patients was 3.64% (range: 0.012%–36.12%). Conversely, the 3-year HCC probability in the GP was much lower, ranging from <0.0001% to 0.25% depending on demographics. The mean incidence ratio was 410, ranging from 5 to >10,000. The mean absolute risk difference was 3.61%, ranging from 0.012% to 35.9%. An online HCC-GP comparison calculator for use by patients/clinicians is available at https://thrive-svr.shinyapps.io/RShiny/. DISCUSSION: Comparing a patient's predicted HCC probability with the GP is feasible and may help clinicians communicate risk information and encourage screening uptake.


STAD LEARNING MODEL TO IMPROVE ABILITY TO SOLVE STATISTICAL PROBLEMS IN STUDENTS IN CLASS XII MIPA 7 SMA 2 KUDUS 2 YEARS LESSON 2018/. This class action research aims: 1) Determine the magnitude of the increase in mathematics activity and learning outcomes in statistical material, using the STAD learning model in class XII.MIPA 7 students of SMA 2 Kudus for semester 1 of 2018/2019 academic year. 2) Describe the changes in mathematics learning activities and statistics material, after applying the STAD learning model to students of XII.MIPA 7 SMA 2 Kudus semester 1 of 2018/2019 academic year. The research method uses Classroom Action Research with 3 cycles. Data collection techniques through: 1) observation, 2) questionnaire; and 3) test. Data Analysis Techniques with comparative descriptive techniques and interactive analysis techniques. The results showed an increase in cycle I to cycle II for the level of activity reaching 42.86% and completeness of learning outcomes reached 55.53%. Furthermore it can be concluded that Statistics learning with STAD learning models can improve student activity and quality of learning outcomes and can improve students' abilities in completing statistics.


Biological sequencing data consist of read counts, e.g. of specified taxa and often exhibit sparsity (zero-count inflation) and overdispersion (extra-Poisson variability). As most sequencing techniques provide an arbitrary total count, taxon-specific counts should ideally be treated as proportions under the compositional data-analytic framework. There is increasing interest in the role of the gut microbiome composition in mediating the effects of different exposures on health outcomes. Most previous approaches to compositional mediation have addressed the problem of identifying potentially mediating taxa among a large number of candidates. We here consider causal inference in compositional mediation when a priori knowledge is available about the hierarchy for a restricted number of taxa, building on a single hypothesis structured in terms of contrasts between appropriate sub-compositions. Based on the theory on multiple contemporaneous mediators and the assumed causal graph, we define non-parametric estimands for overall and coordinate-wise mediation effects, and show how these indirect effects can be estimated from empirical data based on simple parametric linear models. The mediators have straightforward and coherent interpretations, related to specific causal questions about the interrelationships between the sub-compositions. We perform a simulation study focusing on the impact of sparsity and overdispersion on estimation of mediation. While unbiased, the precision of the estimators depends, for any given magnitude of indirect effect, on sparsity and the relative magnitudes of exposure-to-mediator and mediator-to-outcome effects in a complex manner. We demonstrate the approach on empirical data, finding an inverse association of fibre intake on insulin level, mainly attributable to direct rather than indirect effects.


BACKGROUND
Most of the nutritional surveys that have been carried out in Kenya have concentrated on children aged five years and below who are under the care of their parent(s). The HIV/AIDS, conflict, natural disasters, endemic diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis and rising poverty has claimed the health and lives of millions of productive adults, leaving their children orphaned and vulnerable. This has led to mushrooming of orphanages to take care of these orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya.

OBJECTIVE
Compare the nutrition status and associated risk factors of primary school children living in orphanages and those not living in orphanages in selected public primary schools in Dagoretti Division, Nairobi.

DESIGN
Descriptive cross sectional survey.

SETTING
Four public primary schools in Dagoretti Division. Data were collected from school registers and directly questioning the students, parents/guardians or caretakers.

SUBJECTS
Four hundred and sixteen, four to eleven year olds randomly selected orphanage and non-orphanage children who attended the same primary school.

RESULTS
The orphanage children had a significantly higher rate of stunting and underweight (p < 0.05) than the non-orphanage children. The orphanage children had also a significantly higher rate of morbidity (p < 0.05) than the non-orphanage children. The orphanage children were more than three times more likely to take inadequate calories compared to the non-orphanage children.

CONCLUSIONS
The main factors associated with the higher rate of malnutrition among orphanage children were high morbidity rate, inadequate amounts and diversity of foods served, low rates of vaccination and basic hygiene.


Decarbonization of the transport sector may be more challenging than it is for the power supply and heating sectors. Green hydrogen, i.e., produced from renewable energy sources, combined with CO2 captured from flue gases or air can be used to produce synthetic fuels, e.g., dimethyl ether (DME), ammonia, and jet fuel. These synthetic fuels can be used in heavy-duty and long-range transport, i.e., trucks, ships, and airplanes. The research question of this study is: how much green hydrogen and CO2 is needed to replace fossil fuel in the mentioned transport sectors with synthetic fuels? How much of the power demand for production of the synthetic fuels can be supplied from renewables, i.e., wind and solar power, considering the installed capacities of these technologies, and the excess power that can be used for the hydrolysis process. The case of Latvia for the year 2050 is used for the simulation of scenarios with various mixes of renewable power production. The simulation is done on an hourly basis for the whole year, using EnergyPLAN software as the modeling tool. The results show the total hydrogen and CO2 demand, the total power demand for hydrolysis of green hydrogen, and the share of the demand that can be covered by renewable power technologies. The results also include the costs of synthetic fuel supply for the considered transport sector. The results are obtained for scenarios of different combinations of installed capacities of wind power plants and solar PVs.


Recently, Kajiyama, Okada and Yagyu (KOY) proposed an electron/muon specific two Higgs doublet model. In this model, an S3 symmetry suppresses flavor changing neutral currents instead of a Z2 symmetry. In the "Type I" version of the model, the heavy Higgs bosons have a greatly enhanced coupling to electrons and muons. KOY studied the phenomenology of the heavy Higgs bosons at the LHC. In this paper, the phenomenology at electron-positron colliders is studied. For the heavy Higgs mass range between 150 and 210 GeV, bounds from LEP-200 are stronger than those from the LHC. The model allows for the interesting possibility that muon pair production at the ILC can be mediated by s-channel Higgs exchange. This requires an energy scan. The scanning rate and necessary resolution are discussed.


Purpose: This study addresses the efficacy of zoledronic acid treatment in osteoporotic patients with β-thalassemia. Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine thalassemic patients were enrolled in this study. Bone mineral density was measured using Dual energy x-ray absorbtiometry (DEXA), and biochemical markers of osteoporosis in serum and urine were measured at 0, 6, and 12 months of treatment. Patients with thalassemia were randomly received either zoledronic acid 4 mg IV once every six months or calcitriol 0.25 mcg / day for 12 months. A subgroup analysis was also performed according to gonadal status.  Results: There were 21 males and 18 females, mean age of 23.1 ± 1.3 and bone age of 16.3±0.35 years. At the end of 12 months, bone mineral densities of the lumbar vertebra and femoral neck significantly increased in the zoledronic acid group. In patients with hypogonadism who received hormone replacement therapy, t-scores significantly increased. Serum NTX levels indicated significant increase in both treatment groups compared with the control group at the end of the treatment. A significant increase was obtained in urinary NTX level in hypogonadal patients who received zoledronic acid, and in serum NTX and IGF-1 levels in normogonadal patients who received calcitriol.  Conclusion: In our study, zoledronic acid resulted in significant improvement in bone mineral density and t-scores. This improvement was in correlation with IGF-1 levels.


ABSTRACT Student-led clinics are becoming more prominent as educators seek alternate models of clinical education for health professionals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate healthcare students' experiences of an interprofessional student-led clinic for clients with neurological conditions. Thirteen students representing occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology were recruited for the study. A sequential mixed-methods evaluation was employed and the results from the Interprofessional Education Scale and focus group revealed that the students experienced positive perceptions of working collaboratively with other professions, forming good relationships with others, as well as an increased respect for the roles of other professions. The findings suggest that providing a capstone opportunity, where students can work as part of an interprofessional team with a real client, in a format they may come across in future clinical practice, may be beneficial in providing them with essential interprofessional skills as new graduate health professionals.


An apparatus and method for monitoring and controlling microbiological activity in a process stream by measuring dissolved oxygen is disclosed.


Introduction: Among PLWHA, most studies have reported a high prevalence (20-37%) of depression, which negatively impacts the adherence to ART, and leads to increased morbidity and mortality.Objective: This study aims to study depression among PLWHA who were under ART in the out-patient HIV clinicMethod: This study was conducted at the outpatient HIV clinic in a tertiary center (TUTH). All relevant information were noted in a semistructured proforma designed for the study. BDI-II and ICD-10 DCR were the tools used.Result: Out of total 99 patients, 34 were depressed (34.2%), moderate depression with somatic syndrome category being the majority (19, 19.2%) (p< 0.05). Depression was significantly associated with low family income, alcohol use and past history of depression.Conclusion: Depression was found to be highly prevalent in PLWHA who were under ART


An experiment was conducted at Gazipur, Bogura and Ramgarh to observe the effect of eight different treatments packages on rhizome rot of ginger. The package comprising of seed treated with Chlorox (10%) + Soil treatment with Stable Bleaching Powder (20 kg/ha) + Soil drenching with Chlorox (10%) and Ridomil (0.2%) alternately for 5 times each gave superior or better results in respect of germination(80-97%), disease reduction(50-62%) and crop yield (24 t/ha) of ginger in all locations. The same package showed disease reduction ranging from 53 to 57.33% at Nilphamari, Rangpur, Bogura, Madhupur and Ramgarh in the validation trials and thereby produced higher yield of ginger 24.8 t/ha at Bogura, 23.6 t/ha at Rangpur, 23.2 t/ha at Nilphamari and 22.6 t/ha at Ramgarh. The same package also gave higher benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 4.85 in case of experiment and 4.58 in case of validation trials. This package was therefore seemed to be cost effective in reducing rhizome rot disease of ginger and accelerate the yield if applied properly.


To discuss the application of enhanced recovery after surgery concept in ultrasound-guided iliac fascia nerve block in elderly hip fracture surgery patients and its effect on traumatic stress in patients during perioperative period. Selected 100 elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery in our hospital from January 2021 to September 2021. Divided 50 patients of non-opioid ultrasound-guided iliac fascia nerve block anesthesia into observation group and the other 50 patients of opioid (sufentanil) anesthesia into control group. Compared perioperative heart rate and mean arterial pressure indexes of both groups; compared visual analog scale, sedation-agitation scale and mini-mental state examination scores of patients on the 2 d after surgery; compared cortisol, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels in serum of both groups. Compared Harris hip function score, perioperative complications (pressure sores, lower extremity venous thrombosis, lower limbs swelling, lung infection), length of hospital stay and hospitalization expenses of both groups at 3 mo after surgery. Observation group had lower mean arterial pressure and heart rate during spinal canal intubation than control group, which possessed statistical significance (p<0.05). On the 1 d after surgery, observation group had higher visual analog scale score than control group (p>0.05), but had remarkably lower sedation-agitation scale score than control group (p<0.05), and had remarkably higher mini-mental state examination score than control group (p<0.05). At 3 mo after surgery, observation group had higher affected hip joint Harris score than control group (p<0.05), and postoperative complications rate in observation group (8 %) was remarkably lower than control group (16 %), observation group had remarkably lower hospitalization expenses and length of stay than control group, so the divergence possessed statistical significance (p<0.05). Under the concept of enhanced recovery after surgery, non-opioids under ultrasound-guided iliac fascia nerve block anesthesia can better improve hip joint function, reduce postoperative cognitive dysfunction and reduce postoperative complications in geriatric hip fracture surgery. It can remarkably shorten the length of hospitalization and hospitalization expenses. Compared with traditional opioid spinal anesthesia, it can remarkably accelerate the recovery of patients after surgery.


Melia S, Juliyarsi I, Kurnia YF, Pratama YE, Pratama DR. 2020. The quality of fermented goat milk produced by Pediococcus acidilactici BK01 on refrigerator temperature. Biodiversitas 21: 4591-4596. This research aimed to determine the quality of chemical and microbiological milk of goats fermented with Pediococcus acidilactici BK01 with the storage time on refrigerator temperature. The method used is the experimental method of Completely Randomized Design with five times the treatment of goat milk fermentation at the refrigerator temperature is over 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days with four repetitions. The results showed long-lasting storage of real effect (P < 0.05) on water content, pH, titratable acid, total lactic acid bacteria, and total plate count, but no noticeable effect (P > 0.05) on the protein levels and milk fat fermentation during the resulting storage. The value of moisture content during storage ranges between 85.88-84.92%, pH 4.48-4.28 , 3.69-3.49% fat content, 3.53-3.58% protein content, as well as the count of titratable acid ranging from 1.52-1.73%. The whole colonies of lactic acid bacteria reached between 9.106 log CFU/mL to 10.376 log CFU/mL, and the total plate count (TPC) value during storage experienced an increase from 2.653 log CFU/mL to 4.012 log CFU/mL. Based on the results of the study can be concluded that the milk of goat fermentation with P. acidilactici BK01 can maintain quality until the retention period of 28 days with the viability of lactic acid bacteria that meet the category as probiotics and still liked by the consumer.


This paper deals with an improved current source using full-bridge converter type for thyristor valve test of HVDC system. The conventional high-current and low-voltage source of synthetic test circuit requires additional auxiliary power supply to provide the reverse voltage for the auxiliary thyristor valve during turn-off process. The proposed circuit diagram to provide the reverse voltage is extremely simple because no additional component is required. The reverse voltage can be obtained from the input DC voltage of the high-current and low-voltage power supply. The operation principle and design method of the proposed system are described. Simulation and experimental results in scaled down STC of 200 V, 30 A demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme.


Intrusion Detection (ID) is essential for protecting contemporary computer networks from a range of threats. Modern ID techniques must cope with increasingly sophisticated attacks as well as rapidly rising network line speeds. Signature-based ID is forced to sample sparsely, increasing the likelihood of malicious traffic entering the network without scrutiny. Consequently, flow-based ID is gaining attention as an effective complement. ID systems are furthermore often characterized as either network-based or host-based. The autonomous multi agent design paradigm is a scalable, attractive alternative for its potential to leverage the strengths of both architectures: the broad perspective and visibility into distributed malicious activity provided by network-based ID, and the comprehensive view of the local node provided by host-based ID. This paper therefore develops an architecture for a new multi agent, flow-based intrusion detection sysem. The architecture is designed in two iterations of increasing complexity. These innovative ID designs use a "repuation" system to permit agents to dynamically find nodes that are most effective for classifying malicious network activity. Furthermore, each system design includes the development of an innovative classifier that uses multi objective evolutionary algorithms to aid in the search for effective operational parameter values. Evaluation using an extensive agent simulation framework highlights the conditions under which the reputation system provides a significant classification benefit.


Since the synthesis of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel from coal by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in 1923, there has been cyclic interest in developing this fuel for military and commercial applications. In recent years the U.S. Department of Defense has taken interest in producing a unified battlespace fuel using the Fischer Tropsch (FT) process for a variety of reasons including cost, quality, and logistics. In the past year there has been a particular emphasis on moving quickly to demonstrate that an FT fuel can be used in the form of a blend with conventional petroleum-derived jet fuel. The initial objective is to employ this semi-synthetic fuel with blend ratios as high as 50 percent FT with longer range goals to use even high blend ratios and ultimately a fully synthetic jet fuel. A significant concern associated with the use of a semi-synthetic jet fuel with high FT blend ratios is the effect these low aromatic fuels will have on fuel-wetted polymeric materials, most notably seals and sealants. These materials typically swell and soften to some degree when exposed to jet fuel and the aromatic content of these fuels contribute to this effect. Semi-synthetic jet fuels with very low aromatic contents may cause seals and sealants to shrink and harden leading to acute or chronic failure. Unfortunately, most of the material qualification tests are more concerned with excessive swelling than shrinkage and there is little guidance offered as to an acceptable level of shrinkage or other changes in physical properties related to low aromatic content. Given the pressing need for guidance data, a program was developed to rapidly survey the volume swell of selected fuel-wetted materials in a range of conventional and semi-synthetic jet fuels and through a statistical analysis to make a determination as to whether there was a basis to be concerned about using fuels with FT blend ratios as high as 50 percent. Concurrent with this analysis data was obtained as to the composition of the fuel absorbed in fuel-wetted materials through the use of GC-MS analysis of swollen samples as well as other supporting data. In this presentation the authors will present a summary of the results of the volume swell and fuel absorbed by selected O-rings and sealants as well as a description of the measurement protocols developed for this program.


Speculative execution at coarse granularities (e.g., code-blocks, methods, algorithms) offers a promising programming model for exploiting parallelism on modern architectures. In this paper we present Anumita, a framework that includes programming constructs and a supporting runtime system to enable the use of coarse-grain speculation to improve program performance, without burdening the programmer with the complexity of creating, managing and retiring speculations. Speculations may be composed by specifying surrogate code blocks at any arbitrary granularity, which are then executed concurrently, with a single winner ultimately modifying program state. Anumita provides expressive semantics for winner selection that go beyond time to solution to include user-defined notions of quality of solution. Anumita can be used to improve the performance of hard to parallelize algorithms whose performance is highly dependent on input data. Anumita is implemented as a user-level runtime with programming interfaces to C, C++, Fortran and as an OpenMP extension. Performance results from several applications show the efficacy of using coarse-grain speculation to achieve (a) robustness when surrogates fail and (b) significant speedup over static algorithm choices.


Although migration scholars have demonstrated that migrant workers behave diffe-rently from locals when looking for jobs, past research in China's urban labor market has pre-sented puzzling results by showing that individuals (both rural migrants and urban natives alike) predominantly rely on social networks when job searching. Using data collected by a 2008 survey in Shanghai, this study nonetheless reveals significant differences between the two groups' job searching methods insofar as migrants are less likely to use hierarchy method to find jobs. I also show that while both migrants and urban natives often relied on network me-thod when looking for employment, the pattern of such reliance decreases over time. I suggest job search methods, particular network behavior, can be viewed as strategies that individuals employ to solve problems in their specific institutional environment, and such strategies are likely to evolve in response to the changing opportunities and incentives in the corresponding institutional segments for Chinese migrants and natives.


In mammalian cells, gene expression is rhythmic and sensitive to various environmental and physiological stimuli. A circadian clock system helps to anticipate and synchronize gene expression with daily stimuli including cyclic light and food intake, which control the central and peripheral clock programs, respectively. Food intake also regulates insulin secretion. How much insulin contributes to the effect of feeding on the entrainment of the clock and rhythmic gene expression remains to be investigated. An important component of insulin action is mediated by changes in insulin receptor (IR)-dependent gene expression. In the liver, insulin at high levels controls the transcription of hundreds of genes involved in glucose homeostasis to promote energy storage while repressing the expression of gluconeogenic genes. In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), selective hepatic insulin resistance impairs the inhibition of hepatic glucose production while promoting lipid synthesis. This pathogenic process promoting hyperlipidemia as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. While several lines of evidence link such metabolic diseases to defective control of circadian homeostasis, the hypothesis that IR directly synchronizes the clock has not been studied in vivo. Here, we used conditional hepatocyte-restricted gene deletion to evaluate the role of IR in the regulation and oscillation of gene expression as well as in the programming of the circadian clock in adult mouse liver.


The preparation of potassium fluorosilicate (K2SiF6) from fluorosilicic acid as an inexpensive byproduct of Iraqi phosphate fertilizer plant has been investigated. The effect of molar ratio (KCl/H2SiF6), temperature and agitation on the purity and conversion were studied. The reaction was performed at different temperatures( 25-60 oC) for 1 hr under stirring, the precipitated material was separated from reaction mixture by filtration and dried under vacuum at1*10 bar and 150 oC. The results indicate that using higher molar ratio led to obtain a gelatinous form of K2SiF6 which is difficult to separate from reaction solution .Using higher reaction temperature was permitted to use higher molar ratio and getting high purity filterable product with higher conversion. Agitation was improved the conversion due to increase the crystal growth rate of K2SiF6. High purity of potassium fluorosilicate (99.25%) with a maximum conversion(71.04%) was obtained by using molar ratio(1.4),Temperature(60 oC) ,and agitation(600rpm).The level of essential impurities (Cu ,Fe ,Ni)in the preparative material is lower than 0.05% which makes this material more suitable for using as raw material for silicon preparation by electro deposition method.


This paper focuses on the relationship between actual victimization and perceived fear of crime among young women aged 18-20 years. Previous studies shows that women are more afraid of becoming a victim of crime than men, even though studies shows that men are victims of crime to a greater extent than women. The purpose of this paper was to examine women's fear of becoming a victim of crime from a class perspective. To investigate this, we interviewed 16 young women aged 18-20 years with both working class and middle class backgrounds. The interviews helped us understand how the women in each group discussed the fear and crime in society. To analyze the material we used Beverly Skeggs and Bronwyn Davies theories. Skeggs was used to analyze the significance of class differences among women while we used Davies to analyze how the socialization of female and male behavior has significance for the fear of crime. The result of the study showed that it was mainly women from the working class who felt fear of becoming a victim of crime while women from the middle class did not experience fear in the same way as working class women.


A general derivation is given of the conditions that should be fulfilled for the attainment of maximum statistical accuracy in radiation counting measurements. Conventional methods of measurement can meet these conditions, whereas the " background suppression " technique of Bradley and Marks cannot. Conventional methods are, therefore, preferred.


We consider tilt grain boundaries with small angle θ in an incommensurate smectic Aic liquid crystal with ordering wave numbers q1, q2 and sample thickness h. We show that for qiθh ≪ 1, a limit readily accessible to experiment, such boundaries consist of arrays of dislocations whose spacing varies as h1/5θ-4/5. This is qualitatively different from the result h1/3θ-2/3 obtained by Nallet and Prost for periodic smectics. This behavior, which is a consequence of the existence of phasons, should serve as a decisive test of the incommensurate nature of these systems.


BACKGROUND
Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) is an association with a variety of benign and malignant etiologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate if malignant SVCS is a real medical emergency or if we are able to obtain a definite histological diagnosis before chemoradiotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this prospective case series study, we have evaluated epidemiological characteristics and the ability to obtain a definitive histological diagnosis before chemoradiotherapy and the role of chemoradiotherapy prior to obtaining tissue specimens on the results of diagnostic interventions in patients with malignant SVCS who came to thoracic surgery wards of Imam Khomeini (Tehran) and Ghaem and Imam Reza (Mashhad) hospitals in Iran from 2001 to 2006.

RESULTS
Among 50 patients with SVCS, the M/F ratio was 32/18. Mean age was 61.7 years, and the most common symptom was dyspnea (86%). We performed successful tissue sampling before chemoradiotherapy in 44 cases (88%), and histological diagnoses in 100% of these cases were established, but among the other 6 patients (12%) who received chemoradiotherapy first because of unstable general conditions, histological diagnoses were obtained in only one patient (16.7%) after chemoradiotherapy (P<0.01). No in-hospital deaths were reported among our cases.

CONCLUSION
Because we are able to establish tissue specimens by minimally invasive methods in most SVCS cases and because chemoradiation may preclude obtaining an exact pathological diagnosis, we suggest performing diagnostic interventions prior to chemoradiation in patients with SVC syndrome and without emergent clinical conditions.


A method is introduced to weaken the problems arising when a complex nonlinear process has to be controlled. The proposed method is based on the use of modularly structured B-spline networks (MBSN) which are integrated in an internal model control (IMC) structure. It is shown that the networks are suitable for this control strategy due to their simple mathematical description allowing model inversion in an easy way. An example is given to illustrate the advantages over other neural based methods using separate networks considered as controllers which have to be trained additionally to the process modelling network.


In recent years, 13 loci and 10 genes have been identified in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorders with a recessive mode of inheritance (AR-CMT). Accordingly, the entity of AR-CMT has been divided into subgroups on the basis of genetic linkage. Mutations in the MTMR2, MTMR13, GDAP1, PRX, CTDPI, KIAA1985 and NDRG1 genes have been shown to be associated with specific CMT phenotypes. In AR-CMT disorders associated with mutations in the LMNA and MED25 genes the number of patients is still too low to achieve reliable phenotype-genotype correlations. In the present review, we summarize molecular, electrophysiological, neuropathological and clinical aspects of AR-CMT disorders.


Information overload occurs when the amount of information exceeds the individual s capacity to efficiently process and use the information available. In this situation information instead of being an asset becomes a load. This interview study deals with college students experiences of information overload when working on their thesis. Focus lies on use of Internet based information resources. The main result was that the students experienced information overload in specific situations and steps of the process. Choosing a subject with a manageable focus for the thesis and exploring different information sources to increase familiarity with the topic was a critical phase. Information overload also frequently occurred when using search engines. The students reacted to information overload mainly with frustration. Strategies to escape information overload included choosing a narrow subject for the thesis, avoiding search engines and using reference lists to find the most important sources. The students opinion was that the major responsibility for student information literacy lies with faculty. The academic library was seen as an extra resource. Student interest in information literacy education offered by the academic library was poor. The general opinion was that librarians are experts in information seeking, while teachers hold the slightly more important subject knowledge. Our main conclusion is that cooperation between the academic library and faculty is needed to optimize efforts to make students information literate, thereby avoiding information overload.


Marine cone snails are carnivorous gastropods that use peptide toxins called conopeptides both as a defense mechanism and as a means to immobilize and kill their prey. These peptide toxins exhibit a large chemical diversity that enables exquisite specificity and potency for target receptor proteins. This diversity arises in terms of variations both in amino acid sequence and length, and in posttranslational modifications, particularly the formation of multiple disulfide linkages. Most of the functionally characterized conopeptides target ion channels of animal nervous systems, which has led to research on their therapeutic applications. Many facets of the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for the specificity and virulence of conopeptides, however, remain poorly understood. In this review, we will explore the chemical diversity of conopeptides from a computational perspective. First, we discuss current approaches used for classifying conopeptides. Next, we review different computational strategies that have been applied to understanding and predicting their structure and function, from machine learning techniques for predictive classification to docking studies and molecular dynamics simulations for molecular-level understanding. We then review recent novel computational approaches for rapid high-throughput screening and chemical design of conopeptides for particular applications. We close with an assessment of the state of the field, emphasizing important questions for future lines of inquiry.


In a periodic pattern of horizontally and vertically aligned quadrangles, two sets of illusory lines are seen to pulsate at orthogonal orientations, corresponding to the directions of knight's moves on a chessboard. The illusion seems to be governed by subtle rules of long-range interactions between parallel and non-parallel orientation filters.


A critical step in stochastic optimization models of power system analysis is to select a set of appropriate scenarios and significant numbers of scenario generation methods exist in the literature. This paper develops a clustering based scenario generation method, which aims to improve the performance of existing scenario generation techniques by grouping a set of correlated wind sites into clusters according to their cross-correlations. Copula based models are utilized to model spatiotemporal correlations and the Gibbs sampling is then used to generate scenarios for day-ahead markets. Our results show that the generated scenarios based on clustered wind sites outperform existing approaches in terms of reliability and sharpness and can reduce the total computational time for scenario generation and reduction significantly. The clustering-based framework can therefore provide a better support for real-world market simulations with high wind penetration.


One of the leading theories of the neuropathology of schizophrenia is that it is a developmental disorder of "neural connectivity." To assess this theory, it is first necessary to understand how precise neural connections normally are established. Sensory-driven neural activity has been widely recognized as crucial for this process. Recent studies have revealed a similar requirement for endogenous neural activity generated by the nervous system itself, long before there is any sensory input. These patterns of sensory-driven and endogenously generated neural activity sculpt the precise circuits that are crucial to the many complex functions of the adult brain. This article summarizes the principles of activity-dependent neural development as determined from basic neuroscience experiments, particularly those done using the mammalian visual system, to illustrate the role of patterned activity, neuronal competition, and critical periods in shaping neural circuitry. The potential molecular mechanisms involved in these features of activity-dependent neurodevelopment are discussed and possible links to the etiology of schizophrenia are briefly explored.


The aim of the study was to check whether VEP in Parkinson disease are pathological and if there is a relationship between VEP studies and severity, duration of the disease. The authors recruited 54 patient with idiopathic Parkinson disease with significant differences in laterality of bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. The examined group consisted of 25 males and 29 females, aged from 34 to 82 years; mean age 70.47; the disease duration--from 3 month to 20 years; mean duration 7.76. The asymmetry of extra-pyramidal symptoms, severity of disease with UPDRS and activities of daily living with Schwabach and England were evaluated. Age, disease duration, treatment duration, current dose and side effects of levodopa were taken into account. Neurological examination and VEP were performed before the morning dose of levodopa U-test and Spearman correlation were used for statistical analysis. The VEP latencies were found in 11 patients (15.94%). Mean VEP latency for the right eye in this group was 116.83 (range: 122.3-111.0) and 120.45 (range: 161.5-111.0) for the left. In the group of patients with normal VEP the results were respectively 99.91 and 100.39. There were no significant correlations between the VEP and the asymmetry of neurological symptoms, disease severity and duration, treatment duration, the dose and side effects of Levodopa. There was a significant relationship between VEP latency and patients age and activities of daily living.


Abstract: Customers and products are the main assets for every business. Companies make their best to satisfy customers because of coming back to their companies. After sales service related to different steps that make customers are satisfied with the company service and products. After sales service covers different many activities to investigate whether the customer is satisfied with the service, products or not? Hence, after sales service is acting very crucial role for customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. If the after sales service customer and services data is saved by companies, this data is the key for growing companies. Companies can add value their brand value with the managing of this data. In this study, we aim to investigate effect of 6 factors on customer churn prediction via data mining methods. After sale service software database is the source of our data. Our data source variables are Customer Type, Usage Type, Churn Reason, Subscriber Period and Tariff The data is examined by data mining program. Data are compared 8 classification algorithm and clustered by simple K means method. We will determine the most effective variables on customer churn prediction. As a result of this research we can extract knowledge from international firms marketing data.


Ten species of Lycoris was selected for establishment of phylogenetic relationships using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis, the native distribution and flowering characterestics. On the basis of the dendrogram constructed with the similarity coefficients, 10 Lycoris species were divided into two clusters. L. sprengeri and L. incanata were showed very high similarity in the RAPD analysis, same flowering time and flower color as pink. The leaf of L. squamigera, L. sanguinea, L. koreana, L. sprengeri and L. incanata emergenced in spring. The L. squamigera and L. sanguinea were showed high similarity in same cluster. Also L. koreana, L. sprengeri and L. incanata were showed high similarity in same cluster. The flower of L. radiata, L. radiata var pumila, L. albiflora and L. traubii was spider. These species was showed very low similarity in another Lycoris species.


A classic of its type the closest comparison is the legendary Weibust s "Deep Sea Sailors," and I would hazard to suggest that this book may come to hold a similarly important place in the scholarship of maritime ethnography. Joseph Flatman, author of "Ships and Shipbuilding in Medieval Manuscripts" This innovative study provides an important analysis of Anglo-American mariners attitudes toward death, the dead, and commemoration. It will be valuable to all interested in historic maritime culture and mortuary practices, and reveals a distinctive mariner subculture which also influenced their families back home. Harold Mytum, author of "Mortuary Monuments and Burial Grounds of the Prehistoric Period"Like other groups with dangerous occupations, mariners have developed a close-knit culture bound by loss and memory. Death regularly disrupts the fabric of this culture and necessitates actions designed to mend its social structure. From the ritual of burying a body at sea to the creation of memorials to honor the missing, these events tell us a great deal about how sailors see their world.Based on a study of more than 2,100 gravestones and monuments in North America and the United Kingdom erected between the seventeenth and late twentieth centuries, David Stewart expands the use of nautical archaeology into terrestrial environments. He focuses on those who make their living at sea one of the world s oldest and most dangerous occupations to examine their distinct folkloric traditions, beliefs, and customs regarding death, loss, and remembrance.David J. Stewart, assistant professor of nautical archaeology at East Carolina University, is a contributor to "Burial at Sea.""A volume in the series New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology, edited by James C. Bradford and Gene Allen Smith""


Review: The World System and the Earth System A. Horberger and C. Crumley (Eds.) Reviewed by A.M. Mannion University of Reading, UK Horberger, A. and Crumley, C. (Eds.). The World System and the Earth System. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2007. 395pp. ISBN: 1-59874-100-4. $34.95 Papercover. Alkaline paper. People-environment relationships have varied temporally and spatially as has society's attitude to environment. In the first half of the twentieth century the philosophies of determinism and possibilism emerged to describe these relationships. Is nature prescriptive, or is it a set of resources to be exploited or domesticated in various ways for the advancement of humans without much regard for its sustainability? The environmental movements of the post1960s raised environmental awareness and began to change attitudes against a backdrop of increasing globalization; conservation became a watchword and threw together the social and natural sciences which entered an often uneasy alliance. The situation has altered substantially since then, especially in the context of acknowledged climatic change which is caused by socio-economic development but which is affecting natural systems globally. Science contributed to development via technology and now it must contribute again to establish sustainable development. There is no escape from the intimately linked natural and social sciences. So how do they communicate and how effectively? This was the theme of a conference entitled World- System History and Global Environmental Change at the University of Lund, Sweden, in 2003; its content is the subject matter of The World System and the Earth System, a title which encapsulates the dichotomy but which, interestingly and perhaps ironically, places the social before the natural! Following a 12-page introduction, the book is divided into three sections. The six chapters of part one deal with the modelling of socioecological perspectives on various time scales and the use of varied lines of evidence which include documentary and sedimentary records for specific areas. There is also reference to model validation, cyclic change, world systems as complex human ecosystems, parallels


This study investigated possible interactions between motoneurons and somitic-derived muscle cells in the formation of neuromuscular synapses in the myotome. The peculiarities of the neuromuscular synaptic pattern in chick and mouse embryos provided a model for studying the achievement of synaptogenesis between chick motoneurons and mouse muscle cells. In chick embryo, initial AChR clustering occurs well before innervation of the myotome, whereas in mouse embryo nerve axons invade the myotome extensively before the appearance of AChR clusters. Our approach was to replace somites from a chick host embryo with those derived from mouse donor embryos. We show that muscle cells from mouse myotome can differentiate in the chick embryo environment and form neuromuscular contacts with chick motor axons. Host axons invaded in ovo differentiating mouse myotome at a time when they had not yet reached the host myotome. This particular ingrowth of motor nerves was attributable to the mouse transplant since use of a quail somite did not produce the same effect as the mouse somite, which suggests that developing mouse muscles specifically modify the time course of chick axogenesis. The synaptic areas formed between chick motor axons and mouse myotubes developed according to the mouse pattern. Both the timing of their appearance and their morphology correlated perfectly with events in mouse synaptogenesis. These results indicate the important role played by postsynaptic membrane in controlling the first steps of AChR formation.


Lapatinib, a dual epidermal growth factor receptor 1 (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has emerged as a second line therapy for breast cancer patients who relapse following trastuzumab and is being tested in clinical trials as a single agent or in combination settings. However, like trastuzumab, development of resistance to lapatinib presents a problem in the clinic. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain both intrinsic and acquired resistance to HER2 targeted therapies, one of which involves upregulation of signaling through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Thus, we tested if resistance to lapatinib can be overcome by drug combinations that achieve control over both HER2 and mTOR signaling. Our results showed that lapatinib in combination with KU-0063794 (KU), a catalytic mTOR kinase inhibitor that blocks mTORC1 and mTORC2 signaling, had a synergistic effect on cell growth inhibition in both lapatinib sensitive and resistant cell lines. The combination of these two inhibitors achieved a more effective blockade of signaling downstream of mTORC1 than either inhibitor alone as measured by decreased phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 and S6. Due to links between mTOR and autophagy, we also examined how these inhibitors may be influencing the autophagy process. To measure autophagic flux we used a combination of immunoblotting against LC3-II, a marker of autophagic vesicles, and p62, an adaptor protein that is selectively degraded upon autophagosome-lysosome fusion. Both lapatinib and KU induced expression of LC3-II and reduced p62 levels, together suggesting that these inhibitors increase autophagic flux. Using monodansylcadaverine (MDC) to label autophagic vesicles, we found that the combination of lapatinib and KU increased the total MDC-positive vesicle area per cell to a greater extent than an equimolar concentration of either compound alone. Since autophagy is considered a survival mechanism, we tested whether impairing this process with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a compound that blocks autophagic flux, may augment activity of the lapatinib and KU combination. Cell viability as assessed by an alamar blue assay showed that inhibition of cell growth by lapatinib and KU was further enhanced by addition of HCQ in JIMT-1 and MDA-MB-361 cells. In addition, live cell imaging of caspase-3/7 activation in MDA-MB-361 showed that HCQ increased the number of apoptotic cells induced by the lapatinib and KU combination from 32% to 78% at the highest dose tested. The efficacy of this triple combination is currently being tested in xenograft models. In conclusion, lapatinib resistance of two HER2 overexpressing cell lines can be effectively reversed by treating cells with a combination of lapatinib, a catalytic mTOR inhibitor, and an autophagy inhibitor. This may be a feasible treatment strategy for relapsed or metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer. Citation Format: Sherry A. Weppler, Wieslawa H. Dragowska, Guido J. Kierkels, Jenna Rawji, Sharon M. Gorski, Marcel B. Bally. Combating lapatinib resistance of HER2 positive breast cancer cells by combined inhibition of mTOR and autophagy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4469. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4469


This chapter attempts to examine the complex relationship between leadership, individuals, and organizations carefully. Individuals who retaliate may have more social and cognitive factors that are motivating through an inner sense of power and resource dependency. Based on knowledge from the broader literature on management and social psychological research, the authors have drawn fundamental perspectives of power and resource dependency from organizations to persons and circumstances that affect their motivations, attitudes, and behaviors. Therefore, this study provides researchers in organizational learning and individuals' roles as leaders with a preliminary map.


Naturally occurring ventricular conduction abnormalities are described in 23 rhesus monkeys and compared with findings in 15 control animals. Electrocardiograms and Frank vectorcardiograms were recorded and ventricular endocardial leads were obtained in four of the animals. Three examples of left bundle branch block and five of right bundle branch block were found. Less marked degrees of abnormal intraventricular conduction are described in 15 others.


The magnitude and diversity of DoD communication requirements make it necessary to use commercial satellite systems as a supplement to DSCS and other military systems in support of the warfighter. To ensure efficient network management and control DoD needs to enhance its capability to plan and rapidly move networks between a variety of satellite types and satellite providers (e.g., DSCS, INTELSAT, PanAmSat, Orion, GE Americom, etc.). Enhancement of this capability, to a large extent will be predicated on effective data management and common space segment access procedures. Electronic exchange of a multiplicity of data items between DoD and space segment providers is an essential element of this process. This paper describes key issues related to managing data related to both military and commercial satellite systems. To illustrate the need for a common approach, the paper describes differences which currently exist in data formats, satellite access procedures and Earth station certification and type-approval requirements and provides possible solutions.


A myriad of recent breakthroughs in hand-crafted neural architectures for visual recognition have highlighted the urgent need to explore hybrid architectures consisting of diversified building blocks. Meanwhile, neural architecture search methods are surging with an expectation to reduce human efforts. However, whether NAS methods can efficiently and effectively handle diversified search spaces with disparate candidates (e.g. CNNs and transformers) is still an open question. In this work, we present Block-wisely Self-supervised Neural Architecture Search (BossNAS), an unsupervised NAS method that addresses the problem of in-accurate architecture rating caused by large weight-sharing space and biased supervision in previous methods. More specifically, we factorize the search space into blocks and utilize a novel self-supervised training scheme, named ensemble bootstrapping, to train each block separately before searching them as a whole towards the population center. Additionally, we present HyTra search space, a fabric-like hybrid CNN-transformer search space with searchable down-sampling positions. On this challenging search space, our searched model, BossNet-T, achieves up to 82.5% accuracy on ImageNet, surpassing EfficientNet by 2.4% with comparable compute time. Moreover, our method achieves superior architecture rating accuracy with 0.78 and 0.76 Spearman correlation on the canonical MBConv search space with ImageNet and on NATS-Bench size search space with CIFAR-100, respectively, surpassing state-of-the-art NAS methods. 1


This review essay discusses four recent urban historical publications that all relate to Hungarian history and scholarship. The first two works are studies of Budapest by individual authors, namely Gabor Gyani and Robert Nemes, and are now available in English. The second two are Hungarian-language volumes of conference proceedings that consciously aim to cross disciplinary and national borders, specifically the Slovak-Hungarian one. Taking different paths, all four of these monographs aim to elevate Hungarian urban history beyond local confines. This review essay argues that these works deserve our attention as they reflect new developments, but two of them expose scholarly limitations. The reviewer lays out five criteria in his introduction by which he evaluates the works in his conclusion. Together these publications enable us to draw a rough map of current scholarly production and thereby provide a sense of orientation in the changing landscape of Hungarian urban historiography. They additionally allow us to compare Hungarian scholarship with those of other national contexts.


This paper studies the solution for inverse and forward problems for an ultrasonic tomography. Transmission-mode approach has been used for sensing the liquid/gas two-phase flow, which is a kind of strongly inhomogeneous medium. The imaging technique for two-phase flow using fan-shaped beam scanning geometry was presented. In this work, the tomographic images are derived from Back-Projection Algorithm. Some of the results based on the Linear Back-Projection algorithm (LBP) and the Hybrid Reconstruction algorithm (HR) was also presented.


We present a 100 ks Chandra observation studying the extended X-ray emission around the powerful z= 1.04 quasar PKS 1229−021. The diffuse cluster X-ray emission can be traced out to ∼15 arcsec (∼120 kpc) radius and there is a drop in the calculated hardness ratio inside the central 5 arcsec consistent with the presence of a cool core. Radio observations of the quasar show a strong core and a bright, one-sided jet leading to the south-west hotspot and a second hotspot visible on the counter-jet side. Although the wings of the quasar point spread function (PSF) provided a significant contribution to the total X-ray flux at all radii where the extended cluster emission was detected, we were able to accurately subtract the PSF emission using Chandra Ray Tracer and marx simulations. The resulting steep cluster surface brightness profile for PKS 1229−021 appears similar to the profile for the FR II (Fanaroff–Riley class II) radio galaxy 3C 444, which has a similarly rapid surface brightness drop caused by a powerful shock surrounding the radio lobes. Using a model surface brightness profile based on 3C 444, we estimated the total cluster luminosity for PKS 1229−021 to be . We discuss the difficulty of detecting cool-core clusters, which host bright X-ray sources, in high redshift surveys.


The murine IgM monoclonal antibody (mAb) E5 was produced by a hybridoma derived from spleen cells of a mouse immunized with the J5 rough mutant of Escherichia coli O111:B4. In a multicenter randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial, E5 has been shown to reduce significantly the mortality and morbidity of patients with Gram-negative sepsis. The characteristics of E5 binding to endotoxin were studied in vitro. We report here the results of binding to an extensive panel of rough lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipid A preparations. Using standard immunologic techniques, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and radioimmunoassay (RIA), as well as an antibody capture assay using immobilized antibody and a chromogenic Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) detection system, E5 was shown to bind to all rough LPS (chemotypes Ra through Re from Salmonella minnesota and E. coli J5) and lipid A preparations tested. E5 displayed a Kd for Ra LPS of approximately 6.5 nM. These results confirm and extend those reported previously and provide evidence that E5 binds specifically to lipid A and to the lipid A moiety of rough LPS.


This visual essay explores the creative practice of The Stitchery Collective, which uses costume as a strategy in their participatory works. Inspired by performance artist, queer icon and costume lover Leigh Bowery, The Stitchery Collective has created The Bowery Party, a series of events encouraging radical dress up. These immersive occasions emphasize the significance of costume as enabling joy, community and extravagant social performance. The essay discusses the importance of Bowery as a figure in designing the party in terms of the nature of participant responses, as his legacy provides a subversive approach to costuming the self. The analysis focuses on strategies for and the importance of making and holding space, both physical and virtual, for alternate visions of the body – an empowering ethic that celebrates diversity and inclusivity. The costumes created by the attending public are challenging, often both to wear and to social, gender and body norms. This essay offers a brief example of the costumes created by participants in direct response to Bowery as a radical, slippery and chaotic aesthetic target.


The rules laid down in Volume III of German social legislation have a direct bearing on expertising on the incapacity to work. The article explains the new tolerance limits and the unrestricted validity of the relevant paragraphs of the German social laws and points out the differences in respect of other areas of social care legislation.


The characterization of a benzo[2,1-b;3,4-b']dithiophene containing conjugated polymer (PBTT) is demonstrated, with regard to its photovoltaic performance. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the thermal treatment results in an increased crystallinity within the PBTT:[70]PCBM network and subsequent spatial rearrangement in the film. Upon stepwise annealing, the PBTT-based bulk-heterojunction solar cells show an overall conversion efficiency of 2.7% under 1 sun light illumination. The photovoltaic devices based on PBTT show a high efficiency, maintained over one month. All these aspects suggest that the use of self-organizable materials is an efficient approach for high-performance photovoltaic applications.


It has been shown that three-terminal quantum dot (TTQD) devices and their variants can generate a rather high spin current in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) at low temperature. The effect of contacting ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes to the TTQD devices is studied theoretically via the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green's function method. The spin torque and spin current in the system are subsequently calculated. It is found that the spin torque in the middle FM lead can be reversed symmetrically by applying a bias voltage with opposite sign. This suggests that current-induced magnetization switching can be applied for data writing. Moreover, the charge current shows significant modulation when the orientation of the FM moment is varied, a feature which can be utilized for reading data. Based on this, we propose an integrated Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) device made up of Rashba TTQD unit cells. In each cell, the electron transport can be modulated by means of a gate voltage without t...


Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy (TPS) and terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) are two novel techniques for the physical characterization of pharmaceutical drug materials and final solid dosage forms, utilizing spectral information in the far infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This review focuses on the development and performance of pharmaceutical applications of terahertz technology compared with other tools for physical characterization. TPS can be used to characterize crystalline properties of drugs and excipients. Different polymorphic forms of a drug can be readily distinguished and quantified. Recent developments towards a better understanding of the fundamental theory behind spectroscopy in the far infrared have been discussed. Applications for TPI include the measurement of coating thickness and uniformity in coated pharmaceutical tablets, structural imaging and 3D chemical imaging of solid dosage forms.


In the wake of a precedent-setting presidential election and in the midst of a deepening economic recession, Dolbeare and Cummings challenge students to examine and understand their own political beliefs in historical context. Just as the 2008 elections brought race, gender, and age to the fore, the U.S. government's response to the Wall Street collapse highlights class issues and suddenly makes socialism relevant again. Dolbeare and Cummings ask students to examine how the world today fits with the basic ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as well as with the accepted tenets of private and free enterprise, the rule of law, institutional checks and balances, and the people's right to revolt against oppression. Rooted firmly in the economic conditions of each era, the editors commentary highlights issues of class and the clash of economic interests, while utilizing three organizing themes to help students understand the readings: the social and historical foundations of American political thought, the key transformations in American political thought and practice, and the individual and collective political identity of Americans. Each reading helps students to examine and understand their own political beliefs in historical context. In addition to adding a few key contributions from earlier times, the editors look purposefully toward contemporary thought, selecting readings that reflect on renewed citizen engagement, political change, and the impact of economic crisis on our notions of globalization. Are we seeing the disintegration of the conservative alliance? Can progressive change happen in a bipartisan or non-partisan fashion? Linking the transformations we are now witnessing to the ideas of the founders in a completely new Part 7, students can see the relevance that words written more than 200 years ago have for today's political world.


This study used the Simplified Olfactory Measurement Method to clarify the fundamental characteristics of substances with offensive odors present in human living environments and to measure the odor detection threshold of these substances, which have relatively high boiling points and high molecular weights. Results showed that propanoic acid was the highest in those substances, with an odor threshold of 49 ppb, and phenylacetic acid was the lowest in those substances, with an odor threshold of 2.4×10 -6 ppb. Although there was a gap between the Simplified Olfactory Measurement Method and the Triangle Odor Bag Method, the former still fell in the range of thresholds that can occur between panels. Furthermore, the threshold for the relationship between thresholds of straight-chain fatty acids and molecular carbon numbers gradually decreased for carbon numbers from three to five and increased again in six. That trend resembles the result of the Triangle Odor Bag Method.


A 40-km length of optical fiber whose group-velocity dispersion decreases exponentially along its length has been fabricated. We experimentally compare the propagation of picosecond solitons through the dispersion-decreasing fiber with that through a constant-dispersion fiber of the same path-averaged dispersion. For a wide range of input powers, the output pulse widths of the dispersion-decreasing fiber are found to be as short as the input pulse widths, whereas the output pulse widths of the constant-dispersion fiber are significantly larger. Numerical simulations of the experiment are performed and are in good agreement with the experimental results.


In Reply .—Dr Bodner correctly points out that we have not fully explained how wide lymphadenectomy favorably influenced survival in our study of potentially curative resection for gastric carcinoma. We must, however, recognize that any retrospective comparative analysis may be biased by nonrandom clustering of patient characteristics due to the way patients were selected for treatment or how they were selected for comparison by the investigator. If the bias is small, and other strong evidence supports our hypothesis, we may perform the analysis and choose to accept the limitations of its conclusions. In this regard, the possible bias of having the stage N0, N1 groups "erroneously contain[ing] some patients with N2 tumors," as referred to by Dr Bodner, was quite small. As Table 2 of our article indicated, only 15% (30/202) of the listed patients with NON1-N2 tumors had N2 tumors. To examine the possible effect of such a bias,


Cumulative and toxic properties of lincomycin evident from increased numbers of pathological mitosis were found on three-fold treatment of various cell lines with the antibiotic in concentrations of 100 or 200 Units/ml for 1.5 years. The toxicity level was not high since the other indices of the mitotic regimen remained unchanged.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to investigate Iranian cancer patient perceptions of their prognosis, factors that influence perceptions of prognosis and the effect this has on patient level of hope.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Iranian cancer patients (n=200) completed self-report measures of their perceptions of their prognosis and level of hope, in order to assess the relationship between the two and identify factors predictive of perceptions by multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS
Cancer patients perceived of their prognosis positively (mean 11.4 out of 15), believed their disease to be curable, and reported high levels of hope (mean 40.4 out of 48.0). Multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that participants who were younger, perceived they had greater family support, and had higher levels of hope reported more positive perceptions of their cancer prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Positive perceptions of prognosis and its positive correlation with hope in Iranian cancer patients highlights the importance of cultural issues in the disclosure of cancer related information.


The effect of aging on microglial and astrocytic activity in the hypothalamic arcuare nucleus was measured in young and middle-aged Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice. These putative correlates of neuronal degeneration increased significantly between 6 and 14 months of age in intact female and male rats, and between 4 and 13 months in female mice. Although astrocytic activity increased steadily between 4, 8.5, and 14 months in female rats, microglial activity did not increase until 14 months. Because glial hyperactivitycan be produced in young ratsby exogenous estrogen, long-term gonadectomized animals were examined to determine if its development during normal aging is also dependent on exposure to gonadal steroids. Gonadectomy at 2 months of age significantly suppressed gliosis in older female rats and mice, but produced only a slight (nonsignificant) decrease in male rats. These data indicate that gliosis occurs spontaneously in the aging arcuate nucleus. Its development in the female is primarily dependent on chronic exposure to an ovarian product, presumably estradiol. However, in the male the testes play little if any role. The differential rates of astrocytic and microglial activity in female rats may reflect differential sensitivity to the ovarian product(s) responsible for their development.


. The O 2 :CO 2 exchange ratio (ER) between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is a key parameter for partitioning global ocean and land carbon fluxes. The long-term terrestrial ER is considered to be close to 1.10 moles of O 2 consumed per mole of CO 2 produced. Due to the technical challenge in measuring directly the ER of entire terrestrial ecosystems (ER eco ), little is known about the variations in ER at the hourly and seasonal scales as well as how different 15 components contribute to ER eco . In this modeling study, we explore the variability and drivers of ER eco and evaluate the hypothetical uncertainty in determining ecosystem O 2 fluxes based on current instrument precision. We adapted the one-dimensional, multi-layer atmosphere-biosphere gas exchange model, CANVEG, to simulate hourly ER eco from modeled O 2 and CO 2 fluxes in a temperate beech forest in Germany. We found that the annual mean ER eco ranged from 1.06 to 1.12 mol mol -1 within the five years' study period. Hourly ER eco 20 showed strong variations over diel and seasonal cycles and within the vertical canopy profile. Determination of ER from O 2 and CO 2 mole fractions in air above and within the canopy (ER conc ) varied between 1.115 and 1.15 mol mol -1 . CANVEG simulations also indicated that ecosystem O 2 fluxes could be derived using the flux-gradient method in combination with measurements of vertical scalar gradients and CO 2 , sensible heat or latent heat fluxes obtained with the eddy covariance technique. Owing to measurement uncertainties, however, the uncertainty in estimated O 2 fluxes derived with the flux-gradient 25 approach could be as high as 15 μmol m -2 s -1 , which represented the 90% quantile of the uncertainty in hourly data with a high-accuracy instrument. We also demonstrated that O 2 fluxes can be used to partition net CO 2 exchange fluxes into their component fluxes of photosynthesis and respiration, if ER eco is known. The uncertainty of the partitioned gross assimilation ranged from 1.43 to 4.88 μmol m -2 s -1 assuming a measurement uncertainty of 0.1 or 2.5 μmol m -2 s -1 for net ecosystem CO 2 exchange and from 0.1 to 15 μmol m -2 s -1 for net ecosystem O 2 exchange, respectively. Our analysis suggests that O 2 30 measurements at ecosystem scale have the potential for partitioning net CO 2 fluxes into their component fluxes, but further improvement in instrument precision is needed.


All you need to know about Charles Dickens's Hard Times is in this advanced guide to the text. Connell Guides are advanced guide books that offer sophisticated analysis and broad critical perspectives for higher-level GCSE and A Level English Literature students. Written by leading academics, Connell Guides are clear, concise and beautifully designed to help students understand, and enjoy, great works of literature. They are perfect for coursework, revision and exam preparation. Connell Guides are also great reads themselves scholarly, yet approachable and entertaining.

With its angry denunciation of the more heartless aspects of capitalism, Hard Times is perhaps Dickens's most passionate novel, with the name of its principal character, Gradgrind, frequently invoked as shorthand for a rigid adherence to fact. In this short, incisive guide Uttara Natarajan shows why the novel, initially neglected by critics and readers alike, has come to be seen as one of Dickens's greatest.


Although during the past decade preventive measures have almost eliminated severe rickets, milder forms of this dyscrasia still persist. The desire to ascertain how prevalent rickets continues to be and, if possible, what its relationship is to climatic and certain other factors prompted the present fact-finding, cross-sectional survey. For this study two localities were chosen which differed markedly as to climate, one being in the cloudy northwestern part of the Pacific coast and the other in its sunny southwestern part, yet were of the same country and of the same altitude (sea level) and had inhabitants of similar habits of living and diet. Portland had an average of 2,194 hours of sunshine per year, compared with 3,024 hours in San Diego—a difference of 38 per cent. In addition, for the years from 1930 to 1934 inclusive, the average annual temperature in Portland was 54.6 F., while that of San Diego


Abstract: Heart attack disease is one of the leading causes of the death worldwide. In today's common modern life, deaths due to the heart disease had become one of major issues, that roughly one person lost his or her life per minute due to heart illness. Predicting the occurrence of disease at early stages is a major challenge nowadays. Machine learning when implemented in health care is capable of early and accurate detection of disease. In this work, the arising situations of Heart Disease illness are calculated. Datasets used have attributes of medical parameters. The datasets are been processed in python using ML Algorithm i.e., Random Forest Algorithm. This technique uses the past old patient records for getting prediction of new one at early stages preventing the loss of lives. In this work, reliable heart disease prediction system is implemented using strong Machine Learning algorithm which is the Random Forest algorithm, which read patient record data set in the form of CSV file. After accessing dataset the operation is performed and effective heart attack level is produced. Advantages of proposed system are High performance and accuracy rate and it is very flexible and high rates of success are achieved


10-/spl mu/m-diameter InGaAsP thin-film microdisk resonators have been fabricated using polymer-wafer bonding with benzocylobutene. This wafer bonding process is to provide strong two-dimensional mode confinement in the waveguide and reduce the optical propagation loss. The measured resonance linewidth at wavelength 1.55 /spl mu/m is about 0.22 nm with a free-spectral range of 20 nm. The narrow linewidth and large free-spectral range make these devices conducive to the applications in dense wavelength division multiplexed systems.


Several definitions and measures of financial well-being (FWB) have been proposed in the scientific literature. The Multidimensional Subjective Financial Well-being Scale (MSFWBS) stands out among these measures in its ability to account for the conceptual richness of FWB. However, the original validation study based on a confirmatory factor analytic model indicated that the factor structure of scores obtained on this instrument was acceptable at best, revealing factor correlations high enough to question the discriminant validity of the factors. To improve conceptual and operational clarity of FWB, this study assesses the psychometric properties of the MSFWBS among French-Canadian adults (n = 454), using statistical models better suited to the examination of multidimensional constructs (exploratory structural equation modeling—ESEM, and bifactor-ESEM). Our results supported a bifactor-ESEM representation of scores on the MSFWBS, and their measurement invariance across groups of participants defined on the basis of their age, sex, personal income and household income. Our results also supported the convergent (with other measures of FWB) and criterion-related (with measures of life satisfaction, perceived stress, and psychological distress) validity of scores obtained on the MSFWBS (particularly the global FWB factor). By providing an optimized measure of FWB, our study contributes to advancing research on FWB.


Abstract Morphemes facilitate visual word recognition, leading to greater accuracy and fluency in reading morphologically complex words. In children with dyslexia, the morphological structure might be useful to reduce difficulties caused by phonological deficits. The aim of this study was to determine whether Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia benefit from morphemes when reading. A group of children with dyslexia of different ages (7 to 10 years) and a group of children without reading disabilities, matched on chronological age and gender, participated in a task of reading isolated words and pseudowords in which morphological complexity was manipulated. Half of the stimuli were morphologically simple and half morphologically complex. Children with dyslexia benefit from morphology since they have better performance with the morphologically complex stimuli. These results indicate that they are able to develop representations of units larger than the grapheme, what suggests that Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia use the morphological structure to overcome their difficulties in phonological recoding. These results have important implications for the rehabilitation of children with dyslexia.


Abstract Background: The present cross-sectional study has the purpose to investigate the impact of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) on retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, optic nerve and macular function in patients using AIs for breast cancer treatment. Methods: Participants in our study were 41 hormone-receptor-positive earlystage breast cancer patients who were treated with AIs in the adjuvant setting. Moreover, 40 age- and gender-matched control subjects, having neither ocular nor systemic disorders, were included in this study. All participants underwent a complete ophthalmological examination, including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) assessment, RNFL thickness and central foveal thickness (CFT) measurement, visual evoked potentials (VEP) recording and multifocal-electroretinogram (mf-ERG) recording. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were performed. Results: At the multiple regression analyses, patients receiving AIs presented with lower average RNFL and inferior RNFL. Moreover, similarly to the univariate analysis, intake of AIs was associated with lower amplitude P100, lower retinal response density in ring 1 and ring 2, longer peak time P100 and longer P1 time in ring 1. Conclusion: Our study is the first in the literature investigating the potential effect of AIs on RNFL thickness, optic nerve and macular function in patients using AIs for breast cancer treatment. The principal message of our study is that patients using AIs exhibited a significant decrease in RNFL thickness (average, superior and inferior), retinal response density and visual acuity compared to healthy controls, while VEP findings (both amplitude and peak time of P100) differ significantly as well.


Steele-ND/ND 735 (Reg. No. MP-1, NSL 462030), a hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (HRSW) recombinant inbred lines (RILs) population, was developed and released by the North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, ND, in 2008. This mapping population is composed of 129 F 29 RILs. The Steele-ND/ND 735 RILs population has been used extensively to study the genetics of resistance to tan spot [caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Died.) Drechs.], Stagonospora nodorum blotch [caused by Phaeosphaeria nodorum (E. Muller) Hedjarroud], Septoria tritici blotch [caused by Mycosphaerella graminicola (Fuckl) J. Schrot. in Cohn], and Fusarium head blight (caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe) and to map the resistance genes and quantitative trait loci underlying the above traits. The genetic marker data encompass hundreds of polymorphic Diversity Array Technology (DArT) and simple sequence repeats markers that were collected at Diversity Arrays Technology, Yarralumla, Australia, and NDSU, respectively.