Abstract A primary goal of molecular physiology is to understand the coupling between protein conformational change and systemic function. To see the conformational changes of a voltage-sensing protein within tissue, we synthesized a fluorescent molecular probe compatible with two-photon microscopy and developed a method to deconvolve conformational changes from fluorescence images. The probe was a fluorescently-tagged variant of a tarantula venom peptide that binds Kv2-type voltage gated K+ channel proteins when their voltage-sensing domains are in a resting conformation. Kv2 proteins in cell membranes were labeled by the probe, and the intensity of labeling responded to voltage changes. Voltage-response characteristics were used to calibrate a statistical thermodynamic model relating labeling intensity to the conformations adopted by unlabeled voltage sensors. Two-photon imaging of rat brain slices revealed fluorescence consistent with conformation-selective labeling of endogenous neuronal Kv2 proteins. In principle, this method of deconvolving images into measures of protein conformational change is generalizable to other proteins labeled with conformation-selective probes.


Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was filled with aluminium (Al) powder having concentrations of 1, 4, and 6% w/w. The samples in the form of disc containing the above concentration of Al powder were obtained using hot press molder. The structural properties have been investigated using density measurement and WAXD techniques. The morphology of pure LDPE and Al-filled LDPE samples has been studied from scanning electron micrographs. The modulus of elasticity of the samples has been determined using Instron tensile tester. Results indicate that the crystallinity of LDPE component increases with the concentration of aluminium filler. Morphological changes also have been observed. The Young's modulus (Y) generally increases and becomes maximum for 4% Al-filled LDPE sample. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007


For the heavy-haul locomotive within a wheel repairing period, the wheel polygonal wear with different operating mileages is obtained by field test. The test results show that the maximum radial runout of the wheel can increase to 0.87 mm and accompany with the typical damage of wheel tread shelling. Taking the wheel polygons as input excitation, the locomotive-track coupled dynamic model is established, which is verified by the comparisons of test and calculated wheelset vertical acceleration in time and frequency domains. The variable wheel-rail friction coefficient is introduced so as to consider the dry and wet rail conditions. The wheel-rail dynamic contact characteristics under the traction and dry-wet rail surface conditions are analysed simultaneously. It is found that the wheel polygon deteriorates the locomotive traction performance and induces the obvious wheel-rail slipping with large tangential stress, especially in wet rail condition. In dry condition, the wheel-rail could contact generally in the adhesion state. But the longitudinal creep forces fluctuate locally with some larger amplitudes closed to the adhesion force, which is mainly attributed to the excitation of serious wheel polygon. Comparing with the results of the newly repaired wheel, the maximum wheel-rail vertical force, longitudinal force, normal stress and tangential stress at the end of wheel repairing period can increase by 55 kN, 28 kN, 240 MPa and 470 MPa in sequence. The wheel-rail slipping and high-stress state in traction condition should be the dominant factors contributing to the wheel damage of tread shelling.


We studied organic magnetoresistance (OMAR) and magneto-photocurrent (MPC) in ITO/N,N'-di(naphthalene-l-yl)-N,N'-diplienyl-benzidine (NPB)/A1 sandwich devices with NPB thicknesses of 50 nm. Without illumination, no OMAR is observable. While the MPC curves are found to have different line shapes containing a low field and a high field component, depending on excitation photon energy and applied bias. The analysis of experimental results indicate that: (i) the magnetic field effects in NPB is associated with excitonic states, and (ii) the dissociation of singlet excitons is associated to the high field component and triplet-exciton-charge interaction is to the low field component in MPC curves.


This article shows three of the principal sign conceptions of the studies about language, differences and similarities. The sign is for Humboldt the material representation, or sound-image, of the concept, besides the identity of the articulated language sound; these three parts, sign, concept and sound identity, make the form of the language that is the word. The sign is for Saussure the name of the relation between the signified and the signifier. Saussure proposed the substitution of the terms sound-image and concept, that were full of suggestions and prior conceptualization, to the terms signified and signifier. The sign in Bakhtin is the form of the structure that accomplishes an ideologically sense completed by thought through articulated sound. The meeting between the articulated sound and the concept gives the resulting element of semiosis, so every sign is semiotic.


Proteolytic processing and phosphorylation of amyloid precursor protein (APP), and hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, have been shown to be increased in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains, leading to increased production of β‐amyloid (Aβ) peptides and neurofibrillary tangles, respectively. These observations suggest that phosphorylation events are critical to the understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of this devastating disease. Pin‐1, one of the peptidyl‐prolyl isomerases (PPIase), catalyzes the isomerization of the peptide bond between pSer/Thr‐Pro in proteins, thereby regulating their biological functions which include protein assembly, folding, intracellular transport, intracellular signaling, transcription, cell cycle progression and apoptosis. A number of previous studies have shown that Pin1 is co‐localized with phosphorylated tau in AD brain, and shows an inverse relationship to the expression of tau. Pin1 protects neurons under in vitro conditions. Moreover, recent studies demonstrate that APP is a target for Pin1 and thus, in Aβ production. Furthermore, Pin1 was found to be oxidatively modified and to have reduced activity in the hippocampus in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Because of the diverse functions of Pin1, and the discovery that this protein is one of the oxidized proteins common to both MCI and AD brain, the question arises as to whether Pin1 is one of the driving forces for the initiation or progression of AD pathogenesis, finally leading to neurodegeneration and neuronal apoptosis. In the present review, we discuss the role of Pin1 with respect to Alzheimer's disease.


We study a model of an accretion disc surrounded by an extended corona of the temperature 10 7 − 10 8 K. This corona modifies the disk spectrum since it redirects a significant fraction of the emission from the central parts towards the more distant parts of the disk. The same corona is indirectly the source of the broad emission lines because we expect the formation of cool clouds at the basis of the corona due to thermal instabilities. We model the number of the clouds and their motion through the corona adopting a few different physically sound assumptions. Comparing the predicted optical/UV continua and emission line ratios and profiles with the observed values we favor a particular model of a typical quasar. It radiates at ∼ 0.5 of the Eddington luminosity, the corona surrounding the disk is additionally heated in excess of the Inverse Compton heating, and the broad line clouds are most probably destroyed when accelerated vertically above the sound speed within the corona.


We present a new method for interactive deformation and haptic rendering of viscoelastic surfaces. Objects are defined by a discretized Medial Axis Transform (MAT), which consists of an ordered set of circles (in 2D) or spheres (in 3D) whose centers are connected by a skeleton. The skeleton and physical properties of the object, including the radii of the spheres centered on the skeleton and material properties, are encapsulated in a single high dimensional parametric surface. To compute the force upon deformation, we use a mass-spring-damper model that takes into account both normal and shear surface forces. Our implementation attains real time 3D haptic and graphic rendering rates, making it appropriate to model deformation in complex haptic virtual environments. The algorithm is appealing because it takes advantage of single-point haptic interaction to render efficiently while maintaining a very low memory footprint.


Objective: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life threatening complication of heparin therapy, causing thrombosis. The aim of our study was to find out the frequencies of HIT antibody seroconversion and clinical HIT in Turkish medical patients on different forms of heparins. Materials and Methods: Our study included 61 patients who were on unfractionated heparin (UFH) (n: 37) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) (n: 24) therapies. The frequency of HIT antibody formation was determined by means of antigenic (ELISA), and functional assays (serotonin release assay-SRA). Results: The seroconversion rates in UFH and LMWH groups were found to be 18.9% and 4.1% (ELISA), and 8.1% and 4.1% (SRA), respectively. One patient (2.1%) on UFH therapy developed deep vein thrombosis. No thromboembolic event was observed in patients taking LMWH. Conclusion: Seroconversion rates by means of antigenic and functional assays and clinical HIT were more common in patients on UFH than patients on LMWH therapy. (Turk J Hematol 2009; 26: 171-5)


In this study, the Perovskite material CH3NH3PbI3 was prepared using two-step sequential solution deposition technique. The treatment condition for Perovskite film including dipping duration, reaction temperature and annealing temperature was studied. Crystal structure, grain size, and purity of the prepared material were examined using XRD and SEM methods. The results indicate that controlling treatment condition has a significant effect on the crystallinity and purity of Perovskite film. Under suitable condition, the obtained Perovskite material has a tetragonal structure and grain size ranges from 200 to 400 nm. The Perovskite film was then applied as a light-harvesting material in Perovskite solar cell. The device exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 5.18% with JSC of 13.6 mA cm , VOC of 0.83 V, and fill factor of 45.9%.


The present study sought to clarify the role of cognitive change in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) by examining the relationship between depression outcome and changes to automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes at different points of therapy. Thirty patients suffering from Major Depression (MDD) or Dysthymia attended the 12 sessions of a group CBT program. Multiple regressions found total scores on the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) and cumulative change scores on the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS) to predict scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at later stages of therapy, though neither form of cognition was predictive from earlier stages of therapy. Only scores on the ATQ were significantly related to both cognitive and somatic subscales of the BDI, indicating that automatic thoughts are more directly related to cognitive change than dysfunctional attitudes. Overall findings suggest that significant reductions in both automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes are related to non-clinical levels of depressive symptoms at the end of the treatment.


To determine whether apoptosis is involved in the formation of the structure and morphological sex difference of the lateral septum (LS), the postnatal developmental changes in the number of apoptotic cells were examined in the LS on postnatal day 1 (PD1 = birth day), 4, 6, 8, 11, 16, and 31 in male and female rats. Apoptotic cells were immunohistochemically detected by antibody against single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA) or active caspase‐3. The volume of the LS was also measured and was found to increase with age. The number of apoptotic cells detected by anti‐ssDNA in the LS increased from PD1 to PD8 but decreased after PD11. Also, the LS was divided into dorsal, intermediate, and ventral parts (LSd, LSi, and LSv), and the volume and number of ssDNA‐immunoreactive cells in each part were measured on PD6, 8, 11, 16, and 31. In both sexes, a large number of ssDNA‐immunoreactive cells was found in the LSd and LSi on PD8 (but not on PD6) and in the LSv on PD6 and PD8. On PD6, the number of active caspase‐3‐immunoreactive cells was significantly greater in the LSv than in the LSd or LSi, in both sexes. Only the LSi of males had a high number of ssDNA‐immunoreacitve cells on PD16; the number was significantly greater than that of females of the same age. However, there was no significant sex difference in the number of active caspase‐3‐immunoreacitve cells in the LSi on PD16. On PD31, the volume of the LSi was significantly greater in females than in males. There was no sex difference in volume or number of apoptotic cells in the LSd or LSv. These findings indicate that loss of cells due to apoptosis, which is partially caused by activation of caspase‐3, occurs in the LS during postnatal development, with regional differences. They also indicate that sex difference in caspase‐3‐independent apoptosis contributes to morphological sexual differentiation of the LSi. J. Comp. Neurol. 475:177–187, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract We develop the notion of the Rokhlin dimension for partial actions of finite groups, extending the well-established theory for global systems. The partial setting exhibits phenomena that cannot be expected for global actions, usually stemming from the fact that virtually all averaging arguments for finite group actions completely break down for partial systems. For example, fixed point algebras and crossed products are not in general Morita equivalent, and there is in general no local approximation of the crossed product
$A\rtimes G$
 by matrices over A. Using decomposition arguments for partial actions of finite groups, we show that a number of structural properties are preserved by formation of crossed products, including finite stable rank, finite nuclear dimension, and absorption of a strongly self-absorbing
$C^*$
 -algebra. Some of our results are new even in the global case. We also study the Rokhlin dimension of globalizable actions: while in general it differs from the Rokhlin dimension of its globalization, we show that they agree if the coefficient algebra is unital. For topological partial actions on spaces of finite covering dimension, we show that finiteness of the Rokhlin dimension is equivalent to freeness, thus providing a large class of examples to which our theory applies.


Everyone knows that witches really do exist -especially physicians who practise in the rural areas of Africa. Many, in due course, achieve a harmonious if unofficial working relationship, each recognizing the value of the other, the one for scientific medicine and the other for faith healing. It is indeed only in the mid-nineteenth century, with its great advances in microbiology, biochemistry, and therapeutics that Western medicine has supplemented faith and the apothecary's bottle of medicine with medical science. In Africa (where animism is prevalent) mysticism and ritual still rule the lives of the majority in the rural areas, and even in the urban areas they still persist, though to a lesser extent. Some two years ago an article appeared in a Nigerian daily newspaper reporting that a small rural retailer whose business was failing consulted a female witchdoctor and allegedly murdered his wife to produce a brew with certain fats and herbs to boost the business. In Senegal the " marabout " or sorcerer may be both the religious leader and medicine man of his community. Fetishers also undertake dental excisions, incise abscesses, and make simple prosthetics. There are " spirits " for both good and evil. The Kisii in Kenya still trepan certain patients who are possessed of evil spirits giving rise to headaches, mental disturbance, etc., with primitive tools, making a hole to let out the evil spirit. Such is the belief in the powers of witchcraft In brief and general terms, many African tribes believe in an all-pervading and prevailing creator who is everywhere, but remote. Lesser spirits, however, more closely related to man's daily activities, exist for both good and evil. The good is the witch-doctor, who, using bones, stones, spells, or potions, removes spells and alleviates sickness. This is the Mganga of the Wakamba. Evil may be accomplished by two methods: either by the ancestral spirit removing his "protection," or by a witch or fetisher (the Mchawi of the Wakamba) casting spells. The practising physician in Africa, if he is non-African, learns about the interrelationship of witchcraft and medicine the hard way-by experience. He learns that the African does not believe in Western ideas of the aetiology and epidemiology of disease. He learns that the African consults both types of healer-the physician for the immediate cure of the disease, and the witch doctor for the eradication of the cause. He learns that these are people whose lives are bound by tribal patterns of behaviour, beliefs, and customs. The individual is an integral part of his community, whose thinking tends to be communal, and is subject to many fears and stresses due to transgression of these rules and the attempt to avoid transgression. Add to this the stresses imposed in an attempt to adopt Western concepts and modes of life, and it is little wonder that anxiety states and psychosomatic ills exist. We perhaps underestimate these strains, the point at which breakdown occurs, and the resort to tribal healers for reassurance. Michael Gelfand, in his capacity as a trained observer of facts and as a warm human physician with scientific curiosity, has endeavoured to investigate the interface of medicine and witchcraft. This is a book which dissects and displays the anatomy of witchcraft in relation to one particular people of Africa: the Shona of Rhodesia. He describes the people, their culture, and their spiritual beliefs. He describes the types of witches, good and evil, the means they use, the prevalence of witchcraft, and its effect on individuals and communities. He describes the types of illnesses ascribed to witchcraft, the treatment employed, and the results. He examines the place of the witch and the witch-doctor in the daily routine of life. Perhaps this book is best described as a field-epidemiologist's analysis of witchcraft. It may not be an expert social-anthropologist's bible, but it certainly should be on the shelf of every practising rural physician in Africa. It should rank with his textbooks of tropical medicine and hygiene, to the greater understanding of the afflictions of his patients and community, not to mention the greater understanding by the physician-administrator-for example, page 68 reveals that requests to attend a funeral are not the proverbial facile excuse of the office boy but a serious matter for the African who is absent from the funeral of his relative. In reading this book physicians may begin to understand some of the reasons for the inevitable slowness of change and to remember the old adage-more haste, less speed. N. R. E. FENDALL.


In April 2021, a brownish-brown vascular lesion was observed in the stemwood of a five-year-old chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) rootstock when cutting for grafting in Villaviciosa (Asturias, Northern Spain). To identify the causal agent, a cross section of the steam was cut, surface-sterilized with 96% ethanol and dried, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25ºC. Fungal colonies were consistently isolated and after 5 days developed abundant greyish-white mycelium. For molecular identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene region of rDNA of the strain LPPAF-975 was amplified with the ITS1/ITS4 primers (White et al. 1990) using the TerraTM PCR Direct Polymerase Mix (Takara Bio Company, CA, USA). This sequence was deposited in GenBank (accession no: OR002144) and showed 99.80% identity over a 507 pb alignment with the Neopestalotiopsis isolate 328-16 (accession no: OK166668) isolated on blueberry in Serbia and Nespestalotiopsis australis strains LNZH0701 and LNZH0752 (accession nos: OM919511-12) both isolated on blueberry in China. To clarify the identification, beta-tubulin (tub2) and translation elongation factor alpha-1 (tef1-a) were amplified (Glass & Donaldson 1995, Walker et al. 2010, respectively). Beta-tubulin sequence (accession no: OR001747) was 99.52% of identity with sequences of several species of Neopestalotiopsis, and elongation factor (accession no: OR001748) was 99.57% identity with sequences previously deposited for N. clavispora (accession nos: OP684010-11, MZ097377-79). The phylogenetic tree was constructed with the three concatenated sequences using the Maximum Likelihood method based on the Tamura-Nei model (Tamura and Nei, 1993), and their topological robustness was evaluated by bootstrap analysis based on 1,000 replicates using Mega 11 (Tamura et al, 2021). However, strain LPPAF-975 clustered with N. javaensis, N. rosae and N. vacciniicola, therefore the species remains unidentified. Pathogenicity tests were carried out on ten five-year-old chestnut plants on which a half 5-mm-diameter PDA plug from the edge of an actively growing colony of the fungus was inoculated by a cut in the bark of one to three branches per plant and then wrapped with Parafilm©. Five plants inoculated as above but without the fungus were used as controls. Plants were cultivated in pots provided with drip irrigation in a tunnel under natural conditions. The assay was conducted twice. External cankers around the inoculated area were observed a month after inoculation, while control plants did not show any lesions. The fungus was re-isolated on all the inoculated plants, but not from controls. As all the re-isolated strains had the same morphology, one of them was randomly selected and identified by sequencing, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. Cross-sections of plants showed lesions similar to that initially found, with 100% of the plants damaged at the point of inoculation, and 80 and 65% 1 cm above and below, respectively. Pathogen was newly re-isolated and identified from one of these cross-sections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report worldwide of Neopestalotiopsis sp. causing disease on Castanea sativa. This pathogen could represent a threat to the maintenance of the biodiversity of traditional chestnut varieties, multiplied by grafting on rootstocks in nurseries, which would incur considerable economic losses.


Laser flash photolysis was used to study the photosensitized oxidation mechanism of vitamin K3, commonly known as 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (MQ), with tryptophan (TrpH) or tyrosine (TyrOH) in acetonitrile/water (1:1, V/V) solution. The triplet state of MQ reacted with TrpH or TyrOH by electron transfer with the formation of a MQ anion radical, which was directly observed in the transient absorption spectrum. The rate constants of the electron transfer reactions were determined to be 1.1×10 and 0.6×10 L·mol-1·s-1 for TrpH and TyrOH, respectively. The free energy changes (ΔG) of the reactions showed that the proposed electron transfer steps are thermodynamically feasible.


In the continuation of our study on neutron induced properties changes of carbon fiber composites at low irradiation temperature and low neutron doses, an experimental study on the changes of dimensional stability and thermal conductivity has been performed for irradiation temperature 400-1000°C and neutron doses 0.8-1.8 dpa. The investigated materials include: A 05 (2D felt-type CFC), CX 2002U (2D felt-type CFC), DMS 678 (2D woven CFC), N112 (3D CFC), N11 (3D CFC), FMI A27-130 (3D CFC) and MKC (1D CFC). The results show that dimensional changes in both parallel and perpendicular directions at irradiation temperature 400-600°C are negligible, whilst the thermal conductivity changes (Ki/K0) are between 0.3-0.87, under those irradiation conditions. The results are critically analysed and discussed.


OBJECTIVES
To genetically characterize an unusual genotype of Cryptosporidium from the stools of humans with diarrhoea and to identify risk factors in the affected patients.

METHODS
DNA was extracted from human faeces where Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected by light microscopy. Cryptosporidial gene fragments from six different loci were analysed by PCR alone, PCR/RFLP and by DNA sequencing. Oocysts were characterized by light and immunofluorescence microscopy and epidemiological data was collected from the affected patients.

RESULTS
Analysis of the Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP) gene amplified from > 2000 human faecal samples identified 19 patients all of which produced an unusual RFLP profile. Subsequent DNA sequence analysis of this and an additional four genetic loci (including 18S rRNA sequences) confirmed these as a homogeneous group which was genetically distinct from Cryptosporidium parvum. The isolates were identified as Cryptosporidium meleagridis since the gene sequences were identical to those from this species recovered from birds. Conventional microscopy showed oocysts indistinguishable from C. parvum and reacted strongly with two different commercially available anti-oocyst monoclonal antibodies. None of the patients showed risk factors unusual for cryptosporidiosis; however, ten of the cases occurred during the summer/autumn, six had a history of foreign travel, four were co-infected with Giardia, two were HIV positive, and six were without identifiable immunocompromising factors.

CONCLUSIONS
This study further confirms that C. meleagridis, in addition to C. parvum, is involved in human disease. The study also highlights the lack of basic information on the host range of this genus of parasites, the complexity of the transmission routes involved in human cryptosporidiosis, and the value of molecular techniques in identify hitherto unrecognised differences in Cryptosporidium from human faeces.


Introduction Vinorelbine in advanced gastro-intestinal stromal tumour (GIST) cells induces tumour relapse with enhanced angiogenesis and metastasis by inducing an innate cancer cellular stress response, which enhances the expression of GRP78 that blocks cell death or apoptosis increasing growth, and spread of GIST due to chemoresistance. We aim to circumvent this with the use of induced pluripotent stem cells encoded with antisense GRP78 shRNA. Methods We take induced pluripotent stem cells(iPSCs), which we infected them with a DNA vector that encoded an RNA molecule of 67 nucleotides. The sequence of this small hairpin RNA (shRNA) is designed to suppress the GRP78 gene. GIST cells were obtained from patients, and they were implanted in animal models, which were treated with vinorelbine. After tumour relapse, there was induction of enhanced angiogenesis, and metastasis. These chemoresistant tumour cells were treated with the induced pluripotent stem cells, which were encoded with shRNA against GRP78. Results Post-treatment, stem cells encoded with anti-GRP78 shRNA converted dicer into a siRNA molecule generating a long lasting RNAi silencing effect of GRP78, which spreads to adjacent tumour cells inducing a gene silencing bystander effect (GSBE). Capillary growth into the tumours were blocked, while VEGF and bFGF were downregulated. PKG was upregulated inhibiting b-catenin. Integration of endothelial precursor cells and tumour cells was blocked inhibiting growth of mosaic blood vessels. This leads to inhibition of tumour spread or metastasis, while the existing tumours die from lack of nutrients/oxygen, and a waste disposal pathway. TEM exhibited induction of type I PCD or apoptosis in tumour cells leading to a bystander killing effect. Thus, anti-GRP78 induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) circumvented vinorelbine induced angiogenesis, and metastasis eradicating chemoresistant GIST cells. Conclusion Vinorelbine induced angiogenesis, and metastatic spread in GIST are circumvented with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) encoded with anti-GRP78 shRNA, which induces apoptosis after a gene silencing bystander effect (GSBE).


The construction of a moment connection for a rectangular hollow section (RHS) column and a H-shaped beam is difficult because the RHS is a closed section. When a inner diaphragm is used for such a connection, in general, it is installed after cutting the HSS columns, which results in increased construction work. This paper suggests a new fabrication method to overcome such problems: An inner diaphragm is welded to inside a C-shaped section first, and then a column is fabricated by welding two C-shaped sections. This fabrication method is superior to a classic method in terms of constructibility. An experimental and a numerical study using Ansys 9.0 were performed in order to compare the strength of connections with respect to the presence of concrete, the corner shape of diaphragm, and the axis of loading. The experimental results including initial stiffness and ultimate loads are reported and the analytical results including load transfer mechanism, degree of stress concentration, and strain distribution are also reported.


Protoplasts were isolated from two mutant cell lines of Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Gatersleben and fused with the aid of polyethylene glycol. Both mutants lacked nitrate reductase and were thus auxotrophic for reduced nitrogen. The fusion resulted in a high frequency of hybrid cells which were detected by their regained ability to grow in media containing nitrate as sole nitrogen source. Thus, the two mutants were found to complement each other in the hybrids. In control experiments, back mutation and cross-feeding were excluded as possible explanations for the occurrence of cell lines utilizing nitrate. A total of 1061 hybrid lines capable of sustained proliferation were isolated. Some of them were further characterized with respect to nitrate reductase activity, chlorate sensitivity, chromosome number, and shoot formation.

The results demonstrate that protoplast fusion can be used for the genetic analysis of cell variants of higher plants and that nitrate reductase-deficient mutants provide efficient selective systems for hybrid cells.


The system described here is designed for ease of detection and quantitation of tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and other tranquilizers now commonly found in self poisoning. An ether extract of serum is purified by acid transfer, back-extracted into ether, dried, and evaporated. The residue is run on a thin-layer plate against standards and inspected under 254-nm light. Depending on requirements, the amount of unknown may then be estimated or further chromatography performed in a different solvent. Quantitation and further confirmation of identity by staining follow. The equipment needed is very simple and many samples can be handled simultaneously and completed within a working day.


Abstract This paper analyses the quality of Rhine wine vintages from Schloss Johannisberg over the last 300 years. It draws on vintage lists and transforms the verbal qualitative assessments into five quality ranks. These ranks are related to temperature and precipitation data, using an ordered probit model. Since reliable instrumental weather data for the Rhine region do not exist for the time before 1826, we utilised the English Manley temperature series (beginning in 1659) and precipitation data for Kew Gardens (available from 1697 on). In addition, we used index data for Germany from the historical climate data bank Historische Klimadatenbank Deutschland of the University of Heidelberg. The results show that English weather is a good proxy variable for the actual weather conditions in the Johannisberg vineyards. While Frankfurt weather data yield a better goodness-to-fit, the data cover only half of the observation period. The models show that the biggest marginal temperature effects occur in the months May and September, i.e. during the blossoming and ripening periods. A 1°C temperature increase for the entire growing season will increase the probability of harvesting a top vintage from approximately 20% to more than 50%. Therefore, the model suggests that moderate global warming is likely to improve the quality of Rhine wines.


This article evaluates three movies by Michael Verhoeven—The White Rose (1981), The Nasty Girl (1990), and My Mother's Courage (1995)—as an accidental but coherent trilogy. Focusing on their narratives, cinematic styles, and historical contexts, it argues that these movies represent German society and German ambiguities towards its memory of the past more perceptively than is commonly acknowledged. The trilogy reflects the cultural shifts in German society over the last thirty years in a unique way while simultaneously, albeit with differing success, attempting to engender these shifts. Thus, Verhoeven's movies pushed the proverbial envelope and challenged German audiences to question the comfortable consensus which attempted to "draw a line under the past."


Day after day, the digital data sizes undergo rapid increases over Internet, it is significant; the data shouldn't be accessed by the unauthorized users. The attackers attempt at accessing those sensitive part of the data. There is a necessity for the prevention of the unauthorized access of the data and guarantee the secure data exchange. A variety of the cryptographic approaches have been used for the conversion of the secret data of the users into secure ciphertext formats. The cryptographic methods have been based on, private and public keys. The researchers have worked on the efficient and secure transmission of data and presented a variety of the cryptographic approaches. For the efficient and secure transmission of the data over networks, there is a necessity of using hybrid approaches of encryption. In this article, various encryption methods are reviewed such as Rijndael, Number Theory Research Unit, Data Encryption Standard, 3 Data Encryption Standard, Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Rivest–Shamir–Adleman, Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding, Diffie-Hellman, HiSea, Improved Caesar, Digital Signature, and Advance Encryption Standard.


OF THE THESIS Identification and Characterization of Cullin-3, -4, -5 and DDB1 in the Planarian Schmidtea mediterranea and Function of ICKFamily Kinases in Neural Stem Cell SelfRenewal, Proliferation, and Migration by Melissa Carrillo Master of Science in Biology San Diego State University, 2011 Cullins play an essential role in the protein degradation process via the 26S proteasome. These scaffolding proteins are essential components of the ubiquitin ligase which brings a substrate together with ubiquitin. In this study, we have identified homologs of Cullin-3, -4, and -5 in the genome of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. We have described expression patterns for these genes as well as the phenotypes exhibited by the animals after RNA interference (RNAi). We have also identified the presence of DDB1, which is an essential part of the Cullin-4 scaffold, its expression pattern and phenotypes resulting from its perturbation. Disruption of proper gene function of Cullin3 through RNAi resulted in a reduction of regeneration. Interference of the proper function of Cullin 4 and DDB1 resulted in a more severe phenotype including death. Our study shows that these genes play essential roles in the maintenance and regeneration of planarians. Defects in the development of the mammalian cerebral cortex lead to several neurological and psychiatric diseases; yet we know little about the mechanisms that regulate cortical development and lead to disease. One disease which results in a neurological phenotype is a multisystem, neonatal lethal condition, designated as the endocrine-cerebroosteodysplasia (ECO) syndrome. This condition is the result of a mutation in Intestinal Cell Kinase (ICK) which has been shown to regulate cell cycle progression. ICK is part of a small family of serine threonine kinases that share similarities with both MAP kinases and cyclin dependent kinases; MOK is also part of this family. MOK is highly homologous to ICK and shares a 41-43% identity between catalytic domains. Since both kinases are similar in their structure it is possible that they will share a similar functional role. MOK is expressed in the intestinal crypt and brain and has been shown to play a role in the stem cell niche of the intestinal crypt by leading to an arrest of proliferation and inducing differentiation. In order to identify the molecular pathways that regulate cortical development, we have been studying whether MOK regulates self-renewal, differentiation and migration of neural stem cells in the developing cerebral cortex. We have disrupted endogenous gene function by means of shRNA expression and observed a phenotype which manifested as a decrease in electroporated cells reaching the cortical plate. This phenotype was partially rescued using the human version of MOK. While it appears that this kinase may be playing a role in cortical development, more experiments need to be performed to determine the exact role of MOK in these processes.


Frequent unloading is vital to avoid pressure ulcers of the seat area in patients with injuries to the spinal cord. The duration of unloading is probably as important as that of the sitting period in the prophylaxis of pressure ulcers. The aim of this study was to investigate the microcirculatory reactions after occlusion of the buttock skin after repeated ischaemic provocation. The perfusion of buttock skin was studied with a laser Doppler perfusion imager (LDPI) in healthy people after short and long periods of sitting (repeated four times). The perfusion increased significantly during the consecutive loadings compared with the first loading, and this effect was more profound after the long load. Repeated periods of ischaemia of the buttock skin without allowing the tissues to recover resulted in increasing reactive hyperaemia, and are therefore probably more damaging than single loadings. This is important when establishing clinical guidelines for the prophylaxis of pressure ulcers in patients with spinal cord injuries.


Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is one of the major employments generating programs to address the unemployment problem in rural India. The act was enacted on 25th August 2005 and came into force on 2nd February 2006. In Assam, this act was introduced in the financial year 2006-07, and as the first phase, it covered only 7 districts of the state. Later it was expanded to all the districts of the state by the financial year 2008-09. The act came with the main objective to ensure livelihood security among the rural mass by providing at least 100 days of job security in every financial year. It is seen that till date the majority of the rural people of Assam directly or indirectly related to agriculture for their livelihood, due to which it createsproblems like disguised and seasonal unemployment. Available literature shows that some extent MGNREGA have got success by reducing unemployment by providing working days to the majority of the unskilled and illiterate people of the state living in rural areas. Based on the secondary data, the present study tries to examine the effectiveness of MGNREGA on employing the rural people of the state, as well as to analyze the various challenges to meet its goal.


Background and Aims Gram-negative bacteria present an increasing threat to NICU babies. Because the gastrointestinal tract is the primary colonisation site, we added rectal swabbing to routine admission and weekly screening of babies from September 2010. We consider here the impact of this strategy on clinical and infection control management. Methods Rectal swabs were cultured for the following Gram-negative bacteria of interest (GNBi): Serratia; gentamicin-resistant &/or ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae; Pseudomonas aerugionsa (PA). Colonised babies were isolated, but were not treated with antibiotics unless clinically indicated. Results GNBi (except PA) were isolated from 55 (2.6%) of 2101 admissions, September 2010–March 2012: 21 gentamicin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae; 9 ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae; 25 Serratia. 45 of the GNBi were detected in rectal swabs: in 38 (64.7%) rectal swabs were the first, and in 28 (33.3%) the only, culture-positive samples. Only one baby had GNBi infection (bacteraemia on the same day as a positive rectal swab). There were 13 instances of 2–3 babies having the same bacterium within 7 days of each other. In one case, seven babies were found with Serratia over 7 days. PA results are not shown for the first 7 months, because of an exceptional event causing PA colonisation then. After April 2011 there were 5 cases (4 detected on rectal swabs: the only positive site in 3): there was no clustering of these cases. Conclusion An unexpectedly high proportion of NICU babies had GNBi. The high frequency of patient-to-patient transmission suggests that rectal screening can be an important tool in controlling these bacteria.


This paper seeks to highlight the experiences the work by Gavilla Verde and the activities organized in Santa Cruz de Moya (Cuenca) in connection with the "guerrilla antifranquista"; and explain why we analyze the memory of the guerrillas as conflict. The main reazon is by the social and political development of this country, whose historical memory has tried to remove an official knowledge this tough period of history, because of the characteristics of our transition from Francoist dictatorship.


This study aimed to investigate the common predictive factors between social media addiction (SMA) and eating disorder symptoms (EDS), in a group of Chinese female college students. A total of 216 students completed the behavioral assessments of cognitive flexibility and sustained attention, as well as the questionnaires on anxiety, social media dependence, and eating disorders. The results indicate that SMA is significantly correlated with EDS. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model in which state anxiety, cognitive flexibility, and sustained attention predicted social gain and EDS. Additionally, the results confirmed the mediating role of cognitive flexibility and sustained attention between state anxiety and SMA/EDS in the participants. The findings revealed that in the sample group, state anxiety was related to SMA and EDS through cognitive flexibility and sustained attention. These proposals reflect the significance of improving cognitive flexibility/sustained attention and reducing state anxiety to prevent EDS and SMA in female college students.


OBJECTIVES
This study aims to compare the effects of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using autogenous hamstring or patellar tendon graft on the peak torque angle.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The study included 132 patients (103 males, 29 females; mean age 29±9 year) who were performed ACL reconstruction with autogenous hamstring or patellar tendon graft. The peak torque angles in the quadriceps and hamstring muscles were recorded using an isokinetic dynamometer.

RESULTS
Angle of peak knee flexion torque occurred significantly earlier within the range of motion on the operated side than nonoperated side at 180°/second in the hamstring tendon group. Angle of peak knee extension torque occurred significantly earlier within the range of motion on the operated side than nonoperated side at 180°/second in the patellar tendon group. There were no statistically significant differences in the flexion and extension peak torque angles between the operated and nonoperated knees at 60°/second in both groups.

CONCLUSION
The angle of peak torque at relatively high angular velocities is affected after ACL reconstruction in patients with hamstring or patellar tendon grafts. The graft donor site directly influences this parameter. This finding may be important for clinicians in terms of preventing re-injury.


Traditional studies of algorithms consider the sequential setting, where the whole input data is fed into a single device that computes the solution. Today, the network, such as the Internet, contains of a vast amount of information. The overhead of aggregating all the information into a single device is too expensive, so a distributed approach to solve the problem is often preferable. In this thesis, we aim to develop efficient algorithms for the following fundamental graph problems that arise in networks, in both sequential and distributed settings. Graph coloring is a basic symmetry breaking problem in distributed computing. Each node is to be assigned a color such that adjacent nodes are assigned different colors. Both the efficiency and the quality of coloring are important measures of an algorithm. One of our main contributions is providing tools for obtaining colorings of good quality whose existence are non-trivial. We also consider other optimization problems in the distributed setting. For example, we investigate efficient methods for identifying the connectivity as well as the bottleneck edges in a distributed network. Our approximation algorithm is almost-tight in the sense that the running time matches the known lower bound up to a poly-logarithmic factor. For another example, we model how the task allocation can be done in ant colonies, when the ants may have different capabilities in doing different tasks. The matching problems are one of the classic combinatorial optimization problems. We study the weighted matching problems in the sequential setting. We give a new scaling algorithm for finding the maximum weight perfect matching in general graphs, which improves the long-standing Gabow-Tarjan's algorithm (1991) and matches the running time of the best weighted bipartite perfect matching algorithm (Gabow and Tarjan, 1989). Furthermore, for the maximum weight matching problem in bipartite graphs, we give a faster scaling algorithm whose running time is faster than Gabow and Tarjan's weighted bipartite perfect matching algorithm.


AIM: analysis of efficacy and safety of immunization with palivizumab of infants from the high-risk groups of severe respiratory syncytial viral (RSV) infection carried out during 2012 infection season in Moscow. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Immunization against RSV infection with palivizumab was conducted for the first time in six Moscow hospitals from January to May 2012. The total number of infants immunized was 156 aged from 15 days to 1 year 11 months. Patients received from 1 to 4 shots with treatment-free interval 30±5 days: 1 infant was immunized four times, 139 – three times, 9 children – twice, 7 children – once. The reasons for discontinuation of immunization after 1 and 2 shots were not connected to medical conditions. 139 (89,1%) of all infants were premature, including 42 (26,92%) - with extremely low birth weight, 83 (53,21%) - with bronchopulmonary disease, 19 (12,18%) - with congenital heart diseases. Efficacy of immunization was estimated on a basis of the average monthly frequency of lower respiratory tract infections and hospitalization within three months ahead and three months during prophylaxis. A frequency of adverse events was used for safety analysis. RESULTS: Immunization with palivizumab led to decrease of the average monthly frequency of lower respiratory tract infections (from 0,064 to 0,014) and hospitalization (from 0,048 to 0,01). The following adverse events were reported: short-term, low-grade fever, anxiety, rhinitis, upper respiratory tract infection, gastroenteritis. There were no serious adverse events reported during prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylaxis of RSV infection with palivizumab in infants from the high-risk groups is safe and effective.


Thiol-modified nanoparticles have potential applications in mucoadhesive drug delivery and have been examined in this regard for topical ocular delivery. In this paper we provide a simple method for the synthesis of a dithiol terminated amphiphilic diblock copolymer. Bidentate dithiol-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(d,l-lactide) (SH2-PEG-PDLLA) was synthesized and micelles with dithiol-containing coronas were prepared from this block copolymer via the emulsion method. In vitro release studies indicated that the presence of the thiol groups at the surface did not affect the rate of release of dexamethasone, used as a representative ocular drug. The micelles also showed low cytotoxicity to human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC) and murine fibroblast cells (3T3 cells). A hydrophobic red fluorophore, Nile red, was loaded into the core of micelles and confocal microscopy was used to study HCEC uptake and retention of the micelles. The micelles were rapidly endocytosed by the HCEC, with intracellular micelle levels remaining unchanged with incubation times from 5 to 120 min. Interestingly, Nile red was eliminated significantly more slowly from HCECs treated with the thiolated micelles. These results suggest that these dithiolated micelles may be effective for topical ocular drug delivery.


CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) thymocytes differentiate into CD4+ helper lineage cells upon expression of the transcription factor Th-POK, in whose absence they commit to the CD8+ cytotoxic lineage. An understanding of how cell fate determination of DP thymocytes is regulated therefore requires elucidation of the mechanisms that regulate helper-lineage specific expression of the Th-POK gene. In addition to a transcriptional silencer that represses the Th-POK gene during differentiation of MHC class I-specific thymocytes, we have identified two enhancers in the Th-POK gene. While the proximal enhancer is necessary to maintain Th-POK expression at late developmental stages of helper-lineage T cells, the distal enhancer, located adjacent to the silencer, was thought to be involved in initial induction of the Th-POK gene. Here we show that some MHC class II-specific thymocytes lost Th-POK expression and were re-directed into CD4-CD8+SP thymocytes upon loss of the distal enhancer. However, other MHC class II-specific thymocytes that differentiated into CD4+CD8-SP thymocytes expressed almost normal level of the Th-POK gene in the absence of the distal enhancer. These results indicate that Th-POK itself is involved in regulation of its own expression, supporting an auto-regulatory loop model in which direct antagonism by Th-POK of its own silencer amplifies Th-POK expression.


Nominal Realism connotes the belief that "every object has received a primordial and absolute name, which is somehow part of its being". Following experimental results, Piaget and other psychologists claimed that such a phenomenon is observed with children during their "second childhood period". This paper challenges these claims about Nominal Realism. Instead, it suggests that this is a linguistic phenomenon and should be studied as such.

In terms of linguistics and the philosophy of language, Nominal Realism is a referring instance and excludes any nonreferring (i.e., sense) properties. The sense property synonymy was chosen to carry out a field study in which use was made of a modification of the "semantic differential" in combination with pictorial stimuli to test the grasp of synonymy in children during their second childhood period.

By introducing linguistic terms, methods, and tools, we gain methodological validity and objective results, suitable for comparison. The conclusion is that children of the second childhood period acquire sense-properties—synonymy—hence refuting the psychologists' claims about Nominal Realism.


We present an ab initio study of Ru substitution in two different compounds, ${\mathrm{BaFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$ and LaFeAsO, pure and F doped. Despite the many similarities among them, Ru substitution has very different effects on these compounds. By means of an unfolding technique, which allows us to trace back the electronic states into the primitive cell of the pure compounds, we are able to disentangle the effects brought by the local structural deformations and by the impurity potential to the states at the Fermi level. Our results are compared with available experiments and show (i) satisfying agreement of the calculated electronic properties with experiments, confirming the presence of a magnetic order on a short-range scale, and (ii) Fermi surfaces strongly dependent on the internal structural parameters, more than on the impurity potential. These results enter a widely discussed field in the literature and provide a better understanding of the role of Ru in iron pnictides: although isovalent to Fe, the Ru-Fe substitution leads to changes in the band structure at the Fermi level mainly related to local structural modifications.


This paper gives an arbitrage-free prediction for future prices of an arbitrary co-terminal set of options with a given maturity, based on the observed time series of these option prices. The statistical analysis of such a multi-dimensional time series of option prices corresponding to $n$ strikes (with $n$ large, e.g. $n\geq 40$) and the same maturity, is a difficult task due to the fact that option prices at any moment in time satisfy non-linear and non-explicit no-arbitrage restrictions. Hence any $n$-dimensional time series model also has to satisfy these implicit restrictions at each time step, a condition that is impossible to meet since the model innovations can take arbitrary values. We solve this problem for any $n\in\NN$ in the context of Foreign Exchange (FX) by first encoding the option prices at each time step in terms of the parameters of the corresponding risk-neutral measure and then performing the time series analysis in the parameter space. The option price predictions are obtained from the predicted risk-neutral measure by effectively integrating it against the corresponding option payoffs. The non-linear transformation between option prices and the risk-neutral parameters applied here is \textit{not} arbitrary: it is the standard mapping used by market makers in the FX option markets (the SABR parameterisation) and is given explicitly in closed form. Our method is not restricted to the FX asset class nor does it depend on the type of parameterisation used. Statistical analysis of FX market data illustrates that our arbitrage-free predictions outperform the naive random walk forecasts, suggesting a potential for building management strategies for portfolios of derivative products, akin to the ones widely used in the underlying equity and futures markets.


PURPOSE
To report long-term surgical outcomes of autologous and allogenic lens capsular flap transplantation (LCFT) in refractory macular hole (MH) treatment.

METHODS
Fifty consecutive eyes with refractory MH who received LCFT were reviewed retrospectively. Twelve eyes underwent autologous LCFT (LCF obtained from the same eye in 7 eyes and the fellow eye in 5 eyes) and 38 eyes with allogenic LCFT. All eyes underwent complete vitrectomy, internal limiting membrane peeling if not peeled, LCF transplantation, and 15% perfluoropropane tamponade. Simultaneous autologus whole blood application was applied in 31 eyes to reduce LCF dislocation. The patients maintained a face-down position for two weeks postoperatively. Demographic information, functional results and structural changes were evaluated.

RESULTS
The mean preoperative MH diameter was 1102.00±561.63 μm. The mean follow-up duration was 18.50±6.05 months (range: 12.0 months ∼38.9months). The MH was completely closed in 48 eyes (96.00%) (18 eyes receiving autologous LCFT and 30 receiving allogenic LCFT). There are no differences of age, previous MH surgery times, MH diameter, preoperative and postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and closure rate between the subgroups. The median visual acuity improved from 1.78(interquartile range, 1.28,1.85) logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMar) (median Snellen acuity: 20/1200) preoperatively to 1.00(interquartile range, 0.90,1.70) logMAR(median Snellen acuity: 20/200)(P<0.01) in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Both autologous and allogenic LCFT application may provide anatomical and visual improvements in refractory MH cases. Blood application can be applied in selected cases to reduce LCF dislocation. LCFT can be performed as primary treatment for refractory MHs.


The irreversible losses resulting from thermal radiation and the space charge effect have been accepted as the primary mechanisms for vacuum-gap thermal electric converter, which raises the question of how to best combine the two mechanisms to maximize the conversion efficiency. Here, we theoretically analyze the performance of a solar concentrating thermionic energy converter (STEC) with microscale interelectrode space. In the proposed STEC system, both near-field thermal radiation and the space charge effect are considered. By building an energy balance equation, the cathode temperature is determined and numerically solved for given solar irradiance. The influences of the optical concentration, voltage and interelectrode space on the heat flux and conversion efficiency are revealed. It is found that the near-field thermal radiation can be approximated by Stefan-Boltzmann formula with effective emissivity 0.04 for d>1 μm. By interplaying between the two kinds of irreversible losses, the maximum conversion efficiency and the corresponding interelectrode space of STEC are pointed. Our investigation provides an effective mean to optimal design the interelectrode space of the STEC.


Several hypotheses suggested by the theoretical literature on burnoutwere empirically tested in an attempt to identify the organizationalconditions associated with employee burnout. Public service lawyers in theU.S. (N = 391) completed a survey designed to assess (a) three components ofburnout, namely, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of lowpersonal accomplishment; (b) perceptions of several job conditions predictedto be associated these three components of burnout, including workload, roleconflict, social support, decision making policies, and autonomy; and (c)organizational commitment. Results indicate that emotional exhaustion is moststrongly associated with role conflict and quantitative workload. Feelings ofpersonal accomplishment were associated with supervisory social support andjob level. Depersonalization was associated with role conflict and decisionmaking policies. Finally, each burnout component is significantly related toorganizational commitment.


The folding and stability of RNA tertiary interactions depend critically on cationic conditions. It is usually difficult, however, to isolate such effects on tertiary interactions from those on the entire RNA. By manipulating conformations of single RNA molecules using optical tweezers, we distinguished individual steps of breaking and forming of a two-base-pair kissing interaction from those of secondary folding. The binding of metal ions to the small tertiary structure appeared to be saturable with an apparent Kd of 160 mM for K(+) and 1.5 mM for Mg(2+). The kissing formation was estimated to be associated with binding of ~2-3 diffuse K(+) or Mg(2+) ions. At their saturated binding, Mg(2+) provided ~3 kcal/mol more stabilizing energy to the structure than K(+). Furthermore, the cations change the unkissing forces significantly more than the kissing ones. For example, the presence of Mg(2+) ions increased the average unkissing force from 21 pN to 44 pN, surprisingly high for breaking merely two base pairs; in contrast, the mean kissing force was changed by only 4.5 pN. Interestingly, the differential salt effects on the transition forces were not caused by different changes in the height of the kinetic barriers but were instead attributed to how different molecular structures respond to the applied force. Our results showed the importance of diffuse cation binding to the stability of tertiary interaction and demonstrated the utility of mechanical unfolding in studying tertiary interactions.


Abstract Although the rice white stemborer (WSB) Scirpophaga innotata (Walker) has been an epidemic pest in other locations in the Philippines and Indonesia, its population has remained at chronic pest levels in Koronadal, southern Mindanao, Philippines. Field studies were undertaken to determine the role of egg parasitoids and general predators in suppressing WSB numbers. The results revealed greater mortality levels on WSB than in any other location where beneficials have been assessed. Four hymenopteran parasitoids (Tetrasticus schoenobii Ferriere [Eulophidae], Telenomus rowani (Gahan) [Scelionidae], Telenomus dignus (Gahan), and Trichogramma japonicum Ashmead [Trichogrammatidae]) combined to parasitise 65% of eggs in the second 1990 – 1991 rice crop. Multiple parasitism occurred in 61% of parasitised egg masses. Egg predation averaged 44% principally by the tettigoniids Conocephalus longipennis (de Haan) and C. maculatus (Leth.). Generalist predators steadily built up over the rice crop. A contributing factor to the high success of natural enemies could be related to the special situation of two irrigation systems interspersed among each other. Communal systems fed by artesian wells resulted in asynchronous planting areas where farmers can plant five crops in 2 years juxtaposed to a larger river diversion system typified by highly synchronous double rice cropping. The heterogeneous habitat created by the two irrigation systems could favour the density-dependent T. schoenobii, the keystone parasitoid in the rice ecosystem, which acts as both a parasitoid and predator.


After the realization of manuscripts of important topics in the field of Islamic history and the purpose of it is to flick the old texts and redraft them in an attempt to retrieve Islamic history which submitted for types of increase and deletion, distortion and desertification in different time. It was honored to take out this manuscript history of the maded of the prophets sheikh Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Hassan bin Abdul Karim AL Khalidi AL Shafei the famous (Ibn AL Jawhary).
The time of author , may  God have mercy on him some of the biography of the prophets on the whole, and dealt with the difference in their prophecy. As well as in the statement of their origin and who entered Egypt and who was born a circumcision and I have stood for a unique copy of this letter so I copied it and commented on it and  present introduction and head lights as shown in the letter.

And I make several recommendation, including interest in the achievement of heritage books .


Human embryonically lethal abnormal vision (ELAV)-type RNA-binding protein 3 (ETR-3) has been implicated in many aspects of RNA-processing events including alternative splicing, stability, editing and translation. RNA recognition motif 3 (RRM-3) is an independent C-terminal RNA-binding domain of ETR-3 that preferentially binds to UG-rich repeats of the nuclear or cytoplasmic pre-mRNA, and along with the other domains mediates the inclusion of cardiac troponin T (c-TNT) exon 5 in embryonic muscle, which is otherwise excluded in the adult. In the present study, RRM-3 was cloned, overexpressed, purified and crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals diffracted to 3 Å resolution at the home source and belonged to space group P2₁3, with unit-cell parameters a=b=c=118.5 Å, α=β=γ=90°. There were two molecules of RRM-3 in the asymmetric unit and the calculated Matthews coefficient (VM) was 6.35 Å3 Da(-1), with a solvent content of 80.62%. Initial phases were determined by molecular replacement.


The concentrations of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) have been measured in serum of 20 patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. The patient group was compared with 20 healthy control subjects matched for sex and age. The concentration of T3 and T4 were similar in the two groups but TBG in serum was higher in the patient group, mainly due to the high TBG levels in the female patients. The concentration of T3 in serum was lower in the severely ill patients than in those who were mildly-moderately ill, while T4 and TBG were not affected by the severity of the disease. The concentration of T3 was lower in the corticosteroid-treated patients than in those who did not have such treatment, just like the TBG level. However, TBG was not subnormal in the corticosteroid-treated patients, whereas the serum concentration of T3 was. T4 in serum was not affected by treatment with corticosteroids. These findings indicate that the metabolism of T4 and T3 are influenced differently by corticosteroids.


This paper discusses the new phenomenon of platform ad archives. Over the past year, leading social media platforms have installed publicly accessible databases documenting their political advertisements, and several countries have moved to regulate them. If designed and implemented properly, ad archives can correct for structural informational asymmetries in the online advertising industry, and thereby improve accountability through litigation and through publicity. However, present implementations leave much to be desired. We discuss key criticisms, suggest several improvements and identify areas for future research and debate.


The focus of this thesis is the inclusion of stochasticity into mathematical models of assembly with particular interest to the in vitro polymerisation of intermediate filaments, one of three components of the cytoskeleton. From the chemical master equation (CME), two additional models (the reaction rate equations or RREs and the two-moment approximation equations or 2MA equations) are derived. As analysis of the CME is generally intractable, we present the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) as a means of reproducing the most probable state of the CME at a given time. The results from the SSA are compared to simulations of both the RREs and the 2MA equations and we find that the three models are in good agreement. Further, the numerical results are compared to mean lengths and length distributions of experimental data which all models are shown to mimic. Mathematical analyses of the RREs demonstrate the conservation of mass in the system, and the unique positive equilibrium is proven to be globally asymptotically stable. Further, the 2MA equations are also shown to have conservation of mass and to possess an analogous equilibrium to the one found in the case of the RREs. In general, this study illustrates how randomness can be incorporated in polymerisation models and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches.


A 35 T Hybrid magnet is to be installed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Tallahassee. The superconducting background field magnet of this system consists of three coils, two of niobium-tin conductor and one of niobium-titanium. This paper describes the design and construction of the niobium-titanium section. In the design, three issues of principal importance were considered: stability and dissipation under pulsed and steady state conditions; the stressing of the conduit, and the consequences of quenching. The details of construction have centered around the winding and assembly of the pancake coils and the preparation of the joints. The construction of the coil is part of a collaborative program between MIT and FSU. >


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the lipopolysaccharide induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in long-term epithelial cultures from nasal polyp tissue of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and severe nasal polyposis.

DESIGN
Experimental and histologic study.

SETTING
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.

PARTICIPANTS
Nasal polyp tissue was evaluated from 9 patients with CF and obstructing nasal polyps undergoing elective sinus surgery. Nasal mucosa from the hypertrophic inferior turbinate of 9 patients without a history of CF or aspirin intolerance undergoing nasal corrective surgery served as control specimens.

INTERVENTIONS
Tissue culturing, Western blotting, and tissue staining with hematoxylin-eosin.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The expression and lipopolysaccharide induction of COX-2 was detected and compared with those of the control group. Tissue was analyzed for the presence of inflammatory cells such as neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells, plasma cells, lymphocytes, and monocytes.

RESULTS
COX-2 was detectable in tissue specimens from all of the patients with CF and control subjects. In patients with CF, however, COX-2 expression was significantly lower in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated, long-term cultured epithelial cells compared with control tissue. Polyps from patients with CF contained markedly more neutrophils, macrophages, and plasma cells than did nasal mucosa from hypertrophic inferior turbinates of controls.

CONCLUSIONS
COX-2 expression in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated, long-term cultured epithelial cells in patients with CF is decreased compared with that in hypertrophic turbinate mucosa. The estimated defect in lipopolysaccharide responsiveness and the reduced induction of COX-2 needs further investigation.


Compression of medical images should be lossless to preserve details and to avoid wrong diagnosis. However, to achieve high compression ratios while maintaining image quality, only regions of interest (ROI). i.e., abnormal regions need to be losslessly compressed. The rest of the image if lossy compressed can lead to a reasonable overall compression ratios. In this paper, two techniques for determining and extracting the ROI of an MRI brain image are proposed. The first technique is based on the mean squared error (MSE) between a normal and an abnormal brain images. The region that shows high MSE is the ROI. In the other technique, selection of the ROI is based on the gray levels of the image. Any region that possesses a gray level that noticeably differs from the surroundings is the ROI.


: There has been growing investment in artificial intelligence (AI) interventions to combat the opioid-driven overdose epidemic plaguing North America. Although the evidence for the use of technology and AI in medicine is mounting, there are a number of ethical, social, and political implications that need to be considered when designing AI interventions. In this commentary, we describe 2 key areas that will require ethical deliberation in order to ensure that AI is being applied ethically with socially vulnerable populations such as people who use drugs: (1) perpetuation of biases in data and (2) consent. We offer ways forward to guide and provide opportunities for interventionists to develop substance use-related AI technologies that account for the inherent biases embedded within conventional data systems. This includes a discussion of how other data generation techniques (eg, qualitative and community-based approaches) can be integrated within AI intervention development efforts to mitigate the limitations of relying on electronic health record data. Finally, we emphasize the need to involve people who use drugs as stakeholders in all phases of AI intervention development.


Distribution spaces for T-1824 ( PVl ) and for P32-labeled red cells ( CVl ) were determined in intact barbitalized dogs by conventional methods. One hour after injection of these two labels, their circulating concentrations were reduced by a paced simultaneous infusion of a large volume of unlabeled autologous whole blood, and withdrawal of an equal volume from the circulation. Distribution spaces were calculated from the decrease in the respective label concentrations, for the infused unlabeled plasma ( PVd ) and unlabeled cells ( CVd ). When corrections were made for external volume changes due to sampling, PVl was in good agreement with PVd , and CVl with CVd . When donor blood was substituted for autologous blood in this procedure, agreement was usually not observed. When blood volume was expanded by infusing autologous blood without preliminary or simultaneous withdrawal, CVd agreed with CVl , but large differences were observed between PVd and PVl . The two plasma values were brought into somewhat better, though not complete, agreement by preliminary withdrawal, but CVd was usually made less than CVl .


Summary Papular elastorrhexis is a rare entity, possibly a form of multiple elastic tissue naevi. The cutaneous lesions in this disorder are characterized by multiple white papules usually occurring on the trunk. These tend to be nonfollicular and scattered evenly over the affected area. Histopathologically, there is a decrease of elastic fibres, that may also appear thin and fragmented. Most reported cases are sporadic but familial occurrence has been described and some authors believe that papular elastorrhexis may represent a mild form of Buschke–Ollendorff syndrome. We report an 18‐year‐old woman whose clinical and histopathological features were compatible with papular elastorrhexis. There was no evidence of skeletal changes or relevant family history.


Melioidosis is a disease of humans caused by opportunistic infection with the soil and water bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Melioidosis can manifest as an acute, overwhelming infection or as a chronic, recurrent infection. At present, it is not clear where B. pseudomallei resides in the mammalian host during the chronic, recurrent phase of infection. To address this question, we developed a mouse low-dose mucosal challenge model of chronic B. pseudomallei infection and investigated sites of bacterial persistence over 60 days. Sensitive culture techniques and selective media were used to quantitate bacterial burden in major organs, including the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We found that the GI tract was the primary site of bacterial persistence during the chronic infection phase, and was the only site from which the organism could be consistently cultured during a 60-day infection period. The organism could be repeatedly recovered from all levels of the GI tract, and chronic infection was accompanied by sustained low-level fecal shedding. The stomach was identified as the primary site of GI colonization as determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization. Organisms in the stomach were associated with the gastric mucosal surface, and the propensity to colonize the gastric mucosa was observed with 4 different B. pseudomallei isolates. In contrast, B. pseudomallei organisms were present at low numbers within luminal contents in the small and large intestine and cecum relative to the stomach. Notably, inflammatory lesions were not detected in any GI tissue examined in chronically-infected mice. Only low-dose oral or intranasal inoculation led to GI colonization and development of chronic infection of the spleen and liver. Thus, we concluded that in a mouse model of melioidosis B. pseudomallei preferentially colonizes the stomach following oral inoculation, and that the chronically colonized GI tract likely serves as a reservoir for dissemination of infection to extra-intestinal sites.


Background: Carfilzomib is an epoxyketone proteasome inhibitor (PI) that binds selectively and irreversibly to the constitutive proteasome and immunoproteasome. In addition to its direct cytotoxicity, PIs possess bone anabolic effect, by facilitating osteoblast differentiation, which in turn, inhibits multiple myeloma (MM) growth. However, the relative contribution of carfilzomib on direct tumor killing and bone formation has been difficult to discern when it is used in combination with other agents such as steroids, chemotherapeutics, or immunomodulatory agents (iMiDs); most of which increase bone loss. Objective: We explored the effect of single agent carfilzomib on bone metabolism and disease response in patients with relapsed MM. Methods: We conducted a phase II study of single-agent carfilzomib at 56 mg/m2 day 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16 of a 28 day cycle in patients with relapsed MM. Serum markers of bone resorption including carboxyterminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP 5b) and bone formation markers including N-terminal type 1 procollagen (P1NP) and osteocalcin (OC) were analyzed at baseline and 6 months after therapy, and compared using paired t-tests. Imaging using 18F-NaF PET-CT scans to monitor bone response and 8F-FDG PET-CT to measure localized tumor burden were done at baseline and 6 months post treatment. For each patient, the three sites with the highest baseline SUVs and an iliac crest (representing an uninvolved site) were selected for quantitative comparisons using paired t-test. Results: Ten patient were accrued. Average age was 70.1 +/- 6.79 (mean +/- SD) years. Median prior lines of therapy was 2. 9 were evaluable for response. Overall response rate was 77.8%: VGPR (1/9: 11%), partial response (6/9: 67%), stable disease (2/9: 22%). Median PFS was 11.5 months. Overall survival was 21.9 months. Common treatment adverse events (AE) were comparable to previous reports including diarrhea (40%), fever (40%), dyspnea (30%) and fatigue (30%). Grade 3/4 AEs, occurring in 10% each included neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, dyspnea, fatigue, vomiting, ataxia, heart failure and pulmonary edema. Serum ICTP and TRACP were elevated at baseline in 80% of subjects; means (+/- SD) of serum ICTP (14.4 +/- 3.1 ug/L) and TRACP (8.2 +/- 4.2 U/L), respectively. Both markers declined significantly after therapy (means +/- SD of serum ICTP 8.4 +/- 3.1 ug/L and TRACP (5.2 +/- 4.2 U/L); p 8F-FDG and 18F-NaF were positive in all subjects. Number of active sites and SUVs vary largely among subjects. 18F-NaF images mirrored the 8F-FDG signals, appearing as rings around the tumor sites, suggesting a bone reaction to the localized tumors. 6 of 9 subjects had post treatment PET/CTs for paired comparison. Post treatment 8F-FDG SUV of representative sites decreased significantly, while 18F-NaF SUVs varied; 58% of lesions had a decline in SUV, while 32% were unchanged and 10% were brighter, suggesting heterogeneous bone response. 18F-NaF SUVs of iliac sites decreased post treatment, suggesting a lower bone turnover overall. CT scans showed increased sclerosis at the rim of lytic lesions without significant change in lesion size, at this early time point. Conclusion: Carfilzomib at 56 mg/m2 dosing strongly inhibits bone resorption and demonstrates bone anabolic effects, in addition to cytotoxicity, in relapsed MM. Single agent use allows bone response analysis without the confounding effects of other anti-MM agents used in combination therapy. Response rates and side effects are favorable to prior reports. Serum markers of bone remodeling are useful for an assessment of overall bone metabolism while the 18F-NaF PET/CT allows assessment of both local and systemic changes but lacks specificity. Studies of osteoblast differentiation from subject9s bone marrow stromal cells pre and post treatment are ongoing. Whether carfilzomib can heal bone lesions requires longer follow up. Disclosures Suvannasankha: Celgene: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Takeda: Research Funding; Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Abonour: Celgene: Other: Steering committee, Research Funding; Prothena: Research Funding; Takeda: Other: Steering committee, Research Funding. Roodman: PharmaMar: Research Funding.


This paper traces the historical concept of entrepreneurship to the formal work of Schumpeter. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the formation of entrepreneurship, its development, and transformation into a formal corporate business. We assert that an entrepreneur is one who pays know cost in order to produce income that is uncertain and unfixed. Both uncertainty and unfixed income entails risk; thus, entrepreneurs are commonly called risk takers. However, to limit the definition of entrepreneur to risk taking is incorrect because an entrepreneur truly is someone who defines and redefines, by means of innovation, factors of production and market for consumption. Viewing entrepreneurship in an organizational developmental context, successful entrepreneur builds the enterprise into a family business. Success family business builds itself into a firm, and ultimately formalizes itself into a corporation. The structural formality of the corporate structure sometimes deters entrepreneurs to grow beyond a family business. This is the reason why a family business stays within the family. The entrepreneurial spirit in the individual does not die, and it refuses to succumb to the organizational structure and its structural constraint. An organization that allows the individual free spirit to roam free tends to maintain its competitive edge by effectively combining the benefits of a formal structure, i.e. credibility and access to finance in the formal economy, with the free spirit of the entrepreneur CEO.


Monopile is the most commonly used foundation type for offshore wind turbines. The local scour at a monopile foundation generated by the incoming shear flow has significant influence on both quasi-static lateral responses and dynamic responses of the monopile. This chapter focuses particularly on characterizing the local scour in both spatial and temporal scales and revealing the scour mechanisms associated with the flow field around a monopile. The predicting methods for the equilibrium scour depth and the time scale of scour are detailed under various representative flow conditions in the marine environment. The scale effect while extrapolating the results of model tests to prototype conditions is highlighted. The local scour imposes significant influence not only on the deformation and stiffness of the monopile foundation, but also on the natural frequency and fatigue life of the structure system. Monopiles with diameters up to 10 m have become a feasible option as the industry is currently advancing into deeper waters. More meticulous considerations for monopile design associated with the scour depth prediction and evaluation of scour effects are still in need to efficiently minimize the cost while remaining safety simultaneously.


Objective : The Nigerian Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) was designed to address the scarcity of skilled birth attendants at primary health care levels. Although, Nigeria has a rich population of trained Midwives, their deployment and retention at communities in critical need for their skills remains a huge challenge. Community Health Workers (CHWs) are readily available and could bridge the gap of connecting the family, community and the referral facilities. Methods : A cross-sectional survey of CHWs to assess their knowledge and skills on various aspects of maternal and newborn health care using structured questionnaire and focused group discussions. Results : A total of 329 CHWs were studied. The mean duration of service provision related to Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCHs) of the participants was 8.9 years. Their general knowledge on Antenatal care (ANC) and basic midwifery was good, although majority had problems assessing gestational age using anatomical landmarks, identifying abnormal labour and diagnosing fetal distress in labor. Conclusion : CHWs can effectively fill in the gaps in poor access to skilled birth attendance in Nigeria if given the requisite training. Keywords : Skilled birth attendance, Community Health Workers, Maternal and New born Health, Nigeria


As the fuel price is rising and the climate debate about global warming has taken off, the transportation sector has been forced to take action to reduce their usage of fuel. An important step to meet these new demands to become more fuel-efficient is to develop tools to help analyzing current fuel usage and find improvements that can be made to lower consumption.
This thesis focuses on public transportation where many vehicles have Intelligent Transport System (ITS) installed, and where a small improvement of a few percentage can give a large benefit. In this thesis I will propose some ideas on how to use the data collected by the ITS to support bus-operators in their effort to improve efficiency. Further, the thesis will present a prototype application that implements a few of these ideas.
The developed prototype can be used to summarize the collected information for different entities allowing insight about driving behavior and comparison of the entities such as drivers and vehicles. It will also elaborate on how to present such summaries visually and how to work with large dataset while trying to keep it user-friendly.


Biodiesel is an potential fuel for diesel engine and is in demand nowdays due to several factors including price stability, limited reserve of carbon fuel, and environmental issue. Jatropha is one of the potential feedstock for biodiesel production due to its high oil content (about 40 – 65 %). It is nonedible, therefore it will not compete with food for fuel. In this study, transesterification process is chosen to transform Jatropha crude oil to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) or biodiesel. The transesterification was carried out using microwave irradiation with homogenous catalyst. Effects of various parameters such as catalyst ratio of (2-4%) NaOH, reaction time (3-9 minutes) and solvent molarity ratio (1:16, 24 and 30) on conversion have been studied. The FAME conversion was determined using gas chromatography following the ASTM D 6584 method. Compare with the conventional heating method, the process using microwaves irradiation has effectively shortened the reaction time. The optimum FAME production conversion is 86.3%. Keyword : Jatropha curcas, Microwave irradiation, Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME), Transesterification


This paper deals with a piezoelectric vibratory gyro-sensor using a trident-type tuning fork resonator. It is expected that the vibratory gyro-sensor has a high stability as an angular rate sensor. In order to develop such a gyro-sensor, the authors have focused on applying a trident-type tuning fork resonator that is independent of its support condition. In this paper, the vibrational analysis of a trident-type tuning fork resonator and its measured characteristics as an angular rate sensor are described.


Similarities between endometrial and mammary tissue as targets for ovarian hormones indicate that measurements of estradiol and progesterone receptor (RE and RP) levels may be as useful in endometrial cancer as they are in breast cancer for the prediction of responses to treatment with steroids and antiestrogens. Receptor levels cannot be inferred from the degree of differentiation of the endometrial tumors, although RP values are lower in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Current studies aim to relate RP levels to objective remissions of metastases after progestin therapy, and attempts are being made to increase RP with tamoxifen before treatment with progestins or assaying for RP. In vitro studies aim to elucidate fundamental problems related to the action of steroids on the tumors, e.g., mechanism by which receptors mediate the effects of pharmacologic doses of drugs, factors that regulate receptor levels, and homogeneity in the distribution of receptors in tumor cell populations.


Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is associated with increased risk of cardiac disease, such as valvular regurgitation, conduction disturbances and decreased ventricular function [1]. However, contemporary data are not available and therefore we investigated the prevalence of cardiac manifestations in AS patients between 50 and 75 years old. Objectives To determine the prevalence of cardiac disease in older AS patients with and without a cardiovascular history. Methods We performed a cross sectional study in randomly selected AS patients between 50 and 75 years old. Patients were screened for cardiac disease using standard transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) that included two-dimensional, three-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography, spectral Doppler, color Doppler and tissue Doppler imaging. Systolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction was defined as an ejection fraction <50%. Diastolic LV dysfunction (DD) was graded into three categories: mild (grade I), pseudonormal (grade II) and restrictive (grade III). Valvular parameters and aortic diameters were evaluated according to the current echocardiographic guidelines Results Sixty-nine AS patients (18 females, 26%) with a mean age of 60±7 years and a mean disease duration of 22±13 years were included. 16 patients (23%) had a history of cardiovascular disease, including stroke (n=2), myocardial infarction (n=3), rhythm disorders (n=5), or a combination (n=6). Of all patients, 33% had DD grade I, 13% DD grade II and 0% DD grade III and 3 patients (4%) had systolic LV dysfunction. In patients without a history of cardiovascular disease, a new cardiac abnormality was found on TTE in 14 (20%) which required treatment or follow-up by a cardiologist: ventricular dysfunction (n=2), aortic (root) dilatation (n=7), valvular regurgitation (n=2), rhythm disorders (n=1), other (n=1) or a combination (n=1). Conclusions In patients with a long duration of AS, without a history of cardiac disease or symptoms, there is a high prevalence of cardiac manifestations, with high prevalences of LV dysfunction, valvular disease and aortic (root) dilatation. This high prevalence might ultimately translate into increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Obviously, the potential clinical impact and effect on cardiovascular mortality remains to be determined. References Nurmohamed MT, van der Horst-Bruinsma I, Maksymowych WP. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in ankylosing spondylitis: current insights. Curr Rheumatol Rep 2012 Oct;14(5):415-21. Acknowledgements This study was partially financed by the Dutch Arthritis Association, The Netherlands Disclosure of Interest None declared


Detailed observations of the slow fluctuation of the stored beam in the NBS 280 MeV electron storage ring (SURF II) reveal a relaxation-type oscillation, in which brief intervals of dipole mode bunch oscillation alternate with relatively long recovery intervals free of coherent oscillations. A simple phase modulation model of the dipole oscillation shows that an infinite number of modulation sidebands develop around each RF harmonic of the beam. These vary in amplitude as the oscillation grows, giving the appearance of turbulence. The model reveals a self-limiting feedback mechanism which limits the growth of the oscillation. Graphic data illustrating this behavior will be presented.


We will report on one of the first demonstrations of mobile cloud use cases in the 5G paradigm for smart transport systems in a university campus setting in the Philippines. Globally, 2019 has been identified as a watershed year for the demonstration of business cases for 5G, and this year many network operators are exploring how quickly and effectively traction and engagement can be gained from existing business and partner relationships. The Ateneo de Manila University is a unique academic partner as its Loyola Heights campus houses an eclectic collection of research institutions, grade school to graduate school units and a creative hub for the arts. In this presentation we will provide an overview of our ongoing efforts to deploy, commission and explore use cases in 5G communications for a 5G campus testbed. In particular we will discuss implementations of caching, mesh networking, and the first demonstration of a smart transportation hub using 5G and mobile cloud architectures in academic settings as well as for applications in sustainable and resilient communities.


This study aims to analyze and show the effect of return on equity (ROE), financing to deposit ratio (FDR), company size, size of the Islamic supervisory board (ISB), and company age on the disclosure of Islamic social reporting (ISR) in Islamic commercial banks (ICB) in the period 2018-2020. This quantitative study uses secondary data, namely annual reports of ICB. The population of this study is ICB registered with the financial services authority (FSA) in 2018-2020, totalling 14 ICB. The sampling technique uses a purposive sampling method so that 12 samples. Data analysis technique using multiple linear regression method with panel data. The results show that ROE, FDR, company size and age significantly affect ISR disclosure. Meanwhile, the size of the Islamic supervisory board does not affect ISR disclosure. Simultaneously ROE, FDR, firm size, size of the Sharia supervisory board, and firm age significantly affect ISR disclosure. This research can complement the existing theory and can be a reference for ICB management to improve the disclosure of social responsibility for the better.


Over the last five years, graphics cards have become a tempting target for scientific computing, thanks to unrivaled peak performance, often producing a runtime speed-up of x10 to x25 over comparable CPU solutions. However, this increase can be difficult to achieve, and doing so often requires a fundamental rethink. This is especially problematic in scientific computing, where experts do not want to learn yet another architecture. In this paper we develop a method for automatically parallelising recursive functions of the sort found in scientific papers. Using a static analysis of the function dependencies we identify sets - partitions - of independent elements, which we use to synthesise an efficient GPU implementation using polyhedral code generation techniques. We then augment our language with DSL extensions to support a wider variety of applications, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this with three case studies, showing significant performance improvement over equivalent CPU methods, and similar efficiency to hand-tuned GPU implementations.


The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) constitute both the biological clock of many circadian rhythms, and the first relay in the transmission of light cues from the retina to the pineal gland, which releases, via nocturnal melatonin secretion, an endocrine expression of the daylength. The aim of the present work was to investigate the precise role of the SCN in the entrainment of the nocturnal rhythm of melatonin (MEL) in sheep. Bilateral lesions of the SCN were performed via a transsinusal surgical approach in 10 adult rams submitted to a constant photoperiod (16L:8D). Lesioned rams were compared to 4 sham and 2 control animals. Blood samples were collected 8 days before, 8 days after, and one month after surgery. Plasma MEL levels were estimated using direct radioimmunoassay. At the end of the experiment, histology and immunohistochemistry of the suprachiasmatic area were performed, and the extent of lesions was evaluated using a computerized image analysis system. Six rams exhibited a complete lesion of the SCN, and in the four remaining animals, the lesions were restricted to the anterior part of the SCN. For all animals, the nocturnal melatonin secretion was altered, but depending on the extent of the lesion, two types of results were observed:


Intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm is a rare but life-threatening complication. Herein we report an unusual case of an intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm caused by computed tomography-guided percutaneous fine needle aspiration lung biopsy and successfully treated with endovascular embolization. Radiologists performing percutaneous fine needle aspiration lung biopsies should be aware of this rare potential complication.


INTRODUCTION
The Danish Christmas meal is not the healthiest and might increase blood glucose fluctuations, which can affect health negatively. Studies have shown that these large blood sugar fluctuations can be reduced by eating a meal in a particular order rather than eating it all at once. We investigated if sequential eating of a Danish Christmas meal affected post-prandial glucose fluctuations.

METHODS
In a prospective randomised trial, 11 healthy subjects ate a standardised Danish Christmas meal. The subjects ate the meal three times with a wash-out day in between. On the first day, the subjects consumed the meal as they preferred. The following meals were divided into a starter (fresh red cabbage or pork roast) and the rest of the meal, and the opposite starter on the last intervention day. The glucose levels of the participants were monitored by continuous glucose monitoring (Freestyle Libre 2). We used a linear mixed model to compare the effects of the different orders of meal intake on glucose fluctuations.

RESULTS
Nine of 11 participants were women with a mean age of 41.2 (range 25.0-64.0) years and mean glucose levels of 5.2 mmol/L. No differences in the postprandial glucose levels between the meals were found (all p > 0,05).

CONCLUSION
We found no differences in the postprandial glucose levels in relation to the order of intake of fibers (salad) or protein (roast pork) before carbohydrates. We conclude that it is safe in terms of glycaemic control for healthy people without diabetes to eat a traditional Danish Christmas meal in any order.

FUNDING
none.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
not relevant.


We examined association between HSPA1B (+1267A/G, rs1061581), TNF-α (–308G/A, rs1800629), and S100B (C/T, rs9722) genes polymorphisms and chronic mercury poisoning (CMP). PCR-RFLP analysis was used to examine a cohort consisting of 128 workers who were chronically exposed to mercury vapor; workers were distributed into two groups. The group 1 was made up of workers with long working experience who didn't have CMP (n = 46), the group 2 included patients with long-term CMP period (n = 82). In addition, we estimated frequencies of rs1061581genotypes in 298 practically healthy men from regional sub-population (group 3). HSPA1B (+1267A/G) polymorphic variant was established to have more frequent carriage of both minor G allele (р = 0.003) and a rare GG homozygote (р = 0.005) in the group 2 against the group 1. 23.2 % patients from the group 2 turned out to have GG genotype and CMP was diagnosed in 95 % people who had it. We didn't detect any differences in genotypes distribution among people from the examined occupational cohort (groups 1 and 2) against the group 3. GG-HSP1AB (+1267A/G) homozygous genotype was shown to be associated with CMP risks (OR = 13.57, p < 0.0001, recessive model). Haplotype G–G (rs1061581–rs1800629) carriers were established to run 2.6 higher risks of CMP occurrence (р = 0.0098), and there was a significant linkage disequilibrium D' = 0.459 (р = 0.0004) between a pair of the abovementioned polymorphic loci. These data indicate that there is genetic interaction between HSPA1B (+1267A/G) and TNF-α (–308G/A) loci in the examined cohort. Overall, these results indicate that carriers of GG-HSPA1B (+1267A/G) genotype run high predictive risks of CMP occurrence.